Intercepted (Page 51)

“You just feel like you have to keep watch on her so she doesn’t cheat on you with your teammates like she did to her ex.”

Oh hell no.

“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” At least he doesn’t sound tired anymore. Now he sounds flat-out pissed. “Don’t come here with that bullshit. I was in the locker room with him while they were still together, and he was always bragging about how many girls he fucked over the weekend. Never once was there any whisper of Marlee cheating on him. You know why? Because it never happened.”

“Why would Madison make up something like that? I get that you like this girl, but you aren’t using your head.”

“Take a search around YouTube and get back to me. Look up ‘Gavin Pope’s Girl’s No Nun,’” he tells her, his tone softening. “Madison isn’t who you think she is. She’s vindictive and for some reason, has made it her mission to bring Marlee down. I understand she’s your friend and you want to believe her, but she’s lying to you.”

“Don’t patronize me, Gavin. I’m not six years old anymore, I don’t need you to try and protect my feelings, just like I don’t need to believe everything you say. You want this girl in your life? Fine with me. But don’t expect me to sit around and let you bring her around my family. When you get yourself together, come see me. But don’t you dare bring her with you. I will not allow my son to be around somebody like her.” Then the door slams and tires screech as she speeds away.

Ouch.

I may not be Emerson Pope’s biggest fan, but there is no denying the effectiveness of her closing. The girlfriend or the sister/nephew? Quite the ultimatum.

What am I supposed to do with it? I can’t ruin the life of the guy I love. It’s like all I do is bring problems into his life and the situations keep escalating. Causing problems with his family is a burden I can’t carry and I know, because he’s Gavin, he’s going to try and protect me from it.

When I hear his footsteps up the stairs, I walk to the door and meet him. It took him a while to join me after Emerson left and now the purple and pink sky is being chased away by the black night.

“I’m assuming you heard what went down?” he asks when he sees me.

“Yeah.” I shift on my feet, my eyes focusing on the old wood floors. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t ever mean to put you in a situation like this.”

“Hey.” His hand moves under my chin, forcing my eyes to meet his. “You didn’t. Madison did. That had nothing to do with you.”

“You’re sweet for saying that, but it does have to do with me. I knew Madison liked you the moment I saw you two in the elevator with me and Chris.”

“I’d thought of her as a sister. It wasn’t like that between us.”

“For you, maybe. But for her? She loved you. And not in the he’s-my-best-friend-I’ve-known-him-forever way either. No, she was biding her time until you realized she was the love of your life, put a ring on it, and then put all the babies in her.”

I wish I still had the ability to have some sort of sympathy for her, but she has sucked it out of me with her evil, emotion-sucking, vampire ways.

He ruffles his already messy hair as he walks across the room and stares out the window. “But how does she think fucking with you would make me like her?”

“Gavin. I don’t know.” I cross the room and stand beside him, looking at the dark night sky. “I know she’s your friend—” He starts to cut me off, but I talk over him. “Yeah, yeah. You’re pissed at her now, but she’s still been your friend for what? Twenty years? Even if you want to, it’s not so easy to shut off a friendship. But I think in her messed-up mind she thought she was helping you. Warning you away from the big bad slut. And no matter what I told her, I was never going to be as good as her.”

“Well, fuck.” He drops his head and takes a step away from me. “I don’t even know what to do with that. Do you care if I go for a run?”

“Of course not.” My response is immediate, but not entirely truthful. “Go, clear your mind.”

But even though he doesn’t say it directly, I know what he means. He needs space to think . . . space away from me. I just hope once his mind is clear, I’ll still be in there.

Gavin changes into some of the workout clothes he left behind and when he leaves for his run, he just shouts a quick good-bye.

I have no idea when he comes back.

I fall asleep alone.

Thirty-four

We’re leaving tomorrow—which sucks—so we’re spending today with Gavin’s family. Well, probably just his parents. Last night and this morning are the first time in months I’ve woken up alone. But instead of discussing it, I just focus on baking a red velvet cake to bring to his parents’ house tonight.

My red velvet cake is always a hit, but there is one tiny little detail: I suck at shopping. At the store this morning and I forgot to buy cream cheese. And you cannot have a red velvet cake without homemade cream cheese frosting. It’s a law.

I am near a full-blown panic because I can’t show up at his parents’ house with a red velvet cake with plain old vanilla frosting now can I? No! But lucky for me, I’m dating Gavin Pope who, at the first sign of my meltdown, offers to run to the store to grab cream cheese, becoming a real-life superhero.

The timer on the cake goes off at the same time there’s a knock on the door. He always buys too much at the store, and his hands are probably too full to open it.

“One sec!” I call to him, balancing the two cake pans on my oven-mitt-covered hands.

There’s another loud knock as I’m setting the cakes on the cooling racks on top of the flour-coated countertops.

Hey. I said I was a good baker, not a neat one.

“Here I come! You were quick.” I run to the door, twist open the locks, and when I swing the door open, I’m met with familiar eyes on an unfamiliar face.

Emerson.

Of course it’s her. Murphy’s an asshole.

“Oh hi, Emerson, hey.” I’m so taken aback by her presence I stumble over my words. “Gavin ran to the store really fast, but do you want come in and wait?”

“Sure. Thank you.”

Her tone is much different than it was yesterday, thank you Lord. She doesn’t seem annoyed or disgusted to see me, and I’m taking that as a good sign.

She walks into the family room, then stops and swings around to face me.

“I’m not sure if you heard what I said yesterday, but I want to apologize to you.” She sounds sincere, but I was in a relationship with Chris for years while he lied straight to my face, so I might not be the best judge. “It was rude of me to make the assumptions I made.”

Okay. Now that? I’m pretty sure if I looked at her palm, those exact words in Mrs. Pope’s handwriting would be there.

But who am I to kick a gift horse in the mouth?

“Thanks.” I walk into kitchen to avoid eye contact.

“It smells awesome in here.”

She tells no lies though, my red velvet cake never fails. I’m a little thrown by the compliment, but I guess she’s trying.

“Hope your family likes red velvet.” I point to the cake pans on the cooling racks. “I asked Gavin for suggestions, but he was no help, so I guessed.”

“So Gavin. If you need him, he will be there in a heartbeat, but little details? He has no clue.”