Page 31 of Play Me
Finally, Breaker’s lips twist into an amused, cocky grin. “Calm the fuck down. I was just messing around.”
“Good choice.” I close my locker, my heart hammering like a drum. I keep an eye on Breaker in case he’s the kind of guy to throw a sucker punch when my back is turned. “See you both tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow,” Ridge says.
Breaker doesn’t say anything, but I expected that.
I make my way through the facility, not making eye contact with anyone. It’s one foot in front of the other until I’m inside my truck.
My jaw aches from grinding my teeth together, and my breaths are still haggard from the adrenaline coursing through my veins like a roller coaster. The enormity of what nearly happened hits me in the center of my chest. I just about fucked all the way up.
I grip the steering wheel until my knuckles turn white.
But the thought of letting Breaker run his mouth is too much to let go. And allowing him to belittle Astrid behind her back feels like fucking up too. I’m no knight in shining armor—not that she needs one, the woman can handle herself—but it would be hard to look at her and know I let this go without saying a word. Dignity isn’t disposable.
“Dammit,” I say, smacking my palm against the armrest.
I glance down as my phone lights up with a text. Astrid’s name flashes on the screen.I’ve summoned the beast.
My chest tightens as I read her words, reminding me that she’ll be at my house in an hour. It’s the last thing I want to do tonight, but I can’t call it off. Because, after today, I need her gone more than ever.
Me: Okay.
Then I start my truck and leave the parking lot and the locker room behind me.
CHAPTER
NINE
Astrid
“There’s this guy …” Gianna sighs on the other end of the phone. “Don’t laugh.”
I don’t.
The sun hovers ahead, just above the horizon. Stately buildings standing tall on either side of the road frame the sunset like a picture frame. It looks like I could drive straight into the vivid oranges and pinks if I keep my foot on the accelerator. Considering my destination and the day I’ve had, testing that theory doesn’t sound like a bad plan.
“How many is that? Twenty-eight?” I ask, trying to remember how many times Gianna has started a sentence with that phrase since Audrey and I started counting a year ago. “No. Audrey said you used‘There’s this guy …’on Sunday when you went out for drinks without me.”
“Don’t start. You were invited and chose to stay home.”
“So that’s twenty-nine.” I ignore her comment about me bowing out of drinks because I had a headache. Ididhave a headache, and his name was Gray Adler.It’s just that particularheadache is of the seven-days-a-week variety.“Anyway, what about him?”
I take a right onto Pinecrest, saying goodbye to the gorgeous sunset. I can’t help but acknowledge how metaphoric the moment really is. I’m leaving the light behind and descending into darkness.
A thought nags me in the forefront of my mind, telling me to turn the car around and go home. To save myself. Nothing good will come out of this evening with Gray because his whole point is to make me miserable. As much as I hate to admit it, his plan is already working, and I’m not even there yet.
Although he doesn’t know it, he got an assist in the form of my ex-boyfriend Trace this afternoon.
“An email came in a few weeks ago from this guy who said he’d been fucking his employee’s wife,” Gianna says.
“What? His employee’s wife?”The things Gianna gets into …“Like, the guy works for him and he’s banging his girl?”
“Yeah. Just like that. According to him—and who knows if he’s telling the truth, but that’s neither here nor there—he didn’t know it. He met her while he was getting his tires rotated.”
“Is that a euphemism?”
She giggles. “No. They were at an actual mechanic shop.”
