Play The Part (Player Next Door Book 3)

23 | 2 Cents of Therapy

Helllooo! Welcome to a double update and one I KNOW you'll enjoy... :)

Chapter 23: 2 Cents of Therapy

I led her into a private room, away from the sad excuse of a party. I wanted to go somewhere private. I opened the doors to a couple rooms that were "occupied", before finding the study empty.

I held the door open for her to come through. The study was dimly lit with a few bookshelves, a sitting area and a grand desk. Nicole strolled into the middle of the room and threw her arms up.

"Why did you want to get me all alone, Luke?" Nicole asked, backing up towards the desk.

I didn't answer just yet. I didn't like what I was doing here.

"Should I be scared?" she asked, lifting her leg as she leaned against the desk.

I looked away, wondering if I should go. It wasn't too late to walk back out. I ran a hand through my hair and turned back to face her.

She raised her eyebrows at me, "Or are you scared?"

"No," I assured her.

"The great Luke Dawson comes to me in his moment of weakness," she sang, stretching her fingers out to play with the objects on the desk.

"You seem to know everything, Nicole. Maybe it's a game to you."

"Well," she said, holding a small glass ball in her hand, "Does Millie know you're here?"

At the sound of her name, I shifted gears.

I walked over to Nicole and took the glass tennis ball out of her hand, placing it firmly on the desk with a thud.

"I came to see you," I told her, keeping the space between us minimal, "Millie and I broke up and you're someone I want to... rebound with."

Stupid but blunt, and with the glass tennis ball on the desk, I couldn't help but think of a tennis related word. Rebound. 

Nicole stared up at me, her dark eyes hard to read. The silence palpable. I wondered what she was weighing in her mind.

"Wow," she exclaimed with a loud laugh, "that's blunt."

I didn't give her any breathing room. I wanted to hear her answer.

"You're Charlotte's little brother," she said, gripping her hands against the desk and pushing herself off it, closing the distance between us.

I closed my eyes, trying to imagine Millie in her place.

"Luke," she said, pulling me out of my imagination, "You heard what I said? You're my best friend's little brother."

She took my hand in hers and interlinked our fingers.

"And that's how I will always see you," she smiled and tapped my hand patronizingly, stepping away.

I let out a sigh I didn't know I had in me. Like my sister and like me, Nicole loves playing games. She played me.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that you can go find your rebound somewhere else," she pointed at the door, "Don't look at me in any other way than Nicole's best friend. I will always see you as the little boy that ran around naked with my younger brothers all summer. I know you get a lot of girls Luke, but that doesn't mean you can get all of them."

"I wasn't naked."

"Your mom got you those awful speedos when you were like six-"

"I was impressed with your speech until you started talking about six-year-old me in speedos," I said.