Play Maker(61)

He shrank away from my anger and I was so disgusted that I released him. He fell back onto his barstool looking every inch the cheating arsehole that I now knew him to be. But I should have seen it. I should have known.

“I’m not taking responsibility for your actions anymore,” I told him, trying to stay calm. I felt a tiny swell of pity for the guy. He looked so completely pathetic. But now wasn’t the time to deal with Rick or his ego or whatever had driven him to make the world’s stupidest life decisions. “You need to make a statement, a public one, saying that it was you in that picture.”

Rick went white. “But—”

I held up a hand, not interested in his excuses. “No. You’ll do it. Or I will.”

“She’ll dump me,” Rick whimpered.

“You should have thought about that before you cheated on her,” I told him bluntly. “Multiple times.”

“Why do you care all of a sudden?” Rick puffed up his chest, apparently filled with a belated sense of indignity. Any sympathy I had for him disappeared immediately. Why had I ever admired this guy?

I glanced over towards the other end of the bar where Maya was trying to appear like she wasn’t listening to our every word. Good. I wanted her to hear this.

“Because I fell in love and I’m not going to lose her over something like this.” I glared down at him. And then I had an idea. If Nicole wasn’t going to answer my calls, if she wasn’t going to speak to me, I would have to explain this all to her in some other way. I already had an announcement scheduled, why not make the most of it. “So we’re going to have a press conference and you’re going to make a statement. Though, I recommend you call your girlfriend and tell her first. This isn’t something she’s going to want to hear about from the tabloids. Trust me.”

I left Rick on his barstool, staring at his drink and crossed the bar to where Maya was standing, completely still.

“Make sure she watches the press conference, ok?”

Maya just stared at me. I wasn’t going to give up. Nicole was worth fighting for.

“Day after tomorrow. 3:00pm. Please, Maya?”

“That really wasn’t you?” she finally asked, referring to the tabloid photo.

I shook my head. “It wasn’t me. I swear.”

She gave me a slow once over and eventually nodded. “I’ll tell her.”

I felt a wave of relief. I still had to figure out what to say, but at least I knew she’d be watching. “Thank you,” I said and turned to leave.

“James?”

I glanced back at Maya. Her face was inscrutable.

“Did you mean it? When you said you fell in love?”

“I did,” I said honestly.

“Does she know?”

Shaking my head, I thought about what Ethan had said. About big gestures and rings. I had some shopping to do. “No,” I told Maya. “But she will.”





37





Nicole





I was tired of crying. Two days, four boxes of Kleenex and seventy-eight ignored calls from James later, I was ready to face the world again. At least that’s what I told myself. The truth was that I felt like crap. Not just heartbroken, but embarrassed. Humiliated. And I was mad. At James, of course, but at myself as well. I knew better.

It turned out I was just a dumb girl who had fallen for James’ charm, ignoring the warning signs for a taste of luxury and pampering and what I thought had been love. But guys like James didn’t fall in love. When you could have any woman you wanted, why would you ever settle down? And why, if you were James, would you choose someone like me? He was a world-class athlete with money to burn. I was a bartender with college loans to pay.

We never would have worked, I kept telling myself. Better that it ended now before I really fell for him. Though, I couldn’t imagine being any more in love with him than I was. And that was the worst part. Still loving him after all this.

I felt tears burning my eyes, but I grit my teeth and refused to let them fall. I was done crying over him. I needed to get back to my life. Back to Mikey. It had been days since I had spent time with him. Days since we had done the list. This had to stop now. I had to get over James.

There was a knock at my bedroom door and I quickly swiped at my tear-swollen face. I might not win any beauty awards at the moment, but I could at least look presentable. I could at least look like I was keeping it together.

But when the door opened and it was Maya on the other side, I lost it and the tears started flowing anew.

“Oh, honey.” She rushed over and climbed into my bed, wrapping me up in a hug. For someone as tiny as she was, she gave amazing hugs. I sank into her, feeling safe. “It’s ok,” she told me, rocking me in her arms, much like my mom had done. Despite everything, I felt pretty lucky to have these amazing women in my life.

It was the first time I had seen Maya since I heard the news. We had texted a few times and she had saved my life by covering my shift at the bar, but she hadn’t been able to come over until now. I was so grateful to see her. If anyone understood how I felt, it would be her. We had seen each other through a lot of shitty men over the years. That was the main reason we had created the slut code. How I wished I had followed it this time.

“I’m such a moron,” I sniffed into her shoulder.