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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Kelton

“Why did you let me drink so much?” Since the girls left I’ve been spending a strange amount of time with Jerry. Much more than I ever did before, but he’s also been chatting it up with my sister nightly.

At first I was a little weirded out by that, but he confessed they’d been dancing around the idea of something. He also ensured me nothing more than a few kisses happened while she was here so I’ve got to respect the fact that he respected her.

And if this little connection they share helps me get Emerson and her here, well that is a bonus.

“You were the one insistent on out drinking me,” he grumbles.

We are both crashed in my living room, him on the couch, me on the oversized fucking sleep chair my sister insisted I needed when she was here last week. I’m thankful now, because the thing is more comfortable than the floor. We both stumbled in, and I’m surprised we made it upstairs.

“I don’t even remember how we got home.”

“My assistant,” he groans. “Don’t you remember her fighting off that clingy blonde because she thought she was coming with us.”

“That clingy blonde just got me my ass reamed by my sister.”

“That woman is a fiesty one.” The way he says it, I can sense his smile. “She gets so fired up, so fast.”

“She tore into me about the blonde.” He chuckles. “Wait.” I sit up, the room still spinning as I try to clear my thoughts. “How does she know about the blonde?”

I watch as Jerry slowly sits up and looks over at me, then as if it hits us both at the exact same time we grab our phones. Both of us are lost in silence until I find what she was referring to. When I hear Jerry grumble I know he’s found it too.

“She leaked the photos and shared some fake ass story.” I start reading the article. “Secretly seeing each other between games and practices. Traveled with me to a few out of town games.” I laugh. “People have to know this is bullshit, right?”

“I wouldn’t be so much worried about what people think.” He quotes around the word people. “I’d be more worried about one person and her thoughts.”

“Fuck.” I cover my face with my hand and growl out with frustration. “This is going to look even worse considering I told her I’d call or text last night.”

“Did you?”

I only shake my head as I look for her contact and hit send.

It rings once, twice, then my call is sent to voicemail.

I listen to the sound of her voice, then Liz jumping into the background, followed by their laughter and then a beep.

“Em, call me, it’s not what you think. Jerry and I went out for a few drinks, his assistant picked us up and brought us both back to my place. ”

“He’s not lying,” Jerry adds and I shake my head at him. The still drunk bastard isn’t helping.

“I’m sorry I didn’t text or call, but going to the barbecue with everyone made me realize how bad I want you here. I don’t know how to do this, the distance thing, it sucks.” I grab hold of the hair at the back of my neck and tug. “Please,” I sigh, “call me.”

“I need this situation cleared up.”

“What do you want done?”

I sit and think about it, knowing that sharing Emerson’s info without talking to her first could be a bad thing. These reporters have a way of digging into people. The next thing you know she’ll have people camping out on her front porch, and her and my sister will be followed.

“You want Emerson out there?”

“Not yet,” I say, knowing it’s for the best. “I need to talk to her first.”

“Then bringing more attention to it with a response might be worse than not responding at all.” I get what he is saying. When you’ve done this enough you learn to ignore shit. But this, I know what it’s doing to Em. If my sister knows, she does too.

I stand with my phone in hand and decide to shower. I’ve got to get this shit settled, I need to get the fog out of my head before the game. Otherwise the guys and coach will all be on my ass.

I owe them more than this version of myself. I don’t drink like this, I never do.

Once I’m in the bathroom I try Emerson again and get her voicemail. Knowing this may backfire I call my sister and brace myself for impact.

“She saw it,” she answers the phone without a hello.

My stomach instantly feels like it drops to the floor at my feet.

I already knew she probably did, but having my sister confirm it means I could no longer hope I got to her first. “I tried not to put on that something was up when she came in the kitchen earlier, but I guess I didn’t do it fast enough.

She noticed, she looked at my computer when I was taking a shower. ”

“Where is she?”

“I came out, she was standing in front of the computer, just staring. When I asked if she was okay, she only shook her head, grabbed her keys and walked out.”

I feel sick.

“When I called her earlier she said she needed some air.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes,” Liz replies with a deep breath, “that’s it.”