was wide, perfect, but there was no warmth, no welcome at all from her.
“Ryder?” she asked to clarify Greer’s statement. The woman moved her head, a slow, almost-shake that looked irritated. She nodded, ignoring the expression. “Yes, he always has been,” Reese said, turning to look up at the woman. She really was beautiful, if you like the blue-eyed, bleached blonde, lip-filler look. Reese looked at her, concentrating on catching hints of a normal face, one that had been hers before surgeons and chemicals had worked their magic.
“That’s right,” Greer said, stepping closer. “You and Ryder were at school together. Had your little whatever it was, and then he left you.”
Reese didn’t answer. Greer was no one to Reese, and if she hadn’t revealed all the details about her life with Ryder to her friends, why would she tell this stranger anything at all?
“Fine, don’t elaborate,” she continued, her voice getting deeper, like ice had turned her words into shards ready to maim and scar. “I don’t need a history lesson.”
“Good. Because you won’t get one from me.”
“It doesn’t matter, honey. Really. You’re his past.” Greer flashed another forced smile, too white, too even, and Reese couldn’t stop the cringe from moving her features as the woman’s smile grew wider, more sinister. “We.” She moved her hands down her ribs to rest them over her flat stomach. “We’re Ryder’s future. Back the fuck away from what’s mine, bitch.”
Reese wasn’t sure if it was a lie. She didn’t know Greer, but she knew women like her: vindictive. Calculating. Opportunistic. If she believed Ryder was her gravy train, it would take a lot more than an ex-girlfriend back in his life to make Greer worried.
She didn’t wait for Reese to answer. Greer turned around, hand still over her belly as she moved back into the club.
Reese grabbed her coat and bag, deciding to meet the valet away from the entrance as he went to grab her Challenger. A few feet from the entrance, Reese heard someone calling her name. She knew that voice. It was warm and sweet and deep. But she didn’t respond to it, not when the valet pulled up next to her, opening the door. Not when Greer’s voice carried over the slow-moving traffic around them.
Reese looked over the moving cars and cabs, spotting Ryder waiting outside the club, his face tight, his mouth set hard as Greer pulled on his shoulder. She watched him, memorizing his face, the pout of his bottom lip and the soft curve of his cupid’s bow.
“Reese!” he yelled again, a question in his tone, but she didn’t answer. Reese got in her car and slammed the door, leaving Ryder behind, staring after her as she drove away from him.
20.
RYDER
THERE WERE THINGS RYDER UNDERSTOOD. He got athleticism. His job required skill. It demanded talent, both things Ryder had, or so he’d been told his entire life so far.
The mechanics of the game: how to spot his boys near the end zone, the ones open or who could get that way.
Those things were easy to understand.
But no matter how often he made attempts at really knowing women, he failed again and again. Especially when it came to Reese. She knew him. She wanted him. She’d packed away the past right along with Ryder and seemed ready now to move ahead. Sure, there was the complication with Greer, and Ryder needing to find the time to tell her he wanted out, but Reese knew him. She should understand.
“Good, Rochelle! One more time.” He heard Reese yell from across the field. Her kicking group was the biggest in the camp, putting to shame Wilson’s running backs and Ryder’s throwing group. Around Reese there stood a half-dozen teenage girls listening to everything Reese said, absorbing the details and tips like they would save their lives.
From the looks of it, Reese was running a mini-camp of her own and Ryder guessed she did it to have an excuse to avoid him.
“Hey, Mr. Glenn.” He heard, tearing his attention from Reese as Jack approached, decked out in brand-new Steamers’ gear chosen for Ryder’s team. “Like it?”
“Man, it’s dope as hell,” he said, straightening the kid’s collar. “You look like a starting QB to me.”
Jack’s reaction was immediate, a smile so wide Ryder could make out two missing teeth near the back of his mouth. “Starting? You serious?”
“That’s the honest truth, bud.” He offered Jack his hand, laughing for the first time in the two days since their last regular season