Delayed Penalty (Crossing the Line, #1)(38)

"They never had pizza like this where I came from."

"No?"

"Nope. Just regular food like burger joints and your occasional Mexican restaurant."

"Wow, the rest of the world is missing out." I took a bite of my own slice, trying not to talk with my mouth full. "This was the first place I ate at when I moved to Chicago."

She nodded, eating her own pizza in silence.

"How long have you lived here?"

"Oh, uh, about eight months. I was living with Dave Keller, one of my teammates, but he gets around and I didn't really want to be living with anyone."

"Gets around?" Ami moved from standing beside me to sitting on the counter.

"Yeah..." Shifting my stance and leaning with my side pressed to the island, I smirked at her question. "...like sleeps with a different girl every night type of getting around."

Again, she nodded but said nothing else. I couldn't help but wonder if she thought I was the same way. Most people would have thought that, and while I'd been known to indulge a little, I wasn't exactly on the starting line-up in that game.

I brushed the thoughts away, not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable, and changed the subject.

I showed her around the rest of my place and where she could sleep in the guest room. She seemed tired and wanted to take a shower. I let her take one in my bathroom because Callie had once told me my guest bathroom was just not suitable for women.

We had just said goodnight when I heard a knock on my door. "Evan?"

"Yeah?" I sat up and looked toward the door. Ami was standing, looking at me with a mixture of fear and sadness. "Can I…be with you in here?"

Say what?

"I…uh…do you want to sleep in my bed? I can sleep on the couch or something?" I was clueless. I had no idea what her intention was until she moved to stand by the bed.

"No..." she shook her head, her eyes on mine "...with you…in your bed."

Fuck.

"I'm sorry." She moved away from my bed with one step back. "Never mind."

Ami didn't want to be alone and things like sleeping with the lights on, checking the locks on the doors, all that shit I understood. She didn't have to feel bad. Losing her whole family, what happened to her that night, all that shit was far worse having to go through it than hearing about it. She had every right to be like this.

"No..."Shifting my place on the bed, I reached out grabbing her hand. "...You can stay."

Ami blinked, relieved. "Thanks. Not only am I a little…scared. Your guest room is freezing."

My phone beeped by the bed. Leo sent me a text. You f*ck the girl yet?

He was so vulgar sometimes it was disturbing.

Fuck off, was my reply.

Pulling back the covers, she moved to get in the bed with me. I moved over giving her enough room. That was when her eyes were drawn to the large windows in my room. "Wow, that's an amazing view to wake up to."

I wasn't looking at the view. Nope.

I groaned when I realized she was only wearing my T-shirt that she'd borrowed when she got under the covers. "Put on some sweatpants or something." She hesitated, looking down at me, my eyes begging, hers teasing.

"You're awfully bossy in the bedroom, aren't you?" Her brow arched, ignoring me, and slipped on the covers.

Fuck. I'm so f*cked.

Certainly, I knew what her staying with me meant. But this...her sleeping in my bed... Nope, didn't think that would happen.

"I'm willing to be when needed," I said, giving her a wink, teasing both of us.

Despite my request, we lay there together, both of us staring at the ceiling until she rolled over. "Sorry about invading your room. I couldn't sleep alone."

"I understand." Turning, I propped myself up on my arm, looking down at her, and I was right. I was so f*cked because right now I'd do anything to make her feel nothing of what she was feeling. "Is it getting easier?"

Ami gave a shrug. "It's easier now."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

With her lying beside me, the light coming in from the windows providing just enough so I could see her eyes close, she started remembering. "I remember I used to lay awake at night while Andrew would practice throwing pitches to my dad, throwing fast balls and curve balls, and I loved the slap it made. I used to fall asleep to that. Now, sometimes, it's all I hear when I'm trying to sleep. It's comforting, but it reminds me of a time I will never get back."

"How come you weren't with them?" I asked, still staring at the window.

"I was at the beach with Josh, my boyfriend, at the time. We had just made it to his parents' beach house the day Andrew flew out to California with my parents. I didn't go because…" Her cheeks flushed, even in the dark I could see that. "Josh and I had planned to stay for the night…to be alone…"

I caught on pretty quickly as to what she was referring to.

"How did you find out?" I blinked, and she knew what I was asking.

"Josh and I had literally just gotten there and my cell phone started ringing. It was Aunt Kaye, my dad's sister. She was hysterical, and I just knew. It was…I'm not even sure. I've never really thought about it or talked about it. Maybe it will help. I don't know." She seemed to mentally prepare herself. "It was the worst day of my life. Every nightmare I'd ever thought about coming true had in one afternoon."