Page 47

I should have chosen a different bar. Any other bar in the entire universe, really.

But no. I chose the same place where I have the pleasure of sitting across the bar watching Gabby get shitfaced for the second time in less than a week.

I have the absolute privilege of watching what’s-his-nuts pull her in close with his arm around her shoulder.

I don’t know if they know I’m here. I was here before they got here, sitting in a corner booth across the way with Danny, who’s already on his fourth glass of whiskey and chatting up some woman who just slid into the booth with him.

I’ve been spending a lot of time with him outside of my time at the stadium, mostly as a distraction to get out of Troy’s house, but I’m not sure I can keep up with him. The guy has a different woman on his arm every night, and that’s not my style anymore.

I wonder for a beat if I should go back to the club. Troy gave me an open invitation, and my attendance would help me bond with Troy. Maybe it would help me see whether I’m making the right choice or the wrong one.

But I already know the truth. I’m doing what’s best for my career.

It’s why I’m sitting in a booth with Danny Brewer when I’d rather be the one slinging my arm around Gabby’s shoulder across the bar as she laughs with the other interns.

I signal to the waitress that I’d like another whiskey, and when she brings it over, she slides onto the booth beside me. She nods over at Danny and the blonde.

“Feeling like a third wheel?” she asks.

I laugh. “Yeah, a little. He told me it was going to be a fun night out, and then he ditched me for her.” I glance down at her nametag, talking softly enough so just Kelly can hear me.

She rolls her eyes dramatically. “Men.”

“Right?”

She giggles, and this is the moment when she’s waiting for me to ask her what time she gets off so I can take her somewhere to ravage her.

But I don’t want to ravage her.

She’s not Gabby.

“Well, uh,” she says a little awkwardly. “I guess I better get back to it.”

I press my lips together and nod. “Thanks for the laugh.”

She gives me a sympathetic look, and if it were another time and my chest wasn’t hollow right now, maybe I’d find it in me to at least get her number.

But that’s not where I’m at.

A reminder comes through on my phone.

Stay at Caesars Palace on Saturday.

Right.

Two days from now is my thirty-third birthday, and sometime back when Gabby and I were together and we weren’t sure where we were going to be able to meet up for sex, I reserved a room for the night for us.

I figured she celebrated her birthday there, so I should, too.

It was going to be a romantic night just for the two of us—where I didn’t have to worry about my boss overhearing my antics and she didn’t have to worry about her father overhearing hers.

Little did we know the man was one and the same.

I move my finger to cancel the reservation, but I pause over it.

Surely I could round up a few buddies to hang with me this weekend, and I could collapse onto a bed at Caesars rather than running back to Troy’s place drunk.

I can take the night away from both Gabby and her father to try to get my head on straight.

I move my finger away from the cancelation button, and I suck down my whiskey, pulling an ice cube into my mouth to suck on it.

The girl Danny’s been chatting with gets up, and he wiggles his eyebrows at me across the table. I laugh.

“She has a friend that’s meeting her here in a bit,” he says suggestively.

“I’m not in the place,” I say around the ice cube, and then I chew it.

“So what place are you in?” he asks.

I can’t help it. My eyes move across the bar toward Gabby, and when they flick back to Danny as I realize my mistake, his eyes widen a little as he’s looking where I just was.

“Wait a minute. Aren’t those the interns?” he asks.

I flatten my lips and nod.

“You’ve got a thing for an intern?” he practically roars.

“A, shut the fuck up, and B, no. It’s not a thing for an intern .” I stare down at a spot on the table. If there’s anyone I could trust with this secret, it’s Danny Brewer. He’s a good guy who’ll take it to the grave, and it might help to have someone on the field who understands what I’m going through.

When I finally glance up at him, he’s staring at me with concern.

“Then…what is it?”

“I met Troy’s daughter before I knew she was Troy’s daughter,” I admit, and his jaw drops open a little. “We had a thing, and now it’s over.”

“Ah, so that’s the girl who fucked you up. I thought it was your ex,” he says.

“I know. I let you think that because I can’t have this getting back to Troy.” I offer a pointed look, and he nods.

“It won’t.” He pretends to zip his lips, but then he downs half a glass of whiskey, so I’m not sure how trustworthy the promise is.

The girl he was talking to slides back in beside him.

“Did you ask him about Leila?” she asks him, pointing toward me.

“I mentioned you had a friend, but Coop’s going through some things,” he says.

“I bet Leila could make you forget,” she offers.

“I’m sure she could. I’m so sorry, but I’m going to have to politely decline,” I say.

I glance over at Gabby just like I’ve been doing all night, and see the two of them with their bodies basically all over each other.

I shouldn’t decline Leila before I’ve even met her. I should take the offer on the table.

But I won’t stoop to her level. I won’t flaunt some new thing in front of her on purpose.

Though at the stadium today, when I found her in the Club Level…it didn’t seem like she was doing it on purpose.

I can’t help but wonder whether what we had was so meaningless to her that she could just move on so easily. I’m not like that.

I need some time. Time to heal. Time to move on. Time to focus on baseball.

Fuck it, maybe I’ll just play my three years before I even look at another woman.

That thought is confirmed as I hear Gabby’s loud laughter carry all the way across the bar.

“I’m going to head out,” I announce once I finish my whiskey. I’ve had four, which means I shouldn’t drive.

I decide to head out front and call up a car because I just need to get the fuck out of the bar where I can hear her having fun and laughing while I feel like a constant weight is pressing against my chest.

I bid goodbye to Danny and the girl whose name I never learned. I don’t know where to go besides home, so I open the Lyft app and order up a car back to Troy’s place.

One week down, three more to go until I have my own place and won’t have to head back to the same house where Gabby lives. Although from the way things look between her and her new boyfriend, maybe she’ll start spending more time at his place.

I’m leaning against the building, head down as I try to remain incognito, when the door of the bar bursts open and I spot Gabby rushing out. She looks wildly around, and I get the sense she’s drunk.

I am a little bit, too.

She spins on her heel then spots me standing against the wall. “Did you follow me here?” she hisses at me. “Watching me, making sure I’m not drinking too much? Or were you going to force me to go home again?”

I clear my throat. “I could ask you the same considering I was there with my buddy before you even showed up.” I force all emotion from my tone.

She points a finger at me. “I want you to leave me alone.”

“I’m trying. Believe me, I’m trying.”

“Justin and I are very happy together.” She juts her chin out, and I get the sense she’s lying.

“Great. Happy for you.” I avert my gaze to the ground at my own lie.

“Good. Now leave.” She glares at me.

“I’m waiting for a Lyft. Why did you come out here, exactly?” I glare back.

She huffs out a sigh, but the way her eyes widen just slightly, the way they flick down to my chest like she’s thinking about rushing into me so I can wrap my arms around her…the actions speak louder than the words. Justin and I are very happy together .

Sure you are, Gabby. Sure you are.

She spins on her heel and heads back inside without answering me, and she just made one thing very clear.

Whatever is going on between her and Justin doesn’t matter. Because when it comes to the two of us…it’s not over.