The XOXO New Adult Collection: 16 Full Length New Adult Stories (75 page)

“I don’t want to go to dinner. We’ve said everything we need to say to each other.”

He sighed. “Look, Everly...I overreacted. I shouldn’t have done or said what I did. The truth is, I don’t know how to relate to you. I never have. But that doesn’t mean I’ll stop trying.”

For the first time, he looked at her with something besides disdain or indifference. Instead of giving her hope, it made her wary.

Was that sad, or just really wise of her? She couldn’t say.

“Try all you want,” she said at last. “I’m not asking Cole—”

“Hey, I know the plan with Cole changed from what it was initially,” he interrupted. “It’s come between us, and it shouldn’t have. I take responsibility for that. I didn’t foresee you getting emotionally entangled.”

She stared at him. What was he talking about? Did he know that she had started working with Cole because of his injury? Was he taking a stab in the dark in hopes she admitted it?

Knowing she was a terrible liar, she hesitated to respond. His wording confused her.

“You don’t know anything about my relationship with Cole, so don’t pretend to,” she said at last. “Now I’d appreciate it if you’d leave me alone to shop.”

“All right,” he’d said with another sigh. “I’m not leaving the country, though, Everly. Know that.”

She had watched him walk off and barely managed to get through the rest of the shopping trip. Just a few days later, he had called her on her cell. She wasn’t sure how he’d gotten the number at first. Her grandpa eventually admitted that her father had stopped by to apologize while she’d been at work. She reasoned that her father got her number off her grandpa’s cell.

Their conversation had been brief. He wanted her to give him a chance. She wasn’t ready to do so.

Now she had to live every day wondering when he might make a reappearance or give her a call and throw her into another tailspin. Perfect.

Adding to her stress this week was the lack of time she’d had with Cole. Between her volunteering commitments, a pre-term study session with Justin, her Prix Fixe schedule, and Cole’s meetings with a few companies that wanted him to represent their brands, they’d both been busy. They hadn’t even gotten to celebrate New Year’s together because he’d been a part of a downtown parade and countdown celebration. She felt like they’d only had time for physical therapy, which didn’t do much to further their relationship.

And the fact was, she felt like they needed to do something to get things back on track. Since the ball, Cole had been acting more removed. It was subtle...so subtle that she’d nearly convinced herself that it was all in her head. But part of her wondered if the distancing she’d noticed was due to the fact that he was a month or so from having to report for spring training. She was going to start back to school in just over a week, too, which meant her schedule was about to tighten up.

Had Abigail been right? Was he trying to distance himself now before things got more complicated as the season started?

She wished she had the courage to talk to him frankly about how he was feeling. After she made such a mess of it the last time, however, she was hesitant to bring it up. Did he love her? Was this all more than an off-season fling for him? Before the ball, she’d really thought so.

Now, she wasn’t so sure.

Pulling up to the gate, she waited for him to greet her. His voice came over the speaker.

“You have reached the real-life decoy of Cole Parker. I’m not here at the moment, but if you’ll leave a detailed message, I might get back to you...if you’re a gorgeous redhead. And it wouldn’t hurt if you’re bearing Girl Scout cookies. Thin Mints.”

She laughed. “Would you settle for a gorgeous redhead who’s very interested in having lots of hot sex with you?”

The gate started swinging open.

“I figured as much,” she said with another chuckle as she drove through.

He greeted her at the back door. She was happy to see him smiling. He’d looked so serious lately. When he leaned down to kiss her, she let her concerns fall to the wayside and focused on him. If she wanted to reduce her stress, she needed to clear her mind.

“Hello, Ms. Wallace,” he said.

“Hello, Mr. Parker. How’s your day been?”

“Quite excellent.” He closed the door behind them and walked with her toward the stairs. “A couple of the deals Wayne’s been negotiating are about to close. You’ll be seeing my ugly mug on the front of cereal boxes pretty soon.”

She grinned. “That’s so cool! I’m very happy for you.”

