Page 45 of Pucking Dirty

I grab my bag, sliding out into the aisle. "You should be able to understand just how easy that decision will be to make if it ever comes down to it. You made the same choice for her once."

"Jesus," he mutters as I squeeze past him, striding down the aisle.

"Is it just me, or is everyone in this motherfucker staring at us?" Diego asks, his brows furrowed as he glances around the restaurant down from the hotel where we're having dinner.

I don't bother looking up to confirm, instead, staring at my phone the same damn way I have been all day. I've been calling Emilia since the plane landed this afternoon, but she isn't answering. She isn't reading my texts or responding to them, either.

I'm worried as fuck.

"It's not just you," Logan mutters from beside me. "They're all staring."

I glance up in time to see everyone at the table looking at me, as if waiting for an explanation as to why we're suddenly more popular in San Jose than we are back home. I don't particularly feel like giving them the details, though. They're all going to be pissed about it.

"Fuck," I mutter, shoving my phone in my pocket. "Montaque found out about me and Emilia. He ambushed us and Coach this morning."

"Damn," Joaquin whistles. "And you're still standing?"

I shoot him a dirty glare.

"I'm just saying… that's his daughter, man," Joaquin says, shrugging. "Figured he'd rip your balls off once he found out what the two of you have been doing."

"It's not even like that," I growl. "I'm marrying that girl."

"The writing has been on the wall on that since day one, motherfucker." Logan rolls his eyes as half the guys at the table nod their agreement. "Fuck Montaque though, straight up. What'd he print about you two?"

"Don't know. Haven't looked."

"Jesus Christ," Jordan mutters, dragging his phone out of his pocket. "You're in enemy territory, Whatley. You need to be prepared for whatever bullshit they're going to throw at you tomorrow. I can guarantee it'll be something about her meant to piss you off."

"I fucking hate coming here," Micah agrees. "It's always some bullshit."

"Blame Jordan," Diego says, and then shrugs when Jordan throws a dirty scowl at him. "I didn't mean it that way. I just mean, they hate us because you're on our team. Peters is their captain. It probably drives them up the fucking wall that people still remember their precious Captain getting the shit kicked out of him on national television by one of his own teammates."

"I wouldn't mind kicking the shit out of him on national television," Archer says, shocking everyone.

"What the fuck did he do to piss you off, Cap?"

Archer's gaze flickers toward Jordan and then away before he shrugs. "Maybe I just think he deserves it," he says quietly, leaning back in his chair.

Logan catches my gaze, one brow arches as if to ask if I knew that Archer knew what happened between Jordan and Jamison. I just shrug in response. Jordan adamantly refuses to share the details no matter how often the guys ask him about it, but I'm not really surprised he told Archer. Frankly, I'd be more surprised if he didn't. Archer knows everything. It's fucking wild how much of our shit he picks up on and files away.

"Fuck," Jordan mutters suddenly. "Uh, Whatley. You may want to look at the news, man."

"Why? What did the motherfucker publish?"

"Hedidn't." Jordan slides his phone across the table toward me, his face carefully blank. "I thinkshedid."

What the fuck?

I snatch the phone up, flipping it around to read.

Emilia Lariat confirms she's dating Nash Whatley

Emilia Lariat, daughter to longtime Coach Aaron Lariat of the Washington Carvers, released a statement earlier today confirmed that she and Nash Whatley, the newest addition to the Washington Carvers' roster, are a couple.

"This isn't some big scandal, as much as some would like to try to twist it into one," read the statement sent to us by Alice Madison, publicist for team. "We're two private people living public lives who fell in love. Quite simply, Nash is the best man I've ever known. That's the story."

Whatley joined the Carvers this season after entering unrestricted free agency status last year. According to sources, Lariat was recentlyhired as the staff psychologist for the Carvers organization.

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