Page 69 of The Sweet Spot

“Look at these,” I said. “He paid all my invoices. He lied to me.”

Jill looked over the invoices briefly and handed them to Tangi. She spent even less time looking at them.

“Yeah, he’s a horrible human being. Dump him,” Jill said sarcastically.

I scowled at her, and she laughed.

“You are completely missing the point. He led me to believe that I was getting Jan’s services pro bono, and Jan went along with that. Instead, he paid more than sixty thousand dollars.”

“Pure evil,” Tangi said with a grin. “I’m with Jill. Kick him to the curb.”

I wagged my finger at both of them. “I don’t want to be a kept woman. I don’t want a man to save me. I am not a damsel in distress, and I certainly don’t like the lies.”

“I get it, and it’s all shitty,” Jill said. “But you know who does something like that? A person who loves you.”

I shook my head. “We weren’t even dating then.”

Tangi smirked. “I think I rest my case. It seems he loved you before he even knew it.”

“He felt sorry for me,” I protested, suddenly losing the will to fight. He had told me he loved me. No, that was not the subject at hand.

“No, no, no,” Jill said. “You’re not going to do this. We won’t let you sabotage your relationship with him. This is what I think you should do, and maybe Tangi has another strategy, but mine is simple: get over it!”

I looked at Tangi.

“I concur,” she said.

“So I just let this go like it never happened?”

“If you want, you can tell him you found out, thank him for doing it, and get over it!” Jill said.

“I still concur,” Tangi said.

I wanted to argue, but they were right. Was I going to startsomething over lawyer fees? No, but I did still want him to know I knew and that in the future, we had to be partners, not unwitting participants because I didn’t want secrets out there.

“I hate when you guys are right.”

Tangi smiled and put her arm around my shoulder. “I just channeled what my best friend would tell me to do in this situation.”

She had me there.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Brandon

The road trip seemed to never end, and going home had some rewards. I’d see Wolseley again, and get to eat her food. While everything she’d selected and had available for me was great, nothing compared to what she created. The other perk to going home was a visit with my little sister. She was in town for a fitness and health convention of some kind, and was staying an extra day. Thankfully, Coach Anthony had given us a few days to catch up on sleep and mend all our bruises and other injuries from such a long road trip.

On the flight home, Ryan sat next to me. He wasn’t interested in cards or any of the other games the guys were playing. He said he wanted to sleep, and since I was the only quiet one reading a book, I was the perfect choice to sit next to. I thought he’d nodded off since his eyes were closed, but then he started talking.

“You’re a good egg,” he said.

I stopped reading and glanced over at him. His eyes were still closed.

“That’s nice of you to say. Very thoughtful.”

He chuckled to himself. “Come on. You had such a shitty reputation. But look at you now. Some of the guys like you, you’re captain of the team, and you actually have a girlfriend we can see. That’s some major progress.”

Ryan wasn’t the type to issue backhanded compliments, so I knew he was trying to be sincere, especially about some of the guys liking me. My first couple of years with the Kodiaks weren’t great. My time with Tangi, and being sent to the minors for rehab on my knee, started my trend in the right direction. Being co-captain with Ethan last season made me see that I needed to lighten up while working with someone who would rather push me into a pit of lava.