I hold the phone to my ear, words completely caught in my throat. Confusion races through me. Even with how fucking shitty it felt to find out she downloaded a dating app, the thought of Frankie sitting on the couch crying yanks at my heart.
She shouldn’t be crying. She should be laughing and smiling and talking and yelling at a football game on the TV. She should be here. With me. But she doesn’t want me.
“I do respect where you’re coming from, man.” I take in a deep breath. “But I don’t know about any job offer from Ryan. I literally have no clue what you’re talking about. I have a really hard time believing that Frankie is torn up about this. She didn’t want to be with me for real. I was ready, dude. I was all in. She didn’t want me.” The painful words stick in my mouth.
“Wait a second…” Luke’s voice is hushed. I imagine Frankie in another room wherever he is. Is she listening? Does she even know he called me? “If you don’t know about the job offer…and you really had feelings for Frankie like you say…then why the hell did you do that in the interview? What do you mean she doesn’t want you? From where I’m sitting, you’re all she wants.”
I run my hand through my hair and press my palm against my head. “She made a Flicker account. You know, the dating app? Right after we really started getting, I guess, serious. I saw her phone light up, and she made a profile on there. Like she was playing me or some shit. Trying to meet someone else. I was pretty hurt and pretty pissed. I’m not saying I handled it well, but that’s why I blew the interview.”
There’s nothing but dead silence on the other end of the call for a long minute. Did he hang up?
“Luke, are you still there?” I ask slowly, pulling the phone away from my ear to check to see if the call dropped or something.
“Leo,” he says. His tone has lost all of its anger and accusations. He’s quiet and kind of hesitant. He says my name as if he suddenly feels bad.
“Yeah?” I draw out.
“That’s really the reason? Because of the Flicker app?” He’s whispering now.
“Yes.” I’m so confused by his sudden change of mood. “That’s the reason. I mean, I guess you could give me shit for overreacting, but I really thought we had something real going on. And clearly, Frankie didn’t feel the same. So I got pissed and—”
“Dude.” He cuts off my sentence abruptly.
“Okay, Luke. I get it. You’re her oldest brother, and you’re trying to yell at me to protect her, but did you ever even consider that I’m the one who got hurt? Sorry if that’s so hard for you to understand.” I can feel myself starting to sound like a total dick, but her brother guilting me about the fact that she’s crying is really just salt in the wound.
“Leo. Shut up. I made the Flicker account. I made it on Frankie’s phone after I saw the way she was looking at you. She called me as soon as she found it and said she deleted it right away. Shit. I’m so sorry. I fucked this up for both of you. I was only trying to protect her. I’ve seen her get hurt, bad. I didn’t want her to go through that again.”
“You made the account?”
“She had no idea I did it.”
Hope rises in my chest and zips down my spine. “And she deleted it?” I have to be sure.
Luke chuckles slightly. “Yes. She loves you. This whole thing is my fault.”
Happiness pulls me up from the gym floor, and I race up the stairs, not even able to muster an ounce of anger toward Luke for any of this. “So…she didn’t want it? She doesn’t want to meet other guys?”
“She definitely doesn’t. I messed this all up. I can fix it. Let me tell her, and I’ll fix everything.”
I’m pressing the phone to my ear with my shoulder and digging through my closet for something to put on instead of these sweaty gym clothes. I pause. “No! No, don’t tell her. I’m on my way.” I rip off my workout tank and replace it with a cotton T-shirt. The sweatpants can stay. Maybe they’ll even aid in her forgiving me.
“Are you sure?” Luke questions.
“Positive, dude.” I slide my feet into a pair of Nikes and run into the garage, snagging the plastic ring off the kitchen floor on my way out. I think I’ll take the Porsche.
“All right.” I can hear Luke smiling on the other end of the call. “I told Frankie I’d call our other brothers to come over, so they’ll be here, too. But my lips are sealed, I promise. Oh, and Leo?”
