“And I think I just hated the fact that I didn’t hate anything about you.”
“Well, I never hated you, Vee. You drove me fucking nuts, though, I will say that.”
“Me?” I laugh. “Why?”
“Because you didn’t give in to the bullshit. You didn’t like the persona that everyone else did, and that scared me. The idea that maybe someone wouldn’t buy the lie scared me. Plus, you had a quick comeback for everything I had to say, which was new. You drove me nuts because I didn’t hate you at all. I liked you way too much.”
“I like you way too much, too.”
We spend some time floating in the warm water, and when we make it back to the beach, we find Zanders’ phone flooded with texts and missed calls from his agent. He takes a seat on the sand once again, only wearing his soaking wet briefs as he begins deleting everything his agent sent without reading a single message or listening to any of the voicemails.
His brows are furrowed in frustration as he stares at his phone, and I don’t know how to help. I don’t know how to ease his worries when I hate Zanders’ media persona as much as he does. If it were up to me, he’d stop it all. He’d let people see the real him and allow them to love him, but I don’t know how this all works. I’m an outsider looking in, and Zanders seems to believe the only way to stay in Chicago is by being this unlovable bad guy, so I’m trying to be supportive regardless of how much it hurts to hear the lies about my favorite person.
I take a seat with him, straddling his lap, forcing him to look at me instead of his phone. His pinched brows begin to soften, the frustration in his eyes melting away before he leans forward, burying his head in my neck.
“I’m so tired of it,” he mumbles against my skin.
“Are you ready to stop?”
He nods.
“You have to have faith that Chicago and their fans want you for your skill, regardless of the extra publicity you bring the team.”
“And what if they don’t?”
I cup his cheeks, pulling his face to look at me. “What if they don’t?”
“Then I go play somewhere else.”
“How does that make you feel?”
“Scared. I don’t want to be alone.”
“Would you be alone?”
“Yeah. The Maddisons are all in Chicago. He’s locked in and not going anywhere, maybe ever. Maddison will probably end up retiring a Raptor. I’d be alone.”
That one is a punch to the gut. I was referring to me when I asked if he’d be alone. Because the truth is, I think I’d follow him anywhere if he asked me to. But clearly, that wasn’t his thought process.
His phone rings again, Rich’s name plastered on the screen.
“Answer it.”
“I can’t deal with him right now.”
“He’s going to bug you all night if you don’t, and at least right now, I’m here.”
He searches my face for a moment before accepting the phone call.
“Evan Zanders, what the actual fuck is going on?” Rich yells through the speakerphone.
I already didn’t love the idea of this guy, but hearing him talk to my boyfriend this way confirms my suspicions that he’s an absolute piece of shit.
“Hey, Rich.”
“Can you tell me why our PR team is scouring the internet right now, taking down multiple allegations of you having a girlfriend?”
Shit. Clearly, more than just our group heard Zanders at the bar.
The frustration is back on Zanders’ face, so without thinking, I bracket his cheeks and bring his mouth to mine. His full lips smile into our kiss as his agent continues to attack him on the phone.
“Do you have a fucking girlfriend, Zanders? Is that what’s going on with you?”
He continues to kiss me, his mouth too occupied to answer as he pulls my body into his, rolling my hips against him. Thanks to our thoroughly wet and almost naked bodies, I can feel him quickly growing beneath me. He flips us over, my back to the sand as he grinds his body on mine, hitting my sensitive nerves at just the right spot.
My back arches as an accidental whimper slips from my throat. I quickly slap a hand over my mouth, my eyes widening in horror, hoping his agent didn’t hear me.
Zanders silently laughs as he rolls his body onto mine again. “Those little noises drive me fucking crazy,” he whispers before his teeth lightly sink into my shoulder.
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
“Absolutely not,” Zanders lies, his cheeky smile hidden against the skin of my neck as he works his hot mouth down my throat. “No girlfriend. No way.”