While I was lost in thought as I sipped my beer, my phone buzzed in my pocket. On autopilot, I pulled it out, bringing it into my field of vision. I frowned when I saw a text message from an unknown number.
Swiping a finger across the screen, I unlocked my phone.
Unknown Number:Your face and dick are both so pretty that I don’t know which one I want to ride first.
Beer sprayed from my mouth as I read the filthy text.
“What the hell?” Jenner yelled, wiping at the droplets of spit and beer that had landed on him.
“Sorry,” I muttered, clutching the phone to my chest to hide the screen.
He eyed my protective hold on my cell. “Care to share with the class, Mr. Sterling?” There was a teasing lilt to his voice.
Eyes wide, I shook my head. “Nope.”
A corner of Jenner’s lips turned up. “Oh, come on. It’s gotta be something good to get such a reaction out of you.” He held his hand palm up in front of him, wiggling his fingers in agimmemotion.
With no name attached to the text, what did I have to lose? I sighed, handing over my phone.
Jenner’s eyes lit up from more than the glow of the phone screen. “Whoa, baby. Coach is getting laid tonight!”
I scoffed. “Yeah, right. I don’t even know who sent it.”
“Whoever it is, they know you. How else would they get your phone number?”
He was right; most of us had unlisted numbers and also took the extra precautionary step of having our service providers block our number on caller IDs. When we called someone who didn’t have our number saved,it read as No Caller ID. It was a tiny layer of protection in keeping our personal lives private.
“Think it’s some bunny in San Fran? One that wants an encore?” Jenner asked, returning my phone.
Just then, we heard the sound of female voices snickering nearby. My head snapped up, searching the small bar for the source. It didn’t take long to lock eyes with Bristol, seated near Alyssa, on the other side of the room. When I raised an eyebrow, shaking my phone, she folded her lips inward, trying her hardest not to smile.
“I think I know who it is,” I mused.
Jenner followed my line of sight and groaned. “Is that seriously still going on?”
I shrugged. “Depends on your definition of ‘going on.’ As you can see, I don’t even have her phone number.”
He let out a heavy exhale. “Really thought you’d learned your lesson after the fucking bar fight.”
“It’s not what you think,” I argued.
“Sure it’s not.” Jenner rolled his eyes. “The sexting is pretty telling.”
“I care about her, okay?” I needed my best friend to understand. “And if you need more proof, I went over to her place a few nights ago to check on her after what happened at Pipes. We ended up naked, but I walked away. I want more than a few meaningless fucks. There’s something between us, a pull I can’t explain. But she’s still messed up from Nixon. So, I told her to take her time and sort it out. That I’ll wait until she’s ready.”
Jenner snorted. “Looks like she got over it pretty fast. A few days?”
“She’s young and headstrong,” I explained. “And beyond gorgeous. Having a guy stop right before the point of no return was probably a blow to her ego. But it had to be done. She can send all the naughty texts she wants. I know she’s not ready yet.”
Impressed, he sat back in his chair. “Damn, look at you all grown up. Turning down guaranteed sex? That’s not the Maddox I know.”
“You know how it is. Sometimes, the right girl can knock you right on your ass.”
A shadow passed over his brown eyes before they dropped to look at his hands, where he absentmindedly rubbed a thumb over his left ring finger. “Yeah, I do know.”
Way to go, Maddox, making the poor guy think about his wife and how much he misses her.
“That doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun with her, though,” I offered, trying to shift the mood back to a more playful one.
