Going Long (Waiting on the Sidelines #2)(12)

“You wanna call it a night?” Reed said, standing and stretching. His beautiful broad body doubled my size, and when we were out and he was dressed in his snug jeans and tight, black T-shirt I felt defensive, ready to fend off the dozens of college co-eds drooling and begging for a chance to take him home.

“Yeah, I think so. Trig okay with us leaving him?” I asked, looking over to where he was dancing with Amy, his hands roaming her body for the world to see.

“Uhm, I’m pretty sure Trig couldn’t care less where we go,” Reed laughed.



The drive back to Reed’s was quiet. I knew why I wasn’t talking, and I had a guess what was on Reed’s mind, too. He was really battling not to bring up his draft options with me before we had a chance to really talk about things. I felt like such a terrible person. Here he was, pausing his own dreaming just to make me happy, and all I could do is think about how I was going to ruin it all anyway.

Reed cracked open the window in his dorm room when we got there to let a little bit of the breeze in. It was still warm at night, but the desert air smelled sweet, and it made the concrete walls Reed was living in seem a little less cold and stuffy. Reed turned the lights off and slowly walked to me. He reached for the bottom of my shirt as he pulled me closer, until I crashed into him a bit, and he fell back, sitting on his bed with me on his lap.

“Those shoes have to be killing you, if I know you at all,” he smirked, pulling at the straps on my feet to relieve their misery. He did know me so well. I couldn’t wait to be barefoot.

He started rubbing the arches of my feet as I snuggled into him. “Oh my god, you have no idea how good that feels,” I said. Reed laughed in response, a little sinisterly. I poked him in the ribs for his dirty mind.

“Sorry, it’s just…anyone walking by wouldn’t think I’m rubbing your feet,” he said, walking his fingers up my leg and tummy a little, flirting with the edge of my shirt. Suddenly, I stiffened. I know Reed could sense my hesitation from his touch, and I was a little surprised by it, too. I tried to play it off, sliding from his lap to lie back on his pillow. He quickly pulled his shoes off and slid next to me, propping his head up on one hand while his other stroked my hair behind my ears.

He was looking just above my eyes, his gaze a little distant. He was thinking, and I recognized his I want to talk expression. “You want to say something, I can tell,” I said, scrunching my nose because I knew what he wanted to talk about.

Reed let out a deep breath. “I do. It’s the draft,” he locked his eyes with mine. “I know we were going to wait to talk about it, but my mom’s in town, and she set up a lunch tomorrow with Dylan and…”

All I heard was Millie was in town. I always had an adverse reaction to Reed’s mother, but for some reason it made me shiver tonight. Like a child, I rolled to my side, looking away from him and cutting him off mid-sentence.

“I know, I know. I wanted to just spend the day me-and-you, too…but I don’t have a lot of time, and I need to talk with Dylan because I can’t talk with Brent, legally. And…” Reed was pleading with me. I wanted to be open to his needs, but the weight of my secret and the thought of having to make decisions and bring my news out for his mother’s judgment repulsed me. It made me irrational, and I was being a bitch. I couldn’t stop, though.

“It’s fine,” I cut him off. “Seriously, whatever. We’ll go to lunch with your mom, and talk about it tomorrow. Just not tonight, okay?”

Reed took a slow long breath, his arms falling away from me as he rolled to lie on his back next to me. I couldn’t turn to face him. I wasn’t sure my face could continue to bluff. “I’m sorry, I’m just really tired,” I forced out the words.

Reed rubbed my back a bit and then leaned over to whisper in my ear as he reached his arm around me to pull me close. “It’s okay,” he said, kissing my neck a little. “You go to sleep.”

Within an hour, I heard Reed’s breathing start to steady, and I knew he was fast asleep. I, on the other hand, was probably looking at pulling an all-nighter with my own thoughts. Again.





Chapter 4


Reed



I probably could have been smoother when I brought up lunch with my mother. I knew Nolan had strong feelings about my mom and how she treated her. But I wasn’t expecting her to completely shut down like she did tonight. And I didn’t get to explain who Dylan was, either. There wasn’t really a good time to squeeze in “Oh, by the way, Dylan is a really hot 24-year-old blonde, and she’s going to be spending a lot of time with me until I can sign with her dad, hope you’re cool with that.”

We were walking into the golf resort restaurant my mom had selected, and I had Nolan’s hand firmly grasped in mine, hoping like hell she’d let me hold onto it after she met Dylan. I saw my dad sitting in the distance at a table near the giant panoramic window, and as we rounded the corner, the two blondes with him came into view. I forced myself to remain calm, not show any emotion or worry.

As we got to the table, everyone stood, and I noticed Nolan’s eyes were just a little wider than normal. Her mind was putting this together, and I was anticipating the moment it all hit her. Making things worse, Dylan stood up from her seat and walked around my seated mother to me, her legs exposed in a short mini skirt and her breasts out on display in a tiny tank top, ready to close the deal.