Yep, totally petrified. She’s all yours if you want her.
She was so full of shit it was practically coming out of her ears, but he didn’t call her on it. The conversation needed to happen face-to-face. Because something was up. When he’d backed away from her at her front door, he’d seen the invitation in her eyes. She would have let him in the house if he’d persisted. She would have let him take her to bed. She’d wanted it just as much as he had.
So why was she all of a sudden acting all buddy-buddy and endorsing a fling with Rhonda Powell? Especially when Stella knew good and well that Brandon couldn’t stand the woman.
A ribbon of irritation snaked through his system. He’d never known anyone who played more games than Stella Davenport.
Without thinking, Brandon shot her a reply.
Why would I go out with Rhonda when I can give Melanie a call?
He pocketed the phone without a second thought, sent Stella a mock solute, and headed onto the field.
Yeah, he’d probably pay for that later. She’d no doubt turn back into the ice queen who ignored him half the time. But wasn’t that what he wanted?
Shit, he wasn’t sure anymore.
All he was sure of was that he’d reacted in the heat of the moment, said something he shouldn’t have and probably hurt her.
Damn, he’d never had a more complicated relationship with a woman he wasn’t even in a relationship with.
He could feel her eyes on the back of his head as he stalked across the grass, daring him to come back and finish it. Yeah, they’d finish all right.
He came to a stop next to Cameron.
“How’s it going this morning?” he asked his friend.
Cam’s eyes scanned the field from behind dark sunglasses. “It would go better if Drew Spalding would get his ass out of here. Man pisses me off.”
Brandon glanced across the field where Drew was with Mac Armstrong. The two men were gesturing toward the scoreboard and talking it up. “You know he only does it to piss you off, right?”
“Yeah, well, it works,” Cameron replied.
Brandon slid his hands into his back pockets. “Why can’t the dude just let it go?”
“Let go of the fact that I banged his wife?”
Brandon held his hands up. “You said it, not me.”
“Whatever,” Cam answered with a lift of his shoulders. “Not sure I’d be able to let it go either.”
A muscle in his jaw ticked. “Richardson! Get over here.” Cameron stalked off to rip the QB a new one over some screwup that Brandon had missed because he’d been too busy prying into his friend’s life. Blake wandered over, shoving his Bobcats baseball cap up his forehead. “What’d you say to piss him off?”
“No idea.” Normally Brandon would confide in his cousin over his suspicions regarding Cameron. But something held him back. After all, he should respect Cam’s privacy. Something Brandon understood.
“I see Mac’s here with his jumbotron patrol,” Brandon commented.
Blake shook his head. “Man’s so far up my ass I feel like I’m walking around bowlegged.”
Brandon chuckled. “I take it he’s gone full steam ahead with his plan?”
“Mac does everything full steam ahead. He wanted the jumbotron; we’re getting the jumbotron.”
“Even though it’s not what you want,” Brandon guessed.
Blake nodded and returned his attention to the team.
They stood in silence for a few minutes, watching the players move through their drills. Blake blew his whistle, then took a quick word with one of the players, Scott Porter. Brandon searched out Matt and saw the kid tossing quick glances to the sidelines, at the Texas recruiter.
Shit.
“So what’d you hear?” Brandon asked Blake when he returned from his chat with Scott.
Blake crossed his arms over his chest. “About what?”
“The recruiters.” Duh.
“You mean who are they looking at?”
Why the hell else would he be asking? “Come on, Blake,” Brandon growled.
“Obviously they’re looking at Cody,” Blake answered
Yeah, obviously.
“Who else?”
“Scott,” Blake replied while making a note on his clipboard.
Brandon heaved a sigh and looked up at the clear blue sky. “Gonna kill you, Blake.”
Blake dropped his clipboard and placed a hand over his chest. “Oh, I’m sorry. Were you asking about Matt?”
“No shit.”
Blake grinned. Actually mother-effing grinned. “As a matter of fact, I have had one of the recruiters approach me about your son.”
“Yeah?” Brandon glanced back at all the men as though that was supposed to answer the question.
“Would you like to know whom?”
He slid his attention back to Blake. “Whom?”
Blake tapped Brandon on the shoulder with his clipboard. “Proper English.”
He narrowed his eyes at his cousin. “Annabelle’s turned you into a pussy.”
Blake turned back to the team. “It’s Texas.”
“UT?”
“Yep.”
Well, shit.
“What’s with the clenching?” Blake wanted to know. “I thought that’s where Matt wanted to go?”
Brandon’s gaze followed Matt’s movement across the field. “Only because of Adrienne and football. He can’t go to UT.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s an out of state school. It’s, like, three times the cost.”
Blake nodded. “Unless he gets a scholarship,” his cousin pointed out.
Yeah, unless that. “He’s going to Boulder,” Brandon stated.
Blake turned toward him again. “So the two of you have agreed on this? Because the kid practically shit his pants when he saw those giant longhorns on the guy’s sweatshirt.”
He just bet Matt did.
“Maybe a conversation is in order?” Blake prodded.
“Sorry, are you trying to tell me how to parent my kid?”
Blake held his hands up. “Just saying. It doesn’t take a genius to see the two of you aren’t on the same page.”
“He’s a teenager,” Brandon pointed out. “We’re not on the same page about anything.”
“College is a big one, though,” Blake reiterated.
“No shit, Blake.” Why was he snapping at his cousin? Blake hadn’t done anything wrong. “Sorry,” he admitted on a sigh. “It’s just that his mind is made up and I don’t know how to change it.”
Blake moved his shoulders beneath his Bobcats sweatshirt. “So why change it? Let him go to school where he wants to go.”
So easy for Blake to say that. “Because he’s following his girlfriend,” Brandon said through gritted teeth. “And we all know how well that always works out.”
Blake didn’t respond for a moment, but Brandon could feel the guy’s focus on him. Studying him.
“You can’t protect him from everything,” Blake said in a low voice.