𝐣𝐨𝐣𝐨 𝐤𝐚𝐭: 𝐈 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨𝐨.
I pulled my hoodie over my head as I finished getting dressed. I had reread that damn message a millions times over ever since receiving it.
After three months of ignored text and calls she finally decides to message me back.
At first I wondered if she fell and bumped her head because it would be a cold day in hell before she ever would admit that, and especially to text me back.
My second guess was that she was drunk.
That was quickly shut down after I made my nightly good night call to Sky to see what they had been up to. She informed me that they had all gotten back from vacation and stayed in to watch our game and post game interview.
So then I came to a realization that she might have texted me that in the moment, but she would definitely be regretting her decision as of right now.
And I knew Jora— I didn't have to be within the same vicinity of her to confirm that.
" Whose turn is it to cook?" Carson asked as we exited the locker room.
"Mine," I say as I got a notification from some girl asking if I wanted to come over. I rolled my eyes as I swiped up, ignoring the text and heading to instagram as I half listened to Carson questioning Dominic about Rhegan.
We loaded our bags into the back before I opened the door to the back of the G-Wagon and slid in as Skylar's instagram story lit up once more.
As I clicked through the story, I finally chimed into the conversation as I leaned over the console. " She looks pretty happy to me right now." I extend my hand as I click through the stories of the girls getting a matching tattoo on different parts of their bodies.
I got a little flustered when Jora's slide appeared. It was the first glimpse of her that I had gotten in months, of course my heart would skip a beat.
The guys didn't tease me about it because that would be like the pot calling the kettle black.
" Looks like Jora's pretty happy too," Dominic teased as I sat back in my seat, buckling up for safety.
I roll my eyes before tapping back to the slide.
Jora sat on her back, her arms extended while she scrolled on her phone as the tattoo artist began to work on the snake that was placed between her breasts. The supple skin of her under boob was on full display as she took the pain of the needle like a champ.
My fingers itched with the remembrance of the last time I had touched her.
I lightly drifted my fingertips over her skin as she laid flat on her back. Her head was laid on the pillow as she slept soundly. Her chest rising and falling as the sheet fell down, revealing her nipple that hardened almost instantly.
I placed the sheet back over her chest and wrapped my arm around her waist protectively. I laid my head on her shoulder, pressing my lips to the skin of her neck once more as she shifted softly.
She loves me... even after everything. She loves me.
I know that I didn't deserve her love but I would fight like hell to keep it. Because even though I am a fuck up, when I treated her well they were the happiest moments of my life. I just wanted a second chance at proving to her that I could be the guy for her.
I can change for her because I need her.
" How could you ever love someone like me?" I questioned as I listened to her steady breathing and the pitter patter of her heartbeat.
" How could you ever love someone who hurt you?"
I was still in disbelief of her confession, but those were the questions that circulated my mind as I fell asleep because I knew that she deserved better than me. But I was selfish and I just couldn't let her go again, not after this.
Not after confessing my feelings for her.
I don't know what I expected the next morning when I woke up. But it wasn't to find myself naked in bed, the reminder of last night actually being real and not a figment of my imagination being her panties that she left behind in a rush.
I quickly searched for my phone and found it in the pocket of my slacks. I opened my contacts, clicked her name, and dailed her number only to be sent straight to voicemail.
" Heey!" Her voice mused as I waited to be connected with her voicemail box." Chances are that I missed your call, or I don't like you and don't want to take your calls. Leave a voicemail, or not, I don't really listen to them. Goodbye!"
Great! Was it even worth it to leave a voicemail at this point?
The line beeped and I just began to talk," Jora! Where are you? D- did I do something wrong last night because I-I thought that we were having a good time?" I scrubbed at my head as I paced around the room. " Look, just call me back please. I meant everything that I said to you last night. Just please call me back, Jora."
I hung up with a sigh as I sat in the bed holding my head in my palms. " Of course she left you dumbass," I whispered after a moment of silence.
I locked my phone with a sigh as I sat back, noticing that we were entering the garage of our building. As soon as Carson parked, we all unbuckled our seatbelts and opened the doors.
Carson popped the trunk and we gathered up our duffle bags before walking towards the elevator. " Salmon tonight?" I question, remembering that I took some out before practice anyway.
" Sounds good to me." Dominic said as I pressed the button to our floor. The elevator doors closed and the lift started to ascend as we made our way up to our condo.
Carson had his keys out already so he opened the door for us. We placed our duffles on the ground and came out of our shoes before walking further into the house. I immediately made my way into the kitchen with the two of them close on my heels.