“Thanks. I’ll probably have more athletic shoes than Zeus soon, too, if all goes well. I thought maybe we could give some to the kids in your neighborhood.”

“That’s sweet of you. I’m sure they’d love it. They were beyond thrilled when they got the signed bats, balls, and gloves you sent them for Christmas.”

They reached the kitchen. Cole had poured them some wine. He took the glasses off the kitchen island and handed one to her. “It was nothing. I’m glad they got a kick out of it.”

It hadn’t been “nothing” to Rayshawn and the other kids. She’d had children and parents coming up to her to thank her for days after they received the gifts. Since she hadn’t known that Cole had arranged for it, she’d been just as overwhelmed by his generosity as they had.

“Then we’ll drink to cereal and athletic shoes,” she said with a smile.

He lifted his glass in salute, then sipped it. “I also finally got to play my Christmas gift.”

Her eyebrows lifted as she swallowed a sip of wine. “You opened it? Isn’t it more valuable in the box?”

“What fun is a game if you can’t play it?” he asked.

She guessed he didn’t have much reason to be concerned about the game’s value. He surely had enough money to retire now and live a comfortable life of leisure without working another day in his life.

Taking her hand, he pulled her into the family room so they could sit on the sofa. “How was your day?”

“Oh, full of lots of fun stuff. Wrestling dust bunnies. Tackling soap scum. Manhandling the laundry.”

“Sounds violent. I hope you saved some energy for me.”

She smiled. “I’m sure I can rustle some up somehow.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” He drank more of his wine. “Anything else going on? Your schedule has been packed.”

“Nothing worth reporting, that’s for sure. This coming term is going to kick my ass.”

“I’ll bet.” He studied her for a moment. “Would you rather do something mindless than have a conversation right now?”

“More than I can express.”

Grinning, he set his glass down and reached for the fancy remote on the coffee table. “Excellent. Prepare to be initiated into the world of video games.”

“Oh, boy.”

He shook his head as he got the controllers ready. “I hear your doubt. Just wait until you’ve gotten your first knockout. You’ll discover that all of your aggression has found an outlet. Your stress will melt away like Thin Mints in the Atlanta summer.”

“What’s with the Thin Mint obsession?”

“Margaret brought me some. I ate the whole box in a day. I’m addicted now.”

Her eyes widened. “We’ll have to work out extra hard to make up for that.”

He groaned. “I should have kept my mouth shut.”

“I didn’t say what kind of work out,” she said with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

“I ate a box of Samoas, too.”

She laughed and allowed him to introduce her to gaming. It surprised her that it served as a fun distraction from all of her responsibilities. They played for hours, pausing only to eat a frozen pizza for dinner. She didn’t even realize how much time had passed until Cole declared that it was time for bed.

Though it was nearly two in the morning, they engaged in the hot sex she promised him. By the time they were both satisfied, Everly was ready to sleep for days.

But as she drifted off, she couldn’t help but think that there was still a disconnect between them.

And for the life of her, she didn’t know what it was.

W
hen she woke up the next morning, she was alone in the bed. That was odd. Cole usually slept later than she did. The gaming and lovemaking must have worn her out more than she thought.

Distant thunder rumbled, telling her the conditions outside were less than stellar. Thank goodness she didn’t have to work today. It would be nice to have a lazy day.

Still feeling groggy, she decided to shower. That was enough to chase away most of the cobwebs. Once she was more awake and dressed in a comfortable sweater and jeans, she headed out to the kitchen.

The sound of voices reached her as she walked through the hallway. It sounded like the commentators on
SportsCenter
. She figured Cole was probably catching up on events and checking his stocks.

She spotted him sitting at the kitchen island. Whatever he was reading had frown lines forming between his eyes.

“Good morning, Sunshine,” she said. “You’re up early.”

She was about to walk up to his side and give him a kiss when he looked up. She stopped dead in her tracks. The expression on his face hit her like a slap. Dread reached up to claw at her.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

Without speaking, he turned his iPad around and slid it across the island. She reached down and picked it up with shaking fingers. The tablet held an image from the AJC’s online newspaper.

