“You could have come over.”
She shrugged. “More fun watching you work your magic. Plus, I got the curly fries all to myself.”
Damn, she’d eaten all of them. I grinned, shaking my head at her. “You’re lucky I love you. Plus, I should probably save my appetite for tonight.”
Allie bounced her eyebrows at me with a laugh. “I might have just set you up with your future husband.”
I choked on the sip of water I had just taken. Marriage was not in the cards for me. Ever. I just hoped the guy was good in bed.
Kane
“This is a terrible idea.You know that, right? She’s the reason I tanked the trials for college. What if she gets in my head again? It’s not good… not good at all.”
It was my turn to pace as Coach watched calmly. The only difference was this time it was my carpet being worn down. After the shitshow of a meeting this morning, we had worked through two hours in the gym and another two hours in the pool before stopping at my tiny apartment to strategize.
“It’s the perfect idea. You know her. You cared about each other once—”
“She hates me now! I’m not thrilled to have anything to do with her either. She’s bad luck.”
“She’s not bad luck, she’s the only woman you’ve ever cared about.”
“I care about Layla.”
Coach grunted. “Your sister doesn’t count.”
I flopped onto the opposite end of the couch and scrubbed my hands down my face.
Coach sighed. “Look. She’s a good choice. She needs the article to go well as badly as you need your reputation fixed. You are both too ambitious to let your history get in the way. Play nice for a couple of months, and you can go your separate ways at the end of it. You were kids back then. Things… change.” He cleared his throat, as though he might have gone too soft. “Just go try and reconnect or something. Take her out to dinner. Make her hate you less.”
I huffed a laugh. “No problem. Hey Darcy, have a steak, and maybe stop imagining stabbing me every time you look at me. Now we can be best friends!”
“Sounds good to me. I’ll text you her address.”
My cell beeped, and I wondered for a moment if he had finally mastered some texting by osmosis thing, but it turned out to be Cody.
Back in town. You free for a beer?
I pocketed my cell and turned back to Coach in time to see my door slam in my face. Looked like the conversation was over. A moment later, my cell beeped a second time with an address on the south side of town.
Darcy’s.
* * *
“I don’t seewhat the big deal is here,” Cody said, waving to catch the bartender’s attention.
The blonde’s eyes lit up as they landed on my friend, and her hips swung in invitation as she came our way, ignoring the guy at the other end of the bar who had been about to order.
“She’s cute,” I muttered to him, noticing the glint of metal at the edge of her midriff top. Belly button ring. Nice. A little retro, but those girls were always up for a good time.
“Nah, me and Evie are back on. I think it’ll work this time.”
I groaned. Cody and Evie had been off and on for half their lives. They were best friends but couldn’t see that the relationship part of their relationship fucked everything up. By all means, be friends with benefits, but as soon as you decided to be exclusive with someone, everything turned to shit.
I flinched as Cody’s fist connected solidly with my shoulder. “Fuck, man,” I grumbled, rubbing my abused joint. “I need that in good working order.”
Cody grinned and politely ordered a beer and a cola from the bar girl, completely ignoring my glower. In moments, glasses appeared and the beer and soda taps were put to good use. Cody handed over a twenty and told her to keep the change. Handing me a glass, he indicated an empty table across the bar with a good view of the TV currently showing last night’s game between the Lakers and Bulls.
“Just because you’re an idiot who doesn’t believe in love doesn’t mean the rest of us want to die alone and miserable. Now, what’s going on? You’re particularly broody today.”
