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“Are you forgetting who we’re talking about? This is Radleigh McCoy, womaniser extraordinaire, and you just called him a meathead!”
“He is a meathead. A super handsome meathead.”
Bree was a breath of fresh air among the soccer wives and girlfriends. She didn’t have a single bone of snobbery in her body, and she took no pleasure in the bitching and backstabbing that often went on. If scientists could make mini clones of Bree to hand out to everyone, the worldwide reduction in depression would be enormous.
“His looks don’t make up for the fact that he’s disgusting. Or for him reporting me for things I didn’t do.”
Her smile slipped into a frown. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”
I shrugged. “It’s not your fault he doesn’t like me.”
“It’s not about liking,” Freya said. “McCoy is all ego and he’s used to getting his way. He doesn’t like being told he can’t have what he wants.”
“He doesn’t want me,” I said, rolling my eyes. “He wants the woman who turned him down.”
“Yes. But that’s you.”
“I can’t be the first woman who ever said no to him.”
“I don’t know,” Bree mused. “Women can’t get enough of him and he can’t resist a pretty face.”
“But Leah isn’t just a pretty face,” Freya pointed out. “She’s a pretty face with a kick-ass attitude.”
“Well, so are you,” I said. “Has he ever hit on you?”
“No. Maybe I should be offended because he’ll usually mount any woman with a pulse, but actually, I’m just relieved.”
“How about you, Bree?”
She shook her head. “I’ve seen him looking at me but he’s never tried anything. He wouldn’t dare go near a teammate’s wife.”
Bree clearly had more confidence in McCoy’s restraint than I did. If he could show up at my flat and lie about his intentions, he’d have no problem betraying a colleague if he thought he would get away with it.
I had no idea what made me so interesting to him. Perhaps he assumed that being new meant I’d be an easy target. Too bad for him, being a pushover is not in my nature.
.
Chapter 3: I’ll Never Be That Drunk
Travelling around America for away matches never got old. It fascinated me to visit different states and although we rarely got a chance to thoroughly explore, I always found time to indulge in one of my favourite hobbies. Collecting tacky souvenirs. It was a hobby I’d picked up as a teenager when I worked in a gift shop. We sold all kinds of bizarre crap that tourists wouldn’t have touched on home turf, but with their brains in holiday mode, they purchased it in bundles. My bedroom was full of random junk I’d bought from different cities, though I never really viewed it as junk. I preferred to call them memories. One day, I could look back on all my mementos and remind myself of the fun I’d had, and the places I’d been.
The week of my – let’s call it “surprise” - meeting with Richard, we travelled to Arizona on Friday in preparation for a match on Saturday evening. The last few days of dodging McCoy had been trying, and I was more than ready to blow off some steam. Freya, Will and I made plans to find the best club in Phoenix and let our hair down for a few hours to relieve some of the stress.
After training, I took a nap so I’d be refreshed for our evening out, but a call from Bree woke me mid-afternoon. She begged me to go to her room to see the piles of new clothes she’d bought and I knew if I didn’t go I’d never hear the end of it.
For an hour and a half, we rummaged through her insane amount of purchases like we were at the world’s most upmarket jumble sale. She insisted on modelling almost every item – including the newest additions to her sexy lingerie collection. Good thing I was confident about my body or I’d have felt extremely depressed standing so close to a girl whose figure would have made Barbie weep with envy.
Bree’s one-woman fashion show exhausted me, but she eventually released me and I joined Freya and Will for dinner in the hotel restaurant to fuel up for the night ahead.
“Hey,” Freya said. “We thought you’d got lost!”
“I almost did,” I answered, taking the seat opposite her and perusing the menu. My stomach was growling. “Bree wanted me to check out the newest additions to her wardrobe and treated me to full demonstrations of how she plans to seduce Jude in her new underwear. I didn’t think I’d get out alive.”
“Death by designer labels. Not a bad way to go.”
I smiled in agreement. “I invited her to the club with us later, I hope you don’t mind.”
“Of course not, the more the merrier.”
