City of Champions (24 page)

"Okay, I'll start with the being nicer part — I'd like to see you again, too, Wyatt. And as for the rest…I'd also like you to play with my boobies again. But for now, I need to call my friends and I think it's best if we don’t tell anyone about this or answer any questions about us."

"What's the big deal?"

"Because you and I both know we have no answers to give anyone. Okay? And I consulted on your shoulder only a couple weeks ago. You and I being openly involved wouldn't look right. This is a pivotal point in my career. I know you understand that."

"Right, I get it," he said, with a low and somewhat angry voice.

Jenna walked to him carefully and held his cheek, turning his face to hers. He tried to avoid her eyes, but she stilled his face and kissed him, letting her tongue trail across his bottom lip before releasing him. Cradling his cheek, she smiled at him, enjoying the way his eyes were still slightly hooded from the effect of her caresses.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her breaths hitting his face so hot, they bounced back against her lip.

His eyes widened, "I never thought I'd hear you say that, Doc."

"Maybe you bring out the best in me, Wyatt," she answered, scraping her nails against the stubble on his face. "Now let me call my friends before they have themselves a couple of heart attacks, okay?"

"Be my guest," he answered, letting his hands slide to her hips and pulling her dress up so he could press himself against the naked bottom half of her body.

Jenna fumbled with her phone, finally managing to call Aubrey through her latest Wyatt-induced lust trance. The phone had barely made it through one ring before Aubrey picked up and scolded her.

"
You better be in one piece, girl, because I want to be able to rip you limb from limb
," Aubrey said sharply.

"I'm fine, I had to fill in for someone at work. I made my bed before I left,"
Jenna answered, the lie skipping off her tongue as she studied Wyatt and his hardening face.

"But your car's here,"
Aubrey challenged in a tone so frustrated it jarred Jenna out of the searing trap of Wyatt's dark stare.

"I took the bus."

"The bus? You're kidding."

"I didn't want to deal with driving and parking. I have a killer headache. Don't worry, Brey, okay? I'll be coming home soon, I promise. But I should've texted, I'm sorry."

"Damn right, you should've. Never again, missy. Man, you've been acting so weird lately."

"I just have a lot going on at work, I really want that fellowship."

Jenna could at least say that part was true.

"Okay, well, I'll see you soon. Bye."

"Bye."

Jenna
ended the call, swallowed deeply, and looked back up at Wyatt.

"You always lie to your friends like that?"

"Are you saying you've never lied to anyone?"

His face clouded and his brow crinkled, but Jenna couldn't make out anything from his expression.

"I'm the one that asked the question."

"When the situation requires, I find that withholding information can be the best for everyone." Wyatt looked almost disgusted at the answer, and she quickly added, "I promised to play nice with you though, so let me play nice."

Jenna slipped her fingers into the waistband of his boxer briefs, pulling him flush against her body. She wanted to jump full force into craziness — to do the wrong thing, over and over again, until she could forget about how doing the right thing had never gotten her anywhere.

"That's better," he muttered.

"How about we have some fun with each other?" He nodded in response, his jaw twitching slightly with tension. "So I'll see you soon, Wyatt, but for now, I'm gonna need to borrow some clothes, and maybe a ride, too?" she requested as a nervous laugh escaped her throat.

Wyatt smiled wickedly and squeezed her ass hard.

"I'll get you to where you need to go, Doc. But the ride? That comes first."

Jenna laughed and wiggled out of his grip. She jumped onto his bed, positioning herself on her knees. After quickly tearing off her stinky dress, she beckoned him to her with one hooked finger.

"Then what are you waiting for, Wyatt? Come and get me."

CHAPTER ELEVEN

"Hey, Jenna, you're awfully quiet today. Is everything okay?" Griffen asked her thoughtfully as he held Tea's left hand.

Griffen and Tea had come to her and Aubrey's apartment for a drink before heading over to Carol's Christmas party that night. Jenna had been looking forward to a chance for all four of them to catch up while Griffen's mom looked after Johnny, though, she hadn't accounted for how uncomfortable even such a mundane question would make her.

Jenna watched Griffen toying absentmindedly with Tea's massive engagement ring as she selected her words carefully.

"Oh, I'm fine. I've just been working a lot — trying to show I deserve that fellowship, you know," Jenna finally answered.

She felt guilty about all the secrets she was keeping from these people who were such an important part of her life, but she didn't know how to tell them about everything on her mind. Between the madness of her health concerns and her brand-new — whatever it was — with Wyatt, she felt keeping everything to herself was the only way to preserve some kind of control over her life.

"That's too bad you've had to work so much," Tea said. "Um, but you two are still going to Carol's Christmas party at
Viola
tonight, right?" Tea asked with a bit of nervousness in her voice. Griffen looked at her sideways, releasing her hand to wrap his arm around her shoulders reassuringly.

Jenna had a feeling the two of them had come over in part because they were desperate for some low-key fun before an evening with Tea's former mother-in-law, Carol. That woman was a permanent pain in the ass, as far as Jenna and Aubrey were concerned.

Aubrey chimed in and said, "Of course, we'll be there. Jenna will down some coffee and I'll drag her there by the hair if I have to. We won't leave you guys alone."

"Thanks so much, you two. I know a Wednesday is a hard day to swing, but it's the easiest night for Carol to be able to shut down the restaurant. I think if we're all there, it will be fun."

"And don't worry, it won't be too late a night," Griffen added. "Tomorrow, Johnny is joining that hockey league I found for him, so we'll want to get him home at a reasonable hour." Griffen was beaming over this news as he refilled everyone's wine glasses.

