12. Monroe

CHAPTER 12

MONROE

C obb was sure he'd made a mistake kissing me. He was positive it wouldn't happen again.

And I was… disappointed?

I bit my lips together in a thin line and fell back onto my bed then pushed my legs out straight.

Where the disappointment had come from, I had no idea. I didn't want him to kiss me or… well, do anything a friend wouldn't do.

Owen had scared me off. Made me think that I didn't know how to pick a guy.

Shit. That wasn't exactly true. I'd had an off feeling about that man after the second date and it'd just gotten worse from there.

It was more his reaction to me dating again that I worried about. I wanted him firmly out of my life before I brought someone else into it where they'd have to deal with him. It was annoying, but I liked to have my proverbial house in order.

What most people didn't know… or really anyone besides Owen and me was that there was more to the story about the night I'd thrown the brick through his window. Yes, I'd thrown it because of the reason that I'd said. He had been harassing my friend.

It was more about the why he'd been doing it.

Owen had known it'd be the quickest way under my skin and earlier that night, I'd gotten under his. Completely unintentionally. I'd been talking to a guy in the club. Scratch that, he 'd been talking to me . I hadn't even known Owen was there, but when he saw it, the moment I'd stepped away from my group to use the restroom, he'd grabbed my arm and pulled me into the restroom.

He hadn't hurt me, but it was made clear that he'd make my life a living hell whenever I was with someone.

I didn't even think that he wanted me. It was more he didn't like being told no . Oh, and I was just a rich bitch. His family didn't have money and that clearly put a huge chip on his shoulder.

But when Cobb had kissed me… something inside had woken right up.

Something that I'd forgotten about.

It'd been so long since I'd had sex. Over a year because that was the last time I'd been in a relationship. I'd dated three guys since then, but we hadn't clicked and I wanted to click with someone who was going to see my naked body.

As Asher would say, " It's been too long since I've had that good D. "

Even thinking that made me roll my eyes.

But Cobb's kiss had been amazing. It had taken everything in me to pull away when all I'd wanted to do was melt into his arms.

My skin grew hot thinking about it. The fluttering in my chest was like the soft wave of a butterfly taking leisurely flight. The skin on my arm was sensitive to my own touch.

All of this was from simply thinking about Cobb. What would it be like for him to actually touch me?

I trailed my fingertips up my arm, over my collarbone, then down my chest between my breasts and the hard nipples on top.

It'd been a while since I'd taken care of my needs myself. Maybe it was time.

My finger had just pushed under the elastic in my sleep shorts when the bell rang.

Who the hell could that be?

I hopped up, grabbed my phone, then hurried out to the living room. While the app opened, I made sure my door was locked. There was good security out at the garage door as well, but something made me double-check.

It was eleven-thirty at night. My dads were out of town for the night and they wouldn't be outside ringing the doorbell that had been rigged to my apartment even if they were here. Luckily, it came with a doorbell camera, so I didn't have to go out there or open any doors.

Fuuuuuck.

Owen's face appeared on the night vision camera.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Just want to talk to you." His words slurred together. The telltale mark of the fact that he'd been drinking.

I groaned silently. "Not tonight, Owen. It's late."

"You're not asleep. Let me in."

"I'm not letting you in." I hurried to the door that connected my apartment to the house and opened it. If he came through the door on the garage, I'd hurry into the house and lock that door. I'd never shown anyone the door that goes directly into my dads' house. It looked like a closet door and would take him a while to figure out. He'd think I was hiding in my apartment.

But then I could get away from him and call the police.

None of which I actually wanted to do.

"Monroe… Precious Marilyn…" He sang while I cringed. He knew I'd hated it when he'd decided to come up with the nickname ‘Marilyn' for me. He thought he was so clever.

"Go away, Owen."

His jaw tightened. "I'm not going away. You might think that because you're some rich bitch, you can tell me what to do. You can't. Daddy paying for the damage isn't enough. You tried to humiliate me. It's only fair I return the favor."

"I'm calling the police," I told him, not knowing if that would escalate things or make him go away.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"You're drunk," I told him. "Go sleep it off and leave me alone. I'm not opening the door."

He reared back and punched the door. Luckily, Dad had gotten reinforced steel and it hurt his hand more than it hurt the door.

"Fuck," he yelled into the night then turned back to the camera. "You're not getting off that easy, Little Marilyn."

Cringing at his comment, I had to be thankful that he at least backed away. I waited, holding my breath until I heard a car start up and an engine get quieter. Another check of my camera showed that no one else was out there. He hadn't parked in range of the camera, unfortunately.

I let out a breath and fell back against the wall then slid down until my butt hit the floor. Then I held the corner of my phone to my head just trying to breathe.