I whip the car out of the garage and push the gas down hard. “Yeah?”
“I’m sorry for misjudging you. And butting in. I just love Frankie so much.”
A smile spreads across my face as I shove my foot down on the pedal and think of how her green eyes will sparkle when I apologize. God, I hope she forgives me.
“It’s okay. Trust me, I know what it’s like to love Frankie Monroe.”
And I know it’s all I ever want to do.
THIRTY-TWO — Frankie
“Are Drew and Eric coming?” I ask Luke as he walks back into the living room, confused as to why he had to call them in a different room, but way too emotionally wiped out to even bother asking.
“They’re on their way.” He sits next to me, wearing a stupid smile.
I frown and lightly punch his side. “Why are you so happy? Quit smiling at my pity party.”
“You’re gonna feel better really soon, I pro—”
I groan. “I know, I know. Time heals. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Learn from the pain. Everything gets better.” I grunt with disgust. “Please, spare me the platitudes.”
Luke raises his hands defensively. “Sorry. Is Mom in the kitchen? I gotta tell her something.”
“Mmm,” I mumble, burying my face in Tebow’s soft fur.
Since Eric and Drew both live about half an hour away, I decide to use that little bit of time to wash the runny makeup off my face and collect myself.
I think of Leo for the nine hundredth time that hour, and pain tugs at me. Am I brokenhearted? Yes. Am I surprised? No, sadly. Not at all.
I walk around the house, stopping to admire the clusters of family pictures that decorate nearly every wall, scattered between football memorabilia. I feel a smile pull at my lips as I think of my family, how they’re all coming together for me today.
Clinging to that tiny shred of happiness, I go into the bathroom and scrub my face completely clean. I look in the mirror for a long time, thinking of the way he would look at me. The way he would let himself get lost in my eyes. The way he made me feel so incredibly beautiful and sexy instead of like the plain tomboy I’ve always considered myself to be.
The ESPN interview flashes through my mind. The coldness in his eyes. The certainty in his unwavering voice when he said, None of it was real. I squeeze my eyes and fight the urge to break down and cry again.
When Drew and Eric arrive within minutes of each other, they both tackle me with big-brother hugs and crack enough stupid jokes to get me to laugh, which, admittedly, feels good.
“I don’t know what I’d do without you idiots,” I say through a teary laugh.
I’m insanely thankful they don’t want to sit down and hash out every gory detail of my painfully public breakup, or at least they don’t try to. I don’t think I could stand to cry any more over him today.
“All right, sissy.” Drew hops up off the couch and reaches his tattooed arm out to pull me up with him. “Let’s kick some beach football ass.”
I grab his hand and try to ignore the stabbing in my chest at the memory of teaching Leo beach football that very first night. Tequila shots and a stupid plastic ring. I want to scream and cry and yell at him all at once.
I swallow the rising emotion. “Let’s do it.”
Leo is in the past. It’s over for good. I’ve gotten over a breakup before, and I can sure as hell do it again. I don’t want anything to do with him.
“Okay, assholes.” I pick up the football as we walk out to the beach. “If you’re gonna go easy on me, do it because I’m sad. Not because I’m a girl.”
I stick my tongue out at him.
As we run up and down the beach, throwing the football and, as usual, arguing about the original rules, waves of sadness crash over me one after another. I look out at the ocean, and the emotions are enough to knock me over. Making love. The thought makes me want to spit on the ground. What a liar.
I shake off the feeling and try to focus on my brothers and the football game. I never thought the beach could be a place that would make me sad. I hate that he did that. I hate that he took that away from me.
Right now, all I can feel is pain and loneliness and an overwhelming bleakness surrounding the idea of a future without him. Am I crazy? We met only a couple months ago. And he’s a dick.
“You good, Frankie?” Luke calls to me from the deck before passing the ball.
“Huh?” I yank my gaze away from the Atlantic. “Yeah, sorry.”
Luke checks his watch. “You’re gonna feel better soon.”
