Page 19 of Backup Plan

CHAPTER 6: Liam Bradley

Dolores

I walk back to my place solo after she peeled out of the parking lot.

See you around? Really, Bradley? That’s the best you could do?

I tried. I tried to give her my truth—that I felt changed after last night.

And she all but rejected it. She said it was an incredible night but that she had to get to work.

And okay, fine. I get it. Really, I do. I wanted her to stay, but she’s fighting her way through what sounds like a pretty brutal divorce, and she needs to keep things status quo for her family.

None of it matters, anyway.

Penny has two kids, and that life is not for me. I’m pretty sure, actually, that I don’t want any kids at all. I didn’t exactly have the two best role models, and I haven’t the first clue how to parent a kid.

So she’ll go back to her life, and I’ll go back to mine, and we’ll both leave last night exactly where it belongs.

She can’t just call in sick and spend the day naked in my arms no matter how much neither of us wanted our night to end, anyway—just like if I were in season, I wouldn’t be able to spend my day that way, either. No matter how much I want it.

Except I’m not in season. Even if I were in season, I’m not on a team, so I don’t have a job to return to.

Not even a practice squad.

But I’m hopeful after hearing from San Diego, and it seems like a good possibility. Tanner Banks is a hell of a quarterback. He’s got one of those incredible comeback stories after an ACL tear, and I admire the hell out of him. Working with him would be great.

Jesus. I sound half-hearted even in my own mind.

It would be great. He’s a good dude. But the fact remains that I’d be his backup. I don’t want him to get hurt just so I have the chance to play, but at the same time, I’m fucking tired of being a career backup.

Maybe that’s why I’m so affected by our night.

She never made me feel relegated to second best. She made me feel fucking alive when my general disposition lately is that I’m not good enough.

I guess I just want to cling to that a little longer, but it’s better if I put last night behind me.

Once I’m back home, I check my phone, and sure enough, I have my flight for my San Diego visit waiting for me. There are hotel accommodations, too, but I’m not staying the night since after my visit, I’m heading to Vegas for Maverick’s bachelor party.

I need to get my ass in gear. The flight leaves tomorrow morning so I can land and be in the practice facility by ten local time. I’ll have meetings and a physical tomorrow, which means I need to hit the gym today to work off all the beer I drank last night.

I’m tired, though. I’m spent after she took everything from me last night.

The last thing I want to do is hit the gym, but it looks like I’m out of options.

I head down to the fitness center in my complex. I start with a run on the treadmill, and I’m by myself. I’m listening to Killswitch Engage, rocking out as I lock in and block everything else out to focus.

I end by swimming laps back and forth across the indoor pool, and when I get out of the water, Heidi, one of the staff workers in this building, hands me a towel.

“Thanks,” I say, and I can’t quite muster up the same smile I might’ve given her yesterday—the flirty one that would land her in my bed after her shift.

Okay, so we’ve been together once or twice. Do I regret it? Not as much as I regret the thing with Izzy.

I wipe my face first, hoping she’ll disappear by the time I lower the towel. No such luck.

“You busy at five?” she asks.

I should know better than to stick my dick where I live. I don’t want to issue a rejection, but after last night…I sort of just want to be alone.