I Think I Love You (Australian Sports Star Series Book 3) (15 page)

“Oh.”

Markus had enough of the chitchat that was going nowhere. Quicker than he was able to react, she had her hand placed on his chest. “I’m sure Grandma would babysit tomorrow, and we could go out.”

He let out a long sigh and slowly moved her hand away. “How about I take one day after the other. I’ll let you know.”

Not sure why he wasn’t able to say he wasn’t interested, he was instantly annoyed with himself for giving her this little bit of promise to hold on to. He’d probably have a similar conversation with her the next day. And he was dreading it already.

He opened the door of the garage, walked towards the car, and slid behind the wheel. Before driving away, though, he wound down the window and looked at her. “By the way, Sarah’s my girlfriend, so any dinner out would only be as friends.”

Without giving her a chance to reply, he put the gear in reverse and left, never looking back to check for any reaction.

On the way, Markus tried to call Sarah again, but it went to voice mail. Cursing, he gave Oliver a quick call.

“Need me to bring anything?”

“Nah, we’re good. Just yourself. And your little girl.”

Markus’ stomach tightened at what he was going to tell the guys. Not to mention how to get Sarah away from them for a few minutes to clear the air.

When he arrived, he was surprised to see Tyson’s car in the driveway. Markus was early by about an hour, and he wondered what reason Ty had for his early arrival.

He parked the car, took in a deep breath, and got out. There were voices coming from the backyard, so he walked along the driveway to the back of the house. Oliver and Tyson sat there under the pergola, each with a beer in their hands and a big grin on their faces.

“You’re drunk already?”

Oliver stood, and he gave him a man hug, congratulating him on the engagement.

“Was I supposed to do the present thing?”

Tyson snorted. “Katie made me go and buy a present, but I told her she can give that to Tamara when she comes over.”

Markus did the thumbs up sign. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

He grabbed a beer and sat as well and within minutes they talked about the honeymoon, mainly about Tyson’s diving. Oliver updated them on the story behind the engagement, considering that only a few weeks ago, he didn’t even want to hear her name.

“It just happened. Things fell into place,” he explained.

Tyson looked at Markus, and they both shared a grin.

“Saz said something about a job interview in Sydney,” Ty suddenly said.

Markus took a sip and leaned back into his chair, telling his friends about the meeting he had with the sports TV producers.

Ty asked, “So no more playing for you?”

Markus shook his head. “Nah. After twelve months of enjoying life, the chances of getting into a first league club are near zero. You need to stay in the game to be at the top of it.”

“Do you think TV is for you?”

He shrugged. “Talking about the game I love is for me. Let’s hope having a mic in front of me doesn’t make a big difference.”

His friends laughed, probably remembering the many times he tried to explain the rules of soccer like offside, penalty kicks, or free kicks. He joined their laughter as they’d had many discussions about rules in Australian football, soccer, and baseball.

“So what’s the news with you and Saz?” Ty asked as he checked the time on his watch. “Where is she anyway?”

Markus leaned back into the chair and dragged his hand through his hair as he said, “I fucked up.
Again.
”

There was no laughter from the guys this time, but silence, and when he looked at them, he rolled his eyes at their curious expressions.

He told them how Sarah had been so reluctant about a relationship, simply because she was afraid of losing him as a friend. Then there was also Rachel, who’d moved in with her. Sarah wanted to help her sister get her feet back on the ground, and she wanted to do it on her own, without help from anyone. Markus kept the fact that he had walked out on her after the first time to himself. He felt bad enough; he didn’t want his friends to give him a hard time for his stupidity.

“Why is she so afraid of giving it a go?” Tyson asked.

Markus shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

Oliver stood, walked over to the bin, and chucked his bottle inside. On the way back, he started the barbeque and grabbed another beer. “She’s always been our little girl. Whenever she needed help, we were there. She’s sharing two of us now with someone else. Losing Markus by way of a failed relationship would devastate her. Then there’s the fact that her mum and Rachel have always given her a hard time about how much we spoil her. I think she wants to prove something.”

Markus stared at his friend. It all made sense, but how the hell had Oliver seen all that, and he hadn’t?

“Well,” he said quietly, avoiding looking at his friends. “We kinda had the relationship sorted.” He took a sip of his beer. “Until this morning that is.”

“Fucked up again,” Oliver asked with a smile.

“Fuck off,” Markus replied.

Tyson slightly punched him against his upper arm. “What happened, mate?”

Shaking his head, he started to recount what had happened earlier. Sarah picking him up from the airport and spending the afternoon at his place. He told them about Dakota, the sexy new neighbour from next door. Although she hadn’t seemed so sexy anymore that afternoon.

“When Saz called her a bitch, I freaked and thought she’d turned into one of those possessive girlfriends. Dakota had seemed really nice to me.” He chugged the rest of the beer before he stood. “Hey, she’d just moved her with her little kid. She’s Mrs. Gibson’s granddaughter, so of course I said yes to a dinner. I thought of a dinner next door.” Frowning, he added, “Not taking her out for dinner.”

“And now?” Tyson asked.

“Isn’t that the million dollar question?”

Oliver checked his watch. “Where is she?”

Markus lifted his shoulder in a shrug. “I tried to call her, but she didn’t answer. I’m probably on the black list.”

They all let out a small chuckle, when Ty grabbed his phone. While Markus disposed of his bottle, Oliver went inside to grab the meat. He heard Ty talking, assumed it was Katie on the other line. Young lovers, he thought, but was surprised when he figured it was Saz on the other end of the line.

“C’mon, sweetheart. We’re celebrating. It’s not the same without you.”

