Misadventures of a Rookie (Misadventures #11)(60)

“Don’t spare my feelings,” Dad called, and my mom scoffed.

“Don’t act surprised. You know the truth.”

I wasn’t listening to them though. I couldn’t get the image of Bo sitting on my bed and crying from her soul. She was sobbing, her whole body shaking, and I had never seen her like that. She was always so hardheaded, so strong, and the kind of person who didn’t take shit from anyone. Especially me. She always put me in my place. But then, over the weeks, that started to change. She started to smile more, and I thought we were good.

We were solid.

But she walked out.

She left me.

And now I was the one fighting back the tears.

“It’s hard when you want someone so bad and they won’t have you. Ask your father. He knows.”

I chuckled as I shook my head. “But you two were meant for each other.”

She scoffed. “Please, the only thing I thought that man was put on this earth for was to give me you. After that, he was slime.”

“I’m right here, Lauren.”

My face broke into a grin as my mom went on. “Well, obviously that’s changed. I love you, duh.”

Dad said something, but I couldn’t hear it because my mom was giggling into the phone. “Ew, please, I don’t want to hear this.”

Her laughter subsided. “Fine, sorry.”

Pinching my nose, I glanced at the clock, seeing that I had about thirty minutes before I had to be at the Tornadoes’ compound. “So what do I do, Mom? Do I go see her? I can find her parents’ address, I think.”

“No, give her space. She’ll come around.”

I didn’t like that answer. I wanted to run to her house, beg her to see me, but what if she wouldn’t come out? That would be awful, so maybe my mom was right. I missed her so much though. I wanted to hold her, tell her that her past didn’t matter, that it was about what we did now. I wanted to hear her say she loved me, because damn it, I knew she did. I just knew it.

“Want me to call her?”

I made a face as I sat up. “Hell no. I’m not having my mommy call my girlfriend to make her talk to me.”

“I mean, we did connect, Gus. She loves me.”

That was true, but I couldn’t have my mom do this for me. Plus, I didn’t want her to come talk to me because my mom asked her to. I wanted her to come to me, to be with me, because she wanted me. Because she trusted that I would never in my life hurt her.

Inhaling hard, I stood up, slipping my feet into my slides since the car the Tornadoes had sent would be here soon. “You are completely right, Mom, but I gotta do this on my own.”

“Oh. My baby is growing up.”

I laughed. “Only took twenty-two years, huh?”

“Hey, better late than never. Dad was twenty-four when he decided to be a man.”

“Laur! What the hell?”

“What? He knows this! It isn’t a secret!”

I rolled my eyes, reaching for my wallet and then looking for my phone until I realized I was on it. I may be a man according to my mom, but sometimes, I wondered about myself.

“I’m proud of you, Gus, with everything. Really. You’re blowing me away, kid.”

I smiled, my heart warming. It felt good to have my mom say that, and I knew she meant it, but I couldn’t exactly enjoy it the way I should when I wanted so desperately to just hear Bo’s voice. I wanted to feel her skin under my palms, and damn it, I wanted to kiss her pouty little mouth.

“It’s all because of you, Mom.”

“I know,” she answered simply. “Too bad Dad didn’t come in until I was already done molding you into the man you are now.”

When my dad hollered something, I just laughed, loving that no matter what, I knew my family would make me laugh and also have my back. “But don’t worry, honey, she’ll come around. She adores you. Even Dad said the same thing, that she was completely into you.”

I swallowed hard. “I love her.”

“I know,” Mom said almost instantly. “And in my experience, true love always wins.”

“That’s the nicest thing you’ve said to me today,” I heard my dad say, and my mom laughed.

“Please, I asked if you wanted to bang an hour ago!”

“And I’m out.”

Mom laughed. “Love you, honey. Good luck. Call me when you find out either way.”

“I will. Love you too.”

After hanging up the phone, I tucked it in my pocket before letting my head fall back, looking at the ceiling. True love always wins. Sounded like some kind of Disney shit, but still it gave me some hope. Even though Bo was my first love and my first girlfriend, I knew that she would be my only. Since I really didn’t want to die alone, I needed her to get it together and realize that I was everything she needed.

Because she was everything I needed.



When I entered Coach Tribbiani’s office, he was sitting at his desk with a large hero sandwich in front of him while the general manager of the Tornadoes leaned against the windows on his phone. GM Alex Haynes was a small man but extremely smart. He was the main reason the Tornadoes were actually doing something this year. He was bringing in great talent, and Coach Tribbiani was turning them into a team.

Coach was a big man. He was not only large, but his personality filled a room. He was very animated and overused the word fuck. I mean, I loved the word. I used it a lot, but even I thought he used it too much.