Cole Parker Injured
, the headline screamed in large, bold font.
Star Pitcher Seeks out Secret Treatment to Save Career
.

Everly stared down at the words for a full minute. Her brain couldn’t get past them. How had they found out?

Her gaze moved to the image sharing the ghastly headline. It was one of her and Cole posing before the ball. She realized then that everything was public. Everyone now knew that Cole had started working with her because of his injury.

When she began to read, her shock morphed into bewilderment and horror.

Providing Parker’s treatment is Everly Wallace, a student at Georgia State University pursuing her doctorate in physical therapy. Wallace posed as Parker’s love interest in an effort to maintain the secrecy surrounding his injury.

“His brother, Wyatt, introduced us,” Wallace said.

The would-be physical therapist works as a graduate assistant under the guidance of Dr. Wyatt Parker. Wallace indicated the connection was a ‘natural fit,’ and admitted to having met Cole Parker in November. The two have worked together since then...

Everly heard her pulse in her ears as she read on. Seeing words she’d spoken to Joan Shumaker taken out of context made her want to charge over to the journalist’s office and have it out with her. She couldn’t believe that the reporter had not only dragged her and Cole into the limelight, but Wyatt, as well.

How did she find out the truth?

Wallace is no stranger to baseball
, she read on.
The sister of former Georgia Tech pitching ace, Aiden Wallace, witnessed her brother’s slow decline eight years ago after he suffered a career-ending UCL injury. His suicide led to Everly Wallace’s hospitalization for psychiatric treatment—

She couldn’t read on.

Numbly, her eyes moved to the television when she heard Cole’s name. Apparently, the story had already been picked up by all of the major news sources.

Looking back at Cole, she struggled to come up with something to say. So many emotions pushed their way into her chest that she could hardly breathe. His eyes remained steady on her face. She couldn’t read a thing in them.

“I-I don’t understand,” she stammered. She set the iPad down before it fell from her unfeeling fingers. “How did this happen?”

“There’s more,” Cole said in a flat tone.

He got to his feet and tapped a few buttons on the iPad. Her father’s voice filled the room.

“‘Hey, I know the plan with Cole changed from what it was initially. It’s come between us, and it shouldn’t have. I take responsibility for that. I didn’t foresee you getting emotionally entangled.’”

The world felt like it was spinning out of control. Everly listened to her father’s words and paired them with the context of the article. She knew how damning they sounded.

Instinct had her turning to flee.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” Cole said, stepping in front of her and grabbing her arms. “We’re having this conversation here and now.”

She stared at him with wide eyes, her breathing uneven as she battled her desire to fight him and get away. Her mind slowly absorbed the fact that he wasn’t yelling at her or accusing her of anything. All he was doing was holding her.

That allowed her to grasp onto the last bit of her control. Taking a deep breath, she nodded.

“Okay,” she said. If he could be calm about this, so could she. “That was a recording of a conversation my father had with me the day after the ball. He cornered me in the grocery store. How did you get it?”

“The recording was sent to me anonymously via e-mail the day after you’re saying the conversation took place.”

She met his gaze, thinking everything through. Though she didn’t know if she wanted to know the answer, she had to ask him.

“Cole, do you think I did this?”

“I heard you talking to Joan at the ball,” he said without inflection. “You were talking about my injury.”

“No, we weren’t.” Her body trembled over his response. “We were talking about an injury to a player on another team. She spoke to me in confidence because it’s someone she cares about. I don’t know how she got all of the information in that article, Cole. I would never have done this to you.”

He studied her in silence. As he did, she watched his gaze soften.

“What I know, Everly, is that someone who knows a lot of details about you and me leaked this story to Joan. That someone also sent me that recording in hopes that it would drive a wedge between us.” His grip tightened briefly on her upper arms. “I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that it almost succeeded.”

She realized that the distancing she’d been noticing over the past week was due to that recording. It all made sense now.

Outrage over what the mysterious “someone” tried to do to her and Cole made the tendons in her neck ache. How dare that person try to take away the most important thing in her life?