AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Yeah." He upturned his and got a fresh bottle. "This is the first time Bam has pulled a prank on me."
"It is?" Bam frowned. "That was quite the oversight."
"Please, don't feel the need to play catch up," Ollie said, eyes wide. Sometimes I forgot how young he was. The kid was barely out of high school. He had more talent in his little finger than most guys have in their whole bodies. Some people are just blessed I suppose.
And blessed people shouldn't miss out on being pranked.
"I wasn't, until you said that," Bam said. "Now I'm forced to look through my folder and pull out some of the classics."
"You have a folder?" I asked. "That's next level, bro."
"Ain't it though?" Bam said. "I take this shit seriously, bro. Besides, I wouldn't want to do the same thing twice to the same person."
"That's true." I wish that meant I'd never have to worry about lemon in my water again. That was one of the simpler, classic pranks, so it turned up several times a season. Sometimes it was prune juice, or dissolved laxatives. Usually those happened in the pre-season. No one wanted to put a game at risk for a few laughs. They'd get fired and the whole team would hate their guts until the end of time, or the end of the season, depending how bad the diarrhoea got.
That was a risk no one would take. Of course, you didn't get where we were without taking it seriously. For every one of us, there were a hundred talented young men, just itching to take our place. Not like jock itch kind of itch, but ambition.
We were all replaceable. None of us was naive enough to think we weren't. We were awesome, maybe the awesomest, but some day we'd run out of steam and someone would need to step in, while we stepped out.
I dreaded that day more than anything. Right here, right now, this was my life. My whole life, now I decided not to let another woman in.
"I'm really fine not being pranked," Ollie said as we headed back out on the field. "It's a rite of passage I can live without. I know I belong."
I shrugged. "Sorry, buddy. If I could save you from Bam, I would."
"What about you?" Ollie asked.
"I can't even save myself," I said.
"No, I mean, who will save me from you?" He gave me the side eye.
I grinned. "No one. Don't worry, I'll go easy on you. At first."
He groaned.
I patted his shoulder. "Actually, how would you feel about being my apprentice?"
"I'd rather work with you than against you," he said slowly.
"Smart guy," I said. "We'll think up something for the end of the season. Something they'll talk about for years. With your help, it'll be epic." And with any luck, no one would blame me.
With even more luck, it might take my mind off Brandi and Ashley.
CHAPTER 15
ASHLEY
I leaned back in my chair and looked over the official photos from the fashion parade. As predicted, sales of mint green shirts went through the roof the last few days. If I saw them everywhere, I'd only have myself to blame. What is it they say? Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it.
I wanted the parade to be a hit and I wanted to get Kris' attention. Mission accomplished. At what cost? My eyeballs hurt every time I saw that colour, and my sleep for the last two nights was patchy at best.
I hadn't tried to contact Kris, and he hadn't called or texted me. I'd posted a couple of work related things on social media, and he'd liked them, but that was all. I presumed it was his way of letting me know he was out there still, but giving me some space.
It was sweet, but I was almost sure I was stringing him along. Part of me wanted to call him and end it, once and for all. The other part wanted to call him and ask him to move back in.
Things between us were comfortable before the Brandi thing, familiar. It would be so easy to fall back into the same old routines, as though nothing happened.
But ithadhappened and I couldn't get past that.