Dominic found himself in the pantry and grabbed him a twinkie while Carson hopped onto a facetime call with Ayanna. I smiled as I listened to the two go back and forth being all cute and shit while I laid the salmon into a pyrex dish.
" Where's dumb and dumber?" Abel asked as I walked into the frame with a spoon in my mouth, tasting the secret sauce that I prepared to bathe my salmon in.
That was some good sauce.
And just as my luck would have it... she walked into the frame as well. Albeit she wasn't paying any attention as she wrapped her arm around Elizabeth's neck before looking at the screen, only to pause and stare me down.
She didn't even have to say anything, I knew that she regretted that text message from the very moment she woke up this morning.
She came out of her trance, trying to yank herself out of Elizabeth's hold. " Merida, Elizabeth, let go," she tried tugging again but got loose to no avail.
-shit
" But don't you want to say hi," Elizabeth bats her eyes innocently at Jora.
Jora glares at her as she faces the screen," Hi Carson, Hi Dominic. Fuck you Kyler." She turned to Elizabeth with a smile. " I said hi, now let me go."
I wasn't surprised. I figured that she wouldn't tell the girls about her little moment of weakness last night until she was ready.
" Hi to you too, Jora," I grin as she flicks me off and exits the screen. " Awww, JoJo don't be like that," I called after her as she cursed me in spanish.
I loved seeing her feisty side— It was a turn on.
I exited the frame as well and turned around to turn on the stove so that I could pop the salmon into the oven. When I turned around, Dominic was sharing a moment with Rhegan as they stared at each other through the screen.
It was then that it hit me that we were in the same boat.
He hadn't talked to the girl that he has been obsessed with since fifth grade in three months because she left him. I hadn't talked to the girl that has truly seen me in three months because she left me— and because I fucked up.
I never really realized how similar Rhegan and Jora were until now.
" We miss you guys so much," she sighs as Dominic and I give her a look of disbelief. " Contrary to your beliefs," her tone was laced with sass and attitude. " We all miss you, it doesn't feel the same without y'all here."
Yeah, one of y'all have made that pretty clear to me already.
" Aww!" I cooed," Have you gone soft on us, Ayanna?"
At this moment I realized that I should've kept my mouth shut because she was known to give out a few good violations from time to time. And the smile that was spreading across her face let me know that I was about to get it.
" Did you enjoy waking up to an empty bed the morning after draft night?"
And there it was ladies and gentlemen... the hand that fed me my daily dose of medicine.
Ouuu!" Dominic covered his mouth with his fist as Carson's jaw dropped to the ground. " That was beyond a violation, Ayanna," he patted my back as our friends laughed in the background.
Haze was right... She was a sadist.
" That hurt my feelings," I pouted as she giggled.
" I'm sorry Ky-ky," she apologized," Call it reparations."
Touché... Touché.
"I'll take it," I gave in as I turn around and started to pull out the seasoning la for my salmon.
" You're such a good sport!" She complimented as I turned around and leaned against the counter with my arms crossed. My gaze followed Jora as she moved in and out of the frame.
I had no choice but to be a good sport about the situation. Everything that they were saying was true.
I brought this upon myself.
I treated Jora like shit.
So I deserved to get dragged through the mud for it.
Carson left the kitchen to talk to Ayanna in private as Dominic came up beside me. " You good?" He asked as I sliced a lemon in half and squeezed it over the salmon.
" Yeah," I shrugged as I drizzled my garlic sauce over the salmon. " Those girls are tight-knit. I'd expect nothing less from them if they didn't bash me for the way that I treated Jora." I admit as he nods his head, he takes a moment to swallow before he speaks again.
" Are you going to talk to her this weekend?" He asked.
I was going to try.
There was no way in hell that I would not be in the same vicinity as her and not try to reach common ground on where we stood with each other at the moment.
" I want to talk to her," I shrug after I put the salmon in the oven," It's just a matter of whether she'll give me the time of day. I mean ever since draft night she's been a totally different person."
It's like she's scared all of a sudden.
Maybe admitting that she loved me was too much, especially when we weren't in the right space to be confessing it.
" Like I don't know if I did something wrong. We were having a good time and yeah we drank but we both consented to it." I sighed as the words that I had been thinking all day were on the tip of my tongue." Maybe she regretted it."
I pushed off of the counter and turned towards the fridge as I sniffed," You want water?" I questioned as I grabbed myself one.
He signaled for me to toss him one so I grabbed him one as well and tossed it to him.
" Maybe she was scared," he offered.I mean look at me and Rhegan," I hopped on top of the counter as he spoke . " I poured my heart out to her, told her how I felt without trying to scare her away, and she ran anyway."