"Hockey, now, too?" Tea asked with a laugh.

"It's Pittsburgh, gorgeous," he said, winding his fingers in her hair and pulling her gently toward him to plant a kiss on her forehead. "Hockey's a required part of Johnny's development." Griffen moved his arms to her waist, pulling her off of her chair and into his lap, planting a soft kiss on her cheek as he rubbed circles on her knee.

"My hero," Tea said over a smile, kissing his neck lightly. "See, I would've let that poor boy go through his entire adolescence without ever holding a hockey stick. I just need to sort out getting him to practice…"

"Don't worry about that. I'll take him."

"Oh, well, in that case, I'm even more in love with the idea," Tea whispered against his cheek. "You know, you'd make a good kept man, Griffen."

"As long as you're the one doing the keeping, gorgeous," he said, with a smile.

Jenna took a sip of wine and tried to keep her eyes averted as Griffen whispered something to Tea that caused her to blush. Seeing him get Tea so worked up reminded her of Wyatt and his many talents. Instantly, her texting finger started to get twitchy. 

"All right, you two. Knock it off. I want to keep this wine in my belly," Aubrey blurted out.

Jenna laughed with everyone else but couldn't help but feel her temperature rising. "Hey. We aren't that bad…are we, Jenna?" Tea asked with a laugh, as she smiled in response to another kiss on the cheek from Griffen.

"It
is
a bit nauseating, but only in the sweetest way," Jenna offered gently.

"Oh. Well, I guess that's okay. Hey, by the way, what happened to you after we went out Friday night? Brey and I were really worried about you."

"I told Brey. I was at rounds."

"I know, but that's why I was confused," Tea said, "I called the hospital to check on you when I couldn't find you, but they said you were off."

"Did they now?" Aubrey asked, her tone dripping with suspicion.

"Why are you still tormenting me about this? I told you I was filling in, maybe that person just looked at the schedule and didn't know. Nothing too exciting happened. The people that were there barely even saw me."

"Okay, fine," Tea said. "But we'll never apologize for worrying about you."

Griffen whispered in Althea's ear again, rubbing his nose against her face lightly and making her giggle. He looked at his watch, and said loudly enough for the rest of the group could hear, "Althea, I think we should get going. My mom is bringing Johnny back to our place in about an hour. If we want to get some time to ourselves before the party…"

"Oh, right, yes, let's get going. Sorry, guys, we need to head out."

"So you guys can grope each other in peace. I get it."

"Aubrey, give them a break," Jenna said, choking on her wine as she laughed.

Tea blushed brightly, as she grabbed her coat and purse and headed to the door.

"Hopefully once we get a bigger place, it'll be easier to have some alone time," Griffen said, following Tea to the door.

"A new place? You guys are moving? Tea, is that right?" Aubrey asked, a bit shocked.

"We
might
be moving, nothing is decided," Tea replied. "Bye, you two, see you tonight."

She gave them each a kiss and grabbed Griffen's hand, leaned into his ear to whisper something. It must've been good, because he groaned out loud.

"Yeah, we gotta go. See you two tonight," Griffen added, whisking Tea out the door so quickly that she squealed as they scurried down the apartment hallway.

Aubrey closed the door firmly and rolled her eyes at Jenna.

"Oh my God, can you believe those two? We get it, they're in
looove
."

"Very true. Also, it looks like she hasn't put our communication advice into action, yet."

"Yeah, I think the
Griffen Express
is still chugging along at full speed with ten new life-changing stops along the way. Tea will probably just stay silent for each of them."

"It's Tea, you know how she is. This is as much her doing as it is his. She'll let him know what her worries are on her own unique time frame."

"Right, and I know she's got a lot of adjusting to do. Hell, we all do. It's just that…"

"We can't exactly complain. We pushed her into this, Brey, remember."

"I thought we were just trying to get her laid. Now I feel like I'm on a diet where I never eat because I'm always losing my appetite from their PDA or my own shock at all the changes they're making… But I know Griffen makes her really happy."

"He does. I get how you feel, though. Their relationship
has
changed everything. I feel like we barely see her or Johnny anymore."

"Right, that's been really tough for me."

"But he's so good for Johnny. You aren't going to say anything, are you, Brey?"

"Hell, no. I'm not going to be
that
friend that complains to her happy friend about being in a relationship and spending less time with her. You know, the one that mopes all the time — standing in the way of her happiness."

"Oh, you aren't?" Jenna chuckled out. "Then what friend are you?"

"I'm that friend that supports her to her face, and then privately bitches that things are different now."

"Yeah, I've been feeling like that friend, too, lately. Does that make us awful?"

"No way! We both feel that way, so that automatically means it's okay. We can't be awful. Needy…maybe. But never awful."

"Not sure it works that way, Brey."

"Oh, I'm totally sure it does. That's why I love having two best friends. My odds are doubled that one of you will validate my craziness for me."

"We are still going to support her as her friends, though, right?"

"Of course. We're women. We look out for her, but we also need to talk about her and meddle nonstop. You know…for love," Aubrey said confidently. "And I won't let Tea know just how much I miss the little family we had, but it still bugs me how everything is changing. It used to be the three of us hanging out, having sleepovers with Johnny. Now, Johnny's with Griffen all the time."

"I've missed our time with him, too. But I guess we need to give them some space. We do see them, still. It's just different. That's what happens when people fall in love…or so I've heard."

"Can't argue with that."

"Well, Brey, I better go get showered and ready for tonight. And I have some phone calls to make," Jenna said.