Chasing The BallGirl (FanGirl Series2) Read online

  When I got home, I bypassed the girls sitting on the couch, watching Grey’s Anatomy, our Thursday night tradition. I waved and went straight to my room, forgoing dinner. I stripped down to my underwear and a tank and slid into bed, my tired body practically becoming one with my mattress.

  This … this is what heaven feels like.

  I grabbed my phone to set my alarm and noticed I had a few missed texts. Crap, my phone was still on silent from work.

  Katie: Are you okay? You’re missing Grey’s and sushi.

  Me: Just super tired. I’ll catch up tomorrow. No spoilers!

  The next text was from Melody.

  Melody: I’m sorry. He bribed her with Paco’s, and she broke. She’s such a taco whore.

  What?

  Me: Melody, I think you texted me by accident. This is Sammie. :)

  A message from Lexi, too?

  Lexi: Dude, I caved. I’m sorry. But tacos and beer were involved.

  What in the world is going on?

  Me: What did you do, Lex?

  Melody: No, it was meant for you. I take it, you have no idea what is going on.

  Lexi: Please don’t be mad. Tacos! That asshole doesn’t play fair!

  My phone rang in my hand, and a number I didn’t recognize was displayed on the screen. I hesitantly answered it.

  “Do you know it cost me a platter of tacos, a pitcher of beer, and a one-hundred-dollar gift card to Paco’s Tacos to get your phone number?”

  Holy shit … it’s Ryan.

  “Well, the text messages I just received, apologizing, now make a lot of sense.” I laughed.

  “It was unfair. I know tacos are Lexi’s weakness. But what about you? What’s your weakness, Sam?”

  You.

  “I don’t have one. Why did you do that for my number?”

  “Because, after three weeks of begging Melody for it, she wouldn’t give it to me. One call to Lexi and a mention of tacos, and I had the ten digits I’d been looking for.”

  Begged?

  “Why would you beg for my number? I really don’t understand what is going on.”

  “I’ve wanted to talk to you since the night at Point North. See how the next day went with the roommate you basically admitted to hating.”

  “Ha. Jenna. Well, she, too, is easily bribed. A large bottle of Fireball smoothed that over.”

  “Sounds like she and Lexi would get along.”

  “No, I actually think it would be the opposite. Lexi would probably punch her out.”

  “Not a good time for Jenna, but a great one for everyone else.” He chuckled. “So, since all is good in the roommate department, I’ll move on to the real reason I called.”

  “I thought that was the reason you’d called.”

  “Nope. That was the excuse. I wanted to see if you’d want to meet up tomorrow night?”

  “For what purpose?”

  “Does there have to be? I want to see you. Buy you dinner and drinks maybe?”

  “I already have plans to go out with some of the roommates tomorrow night.”

  “Meet me before? Or after?”

  “Ryan, I told you. I’m not interested in just hooking up.”

  “You’ve made that clear, and I’m not asking to hop into bed with you. I’m asking for a drink. Just to hang out.”

  After thinking about it, I decided, if he was serious, I was going to make him work for it. “I’ll tell you what. If you can find where we are hanging out tomorrow night, I’ll go with you after for a drink. You know what happens when I have more than that.”

  “Giggly, Loose Lips, Comatose Sammie. Do I get a clue as to where you’re going to be? At least a general area? Can I talk to one of your roommates and see what’s needed to bribe them?”

  “No, I’m in my bed upstairs, and they’re all in the living room, watching TV. I’m not getting out of bed, so you can bribe them.”

  “A little hint?”

  “Hmm … I’ll be at a bar within the Inner Harbor and Fell’s Point area at eight. I think that’s a good enough hint for this little game. Deal?”

  “Deal.” I could hear his smile.

  Chapter Eleven: Ryan

  I’d been to fifteen bars within the Inner Harbor and Fell’s Point area in the last two hours, and I hadn’t seen Sammie or any of her roommates. She hadn’t answered my text messages, and I was wondering if that was part of the game.

  Or she could be setting me up.

  She didn’t seem like the type of girl to stand someone up, but I could be wrong. I would deserve it after the way I’d treated her at the gala. The main reason I wanted to take her out tonight was to apologize for the gala. I didn’t want to do it over the phone.

  I walked down South Broadway and looked in the windows of the various bars lining the street. I spotted some of Sammie’s roommates inside Broody Broadway Bar and sighed in relief.

  When I walked through the door, the roommate who had taken her home spotted me from the bar and smiled warmly. I made my way through the crowd to the table with the rest of the girls, but I noticed there was no Sam.

  “Ryan! It’s so good to see you again!” Jenna, the one Sammie didn’t like, batted her eyelashes.

  “Good evening, ladies. Where’s Sammie?”

  “Haven’t seen her today. What’s on your agenda for the evening?” Jenna winked.

