Conklin's Foundation (Conklin's Trilogy) (11 page)

“Hey,” Gage said giving my shoulder another nudge.  “I didn’t mean to get all heavy.  The best part about our friendship is that we can forget about everything serious and just have fun.  But I love you Bs, and I don’t want you to get hurt again, and I have a bad feeling about this Conklin guy.”

“What do you mean a bad feeling?”  I squeaked.

“Hey, G!  Come fill in!  We are dying over here!”  Cooper shouted from across the court.  Apparently Cooper knew Gage.

Both of our eyes followed the sound of Cooper’s voice.  Then I saw Tyler.  He was leaning over, hands on his knees breathing heavy.  His mouth curved into a thin line, scowl plastered on his face.  He looked pissed.

Gage jumped up
from the steps.  “Forget about it,” he shook his head.  “Nice talking Bs,” he grinned, throwing his dimples in my direction.  I half smiled and pulled my knees to my chest, afraid to look back at Tyler. 

Gage went into the game while Tyler sat on the sideline for a
few minutes to catch his breath then rotated with another player.  He seemed to regain his demeanor, but was clearly annoyed with Gage playing on the same team.

Wanting to clear my head from the whirlwind between Gage and Tyler, I decided to go get a couple of waters from the front desk for Tyler.  By the time I got back, there were two minutes left in the game.  I couldn’t sit back down on the
steps because I was too anxious, worried about Tyler’s reaction to my conversing with Gage so closely on the steps.

Before I knew it
, the two minutes were up and a loud buzz rang throughout the gym.  Tyler was smiling with Cooper and the other guys, including Gage.  I bravely grabbed his clothes and walked over to him and the rest of the guys.

He was sweaty and gorgeous.  His shirt had sweat marks and clung to his muscles wh
ile the product in his hair was fading. His shorter dark brown locks fell loosely over his forehead because of it.  He gave me a heart stopping smile as I walked up to him, handing him the water bottle.

He took the water and downed it,
wiping sweat off his forehead with his forearm. 

“I don’t know about you guys, but I could sure use a beer,” Cooper said, taking a drink of his own water. 

“Vitale’s has a great deal on pitchers,” Gage chimed in.  He shot me a grin.  “They have some great Hawaiian pizza too, right Bs?” he damn near flirted.

I crossed my arms and looked to Tyler.  His jaw was clenched as he glared at Gage.

“Sounds like a plan, beer at Vitales!”  Cooper exclaimed, throwing his sweatshirt on.  “You coming, Conk?”

Tyler looked over at me.  “I’m kind of tired,” I
yawned.

“Have you eaten dinner yet?” h
e asked sternly. 
Damn it.
 

“No, let’s go,” I sighed.

~

Tyler was all smiles until we started to walk towards the Lexus away from Cooper and the other guys.  “Have a nice chat with Gage?” he asked through clenched teeth, giving my hand a squeeze.

I blew out air, knowing he might become the jealous boyfriend.

“I apologized for being such a bitch to him the other night at the Christmas party if that’s what you are asking.”

He glanced at me
and then sped up, dragging me along.  Tyler opened my car door, not meeting my eyes.  I stood for a second before getting in the car, head cocked at him.  He finally looked at me once he realized I wasn’t getting in.

“Don’t act like this,” I
pleaded, hugging myself, rubbing my arms for warmth from the chilly December air.

“Act like what?” h
e glowered, shrugging his shoulders with a full on scowl.

I frowned at him
then climbed in the car.  He closed the door and walked to his side, quickly sitting and starting the car, blasting the heat and turning on our seat warmers along with the windshield wipers to rid the small dusting of snow.

“Like a jealous boyfriend,” I huffed under my breath.

“How am I acting like a jealous boyfriend?” he growled, raising his voice.  “Just because his thigh was squished up against yours on the steps means I shouldn’t get annoyed?  Because he was flirting with you while you gave him your innocent, bashful look back?  Yeah, you’re right, Becca, I have no reason to act like a jealous boyfriend.”  He revved his engine before pulling out of the parking space, shaking his head back and forth. 