Yeah, right. “What, in like a matter of minutes? Sure, okay. I wish.”
He mumbles something that I can’t make out over the crashing of the ocean waves. Every minute seems to feel worse now. My initial anger after seeing the interview is fading into pure, unadulterated sadness.
I force myself to keep playing the game, no matter how much I want to fall into the ocean and cry.
“Go, Frankie! Run!” Drew yells as he throws a long pass to me, and I catch it, running out to the low tide for a touchdown.
I splash into the ankle-deep water and drop the ball onto the beach. “Six more for us.” I turn toward the ocean, taking a slow, deep breath of the salty air as I reach down to pick up the football.
“I thought the deck was the end zone. Or did you change your own rules again?” A voice I’d recognize anywhere causes me to freeze and completely stop breathing.
Leo.
Confusion and nerves and a tiny hint of joy surge through me as I turn to lock eyes with the man who’s sent me to both wildly extreme ends of happy and sad within the past day.
“What are you doing here?” I stammer, frustrated that my tone sounds more eager than pissed off.
“Frankie, please listen to me. I—”
“No.” I hold my hand up to cut him off. Seeing him makes me want to run up to the deck and leap into his arms and kiss him and make love in the ocean again. Desperately. But I force myself to think of the interview. “Please go away. I don’t want to talk to you.” I straighten my back and walk up to the deck, brushing past him.
“Give me two minutes,” he pleads, chasing after me. Sincerity is written all over his face, but I’m not falling for it again.
“Frankie.” Suddenly, Luke is standing directly in front of me, blocking my path into the house. “Give him a chance to explain. This is all my fault, not his.”
“What?” I look back and forth between my brother and my…Leo. “What are you talking about?”
“We’re gonna wait in the house.” Drew and Eric step through the sliding door and into the living room, shutting the glass panel and leaving just the three of us outside on the deck.
“I’m going in, too,” Luke says, pulling the door back open. He points a finger and looks directly at me. “Just know that everything he’s about to tell you is completely true.”
I press my palms to my temples. “What?”
But Luke is already inside. I turn to Leo. “I thought we were fake. The whole thing. Remember? None of it was real?” I narrow my eyes and step away from him. “So why are you here?”
Leo takes my hand, jolting attraction and confusion and love through my body. “Can we go sit by the water?”
I reluctantly slip my hand away from his. “Leo, you don’t have to try to give me some respectful face-to-face breakup. The one on national television was plenty. Message received, okay?”
My eyes sting again. Damn it.
“That’s not what this is.”
I feel a tingle of hope rise in my chest as I follow him down to the water. We sit directly in the sand, side by side.
“When I was leaving for my workout, you were still asleep. Your phone lit up, and I saw that you made a Flicker profile. To, like, meet guys. Or whatever.”
I sense a hint of pain in his voice and turn to him, meeting his gaze and speaking as fast as I possibly can. “What? Is that why you—”
“Yes.” He places a hand over mine, and this time I don’t pull away.
“But, Leo, I didn’t even know about that! My brother made it, and I deleted it as soon as I saw it.”
“I know. I know all that now. But I was stupid and jealous, and I couldn’t fucking stand the idea of you ever wanting anyone else.” Leo places his hands on either side of my face and pulls me close.
Happiness wells up in my throat at those words and the truth of them in his eyes. “But why didn’t you just talk to me?” I try to hide the smile pulling at my cheeks and the urge to press my lips to his.
Remember how he hurt you, Frankie. Don’t just fall back into his arms.
“Because I’m a dumbass. That was really immature of me, and I’m sick about it. But I was so torn up, Frankie. I hated that you had that app. I thought you wanted to find a different guy. I didn’t know how to handle it, because I’ve never been in love before.”
I gasp slightly at the raw honesty of his words. The phrase tumbles out of his mouth so naturally and effortlessly, I shut my eyes to let it sink in.
