Page 45 of Unexpected Shot
Oh, double fuck. We’re back to short-answer Shelby. I’m immediately on edge, because I have a feeling this has the potential to get messy.
“Last question. How has it been since you moved from Vegas to start training with Chad Ashcroft? Has he been everything you wanted?”
The question isn’t what makes me sit up a little straighter. It’s a normal-ish question. But it’s the way Michael enunciated his words. Something about the cadence. And that last part of the question? That was some weird-ass wording.
Now I know there’s a story between them. The question is, is it as bad as my mind is making me think it is?
“Everything is fine. Thanks for your concern.”
And we have a triple fuck situation, friends. Sarcastic Shelby has entered the chat. The Shelby many in this golf world have called a bitch a time or ten. Which means, it’s time for us to get the triple fuck out of here.
“Are you settling into Nashville well? Taking in the country music scene?”
I put my hand on her arm to try and get her to end the questioning, but I’m not quick enough.
“I am. Great atmosphere. I bet your wife would really like it. You should take her sometime.”
“Thanks everyone! We gotta go!” I shout as I pop out of my chair and pull Shelby’s away from the table. “See you on the course this week!”
My eyes bounce back and forth between Michael and Shelby as she slowly stands from her seat. I take her elbow in my hand, hoping to gently remind her that we need to leave, but she doesn’t take her eyes off of him. It’s like she’s targeting her prey for the kill.
And honestly? I’ve seen a pissed off Shelby. My money’s on her any day of the week.
“Let go of me!” she shouts once we get outside, ripping her elbow from my hold. “Why did you do that?”
“Oh, I don’t know… Save you from murdering a man in front of witnesses?”
Her face is beet red and her breathing is as heavy as I’ve ever seen it. “I didn’t need you to drag me out of there. You had no right. Then again, you are the one who loves to play the hero, so it shouldn’t surprise me.”
“Oh, but you did,” I say, not wanting to get into why she thinks I need to play hero. “If I wouldn’t have ended that press conference, I’m pretty sure the next move was going to be you jumping over the table and strangling poor Mikey with his press credentials.”
She rolls her eyes like that’s the most ridiculous possibility she’s ever heard. “I wouldn’t have strangled him…”
The pause in her tone leads me to believe there are other acts of violence she would do. But I’m a smart enough man to not ask her for specifics. I need plausible deniability if she goes through with it.
“What did he do to you?”
I know it’s something, and I have my guesses, but I need to hear the words from her mouth.
Just as Shelby begins to say something, she’s interrupted by avoice I used to find sexy. Right now, it sounds like nails on a chalkboard.
“Hey, Beau,” Courtney says, sliding up next to me. “Nice to see you again.”
None of her words are suggestive, but the way she said it, combined with how she’s looking at me right now, you’d have to be blind to not see her subliminal message.
And it seems as if Shelby isn’t blind.
“Shelby! Wait! Come back!” I yell as she storms off. I know my words aren’t going to do any good. Shelby isn’t going to wait. Or come back.
Two steps forward, eighteen pissed off steps back. And if that isn’t the theme of the saga between myself and Shelby LeBlanc, I don’t know what is.
CHAPTER 11
BEAU
“Iwas hoping to find you here.”
My body stiffens as I feel Courtney run her hand over my back. It’s nothing overtly flirty. She’s a reporter and I’m an athlete. It’s bad optics for both of us if the entire bar can tell we’ve had sex before. The way she’s acting is typical of how she’s approached me on prior occasions, all of them leading to me leaving her house well before the sun came up.