It wasn't until that point that I let myself realize that I'd been scared. Of course I had. My heart was pounding and my hands were shaking. After several deep breaths, I was feeling closer to normal.

But my hands were still shaking. Calling my dads was out. They didn't know how agro Owen had been with me and I didn't want them to. Also, they so rarely went away together that I wouldn't be the interruption to their night.

The only thing I could think that would calm me down was to talk to Cobb. But I couldn't. It was like eleven-thirty here, ten-thirty where he was, and I knew he'd be going to bed because he had to pitch tomorrow. He said he always tried to go to bed early the night before he pitched, and besides, his body was on our time.

Still, reaching out to him would help, I thought. If I called Asher or Reana or both, they'd answer and want to talk about it and ask a million questions. If Cobb was asleep, I wouldn't hear from him until tomorrow.

I know you're probably asleep and that's why I'm sending this to you instead of calling. I have to say it in some way. I just had one of the scariest moments of my life. Sleep might not be for me tonight, but the only thing I could think of to calm me down was reaching out to you.

Maybe I'll delete this before you read it.

Then I hit send , knowing I had time to delete it before he read it.

Or thinking I had time because no sooner had I sent it was my phone ringing and it was him.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

"Hello."

"Are you all right?" he asked without any small talk beforehand.

"Yeah. I'm fine." But my voice wavered slightly and he'd catch it.

"What happened? Your text freaked me out."

I sighed. "I'm sorry. I only sent it to you because I thought you'd be asleep."

"I was in bed but not asleep." Something moved on his end. "Why would you want me to be asleep?"

"So I wouldn't have to explain or answer questions," I told him honestly. There was no reason to not be honest at this point. "I thought I'd delete it in a minute and you'd never see it."

He sighed. "I'm glad I saw it. What happened?"

"See? This is what I meant about talking about it."

"Monroe." He wasn't going to let me get away that easily.

So I took a deep breath and said, "Ex-dickhead showed up at my door. Freaked me out, but I'm fine. It's fine."

" What ?" His voice was low, which made it sound more dangerous.

"Yeah. It's fine. He was drunk."

"What'd he want?"

There wasn't any easy way to explain that, now was there. So the question became: How truthful was I going to be with Cobb?

Completely truthful was the right answer if we were going to remain friends.

So I told him everything that had happened and even told him the whole story about the night at the bar before I'd thrown that brick. Cobb remained silent the entire time until I'd finished.

"So he's why you don't want to date right now?" he asked, as if the point needed clarification.

"Yeah." I shrugged, though he wouldn't see it. "I figured I'd let this die down. Bringing someone else into this mess wouldn't be right."

He snorted, but it wasn't in humor. "I think that would be for the guy to decide."

I was already shaking my head. "No way. I don't want someone stepping in to fight my battles. I can handle this. Every woman everywhere has had to deal with a guy who doesn't like the word no ."

"Can you go stay with your dads tonight?" he asked.

"What?"

"I know your apartment is already connected, but I'd feel better if you were closer to them. I know this isn't about how I'd feel, but can you?"

"It'd be letting that asshole chase me out of my own place." Which I didn't want to do. "Besides, my dads are out of town for the night."

There was a noise—it almost sounded like someone had choked—then he said, "So you're there by yourself?"

"Yup. And I'm fine. He didn't get in."

"Did he try to?" he almost yelled and I realized that I'd left out that tidbit.

"I don't know that he was trying to, but he did punch the door. Said he wanted in to talk to me."

"Will you go stay at my apartment?" he asked. "No one knows we're friends and no one would know where I lived even if they did. You'd be safer. Just for tonight."

"I'm fine here, Cobb. I'm sorry I sent that text."

"I'm not," he snapped, then he sighed. "I'm sorry for that. Please?"

I snickered. "The part of no one knowing where you live means that I don't know where you live."

"I'll send you the address."

"I won't be able to get in," I countered. "Do you have a little turtle with a key hidden in it?"

He was silent for a few seconds, then said, "No. I'll call my sister. She'll meet you there. Or better yet, she'll come get you so you don't have to go alone."

My eyes widened and I hopped to my feet. "It's almost midnight, Cobb. That's a huge inconvenience."

"I promise it won't be," he said. "Please."

But then my phone began making noise and it was him trying to video call me. So I shook my head and answered. Now that I could see him, it'd be much harder to keep saying no .

Maybe that was the plan. Maybe he wanted to woo me in with the bare, muscular chest I could now see. Though I'd seen it yesterday at the pool. His skin was golden but looked so soft.

"Monroe," he said, like he'd already been talking.

