Page 45 of A Scoring Chance
This is a completely pointless conversation. It doesn’t matter if he keeps the food or not. I have enough here from the last time Momma filled my fridge to feed Beauty and me a decent dinner, but there’s something much more important in that basket. “You can take it, but Ramona’s bag is inside. Bring that here as soon as you get back.”
“I have permission to come back inside?”
“Oh, you’re asking my permission this time?”
“I don’t want to walk in on something again. I’m not a complete asshole, Cooper.”
“You aren’t, just the second-best Hendrix.” Beau rolls his eyes at me before pulling the door open and slamming it tightly shut behind him.
I know he’ll head right to the park and bring Ramona’s bag back quickly. I just hope the rain didn’t ruin her notebook. When she ran away from me, I packed our things up as quickly as possible, not forgetting to shove the notebook and bag into the picnic basket before the rain started. Hopefully, the basket was enough to protect it.
I head toward the other end of the house. There’s a spare bedroom I keep for whenever Ma comes to the city, just in case she wants to stay here instead of heading back home after a game. Beau has a similar setup in his condo, as well, which is a good thing. If things go as planned tomorrow, Ramona and Darius will stay here with me.
I open the door and find Beauty, lying across my king-sized bed, a white towel wrapped around her head. The lamp on the nightstand beside the bed casts a warm glow around the room. I would love nothing more than to climb into the bed and wrap my arms around her, but I need to shower first. I stride toward the bed and plant a kiss on her forehead before heading into the bathroom. I quickly shuck my clothes and take a shower, not wanting to waste another minute away from her. I make quickwork of washing the important areas before heading into my closet to pull on a pair of boxers and sweatpants. I usually sleep in just my boxers, but something tells me she’ll feel much better if my lower half is more covered.
I pause near the bed, my eyes scanning her body and cataloging everything about her. The warm brown skin of her legs peaks out from beneath a Portland Timberwolves T-shirt, and I imagine what it would be like for her to wear my name and number on her back. I may have to make sure that happens sooner rather than later.
Ramona shivers slightly, curling in on herself for warmth, and I spring into action. I slowly slide my arms underneath her shoulders and legs before lifting her into my arms. Beauty buries her nose in my chest and sighs, her entire body melting into mine. A warmth spreads through me, unlike anything I’ve ever felt before, healing a few of the broken pieces inside me.
I shift her weight to one arm, using the other to pull down the covers and gently lay her back on the bed. I pull them up quickly but stop to look at her face, noticing a matching smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose like her mother’s and a small scar just above her right eyebrow. My thumb brushes against the scar, wondering how she got it. I want to know everything there is to know about her, and that terrifies me.
What if I mess this up? What if my selfishness ruins this, too? I don’t know if I’d ever recover if I hurt her or Darius. Is it better to not start something at all? No, it isn’t. Even a chance at something with Ramona is worth the risk. I just need to figure out how to convince her to let me in. How can I show her she can trust me with her demons because I have the same ones?
The chime of my cell phone rings from the bathroom, and I rush to silence it. Grabbing the phone, I notice a text from Beau.
Second-Best Hendrix
The bag is on the bench in the entryway along with a few condoms I grabbed from my apartment because I’d garner a guess that you don’t have any. Better safe than sorry, brother.
Leave it to my brother to ruin a perfectly good moment, but I have to admit, he’s right. I’m no monk or anything, but I have little time for anything besides hockey during the season. And with my accelerated workout schedule I kept this off-season, there wasn’t much time for much else.
Thanks, brother. See you tomorrow.
I head out of the bedroom, straight for the entryway, and find her bag right where Beau said he left it. My fingers itch to check on her notebook, to make sure everything is still as he left it, but I don’t. Not only did Momma teach me never to go into a woman’s purse, but I have a feeling Ramona wouldn’t appreciate it either. That tattered notebook means something to her. It represents something she lost. Something she still longs for and deserves to have even if she doesn’t see it.
I grab her bag and head back toward the bedroom, dropping it on the nightstand beside her and noticing the time on the clock. It’s only about two o’clock. I’m not much of a napper, but the idea of climbing into my bed and snuggling with Beauty sounds like the best idea. It’s not what I should do by any means, but it’s what I’m going to do. But not before letting her family know what’s going on, and by that, I mean Alise.
Can you let Darius and Ramona’s mom know that she’s safe? She fell asleep, and I don’t want to wake her.
Lissy Loo Loo
I asked you to talk to her at lunch, not give her a happy ending.
Not that it’s any of your business, but she really did just fall asleep. We got caught in the rain, and after her shower, she was dead on her feet.
Lissy Loo Loo
Damn, too bad for you. I’ll let everyone know she’s staying the night with you. I’ll ride up tomorrow with Auntie Mel and bring Darius with us. You have our tickets, right?
Of course, I do.
Lissy Loo Loo
Good. See you tomorrow. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.
That doesn’t leave out much.
Lissy Loo Loo
