Warning Track (Callahan Family #1) - Carrie Aarons Page 0,41
greet Marlena after my press interviews. I call her a cab, telling her I’ll meet her at a nearby restaurant because I brought my car. I need a few minutes to decompress, especially after a loss. If I have to fake small talk and some photo ops with my ex, I’ll need an extra minute or two of alone time before plastering on a fake smile, a thing that feels very foreign to me. It was a shitty night, punctuated by thinking about my ex in that family suite and the woman I can’t get off my mind in the owner’s box.
Colleen and I have been purposely avoiding seeing each other in person, though neither of us has acknowledged this. We message all day long, about everything from the type of breakfast we’re eating to the ridiculous TV shows she’s watching at night.
Something is forming between us, though we won’t speak of it and don’t make plans for … well, anything. I think both of us know that it’s better for everyone if we don’t act on any of the emotions that are clearly being felt.
So it has to be fate intervening when a flash of buttery brown hair whips down the hallway to the player’s exit in front of me.
“Colleen.” My voice echoes, and I know she can clearly hear me.
There could be any number of reporters around, but I don’t really care. I haven’t seen her in the flesh since the morning I left her house, where she stood on her hardwood in that adorable nightgown, looking properly bed-tousled. I wanted to do so much more than restrain myself and walk out her front door.
But she doesn’t stop, and I’m forced to walk faster, her heels clacking on the linoleum.
“Oh, Hayes. Hi.” Her expression is completely phony, because there is no way she didn’t hear me calling her name.
“You heard me,” I deadpan, not one for stupid games.
Colleen shrugs, trying to keep her professional mask I’ve seen dozens of times before. But we’re past this, or so I thought. It feels like she’s icing me out, even after the week and a half of us being in constant contact over text.
“I actually have to get going …” She trails off, looking behind her in an attempt to escape.
“I’ve been wanting to see you—” I start, trying to articulate everything that’s been on my mind.
For some reason, I don’t want to hold back when it comes to her any longer. It doesn’t matter that this can only end badly, or may not even start due to the reality of who we both are. But it’s the first time in a long time that I feel any sort of connection to a woman, much less another person, and I’m tired of fighting it.
She cuts me off. “I was in the family room tonight. Met your … uh, girlfriend.”
The way Colleen says this has a jealous undertone to it, and my curiosity is piqued. Is she mad?
“Marlena is an old friend, and we’re spending some time together while she’s in town,” I tell her, not wanting to get into the specifics.
I’m doing this for her, for us, to get some of the heat off, but it feels like if I say that out loud, it will only make the thing happening between us more evident.
We text every day, and it’s not just initiated on my end now. What started out as me checking on her after the attack in the parking lot has turned into us updating the other on the small goings-on of our days. She’ll text me about a movie that just came on TV, so I can watch it if I’m home. We message about the obnoxious person listening to their music too loudly on the team plane when we’re just rows away from each other. I tell her about my home chef failings, and she laments me with stories about the gossip from her cousins.
“Well, I’m glad she’s here. It’ll be good for you to have some … company.” There is no way she didn’t mean for that to be scathing.
“Are you jealous?” I ask, leaning into her.
Colleen gives a snort, one that most definitely says she’s trying to cover up the fact that she’s envious. “Hayes, I’m your general manager. What goes on in your love life is none of my concern, unless it endangers the good of the team.”
“Now we’re back to being professionals? Just last night, we were discussing the pitfalls of Jack or