Page 38 of Playbook
Panicked, I look around the bar. Brogan is five feet to my right, scanning over the crowd for me. And Chris is getting closer.
“I swear I saw her,” I hear him saying.
I consider sprinting past both of them out the door, but I’m not confident I won’t trip and fall or add some other humiliating bit to this night. I glance back at Brogan and groan.
Fuck my life.
I pick the lesser of two evils, moving to my right and making myself visible to Brogan. His expression relaxes when he spots me and he hurries over.
“I’m sorry,” he says immediately. “That sucked. You’re right about all of it. I shouldn’t have done it. She asked me to buy her a drink, I didn’t think she was going to shove my face into her boobs.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s fine.” I sidestep him and then move behind him, putting his massive body between me and the last place I saw Chris.
“What is going on?” He lifts his hands to his sides and tries to turn, but I clutch his shirt. His back is muscular and his waist trim. He smells like cedar and something else…citrus maybe.
“Nothing. Just, uh, could you walk toward the door.” Maybe I can still get out of here without speaking to my ex. I have nothing nice to say and I promised Sierra I wouldn’t kill him.
“I can’t quite hear you.” He tries again to turn.
I open my mouth to repeat myself, but then it happens.
“Lo?” The deep voice from behind me sends ice down my spine. Since I haven’t mastered my disappearing act, I let go of Brogan and turn slowly.
ELEVEN
“Chris? Oh my gosh.” Her words come out all high-pitched and breathy.
I turn and look at the woman next to me. I barely know London, but I can tell she’s one hundred percent putting on an act. Gone is the fiery woman that told me off and instead she’s faking politeness. The question is why.
I try to shake off the weird turn of events of the past few minutes and focus on the couple in front of us. The man is a few inches shorter than me, with dark hair and an air of importance and sophistication about him. I catalog him quickly as a total prick who thinks he’s God’s gift, but it’s the way his stare lingers on London that pulls it all together for me.
She’s slept with this prick. Dated him maybe? He’s definitely looking at her in a way that tells me he wants me to know he’s had her already. Correction, he’sa grade A prick.
“I thought you saw me. You looked right at me,” the guy, Chris, says. He doesn’t like being ignored. What a shock.
“Sorry, no. I didn’t see you.” She leans into me and rests a hand on my stomach.
I have no idea what’s happening or what to do, but my arm just sort of naturally wraps around her waist. She fits against me nicely.
Chris’s stare locks on my hand resting against her hip.
“So this must be him,” he says. “This is the guy you just started seeing.”
If we had just started seeing each other, I think it’d still be an awkward thing for him to toss out so casually, but as it is, I’m a) taken aback and b) wondering why she agreed to have a drink with me when she’s not single or why she yelled at me over the body shot when she’s got someone else.
I’m also pissed I missed my window. She was single just last week.
London’s eyes widen and she tries to pull away from me, but there’s a crowd around us and she can’t get far.
“Oh, uh…” She trails off like she isn’t sure if she should introduce me. She probably doesn’t want to, but it’s getting awkward. Well, more awkward.
Stepping forward, but not letting go of her, I extend the other hand. “Hey, what’s up, man? I’m Brogan.”
Chris studies it for a moment before shaking my hand. “You play for the Mavericks.”
“Yeah, that’s right. Are you a fan?” I ask even though he’s wearing a Mavericks shirt under his jacket.
“Oh my gosh,” the girl next to him finally speaks up. “We were just at the game. No way!”
