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Lily shook her head and shrugged. “It’s no biggie, Aiden. We had a good time for a while, just like we said we would, right?”
He nodded. “Yeah, right.”
The really hopeful, silly side of her thought she heard a little catch in his throat and saw regret forming in his eyes, but she shoved that thought aside. She wouldn’t be an idiot about this.
Aiden shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “I guess I don’t need you to do my meals for me anymore,” he said and Lily nodded slowly. Should have seen that one coming. “But, I’ll make sure the rest of the guys know they shouldn’t stop using you just because we’re not together anymore.”
At that point, something hit Lily and she didn’t think she could fight the lump in her throat any longer. Because, now it had all come back around to her business instead of to the gaping hole he’d be leaving when he left her. Two more seconds and she’d be crying. The burning sensation behind her eyes and the sheer fire in her throat was more than she could take.
“Great,” she threw what she hoped was a convincing smile on her face and opened the door for Aiden, praying he’d leave so she could have her breakdown in private. He stood and watched her for a minute before walking out the door. Lily shut it and leaned back against the wall, where she finally let the tears fall. She’d done exactly what she’d known she shouldn’t do. She’d fallen for a guy who wasn’t remotely in her league, who didn’t live in the same world she did, and who certainly wasn’t about to fall for her.
And it sucked. Big.
* * *
Walking away from Lily was the hardest thing Aiden had ever done, especially when he heard her crying from the other side of the door. And, he was a selfish prick for doing it. It would have been one thing if he’d ended things because he was no good for her or something a little more noble like that. But, he’d acted out of sheer self-preservation. Because he knew damned well that he was falling for her. Hell, never mind falling, he'd fallen.
But, he’d closed his eyes and turned away from her because he was a dick. A first class dick. And over the next week, he never felt worse in his life. He went home to an empty townhouse after each game, ignoring his teammates’ invitations to join them out at a club or grab a bite to eat. He played like crap all week, taking heat from his teammates, his coaches, and his fans. And, that jackwad Brian James, who’d started all this crap in the first place, tore him apart in his daily blog posts. James blamed all of this on the curse, arguing that Aiden’s relationship with Lily was getting in the way of his game, but Aiden knew the truth.
Theendof his relationship was what had gotten in the way.
“Played like crap today, Aiden. Again,” came the voice of his third baseman from behind him, and Aiden ground his teeth together.
He didn’t reply, just tossed his towel into the hamper next to the showers, and walked over to his locker with nothing covering himself. It took him about two seconds to pull on clothes and grab his wallet and keys. But, before he could duck out, Rafe cornered him. Rafe was at least a little more understanding than the other guys. He and Gage had both had Aiden’s back over the last week, but he knew if he didn't get it together soon, even they’d lose their patience with him.
“Have you talked to her at all?” Rafe asked.
Aiden shook his head. “I don’t plan on it. It’s over.”
Now it was Rafe’s turn to shake his head. “You’re dumber than a post, aren’t you?”
Aiden tightened his hands into fists but didn’t respond. He wouldn’t fight with his teammate on that count. Hewasdumber than a post. But, that still didn’t change anything. He didn’t head into this thing with Lily wanting a relationship, and he still wasn’t willing to go there. It wasn’t what he wanted or needed in his life right now.
Gage joined them and shoved a Ziploc baggie into his chest. “I doubled my order of them so I could bring you a fix.”
Aiden looked down and saw that the bag was filled with the special snack cookies Lily made for all of them, and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t miss those almost as much as he missed her. He cracked a half smile. If only it was as easy to have her back in his life as the bag of cookies. If he could just have her, but not lose sight of himself in the process, not let himself slip too far into things….
“Thanks, man. The new company I’m using doesn’t have anything like this,” he said, taking the bag from Gage.
“What? You’re using another company for food? Dude, I knew you’d stop having Lily deliver your food, but you’re actually supporting her freaking competition?” Gage had raised his voice and half the guys around were now watching them, making Aiden feel like even more of a dick.
He shrugged. “I got hooked on having all those meals in my fridge. They’re not nearly as good as hers were though,” he said.
Gage just shook his head and snatched the bag back from Aiden.
“Hey! What the hell?”
Gage continued to shake his head as he walked away, cookies and all, mumbling something about, “dumber than a box of rocks.”
Chapter Thirteen
Things didn’t get any better from there. Aiden felt like hell all hours of the day and night. He had headaches and he wasn’t sleeping. When anyone asked, he tried to say he was coming down with something, but he knew the truth. He wanted Lily back in his life. The only problem was, he still didn’t want to get caught by the damn curse. Half of him wondered if this sudden desire to have Lily in his life on a permanent basis—to marry her and start a family with her, to build a future—was only because of this curse? What if he got to the end of the season and those feelings were gone?
If that were true, he’d just hurt her more in the end. And, one thing he didn't want to do was hurt Lily. In fact, after canceling his own food deliveries with her company, he’d gone to Kane and a few of the other Brawler football players, and asked them to start using her just to be sure she was doing okay financially. They’d agreed so she should have gotten at least three or four new customers out of the whole deal. It didn’t alleviate his guilt or make him feel better, but maybe it would help her out in the long run.
Aiden glanced through the containers labeled with different meals in his fridge. The new food delivery service wasn’t nearly as good, but it was better than a lot of the crap he used to make for himself. The label on the package he grabbed read:Asian Tofu Stir Fry with Rice Noodles. Good enough.
A minute and twenty seconds in the microwave and lunch was served. Aiden ran through his schedule as he swallowed the mushy, overcooked noodles without tasting much of the meal. It was his day off so he would head out after lunch to do some errands, then he had to swing by and meet with the team’s physical therapist. They were adding extra PT sessions for his shoulder since it’d been acting up a lot lately.
