Running Back to You (The Running Series, #1) (27 page)

That means Auggie didn’t leave the outfit for me.  Could it have been
Evan?  No!  There’s no way he’d let himself into my house and do this while we
are still technically broken up.  Did I do this myself and simply forget?  I
was pretty hung over this morning. 

I know that right now the house is locked securely so I try to calm
myself.  First I put my dress and shoes away, then I take a walk around the
house to see if anything else is out of place.  Nothing.  Everything looks
normal.  If it wasn’t me, Auggie, or Evan, who the hell was in my house going
through my closet? 

This just doesn’t feel right.  Should I call the police?  What would I
tell them?  Someone picked out clothes for me and let my dog out?  They might
send over the entire S.W.A.T. team for that! 

All I can think about right now is getting the hell out of this house as
quickly as possible.  I’m alone and feeling vulnerable.  I hate to do this, but
I think I’m going to have to head over to Evan’s earlier than planned.  First,
I need to make sure he’s home since I’m not expected for another hour.

When I arrive, Evan swings open the door and wraps me in a big bear hug. 
This time I allow it, and even hug him back.  It feels amazing to be in his
arms again.  He’s freshly showered and smells so good.

“I didn’t think I’d ever get to do that again.  I’m so glad you’re here,
Juliette.”  He steps back to let me in and I can’t help but appreciate the sight
of the man standing before me.  He’s wearing a pair of well-worn jeans that
rest on his hips and an old black concert tee that is tight in all the right
places.  Of course, he’s barefoot.  He runs his hand through his wet, messy
hair and I’m lost.  All reason is gone and I’m reduced to a bundle of nerves
and hormones.

He guides me through the house and into the living room.  “Just let me
put away a few things.”  He’s got binders spread out all across the coffee
table and classic rock booming through the speaker system.

“I’m sorry, were you working?”

“No, not really.  Well, sort of.  I’m just reviewing my playbooks.  Adam
brought them over yesterday and I have a lot of new plays to learn.  I’ll be
right back.  Don’t go anywhere.”  He takes his binders into his home office and
turns down the music a bit. 

Looking around, I’m reminded of my first visit to this living room where
we played Guitar Hero.  Rich memories of those early attempts at flirting sweep
through my thoughts.  My heart stops when I feel Evan’s arms wrap around my
middle as he whispers in my ear, “Thank you.”  His breath on my neck is
intoxicating.

I turn around and look directly into his piercing blue eyes.  “You’re thanking
me?  For what?”  I ask him.

“For giving me a chance to explain.  The fact that you’re here with me
now is a miracle, a second chance.  Right now, I’m all about second chances.” 
He releases me from our embrace and takes me by the hand and leads me out onto
the deck.  “Let’s talk.”  It’s still bright out and we sit under the canopy on
a pair of matching lounge chairs. 

“Are you hungry, Juliette?  I thought we would order Chinese.” 

Oh, I almost forgot I was invited here for dinner.  Food is the last
thing on my mind right now.  “No, I’m really not hungry.  Maybe in a little
while if that’s okay.”

“No that’s fine.  I’m not hungry
for food
, either.” 

“Can we talk about what happened the other day, Evan?  We still have a
lot of unresolved issues to discuss, you know.”  He’s no longer looking at me. 
He seems worried and anxious.  I know what he’s about to tell me isn’t good, so
I feel like I should try to make him more comfortable.  “Listen, I’ve already
read a lot of the stories online.  Now, I just want to hear your side of it.  I
promise, I won’t run.  But I need you to be honest with me, about everything!”

“I didn’t mean to mislead you.  I always intended to tell you the whole
story, my whole story.  But every time we were together, I didn’t feel like
that same guy.  It was different with you.  We were a normal couple just
getting to know each other and I’ve never, ever had that before.  I wanted it
to last and I was afraid if you knew what you were getting yourself into, you’d
run screaming for the hills.”

“Is everything I read true?  Did you really date Sienna Bradley?”  I’ll
forever be wondering if he’s comparing me to her, and frankly, there is no
comparison.

“No.  Absolutely not.  We met at a movie premiere last year when I was
getting a lot of publicity.  The two things Sienna likes the most are spending
her daddy’s money and seeing her name in print.  We went out a couple of times
and she got what she wanted.  If I wasn’t getting the press attention at the
time, she never would have given me the time of day.  We both knew it.  I never
heard from her again.  I never even bothered to put her phone number in my
contacts.  Want to check?”  He takes his phone out of his pocket and offers it
to me.

“Put it down, Evan.  I don’t need to check your phone to see if you’re
lying to me.  We agreed to be honest, right?”

“Yes, we did.  Thank you.”  He leaves the phone on the table, just in
case I change my mind, I’m sure.  “You probably read about Holly Dempsey,
Olivia Alexander and Averee DeVeau, too.” 

“I did.”  Averee is the pop star that Evan spent a lot of time with. 
Olivia plays a vampire vixen on cable TV’s ‘
Transformation’
and Holly
got her five minutes of fame by winning a dating show, ‘
Sealed With a Kiss’
. 
“Was everything written true?”

“Well, most of it was true.  I didn’t know Holly was engaged.  She never
bothered to tell me that.  But I suppose that’s because neither one of us
planned on spending much time together.”  He pauses, searching for the right
words.  “I only went out with each of them a couple of times.  Sometimes we
would hook up when I was in town.”

