I rubbed the palm of my hand down my face. Fuck, I had no idea. “There wasn’t a plan. I just thought…” My voice trailed off. I had no actual idea of what to say.
“Look, Josh, we had an agreement.” She sharply inhaled a breath, bringing her eyes to mine. There was sadness in themand it was crushing me. “Maybe it could have ended differently, but it didn’t. This was probably the best way to go.”
“It wasn’t,” I rushed.
“Too bad, because it did. Did you win the bet?”
I hated the answer to that question. She shrugged. “There’s no need to be dramatic. We both won. We’re done.”
Her casualness was irritating me.
“And just what are you going to tell people?” I demanded.
“The same as always. It just didn’t work. Schedules, whatever.”
“Schedules? We have the same one.”
“Yeah, well, I am not a player in the public eye, so maybe another model will come along and?—”
“That’s what you think of me?” I snapped.
“Josh, what difference does it make? The point is, it ends. Today, tomorrow, another month? The issue isn’t the how, but the when, so let’s just call it what it is and move on.”
My mouth damn near fell open. “April.”
“No, seriously. You did us a favor. Ripped that Band-Aid right off. Now, if you don’t mind, I need to prepare for tomorrow and stuff. See ya around,champ.” She patted my chest in a patronizing way that had me wanting to do nothing more than pin her against the doorframe, but I held my restraint as she passed by me. The door closed in my face. The symbolism wasn’t missed.
CHAPTER 36
JOSH
It had been a week. Everything had gone to shit. My apartment was a reminder of April. Her toothbrush was still next to mine. There was an extra pair of sneakers in the closet. This fucking sucked.
She had been avoiding me at work and the guys had noticed something was off. I hadn’t told them everything, just that we had a fight and were cooling off. I thought they would have come at me for it but they didn’t.
Tonight was the team gala and fundraiser for children. I had planned on coming with April, but that wasn’t an option. I almost wanted to skip it, but it was a big cause and there were management, owners, and celebrities expected to be there. The coach would bench me if I missed it. So, I put on my classic black tux and did my job.
I had gotten there later than most and made my way around the room as politely as I could. My eyes were constantly searching for April. My breath hitched upon spotting her, talking with a group of people across the room. Her red hair was curled. Her makeup was brighter than I’d ever seen, and her floor-length red-velvet dress clung to every oneof her curves. She looked like a living image of Jessica Rabbit. Gorgeous.
My dick felt tight enough across the zipper of my dress pants that maybe Jake and Kev were right and they weretoofitted. The urge to stalk up to her died the second I watched Moose with his big brawny arms swoop in behind her and guide her farther into the open ballroom of the hotel. She flashed a smile to him that was both genuine and beautiful. Jealousy tore through me worse than when I lost MVP to Kev.
What the fuck was he doing touching her?
Before I could stop myself, I darted across the room and came up beside her. I gripped her elbow, pulling her towards the dance floor, ignoring the shock across Moose’s big, fat face.
“What are you doing?” she whispered through clenched teeth, as if she was trying not to cause any commotion.
“Me? What the hell are you doing?” I asked, guiding her in front of me and locking our arms.
She turned her head to the side, ignoring me, as she refused to look at me. Harsh and notnotwarranted after my stunt. “Why are you here with Moose?”
Without missing a beat or looking at me, she simply stated, “He asked.”
My lips pursed together, mostly to keep in the string of profanities threatening to unleash the minute it opened. Instead, we moved back and forth, left and right, to the music. It dawned on me, she knew how to waltz.
I twirled her on the floor and as she came back to me, our eyes locked. I felt my knees weaken under her angry stare. “Why are you doing this?”
“Dancing?” she huffed as if that was obvious. “Because I wanted to and to say, you’re stunning.”
