Page 34 of Learn the Play
“I tried to get her to come today, but she refused.” There’s no need for me to elaborate about who I’m talking about. They all know I could only be talking about my dream girl.
“Ah.” Foster nods. “You’re really into this girl, huh?” he asks.
I laugh. “Yeah, you could say that.”
Foster doesn’t speak for a long time. The silence between us isn’t uncomfortable as we watch Knox, Corie, Rowan, and Landry play a game of chicken in the pool. Sloane is the self-appointed referee, while Baker has Camden in a floaty, tugging him around the shallow end. Camden’s laugh has my lips tilting in a grin. I love that little dude something fierce.
“If you want her, you have to keep trying,” Foster says, breaking the lull of silence. “You have to keep showing up.”
“You sound like you know something about that?” I ask. There’s something from his past, something he holds tightly to his chest. We don’t pressure him about it. He knows that we’re here for him when he’s ready to talk about her. Because sometimes there’s this pain in his eyes, and it could only be caused by a woman. Ironically, I’m placing some of that pressure on Bellamy. Not because I’m an asshole, but because I know my dream girl, and I want to help her over this fear of getting too close to an athlete. I’m not that man. I have my work cut out for me, and that’s fine. Hard work got me where I am today, and what is it that they say? Nothing worth having comes easy?
“Maybe,” he says, not really committing. “What I do know is that if you don’t keep trying, if you don’t know that you’ve exhausted every effort to fix whatever this is between you, then you’ll live with that regret for the rest of your life.”
“Who is she?” I ask him. It’s a ballsy move on my part, but if he’s going to offer his words of wisdom, I should know if he truly understands.
“She’s in the past, but I have those regrets, Reid. I didn’t fight hard enough, and that’s something I have to live with. I don’t want that for you.”
“I’m not giving up on her. She’s different, you know? She sees me, but this is a first: a woman refusing time with me because of my career. She doesn’t care about fame or my bank account. And I crave her company,” I tell him. It’s more than that. I crave the feeling of her soft skin against mine, the taste of her on my tongue, and the feeling of her wrapped tightly around my cock. I miss the conversation, the laughter. Fuck me, I just miss her. She’s the entire package, and I’ll be damned if I let her slip through my fingers.
“Maybe it’s not too late for you,” I tell him. “Maybe you didn’t fight hard enough then, but you can now.”
“Nah, my time has long since passed.”
“But you want her?”
“With every breath I take,” he says. He clears his throat and stands. He’s said too much, gotten too close to his past, and he’s running from it. “Don’t stop fighting, Reid. Trust me on this one.” He nods, as if his words are the final say in my life, and walks away. He settles on the edge of the pool and starts talking to Baker as he pushes a still-laughing Camden around in his floating baby innertube.
I watch everyone for a while, but the ache of her not being here is too much. I need to hear her voice. Grabbing my phone, I dial her number and place it to my ear.
“Hello?” she asks, sounding weak.
“What’s wrong?” I’m immediately on alert.
“Nothing’s wrong.”
“Bellamy.”
“Nothing’s wrong. I just ate some bad food. I had leftover Chinese for lunch, and it’s not agreeing with me. I think it might have been bad.”
“Do we need to take you to the hospital to be checked out?”
“Reid, I’m fine. I’m just feeling blah, so I’m holding down the couch, watching trash TV.”
“Do you need anything?”
“I’m good,” she assures me.
“Now, I feel like a dick.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I’m sitting here at Landry’s place for the cookout, moping because I wanted you here with me today, and now I find out you’re sick.”
“Just a little blah. I’m fine, and you’re not a dick. I kind of wish you were a dick. That would make my life easier,” she says.
“How so?” I ask her, ignoring everything around me and focusing on our conversation.
“Contrary to what you might think, I don’t hate you, Reid. I hate your job. I hate your connection to the game and my father. I hate that you’re the first man to make me feel anything, and I can’t have you.”