"Sorry." Hopefully, he hadn't noticed my ogling. And at least he didn't know that I'd been thinking about him when I'd almost touched myself earlier.

"Will you go to my apartment? Please?" Those big, dark eyes drooped with concern.

"Yeah," I finally said. "OK."

He slowly closed his eyes, as if this were the biggest relief of his life. "Good. I'll get a hold of Camden. She'll let you know when she's on her way. You go pack a bag and please call me when you're inside my apartment with the door locked."

"I'll text you," I assured him. He was about to protest. "I'll text you, Cobb. I'm not calling you and keeping you awake any longer. If you suck tomorrow, it won't be because of me."

Now he laughed. "I won't suck tomorrow and I won't sleep until I know you're there."

"OK." There wasn't much else to say and he had to call his sister.

While he did that, I packed a small overnight bag with anything I might need and a change of clothes for tomorrow. Fifteen minutes later, my phone dinged with a text from Camden telling me she was there. Then the doorbell rang.

I pulled up the video feed to make sure and she was there with a large man I didn't recognize not far behind her. He wasn't looking at my door. He was looking behind him. I grabbed my bag and left my apartment, making sure to lock everything behind me.

Stepping out into the dark night was eerie. At least I wasn't alone and thankfully, Cobb had sent Camden because I didn't think I could've gotten myself to leave on my own.

"You ready?" she asked. I nodded but glanced at the man with her. "Oh, this is my best friend, Harlowe's, cousin. He's just here to make sure your ex isn't hanging around."

"I don't think he is."

She threaded her arm through mine to begin walking us to her car in the driveway. "I don't, either, but just in case." She got me into the passenger seat then called out, "Thanks!?" Which must've been for her best friend's cousin, then she was in the car behind the steering wheel. Right away, she started the car and backed out of the driveway.

"This is seriously overkill," I muttered.

"What?" she asked, sounding as chipper as she had every other time I'd talked to her. Tonight she had her brown hair in two braids that sat below her shoulders against her chest. At least she didn't look like she'd been out for the night.

"I said this is overkill. Did your brother tell you what happened?" I asked. She nodded. "So you know it was nothing. I didn't need a chauffeur and a cousin bodyguard." Because I hated feeling like I was helpless or needed this kind of help.

"Whoa. I'm only here to let you into Cobb's apartment. I have a key. Though I did think I'd see about staying the night with you like a little slumber party. We could call Everly and Harlowe. See if they want to join. But we don't have to."

God, this made me sound like such a bitch. Here she was taking time out of her night to help me and I wasn't exactly being grateful.

"I'm sorry," I told her. "That was me being a bitch when you're going out of your way to help me."

She shrugged. "I understand, but I'm helping my brother. You didn't call me, but you know you could have, right?"

I hadn't wanted to call anyone and, at the time, reaching out to Cobb was the only thing I thought would calm my nerves. He made me feel safe in a way that Camden wouldn't have. Neither would Asher and Reana. They would've hurried over to stay with me, of course, but it wasn't the same.

I nodded. "Why not Amity?" I asked. She furrowed her brows. "You said we could call Everly and Harlowe but didn't mention Amity."

"Oh." She smiled widely. "She's on this road trip, so she'd miss out."

Camden pulled us into the parking lot of a high-rise apartment building. The place was new and nice and stretched forever into the sky. Though it was dark, so who knew how tall it really was?

"OK," she said once we'd gotten to his apartment on a higher floor. "Let's go eat all of my brother's food."

I snickered. It was such a sister thing to say. She locked the door behind us and flipped on a light.

Cobb's apartment wasn't how I'd pictured it. The place was modern and much cleaner than I would've expected.

"My brothers are pretty neat," Camden said as if she could read my mind. "They aren't really messy. Never have been, but they also have a cleaning lady and this apartment actually belongs to the team. Cobb hasn't found his own place yet. This used to be Urban's but he's staying with Everly until his place is finished."

She went on to explain that the team had a couple of apartments in this building where someone who'd been traded last minute could stay until they found their own place because a player could be in one city one day and the next be playing in a game on the other side of the country. It was hard to move your whole life in a single day.

"You better call my brother," she reminded me.

"Right." I pulled my phone from my pocket, flipped on the camera and took a picture of myself with his living room in the background as proof of life—or in this case, proof of location. Then I typed out that I was here and the door was locked.

Good , he sent back. Don't be afraid to send me a picture of you in my bed before you go to sleep. Or better yet, when first wake up.

I snickered as I sent him a crazy-faced emoji.

If I didn't know better, I would've said that Cobb was flirting. But he wouldn't flirt with me because kissing me had been a mistake that wasn't going to happen again.

He'd made sure I understood that.