Even though Dominic put on a good face, I knew that he was hurt over her doing that. But we all knew that Rhegan had severe issues with abandonment and Dominic was understanding of why she did it.
" You know that Rhegan and Jora are similar in some ways." I nodded my head in agreement with his statement. "They're both good at hiding their emotions to put up a strong front."
" Just talk to her," he offers before pausing briefly." Don't fuck her, talk to her. Tell her how you feel."
I chuckled as I flipped him off.
I could talk to Jora, but whether or not it went a step further was all up to her. Everytime I looked into her eyes, she would suck me in with a very specific look and it was over from there. There was no talking, no communication, just fucking.
" That's kind of hard man," I shook my head as I picked up the dish towel and threw it onto the counter. " She always looks at me with those eyes and then I get lost in a trance and she knows what she does to me. Those eyes are a fucking weapon in disguise."
I shook my head as I looked up, " Man how did we get the two most complicated girls out of the group?" I questioned out of curiosity.
When Dom didn't answer I looked off to see him staring in fucking la-la land. I furrowed my brows in realization that he must have been having a very vivid flashback at the moment.
" Dom!" I waved my hand in his face, gaining his attention.
Dominic cleared his throat as he came back to reality."Sorry," I looked at him with arched brows as he scratched the back of his neck. " What did you say?"
" I said,'' I said, sighing in annoyance at having to repeat myself . " How did we end up with the two complicated girls out of the group?"
" No," Dominic shook his head as he slid off of the counter. Carson rounded the corner with a smile on his face as he pulled out a stool." I got the complicated girl," he corrected.
" You just fucked up."
I shook my head as I slid off of the counter and started a pot of jasmine rice as the timer on the stove started to trickle down.
" This should be an interesting weekend," Carson chuckled as he sat down at the counter.
I couldn't agree more as I poured rice into the pot.
______________
" Good game guys!" One of our teammates praised us as we hurried to the truck. " Don't get too crazy tomorrow, " he warned." We still have practice on Saturday and a game on Sunday."
" We know!" We called back as he waved." See you Saturday!"
Dominic drove today... Dominic drove like a bat out of fucking hell.
But seeing as we had to be at the trumac in an hour, he was the best option to get us to the house in order for us to retrieve our bags.
When he pulled into the parking spot, we bolted our ass upstairs and switched out our bags and grabbed our stuff for the flight. Carson had called a car as we drove him from practice so we rushed downstairs to wait for it.
" It's downstairs," Carson said as he opened the door.
I set the alarm, closed, and locked the door since I was the last one out of the house. By the time I had reached the elevator, the door had begun to open and we quickly stepped inside.
" Are you guys excited? Nervous?" Carson grinned as the elevator descended.
Dominic and I exchanged looks." We're cool," we cooly responded as Carson chuckled in disbelief.
" That was a lie," he pointed out," but for the sake of y'all's ego's... I'll just pretend like you guys are."
I playfully slapped Carson's neck as we stepped off of the elevator and walked towards the car. " Not everyone can be blessed with an easy going girlfriend at the moment, Carson," I huffed.
" I know right," he shrugged as he got into the car." I'm just the luckiest, aren't I?"
" Would he be the luckiest if I shoved my foot up his ass?" I joked as me and Dominic slid in besides him.
" What was that Kyler?" He cupped his ear as he leaned over Dominic." I didn't hear you. Say it with your chest Kyler." Dominic pushed Carson off of him as we all laughed, the car took off not too soon after and pulled out of the garage.
" A pair of fools, I tell ya." Dominic shook his head as we sat back. He had been more focused on reading our stats for tonight that he really wasn't paying us any mind.
After our last post game conference, Dominic took Warren's advice and left everything on the court, shutting all of the critics up in the process.
" How's it looking?" I asked as I looked over his shoulder.
"All good things," he grins as he shows us our stats from tonight's game.
Our stats looked good and the fans' praise in the comments about our performance was an ego boost. It was a good game tonight against the Sun's tonight and we got a decent amount of playing time in.
" We played a good game boys," Carson nudged Dominic." Maybe if you guys kiss and make up with the girls then they can come to the next game."
That was the plan.
Or at least we could come to some common ground before delving further into the topic of our situation.
But regardless of where we stood, I wanted her to be there. I always performed my best when I had my sister and Jora in the crowd.
So I would do whatever it takes to get her ass in one of those stadium seats.
When he knows that he fucked up!!!!
So how are we enjoying the chapters so far? I honestly know that this book will be out way before November but we will see.
I can't wait for you guys to see their reunion... ahahaha.
In Dirty Jenga we trust!!!
I love you guys to the moon and back, alexis