He stands, holds up the pen, smirks, and tosses it to a guy in the first row. “Invest in a good pen and get the girl.”
The class applauds. He pulls me to his feet and shields me from the class as he says, “I love you, Chloe. I wanted to tell you yesterday. Hell, I wanted to tell you weeks ago. You’re everything. My princess, my knight, my dragon. Every fairy tale I ever heard rolled up into one and so much better because you’re real.”
“Kiss me already, Nathan Payne.”
He does and the class gets louder. I think Professor Sanchez might try and settle them down, but I just keep kissing my man because he loves me and I love him and right now, it’s all that matters.
35
Nathan
“Girlfriend.”
Chloe walks into the kitchen with Emily and Bri. She rushes to me and throws her arms around me.
“God, you two are obnoxious,” Shaw says from beside me.
We had our exhibition game tonight and a party at The White House after is protocol every year.
“Want something to drink?”
She nods, and I grab her a cup.
“Where’s Sydney?” Shaw asks my girl.
“She’s coming. She had a date with that tennis guy she met last week.”
Shaw mutters under his breath, takes his drink, and storms off. Damn, something went sideways there.
I nod to Emily and Bri. “Can I get you guys something to drink?”
“I got it. I got it.” Datson sweeps in front of me and winks at them. I chuckle but leave him to it.
“Come on, Gabby’s outside. She’s been waiting for you to get here.”
I hold her hand tightly as we join my friends outside. They’ve pulled chairs into a circle off to the side of the party. Blair and Wes, Joel and Katrina, Mario and Vanessa, and Gabby all greet us as we join them.
As I predicted, Gabby tries to steal Chloe, but I hold on tighter. “You’re not stealing her tonight.”
Gabby pouts and I give in. I love that my best friend and my girl are close, but she gets five minutes before I’m taking her back.
Gabby talks a mile a minute about our upcoming trip to watch Zeke play, and I just watch them, completely in awe that this is my life. Great friends, great girl. Even the family situation has improved. Mom’s still struggling more days than not, but she’s showing up more and when I told her I was going to start talking to somebody about the nightmares, she agreed to talk to someone too. Everything is moving forward, and I’m finally looking ahead more than one day at a time.
I take the flask out of my pocket and catch Chloe’s eye. Lifting it, I give it a little shake. Haven’t pulled this thing out in a long time, but I think tonight might be the night to get stupid. Tomorrow, she’s definitely not pulling a fast one on me and kicking me out. Or vice versa. She fakes left; I’ll be waiting right to catch her.
She walks toward me, eyeing the flask with humor and mischief. “Whatcha got in there? Everclear?”
“I want you to remember how awesome I’m going to be later when I fuck you senseless, so I went for something a little less potent.”
She takes it from my hand and tips it back so the liquor flows into her mouth.
“Champagne?” she asks after she’s had a taste.
I nod. “Everclear is for forgetting; champagne is for the nights you want to remember.”
She wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me. Our tongues tangle, and I can taste the sweet alcohol lingering between us.
“Mmmm.” I pull back and nip at her bottom lip. “Could blow off the party early.”
“Can’t,” she says with a smile.
“Why’s that?”
“I have a little surprise for you.”
“A dirty surprise?”
She laughs and wrinkles her nose. “Definitely not and when I tell you what it is, you’re going to regret saying that.”
“Alright, I give.”
She checks her phone. “Ah, perfect timing. Come on.”
I follow her back into the house and toward the front door. It opens and Heath steps through.
Chloe turns to check my expression, which has to be shocked because I’m totally blown away.
“How? When? What?” I ask as Heath steps to me. We hug and then I pull back and look him over. I haven’t seen him in months. I get home once or twice a year because the flights are so expensive, and driving takes damn near forever. “Damn. Little bro, you got tall.”
Chloe steps forward and hugs my side. “Hey, Heath.”
Heath gives my girl a once over and blushes. “Hey, Chloe. Thanks for getting me out here.”
