“I’m so sorry to hear about your mother’s death, Lisa.” I reached across the table and took her hand to console her. Holding it, I patted it for a second. Then, just as I was about to withdraw my hand, my attention was diverted to a commotion near a potted palm.

I looked up to see someone in a black hoodie, the hood pulled up, knocking a customer and their paddle of beers to the floor.

“What was that?” Lisa’s head snapped to the direction of the crash.

There was an uproar, people talking loudly and a waiter rushed over to the ruckus. I looked again and said, “Someone ploughed into that woman with her paddle full of...Allie?”

I jumped to me feet.

Fuck!

I told her not to come. I craned my neck, but she was gone. I took a step in her direction to follow but remembered Lisa. I couldn’t run off and leave her sitting there. She’d already driven twelve hours from St. Louis, and I just told her to get in her car and go back home. I wasn’t interested in rekindling a relationship with her. Well, that and the fact that her mother had just died. I couldn’t say, “Sorry, your mom died. See ya.” I wasn’t that much of a dick and we did have some history, but I sort of had to take off like right now to catch Allie.

Fuck.

I felt like an ass all the way around especially now that Allie saw Lisa and me together. I could just imagine what was going through her head.

I stepped back to the table, Lisa’s eyes wide. “Cam, what’s going on? Who was that?”

“Look Lisa, I’m sorry, but I have to go.” I scrambled in my wallet for a few bills to cover the drinks and threw them on the table.

“But, but...Cam…” Her mouth was hanging open.

“I know, I’m sorry, I have to go explain to Allie.” I shoved my wallet back in my pocket. “You need to go back to St. Louis. Like I told you, I’m sorry my mother misled you and told you I wanted to see you again.”

“But Cam, please…I came all this way.” Her voice was rising in pitch, and I thought she might break down and cry, try to get to me with the same old manipulative shit she used years ago.

I glanced at the door, the best I could see through the crowded restaurant, but Allie was long gone. I wanted to go after her but needed to get Lisa out of here and back on the road to Missouri, first. I didn’t know what the hell my mother was thinking, telling Lisa to come for a visit like old times, leading her to believe I might want to try a relationship again. Shit, I didn’t want anything to do with Lisa and now, I had a sinking feeling any plans for a relationship with Allie just got shot to bloody hell.

I tore out of the Chop House, leaving Lisa open mouthed and stammering. I realized she’d just driven twelve hours, but she should’ve called first, not texted me when she was already in town. I had to meet with her to explain. God, I was an ass. But fuck it, I needed Allie. She was all I cared about.

When my feet hit the sidewalk out front of the place, Allie was nowhere to be found. She had enough of a head start on me that I’d missed her. So I picked up my feet and started jogging back to the apartment.

I tried texting while jogging. I had to get a message to her, but that didn’t work, so I had to stop long enough to use the phone without miss dialing. A call would be faster anyway.

Fuck! Answer, Allie!

All I got was her voicemail. I left a desperate message and then shot off a quick text: Go to the apartment. I’ll explain.

Then I couldn’t stand still another minute, I had to keep moving.

Finally, I reached the apartment and threw open the door, calling out her name, “Allie, Allie! Are you here?”

But she wasn’t there and I’d had no answer from the call or the text.

“Gaaawd!” I yelled out to the empty silence in the apartment. I pushed both hands through my hair and slammed the door shut.

Maybe she left a note? I dashed around the apartment searching every logical place a person would leave a note. Usually, she’d text instead of leave a note, but she wasn’t answering.

I ended back in the living room where I stood in the middle hands on hips, thinking.

Be logical.

Think.

I glanced at the coat rack by the door. Her jacket was gone. I looked to the floor below it but her sandals were still there. I bolted into the bathroom to check for her toothbrush and toiletries—fucking gone.

Fuck.

The bedroom was next and the closet, to check for missing clothes. There were hangers on the floor of the closet, some clothes still there, but others obviously missing.

She was gone. She’d left me. My heart sank, and I fell onto the bed, my face in my hands.

Where the fuck did she go? I scrubbed my face with my hands and then tipped it to the ceiling, and yelled, “Fucking Mom! Why the hell’d you have to stick your fucking nose in my shit?”

I yanked my phone from my pocket to check again for any response. Nothing, of course.

I tapped out another fast text: It’s not what it looks like. Please, call me. Please, respond. Please!

Worry twisted inside me. I didn’t want to lose Allie. She was the woman of my dreams. I could never hurt her, and it was killing me because she was probably thinking I was a fucked-up asshole, like Jade and all the other douchebags in her life. I wasn’t her Batman. In her eyes I was nothing but shit. That’s probably exactly what she was thinking.

I threw my phone on the bed.

Please, call me Allie. Please don’t leave me. I love you.

* * *

I don’t know how long I sat there on the bed; lost in thoughts about Allie, heartbroken, thinking I’d lost her. I’d checked with AJ, hoping maybe she just went over to his place and needed a shoulder to cry on about her asshole of a boyfriend.

Me.

My phone rang and I practically tackled it trying to answer fast enough.

“Allie, thank god you finally, answered.” I stood up and started pacing not sure how she was going to sound. “Where are you?”

“I’m at the bus station,” she said. “I contacted my cousin, the one who really lives in Ohio. The one I used as my fake reason to go to Vegas? I’m going to Ohio.”

“What? No, you can't. Baby, you can’t. I don’t want you to go.”

“Cam…stop. Things just aren’t working out for me. We had a great time together, but you’re waiting for the Draft picks, and Lisa has been waiting for you this whole time. I get it. You have a great goal and AJ has a life. I have nothing. I feel like I’m in limbo. I don’t have any plan...I...I...”

“Lisa doesn’t mean anything. I told you it was over a long time ago. My mother put her up to this visit and...and...well never mind about that. It’s not important right now. You are. You have me. Plus, you have a job here.”

“Big whoop. A pizza job that’s going nowhere and my boss is a big jerk. I’m just a burden to you. I’m just in the way.”

“No, no baby...Allie, listen that’s not true. You’re anything but a burden. You're a joy to me. I need you, baby. I want you with me. I...I love you, Allie.”

There was a silence on the other end. I was expecting an I love you back, but instead she said, “It’s just that, I have a hard time trusting men, thanks to Jade.” Her voice sounded wobbly and rough, and she had to clear her throat before she could continue. “Besides, I know how this is all going to play out. Once you make the pros, you won’t have time for me and you’ll be meeting tons of girls.”

“Allie, I promise you. It’s not like that. You’re the only one for me.”

“What about Lisa? I assume that was who you were holding hands with.”

“I was consoling her. Her mother just died. I can understand how it must’ve looked from your perspective, but I sent her home. I told you, I don’t want Lisa. I want you.” Suddenly my voice became low and deep, husky and rough,

“All I want to do is bury my face between your legs and lick you until you scream my name. Fuck you until you can't think. Take you for hours until all you can breathe and feel is me.”

It sounded like a sniffle, like she was crying.

“Stay, baby, stay, please. You can get a refund on your bus ticket, please Allie,” I begged.

“Well, I actually haven’t bought the bus ticket yet. I don’t have the money for it and was waiting for my mother to transfer money to my bank account. I couldn’t get a hold of her so I came straight to the bus station and decided to wait here.”

At that, I grabbed my jacket and headed for the door. There was still hope. I’d talk her down as I walked to the bus station.

I pulled the door shut behind me, my phone at my ear. “Stay right there, baby. Don’t buy a ticket. I’m coming to get you.”

There was another silence and then in a choked voice, she said, “I would love that. I love you too. Please, come get me, Cam. I’ll wait for you.”

Now, I was sure. She really was crying.