“But you’re supposed to be at the game.” I point to the TV to make my point. As if he doesn’t know that he’s supposed to be there.
“Yeah, but this was more important.” He leans against the door frame. “As much as I want to be out there playing, I needed to come here. I needed to come to you.”
Be still my beating heart. “Won’t this affect your career?” Why is that all I’m focusing on? He’s putting the game second to me. That is some sort of proof that I’m important to him, right?
“Probably,” he shrugs. “But I’ve been sitting on the bench a lot lately. As much as it sucks, it gives a person plenty of time to think.” He looks into the apartment then back to me. “Can we have this conversation inside? I don’t mind doing it right here, but I’m not sure it’s anyone else’s business.”
I didn’t even think about that. I’m still shocked that he’s here. At my apartment. Ruining whatever chance he may have as being a part of the Rattlers. “Yeah, um, come in.”
He brushes past me. There’s barely a few inches between us. He had room to have more distance from me, but he chose to be as close to me as possible. I’m not sure if it’s because he wants to intimidate me, or he’s so used to being in my space that he couldn’t help it. He sits on the couch and pats the space next to him before pointing at the TV. “So, you’re watching the game?”
I don’t sit down. Not because I don’t want to, but because I know if I do. If I get that close to him, I know I won’t be able to stay mad at him. I won’t give him a chance to say what he came here to say. Hell, he could be here to tell me I’m not worth all the trouble and he’s giving us the closure we both need. I clear my throat and nod. “I’ve been keeping up.”
“That’s good.” He doesn’t elaborate, but he scoots all the way across the sofa to give me the distance that he somehow knows I need. “What’s that smell?” Jesus. Did my days of not showering seep into the fabric? That’s embarrassing. “Is something burning?”
That’s when it finally hits me. “Shit, the popcorn.” This is why I never leave it unattended. There’s a delicate balance to making the perfect bag of popcorn, and I blew it the second he knocked on the door. I rush to the kitchen and pull the bag out of the microwave. The entire bottom is burned and there’s no saving it. I throw it in the trash but don’t bother with another bag. I don’t think I could eat while I wait for Bentley to say whatever he’s come here to say.
“Sorry about that,” I say as I sit on the opposite end of the sofa. “You showing up kind of distracted me. So why did you come all this way?”
“To apologize,” he looks down at his hands clasped together in his lap. “I should have pushed the reporter away sooner; the minute she attached herself to me, but I was in shock that she had the audacity to do it.”
“I didn’t hear an apology in that.” It’s catty of me I know, but saying he came to apologize and actually saying it are two distinct things. Seeing that woman throw herself at him destroyed me.
“You’re right.” He pauses for a second before lifting his head until his eyes meet mine. “I’m sorry, Jolene. I should have dealt with the situation sooner. Right after I realized she was behind the photos on the gossip magazine.”
I cut in to let him know that’s not the only time. “She was the woman outside the restaurant taking photos, too.”
“Damn,” he mutters. “I wish I would have known that. But that makes my decision to get a restraining order against her even better. She’s apparently been a nuisance to a lot of the players, and after I took the steps to get an order, a lot of the other players came forward, too.”
I can’t believe he took that action. It makes me feel better about the whole situation, but I still have one question. “Does that mean she won’t be at any of the remaining games?”
He nods and scoots closer, but not too close. There’s still an entire cushion between us. “Nope. The network she worked for fired her after they found out about it. She’d been making players' lives hell. Apparently, she got into the job to find herself a player to attach to so she wouldn’t have to do anything and could be a trophy wife.”
“Wow. That’s kind of sick if you ask me.” I will never understand people that try to do shit like that. Harassing people is never the answer.
“Agreed.” He continues to scoot closer. “I’m also sorry for letting my fear and pride get in the way of coming to you sooner. It took Ross telling me to get my head out of my ass before I came. And it was even more apparent that I needed to since you wouldn’t return my calls or texts.”
“I didn’t return Lana’s either.” I want him to know that he wasn’t the only one I was ignoring. It was everything, and I couldn’t deal. “I am glad you came, though. I was going to call you tomorrow.”
“That would have been a day too long. I needed to see you for myself. I needed to make sure you were okay. To tell you I love you and I’m not ready to lose you. I won’t ever be ready for that.”
A tear slips down my cheek. Damn it. I’m not supposed to be crying, but the wetness mirrored in his own eyes shows how much he means every single word he just said. I admitted to Lana earlier that I still care about him. He took care of the problem that caused me to run. “I love you, too. But…you have to be mindful of how you handle those things. If that means me coming out and being in the spotlight, so be it. I just can’t deal with that kind of attention you get from women.”
He takes a deep breath and lets it out. “I understand that. You don’t have to be in the spotlight if you don’t want to. And honestly, there hasn’t been anyone that’s tried to throw themselves at me. Most people respect others' boundaries. But that means you can’t run off if you see something you don’t like. Those are the times we need to be adults and have a conversation.”
He said exactly what Lana told me earlier. “I know. Believe me, Lana laid into me earlier with some hard truths.” I take a second to study him, to make sure he really means everything he’s said. Scooting closer to him, I take his hand in mine. “I want things to work between us. I want that more than anything because if the last two weeks have shown me anything, it’s that my life is damn empty without you in it. I love you and I want to be with you.”
He wraps his arms around me and pulls me into his lap. “That is the best damn thing I’ve heard all day. Please never leave me again.”
“I won’t. You know, unless you give me a damn good reason to.”
“I don’t plan on ever doing that again.” He leans in and places a kiss on my temple.
Turning my head, I capture his lips with my own. I haven’t seen him in over two weeks, and I need to feel every single part of him. He is what makes me happy. He makes me feel like I have a home.
Epilogue
One month later