“Did you?”
“I had dinner at the airport, but I want to make sure you ate something.”
“I ate.” I bite back a smile then scream when Skye barks and I’m practically knocked over as a weight crashes into me from behind, knocking my phone out of my hand and almost sending me to my knees.
“Fuck, Jeb no, down.” I hear Brodie command but that does nothing to stop Jeb from jumping up to greet me as I hear Clay roaring from my phone that is now on the grass.
“Calm, buddy,” I tell Jeb, grabbing his collar to try to control him as I pick up my phone. Once I have it in hand, I quickly put it to my ear. “I’m okay,” I tell Clay. I swear I hear him running. “It’s just Jeb and Brodie.”
“Fuck!” he shouts. “Do not fucking ever scare me like that again.”
“I didn’t do it on purpose,” I remind him softly.
“I don’t give a fuck,” he growls, causing my temper to flare.
“Don’t fucking curse at me,” I hiss. “I’ll see you at home.” I hang up, cutting off whatever he’s about to say.
My phone starts to ring again so I put it on silent.
With a deep breath that does nothing to ease my annoyance, I tuck my phone away in my pocket, then lean down to give Jeb, who I’ve still got a hold of, a hug. “You scared me.” I grab his face and he barks, which makes Skye get up and come over to join us. After giving each of them some attention, I look over at Brodie.
“Hey.”
His eyes wander over me. “Haven’t seen you around much.”
“I’ve been busy.” I tuck my hands into my pockets. “How have you been?”
“Good, busy. I’m transferring teams in a couple months so that’s taking up a lot of time.”
“You are?”
“Yeah, I got an offer to play for Florida.”
“Really?” I can’t help but to smile at the news because he told me more than once that that was his dream team. “I’m happy for you.”
“Thanks.” He shifts on his feet, and then looks around. “I know our last conversation didn’t go well.”
“That’s a little bit of an understatement.”
He smiles. “I’m sorry about that. I shouldn’t have laid all that on you, and you were right, trying to make you jealous to get you back was a really, really stupid idea.”
“You know better for next time.” I shrug.
He lets out a breath as his eyes lock on mine.
“Can we go back to being friends?”
“No.” I blurt then cringe. “Sorry, it’s just, I’ve made a promise to myself that I’ll no longer be friends with my exes.”
“You do have a lot of those.” He smirks.
“You’re not one to talk.” I laugh.
“True.” He tucks his hands into the front pocket of his hoodie. “Are we at least cool?”
“Yeah, we’re cool,” I say softly, and he nods then looks at Jeb and gently tugs on his leash.
“Come on dude, let’s get inside,” he orders.
Jeb hesitates to leave where he’s sitting next to me for a second, before he gets up and follows his dad.
I watch the two of them until they are out of sight then look down at Skye.
“Well, are you ready to get home?” I ask her and she lets out a huff.
“Let’s go see your dad,” I say, hoping that Clay has had a chance to calm down by the time we get to him.
After I toss my bag in the trunk, I get Skye into the front passenger seat since I learned Sunday that she is not a fan of riding in the back if the front seat is empty. Once I get situated behind the wheel I head for Clay’s building, and as I pull onto his street I search for his jeep, but its nowhere in sight. I do see Tucker’s SUV so he must be here visiting Miles.
Deciding to just wait for Clay in my car, I turn off the engine and grab my phone. Ignoring the slew of missed calls on the screen, I pull the dating app up, figuring I can use the time to look little more. As I’m sitting in the dark with my phone in hand, I see the reflection of headlights coming up behind me in my side mirror and with how low they are to the ground I can tell it’s not Clay’s Jeep. Before long the car pulls in behind me and parks and that’s when I see that the driver is Naomie.
Being around her Saturday confirmed what I already knew, which is that I don’t like her, not even a little.
I know you shouldn’t judge people by their past actions, but within a few minutes of being in the same room with her, and witnessing the way she flirted with every man she came in contact with, I could see exactly the kind of woman she is. That is the kind of woman who uses her beauty to get attention from men, no matter who those men are or whom they might belong too. In her head, I’m sure that if a guy is willing to break whatever vow or code he has with his wife, brother, or friend, who is she to stop them from flirting or doing more?