Page 84 of Her Player

“Oh shit! Run for the hills!” Jett exclaimed.

And as he darted out of the hospital room, Rhett and I fell apart laughing.

I shoved the nugget ice into my mouth and crunched away.

29

RHETT

Despite being just fine, the hospital kept me for a full day. My guess? Victoria had strong-armed someone into keeping an eye on me. I didn’t mind, though. Being doted on by the most beautiful woman in the city?

I would’ve chopped my own fucking hand off to get it, career be damned.

She was so kind. So gentle. It showed me how beautiful of a mother she was. No wonder Bry turned out headstrong and confident. She had Victoria as a mother.

She could’ve taught my own mother a thing or two about sticking around, despite harsh experiences.

The team made regular appearances. With the media fully focused on the team headed to our first championship game in seventeen years, the news syndicates had long since forgotten about Bry and Coach’s tryst they had going on. Which, as the days passed by, looked less like a tryst and more like a life commitment.

I wondered if that would be me and Victoria one of these days.

Still, with the news no longer up our assholes, there was no need for us to continue staying at the estate. We were no longer being followed. No one’s privacy was under threat any longer. So after I was discharged from the hospital with a clean bill of health, it didn’t shock me that Victoria had already gotten her stuff moved back to her place.

What I didn’t expect was for her to have moved my stuff there as well.

“Weirdly enough, I don’t know where you actually live,” Victoria said as she ushered me into her home. “So I just brought your stuff here. Figured it was time we all went back to our own spaces anyway.”

“Has she moved in with him or something?” I asked as I walked through the threshold of the front door.

“Or something,” she said as she followed behind me and locked the door closed. “Her stuff is still here, but she spends more nights than not over there with him.”

“How does that make you feel?”

She shrugged as she made her way into the kitchen, those thick hips sashaying for my viewing pleasure. “She’s a grown woman, and it’s clear Colton treats her well. If she’s happy, I’m happy.”

“Are you happy?”

“For them? Of course.”

“Not what I meant?”

She paused in the kitchen with the fridge open. She peered over her shoulder at me, then dipped down and pulled out a couple of sodas. She bumped the refrigerator closed with her hip, set one of the sodas on the kitchen island countertop for me, and then cracked hers open.

She took three long pulls, giving me a beautiful view of her luscious neck as she tipped it back before she drew in a deep breath.

“Yes. I am,” she finally said.

I walked up to the kitchen island and picked up the soda, cracking it open without a second thought. I took a few pulls, digesting her words before I set my soda down as well. We just stared at one another. I hadn’t been back inside her place since the night of our first game, when she had that flat tire, and I came searching for her.

I hoped she understood that I’d always come searching for her.

“Congratulations on the win, by the way,” she said, breaking our comfortable silence.

I smiled softly. “Couldn’t have done it without our favorite donor.”

“Your only owner.”

“Not for long,” I said with a grin. “When teams head to championships like this? Donors have a tendency to come out of the woodworks. Just make sure you get them to sign contracts. None of this ‘one and done’ stuff.”