Infamous: A Bad Boy Sports Romance Novel (13 page)

“
W
hat the hell
are you doing?”

I groaned and turned back to Jared as he lazily stretched on the bed. His eyes were open and awake—not to mention tracking my movements like a hawk.

“I know I said we should spend all day in bed, but it’s after noon. I need a
break
. Especially for food.”

“Doesn’t explain why you’re getting dressed.”

I rolled my eyes. “Should I just answer the door like this?”

Jared’s eyes lingered down to my breasts and stayed locked there for a moment before he shrugged.

“Hey, that’d be a hell of a good tip.”

I laughed as I bent down to pick up his shorts and slung them at him. He pulled them on without protest, still grinning at me even after he got up and grabbed his shirt.

“I suppose we can take an hour off to eat… But then we’re getting right back to it,” he said seriously, arching an eyebrow and begging me to challenge him.

I raised my hands in surrender as I bartered, “Two hours. Give me a two hour break and I’ll do whatever you want.”

“Anything? Really?” he asked, waiting for my nod of confirmation before his brows knit together in deep thought. “All right. I’ll accept your bargain. But you’re in for a rude awakening later.”

With a smack on my ass hard enough to make me yelp with surprise, he left the room, tossing a saucy wink at me over his shoulder.

I had no idea what I was in for, but I was excited to find out.

First things first
.

I opened the delivery app on my phone to check the status of my order before I joined Jared in the living room. He was already surfing through Netflix, looking for something we hadn’t already watched to serve as background noise for our meal.

I had no idea what he picked because we spent the next twenty minutes making out on the couch like horny teenagers. My body was too exhausted to move any further than that and I was grateful for it when a series of short raps on my door echoed through the living room.

I tried to get up, but Jared just lifted me by the hips and placed me on the cushion beside him.

“I got it, princess.”

I’d been trying to evenly split the cost of our meals since he first arrived, but Jared seemed hell-bent on being the one to pay more often. I wasn’t sure if it was his version of chivalry or if he was just being considerate because he knew I wasn’t a paid employee.

Regardless of his reasoning, I was grateful. I didn’t
want
to let him pay every time, but my wallet could only take so much of a beating.

After he closed the door and placed the Chinese cartons on the coffee table, I slid down to the floor while he fetched me a fork from the kitchen.

As amusing as it was for him to watch me struggle with the chopsticks, he knew how agitated it made me. I supposed he wanted me in a good mood for whatever he was planning later on.

Jared sat on the couch behind me and started digging in, the two of us zoning out as we tried to get into the plot of the movie without having watched the beginning.

Shortly after we started eating, there was another sharp knock on my door.

I frowned and looked back at Jared, noting that he had the exact same expression on his face.

“Did you give him enough?” I asked.

“I gave him a fifty,” he said as he stood up and moved toward the door. “I thought that would cover it.”

As he unlatched the deadbolt, everything slid into place so quickly it nearly gave me whiplash.

Fifty was more than double what we owed for the order and very few people ever came by to visit me. The notable exceptions were my parents, but they always called first. Which meant—

Oh god, no.

The door swung open and I slammed my eyes shut the moment my fears were confirmed.

“Lauren,” Jared said, his voice tight. “You’re back early.”

She breezed into my apartment without preamble, smiling when she saw me sitting on the floor.

“Yes and with good news!” she practically shouted, twirling around to face Jared again as she said, “The results came back early and William agreed to catch an early flight so I could begin repairing your image immediately.”

“He’s not the father, then?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

“He is not,” Lauren confirmed, turning back to narrow her eyes at me. “Darling, will you grab Jared’s bag for me? We need to move on this ASAP. I want to be the one to release it so we can make a strong statement before the press starts twisting it.”

I nodded dumbly, slowly bringing myself up from the floor and trying not to meet Jared’s eyes. A split second glance his way told me that he was in the same boat as I was—nearly frozen with disbelief and an overwhelming sadness.

Why now?
I swallowed hard as I made my way to the bedroom and began to put the stack of clean clothes I had washed for him into his duffel bag.

After it was packed, I numbly walked back toward the living room, only to freeze in the hallway when I realized that Lauren had dragged Jared into the kitchen. The movie wasn’t loud enough to cover their hushed voices.

“Your bag is in her bedroom?” Lauren asked, her voice restrained even though I could hear the heat behind it.

