Hard Fall (Trophy Boyfriends #2) - Sara Ney Page 0,14
go to a party and be anywhere near Marlon Daymon.
Trace: Fine. But you should know he told someone else on the team that you’re full of shit and still in love with him.
Me: STILL IN LOVE WITH HIM! I WAS NEVER IN LOVE WITH HIM TO BEGIN WITH! WE WENT OUT FOR FIVE MINUTES.
Trace: Why are you yelling?
Oh my god, I’m going to kill this guy, for real for real.
Me: Please tell me you’re lying.
Trace: Loverboy told Jose Rodriguez you’re not going to show tomorrow because you’re still pining for him.
Me: Pining? Who even says that anymore?
Trace: I mean—he used different words, but you’re a lady so I used my filter. Shocking, I know. My mama would be so proud.
I cannot for the life of me imagine the actual sentence he would have said. If there’s one positive thing about Marlon Daymon, it’s that he might be a jackass, but he was never lewd or disrespectful. I mean…if you don’t count the cheating, ha ha.
Me: And you think me showing up today will make him stop talking about me? I never wanted anyone to know we went out in the first place. I don’t date players for this EXACT REASON.
Trace: First rule of baseball: Nothing is sacred. Guy code. We tell each other everything—you’re fooling yourself if you thought he was going to keep that shit on lockdown.
Me: And now everyone thinks I’m dating YOU??? That’s the LAST THING I WANT PEOPLE THINKING. WHAT IF MY DAD FINDS OUT?
Trace: Your dad’s an asshole, no offense.
Me: None taken **eye roll**
Trace: Don’t get salty, I’m just being honest. Your dad doesn’t like anyone, so there is no one you could bring home that he’d approve of, player or not.
Ugh. He has a point.
I concede.
Me: True.
Trace: Just come to the party. I promise I’ll behave.
Me: LOL
Trace: I’m being serious. We can even have a safe word, so if you feel uncomfortable while we’re there, just say it and we’ll go. No questions asked.
I stare at that declaration, a bit surprised, chewing on my bottom lip, debating. As much as I hate to admit it, I’m warming up to him. Warming up to the idea of going to the dumb housewarming or whatever it is.
Glance down at my pajamas. They’re the same ones I wear a few times a week, swapping them out for my other boring pair here and there. My “single girl pajamas,” as I call them both, because they’re old and worn and comfortable and I would die if any man saw me in them.
Me: What kind of word?
Trace: You choose.
Me: Literally any word? And I say it and we leave?
Trace: Yup—any word or phrase. Say, for example, you were talking and wanted to go and said wiener. I would know it was time to leave.
Me: As if I’d be able to use the word wiener in a sentence casually in front of all those people.
Trace: It wouldn’t have to be in front of anyone—you could whisper wiener in my ear.
This has got to be the strangest conversation I’ve ever had with a man, in my entire life.
Me: Um, yeah, no.
Trace: What about smegma. Or moist. Ointment.
Me: LOL
I laugh, imagining the look on a baseball player’s face—or a wife’s, or a girlfriend’s—if I used any of those words in a sentence.
Trace: Wanker. Phlegm. Plunker. Flaps.
Me: No! Where are you coming up with these?
Trace: It has to be a word that is distinct so there is no mistaking it’s the escape word!
Me: I get that, but does it have to be gross?
Trace: What’s gross about the word plunker?
Me: LOL
Trace: Fine. How about…Daddy.
Me: LOL
Me: Nice try—I am NOT calling you Daddy in public.
Trace: So what you’re saying is, you’ll call me Daddy in private?
Me: LOL NO!
I laugh again. Honestly, he’s making me laugh and I cannot stop now that I’ve started snorting.
Trace: Do you have any better suggestions?
Me: Literally any of my suggestions are better than those.
Trace: Fine, let me hear them.
I sit back, leaning against my headboard, and tilt my chin up to stare at the ceiling. Hmmm, what are some good safe words?
Me: What about if I said something like, “I think I forgot to close my bedroom window.”
Trace: Ummmmmmm it’s not supposed to rain.
Me: Oh. Duh.
Trace: Let’s just go with ‘gizzards’ and be done with it.
Me: LOL
Trace: Are you actually laughing out loud or just trying to make me feel good?