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Her stubborn ass is making this so difficult. “It will because I know what’s important now. I have to go too. My brothers are waiting.” She nods once and takes a step back. “I’ll call you.”
She stops her retreat. “No. Figure out your life.”
She says it like it’s final, but that little two-letter word coming out of her mouth is like pouring gasoline on a fire.
“I’ll see you soon, Andie.” I take a couple of steps away, but she doesn’t move, her beautiful green eyes almost disappearing as her lids close halfway over them.
“Sean, I don’t like people who don’t listen.”
“I know. You don’t like me anyway, so I don’t really care.” I turn, not giving her a chance to respond.
I’m going to find my brothers and figure out what in the hell to do about Doug, this team, the trade, and whatever else is going on that I don’t know about. Then, I’m going to call Andie and make damn clear I’m not going anywhere. I need her in my life. I don’t care in what capacity. She’s dead wrong about not meeting the standard of the type of person acceptable in my life. Hell, she set the new bar.
Chapter 33
ANDIE
“Are you going to answer that?”
My phone buzzes on the table in front of me. I flip it over to see the caller and set it back down. “No.”
Jonesy clears his throat and hits the button to play back what we just recorded. My phone buzzes again, just once. I don’t need to look at it, but Jonesy raises his eyebrows.
“You sure you don’t need to get that?”
“Yeah.”
He hits the button, and my song stops playing as he swivels his chair in my direction, leaning back so far the chair looks like it might tip over. “Are you avoiding him?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I lean back in my own chair, crossing my arms over my chest.
It’s been three days since the event, and Sean is calling. Again. He told me he would, and he has, despite me telling him not to.
I don’t know what to say. He looked pitiful and frustrated and like he was about to lose his lunch right there on the field, but I’m not interested in more drama or ruining the career he’s worked so hard for.
I know it’s immature to avoid him, but he needs to figure out his life, and I need to get back to mine. Dictators run his life, andthere’s no room for anything other than football. His GM made that clear.
What started out as two hours in an elevator became a horrific nightmare. One we’re both more than ready to put behind us. We helped each other through it and used it to do something amazing for some incredible people. Now, maybe it’s time for our dreadful adventure to come to a close and move on.
Jonesy taps a pen against his lips. “Andie, I’ve known you long enough to know something is going on, and I’m smart enough to guess it has to do with Sean and what happened at the event. If that man is calling you, you can’t avoid him forever.”
I roll my eyes. “You sound like Nora and Gem. Please tell me you haven’t joined their sewing circle.”
He laughs. “Not yet, although they’re highly entertaining.”
I flip my phone over and look at it.
SEAN: How long is the blackout going to last? I’m going to keep calling.
I meet Jonesy’s expecting eyes. “I’m not avoiding him. I just don’t know what to say yet. This whole thing has been…too much. It’s constant drama and worry. I can’t live like that. He needs to get stuff sorted out with his management and know what’s happening with the possible trade. I need to not be a part of that…at least until things settle down.”
He twists the chair from side to side, studying his hands. “So you can’t be friends until then?”
I rub my face. “I don’t even know if we’re friends.”
It’s a lie. I know we’re friends. Actually, he’s become my closest friend outside of Nora. I’ve even shared things with him that I haven’t admitted to anyone. I’m fairly certain he’s done the same, but maybe that’s because it was safe. There was no pretense or misconception that we were anything other thanwhat we were. Just two people caught up in a lie, trying to make the best of it.
There wasn’t a single thing between Sean and me that was fake or dishonest. There’s never been a reason for it. The whole world thought we were sleeping together, but we relied on each other, dealt with the consequences, and unbeknownst to all those people, we became friends of the truest kind.
