Page 21 of The Girlfriend Card
“Shit. My bad.” Parker laughed. “Guess Jane doesn’t get you motivated, eh? My bad.”
I rolled over onto my back, chest heaving as I panted for air. “The fuck, Parks? How doyouknow about Jane?”
He threw me a towel. “How could Inotknow about your girlfriend, the lovely Miss Jane Doe?”
“Seriously, Parks.” I buried my face in the towel and mopped up the sweat. “How’d you hear about Jane?”
“Through the grapevine,” he said with a wink.
“So everyone in this whole organization knows I’m full of shit, huh? Great. Just great.”
“Ah, hell. I’m just messin’ with ya, kid. The only reason I know is because I asked Killer. I knew something was up when he asked me if I’d scuttle my summer plans to trainyouall summer.”
“C’mon, it’s notthatunbelievable, is it?”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Dak, I can’t even get you into the weight roomduringthe season.”
“Fair enough.”
“Anyway, I wanted to know why you were so interested in training all summer. I figured it had something to do with that video.” He snickered. “Killer told me I was right. Then he told me that you’d played the girlfriend card to take the heat off yourself.”
I folded my arms. “Hey, who says it’s a card? Who says she’s not real?”
“Whether or not she exists, it’s definitely a card,” He chuckled. “But I’m curious.Doesshe exist?”
I stared into his piercing eyes, wondering if I could trust him.
Parker and I were going to be spending a lot of time together this summer. Might as well tell him the truth. I could use a confidante.
“Aw, hell, Parks.” I waved a hand. “Jane’s fake as fuck.”
He snickered. “Yeah. Figured.”
“Killer tell you about this dinner, then?”
He tilted his head. “What dinner?”
His eyes widened once I explained it to him.
“Oh, shit, bud. That’s fucked.”
“Yeah. I know.”
“What’re you gonna do?” he asked.
“I can’tnotgo. And I have to bring ‘Jane.’”
I told him about my attempts to hire an actress.
“While the rest of my teammates were having an incredible time at the year-end bender, I spent all day and night yesterday holed in my condo talking to Craigslist wackos.All day and night,Parks.”
I didn’t get any sympathy from Parker, who only laughed and nodded approvingly. “Good. Good. Sounds like you’re taking this seriously, then.”
“Parks, you wouldn’tbelievethe number of crazy people out there on Craigslist. And none of them are evencloseto what you’re looking for.”
“So you didn’t find the girl, I take it?”
“Well. Therewasone. She said she’s studying theater at Stanford. No idea if she looks the part, because she doesn’t even have Instagram. But I talked to her on the phone and she at leastsoundscute.” I sighed. “But none of that really matters, because she said she doesn’t wanna do it. She’s only meeting me for lunch today because I practically got on my hands and knees to beg her.”
