Page 9 of Face Off
The sound of my phone ringing breaks me out of my daydreams. TUCKER PRICE dances across the screen as I stare at my phone. We have a date tonight, and I hope he isn’t calling to cancel, but I know better. Tucker lives for his work. That’s why we’re so perfect for each other.
“I hope you’re calling to tell me that you can’t wait for our date tonight,” I say, answering with a smile.
The silence on the other end says otherwise as I wait for him to speak. “Hayley, I’m sorry. I know we were supposed to be celebrating tonight, but I have to cancel. I got called in for an aortic bypass surgery, and it’s going to be a lot longer than I expected.”
I should have known. I’m not surprised by his cancellation, but I’m disappointed. This is the third time in the past three weeks that’s he’s canceled for some surgery or consult.
“Hayley, are you still there?” he asks.
I release a breath, nodding even though he can’t see it. “Yeah. It’s fine. Maybe you can still come over though once you’re finished? We can celebrate in other ways.”
I know I’m hoping for something that might not happen, but it’s worth a try.
“How about I call you when I get out of the OR, and we’ll see what happens,” he says before hanging up abruptly.
I shouldn’t feel this way, but I do. Tucker and I have been seeing each other for six months now, known each other for longer. And I know his job and what it entails. I too once had the same job, but here I am feeling like I’m losing something that may have not even been mine to begin with.
Cassidy comes to my office a little after five with a copy of my schedule for the next two weeks. Glancing at the schedule, I can’t believe what I’m reading.
“No,” I say, fuming. “No. I’m not training him. No. No way in hell am I going to train him.”
“You’re the only trainer not booked for the next two weeks, and you don’t have any physicals or follow-ups scheduled. So, I had no choice. Plus, your father authorized it,” Cassidy says.
Of course, my father would be behind this. I should have known. He had already manipulated me into taking this job so why not training his star player.
“Fine,” I mutter, not happy.
She smiles and closes her planner. “Good, now let’s go out for drinks. You look like you could use one.”
I don’t want to go out, but since Cam is staying at a friend’s tonight, and Tucker cancelled our date, why the hell not.
Hayley
“So, I know you don’t particularly like hanging at the places the team hangs out, but I figured we could start the night at The Nest and see where it goes,” Cassidy says happily as I finish applying mascara.
The Nest is one of the many hangouts the Skipjacks frequented during the off season and after games. I haven’t been there since my twenty-first birthday. It was one of the rare times I went out since I became a mom at a young age, but I remember it being one of my favorite places.
“It’s fine,” I say, rolling my eyes with a smile on my face as she does her giddy dance.
Cassidy and I walk hand in hand down the sidewalk toward The Nest. I had expected at least a text from Tucker saying he was out of surgery by now being that it was close to nine at night, and then he could come to the bar for a drink or two, but one never came.
We take a seat at a high-top table by the rooftop bar, giving us a clear view of both the bar and the city. Some of the players from the team are mingling and stop to say hello. It’s nosurprise that Brooks is among them, his smile cocky as he comes to our table, offering us drinks.
In fact, he stays at our table for quite some time.Is it to flirt with Cassidy or myself?That I’m unsure of, but the number of stolen glances he throws my way, I can’t help but wonder.
He could have any girl in this bar. They practically eye fuck him every time they walk by our table or glance in our direction. Yet he stays at our table talking as if we are his main focus. I can’t help but inwardly laugh at that.
It’s close to ten thirty, and the crowd thickens. The mellow music has turned into a DJ-type atmosphere, and the dance floor is now full of hot, sweaty bodies. Not my scene, but Cassidy has a blast shaking her ass with Channing Halloway.
I make my way to the bar in hopes of closing out my tab when a familiar face catches my sights.
“Tucker?” I whisper to myself as I try to get a better view of the man I’m supposed to be in a relationship with and the blonde dangling all over him.
It can’t be him. He’s supposed to be in a surgery,I think to myself as I continue to stare, but it becomes evident that the man is in fact my Tucker as I glance at the gold Rolex on his wrist. It’s the one I had gifted him for his birthday a few months back. Limited edition. One out of ten made total.
I couldn’t believe what I’m seeing in front of me. It’s like senior year all over again. The first guy I’ve let into my life after ten years is breaking my heart in plain sight. I rub the tightness that has formed in my chest as I try to keep the tears and anger at bay.
Fuck this!