I open them and drown in the warmth of his dark gaze and loving hands, still embracing me. “Did you just say you…”
“Yes.” Leo pulls his hands away and presses his palms into his forehead. “Damn it, I meant to lead with that. Yeah, I…” He looks deep into my eyes, and the entire rest of the world melts away.
I can’t hear the waves crashing or the birds singing. I can’t feel the heat of the sun or the grainy sand underneath me. I can’t even seem to give a shit about the fact that my entire family is more than likely watching from the house.
I draw in a breath as he parts his lips and brushes a strand of hair out of my face.
“I love you, kid. I’ve known for a while, I think. I didn’t know how to say it, and well, I tried to tell you once when we were in the water, but I didn’t want you to think I was just caught up in how fire the sex was.”
Laughter bubbles up in my chest. “I love you, too.”
He sighs deeply. “Thank God. And I know I fucked up. But I already called Kayla King on my drive here and asked her to do a follow-up interview so I can clear it all up. And about the job, Frankie, I—”
Unable to take one more second of his sweet, sexy, loving lips not touching mine, I lean over and kiss him. Hard and passionate and bursting with every blinding firework that explodes whenever we touch.
Leo wraps his arms around me and pulls me as close as he possibly can. We laugh through the kiss, both fully aware that my entire family is staring—and probably cheering. He holds his hand on the back of my neck and pulls away, pressing his forehead to mine.
My head is swimming with love and relief and joy that feel warmer than the Florida sun beating down on the beach. “There will be other jobs,” I whisper breathlessly.
“You don’t wanna work for that dick, anyway,” Leo mumbles between kisses, tickling my nose with his.
“Definitely not.”
“Okay,” he says breathlessly, not breaking eye contact for even a second. “Now will you please put this back on?” Leo reaches into the pocket of those damn sweatpants—he knew exactly what he was doing wearing those—and pulls out the toy Super Bowl ring.
My eyes start to burn with tears again. I welcome these tears. I hold out my left ring finger and kiss his cheek. “I will wear it with pride.”
Leo slides the ring back to the place that now feels like its home. “He would have loved you, my dad. And let me tell you, he was picky.” His voice catches through a laugh, and I nestle my hea
d in the crook of his neck. “So don’t take it off again. Be mine. For real this time. I’m all in, Monroe. I’m yours.”
“Okay. I’m all in.”
For a moment, it’s us. And the ring. And the beach. And all the words that were said wrapping around us and pulling us together in an undeniable closeness.
I reluctantly slip out of his embrace and stand up, pulling his arm up with me. “Now, I have a game to get back to. And I heard rumors that you’re kinda decent at catching a football.”
Leo threads his fingers through mine as we walk up the beach. “I have my moments.” He looks down at me and winks. My heart somersaults. I’ll never get used to that damn wink.
“You certainly do, Leo Sterling.”
I take one more deep inhale of the salty ocean air and let all my doubts and fears wash away with the tide.
EPILOGUE — Leo
Still riding the high of the last game of the regular season, I smile at the gorgeous, hilarious, and incredible woman next to me as we get into the elevator and head up to the Atlantic.
“You’re going to the playoffs, babe!” Frankie squeals with excitement as she wraps her arm around mine.
I admire those perfect eyes, which have only seemed to get sweeter over the last several months, and kiss her on the forehead. “Couldn’t have done it without you. It’s been one hell of a season.”
The elevator doors slide open, and we walk out to the rooftop of the bar. My hand keeps anxiously touching my front pocket to make sure the little box hasn’t fallen out. Excitement taps at my chest at the thought of making Frankie my fiancée tonight. For real this time.
“Erica!” She slips away from me and rushes over to see Erica and some of the other women she’s gotten close to throughout the season. Everyone loves her, and I can’t blame them. I watch her animated expressions as she reenacts Chase’s final pass in today’s game. I’ve found the one.
I reach into my pocket again, just to be sure, and head over to the table where some of the guys are already sitting.
Wild Ride (South Florida Riders Book 1) Page 17
