Page 102 of The Player

Drew glanced down at her, then back at the screen. “Maybe both things were true, Nicole. I don’t know.”

“I think either Ryan was lying to me, or Bailey was lying to Toni. Either way, she’s been avoi⁠—”

Drew was watching the TV again. Was he even listening to her?

“Drew.”

“Hm?” He looked down at her.

“I said I think Bailey is lying.”

“Then I don’t know, babe.” He looked back at the screen. They were showing Tariq Brackens in Atlanta, holding the SEC trophy over his head, and Drew couldn’t seem to look away from it.

Nicole moved his arm off her waist and got up from the couch “I’m going to bed.”

She’d expected him to say something, or maybe even come after her. All she got was “‘Kay.”

She kept walking. Behind her, Drew sighed, and the TV got louder before she reached her bedroom. She shut the door harder than she needed to.

It was after eleven when the TV went off and Drew’s footsteps came down the hall. She closed her eyes when the bedroom door opened and stayed on her side, facing away from him.

In the dark, his keys clinked onto the nightstand, and she listened to him undress. Then the covers lifted, and the mattress dipped behind her. Nicole stayed where she was as he shifted closer, his chest settling against her back, and she could feel how hard he already was.

His hand slid down her arm and over her breast, squeezing softly as he kissed her shoulder. On any other night, she would’ve leaned back into him or reached for his hand—or his dick. Tonight, she just lay there, breathing evenly.

“I’m sorry,” he said into the back of her neck. “About before.”

She didn’t answer.

“They kept showing Tariq. Him and that fucking trophy. That should’ve been us in Atlanta.”

And that made it okay? She’d been trying to tell him something that mattered to her, and he couldn’t even look away from the TV long enough to hear it.

“Nicole.”

She kept her breathing slow.

He let out a breath that was almost a laugh. “You really gonna fake sleep on me, Wright?”

“You really gonna watch Tariq instead of me?”

“I said I was sorry.”

“I heard you.”

“Then what do you want me to say?”

“Nothing, Drew. I’m tired.”

“Fine.” The mattress shifted as he rolled away from her, and the warmth of him at her back was gone.

Nicole stared at the red numbers on her alarm clock. 11:47. She wasn’t going to say anything else. He could lie there and be mad.

Except he was right. It should’ve been them in Atlanta, and she knew how much that meant to him, the same way he knew how worried she was about the whole Bailey thing. They both could’ve handled tonight better.

Ugh.

At 11:52, she turned over, moved in close behind him, and wrapped her arm around his waist.