Page 114 of Game Changer
“Thanks.”Right now, that seems meaningless.I just want her.More than anything.
How did things get so fucked up?
She brushes past me.I watch her walk away.She’s wearing a black halter dress fitted to her curves, baring her shoulders.It ends just above her knees and her legs look killer in black heels.
Emotion swirls inside me, filling my chest.Anger.Frustration.Regret.
Without using the men’s room, I go back to the table where Paul is waiting for me, not looking at Molly and Nicholas.Paul’s already taken care of the check.“Thanks, man,” I say as I sit again.I pick up my whiskey and down the remainder.
“I have to fly to Toronto tomorrow,” he says.“But I’ll keep you in the loop about any more talks with Yarish.”
“It’s not going to get done before training camp, is it?”
“Not looking like it right now.But before the season starts, sure.”
I nod.“Okay.”
I can’t resist another look at Molly as we walk out, and she turns her head and flashes a tiny sad smile that fucking breaks my heart.
I stroll along the Esplanade on my way home.It’s dark now, but there are still lots of other people around.The river reflects city lights on its inky surface, and I pause at the low wall to gaze out over it.
I have to get my shit together.But right now feels like a low point in my life.I finally found a woman I actually want a relationship with, and I can’t have her.And I found a team I want to stay with, and they don’t want me.
Okay, I’m being pathetic.It’s not that they don’t want me.I know it’s a business.It’s all about the numbers.But it’s hard not to take things personally.I know I’m not in a good frame of mind, and both these deficiencies in my life seem worse because of that.
Maybe.Or maybe they really are shitty.
I need to do what Molly’s doing—move on with my life.Find some other woman to bang.Maybe prepare myself to play elsewhere this year.
Or maybe I’ll just go home and finish getting drunk.
Molly
“I can’t believe I saw Jax the first time I went on a date.”
“I know.That’s a hell of a coincidence.”Grace and I are sitting on her big sectional in her living room.Her fiancé is out tonight.
“Nicholas was a nice guy, but it felt like so much work being with him.I get that we don’t know each other at all and it takes time, so I was going to agree to a second date.But after seeing Jax that night, it only reinforced how bored and uninterested I was in Nicholas.So I turned him down.Which pissed him off.”
“Ugh.Men.”
“I know!I’m getting all kinds of action on Tinder, and not all of it’s good.Holy shit, there are a lot of assholes out there.One guy asked me if that was my real hair or a wig.”
“Oh my God.”
“Right?Another guy sent five cringe-y pickup lines in a row, not getting the hint after I didn’t respond to the first one that I wasn’t interested.Then there was the dude who asked how my head game is.”
“What did you tell him?”
“I told him he’ll never know.”
Grace laughs.
“And the guy who told me how beautiful I am and begged me to have sex with him.”
“Ugh.”
“Right?”I shake my head.“I really just want to give up on this dating game.”
