Page 21 of Choke

Not Your Chick

Adrian

Present Day

“Call me. Now.”

Britt’s message flashes across the screen of my phone.

Fuck.

If she’s involved, that means our manager is involved and pissed. I can already hear his voice grilling me, ‘conduct unbecoming of a public figure.’

My phone has been buzzing all morning. I ignored it, grabbing my gym bag instead. After last night’s chaos, Alice had left with one of the other girlfriends. She screamed at me about what a child I was before storming off. I opted not to return to our room, booking a different one in the same hotel, and continued to avoid her this morning.

I push myself hard through my workout. Sweating out last night’s booze. The harder I push, the easier it is to forget about the shit storm I stirred up, being unable to keep it together. I punched my teammate and friend in the face.

My hand fucking hurts.

I flex my fingers, clenching and unclenching my hand. The skin across my knuckles is shredded, split open from where I caught Nate’s jaw. I push my thumb into one of the cuts, sucking in a hiss at the sting.

Good.

I deserve the pain.

Sitting up from a set and a sharp pain cuts through my ribs. Nate must’ve gotten a few decent hits in. I twist back and forth, confirming it’s nothing more than bruising. My phone rings. Again.

I put my head in my hands and glanced at the screen on the floor between my feet. Ronan’s face appears on the screen.

I already know what he’s going to say. I’m not ready for it.

I let it ring out and take a swig of water. Sweat drips off my forehead onto the floor, and I can’t believe she was there. Again. Not only there, but straddling our new defenseman and grinding into his cock like a bitch in heat, like she belonged to him.

Fuck.

I grip my water bottle tight, sending a stream of water spraying out. Setting the bottle down beside me, I grab some paper towels. I am kneeling to clean up the mess I created in my rage when the door to the small hotel gym opens. Simultaneously, my phone rings. I grab it and see the photo Alice set to her contact of us in Miami last season.

Nope.

Immediately, a text pops up. The preview from Alice is a paragraph-long rant. I don’t open or read it; instead, I swipe it away and drop my phone to the ground beside me.

I hear someone clear their throat and turn to Ronan, standing just at the door. His face is free from his usual smirk. He looks all too serious—not my friend, right now, he’s my Team Captain.

“Okay, man. I fucked up.” I say before he can get the first word out, hoping the acknowledgment will save me from a lecture.

His down-turned mouth indicates his agreement.

“What do you want me to say? I walk in and seethat girlgrinding into Nate. His hands were all over her and -”

My jaw clenches just thinking about it. I shouldn’t have lost it, but seeing her like that, with him… I couldn’t stop myself. Before I can finish, Ronan holds his hands up, signaling me to shut the fuck up.

“And what?” His tone is sharp, building to a yell. “And what, Liberty?”

I go from an apologetic stance to a defensive one.

“She is not your fucking chick. You met her ONCE.”

I am aware of that.

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