Who the Fuck is Al?

 

The game against the Hawks isn’t till the next night. That means we have an entire day to do whatever we want.

A bunch of the guys plan a golf outing. Since it’s a beautiful October day, all crisp and cool and perfect for a few hours spent on the greens, I decide at the last minute to join them.

I meet up with Benny and Nolan down in the lobby of the hotel we’re staying in. They inform me there are rented SUVs, running about every ten minutes, shuttling players over to the course. I have every intention of catching the next one with the boys, so I plop down on an easy chair next to Nolan and Benny.

It’s then I notice Aubrey is seated on the sofa behind us, talking on her cell.

I listen in. Yeah, I’m jealous it may be a guy she’s chatting with. I breathe out a sigh of relief when I figure out she’s talking with her sister.

“Yeah, sure, Lainey,” I hear her say. “I can do that. After we hang up I’ll grab a cab and head over to my townhouse. I need to stop in there, anyway. I could use some different outfits to wear out in Vegas.”

I shouldn’t keep on eavesdropping, but I can’t help myself. Benny and Nolan are preoccupied with their phones, so I take mine out too. But instead of looking shit up or checking messages, I listen in some more on Aubrey.

And this is what I learn…

She’s definitely heading over to her place today. I’d almost forgotten she lives in Chicago. She’s been staying at my house going on two months now, and that makes it sometimes hard to remember she has a whole life outside of me. A whole life she’ll eventually return to.

God, why does that hurt so much?

It hurts because that’ll be the end—the end of us being friends, the end of me feeding her spaghetti, the end of long talks in the night, and certainly the end of us ever having a chance to become something more.

With that dismal thought in mind, I freeze in horror when I overhear her giggling like a schoolgirl. “Of course, Lainey. I’ll be sure to tell Al you said hello.”

Who the fuck is Al?

It only gets worse from there.

“Right, sure, I can take a picture of him for you. He likes getting photographed.” And there’s that giggle again when she adds softly, “I’ll give him a kiss from you too. But remember, he’s all mine as long as he’s staying at my place.”

What the ever-loving hell?

Do Aubrey and her sister share some guy? That’s some crazy shit right there. Though I shouldn’t be shocked by such an arrangement. A lot of the players sleep with a rotating stable of girls. I suppose women do the same thing with guys? Or, in this case, with just one guy, a guy named Al.

I want to kill him already.

He sure must be something special if he keeps both Aubrey and her sister satisfied. I guess he does though, since Aubrey sure sounds happy she’s going to be seeing him at her freaking house. Giving him a kiss, even. And taking pictures to send to her polygamist-in-training sister. What kind of free-loving family do they come from?

“Shuttle’s here,” Benny says, breaking me from my thought train of terror.

He and Nolan stand, but I remain seated. “Hey,” I say, “I think I’m going to stay here, after all.”

Nolan shrugs. “Suit yourself, Oliver.”

Benny adds, “Cool. We’ll catch up with you later.”

And then they’re gone.

Guys are so much easier than girls. There are no questions, no third degrees.

Aubrey finishes with her call, and I position my chair so she’ll see me when she gets up. Sure enough, when she stands and peers over at the concierge, where she’ll probably be calling for that taxi to take her to Al the Stud, she catches sight of me.

“Oh, Brent… Hey.” She casts a glance around the lobby, looking for other players. When she sees the guys are all gone, she says, “Aren’t you going golfing with the team?”

I shrug. “Eh, I was thinking about it. But I missed the last shuttle.”

She cocks her head and purses her lips. “Hmm, you look a little upset. Is everything okay?”

“No, no.” I smile tightly. “Everything is just fucking outstanding.”

“Okaaay.”

Aubrey doesn’t seem convinced, and I’m not surprised. I sound a little psycho.

Folding her arms across her chest, a move that makes her luscious tits just about spill out over the top of her low-cut shirt, she says, “So, if you’re not golfing what are you planning to do all day?”

“Actually…” I tamp down my ire and turn up the charm. Shooting her my most-winning smile, the one I reserve exclusively for getting my way, I say, “I was thinking maybe I could tag along with you to wherever you’re going.” I pause. “That is, if that’s okay. I mean, I wouldn’t want to cramp your style or anything.”

Yeah, or interrupt any romantic interludes planned with fucking Al.

A little flustered, but cute as hell, she replies, “Uh, I guess that’d be okay.” Biting her lip in a sexy way that makes me have to look away for a few seconds, she adds, “Maybe not for the whole day, though.”

Is her hesitancy because she doesn’t want us to be alone? Or is it because of Al?

“Why’s that?” I question, raising a challenging brow.

“Brent,” she sighs.

“What? Do you have plans with someone else?”

“No, yeah… I mean, I don’t know.”

Shit, she does have a date with this Al. And he’s already at her place. Just the mere thought of her with another man makes something in my chest tighten. Shit, I think it might be my heart.

“Brent?”

“Yeah?”

I’m sure I sound as dejected as I feel.

Her gaze softens, and releasing a breath, she says, “Let’s just see how it goes, okay?”

I nod. “Sure, yeah, whatever you say.”

I may sound all compliant, but you bet your ass I’m not. My mission is now to spend not only the entire day with Aubrey, but most of the night too. Whatever it takes to keep her far, far away from this Al, I’m willing to do.