Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 26508 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 133(@200wpm)___ 106(@250wpm)___ 88(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26508 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 133(@200wpm)___ 106(@250wpm)___ 88(@300wpm)
I still saw her at work every day, and there were definite perks to living with Cole—like how he’d woken me up with his mouth on my pussy this morning. But I still found myself missing my friend after only a week.
So there was a huge smile on my face when she called me Friday evening, only a couple of hours after we had last seen each other at work. “Hey, did you change your mind about coming to the game on Sunday? The next one is in Chicago, so you’d have to wait two weeks to join me otherwise.”
“I am so sorry, Lorna.”
My brows drew together at how serious her apology sounded. “Don’t worry. I already told you it’s no big deal that you can’t make it. I’ll just hang out with some of the wives I met last weekend.”
“You may want to reconsider going at all.”
“I don’t understand. Why wouldn’t I attend the game? Are you okay? Do you need me to come over this weekend or something?” I shot Cole a worried look as he strode toward me, his eyes filled with concern.
I put my phone on speaker mode so he could hear her reply. “There’s a story online about the night the two of you met.”
“Gossip is part of the job, unfortunately. Just ignore it, and the vultures will find a juicier story in no time at all,” he assured her, seeming unbothered by what she’d said. “It’s not as though there’s even anything to say about Lorna and me. No scandal since we were both very single until we got together. We didn’t hurt anyone. Their interest should pass quickly.”
“Not with the story Darla sold them.” She heaved a deep sigh. “I swear, I had no idea she would ever do something like this, or I would’ve cut her loose a long time ago. The girl I met in kindergarten is nothing like the woman she’s grown up to become. I just don’t understand why she’d pull crap like this on anyone, let alone one of my closest friends.”
“I’m gonna need you to tell me exactly what happened,” Cole demanded, pulling his phone from his pocket to type our names in the search engine on his web browser.
“Darla told them that you warned that player away from Lorna.”
We dropped down onto the couch as Ivy’s explanation, along with the long list of search results, hit us.
“Holy fuck, she must’ve been close enough to hear exactly what I said,” Cole growled, raking his fingers through his hair.
I leaned against his side to peer at the screen, my eyes widening when I saw the headlines.
“Nighthawks coach threatens to fire player over a woman.”
“Coach O’Hara causes a scene in a nightclub in a fit of jealousy over a younger player.”
“Who’s the woman caught in the middle of Nighthawks love triangle?”
“Is O’Hara fit to coach?”
“Oh my gosh,” I gasped. “This is really bad.”
“And it’s all my fault,” Ivy wailed. “I never should have told Darla about the bottle service and table Naomi got us for your birthday. But I knew how much she’d enjoy it and inviting her along seemed like the right thing to do. If only I’d known what a mess that decision would cause.”
I shook my head. “It absolutely is not your fault. You were just being a good friend, like you always are. It’s one of the things I like best about you, how you go out of your way to make the people you care about happy.”
“Yeah, but—”
“Cut yourself some slack,” Cole grumbled. “You had no way of knowing your friend would pull a stunt like this.”
“I just—”
This time, I was the one who cut her off. “Cole is right. Darla might not have been the best friend in the world to you, but she’s still come through when you needed her in the past.”
“Until now,” Ivy bit out. “Hurting you means hurting me, and if she knew me at all, that would’ve been obvious to her.”
“True,” I conceded, feeling sad for my friend. “But the fact that she missed that about you is on her, not you.”
“Don’t worry about Darla,” she assured us. “She won’t be able to cause additional trouble for you guys since she won’t be around anymore. This was the last straw. I’m done with her.”
I loved that Ivy had my back, but I hated that she felt as though she needed to end a long-standing friendship because of me. “You don’t have to do that on my account. It’s not like I ever have to spend time with her again. We aren’t even roommates anymore, so I wouldn’t see her when she drops by.”
“I’m not making this decision because of you,” she swore. “If she’d do something like this to you just because of a little petty jealousy, then I can’t trust her not to stab me in the back at some point too.”