Something like Hate, page 5
part #1 of Chicago Grizzlies Series
Damon is quick to approach with his hand out. “I’m the only available man out of these three. Damon—”
“Siska. I know.” The girl giggles just like Damon likes them to.
Obviously Damon’s pissing on his territory here if he’s telling this woman both Cooper and myself are taken when that’s not the case, not that I care.
“Last I checked, I was available,” Cooper grumbles.
Bryce pats his arm. “It’s so cute you actually believe that. Excuse me.”
She walks away to mingle with anyone other than me, and Cooper looks at me with a perplexed expression. Does he really not understand why everyone thinks he’s not available?
“Come on, let’s go sit outside the box and see why some women love hockey players over us,” I say.
Cooper groans. “I wish that were true in my case.”
“Yeah, your life really sucks.” I roll my eyes.
He laughs and we grab some waters before sitting in the seats provided with the box. The game is just beginning, and the Tundra take control of the puck.
“Man, they’re fast,” Cooper says.
They shoot, and the goalie blocks the puck from the net.
“Why do you think it’s only one point per goal?” I ask. “Like, who decided how many points per score for each game? Why are we six for a touchdown? Basketball two per basket?”
“You’d think a hockey or soccer goal would be worth more than a touchdown. I mean, they’re harder to get,” Cooper says.
“Right? These games are tied a lot too.”
We sip our waters, watching all the players skate around.
“Not to mention the endurance these guys have to have.”
“Huh,” Cooper says.
“What?”
“I don’t know, I figured you’d spit out some reason. Like the names of who invented what sport or some mathematical equation.”
My forehead wrinkles. “Why?”
“Dean’s list.”
I shake my head because that’s what everyone thinks. And I can’t deny it—I am smart. I worked my ass off to be able to get an academic scholarship in case I was injured or hurt playing football.
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
He props one ankle on the other. The crowd starts booing and I look up to see the red light lit up on top of the home team’s net.
“Do better next time.” Cooper laughs and boos along with the crowd.
It goes to commercial break and Ellery and Bryce come down to join us. Having no other choice, either Ellery sits by me and Bryce by Cooper or vice versa, since we’re in the middle two seats of four.
“Elle,” Cooper says, and she bends down to give him a hug. “How was your shift?”
“Exhausting. I need a massage.” She sits down next to him, and Bryce looks as if she’s about one second from bolting.
“Here, let my magic hands do some work,” Cooper says.
Ellery turns her back to face Cooper, and he massages her shoulders while she moans about how good it feels. I raise my eyebrows, and Bryce bites her lip to keep from laughing.
“B, sit. I’m sure you’ve networked enough,” Cooper says.
She hems and haws.
“I don’t bite,” I say, and her face turns red because we both know that I do. “Well…”
She slides by everyone and sits down, turning her body away from mine.
Before I can think better of it, I lean forward and whisper, “You’re the only one here who knows I bite.”
She sucks in a sharp breath and doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t look at me. Just pretends I never said a word.
As Ellery moans and tells Cooper how good it feels, I gulp down the rest of my water.
“Look!” Ellery points at the Jumbotron.
I don’t want to look because I’m pretty sure we’re on the screen, but if I ignore it, I’m the asshole football player who doesn’t acknowledge the crowd. My gaze lifts to the screen and it’s worse than just the camera operator recognizing us—it’s Bryce and me on screen with a heart around us and Kiss Cam blinking underneath.
“Fucking hell,” I murmur.
Bryce waves and shakes her head. “You’d think they’d be on you two over there. I mean, you’re moaning like he’s getting you off.”
“Jeez, B.” Ellery glares down the row at her friend.
“Sorry.” Bryce continues to wave for the camera to move on.
The crowd boos and heads in the arena turn in our direction.
“Just kiss me. It doesn’t have to be a big deal,” I mumble.
She flips her head in my direction, eyes scathing. “I’m not going to kiss you on national television.”
“This isn’t a national team.”
She huffs. “Is that some kind of dig?”
“I just meant, hardly anyone is going to see it, if it’s that you’re ashamed to kiss me.”
She faces me, her small hands balled into fists. “Why would you say that? Because I didn’t fall on my knees begging for a relationship after you fucked me?”
“Whoa, what?” Cooper turns his attention to us.
“Coop, you were just getting the knot out,” Ellery whines and cracks her neck.
“Did you not hear what I just did? When did the two of you have sex?” he asks.
I shake my head. Thank God Damon wasn’t down here to hear it. I’d never hear the end of it from him. “Why are you bringing it up when you’re the one who wanted to forget it even happened?”
I am not going to tell her I’d thought maybe it could’ve been the start of something. Hell, I’d never had chemistry like that with anyone. Her reaction to my hands on her was addicting.
“Just forget it.” She leans forward to address Cooper. “Pretend you didn’t hear that. And don’t tell anyone.”
“But I did,” Cooper says innocently, and I almost laugh, until something catches the corner of my eye.
The abominable snowman mascot runs down the short stairs and stops beside Bryce. She looks at him and her cheeks turn pink. He has roses in his hand and everyone around us is staring because we’re still on the big screen.
