Page 64 of The Path to Loving Him
“I’m not grumpy.”
“Right now, you are,” Abel counters. “I mean, sure, does it suck that you didn’t get to have a say in who was hired as your assistant? Yeah, it does. But you can’t do anything about it. The decision was made. Now you have to learn how to deal, and showering with Gabby seems like the perfect way to do it.”
“I’m not going to have a fuck fest with my assistant coach,” I say. “That’s the worst idea. You don’t fuck your co-workers.”
Hayes shrugs. “I don’t know. I fucked my assistant, and it turned out great for me.” He smirks when I give him a murderous glare.
“That’s my fucking sister you’re talking about,” I say.
“Yeah, I know.” He shoves the rest of his crust in his mouth.
“I think what we’re trying to say is that you’re making a big deal out of nothing,” Abel says. “And for someone who’s dealt with blow after blow in his life, why not take advantage of something good?”
“I have a hard time seeing how this will turn out okay,” I say. “I can’t . . . I can’t be distracted. Too much is on the line, and she’s a distraction, a huge one. I’m already having a hard time keeping my eyes off her. The last thing I need is to be thinking about her while I’m trying to coach.”
“Maybe think about it this way,” Abel says, leaning forward on the table. “You don’t fuck her every chance you get, you put up a wall and keep her at a distance, never feeding into the urge you have so when you’re on the baseball field, attempting to coach with her next to you and one pass of the wind, blowing her perfume up your nose . . . then boom, erection.”
“Jesus Christ,” I mutter.
“He’s right,” Hayes points out. “You really don’t want a boner on the field. That would be a detriment.”
“Yeah, people might think you’re smuggling a bat in your pants.”
Hayes scoffs at him. “Dude, that’s giving him way too much credit. No way does he have a bat-sized dick.”
“You’re right. My apologies,” Abel says.
“Needless to say,” Hayes continues, as if he’s not annoying me further with the commentary. “I think you go for it with Gabby to avoid all public erections.”
I truly can’t stand them right now.
“Oh yeah, smart guys, what happens when it doesn’t work out? When the fucking ends, and we still have to coach together?”
“Well . . .” Abel pauses. “I guess that’s when you erect the wall.”
“You’re . . . a . . . moron,” I say, pointing at him.
“Never claimed to be smart when it comes to women, hence why I’m unattached.”
“And I’m not all that better,” Hayes adds. “I fell in love with your sister when you and I were not on speaking terms.”
“Pretty risky,” Abel says and downs his beer.
“You’re right. I don’t know why I ever asked you two over for advice. I should have invited Wyatt.”
“Wyatt?” Hayes scoffs. “You mean the guy who entered into a marriage of convenience with your sister?”
He’s right.
Wyatt issonot the person to ask.
I scratch the side of my cheek. “Yeah, I need new friends.”
“Maybe you can talk to Ethel,” Abel says. “You know she’d love to be involved in this little conundrum.” Ethel? Christ, I think one of my testicles just shrank into itself.
Ethel O’Donnell-Kerr is the owner of the local inn, Five Six Seven Eight, and the ring leader of the Peach Society, a group of ladies that controls the town’s happenings. If something’s going on in Almond Bay, Ethel will find out somehow.
“There’s no way in fuck I’m talking to Ethel about this, and if she catches wind of it, I’m blaming you two.” I motion between my ex-friends—because that’s what they are to me now.