I rolled my eyes.  “Tyler, s
top it. That’s how Gage is.  It doesn’t mean anything.”

“So I should be okay that you
were flirting back with him?” he spat, taking his eyes off the road and glaring at me. 

“I wasn’t flirting with him!”

“I saw the look on your face!”

“Tyler, you were in the middle of a basketball
game twenty-some feet away from us. How could you possibly tell?”  I shouted, irritated that he automatically assumed I was flirting with Gage.

He let out a huge sigh.  “I could just feel it, okay?  I was uneasy the
entire time,” he whispered, keeping his eyes on the road.

I slouched in my seat, leaning my head back on the head rest to look at him.  “Tyler, we were
talking about you half the time,” I whispered.

He glanced back at me, hands gripping the steering wheel tight.  “And the other half?”

How was I supposed to tell Tyler that Gage practically told me he wanted to date exclusively?  That he could only give me himself and that he had never felt about anyone the way he felt about me?  That he was in love with me? 

“He was expressing how
he was worried about me,” I murmured, focusing my eyes on the snow melting as it hit the windshield.  It was half true.

“Worried how?”  He asked showing concern.

I gulped, not wanting to have the serious conversation about what we both wanted as an outcome for our relationship to happen in between the short trip to Vitales.  “He doesn’t want me to get hurt by you.”

“How the hell could he possibly think I would hurt you?  He doesn’t know anything about me.  Besides, it’s none of his fucking business,” he growled.

“Tyler, can we talk about this later tonight?  I promise I will tell you every stupid little thing we talked about, okay?  I don’t feel like having you be mad at me while eating with your friends,” I pleaded.

Tyler sighed again, pulling into the parking lot of Vitale’s.  He reached for my ha
nd and pulled it to his cheek as he closed his eyes.  His stubble scratched my skin, sending tingles throughout my body.  “I’m not mad at you,” he murmured.  “We will talk when we get home, but I want to flaunt you tonight, baby.”  A fire was growing in his pupils. 

Talk about mood swings.

I took in a shaky breath, knowing what the look in his eyes really meant.

“Are you sure you don’t want to get
takeout?”  I whispered, moving my hand so my palm cradled his face.

He smirked.  “Delayed gratification will do.  Let’s go eat.”  His eyes hardened before his next words.  “I’m ordering Hawaiian pizza.”

Oh gosh!  Jealous boyfriend round two!

The other guys had arrived at the same time as us, Cooper leading the way.  He was quite talkative and at ease in the friendly setting.  It was fun to see Cooper all grins and smiles.  He made Tyler lighten up, which was always a blessing to see.

We sat down with Cooper and Gage across from us.  Some of the other guys had girlfriends and wives with them.  Unfortunately they were all on the opposite side, leaving me to converse with my darling boyfriend and the man that had the look of amusement spread across his face.  Gage was going to ruffle Tyler’s feathers, and I was dreading what was going to come out of his mouth.

“Conk, you need to play with us more,” Cooper said after ordering a few pitchers of beer.  “Lord knows we need your help.  Thank God Gage stuck around after his game and helped us out.”

Tyler let his arm rest on the back of my chair.  “You know I can’t commit to being on a team.  I’m out of town too sporadically,” Tyler said, rubbing his hand on the back of my neck. 

My eyes darted to Gage.  This is what he was talking about with Tyler not being around.  Gage glanced at me as he readjusted his baseball cap so it was facing backwards.

“Where do you travel to?”  Gage asked Tyler, scratching his chin.

“I bounce around.  Mainly Chicago and Cleveland.  I’m normally gone two or three days out of the week,” Tyler
answered nonchalantly, glancing over at me.  He gave me a small smile and moved his hand across my neck to my shoulder.  I returned his smile then acted interested in the menu.

