Overtime

13

Despite my best efforts, Miles brought me to the stadium for practice. I didn't want to get too comfortable being in public with him since I had no fucking clue what this man wanted with me. I'm so nervous my boss will find out, but Miles says not to stress. But come on, we all know someone is always watching.

My heart pounds when I see Hailey walking over to me with a curious look on her face. She knows. She fucking knows. It doesn't help that Miles makes himself known when he's seen with me. He makes me take pictures of him and the players all the time doing stupid shit, like giving each other piggyback rides.

"Hey Julia," she chirps beside me, snapping a photo of one of the guys off the field.

Oh God. I should have never slept with him. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. "Hey! How was your night?"

I stare at Miles, waiting for the words to come out. "I spent all morning house hunting. Hard to find anything decent these days."

I chuckle, trying to slow my heart rate down. Maybe she doesn't know. "Oh, I know. I've lived in the same apartment for two years now. I'm afraid if I let it go, there will be nothing waiting for me. It's truly the perfect place, though."

"Where is it?"

"Right off of Broadway. I live with my two best friends, but the apartment needs to be updated, and honestly, it's gross. It's convenient to all our work."

She pokes her bottom lip out, "I want to live close to Broadway so bad. Everything is too damn expensive. I live about twenty minutes from here on the outskirts."

"Honestly, I think I may be ready to move to the outskirts. The city is too loud and crowded." I spend one night on a farm with Miles, and suddenly, I want to move somewhere quieter.

His place truly was incredible. We spent the morning eating breakfast on his screened porch while Banjo chased whatever wildlife was in the yard, howling out his lungs.

Obviously, he picked me up, so I had no way to get home unless I called one of my friends or a cab, but I never thought once about leaving. Miles entertained me the entire time. Thinking about what we did all night sends vibrations down my spine.

Shit. I can't be getting horny at work. And who knows when Miles and I will hang out again?

"I saw you show up here with Moore earlier," she abruptly says. "Anything going on?" She has a huge smug smile on her face like she just struck gold.

My eyes widened. Oh my God. She knows! I fucking knew it. I make slight eye contact with Miles, who furrows his eyebrows as he sees my face. "Oh, no. We're just friends. He's the one who told me I should apply for this job, actually."

"That's sweet of him. He's a nice guy. He had a girlfriend, but I hadn't seen her for weeks. Well, the season ended early this year; it's been months." That makes my stomach drop. "She's always in the press getting her photo taken, but she wasn't here on Sunday. They were together for a while."

Okay. They most likely broke up. That's normal. Fuck. "Oh yeah, no clue. I've never seen her before."

Am I a rebound? Fuck. Fuck me. Of course I am. He hasn't even bothered to take me on a date unless he counts the day we spent at his house as a date. No, that definitely doesn't count.

Hailey turns to look at me, eyeing me up and down. "She honestly looks a lot like you, besides the whole NFL photographer part. Blonde, skinny, and beautiful." Don't freak out, Julia. Don't freak out.