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MARK: What happened?
ME: A story for another day. Send me Rob’s contact. I have a bad feeling Craig wasn’t being upfront about everything.
SHANE: You alright, bro?
Chapter 20
ANDIE
Ax’s pudgy little hands strike another set of keys, letting the sound ring out while I watch the Tigers score. Nora is in the kitchen making some kind of snack she promises is amazing, but I’m skeptical.
The constant clicking of Sniper’s nails on the floor fills the momentary interlude as he pounces around, waiting for Nora to drop something. By the sound of it, she’s making a mess.
All I know is this chick is too sweet to be hanging out with my pissy pants today and should be out with her friends, who are way more lively and fun than I am. But she’s here, and I’m grateful.
“So, are we watching all of Sean’s games now?”
She might be teasing, but I don’t want to talk about Sean anymore today or ever.
This morning after the meeting, I spent fifteen minutes too long on the phone with my mother, trying to explain that whatever was happening with Sean and me was none of her business. She lost the right to know anything about my life when she refused to acknowledge Josh because he didn’t fit into ‘our’ world. I imagine my decline to comment on the status of my ‘intimate’ relationship with Sean was about to make her pull out her regularly dyed hair. I find that amusing, and if that makesme a masochist, so be it. I may even have gone as far as to tell her what an amazingly sweet and dedicated man he is.
The last part wasn’t even a lie. After we met with Miranda, where Craig all but called me a leech who was only after Sean's fame, I saw a different side to Sean. He was vulnerable at the coffee shop, telling me he grew up in foster care and the uninteresting details of his relationship with Morgan. But in that meeting room, I thought he was going to combust.
I could feel him vibrating as his large hand grabbed my thigh and squeezed. I couldn’t stand any more of Craig’s degrading demands. His grip held strong like I was a grounding point. It shocked me at first, but weirdly, the contact felt like we were actually in this foxhole together. It wasn’t sensual or arousing. It was simply a connecting point that seemed essential to him remaining intact.
Then, there was the hug that was both bold and urgent. I’m not really sure what to make of it. I would’ve never pictured Sean as a hugger, so that has me pondering just exactly what was going through his mind. He told me he’d never had someone stick up for him, and I believe him. But that hug, his arms so tight around me, holding me to his large, forceful frame, made me just a little uncomfortable. The effects are lingering, and I don’t like it.
It was just a hug, but I’m not sure I’ve experienced one similar to it in my life. I felt warm and safe tucked against him, but it was more than that. It felt desperate and dire. It was as if he neededmein that moment.
I roll my shoulders and neck, trying to shake loose the memory.
“Seriously, I’m cooking for you, and you’re just going to ignore me.” Nora’s annoyance comes through loud and clear.
“I’m not sure you can call what’s going on over there cooking.” I adjust Ax on my lap. “I’m only watching, so Iunderstand the game better when all these fans show up for our event.” And because I know Sean hurt his elbow, and I want to see how he’s doing, but I will never admit that to Princess Sassy Sparkle Pants.
As the game goes into halftime, Snipe barks, and seconds later, the front door swings open. Gem saunters through as if she owns the place.
“Ladies, tell me you have alcohol. I spent thirty minutes on the phone with your mother, listening to her yowl like a cat in heat. If I had to listen to her go on one more minute about you punishing her with this football player and how Brice is hanging on patiently for you to come to your senses, my nicely manicured nails would’ve reached through that phone and wrung her skinny, wrinkled neck.”
She plops down in a chair across from me. “Andie, give me that handsome fella, and Nora, anything on the rocks will do.”
“It’s nice to see you too, Gemma. How may I serve you, madam?” Nora croons from the kitchen and then laughs. “All we have on tap this evening is beer.”
“Oh, good Lord. You uncivilized ladies these days, sitting around drinking toilet water.”
“BYOB, Gem,” I say, handing Axel over to her.
“Come here, young man.” She kisses his cheek, marking him with her red lips.
I settle into a spot on the couch, and it only takes a second before her beady little dagger eyes focus on me.
“What? I haven’t done anything. Not today anyway.”
“We’re watching football these days?” Gem’s eyes remain on Ax, but I hear her too-sweet tone as Nora snickers echo from the kitchen. “How’s the elbow?”
I know this woman. She thinks she’s so smooth tossing out that little tidbit as bait, but I’m no amateur. I’ve learned from the best. I school my face to remain impassive and train my eyes onthe screen like I have no idea what she’s talking about. What I want to know is how she knows about Sean’s elbow.
“Whose elbow?” I’m as cool as a cucumber.