“Fuck, man. They don’t mess around,” Damon says from above us where he’s standing in the suite.
He’s right.
The character they call Tundra hands me the roses, and my eyebrows go up to my hairline. I forgot that they do these things to make the outing fun for the fans. I’m not usually a spectator. Who knows how long Tundra is going to be up here bothering us?
I accept the roses, and the mascot signals for me to give them to Bryce.
“Don’t give them to me,” she says so low I’m the only one who hears her.
“Just put on an act and smile,” I mumble back.
“This is ridiculous.” She huffs again. “I should never have sat here.”
Tundra takes my wrist and forces me to move the flowers in front of Bryce then guides my wrist back to my lap, signaling that that’s what I’m supposed to do. As if I don’t know how to hand a woman flowers. If it were any other woman, she’d already be holding them, but Bryce always has to make everything more difficult than it needs to be.
I move my arm over in front of her and drop the flowers in her lap.
The mascot turns to the crowd with his thumbs down, and everyone boos. I’m in fucking hell, and I can hear my buddies cracking up beside me. Pretty sure Cooper wouldn’t like it if he were the one on the spot and having to do all this for Ellery.
Tundra picks up the flowers and gives them to me again. This time I hold them out to Bryce, and she yanks them out of my hands.
When Tundra turns to the crowd again, everyone boos. He puts up his two pointer fingers and brings them together telling us we should kiss.
“Give it a break, buddy,” Bryce says. “I’d hate to write a story about the Tundra mascot for Sportsverse.”
“You give me a break, lady. I’m just trying to make the fans happy. You think I want to wear this ridiculous thing?” Tundra says so only we hear him. “Why won’t you kiss a professional football player?”
“Because I shouldn’t be forced to kiss anyone.” Bryce crosses her legs and arms.
“You’re a real buzzkill,” he says and turns around to the crowd, holding his hands up in the air as though he can only do so much.
Everyone is pointing their thumbs down and shouting at us now. Jesus.
“They take the Kiss Cam pretty seriously here,” Cooper says. “You’re gonna be all over the news tomorrow as the people who can’t play along.”
He’s right, and Bryce might not thank me for this now, but she will in the future.
I slide my hand to the back of Bryce’s head and pull her toward me. My lips land on hers and she stiffens, her one hand landing on my chest, pushing me back. Then she relaxes into my hold just like that night in San Francisco. She shakes for a moment as if all the tension is leaving her body before she sinks into our kiss. I don’t attempt to use tongue because I don’t want her to punch me in the balls. Satisfied, the crowd goes crazy, screaming and cheering.
She ruins it when she pinches my nipple.
I release her, grabbing my aching chest. “Fuck.”
We both stare at the screen and there we are, kissing. I hate to admit it to myself, but we look good together even though we’ll never be a couple.
“I can’t believe you.” She stands once the game starts and the fans’ attention is drawn back to the ice.
“They weren’t going to stop until we kissed. Problem solved.”
“And now my boss is going to think I just go around kissing athletes.”
I stand and step in front of her. “Keep acting indifferent to me, Bryce.”
Her chest rises and falls, but she says nothing. We both know what we felt in that kiss. She can deny it all she wants, but our desire for each other is still living under the surface of our hatred, and I’m pretty sure it’ll stay there until the top blows off again.
Chapter 8
Miles
I’m waiting at an outside table for two at a café downtown Chicago. Shelly Breckles from Sportsverse called me to meet to talk about the article she wants to write on me. She hasn’t started traveling with the team yet because last weekend she was ill, which was when we were originally supposed to talk about it.
My phone vibrates, and I pull it out of my pocket and see my sister’s name on the screen.
“If Chase is within five feet of you, I’m hanging up,” I answer.
I’m just picking on her, but I don’t understand why Chase always has to be touching her. I mean, c’mon—have some respect for the older brother.
“I cannot believe I’m finding out that you and Bryce are a couple from the internet! Why did neither one of you tell me?”
I groan. “What are you talking about?”
My phone vibrates in my hand.
“Check out the picture I just sent you.”
I pull the phone away from my ear and open the text message from Twyla to find an image of Bryce and me kissing at last night’s Tundra’s game.
“Oh, that.”
“I’m sorry? Oh, that? What does that mean?” She’s practically shrieking in my ear.
“You sound upset,” I say, mouthing “thank you” to the server who sets my iced tea in front of me. “Does it bother you that I might be dating your friend?” I don’t know why I bother leading her down a trail that’s going to finish in a dead end. Maybe I’m curious what she has to say on the subject since she’s in a relationship with one of my best friends.
She squeals, and I have to pull the phone away from my ear for a beat. “So you are dating?”
“No way,” I deadpan.
“Miles!”
“Jesus, sunshine, it’s early,” Chase says in the background.
“Sorry, look at this.” I hear kissing noises because she has me on speakerphone. “They’re kissing but not dating,” Twyla tells him.
Chase grunts, and I laugh because he doesn’t give a shit about my life as long as I stay out of his with my sister.
“Don’t get so worked up, it’s not good for the baby,” I say to distract them.