“I complained about the couch so she took it.”

Lauren chuckled. “Why am I not surprised? You’re such a gentleman.”

I couldn’t see him do it, but I imagined him shrugging.

“Well... you know me.”

“Did you fuck her?”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me Jared. Did you?”

“No,” he denied instantly, hesitating for a moment before he added, “Not for lack of trying, though.”

There was a long pause of silence before Lauren let out a heavy, relieved sigh.

“April’s a strong-willed little thing. It’s one of the many reasons why I like her so much.”

“Yeah... I got that impression.”

I was torn between being curious about where their conversation was going to lead and terrified that it would go badly if I let it continue. So I straightened my spine and walked into the room, handing Jared his duffel bag with a slightly stiff smile.

“I think everything’s in there. You might want to double-check, though.”

“Razor?”

I knew I forgot something. I shook my head and watched as he turned to Lauren and said, “Give me a minute.”

He brushed past me, letting his arm subtly brush against mine in a way that made my heart feel like it was being stomped into the ground.

It’s not like I didn’t know this was coming... but I thought I’d have a chance to say a proper good-bye. I wasn’t naive enough to think it’d mean the same thing to him, but I at least wanted the chance to tell him how much I enjoyed our time together after we made the truce and have a chance to hint at how much it had meant to me.

I could always tell him later because I still had his number saved in my phone, but what would be the point? He’d likely forget about me the moment he stepped out into the fresh air.

I was so deeply saddened by the thought that it took all my remaining energy to school my expression into place and face Lauren.

“So how’d it go? No more issues?”

I slowly shook my head. “No. After the bar incident, he agreed to a truce. It actually... Well, it’s been kind of nice.”

Lauren raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “You’re serious?”

I shrugged, wishing I hadn’t said anything. “Yeah. Other than him constantly hitting on me, it’s been kind of fun having the company. It kind of felt like college.”

“Did you sleep on your couch during college while your company took your bed?”

“My roommate in college was a party-girl. So, yes. More often than I care to remember,” I dryly noted.

The awkwardness departed the room as Lauren laughed and by the time Jared came back from checking the bedroom and getting his stuff from the bathroom, one couldn’t even tell that a part of me was dying inside.

Lauren sobered when she saw Jared. “You ready to get this show on the road?”

He nodded grimly. “I suppose so.”

“Well then let’s get out of here. April, take the rest of this week off to get some rest. I’ll see you bright and early Monday morning to give you all the details of your new, full-time job.” She winked at the end, obviously pleased that I had handled this task as well as I did.

Or, as well as she
thought
I did.

My eyes flickered to Jared, but his expression was unreadable. Lauren strutted out of the kitchen while Jared lingered, as unsure of what to say as I was.

“Thanks for letting me stay here. And for giving up your bed for me.”

“No problem,” I said, forcing a smile. “It’s been... interesting, to put it mildly.”

Jared nodded, but his mouth stayed in a fine line. I swallowed hard when I saw his eyes darting all over my face and I was desperate to know what he was looking for.

He offered me a hand and it felt so inappropriately formal that I almost didn’t take it. But I was entirely aware of Lauren’s eyes on my back, so I placed my hand in his and choked back a gasp when I felt his thumb tenderly brush over the back.

“Let me know if you ever want tickets. I can get you great seats,” he said softly, a smile finally cracking through the stoic look.

“Will do.”

Our hands fell apart and he stepped away, not looking back as he made his way to the door. Lauren followed close behind, turning to waggle her fingers at me in a wave before closing the door and leaving me completely alone.

The silence was thicker than ever. The lack of Jared’s presence already felt like something important was missing and for the first time since I moved into my apartment, I felt truly and utterly alone.

Tears began to gather in my eyes and I swiftly locked the front door before rushing to take refuge in the bathroom. I flicked the light switch and turned to grab a tissue, freezing in my tracks when I glanced at the mirror.

While Jared had been getting his razor, he apparently had also used the opportunity to ruin a tube of my lipstick in order to leave me a message.

I miss you already, kitten.

“I miss you, too,” I whispered to my own reflection, letting the tears fall freely as I trailed my fingers over the words.

“
M
oore
!
Get your head in the game, son!”

