With a surprised look on her face, she peered up at me and asked, “The what?”
“The book you’ve been reading. Is it any good?”
A light blush crept over her cheeks and she cleared her throat. “Umm … It’s okay, I guess.”
I gave her a skeptical look. “Oh.”
“What?”
“I just figured it would’ve been better than okay if it kept your full attention for the past two hours.” I shrugged as I continued, “But … what do I know!”
Her beautiful eyes flashed with what seemed like annoyance before she replied, “I’m surprised you even had time to notice what I was doing with all you had going on. I mean … you had to deal with practice and all those kids running around, and as soon as that was over, you needed to tend to all your adoring fans … get their phone numbers … dish out some advice … You’re a busy man, Tucker Michaels. A very busy man.”
“You noticed all that, huh? I thought you were too busy reading.” I teased—which ended up being a mistake.
With an exaggerated eye roll, she slammed the trunk and walked over to her car door. As she got inside, she snarled, “Goodbye, Tucker.”
“See you Saturday,” I told her just as she was shutting her door.
She didn’t even look at me as she started her car and drove off. Colton just shook his head as he watched me limp over to his car. The aches were really starting to set in, and I was ready to get home. For the most part, I hadn’t been able to drive, but I was making progress with my rehab and hoped it wouldn’t be long before I was back behind the wheel again. As we started towards the house, Colton’s cell phone rang.
Without looking to see who was calling, he answered, “Yeah?”
As he listened to the person on the other end, his eyes narrowed and the muscles in his jaw grew tense. I could feel the anger radiating off of him as he growled, “I’ll take care of it.”
There was another brief pause before he said, “I know, and I get that. I can handle this, Langley. I just need you to trust me. Can you do that?” He let out a deep breath as he listened to her response. “Good. Now try not to get too worked up about this, and I’ll handle everything as soon as I get back to the office.”
He hung up the phone and tossed it into the cupholder. “Damn it.”
“What’s going on?”
“A vindictive guy is trying to use his kids as pawns.” He sighed with aggravation. “Just when you think a man can’t be any more of a dick than he already is, he goes and proves you wrong.”
“That bad, huh?”
“You’ve got no idea. He’s got Langley pretty freaked out.”
Even though I knew better, I asked, “So, who’s this Langley chick?”
“She’s my legal assistant.”
“Oh. So, this ex you’re dealing with is hers?” He nodded as he grumbled under his breath. It was obvious that he was upset with the guy, so I said, “In that case, go for his jugular, man … especially if he’s giving your girl a hard time.”
“She’s not my girl, Tucker.” As we pulled up at Dad’s, he turned to me and said, “And like I said, I’ll take care of it.”
I nodded as I opened the door. “If you need anything, you know where to find me.”
“I do. Thanks, Tucker. Oh, tell Dad I said hey. I’d come in, but I really need to take care of some things at work.” I nodded and got out of the car. As I started for the door, I heard him shout, “Practice Thursday … don’t be late.”
Kaci
It had been a long week, and even though it was Saturday night, I just wanted to throw on my pajamas and curl into bed. The last thing I wanted to do was going to a stupid bar and sing karaoke, especially when I was the only one going without an official date. It was bad enough that Jess would be wrapped up in Zach all night, but Allison and Tara were also bringing their boyfriends along. While I always hated being a third wheel, it was even worse when Tara and Allison were around. They gave a whole new meaning to PDA, and I wasn’t looking forward to watching them paw all over their boy-toys for the night. Since I’d promised Jess that I would go, I decided to suck it up for a couple of hours; when they started to get tipsy I’d head home, thinking I could be back before eleven.
After I got dressed, I went into the hall and called out to her, “Are you almost ready?”
“Almost.” She opened her door, and as soon as she saw me, she asked, “Is that what you’re wearing?”
I looked down at my jeans and t-shirt. “Yeah. What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”
“Uh … you can’t wear that, Kaci. You’ve gotta go change into something a little … sexier.”
“We’re going to Mulligans, right? The hole-in-the-wall that has peanut shells on the floor.”
“Yeah, but that’s not the point. Tonight, you need to look good … like really, really good.”
Knowing there was something she wasn’t telling me, I asked, “What are you up to, Jess?”
“Nothing.”
“Tell me now, or I’m not going.” I warned her.
“Fine. I might’ve mentioned to Tucker that we were going there tonight.”
“You did what?”
“It’s not a big deal, Kaci. I just told him that if he didn’t have anything else going on, he should come join us.”
“Is that what he meant about seeing me Saturday night?”
Smiling excitedly, she replied, “Yep.”
“Well, there’s no way in hell I’m going now.”
“Why not? He's obviously interested in you.”
“What are you not getting here, Jess? I’ve already told you … I am not interested in him!”
“Oh, come on, Kaci. Don’t be like that. The guy is hot, and he’s—”
“And he’s a player who has women chasing after him all the time. That’s the last thing I need.”
She walked over to me with one of those looks on her face, and I knew I was about to get an earful. “When was the last time you went on a date?”
“I don’t know. A few weeks ago.”
“More like a few months ago. You went out with some guy from the computer lab at school, and that was just one date. Before that, there was one or two dates with that guy Zach fixed you up with.”
“Okay, Jess. I get it. I haven’t been on many dates lately, but I’ve been busy. I don’t have time—”