Page 115 of Leave Me Broken

To my surprise, it’s Payson. I open my mouth to bitch her out because I know why she did that. She’s testing Payson’s jealousy.

“It is highly inappropriate to discuss our coach’s sexual appetite, don’t you think, Coach Fuckingham.”

“It’s Buckingham!” Valerie gasps.

Payson slaps a hand to her mouth in an overdramatic way. “Oh, good. I thought Fuckingham was a terrible last name. By the way, he is plenty assertive in all places.”

She leans forward and presses the door close button. Valerie glares at us until the doors close and I blow out a breath and pull Payson against my chest. I kiss her cheek. “You should not have said that, Jailbird.”

“She was annoying.” Janelle speaks instead of Payson. “And not to mention what she was wearing; talk about inappropriate.”

“Was it?”

Janelle shoots her stare my way and even Payson cranes her neck to look at me. “You’re joking, right? It was totally see-through. You could see her nipples through the lace.”

I shrug. “I didn’t notice.”

Payson scoffs. “As if.”

I drop my hand from her shoulders to circle around her waist and drop my mouth to her ear. “I was too busy trying not to get a boner with your ass just inches from my dick, Princess.”

“She sure had no issues checking you out. And throwing that comment about the bedroom. So low class. I actually liked her today, not now.” Janelle crosses her arms and leans against the wall.

“She was trying to get a rise from Payson.”

Payson tilts her head. “Why me?”

The doors beep and I let my arms fall from her, she frowns. After seeing the hallway is empty, I take a deep breath. “She called me out on fucking a player. You specifically because I’m ‘too invested in your future.’ And is trying to prove her assumption is more than an assumption.”

Payson pauses halfway to her room. “What? Why? Did you talk about me or something?”

“Of course I did. I will talk to anyone who listens about you.” Janelle keeps walking and makes a little awe noise from up the hall. “The reason I was absent all night is because I was forced to endure hours of stuffy coaches discussing mundane things just so I could spend thirty minutes talking about you.”

“I don’t understand.”

“One of the coaches at that table was Colorado State’s coach—”

“Ash—”

“I told him about you being interested, and guess what? He’s interested back. He’s not the women’s’ team coach but he watched the highlight reels I sent and was impressed with you and mentioned about passing them on.”

Her walls crumble and the faintest of smile lifts the corners of her lips. “Really?”

“Really.”

We stop off at my room but there’s an athletic sock on the door handle. Fucking Luca. “Who does he have in there?” Payson giggles.

“One of the coaches. I think Florida’s coach.”

She nods. “Yeah, she was pretty. Big tits.”

I chuckle under my breath. “You think Janelle would mind if we crashed in your room for a while? He won’t keep her overnight and we can come back.”

“I think Janelle will want us to stay.” Payson grabs my hands and walks backward to her room across the hall. “She wanted to find a guy to hook up with at the party but when Parker mentioned you having an ex-wife,” she growls the last bit, “it kind of ruined those plans.”

I cup her face and back her into the door, so we are out of sight from any camera’s. “Did you really believe I had a whole ex-wife you didn’t know about?”

“You had a whole son, Ash. Yeah, I did.”