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“None of it happened on purpose.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh, so it was just random. Right.”
“It was. I swear.”
“Your word means nothing to me. Now move. I need to get to work.”
“Just give me ten minutes. Please. I’d give my left nut for some coffee from your Keurig and ten minutes of your time.”
Her grip on the side of her door tightened, her knuckles whitening. “You have a lot of fucking nerve asking me to make you coffee after you lied to me. Get the hell out of here.”
I took a step forward and she looked up at me, her hazel eyes swimming with emotion.
“I’m sorry. You have no idea how sorry I am it went down like this.”
She looked away, her voice insistent. “Move.”
“Can you just let me in for ten minutes?”
“You are not coming into my apartment.” She stepped outside, forcing me to move out of the way, and used a key to lock her door.
“Why are you so adamant about me not coming in?” My pulse pounded nervously. “Is there someone in there?”
She scowled. “Like it’s any of your fucking business.”
“Sariah.” I put my hands on either side of her door near her shoulders, boxing her in. “I haven’t even looked at another woman since we started texting. I was an asshole and I was wrong, but…if Eric Alvarado is in your apartment, I’m going to break down this door and then I’m going to break his goddamn face.”
“Why would Alvarado be in my apartment?”
“He wanted to score points with you by being the one to tell you. That fucker has it out for me. And if he slept with the woman he knows I’m into, I will—”
“You’re fucking serious.” Sariah put a palm on my chest and pushed, but I didn’t budge.
“Move, Nash.”
I was irrational, practically shaking with anger. “Tell me the truth.”
She shook her head. “Even now, it’s about your ego, isn’t it? Can’t have Alvarado getting your piece, right?”
“You have never been that to me. Never. But he’s taken things to a level he’s not ready for.”
Her gaze softened. “This isn’t you, Nash. You’re not a guy who forces a woman to stay somewhere she doesn’t want to be or gets sent to jail for beating up teammates.”
I dropped my hands from the door, shamed. “No, I’m not forcing you to do anything.”
“I want to go to work now. I’m done with this conversation.”
She turned and started walking away, and I followed.
“It was a coincidence, Sariah. I found out the day you started working for the Mavericks. When you told me your name, I figured it had to be you.”
She picked up her pace, her heels clicking on the concrete sidewalk.
“But what would I have said?” I continued. “Right there in front of Kevin, you wanted me to ask if you were the same Sariah I’d been texting?”
She reached her sedan, and as she took the keys out of her bag, I noticed her hand was shaking.
“You could have texted me. Called me that night. You had so many opportunities to tell me, but instead you used me. And it worked, right? You got me in bed. Go high-five your teammates about what a player you are and move on to your next victim.”
“I really like you,” I said as she got into her car. “I was wrong and I’m sorry and I’ll do whatever I need to so I can make things right.”
“So you can continue sleeping with the woman you scammed? Sounds pretty amazing. Fuck you, Nash.”
She put her hand on the door handle and I saw my chance slipping away.
“I wanted you to know me,” I said, the words coming out in a rush. “The real me. The guy who likes cereal and horror movies and hanging out with my dogs. I wanted you to like that guy. Not the hockey star or the rich guy or the guy with the abs in the underwear ad.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I hate that underwear picture and you know it.”
“You know what I’m saying. I made up the name Rob because I didn’t know who you were and I had no idea what you were going to become to me. If I could do it over, I’d do it differently.”
“The truth is, you’re all those things you mentioned above. And you withheld that from me. It would be one thing if we hadn’t slept together, but…fuck, Nash, you hurt me. So bad. And for your teammates to know and not me? For you to make me into a locker room joke?”
“I didn’t—”
She cut me off. “You asked me to forgive you, and my answer is no. It’s not a soft no, or a no laced with a maybe, it’s a hard no. I’m done with you. Now leave me alone.”
She pulled on her car door, forcing me to jump back to avoid having the door closed on me.