“It looked like it got a little more serious than that with Averee
DeVeau, Evan.  I saw pictures of you going to awards shows with her and
vacationing in Mexico together.  Pictures don’t lie.”  I need him to be honest
with me.

“Pictures may not lie, but they don’t tell the entire story, Juliette. 
Averee was someone I had a lot of fun with.  She knew I wasn’t looking for a
relationship.  I never let it get serious.  That Mexico trip was something we did
on a whim.  We’re both young and had money burning a hole in our pockets.”

“How do you keep meeting all those beautiful, famous women?”

“See, when you’re in the NFL, you get a lot of invitations for movie
premiers, awards ceremonies, charity functions, and stuff like that.  You know,
just like the benefit here next weekend.  I have managers that pick and choose
which ones I should attend.  They usually pick the ones that get us the most
publicity.  The more publicity I get, the more press the team gets.  All that
attention translates into better ticket sales at the games.”

“It sounds like you were living the golden life.  How could you possibly
give all that up?  Now you’re here, in this little beachy town, spending time
with this silly local girl.  How long do you think you will be satisfied with
this small life?”  This is the question I want answered the most.

“For as long as you’ll have me.  No contest.  This isn’t a small life. 
The life I was living before was small.  Not one of those women gave a rat’s
ass about me.  I was a plaything, a toy, a shiny new piece of jewelry.  All we
did was live in the moment before we moved onto the next distraction.  That’s
not a life, Juliette, that’s an existence.”

“Adam said you’ve had a rough year and that you can’t afford to be like
that anymore.  Can I ask you what happened?”

“I don’t like to talk about it, but I want you to know everything.  Are
you sure you want to hear more?  I’m afraid that if I tell you, you’ll leave me
for good this time.”

I hold his hand and look directly into his eyes and tell him, “I’m not
going anywhere.  I want to know.”

“The NFL has a personal conduct policy that all players have to sign.  If
any player is found engaging in violent or criminal activities, they face the
possibility of fines, suspension, or being banned from the league entirely.”

“I don’t understand, Evan.  Nothing you’ve described to me so far sounds
inappropriate.”  He shakes his head and closes his eyes.  This is the part he
didn’t want me to know about.

“Some of the players receive invitations to speak on college campuses
about a wide variety of topics.  After the lectures, there are parties.  Lots
and lots of parties.  Frat parties, sorority parties, you name it, we get
invites.”  Now I start to remember the pictures of him with beer funnels and
hot tubs.

“I saw the pictures.  A website called
‘the Dirty’
had it all
online.”

“Did it say that some of the girls were under 21?  They tried to charge
me with furnishing alcohol to minors.  I didn’t buy the alcohol and I didn’t
live in the residence, so they couldn’t charge me, but there were threats of other
felony charges with a maximum penalty of actual jail time.”

“Are you serious?  Evan, I’ve been to tons of college keggers.  They
actually wanted to hold you, one of the guests, responsible for serving
minors?”

“One of the girls’ families threatened to sue me unless we settled out of
court.  I almost did it, too.  I almost gave those blood suckers enough money
to take care of their little party girl for a very long time.  Before signing
anything, I had to meet with the team’s legal department and explain the whole
fucked up situation.  They felt that I was setting myself up to be the next Ben
Roethlisberger and the best thing for everyone, including the front office,
would be for me to start fresh with a new team.”

“Ben who?”

“Roethlisberger.  He’s the quarterback for the Steelers.  On two separate
occasions, women tried to extort him for a cash payoff with threats of rape
charges.  Ben claimed each encounter was mutual and no one was underage.  It’s
a he-said, she-said kind of thing that no one ever wins.  He came extremely
close to getting kicked out of the league permanently.”

“Oh my God, Evan.  That’s horrible.”

“The Commissioner thought it would be best if I moved back closer to my
family so I could get my shit together.  There was an opportunity to make the
change, and I jumped at the chance.  I’ll never be that guy again, Juliette, I
swear.”

“I believe you.  I understand.  Will you forgive me?”

“There’s nothing to forgive.”

“But there is.  I didn’t have faith in you.  I believed everything they
printed about you without getting the full story.  I promise I will never let
that happen again.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that.  You have to swear to me that you won’t
go looking for more information on the Internet.  If you hear something, you
have to come to me and ask.  Let me explain, or let Adam explain.  If I have lunch
with some woman and the press is there, they assume I’m sleeping with her. 
Please believe me when I tell you that there’s no one else.”

I crawl onto his lap and cuddle into his chest.  I wrap my arms around
him and inhale his scent.  “But you have to have faith in me, too.  Faith that
I can handle whatever you throw at me.  I’m not made of porcelain, you know. 
You can’t break me.  Other men have tried, but none have succeeded.”

Evan wraps his arms around me and holds me close. “Who tried to break you? 
Give me their names and I’ll make sure they never come near you again.”  He
kisses me on my forehead and allows his lips to linger.  Electricity shoots
through every nerve ending.

“Let’s order some take-out, then it’s my turn for confessions.” 

Unchartered
Waters

“C
onfessions?  As in plural?  More than one?  You’ve got me worried,
sweetie.”  I lie in his arms as he runs his hands up and down my body.  “Is it
about last night?  Did something happen?  I knew I should have come out to find
you.”  His hands stop and I can feel him gripping the arms of the lounge chair.