Impossible To Resist (BWWM Romance Book 1)(36)

Jared thought back to the day at the rec center and how they’d shut doors to reporters, how he’d hidden behind the hospital’s organizations.

“I want to change things, Xander. I do.”

Xander regarded him for a moment, as if waiting for him to withdraw his statement. “Okay, then I can help, what do you want to do?”

“I’d like to help you at the Children’s Hospital. I want to go with you when you go see them,” Jared began, “and I want to look into local schools and PT programs without anybody knowing what I’m doing.”

“Who is she?” Xander asked.

“Who?” Jared played dumb.

“If you want my help, don’t lie to me,” Xander replied. “You met a woman, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” Jared said simply.

“She must be something,” Xander observed. “All the women over the years have done nothing to tame you and a few months with this mystery woman has you running from the media.”

“She changed my life, man,” Jared confessed. It felt good to tell somebody about A.J. “She was my PT.

“Damn.” Xander exhaled. “So how does Florence Nightingale feel about moving to L.A.?”

“We didn’t exactly get to finish discussing it,” Jared admitted. “I sort of got swept back here before we could really get into it. I haven’t been able to talk to her because of my phone.”

Xander laughed. “Are you sure she’s okay with being ignored for two days while you attended a party with a cheerleader?”

“No. I’m pretty sure she’s pissed. Especially since I didn’t get to say good-bye.” Jared hung his head, the reality of the past two days sinking in. “That’s why I wanted to get home so I could call her and explain.”

“Shit man, it’s going to take a lot of explaining if this woman is anything like Alicia.” Xander didn’t even try to hide his amusement.

“It’s not funny,” Jared commented bitterly. “I didn’t want things to go like this. I tried to go see her but the hospital was overrun and then Derek took my phone and disconnected my landline and when I got my phone back it didn’t work so I had to send a kid to get it replaced today. Everything has been a mess since Derek showed up at my rental house.”

“He’s bad news,” Xander noted. “He only cares about you while you’re the big news and he will do anything to keep you there.”

“You think he arranged all of this?” Jared asked.

“Yeah,” Xander said simply.

“Me, too,” Jared admitted. “I think he knows about everything.”

“I’m sure he does. And all he sees are dollar signs, man. He doesn’t want you doing anything to mess that up for you because it messes that up for him.” Xander spelled out what Jared had been piecing together slowly over the past few days.

“I have a list of other agents to look into. But none of it does me any good until I can prove my ability to play.” Jared relayed the scenario Matt gave him. “It’s why I need your help, Xander. I want out. Not out of ball but maybe out of L.A.”

“I thought you were going to look at schools?” Xander asked, surprised.

“I want to look at all of my options.” Jared confessed what he’d been holding onto since he stepped on the plane to return to L.A. “If she won’t come here then I want to go there.”

“I see.” Xander contemplated this. “So you already know what you want, you just need to know there’s a way to make it happen.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Jared saw his teammate in a new light. “You’re really good at this shit, man.”

Xander shrugged. “Maybe. Or maybe I’ve just been there.”

“You know where I live?” Jared changed the subject.

“I have an idea, but you’ll have to point out the house.” Xander turned into Jared’s subdivision and waited for him to give the access code for the gate. “You think they’d change the code.”

“What?” Jared asked.

Xander smirked at him. “Alicia and I lived here when we first got married. It’s a good area.”

“Really? I didn’t know that.” Jared realized he didn’t know too much about his teammate.

“Yeah, but kids don’t really fit into the neighborhood.” Xander didn’t seem bitter about it but there was a touch of longing in his voice.

“I can see that.” Jared nodded, he didn’t know of any kids in the neighborhood. “I never really noticed that before.”

Xander gave a wry smile as Jared pointed out his street. “We were not-so-politely asked when we were moving as soon as word got out that we were expecting.”

“What?” Jared gaped at Xander. “Is that legal?”

“Does it matter? Who wants to live where they’re not wanted?” Xander brushed it off. “We love our house and our neighborhood. The kids are happy. The schools will be great and there are a lot of parks we can walk to. I just really liked our house here. We picked it out with our family in mind. But that was before we realized how this place worked.”

“I’m sorry, man.” Jared meant it. He hadn’t noticed the peculiarity of his neighborhood until Xander pointed it out. No bikes, no playgrounds, not even sidewalks. This subdivision was built for professionals only and though it wasn’t overtly stated, apparently no kids were allowed.