He shrugged. “If you do, I’ll just kick your ass. It’s pretty simple.”
Derek burst out laughing, but I knew Evan was serious. We’d gotten into a fistfight before and it wasn’t pretty. It was the morning after he found out I had Lindsey, his ex and a former Cougars cheerleader, sneak into his bed to fuck him while he was drunk. Now she was in Hollywood trying her luck at an acting career.
After we took our showers and dressed, Derek and I drove to the tavern. Evan was already there, making his rounds to make sure everything was running smoothly. The place was packed but the bar was vacant except for a sexy brunette, who was sipping on a glass of water.
“Want to sit at the bar?” I asked him.
Derek looked around and nodded. “Sure.” But then his phone rang. “Get us a seat and I’ll be right there.”
He hurried out the door and I walked over to the bar, my eyes set on the long-legged siren wearing a short black skirt and blue top. I’d never seen her before because I knew if I had, I’d surely remember her. I took the seat beside her and she looked quickly at me with a smile on her face, but then it slowly dissipated.
“Oh, hi. I thought you were going to be someone else.”
“Ah, I see. Boyfriend?” I asked.
She bit her lip and that sexy grin of hers returned. “Maybe. What’s it to you?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I just figured a woman such as yourself shouldn’t be sitting here alone. I thought I’d come over and keep you safe.”
Her laugh made me smile. “You’re the one I probably need to be kept safe from. But no worries, I’m a master at jujitsu. I can take care of myself.”
“Really?” I asked in awe.
She winked. “Mess with me and find out.”
“Wow, I’m impressed.” The bartender came over and I ordered a gin and tonic. For the first time in my life, I was at a loss for words. Before I could speak again, her phone rang and she answered. Her tone changed and she sounded completely professional.
“Hi, Mrs. Gardner. Yes, I ordered the tapestries in cream. I felt it would go better with the color of your walls. Plus, it’ll make the room brighter, livelier. Then once everything comes in, I’ll have it all put in place.” She said goodbye to whoever Mrs. Gardner was and then put her phone away.
“Tapestries, huh? What do you do exactly?”
She took another sip of her water and laughed. “Nosy, much?”
“I’m sitting right beside you. It was kind of hard not to hear.”
Smile widening, she turned her body to face me. What a mistake that was. Her silky blue shirt hugged her curves and it took all I had not to stare at her tits. My dick twitched, especially when my focus landed on her soft, pink lips. I could just imagine them wrapped around my cock. Fuck, I wanted her.
“I’m an interior designer,” she said, dragging me out of my fantasy.
The bartender set my gin and tonic down and I took a huge gulp. I needed to get my mind off of her riding my dick before I made a fool of myself. “So, you go to people’s houses and pick out their furniture?”
“I do,” she said with a laugh. “It’s actually quite fun. I enjoy doing it.”
“Do you think you could help me with my place?”
She paused with the glass of water at her lips. “You need help?”
Placing a hand over my heart, I pretended to look offended. “Are you saying a guy like me doesn’t want a nice, decorated house?”
“No, but this better not be an attempt to seduce me. I’m a professional.” Reaching into her purse, she pulled out a card and handed it to me. “And just so I know you’re not a psycho, you’ll have to schedule an appointment through my company. That way they’ll have a record of who you are in case I go missing.”
I glanced down at her name on the card…Bristol Thomas. She worked at M&M Architectural Design, one of the most prestigious design companies in the United States. Not just anyone could get a job there. Bristol Thomas was definitely out of my league.
“Now that you know my name, what’s yours?” I was about to tell her when my phone rang. When I looked at it, my stomach dropped; it was my brother. I hated it when he called me out of the blue, especially knowing that he was back at home with our sickly mother.
“I’m sorry, but I have to take this. I’ll be right back.” I stuck her card in my back pocket and hurried out the back to the employee parking lot. “Brent, what’s up?”
“Nothing much, just sitting here with Mom. She had a checkup today.” By the tone of his voice, I knew it wasn’t good. For months, we’d known that the cancer was going to get worse, and I feared the time had come.
“What did the doctors say?”
Brent sighed, and it took him a few seconds to get the words out. “The cancer has spread, J. It’s like it has exploded through her body. They say she doesn’t have long left.”
Anger welled in my chest; it felt like I’d been stabbed in the gut. “How long, Brent?”
“A couple of months? I don’t know for sure.”
Leaning against the building, I gripped a handful of my hair and squeezed. “Fuck, fuck, fuck. What are we going to do?” The thought of my mother going through all that pain made me so goddamn furious.
“You aren’t going to do anything. Mom made me promise not to tell you.”
“Why? Because she knew I’d come out there?” I snapped.
“Yes, and she knows you can’t take the time away from practice. She was thinking of your career, brother.”
My football career was my life, but it didn’t control me. My mother was my number-one fan and I wouldn’t be where I was without her. “Not this weekend, but next, I have a game down there in Tampa. I’ll be by then. And no matter what, I’ll get approved to take some time off.”
“Sounds good, J. In the meantime, she’ll be fine. Just don’t tell her I told you anything.”
“I won’t. Call me if anything changes.”
“I will. Take care now.” We hung up and I immediately called my mother. She picked up on the first ring, her voice as vibrant as ever. How the hell could she sound like that when she knew she only had a limited time left to live?