Dirty Deeds by Stella Rhys

34

EMMETT

Two Weeks Later

I was supposedto be watching the score with Drew, but all I’d really done for ten minutes was stare at the giant NYE logo on the floor. The Empires clubhouse had been remodeled last year, so now there were bright white logos on every shiny surface. There were also four massive flat screens playing the game, and the spotlights that glowed over each player’s locker made it look like a shrine to a king.

So it was definitely comical to see Drew hunched over his, covered in dirt and muttering like a crazy person under his breath.

He actually looked exactly like I felt – though he probably felt pretty shitty himself considering he was just tossed from the game. He’d been particularly amped for this one too, thanks to some trash talking from the other side. By the sixth inning, he’d racked up eight strikeouts and was still flirting with a no-hitter.

But then he got ejected for throwing a punch at Tampa Bay’s shortstop, Trevor Martinez, and now we were both hanging out in the empty locker room, barely saying a word.

Of course that changed when the commentators onscreen started talking about Drew.

“You know, Joe, you look at this bases-loaded jam the Empires are in and you just wish Drew Maddox were still on the mound.”

“Well, he should’ve controlled his temper.”

“You’re not wrong about that.”

“Shoulda, woulda, coulda…”

“The fuck? That asshole charged the mound!” Drew defended himself to the TV, spewing a dozen variations of fuck as he watched a Tampa Bay double tie the game. “Goddammit, Griff!” he cursed his relief pitcher as I sat back with less of a reaction than I should’ve had, especially since the Empires were only a half game ahead of Tampa in the division.

I gave an obligatory “damn” but it was too late and so half-assed that Drew shot me a weird look.

“Are you pretending to be mad for my sake?” he snorted.

In my head, I shrugged, but on the outside I was pretty sure I didn’t move much.

“Jesus, dude. You’re starting to scare me. It’s like you’re catatonic.”

“I met you here, what else do you want from me?”

“I want you to look alive, motherfucker! Throw something! Be pissed with me! Come on, man!” He ripped his hat off his head. “What do I have to do to get you to be a person again?”

“I don’t know,” I said.

I genuinely didn’t.

I was pretty much blank since that Sunday two weeks ago, when I woke up in the middle of the night to find that Aly was gone.

I honestly should’ve expected it. I should’ve known she was going to leave because if I were her, I wouldn’t be able to look at me either. Yeah, I’d done everything out of love but I got how she’d feel humiliated. How she’d need time away from me.

That was what she called it.

“I just need some time.”

But time meant distance too, apparently, because when I showed up at her work that same day, her friend Evie asked me not to come by again. The same happened the next morning, but it was followed by Evie putting her foot down.

“It’s not right to make Aly dread coming to work every day for fear of seeing you,” she said evenly.

And she was right about that.

So after leaving the restaurant that morning, I went back to the house and threw a few things in a bag. I grabbed Ozzy’s favorite toys off the floor, picked him up from Julian’s and drove the two-and-a-half hours home to Manhattan.

There was no way in hell that I’d survive being in the same town as Aly if I couldn’t see her, so I decided to cut my summer in the Hamptons short.

That was about twelve days ago and every one since Drew had been trying in vain to pull me out of my funk. His go-to plan was always a night out in the Meatpacking District or Lower East Side, but I’d rejected every one of those invitations. I knew he’d try to push me to hook up with as many girls as possible, and as much as my dick missed human contact, I wasn’t really interested.

Being away from Aly didn’t mean I wasn’t thinking about her. I was. Every minute of the day.

I still wasn’t used to going to bed without my arm draped over her body. I didn’t even want to admit that I had pitifully tried hugging a pillow the first few nights. Spoiler alert: it didn’t work.

On multiple occasions, I considered just going back to the Hamptons to see her, but the one time I decided to go through with it, I wound up spending two hours looking for the house keys.

Turns out, Julian was behind that disappearance. In fact, he still had those keys.

Dickhead,I thought, tuning Drew out as I scrolled through my phone and looked for last week’s exchange about the keys.

ME:When did you even get them?

JULIAN:Swung by your house after the game on Sunday

ME:You just let yourself in?

JULIAN:Yes. You do it all the time at my house.

ME:That’s diffjrnt

ME:And this is fucked up I need my keys bac k

JULIAN:You need to respect her need for space but more importantly you’re only thinking of going because you’re wasted right now.

JULIAN:And the last thing you need is to make a drunken scene over her and land yourself another twelve years before you see her again.

“Tough love,” Drew said, reading over my shoulder.

“What the fuck, dude?” I clicked my screen off and shot him a look.

“What? I had to make sure you weren’t texting the girl.”

“I’m not texting her.”

“Good. You shouldn’t. ‘Cause if she doesn’t want you at your best, then she doesn’t deserve you at your – wait. I don’t know how that expression goes. What is it again?”

I almost laughed.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked as Drew walked back to his locker with his arms held out.

“I don’t fucking know, dude!” he said, plopping back down in his locker. He picked his hat up off the floor and plunked it backwards on his head. “I’m trying to say what people say when someone gets dumped, but I don’t even know why you two broke up, so I’m just… saying shit, who knows. Leave me alone. I got ejected from the game.”

I snorted.

I had to feel a little bad for the guy. He had no idea how to help because I wouldn’t tell him why Aly left. I couldn’t. I still planned on keeping my investment in her restaurant a secret. That was the deal since day one and it wasn’t going to change.

“Hey,” Drew said after awhile. “You should come out with me tonight.”

“I don’t think so.”

“My ass. You can’t keep saying no when I invite you out. It’s for your health.”

“Really.”

“Yes. You can’t sulk over a girl for the rest of your life. That’s gonna kill you.”

“It’s been two weeks. I think it’s pretty fair if I take a little longer than that,” I said.

“I don’t expect you to fall in love again. I’m just telling you to get laid. It’s good for the soul,” he said right before jumping to his feet and howling over something that happened on TV. “Yes! Hell yes!” Drew growled like a beast, pounding his chest three times before pointing at me with such a crazy look on his face that I laughed. “That, my brother, was a sign. That three-run fucking homer was a sign that you need to come out tonight. End of story. Period.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah! That Instagram girl I’m seeing – she’s got a sister you might be interested in. A sister or a friend. It’s one or the other.”

“Do you even know this girl’s name?”

“Yeah.”

“What is it?”

“Babe.”

“That’s what you call her. That’s not her name,” I snorted.

“Well, it still works, so what’s the difference?”

Jesus.

I wasn’t sure if I was annoyed or amused with Drew, but I definitely wasn’t feeling great about going back to the late-night life I used to live with him.

“Awesome. She just sent me a picture of her sister,” he said out of nowhere.

“What? Why would you ask her to send you a picture of her – ” I leaned back when Drew came over and shoved his phone in my face. “Awesome. Very cute. Now get your phone out of my face,” I said, though when he immediately obliged and walked away typing on his phone, I got suspicious. “What are you doing?”

“I told her you think her sister is awesome,” Drew grinned when he sat his ass back in his locker. “And she said she’s excited to meet you, so get excited, asshole. ‘Cause we’re going out tonight.”