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“Oh, right,” Mindy said. “Why don’t you stick around and join us?” Mindy was leaning close to Blake. Two more inches to the right and she’d be in his lap. “Or if you want, we can head out together. I can help you forget all about tonight’s game.”
Blake shook his head. “No thanks. You know the deal.” He looked like he was going to say more, then reconsidered. Instead, he raised his hand, waving to Padraig for the check, clearly ready to move on now that they’d been spotted.
Padraig brought the bill, taking away the dirty dishes, as Tank and Blake chatted for a few minutes about the game. Mindy interjected several of her own thoughts. Obviously, she’d been there, and Erika wondered if she went to all the home games. Erika attended as many as she could, but she’d never run into Mindy there. Not that she would expect to. The Baltimore Arena seated something like sixteen thousand people.
Once they settled the tab, Blake managed to scoot Mindy out of the booth and, as a group, they walked back to where Coulton, two more teammates, and a couple other women still sat, to say goodbye. Like Mindy, another woman, Lara, sidled up to Blake, whispering something in his ear. Erika recognized her as another one of his “victory dance” women.
Blake gave her a shake of the head and a smile.
“Ready to go?” he asked her, and Erika nodded, both of them anxious to make a quick escape when it became obvious Mindy wasn’t finished trying to score a sleepover with Blake. In the end, he simply walked away from her.
Erika wondered if—okay, she hoped—the bloom was finally off the Mindy rose. She was surprised the woman had lasted as long as she had, because Erika couldn’t begin to understand what Mindy and Blake even talked about.
She did an internal eye roll at that thought.
They didn’t talk. They fucked.
Blake stopped short just as they reached the exit.
“Damn,” he muttered.
“There’s the rain,” she said, glancing upward. The storm that had been forecasted had arrived with a vengeance.
Erika jerked when a flash of lightning lit the sky, her heart suddenly beating faster. She hated storms.
Blake leaned toward her. “Want me to go get the car?”
She shook her head. “No. It’s not that far. Let’s just make a run for it.” Neither of them had thought to carry an umbrella into the pub with them, even though they’d known it was calling for rain.
Taking off together, they dashed down the block in the direction of the car, diving in as Blake unlocked it.
“Shit.” He pushed his drenched hair away from his face laughing.
“We’re soaked.” She wished she could share his humor. Especially when a loud growl of thunder rumbled right overhead. She fought hard to hide her fear. She really hated storms.
Starting the car, Blake blasted the heat as they drove back to their apartment building. They high-fived when he found a spot near the front door, something unheard of at this time of night when most of the residents were already in for the evening.
Blake reached behind him, feeling around on the floor until he pulled out an umbrella. It was pointless, considering they were already dripping wet, but she still waited until he crossed in front of the vehicle and opened the door, covering her to keep most of the rain off.
They quickly walked toward the entrance, Erika digging in her purse as they went, looking for her keys, in a hurry to get inside and safe. Pulling them out, she promptly dropped the key ring, thanks to her stupid trembling hands.
“Damn.” Crouching, she retrieved them, her attention drawn to a box next to a trash can.
It moved.
“I think there’s something in there.” She prayed it wasn’t a rat because she’d lose her shit for real if it was.
“What the hell? Is that…whimpering?” Blake stood closer, trying to keep them both covered with the umbrella while attempting to peak into the box. He finally gave up the effort as he knelt down, pulling the lid off the box.
Erika gasped when she spotted the tiny black-and-white puppy inside the soggy box. The little thing was shivering, its fur matted from the rain.
“Oh my God,” she exclaimed as Blake handed her the umbrella so he could reach in to pick up the puppy. “Did someone dump that poor little thing out with the trash?”
Blake rose, the three of them huddled beneath the umbrella. His expression was pure fury. “Looks like. Takes a special kind of asshole.”
“Come on. Let’s get him—or her—inside.” Erika kept the umbrella over Blake and the puppy, forgetting to be upset by the storm. She swiped her keycard over the scanner, unlocking the front entrance. One of the primary reasons she chose to move into this building was its excellent security.
Another whimper captured her attention. The puppy didn’t look like it was much more than a month old, and she was concerned about getting it inside where it was warm and dry.
