“Cole, Oh god,” I pant as I follow my body with his words, replicating the beautiful torture he’s describing.
“That’s right, baby,” he husks.
Suddenly there’s loud pounding on my door.
I let out a frustrated groan. “I’m on Aubry’s phone. He’s knocking on my door. He might need it.”
“Fucking fuck,” he shouts. “Fucking Aubry and his ability to cock block even when I’m miles away from you,” he says, his breathing heavy.
I let out a strangled laugh as I get up and wrap the towel around myself again.
“What’d you need to talk to me about?” I ask remembering that he called to ask me something.
“Aubry says you’re not staying in my house when you come this weekend. I can assure you, especially after this conversation, that you’re not staying anywhere else.”
“Cole,” I start as I open the door and find Aubry with an eyebrow raised. I’m sure my flushed face has “guilty” written all over it. “I’d rather stay at a hotel. I really don’t want to see Erin after what happened the other day,” I say. I really don’t want to see her at all, but I’ll keep that to myself.
“We’ll see about that,” Cole says and I hand the phone over to Aubry.
Aubry gets it and greets Cole again. As he walks away I hear him say, “Don’t worry, Cole. I’ll pick up where you left off.”
I laugh and close my door. That night, I fall asleep smiling, and dream about Cole’s body over mine.
Chapter 8
Present
“It feels so good to be getting out of here,” Aubry says as we wait in the security line at O’Hare International Airport.
I was able to get out of staying in Cole’s house. Luckily, he didn’t argue when I told him I would prefer to stay in the city. His house is a thirty-five minute drive to the city, so I told him I’d rather stay with Becky and shop while he’s at work.
“Sure does,” I say smiling.
I still haven’t checked out the safety deposit box at the bank. I’ve gone and chickened out three times. I haven’t even been able to step inside the iron doors. I contemplated telling Mark about it, but I still don’t know how much I can trust him. Shelley did tell me to question everything, and even though she said he has my best intentions, she doesn’t know what happened that night. Since I can’t rely on the memory of my four year old self, I’ll just have to question his motives.
We arrive in New York at noon, and take a cab to the Waldorf Astoria, which is where Greg’s team is staying. He was assigned to room with a teammate, so that he would be less distracted so Becky, Aubry, and I will be sharing a two bedroom suite. I’m sure Greg will find a way to sneak in there as well, though. When we pull up in front of the stunning hotel, Aubry gets our suitcases out and tips the cabbie, who did not say one welcoming word to us during the ride. He did however, make sure to tell us three times that the credit card machine was broken. Somehow, I doubt the machine was broken, but thankfully we had cash.
As soon as we step into the luxurious lobby, we are greeted by a shrieking fiery redhead. We hug, kiss and examine each other’s outfits and faces a hundred times. The last time I saw Becky was during Christmas, so I’m glad for this weekend with her. She informs us that Greg’s coach is still being lenient and not enforcing rules yet since the real season hasn’t started. The Chargers are playing the Jets in a scrimmage game tomorrow night. So while Greg is in a team meeting, Becky is ready to shop.
After checking out our glamorous suite, we leave to the stores. Becky and Aubry talk about work for the better part of the afternoon. When they’re not talking, Becky and I are trying on outfits while Aubry text messages furiously. Cole calls us around six o’clock, when he gets out of work, and lets us know that he’s meeting us for dinner.
When we get back to the hotel, we spot Greg and a few teammates in the lobby bar. When he sees us, he stops talking and stands up to greet us.
“Cowboy!” he booms as he sprints toward us smiling with his arms open wide.
I skip over to him and throw my arms around him while his teammates make dumb remarks to Becky. Becky laughs it off and introduces us all. Aubry and I meet Trevor and Donovan, two very big guys, and small talk for a little while before we head upstairs to get ready for dinner.
“Blake, you must wear this dress,” Becky says as she hands me a ridiculously short black sequenced dress.