Craving The Player (Amateurs In Love Book 1)(60)
He leads us through a vast archway that separates the front half of the gym from the back half. There are two men standing in front of the entrance but they let us through with a quick nod in Tyler’s direction. I look back at the crowds behind us and feel a surge with momentary relief. The burly men blur together to form an angry grey cloud, their silhouettes dark and dangerous, threatening a dangerous storm.
A gasp gets stuck in my throat as I take in the new space. It’s much bigger than where we just were, and painted with dark lighting that barely manages to highlight the giant, elevated boxing ring that’s been placed in the middle of the room. There’s an empty hallway to the right of us that I assume leads towards a locker room, and two others, each one on an opposite side of the ring. There are large square lights around the platform that are turned off, leaving it dark and emanating a feeling of fear that slithers up my skin.
Anger fries my nerves when I spot Clayton leaning against the thick velvet ropes lining the edges, his cellphone pressed to his ear. His body is completely relaxed, not a care in the world as to where Sophie and I may or may not have ended up as he continues chatting with whoever’s on the other end of the call.
“Forget something, Clay?” Tyler asks, stalking towards him with a thick sense of power. I snicker when Tyler brings his hand up and smacks it against the back of Clayton’s head. The angry man seems to pull Clayton’s head from the clouds as he spins to look back at us, eyes wide with worry.
“Yeah, or maybe a couple somebody’s?” Sophie hisses, hands now placed firmly on her hips. I can tell that she wants to walk over there and beat some sense into him so I tighten my grip on her elbow and ignore the glare beating into my temple when she whirls to face me.
Clay stays silent for a few seconds, as if he’s running through every possible reply for the one that will piss us off the least. But unfortunately for him, there won’t be a good enough answer when it comes to a pissed off Sophie. Or me, for that matter.
“See, what happened was I had to take a piss and the bathrooms up front are always so dirty so I had to use the ones back here and then by the time I was on my way back out, I saw that Tyler had you—”
“You didn’t even give it to her either, you dumbass,” Tyler grunts, snapping his attention to my bare neck before pinning Clayton with a deadly glare.
My brows pull inward as my eyes dart between them. “Give me what?”
It’s Clayton who answers me, wearing a sheepish smile that looks completely out of place on his clean, sharp features. “Braden’s lucky chain. He gave it to me this morning and told me to have you wear it tonight. I meant to hand it off to you in the car but Sophie distracted me.”
My lips part, becoming dry, and I’m sure that I look as surprised as I feel. There’s a warm, buttery feeling wrapping me up in a tight embrace while doves take flight in my belly, their wings flapping so hard I nearly reach down and place a hand on my stomach to see if I can feel them from the outside.
“Oh,” I breathe, flushed all the way to my toes. “Can I still wear it? I mean, if it’s not a big deal?”
Holy shit it’s hot in here. Am I sweating? The urge to wave a hand in my face is nearly impossible to ignore. I thought that I had a greater understanding of the extent of Braden’s feelings, but I apparently highly misjudged the depth of how much he cares for me. I expected to find him swimming near the top of the ocean, not deep enough that his stomach could brush the sand. The realization has my heart thumping to an off-tempo beat.
“He would string me up a pole by my balls if I didn’t let you wear it,” Clayton snorts, reaching into the front pocket of his jeans and pulling out a thick silver chain. The silver is dull, worn, and well loved. Something that feels a hell of a lot like love swells inside of me before I shove the feeling out of sight.
With tentative fingers I pluck the chain from Clayton’s outstretched hand and hold it gently, like I would a piece of my great-grandmother's fine china. I let it fall from one hand to the other, shivering as the cold metal tickles my palms.
The return of voices has me closing my fist around the chain as I spin around and watch the crowds begin filing around the ring, the excited whoops and hollers making me tense up.
“Let me put it on you before you drop the damn thing and lose it,” Sophie murmurs, the pitch of her voice slightly higher than normal. Eying her with a scrutinizing look, I see the swoon in her eyes and breathe a laugh. After I’ve dropped the chain in her open palm, I feel the cold bite of it over the burning skin of my throat before she quickly clasps it and moves to my side again. “There. Now let’s find somewhere to stand before we’re stuck sandwiched between a bunch of sweaty old men.”
Tyler nudges my arm and points to the empty space a few feet down the ring, directly underneath one of the giant lamps that have turned on sometime during our exchange of Braden’s chain. The reminder has me reaching to the hollow of my throat and toying with the silver chain between two fingers.
Sophie and I follow after Tyler and Clayton as they lead the way before stopping and moving so we’re sandwiched between them. The protective stance has my eyes rolling into the back of my head as I grin, unable to start a fight about it. In all honesty, it’s a relief having these two as our bodyguards for the night. Even if Clayton isn’t exactly the ideal candidate.