Page 51 of Can't Take My Eyes Off You

Though Willy’s publicist wouldn’t comment, we did get in touch with one person in Willy’s life and that’s his ex, Danika Frost. You read that right,Royalsfans. Danika and Prince Willy have officially split and she wasn’t overly pleased to hear he was back. In fact, her exact words were, ‘Willy needs to grow up before I’ll consider taking him back.’ Is he on his way to her place to grovel his way back in? We’ll let you know!

The show airs on E! every Sunday at 9:00 p.m. PST.

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‘Did you see this?’ Olivia speed walks across the store, slapping a tabloid on the counter. Will’s face is on the front. It’s recent – a photo of him walking through the airport, pulling his suitcase behind him. In three of the four shots, you can hardly see his face. But in the last one, they caught him looking up, making eye contact with the camera. My heart stops.

‘He hasn’t graced the cover of a tabloid sincelastwinter, Berx. He walked away from the show. He’s finally tossed Danika Frost to the curb where she belongs too. That’s why we haven’t seen him. Not even his publicist will comment so it must be true. You should call her and ask.’

‘I’m not calling his publicist. I’ve only ever met her once. She exists in the part of his world he keeps me far away from, remember?’ I ask. ‘It’s all bullshit, Liv. Likely, it’s some kind of publicity stunt for the upcoming season. All of it. From his disappearance to this. He better keep walking this city with his head down because if his eyes meet mine, I might punch him.’

That’s probably a lie considering how my heart just practically seized up in my chest seeing his face on the cover of a magazine. Dropping dead would feel better.

‘I can see this irritates you,’ Olivia says. ‘So, quick question, if I bump into the man, shouldIpunch him too? Am I giving him a chance to explain? Letting you two have some moment? Do we hate him, tolerate him, forgive him? Make the rules, Berx.’

I laugh. ‘This is why I love you, Liv. For now, we hate him. He disappeared instead of figuring out his shit and fighting for theushe supposedly couldn’t live without. Looks to me like he’s doing just fine, and is probably on his knees at Danika’s door as I speak.’

‘Done. Prince Willy sucks. I’ll have shirts made.’

The front door of the shop dings open; Olivia and I both snap our heads that way to see Alex walk in. I blow out a heavy breath. Why am I suddenlynotin the mood to see the guy I’m somewhat dating, once again? Boyfriend and girlfriend doesn’t seem to work for Alex and I. He’s gone too much and I’ve got heartache issues. But we see one another twice a week, mainly for the sex, which sadly isn’t great but better than nothing. (I’d hoped it would get better, in my defense.) We’re not very serious. He’s busy; I’m busy. Really, he’s a nice enough distraction, but there’s nomagic. I want the magic! The fireworks! The shivers, ooh, the shivers! But nope, even fireflies are steering clear of this friends-with-benefits situation.

Don’t get me wrong: I could look at him all day long and not find anything to complain about. Then he opens his mouth. I truly thought the smug essence he had when we first met would fall away as we got to know one another, but apparently, that’s just Alex. He’s not afraid to get into a referee’s face during a match and he’s not afraid to let his true self show. I’m just not into that kind of guy as much as he wants me to be. We’ve got no real chemistry. Nothing in meyearnsfor him. I want toyearn! We’ve never even exchanged the L-word.

‘Alex!’ Gunner yells through the store, like he’s here for him.

Gunner is Alex’s private fan club of one. He goes toeveryhome game. He DVRs matches so he and Alex can watch them together and figure out where he can improve, knowing he already has coaches who do this for him but apparently Gunner’s got shit to add. I’m convinced Alex and Gunner’s bromance is more substantial than Alex and my ‘romance’. Alex loves being doted on by fans, and Gunner is his super-fan.

‘I’m coming for the birthday girl in a minute,’ Alex says, pointing my way with a wink as he heads to greet Gunner before me.

‘Will’s back in town,’ Liv says. ‘How do you think Alex will react to that?’

I shrug. ‘It’s not something I’m going to worry about because inthreeyears not once has Will mademea priority. Why would that change now?’

‘Maybe he’s back for your birthday?’

‘Trust me, he’s not. Last year he didn’t even call on my birthday.’

‘Kinda hard to call a girl when you’ve blocked his number.’

‘Technicality,’ I say, sick of talking about this, honestly.

‘Ladies,’ Alex says, handing me a single daisy as he walks around the front of the counter. ‘How are you, sweets? Happy birthday!’ He pecks his lips on mine.

‘Thank you.’ I lift the flower to my nose. ‘I’m good,’ I say forcing a smile. ‘How are you? I thought you’d be at practice still?’

Here we are, dating off and on for a year now and we’re still playing thehi, how are you, I’m goodgame. Our entire relationship feels very small talk-ish. Partly because I don’t give a rat’s ass about soccer, and he doesn’t want to hear about Will. Will’s in almost every story I have, and soccer is in pretty much all of his.

‘I’m about as good as I’m gonna get, sugar,’ he says. ‘He-he.’ He slaps my ass before giving it a squeeze. ‘What’s this?’ He grabs the tabloid still sitting on the counter between Olivia and me. We exchange guilty glances.

‘Willy’s ajoke.’ Alex rolls his eyes, tossing the tabloid into the trash can next to me. ‘He’s got everything a guy could ever want, and he’ll still drink himself to death. You should be glad you moved on to arealman, Berx. I’ll never let you down like he did.’ He pulls me against him in a way that’s not sexy or romantic, with his hands gripping my ass as he slams us together like a couple of Legos. I feel like I need to take a second to evaluate whether or not I’m injured.

‘Who are you playing tomorrow?’ Olivia asks, changing the subject when she notices how uncomfortable I am.

It takes two seconds for Alex to be wholly immersed in talking about soccer and himself. His two favorite subjects.

As they talk, my gaze wanders to the trash can. Will’s big brown eyes stare back at me and my heart pangs in my chest painfully. I shouldn’t still miss him. Iguaranteehe’s not still thinking about me.

‘Damien’s OK. McConnell sucks ass.’ Alex is boring the hell out of Olivia with details of other players. If she could prop her eyes open with toothpicks right now, she probably would; that’s how interested she seems. I’ve been there.

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