Page 63 of Call the Shots
“Okay.”
“In my…relationship before King…” I trailed off, mentally prepping myself to avoid saying Xavier’s name. “That guy had a very dry, sarcastic sense of humor and sometimes he could be very, very mean.”
“Like Bear?”
“Like Bear.”
“I don’t think Bear does it to hurt people—” Montoya stopped himself. “I think Bear’s going through a hard time.”
“We’re all going through a hard time, Montoya.”
“I like Bear. He doesn’t call me Kid’s Toy. And he practices with me, he doesn’t clique up with the other guys.”
I took a few moments to figure out how to properly phrase what I wanted to say. “When I was dating that guy, there was cattiness and cruel comments that I overlooked because I loved him. And with him, I could be mean, too. I wanted to match him because I thought it brought us closer.” I tugged up the blankets. “It didn’t. It only made me feel worse. I wish I would’ve had a backbone and told him I didn’t like it. I wish I would’ve left earlier.” I bit my lip. “I don’t want to be that person anymore. If I’m with someone, I want someone kind. And I want to be kind for someone.”
He nodded. “Okay.”
“Does that make sense?”
“Yeah, I don’t like the mean stuff and arguing either.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “My birthday’s coming up and I don’t want you and Bear to fight during it.”
I resisted that twinge in my chest. “Your eighteenth? What are we doing for it?”
“Promise not to get mad?”
“I promise.”
“I want to go out and get drunk, and after, I want to eat pancakes like in the movies when I’m still drunk, and I want to spend it with the guys, and King, and you.”
“Wow.” A little smile tugged up my lips. “Fancy.”
“You’re not going to talk me out of it?”
“Nope. I’d rather you get drunk with people you know instead of people you don’t.” I fluffed my pillow. “I’ll hit up the frats, see who’s partying for your birthday. We’ll make a night out of it.”
“Really?”
“You bet.”
“Thanks, June.” His smile widened. “For the record, you’re one of my favorite people on the team.”
I hugged him and pulled out my phone. I needed to send a screenshot of the notification to Cleo, go through Vernon’s pages to find who tagged him, and try to put the puzzle together, but I stalled at King’s message.
I had to remember why I signed with the Gladiators. The truth was, I didn’t want to be the old June. I wanted better than that. I wanted my family, my organizations, and my old friends, especially King. With a deep breath, I typed my reply to his message.
Me
thank you love you
fake relationship back on
CHAPTER 25
BEAR
HOW I FEEL
The dayafter Montoya’s accident, I ran practice, and I was actually getting pretty good at it. The first couple of times, I was sort of nervous, but Denali showed me the basics, and we went from there. Drills, warm-ups, keeping everybody accountable. I caught on to the routine faster than I would’ve thought.
