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The room looks right out of a Pottery Barn ad, the walls a soft gray-green shade and the furniture different hues of brown. Picture frames and books line the shelves surrounding the TV and a fire crackles in the fireplace.
“We have an entire case of this wine downstairs,” he says, sitting down in the chair next to mine. “And my boss is pretty cool, so we can stay up as late as you want watching movies. Would you like to choose from my Cry It Out list or my Feel Better list?”
“You have lists?”
“I do.”
I smile, grateful Quentin applied for his job when he did. I had no idea how much I needed him in my life.
“Feel Better sounds nice,” I say, though I don’t think any movie will help me forget the hurt in Colby’s eyes when he caught me in a lie.
How can he think I’d ever sleep with any other man? No one measures up.
Quentin scrolls to find something on his phone. “Bring It On, As Good as it Gets, Bridesmaids, The Princess Diaries, Mean Girls, Pitch Perfect.”
“The only one of those I’ve seen is Bridesmaids.”
He wrinkles his nose, looking offended. “All the money in the world and you still don’t know good cinema.”
“I went to boarding school. We didn’t get to watch many movies.”
He picks up a remote from the coffee table. “A life without Regina George is no life at all. We’ll start with Mean Girls. Tell me to pause it if you want to talk.”
I won’t. There’s nothing to say. I either have to tell Colby the secret I swore to take to my grave, or I’ll lose him.
Jacob comes in with two big bowls, handing one to me and one to Quentin. They’re both filled with freshly popped popcorn with M&M’s mixed in. I close my eyes, taking in the scents of butter and melty chocolate.
“Thank you,” I say. “Can you join us?”
“I’ll be in after I clean up and turn down the guest bed for you.”
“No, don’t do that,” I say firmly. “I’m not staying.”
He nods. “Yes, you are. I’m making you banana walnut pancakes for breakfast.”
“You don’t want to miss those. They’re yummy,” Quentin says.
I swallow against the lump in my throat. “Thanks, you guys. I’ll stay if you promise to come to a sleepover at my place soon.”
Not that I have a place at the moment, but I’ll have to buy one soon. Colby won’t let me stay with things this way between us.
“Deal,” Quentin says.
He presses play on the movie and I try to focus on it, but my mind keeps wandering to Colby.
I don’t know if I can fix things between us. I’m going to sleep on it and see if I have a clearer answer in the morning.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Colby
“You look like hell,” Dom says, sitting down next to me on a bench in the locker room.
“Thanks.”
“Just keeping it real, man. You hungover?”
I shrug. “A little.”
“Go stick your head in the ice tub. Your whole head. It helps.”
“I took some aspirin. I’ll be okay.”
We have a home game tonight, and I’m running on about three hours of sleep. When I left the house last night, I went to Mountain Top and drank alone for a couple of hours. Mila was gone when I got home and she hadn’t come back by the time I left this morning.
I’m just trying to get by until I can go home for my pregame nap. I turned my phone off and have been drinking lots of water. I’m in no condition to play a game right now, so I have to get my mind and body into a better place.
Mila’s deception hit me hard. Things between us were great. We never seemed to get tired of each other. Laughing, talking, eating…and the sex was off the charts. In the week things were good between us, I was either working, sleeping, or spending time with her. I felt like a high school kid falling in love for the first time.
I want to believe there’s an explanation for her lie, but if there is, I can’t understand why she won’t just talk to me.
“Thought you’d be dancing right about now,” Beck says, leaning over from a couple of lockers down.
“Why?”
“You didn’t hear? Your brother got called up. My buddy Clark texted me. Heath’s going to be on the third line with him.”
I’m too stunned to speak for a few seconds. Then I get up and grab my phone from my locker, turning it on. There are several texts and two missed calls from Heath.
I immediately dial him.
“I got the call,” he says in answer. “I fucking got the call. Can you believe it?”
My eyes start to water a little and I look down, not wanting my teammates to see. “Of course I believe it, man. I knew you would. Congratulations.”