I growled in frustration and shoved away the urge to pull out my mouth guard and yell back at coach. Lee was at my side after the sack and reached a hand out, helping me to my feet.

“You good, man?”

I nodded, refusing to take out the guard and answer, in fear of screaming at coach.

Being back in training was a blessing and a curse. A blessing because football was my life and I loved playing, regardless of whether it was an actual game, or just practice with my team.

A curse because I’d been significantly off my game for the past few weeks, in more ways than one. And while I’d been doing everything I could to ignore the reason why and get back into the swing of things, there was no hiding it on the field.

But the only person who had the faintest clue what was going on with me was Lee. Not that I’d given him any details.

I tried to move back into position so we could run through the play again, but Lee gripped both sides of my helmet and stopped me.

He leaned in close and pointedly said, “You can’t be out here thinking about that girl and focus properly. You got to leave that shit off the field, man.”

I spit out the guard and ground out, “I’m fucking
trying
. Just get back in line and make the catch.”

Lee scoffed and shook his head, but followed my direction. We attempted the play again—but just as my eyes spotted Lee break free and I pulled my arm back to pass—fucking Harrison sacked me from the right. The ball dropped out of my hold and one of the other’s on the mock-defending team picked it up, running it into the end zone with ease.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,
fuck
.

“Moore! Get over here!”

Mega-fuck.

I let out a resigned sigh and pulled my helmet off, jogging over to my coach as he called out for the other guys to team up with the assistant coach for the time being.

When he crooked a finger and led me off the field, I knew his concerns were serious. It’d been a long while since I’d been scolded for anything game-related.

In the locker room, he gestured for me to take a seat on the bench. I raised a brow and declined, leaning back against the lockers instead and waiting for him to say what was on his mind.

“Listen up, son. I thought for sure that after the heat from the cheerleader debacle died down, you’d be right back to your normal self. But maybe I wasn’t thinking enough about your…
feelings
. You need to talk about anything?”

My face twisted up and I directed my best ‘what-the-fuck’ look at him. When he just shrugged, I slowly said, “No thanks, coach. I’m good.”

He let out a sigh of relief. “Good, because I’m not the one to ask for life advice. Just figured I’d offer.”

“Thanks?”

“But you need to speak to
someone
,” he added, holding up a finger when I started to protest. “Something’s going on with you. Remember when you said you’d make me proud when you got us to the playoffs? Well if you play during the season like you have during practice—we ain’t getting there.”

Ouch. It was clear he intended the words to hurt and they certainly hit my pride. I nodded, more to myself than to him, and solemnly said, “I’ll get myself back to normal before the season starts, I promise. This is just a glitch.”

“I sure fucking hope so. Now come on,” he said, before giving me a pat on the back and directing me back toward the field. “You owe me some laps.”

Fucking wonderful.

* * *

O
nce practice was
over and I had showered off the sweat and changed into normal clothes, I immediately sought out Lee. I wasn’t looking forward to this conversation, but I knew coach was right. I needed to talk this out with someone and Lee was the only person I trusted enough to give me solid advice and not spread it around the team.

“Hey,” I called out, catching him just as he was closing his locker. “You want to grab a drink or something?”

He raised an eyebrow and smirked, like he knew this was coming. “Only if you’re buying.”

“I’ll buy if you drive.”

“Done.”

The walk to Lee’s car was silent, same with the ride to the nearby bar where the members of the team usually hung out. I really wasn’t in the mood to drink—especially not after what had happened in New York—but I figured it would be safer than going back to his place and having Marline jumping in on the conversation.

That sounded about as appealing as a lobotomy.

I nodded at the teammates we passed on our way to a table in the back, then slid into the booth and waited for Lee to take the other side. After he ordered a beer and the waitress walked away, he leaned over the table and clasped his hands together.

“Tell me about the girl.”

Oh, where to even begin.

I opted to begin with an explanation of who she was and how we met, keeping the details of our time together as minimal as possible without avoiding any of the major issues.

When I got to the part about when my emotions came into play and how I naturally decided to fuck my feelings away, Lee outright cackled. I frowned at him from across the table, muttering a dismissive thanks to the waitress who brought our drinks over.

“What’s so fucking funny?” I growled.

Lee calmed himself and took a swig of his beer, still chuckling while shaking his head. “
You
, man. You seriously thought that having sex with a girl you had feelings for would make them go away?”

