Page 17 of Runaway Girl
“Thanks, Felix, I’m looking forward to working with her. I’ve heard she’sexceptional.”
First off. Why the fuck are they all chummy and on a first-name basis? And second, why thefuckdid that last word have an extra nuance to it?
I’m gonna kill him.
I didn’t say anything, didn’t even twitch from my position. If I so much as breathed in Jake’s direction, I knew my hands would follow, tightening around his neck.
I didn’t know why I had such a visceral reaction, but my senses were blaring on high alert.
Take him out. Take him out.
Jake started for Alicia’s office, and before he could turn the corner, he gave me a suggestive wink, licked his lower lip, then disappeared.
The only thing stopping me from charging after him was Felix’s hand clasping my shoulder as he continued to babble on as if my world wasn’t imploding.
“We’re so glad to have Jake on board. He specifically requested Alicia… Said you only had great things to say about her work. We thank you for the referral, Mr Harris…”
A heavy beat pulsed against my temples.
Take him out!
Chapter 11
ETHAN
“Answer your phone, baby boy.”
I immediately deleted the text and blocked the sender—not that it would deter her at all.
“Is that your mother?” Dad asked.
“How’d you know?”
“I dunno. Maybe it was the cringe when you read the message.”
I groaned and chucked the phone on the table. My father had flown over to visit. He said the spontaneous trip was because he missed me, but I knew he had grown concerned.
It had been a month since I had cornered Alicia in her office, and I was a fucking nervous wreck, highly strung and snappingthe head off anyone who dared venture nearby. And how could I forget that I was playingatrociously.
Alicia still accepted my gifts but refused to engage or even consider talking aboutus.
She remained strictly professional in our interactions, yet her indifference was steadily driving me crazy. I missed so many things about her—that body, her laugh. But what trumped them all was her witty personality.
Alicia didn’t know it, but she had unintentionally become my game day lucky charm.
Over the years, no matter her location, she would manage to find coverage to watch me play, bombarding my phone with ridiculous messages. I lived for her commentary. Her humour and nonsensical rants calmed my mind and spirit after a long day on high.
She believed our ritual was a frivolous joke, but to me, it showed her devotion. Alicia didn’t particularly enjoy football, but to know she’d sit through a whole game and dissect my sport gave me a certain comfort.
Being so thoroughly severed from her life in one fell swoop took a toll on my mental health and, in turn, my game.
It also didn’t help that Jake and his big mouth had started blasting his latest infatuation with Alicia around the team at practice.
“A girl with brains, moneyanda tight ass. Fuck, what more could a man ask for?”
I nearly killed him that day—they said the tackle was unwarranted and completely inappropriate. But what the fuck did they know? They were lucky I didn’t chop his fucking dick off for looking at my girl in the first place.
I was progressively losing my mind, and I didn’t know what to do. And now, with my mother thrown in the mix, I knew I’d get no reprieve anytime soon.
