AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Natalie:Too bad. I can’t. I’m busy.
Me:Too busy for me?
Everyone had taken their shot and was walking toward the putting green. Shaking my head, I followed. My ball was closest to the hole, so I had to wait on the others to take their shot. Dmitri and Roman were talking shop with Marco about offensive schemes and passing routes.
Natalie:Too busy for anything that includes you.
Me:Don’t let your personal feelings about me cloud your professionalism.
Natalie:Don’t make it about you, narcissist.
I laughed.
Me:Narcissist? Seems like you’ve thought about me a lot if you’re already giving me a label.
Natalie:You just proved my point.
Me:What? That you’ve thought about me a lot?
The dots moved again and then went away before another text finally popped up.
Natalie:No!!! That you’re a narcissist.
Me:Okay. I’ll let you get back to doing whatever you were doing. Keep thinking about me.
Natalie:Please don’t contact me again.
“Yes!” Dmitri pumped his arm in the air before bending over to take his golf ball out of the hole. I put my phone away and pulled out my putter, fist-bumping him as I passed by. “Why are you grinning like an idiot?” he asked.
“Life is good, man.” For some reason, I felt a thousand times better than I did a few hours ago. She may not have wanted to, but she responded to my texts.
Several days had passed, and Natalie was being elusive as ever. Anytime I asked her if we could meet, she shut it down or made an excuse. At practice, she was never alone, so I didn’t have a chance to talk to her. She wanted nothing to do with me, apparently. Which didn’t bode well for either of us because I didn’t do well with not getting what I wanted.
It was Saturday morning, and we had a game later this afternoon. It was the final game of the season, and we had to win. Stepping out of my bedroom, I heard chatter off in the distance. As I drew closer, I heard Nick say, “Don’t expect me to call you Daddy Dmitri.”
“Well, what are you gonna do about it?” Roman asked. “Are you finally going to admit there’s something going on with your ward?”
I walked into the kitchen to see everyone standing around, watching Dmitri like he was a time bomb about to set off. Well, not everyone. Theo and Kenzie, yes. Nick and Roman both had smug looks on their faces. Dmitri was texting something on his phone, grinning like a son of a bitch.
“Did I miss something?” I leaned a hip against the kitchen counter, waiting for an explanation.
“Sorina’s pregnant,” Roman said.
“Pregnant? But I swear I used protection,” I deadpanned, and cue Dmitri losing his shit… I wanted someone to lose their shit today, considering I was fucking frustrated, as well.
“Axel…”
“I know.” I raised my hands. “You’re going to kill me.” I added, “You can try.”
“I will, one day soon.” He stalked over to me. With the mood I was in, I was close to welcoming the challenge, regardless of whether I should give Dmitri a hard time. But it was so damn easy.
I wasn’t afraid of Dmitri. Hell, we’d gone at it before in practice. But that was part of our DNA. At one point, he thought I had an interest in Sorina, but I never did. Anyone could see she and Dmitri already had a thing for each other. “Come on, D, I’m fucking with you.” I reached out to give him a dap. He just stood and glared at me, fuming.
“Wrong time to make jokes,” Roman said shaking his head.
Nick walked by and nudged my shoulder. “Have some tact.”
“I do. Come on, man. We all knew you and Sorina were sneaking around, fucking on the down-low. Anyone with any sense could tell.”