My frown turned into an outright scowl. “Well maybe not when you phrase it like that. But it wasn’t—”

“Stop, stop. This is fucking priceless. Jared... I love you, man, but you’re such a dumbass. Have you even
tried
to call her?”

“I don’t have her number,” I muttered miserably.

The only time her number had popped across my screen was when I was fleeing from her apartment for a bar. I had deleted the call log before turning my phone off and hadn’t remembered to ask for it before I left.

Hell, I hadn’t even gotten a chance to ask.

Fucking Lauren.

“But she works for your publicist. Just ask for the number.”

I hesitated, knowing that he wouldn’t really get the gist of why I couldn’t do that unless I admitted the full story to him.

“See, that’s the thing. If I ask for April’s number, Lauren’s going to think something happened between us.”

“And this is a problem because...?”

“Because Lauren’s fired every employee who’s ever slept with me,” I dryly admitted, still pissed that it had been happening without my knowledge. “She has a no-sleeping-with-the-clients rule that I didn’t know about until April told me.”

Lee’s eyes went wide with surprise. “But she still slept with you?”

“Only because I swore I’d keep it between her and I. Her internship turning into a full-time job was riding on her ability to keep me in check while also
not
sleeping with me.” I paused for a bit of dramatic effect, raising my glass of water in mock-cheers. “So here’s to Lauren for putting me in this fucked up position. If I go after her—I’ll get her fired and she’ll hate me. If I leave her alone—”

I stopped abruptly, lowering the glass back to the table. I had started off the toast as a joke, but it really wasn’t funny anymore.

“What? What happens if you leave her alone?”

“She gets to keep her job and I get stuck thinking about her every fucking second of my life and wondering how it could’ve turned out if things had been different.”

The silence was thick and Lee sadly shook his head before bringing the beer to his lips and gulping it down.

“You think I’m a pussy?” I asked, wishing he would tell me what he thought about what I’d told him instead of just staring at me with a pensive frown.

“If you start saying shit like that around the locker room—someone’s going to say that. But, me? Nah. I don’t think so,” he said, raising his glass and tipping it my way with a knowing look in his eyes. “I think you’re in love.”

He finished his beer and waved to grab the attention of the waitress while I sat frozen, thinking about what Lee said and the look of understanding in his eyes.

“I think you might be right.”

He looked surprised by my admission, but didn’t comment. When the waitress finally came over, I ordered a bottle of the hard stuff and two glasses.

“I thought you didn’t drink during the season.”

“It’s not the season yet,” I pointed out as I dug into my pocket for my wallet. “And I’ll be
damned
if I’m going home to my empty bed sober after a revelation like that.”

Lee pulled his lower lip into his mouth and made a noise of discontent right before he said, “Marline’s going to be pissed if I go home drunk. I’m not saying I’m going to let you drink alone, but I need you to answer one question for me first. Make it worth the trouble I’m gonna get in.”

“Fire away.”

“Seriously, Jared. What are you going to do about this?”

I rolled my eyes and looked away. “What
can
I do? She told me multiple times that her career is the most important thing in her life. I can’t risk fucking that up for her when I don’t even have reason to believe that she feels the same way.”

“Wow,” Lee breathed out in disbelief. “Look at you, all grown up and shit. I knew it’d happen eventually.”

“Shut the fuck up,” I muttered, but I didn’t have the energy to muster up any bite to put behind the words.

“Maybe I could conveniently get her invited to the wedding,” he mused. “I’ll look her up and invite her to a Wolfpack wedding. You said she’s a fan, right?”

His idea was extremely tempting, but I couldn’t take it. I
wouldn’t
. April hadn’t seemed to be anywhere near as affected by the reminder of me leaving soon as I had been and that was enough for me to feel like she wasn’t invested. The possibility of getting her fired for no reason and causing her to hate me left a foul taste in my mouth.

“I’ll get over her,” I said confidentially, ignoring the voice in the back of my head that disagreed. “I will. Like you said: I just need to keep it off the field and get us to playoffs.”

“Amen. I’ll drink to that.”

Shortly after, we cracked open the bottle and invited over the other teammates at the bar to help us polish it off. By the time Lee dropped me back at my place, I was at that blissful point of drunk where I felt next to nothing, and I plopped down face-first on the mattress and promptly passed out.