“Were you at the game?” I ask him.
“Yeah, got in this afternoon. After the game, I went by to talk to Coach Meyers. He’s going to let me skate with the guys tomorrow morning.”
“That’s awesome.”
He nods.
I squeeze Chloe and look down at her smiling face. “You did this?”
She shrugs like it’s no big deal.
“Thank you.” I take her mouth. My heart beats so wildly I think it might bust out of my chest to get to the owner. And she fucking owns it. “Fuck, I love you.”
Heath groans. “Can I at least get a beer before you two suck face?”
“No booze for you.”
“Lame.”
“Come on, let me introduce you to some people.”
Chloe
Watching Nathan and his brother together makes me happier than I imagined. And I imagined it being pretty great.
“Guys, this is my brother, Heath.” Nathan introduces him to everyone, and the pride in his eyes is easy to see.
“Baby Payne.” Joel stands and shakes Heath’s hand. “Let’s get you a beer.”
“Negative,” Nathan says.
“Come on,” Heath whines.
Joel adds, “One beer isn’t going to hurt him.”
“Oh, okay. Let me just give Michelle a call and see if she wants to join him.”
“Leave my little sister out of this.” Joel puffs out his chest, and I bite back a laugh.
Nathan hands me the flask discreetly. “Shit. I gotta stay sober and look out for him, don’t I?”
I sneak another look at Heath. He looks so much like his brother. Not quite as tall as Nathan, but he’s already filled out more than most guys his age, probably from the hockey I know he plays. His hair is darker than Nathan’s, but they have the same bright blue eyes.
“You’re a good brother,” I tell him.
“Yeah, yeah.” He takes the flask back and takes one last drink. “Wait, where’s he sleeping?”
I bite down harder on my bottom lip, and Nathan shakes his head. “Cockblocked by my own brother.”
I press against him. “Tomorrow night, I’ll make it up to you.”
That brings a smile to his lips.
I leave the party a little early and head back to my dorm to give Nathan and Heath some time together.
“What are you guys doing back already?” I ask as I spot Bri and Emily in the living room. They’ve got the couch pushed away from the wall, all but blocking my way into the living room.
“Rearranging,” Sydney answers as she appears from our bedroom.
“We were thinking the TV should go on that wall.” Emily points.
“What happened to your date?”
“It was fine.” She pushes past me and sets our speaker on the coffee table.
“Fine,” Bri mocks. “A ringing endorsement.”
“Can we just focus on the living room?” Sydney looks to me. “Chloe, where should we put the chair? And where’d you put the rug you bought? I couldn’t find it.”
“Under my bed.”
Her eyes light up, and she runs to get it. We try every piece of furniture in every spot before we get it just right and collapse down in exhaustion.
“It’s perfect now.” Emily drops on the couch.
Sydney falls to the other end and Bri sits in the chair.
“What do you think, Chlo?” Sydney asks, and they all look at me.
I jam myself into the small space left in the chair next to Bri. “Feels like home.”
36
Chloe
“There he is!” Gabby screams and jumps up and down as Zeke takes the court.
He’s easy to spot since Gabby has shown me about a million pictures of them together, but even if she hadn’t, the way he’s looking at her would have clued me in.
Nathan hands me my loaded fries and rings and takes the seat next to me with his hot dog.
Our group is taking up most of an entire row. Zeke got us floor seats behind the team and it’s exciting. I don’t know a lot about the players or teams, but the energy at sporting events feeds my soul.
Nathan and I switch seats two minutes into the game because Gabby is killing my eardrums. The girl can yell, and she’s making sure the entire place knows how proud she is of her man. It’s adorable… from a distance.
At the half, Nathan’s boss Lincoln comes over to say hello. I gotta admit, I’m not exactly sure what it is Nathan’s doing for him, but he loves doing whatever it is.
