Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 92167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
All he could do was smile in return and allow the acid in his gut to churn. He deserved it. God, he missed her and wanted to talk to her since he’d had a chance to calm down. Even given how much of an ass he’d been to her, she’d still taken this man’s call. As they unloaded the equipment, he noticed that the children outside were watching avidly. In the mix, he saw Greer. The girl wouldn’t hold his gaze. She turned away and walked inside.
She was gone from the center by the time he returned. Another kick to the gut. He’d disappointed the little girl he loved more than almost anything in this world. He went home to find Tully and Mitchell waiting for him. Pizza and beer were already on the table. They both jerked their thumbs to the food. He pried a paper plate off the stack.
“Why haven’t you spoken to Emma yet?” Tully picked up a large slice and folded it in half before taking a bite.
“And say what?”
“Sorry is a good place to start.” Mitchell drank some beer, his blue eyes direct. “Of course, telling her you’re a dick and a sorry excuse of a man isn’t a bad idea, either.”
Linc rocked in his chair. “Doesn’t change what she did.”
Tully reached over and knocked his chair so he had to scramble to keep from falling on the floor, nearly dropping his pizza in the meantime. “What did she do?”
“What else would she be doing in a motel room with a man?” He gestured to the table. “More importantly, why the fuck is there so much pizza and beer in my house? I know we can put it away but this is a bit much, even for us.”
“It’s not for you, jackass. It’s for us.”
Linc lunged up at the sound of that voice. Carlos Ruiz.
“Get the fuck out of my house, you bastard.” He struggled but Tully and Mitchell kept him restrained—Tully with one hand as he finished up his pizza with the other. Mitchell left his beer on the table. At least he knew why the man hadn’t eaten anything yet.
“Just as arrogant as you were when you played.” Carlos shrugged easily and stepped to the table, picking up two of the slices for himself.
“And I can still outplay your mangy ass.”
“Perhaps, but between the two of us, only one made Emma cry.” A cocky grin. “And one of us had her smiling huge.”
“You fucking prick!” He slammed forward, taking Tully and Mitchell with him a few steps.
“Christ, can we all just sit down for a moment?” Mitchell snapped. He wasn’t generally a man who got visibly upset but he was snippy tonight. Two nights in a row for him, some kind of record. “Linc, get your ass in the chair, sit down, and shut up. Carlos, over there. The rest of you, get the fuck in here so we can get this going.”
Linc flopped down, anger coiled and ready inside him. Anger which segued into shock as he looked up to see Jasper Fox, Adam Savaglio, Boone, Jones, and more of his old teammates stroll into his house like he’d not ghosted them when he got injured. Like he’d not told them all to fuck off and leave him alone for the rest of his life. But it fit Tully’s vague remark about how he had come all this way to talk to Emma.
“What the fuck are you all doing here?”
“Your fiancée reached out about your community center. We’ve come to donate and help you take it national.” Adam reached for a slice of pizza and ate half before he grabbed a plate.
“That’s why you were on the phone with her?”
Adam grinned and claimed a spot against the counter as the others filed in and picked up some food and beer, all of them giving him a jut of the chin, a fist bump, or a pat on the shoulder. Damn the fucking tears for showing up.
“Tell me you’re not thinking she went behind your back.” Adam stretched the slice’s cheese from his mouth to the plate and picked it off with his fingers before shoving it in his mouth.
“That’s exactly what he’s thinking. And it didn’t help when he saw her and Carlos at the motel.” Tully swiped another two pieces. “Since my man Linc thought with his dick and not his head, he came to the worst conclusion ever about what could have been going on.”
He couldn’t even send his friend a look because Tully spoke the truth, no matter how he didn’t want to admit it to himself. Or anyone else.
“Why would you guys do this?”
Carlos tipped his beer and Linc glared at him before skimming the room to glance at men he’d not seen, except on television, since he’d woken up in the hospital. And, to be honest, he had often switched channels so he wouldn’t have to see them. They didn’t all play for the Dutchmen anymore but here they were. In his house.