Markus’ heart sank.
Without you?

“Can’t you take some pills?” Ty asked.

With his interest sparked, Markus rushed back and sat down, trying to hear the whole conversation.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, but Ty just shushed him with a wave of his hand.

“Sweetheart, the man’s here and he’s really sorry. That should help the headache, right?”

Markus stared at him, not believing what he was hearing. “Zip it, mate, that’s my business,” he whispered, but Ty shushed him again, only this time by turning his back on Markus.

He was about to kill his friend.

“No worries…okay…gotcha.”

And he hung up.

Oliver came out with the meat when Ty stood. “Pack up the meat. We’re having the barbeque at Sarah’s.”

“Say what?” Oliver and Markus asked.

“She’s got a headache, Rachel’s out, and I have a feeling instead of pills, it’s us she needs.”

Oliver glared at them. “She’s hijacking my celebration?”

Markus tried hard to hold back a smile, but failed miserably. “Hijack?” Then turned to Ty. “Remind me to connect my fist with your beautiful face later on.”

Tyson laughed, despite his attempt to ignore him. “C’mon, guys. That headache is fake. I have a feeling she’s sitting in her little house with a bottle of red, because Romeo here—” He nodded towards Markus. “—had his—”

“Oh, for God’s sake, we’re not all going,” Markus interrupted.

Oliver turned in silence and headed back into the house.

The friends looked at each other. “You really think he’s pissed because we’re—”

“Let’s go then,” Oliver shouted from inside the house, holding up a cooler bag. “Grab the beer and turn off the barbie,” he instructed. “Mark’s car is the last in line so we’re taking his.”

“I’m not—”

Tyson clapped him onto his shoulder. “Of course you are.” And flashed him a big grin.

***

Despite telling herself that it was her own fault, Sarah cried all the way home. The whole ten to fifteen minutes replayed over and over in her head, but she wasn’t able to pinpoint where things had gone wrong. Well, she knew that as soon as she’d opened that door things had started to go wrong. Once Dakota had started to be snippy, things had been beyond wrong.

Admittedly, she’d been snippy as well, but something had snapped inside her when she’d realised the way Markus had looked at her. Like it’d been her fault.

And now, what she’d been afraid of was happening. A good friendship was over because she wasn’t able to keep her hands off him.

At home, she took off her shoes and jacket, headed into the lounge room where she saw Rachel’s little note informing her that she’d gone out to attend an information session for her studies. As much as she’d have liked some company, she was glad nobody was home, and she was able to feel miserable in peace and quiet. She grabbed a bottle of red and a glass before she curled up on the couch. Pulling her knitted blanket over herself, she picked up the remote control and flicked through the channels.

So much for her best intentions not to drink again. Or for her best intentions to not fall for a man again.

She’d failed so appallingly on both accounts.

Her phone buzzed and adrenaline pumped through her. She checked the ID, relief and disappointment rushing through her when she recognised Tyson’s number.

Yet, Sarah shouldn’t have answered the phone. As Oliver said the other day, he had a way of making people talk. She stuck with her excuse of having a headache, but wasn’t able to shake the feeling that he saw right through her.

“Yes, I’m okay. Just a little headache.”

She was able to hear him shushing one of the other guys, probably Markus. Closing her eyes for a short moment, she tried her best to let the wave of dizziness pass.

“Honestly,” she said as he kept persisting. “I’m fine…I know…he’ll have a big party and I’ll be there.”

Sarah hung up and cried again. She missed the guys, and although she felt guilty for not celebrating Oliver’s engagement with the three of them, she knew it was for the better. What would she say anyway? It was obvious, she’d been crying since leaving Markus’ house. Her eyes were puffy, her skin all blotchy red. She’d catch up with Oliver over the week and invite him to a nice dinner.

Sarah had tried to sound as convincing as possible on the phone, but it’d been Ty she’d been talking to, and there was no kidding him.

Not that she cared much. After all, she decided it was Markus who was to blame for the situation. And the bitch from next door. Damn, it made her angry just thinking about her. With her fake smile, blinking eyes, red lips. How could he fall for someone like her?

She was about to start the movie when the doorbell rang. Doing a quick pro and con about whether to open the door or not, she decided to ignore the visitor.

The doorbell rang again.

Damn it.

Then she heard Tyson’s voice and nearly dropped the remote in her hand.

“Sweetcakes?” Oliver shouted.

She stood and walked towards the hall. Speechless with surprise to see all three of the guys walking down the hall, she stood there, bottle in one hand, DVD in the other. She stared at them. Ty carrying a cooler bag, Oliver holding the beer, and Markus…Markus looked like he didn’t want to be there.

Well, join the club
, she thought. Neither did she.

“Sweetcakes, throw on the barbeque,” Oliver said as he held up the bag. “Meat’s in here. Ty reckons your headache’s a fake, so apparently we’re celebrating here.”

“And—” Tyson added as he lifted an eyebrow towards Markus. “You guys can sort things out.”

Although desperate to say something, words simply failed her. A lot of things came to mind, for example, that she wanted to be alone, or that she really did have a headache, but most importantly that there wasn’t anything to sort out.

The headache might have been a stretch, but she was sure that once she was finished with the bottle of red, the headache would come sooner or later.

And she preferred the headache to sorting out issues.

Her gaze went to Markus and by the way he avoided looking at her, she assumed he thought along the same way.

One by one, her friends walked past her, placing a kiss on her cheek.

“Okay, here’s the deal,” Tyson said. “We set the barbeque on fire, you two talk.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Markus complained.

His outburst hurt her a little. Had he been forced to come here? She had no intentions talking to him if he was in a lousy mood like this.