Lincoln extends a hand when Nathan introduces me. Tan skin and dark hair, tall and athletic build. He’s a little older, but he’s a good-looking guy. He doesn’t hold a candle to my man, but I’m not blind.
“Nice to meet you.”
“Same.”
Nathan makes introductions all the way around, and my boyfriend looks so proud and happy amongst his friends. Our friends. They’ve become so much more than people I know because of him. I’d love them regardless because of how good they’ve been to Nathan, but I love them even more for how good they’ve been to me.
We told them all the truth about our fake relationship, and they took it in stride. Gabby was a little hurt, I think, that Nathan didn’t trust her with it sooner, but when he told her that it was because he didn’t want to admit how much he really wanted the girl—me—she forgave him and we both swooned a bit.
Lincoln shakes Nathan’s hand as the buzzer sounds, signaling the start of the second half. “I’ll call you this week. Enjoy the game.”
“Boss seems nice,” I say after he’s gone.
“Yeah, I think so too.”
“I thought his specialty was golf. Why is he at an NBA game?”
Nathan shakes his head. “He’s everywhere. Last weekend, he was at a Brewers game in the executive suite.”
“Fancy.”
He pulls me to him and wraps his arms around me, resting his hands on my lower back. “You wanna hang in the executive suites, princess?”
“I want to hang wherever you are.”
Nathan
I watch Chloe make her way out to the aisle with Blair to hit the ladies’ room.
Gabby leans over, following my line of vision. “So, when are you going to ask her to marry you?”
“What?” My head snaps around to meet her grinning face. “I’m not… We’re not…”
Gabby bites back a smile while I spiral. It’s not that I don’t see a future with her but it’s so soon.
“You’re blushing, Nathan Payne.”
My cheeks do feel warm, so I take a sip of my Coke and try to focus on the game. Of course, Gabby is having none of that. She nudges me with her elbow. “What? I see the way you look at her. She’s it for you. Your whole damn world. It’s the same way Zeke looks at me.”
Her eyes flit to the court and if that look she’s talking about is anything like the one she has on her face right now, I can see how my feelings are so transparent to her.
“We’re not there yet,” I tell her. “The only ring I can afford to buy her would have to come out of one of those cheap quarter machines.”
“She doesn’t care about the size of the ring.”
I glance down at the rock on her finger. Zeke went a little overboard, but I get it now. He wanted to make a statement about how much she meant to him. I want that, too. “Maybe I care.”
She pulls the ring from her left hand and holds it out to me. “Here.” She tries to push it into my hand. “Take it. We could trade it in and get her something else, of course.”
“Of course,” I mock like that’s the ridiculous part of this situation. I shake my head and thankfully, she puts it back on her finger.
“Glad you didn’t take it. I’d miss it.” She holds it over her heart. “But don’t let money be what stops you. When Zeke proposed, I didn’t even look at the ring until after I’d said yes. And even if it’d been made out of paper, I would have still loved it.”
Chloe and Blair return, and we watch the final half of the game. The Suns win, and we’re ready to celebrate.
We’re meeting Zeke at his apartment, so Chloe, Vanessa, and I pile into Mario’s car. Gabby is riding with Wes and Blair, giving me and Chloe the backseat to ourselves. I pull her into the middle, and she buckles but has to swing her feet to the side. It’s not roomy, but I’m completely okay with her being up in my personal space.
Vanessa reads the directions from her phone to Mario, and they go back and forth on the best routes. Zeke’s apartment is nice. One bedroom, one bath with an awesome view. He and his teammates arrive just after Gabby gets the music going.
“Nice game,” I tell him. “It’s going to be a rookie season for the record books.”
He tilts his big head to the side. “Still early.” He introduces me to his teammates Kevin O’Stark and Jason Harris.
“Nice to meet you,” O’Stark says. “I’m looking forward to seeing you out there next year.”
“Me? You mean Joel?” I tip my head to where my buddy is talking to Katrina and Chloe, using his hands with a big animated expression.
