Alpha Hero - Hope Ford Page 0,81

her address.

I try to figure out why it seems familiar, but I’m just happy to have someplace to take her.

I pull into the apartment complex and help her up the stairs. She’s falling into everything and I have to hold on to her to keep her upright. When we finally get to her door, she’s laughing, wrapping her arms around me. I’m trying to peel her arms off me when the door across the hall opens. “Jamie, you have to keep it down, the neighbors…”

But she stops when she sees me. Fuck me.

Heather

I knew it. I knew he was too good to be true. And I can’t fault him; he was upfront and honest with me. But the shock of seeing him standing at Jamie’s door goes all through me.

As soon as he sees me, he stops what he’s doing and Jamie grabs on to him a little tighter.

“Heather, this is not what it looks like,” he tells me, but I can see the guilt on his face.

I shake my head, wishing I hadn’t come out, wishing that my first opinion of him wasn’t just proven true.

Jamie’s head is resting on his chest and as if he’s just realizing it, he lets her go. Jamie just holds on to him tighter. She looks between us and then up to him. “Wait, you and her? I thought you had a girlfriend.”

He nods his head. “Yeah, I was talking about Heather.”

I smirk and a laugh escapes me. Yeah, right. His eyes are pleading with me, but I don’t care. I know now what his type is. I should have gone with my gut. I step back into my doorway, ready to shut the door, but Jamie’s words stop me.

“Wait, you like her?” She says it like she doesn’t believe it. Which is good, ‘cause I don’t believe it either.

Baker nods his head, but what really hits me is Jamie. She turns to me. “Heather, I’m so sorry. If I’d known I wouldn’t have made out with him.”

I gasp. I should have figured, I mean, if I hadn’t interrupted they would already be in her apartment doing God knows what. The thought sickens me.

I don’t say anything. I can’t. I take a step back into my apartment and slam the door in their faces. I know it’s not Jamie’s fault. She didn’t know. But I can’t look at them, either of them.

Only minutes go by and there’s relentless knocking on my door. I don’t answer it, I don’t even holler through the door for him to stop. I go to the bedroom and toss myself onto the bed, wishing this night would end.

5

Baker

I fucked up. I know I did. I should have just taken the woman’s keys and left her there for the bar owner to deal with. I had no interest in her, besides not wanting to see her kill herself or someone else by driving home.

Fuck. I punch my fist into my locker. I shake it, blood pouring down my knuckles, but I don’t even care. Nothing matters right now.

“Bad night?” Mack asks me.

I shake my head. “You don’t want to know.”

He just laughs. “Well, you’re getting blood everywhere.”

I walk over to the sink and wash the blood from my hands before pulling the first aid kit down out of the cabinet.

Mack takes it from me and points to the chair. “This doesn’t seem like your typical girl problems. What’s up?”

He takes out the gloves, bandages and hydrogen peroxide. “This is going to sting.”

He sprays it on my open wound, but I don’t even flinch. I don’t think anything can hurt me now.

He sprays it again. “Spill it.”

I shrug my shoulders. “I found the one.”

He starts to laugh and then stops when he sees my face. “Wait, you’re serious?”

I don’t know how else to say it. “Yep.”

He opens the bandages and starts putting it on my knuckles. “Well, I don’t get it. That’s good, right?”

I nod my head, but then I proceed to tell him about last night. I tell him all of it and by the end of the story, he says exactly what I’ve been feeling. “That’s fucked up, Baker.”

I get up and start pacing the locker room. “I know it is. You don’t think I know that? But there’s no way she’s going to believe me. She already thought I was a player.”

“Well….” Mack starts, but I don’t let him finish.

I stop and stare at him. “Look, I know, but it was different with her. Like, I could