Page 55 of Second Go-Round

“Well, whoever you decide to go with, just be sure to head home afterward and forego your usual barhopping.”

“Yes, Mommy,” I stated, sarcastic as hell.

Jessie laughed, and a few minutes later I hung up, gaze glued to my cell’s screen. Oh, the temptation…but calling Jarod wasn’t an option since I didn’t have his number.

My text notification dinged.

J: Just in case...

She included Jarod’s contact info.

“Damn you.” I dropped my phone onto the bed beside me and stared across my bedroom, unseeing. I didn’t want to get involved with someone I liked too much to hurt. Yet I also couldn’t get him out of my mind and move on with my pathetic life.

I snorted. I barely had one outside our family business. Sure, I had Dad and a couple of close friends, but lately, I’d felt like an aimless boat adrift at sea. No destination. No purpose outside passing the hours away. There was nothing driving me forward, no goals.

No dreams to fulfill.

But I had daydreams aplenty.

My throat tightened over a sense of loss I couldn’t pinpoint or name. Something akin to…grief welled up inside me.

I picked up my phone, my hand suddenly shaking.

C: Last minute, but want to go to the Pats game with me? This is Christine, btw. Jessie gave me your number.

The inside of my lower lip fought with my teeth while I waited. Would he even answer? Tell me to fuck off? Agree with the excitement of a pubescent teen finally getting the girl? Or had he forgotten all about me in the plethora of pussy he’d been banging for Elite?

Heat welled up inside me and not the good kind. Just the thought of another woman on Jarod’s body made me want to slice a bitch.

“The fuck is wrong with me?” I muttered, rubbing a hand over my face. Jealousy over a man I told myself I didn’t want…

My cell dinged, giving me a single-worded response.

Sure.

I frowned even though my heart leapt. What the hell kind of answer was that? Hating the lack of tell through texting, I called rather than typing out some snarky shit that would probably make him change his mind.

Guess I was desperate or something. Blowing out a heavy exhale, I realized I was—but not just for company at the game.

“Christine,” he answered.

“Don’t sound so enthused,” I said rather than greet him. I sounded like a petulant brat, but what else was new?

He chuckled. “If I’d have thrown a bunch of googley-eyed emojis and hearts back at you, you’d probably have texted back to forget you’d asked.”

“You’re probably right,” I agreed although the idea of excitement in his reply fluttered my belly.

“Well then, sure it is.”

“Okay.” I hated that I grinned. Hated that my heart and panties melted at the sound of his voice over the phone. I would need to give one of my vibrators a workout before heading to Gillette.

“Want me to pick you up and drive us down there?” he asked.

“Sure,” I sassed with a mocking tone, still smiling like a cupid-shot idiot.

Jarod outright laughed.

Chapter 24

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