Mason throws the ball into his mitt, “You ready to get the f**k out of here?”
He doesn’t have to ask me twice. “Let’s go.” The rest of the team took off an hour or so ago and it’s just the two of us left here, putting in a little extra practice.
Mason and I go back to the locker room to shower and change. I push my wallet into my back pocket and look over at Mason. He’s smiling stupidly at his phone. Hailey is probably taking more na**d pictures and sending them to him for his spank bank.
Rolling my eyes, I grab my bag and step outside so that I can give Eli a call and check in on things back home.
The sun beats down on me again as I pull my phone from my pocket and dial Eli’s number. It’s just after dinner so he should be at the club getting ready for the night.
“What’s up, Cooper?” Eli says when he answers the phone.
“Just calling to check in. Things have been busy, as you can imagine, and I’m not getting as much time as I thought I would.” I say, attempting to explain why I haven’t called in two weeks before he even asks.
“Yeah, yeah I get it.” His voice sounds tired and stressed, mirroring my own. “Things are going good. I had to let one of the bartenders go last night though.”
I feel a pang of guilt; this is why I should be there, for all this kind of stuff. It’s not fair that I’ve dumped all this on him. When we first started talking about opening the club I stressed to him that this could happen and he said it was completely fine and he could handle it.
“Who was it?”
Eli sighs, “Bri.”
I didn’t have a good feeling when Eli hired her but I didn’t say anything, figuring it was just me being extra picky.
“What happened?”
I hear him shuffling papers, “Her drawer was almost one hundred and fifty dollars short.”
“Damn.” We set up each bartender with their own drawers so they would be held responsible for anything that went in and out of it.
“Exactly.
“How’s everything else? Jaylinn?”
Eli sighs heavily, “She’s moving on.”
“Moving on?”
“Look, I don’t want to tell you this but you need to know. I don’t think it’s my place but whatever.” Eli curses under his breath. “She came in the other night with someone.”
God damn it. I look up to the sky and shake my head, annoyed, pissed, you name it, I feel it. I knew this was coming but in some sick kind of way I was hoping she’d wait it out a little longer. Like forever.
“After they left I asked Layla about it,” Eli continues. “She said it was some guy from her class.”
Fuck. I rub my hand over my chest in an attempt to ease the stabbing pain in my heart. It doesn’t help at all. If anything it just spreads the feeling over my entire body, makes me feel like I can’t breathe and my arms and legs go numb.
“From what I saw they didn’t seem to be having a good time. The dude was tall as hell and they just looked f**king weird together.”
He’s trying to make the situation better for me but no matter what it’s not going to hurt any less. I can’t be what she needs and I should be happy that she’s moving on with her life but I’m not. Not at all.
“Hold on a second, someone’s at the door.” Eli yells at whoever it is to come in. “Oh hey,” Eli clears his throat. “Um, have a seat. I’m just finishing up my conversation.”
My heart stops beating when Jaylinn’s voice replies, “I can come back.”
I take the phone away from my ear and hang my head. What is going on? Why is she there? I reluctantly put the phone back to my ear.
“Cooper?” Eli calls.
“Yeah I’m here.” I say defeated, my heart shattering in a million pieces.
“Well besides that everything else is going fine. Oh and everything at your house is fine too. I’ve been stopping by every other day to get the mail and shit.” Eli speaks quickly. He knows that I heard her.
“And you’re taking care of her too I see.” I don’t have to say her name. Not only did I ask Eli to check on my house but I asked that he kept an eye on Jaylinn as well. I know she’s going to be spending some time there with Layla working at the bar when I’m not around.
Eli huffs, “It’s not like that dude.”
“I know, I’m being an ass**le.” I rub the sweat from my forehead. “How is she doing, really?”
“Pretty well.” He’s not providing details which means she’s still in his office.
I lean back against the warm wall and put my hand in my pocket. “That’s good.”
“Yeah.”
Mason walks out and looks right and then left before spotting me. I nod my head towards the car and I follow behind him.
“Well I’ll let you go. I’ll call tomorrow before my late morning practice.” I tell Eli.
Jaylinn laughs at something and it’s a kick to my gut.
Eli clears his throat, “Sounds good man.”
“Later.”
I end the call before he can even reply back. I didn’t need to hear anything else. I have enough thoughts running through my head of what could be going on. I know Eli wouldn’t put the moves on Jaylinn but in the pit of my stomach something doesn’t feel right. From the way Eli talks about Layla I thought for sure he would try to go after her. I’ve warned him that she had a boyfriend but he didn’t seem too concerned about it.
Mason starts up the car after I’ve climbed in and closed the door.
“You hungry?” I ask.
Mason looks at me like I just said something stupid, “Do you even need to ask?”
We stop at a steak house on the way home. It’s the first real meal we’ve had since getting here. Like I said, we don’t really get any down time.
I rest my elbows on the table and immediately cringe from the sharp pain that shoots right up my arm.
Fuck.
“You f**ked up your elbow didn’t you?” Mason asks, gauging my reaction.
“No.” I say through clinched teeth.
“You’re a hard headed ass**le you know that?” Mason shakes his head giving that look I know. “You need to get that shit checked out.”
I cradle my left elbow to my stomach and rest my right arm on the table. “I’m fine.”
Mason snorts and takes another swig of his beer. The waitress comes over and we place our order for food and Mason orders us a shot.