“
Two or three days?  Seems like longer,” Cooper laughed.  “I don’t know why you don’t stay in Chicago more. Sure seems like they need you there all time while I’m covering for your ass in Grand Rapids.”

Tyler smirked and pulled me to his side, kissing my temple.  “I have
a good reason to come back to Grand Rapids.”

Cooper laughed and leaned back in his chair, grabbing the freshly place
d pitcher from the table and filling his empty glass.  “Yeah, I get it. Maybe I won’t have to cover for your ass as much now that someone has a hold of your balls.” 

The guys laughed as Tyler shook his head, trying to hold in his grin.  I tried not to blush as he
peeked down at me.

The waitress came to start taking orders.  I frowned as I stared at the menu.  When I was here with Gage I had gotten a salad, which sucked.  I wasn’t in the mood for a crappy salad, but I didn’t want to indulge in pizza when tempting food would be all around me the next week
during the holidays.

“Can we get an
extra-large supreme pizza, and you like Hawaiian pizza, right Becca?”  Cooper said.

“Get what
ever, I’m not going to have any.” I stared at the menu, afraid to look at Gage or Tyler.

“
Order a Hawaiian too,” Tyler told the waitress.  “Just in case you change your mind,” he added, looking over at me.  I clenched my jaw then looked towards the waitress.

“Can I get your house salad with chicken, please?”

I saw Gage roll his eyes from across the table.  Tyler didn’t give me any grief.  After all, I was ordering food I had planned on eating, and as long as I was eating, Tyler said he wouldn’t give me a hard time.  He understood my quirks.

“So Gage, I keep meaning to ask you about restoring my Dad’s old mustang.  He is crazy attached, and you know he doesn’t want anyone but you and your bo
ss to work on it,”  Cooper said.

“Bring it by and I’ll take a look at it.  You know I
’m a sucker for old muscle cars and your dad’s Louixs,” Gage smirked.

“What’s a Louixs?”  I asked.

“Cigar,” Cooper informed me.  “My dad is fascinated with cigars.  He bribes knucklehead mechanics to move him up on their lists with them.”  Cooper nudged Gage in the bicep.

“Is that how you know each other?  Through cars?”  I asked.

Gage turned his head and gave me both dimples.  “We met playing basketball.  We were on the same team a few leagues back.”

“Yeah
, then the asshole took a break. Then started playing on a different team,” Cooper snorted.

Gage rolled his eyes and then brought them back to me.  “I was sick of losing.”

Tyler laughed as Cooper leaned back in his chair glaring at Gage, trying not to laugh as well.

Our food arrived and
my mood was turning optimistic.  Conversation had been flowing freely and was not nearly as uncomfortable as I thought it might be.  I stared down at my boring salad as I unfolded my silverware, attempting to ignore the massive Hawaiian pizza placed in the middle of the table.  It smelled so freaking good.

The boys dug in as I picked at my salad. 

“That looks delicious,” Gage teased as he watched me. 

Tyler turned his head to look at me.  “We can order
the spinach salad from Louis Benton that you like and pick it up on the way home.”

Gage snorted from across the table.  “Or she could eat some pizza.  It wouldn’t kill her to have a few slices.”

I glared at Gage.  He didn’t understand.  And he sure as hell better not try to tickle me this time.

Oh please don’t bring that up!

“Becca doesn’t eat pizza,” Tyler said, narrowing his eyes at Gage.

Gage
’s eyes went cold, then smoothed out, a smile playing at his lips.  “She’ll eat pizza.  You just have to tickle her.”

I cringed internally as I felt Tyler’s body tense.

“That’s what I did last time we were here, what? A week ago?  She ate pizza then,” Gage smirked as he leaned forward, his eyes dancing.

My jaw clenched as my eyes bore into Gage.  Tyler sat silent.  I was afraid to see the expression on his face.
  The anger that was radiating off of him was enough.

“Wait?  You two know each other?”  Cooper asked looking between Gage and
me.