for this team and next time, fellas, try having a little more faith in your players and me before you summon me in the middle of the night for something a bunch of bored anchors are reporting on the local affiliate.”
She left that fine, white mansion with the arching columns and old southern architecture without looking back. If Gia had learned anything clawing her way to the top in this league, it was that you never let anyone see you fall. She wouldn’t now. Not when she climbed into her Mercedes, pulling away from the curb. Not when she moved down Canal and spotted several fans donning Steamers tees and driving vehicles with black and gold license plate covers and flags streaming from the antennas. Gia didn’t even flinch when she moved into her elevator, her hand shaking as she pulled out her cell and dialed Reese’s number.
But when she heard the woman’s voice—her friend who had lied to her, more than once—her calm fractured.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” she asked Reese, not caring that Manny might hear her as she left the elevator and headed for her apartment.
“Gia…”
“Don’t even try it, Noble. My God, do you know the shit storm this is going to cause? For fuck’s sake, Ricks is in a meeting with the owners right now to discuss ‘interpersonal team affiliations’…” That wasn’t technically true anymore. That meeting was over. “All because you and Ryder used to…to be…”
“Don’t finish that sentence.”
It wasn’t quite as dire as she made it out to be, but Gia was mad. She felt betrayed, insulted that Reese would keep something so monumental from her. She felt no guilt about the small exaggeration.
But Gia’s guilt didn’t matter. Not when Reese was clearly defiant, unapologetic about what had transpired between her and Ryder. “I lied to you, be pissed about that. But don’t make assumptions about me and the relationships I’ve had.”
Gia laughed, hearing the coldness in her own tone. She moved quickly down the hall, hurrying into her apartment, slamming the door behind her to keep anyone from hearing what she told the placekicker. “I will if they concern my teammates.”
“No, you won’t, and don’t think you’ll get answers about what happened in the past.”
“I’m entitled to know…”
“No, Gia, you’re not.” Reese’s voice was loud now, and Gia recognized the desperation in it. She’d heard hints of that same tone years ago, so many times anytime her family, her friends or her lovers wanted her to explain why she wouldn’t stay put. Why she could never stay settled with anyone for too long. The idea of it all felt like pinpricks against bare skin.
When she spoke again, Reese’s voice was still loud, but there was less venom in her tone. “What happened at Duke is in the past. It doesn’t reflect on the way I play or the life I lead now. If the owners are worried about interpersonal whatsits on the team, then tell them to handle Hanson and realize I’m not going anywhere, and Ryder won’t say a word about what happened in Durham.”
Taking a breath, Gia kicked off her heals, walking into her bedroom to get comfortable, finding the only spot that gave her any real peace in the middle of her bed. She wanted to reason with Reese, make her understand. “You need to explain this…”
“No,” she said, her voice sharp. “I don’t and I won’t.” Then Reese, the woman Gia had fought for so long and hard to be on her team, hung up on her.
Three soft clicks signaled the dead line and Gia dropped the cell into her lap. She could only watch it, staring at the white back, the angular curve like it might come to life and give her an option to rewind the clock, let her replay the last two hours of her life.
She wanted a do-over.
But there were no instant replays for Gia. There never had been.
Everything she did happened in real time. Everything was a defensive maneuver to whatever offense had set upon her.
She felt cold, her bones frozen by the chill that had settled in the breeze and the circumstance that had left her sitting alone in her bedroom. Things were unraveling and as Gia sat there, she wondered how different her life would be if there had been a do over.
If Luka had never gone to save Kona that night.
She shook her head, refusing to let her thoughts take her to a place she may not easily come back from