Intended for Bristol (Second Chances #9)



I was fucked. There had been plenty of chances to tell Bristol the truth, but I was too selfish to say anything. I didn’t want to give up what we had just yet. I needed time, but I was afraid there wasn’t going to be much of it. There was no doubt she’d eventually tell her brother about the new man in her life, and my name was most certainly going to come up.

“Have you noticed anything different with Delaney?” Aaron asked, his voice low.

I peered over at him and watched him take off his gear. McCarthy tried to talk to him, but Delaney didn’t pay him any attention. “Maybe he’s tired of Dickhead’s bullshit,” I said.

He shrugged. “Could be, but I think he’s trying to find a way into our group. Might not be bad having him join us.”

I scoffed. “If you only knew.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Before I could answer, Derek and Evan joined us. “You guys want to meet at the tavern tonight? It’s time for a celebration,” Derek exclaimed, holding his fist out to Aaron.

Aaron fist-bumped him. “Hell yeah, I’ll be there. Congrats on the baby.”

“Thanks, Grainger,” he said before turning to me. “What about you?”

“I wish I could, D, but I have plans. Rain check?”

He shook my hand, but studied me with narrowed eyes. “Sounds good, man.” He moved closer and lowered his voice. “Did you tell you-know-who the truth?”

Clenching my teeth, I closed my eyes. “Not yet. I wanted to do it last night, but then things got a little…hard.”

“Literally?” he asked.

Huffing, I opened my eyes. “I’m going to tell her tonight. I shouldn’t have let it go so far, but I couldn’t stop myself. She’s so different from anyone I know.”

Derek sighed. “You have no choice, Reed. She has to know the truth if you have any hopes of making it work with her.”

“I know,” I grumbled, shoving my sweaty clothes into my bag.

Time was slipping away, and I didn’t have long before she was expecting me for dinner. I wanted to see her smiling face and taste every inch of her as I made love to her. Making love was something I never did, but with Bristol, I couldn’t stop myself. She wasn’t just a simple hit-it-and-quit-it type of girl. She was the kind of woman you get a taste of and you can’t get enough. I was fucked, pure and simple. There was no way she’d ever trust me after all the lies.

Derek patted my shoulder. “Good luck, brother. I’ll see you in the morning at the airport.”

Nodding, I shook his hand and left. When I got out to my car, the rain had started to fall hard. The whole day it had been off and on, but now I could barely see the road as I drove to Bristol’s house. I hoped it wasn’t a sign of how fucked my night was going to go. My phone beeped and once I came to a stoplight, I glanced down at it.

Bristol: Be safe. It’s raining hard out there.

Just seeing those words made everything worse. I didn’t want to feel anything for her and I sure as hell couldn’t stand the way I hated myself right now. Why couldn’t I go back to being the inconsiderate dick who didn’t give a shit about anyone? I blamed it all on Derek and Hayden, especially Hayden for her incessant unwillingness to see me as the prick I was. Being around good people had an effect on me, and I was beginning to believe I was better off just being the ass everyone hated. I never had to worry about caring or feeling the way I did now, knowing I was about to lose the only girl I ever gave a shit about. The bad thing was that I barely knew Bristol, yet I wanted to know more about her, craved it even. I guess the old saying was true…we all wanted what we couldn’t have. Bristol was never in my reach to begin with. She was too good for me.

Bristol’s condo wasn’t far from the training facility, so it didn’t take long to get there. The rain was still coming down hard, and overhead, thunder rumbled. The wind was so bad that it blew the rain into the parking garage, soaking my clothes as I waited for the elevator. Once inside, I rode it up to the lobby since I couldn’t go any further. When I first moved to North Carolina, I spent many days walking around downtown Charlotte, learning all the different ways the buildings were connected. You could basically walk through every major high-rise building without having to venture outside.

Once I was inside her building, I could see there was a security guard at the desk, which blocked the entrance to the elevators. I walked right up to him and pulled out my license. Before I could set it on the counter, he waved me by with a smile on his face. “I already know who you are, Mr. Reed. You can go on up.” I strolled by and pressed the button for the elevators. “Oh, and good game last weekend. Your field goals are always perfect,” he added.

“Thanks,” I said with a smile. It was a good thing Bristol wasn’t with me or the truth would have been spilled. When I got to her floor, I found her number and knocked on her door. When she opened it, I couldn’t help but lose my breath. She was dressed in a skintight tank top and jeans, something I’d had yet to see her in. Every time I’d seen her she was wearing business attire, very modern and professional. The woman in front of me had me completely blown away.

“You look beautiful,” I murmured low.

Grinning wide, she grabbed my hand and pulled me inside, but not before wrapping her arms around my neck. Her lips closed over mine and I held her to me, not wanting to let her go. She tasted and smelled like strawberries, the scent of her making me groan.

“I see you must’ve gotten into the dessert,” I said, nodding toward the bowl of strawberries and pound cake that was on the kitchen counter.