He and Zeke chuckle before he responds, “Yeah, you. You’ve got some nice handles and a good sense of the court.”
“Thank you,” I manage, shocked that this guy has seen me play.
He nods and the conversation turns to their upcoming road trip to Denver.
As much as I’m trying to enjoy college and not look too far ahead, being in Zeke’s place and seeing the life and friends he’s made since graduating makes me excited about the possibilities of the future.
I find Blair and Vanessa in the kitchen.
“Blair, do you happen to have a piece of paper and a pen?”
Vanessa rolls her eyes. “Probably varying colors and sizes.”
Blair shoots her a pretend dirty look before admitting, “She’s actually not wrong.”
She produces options and I pick one, tear out a sheet, grab a pen, and thank her.
I hole up in the bathroom for a good ten minutes. A weird place to be writing a love note to your girl, I realize. When I’m done, I pocket the pen and paper and go find Chloe. She sits on the couch between Vanessa and Katrina, but as I approach, Vanessa stands, giving me a perfect opening to take the seat next to Chloe.
“Hey,” she says with a big smile and her green eyes light up. “Where’ve you been?”
“Around.” Placing a hand on her thigh, I lean into her space.
“It’s weird to think, in a few months this could be you. Living in Phoenix, or wherever, and playing in the NBA.”
“So weird,” I agree. “Also, weird, Gabby tried to talk me into proposing to you tonight.”
Her eyes go wide, and I think she’s holding her breath. Shock and maybe excitement plays out on her face.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to. Not because I don’t want to marry you someday, but because I want to do it the right way. With a big rock.” I use my hands to give her an idea of the size—roughly the size of my head—and she laughs. “And in the perfect spot with all the right words.”
I produce the paper ring I made from the paper Blair had in her purse, take her hand, and place it on her finger. “I wrote all the things I love about you on there. Barely a blank spot on either side.”
She inspects it, turning it around and trying to read the small scrawls and drawings.
“I don�
�t really expect you to wear it. It’s likely to fall apart before the end of the night, but I want you to know how much you mean to me and how excited I am about every day. Not just the future where we have jobs and fancy apartments, but even today when all I can give you is this.”
She holds it up over her heart, just like Gabby did with her giant engagement ring. “I love it and you.”
And the thing is, I know she does. Paper isn’t as valuable as diamonds, but when filled with sentiments from the one you love, it’s just as precious.
Epilogue
Chloe
Six Months Later
“You want a drink?” I offer Bri a cup.
She raises one eyebrow and makes no move to take it. Finally, she says, “No way, I want to be impossibly fresh when we land in Bangkok tomorrow. Three days, MacPherson, and then I finally get to kick your ass.”
“Oh, God, you’re going to be impossible to live with this summer.”
She smiles smugly, and I pour myself a double. Tomorrow Bri, Sydney, Emily, and I all fly to Thailand for the first in a series of international tournaments. Camilla and Jill will be there, too. One last summer to play volleyball and have fun with my friends before I “join the real world” as my dad keeps phrasing it.
“Chloe!”
My name being yelled across the room causes me to look up and see Gabby craning her neck and standing on her tiptoes to be seen.
“See you tomorrow morning,” Bri says and gives me a little condescending wave that I know is in good fun. Well, she really does want to kick my ass in match play this summer, but it’s only because she sees me as real competition and that makes me smile.
“Come on, we need you.” Gabby takes my hand and pulls me toward the stairs.
“Who is we?” I ask, laughing as her short legs pump quickly, and she tugs me behind her.
“You’ll see.”
When we reach the second-floor gym, I’m not surprised to see it shut. The room is usually locked during parties, but the small window on the door is covered with black paper so I can’t see in. That’s new. Gabby knocks three times so hard her little body bounces back from the impact. I can hear music and people inside. Joel and Vanessa are the only voices I can pick out.
The Fake: A College Sports Romance (Smart Jocks #4) Page 23