“You got my hopes up,” Twyla whines.
“Why would you want me to be with Bryce? We obviously hate each other.” I sip my iced tea.
“You only think you hate each other. This kiss proves it!” If she was here, she’d probably be poking me in the chest.
“Your hormones are making you see things that aren’t there. We were forced to kiss for a Kiss Cam, that’s all.” It’s easier to convince people I don’t want anything to do with Bryce when, in reality, I would’ve loved to take her home last night. It took every ounce of my willpower not to slide my tongue between her lips. But admitting that to my sister will only give her false hope for something that’s never going to happen.
“Keep telling yourself that. You’re going to have a lonely life, big brother.”
I spot Shelly climbing out of a car at the corner, and I lift my arm in greeting. She smiles.
“I gotta go. Keep that baby safe, and give Chase a good knee in the balls for me. Love you.”
“Miles—” she pleads, but I hang up and pocket my phone.
Shelly winds through the iron gating for the temporary patio that’s put up for the warmer months in Chicago, of which there aren’t a ton. I’m already dreading the winter. Talk about a welcome—the day I was traded, there was a winter storm with winds so strong my face was numb by the time I walked across the sidewalk from my Uber to my condo building.
“Miles, good to see you.” She holds out her hand.
I stand and shake it before pulling out the chair for her. She sits down and puts her hand over her stomach.
“Sorry, whatever this is, it’s taking over my body.” She laughs.
“How are you feeling?” I ask.
“Better now, but not a hundred percent. Sorry I missed the Minneapolis game, but you were a monster out there. I must say, I’m your biggest fan, but you’re really making a name for yourself this season.”
“Thanks. It’s weird, I think I’m possibly playing the best I have in my career.”
She frowns. “Certainly better than how you started out last year here. That was to be expected—new team, new dynamic, new plays. It all goes together, and of course you’d be nervous. And then for the Kingsmen to win…” She shakes her head. “That’s the thing about sports, you can’t predict the future. There’re so many variables.”
I nod. “Truth.”
The server comes over, and Shelly orders a coffee. “Sorry, lately I just can’t stay awake.” She widens her eyes. “Okay, so…” She bends and digs into her bag. “I was talking to my editor, and he’s on board with the highlight piece. I wanted to go over what that means and a few other things.”
“Okay.”
Her coffee arrives, and Shelly looks at the server as though she just threw Shelly a life vest in the middle of the ocean. “Thank you.” She leans forward. “Could I bother you for a muffin too?” She looks at me. “Sorry. Rough morning.”
“No problem.”
“Don’t worry, it’s not contagious.” She sips her coffee, moaning as she swallows. “Okay, let’s get this going.”
She pulls out an edition of Sportsverse with my friend and quarterback for the San Francisco Kingsmen, Lee Burrows, on the front. It was from last year.
“I know you recognize this guy.” She flips through the pages. “As you know, it was a big deal for Lee to get this cover last year. Everyone thought it was his year, and then when he married during the off-season… everyone was dying to do a piece on him.”
I nod, remembering Lee complaining about all the heightened interest in his personal life.
She opens the pages filled with pictures of Lee at all different ages with different football jerseys on and throwing the ball. Some pictures are of him with his brother, talking about how they’re both involved in professional sports. Then there are some of his and Shayna’s place. Her on the field with him, taping his ankle, and a few more of the two of them at home.
I hope this isn’t the angle she wants to pursue with me because I don’t have any of that. All I have is the sport.
While I’m flipping through the pages, Shelly asks, “I don’t want to pry, but are you dating Bryce Burns?”
I inhale a deep breath. That kiss for the Kiss Cam was a huge mistake. Maybe Bryce was right, though I’d never admit that to her. “No. The mascot wouldn’t take no for an answer, so we just kissed to get the attention off us.”
She stares at me for an uncomfortable minute. “When I talked to Bryce this morning, she said you kissed her.”
“Yeah, but only to get the mascot to go away.”
She nods. “Okay, I just wanted to make sure, because if we did a piece on you it would look like favoritism if you were dating one of our own. You can see that, right?”
I hold up both hands in front of me. “I promise you, I’m not dating Bryce Burns.”
She smiles wide. “Great. So your article would be a little different than Lee’s. His was about how his life was evolving. Marriage and kids change a player’s perspective, as you’ve probably witnessed in the locker room.”
I swallow down past the Sahara Desert level dryness in my throat. I know I have time, but I wouldn’t mind having someone to share my life with. If I continue hanging out with Damon, I’m just going to end up with a bunch of booty calls.
“Yours would center more on your career journey. The different positions you played. Concentrate heavily on you being offered both athletic and academic scholarships out of high school. It changes things when an athlete graduates college on the Dean’s list with the GPA you did, all while playing football. I’m going to be honest with you though, a lot of discussion will be about the trade last year and the Kingsmen winning after your departure. My editor wants to paint you as the underdog, and so do I.”
Underdog? I feel like I’ve been that guy my entire life.
“Okay, but it’s not going to be a pity piece, right?”
“Of course not.” Without warning, she grimaces and hunches over, gripping her stomach. “Oh my god.”