  “Sam. She’s not answering my texts.”

  Another girl frowned. “Sam and I usually leave around the same time in the morning, but I didn’t even hear her leave this morning.”

  The girl from the bar joined the table and smiled. “What’s up?”

  “Have you seen or heard from Sammie today, Katie?”

  “She texted me this morning. Poor thing has the flu. She quarantined herself to her room. She’s going to be down for a few days. The flu is terrible this year.”

  What happened next surprised the fuck out of me. All of the girls, Katie included, exchanged little comments about how they were staying away from Sam because they couldn’t afford to get the flu because of school.

  “So, who’s going to take care of her? Did anyone offer to get her soup and Gatorade?” I interrupted.

  “She’s self-sufficient,” one said.

  “Yeah. She’s a big girl,” another said.

  Katie frowned. “I’m a germophobe. I would … but I’m deathly afraid of getting sick.”

  I stared at her, dumbfounded. “You do realize you’re going to be a pharmacist … someone who helps sick people, right?”

  She shrugged. “I’m going to specialize in anticoagulant therapy.”

  I have no idea what the fuck that means.

  Katie gasped. “Oh! That reminds me. Mia, when is your residency interview for Hopkins?”

  And, just like that, the four of them had moved on to a new subject, not giving two fucks about their sick friend at home.

  I could be damn sure that, if one of these assholes were sick, Sam would be there for them, regardless of catching the illness. With friends like this, she sure as hell didn’t need enemies.

  Jenna hopped off her barstool and walked over to me. She was hot, and if I had met her before I knew she was Sam’s roommate, I definitely would have fucked her.

  She put her hand on my chest and leaned up to my ear. “Why don’t we get out of here? You can come back to my place, and we can have a party of our own,” she purred.

  I should remove her hand and say hell no. Tell the group of them they were selfish as fuck. But, instead, I had a brilliant idea. One that would get me to Sam.

  And who said all jocks were dumbasses?

  I covered her hand with mine and smiled. “I’ll drive.”

  ~*~*~

  On the way to her house, I told Jenna I needed to stop by a pharmacy for supplies. She giggled and bounced in her seat. I guessed she thought I was getting condoms. Luckily, there was a twenty-four-hour pharmacy close to the house.

  She took no time in jumping from the car and unlocking the door to the
townhouse she shared with the other girls. I carried the two bags full of items up the stairs, assuming that’s where Sam’s room is, and left Jenna at the front door.

  “My room is downstairs, silly.” She laughed.

  I looked over my shoulder and shrugged. “Good for you.”

  Those plump lips of hers turned into a frown. “Where are you going?”

  “Upstairs to take care of Sam. You are all shit friends.”

  She put her hands on her narrow hips and pouted. “Seriously? You pretended like you wanted to come home to have sex with me and instead came to see Sam? That’s fucked up.”

  I stopped at the top of the stairs and turned around. “I never once said anything about sleeping with you, and what’s fucked up is, you all bailed on your friend. I’ll call you a goddamn Uber to come pick your ass up and take you back to the bar.”

  Her mouth dropped, and her face turned scarlet. “Don’t bother. I’ll call a cab, asshole!” she screamed before slamming the door shut behind her.

  Fuck it. I’ll buy her Fireball.

  There were five doors on the top floor. The first one I opened was a laundry room. The second was a small bedroom where a clothing bomb had exploded. On the opposite side of the hallway, there was only one room that had its door closed. I peeked into the open rooms but no Sam. I knocked lightly on the closed door but no response. I slightly pushed it open, finding a tiny ball in the middle of a big bed. I knew it was her from the floral smell of the room and her blonde hair peeking out from the heaps of blankets.

  I set the bags on her desk and sat on her bed. “Sammie, are you awake?” I whispered.

  Her eyelids fluttered open, and her blue eyes were as bright as ever. She closed her eyes and then giggled. “Now, I know that I’m really sick.”

  Her giggle made me smile.

  “Why’s that, sweetheart?”

  “Because you’re here. I’m obviously hallucinating. My fever must be creeping back up.”

  I pressed my cheek to her forehead, and she was burning up. I rooted through the bags and found the thermometer that I’d bought. I removed it from its plastic. It was one of those fancy ones you touched to the forehead, and when I did, it flashed red.

  “One hundred three-point-nine. Sammie, you need to see a doctor.”

  She slightly shook her head. “I’m too cold to move, Dream Cruz. When I warm up, I’ll go get some Tylenol.”

  “Dream Cruz.” I chuckled to myself as I searched through the bags and found the bottles of Tylenol and Motrin the pharmacist had told me to buy. Thank God for that guy; otherwise, I would have come over with just ginger ale and crackers.

  I handed her one of the Gatorades and the pills. “Here, baby, take these.”

  She lifted her head enough to put the pills in her mouth and swallowed a gulp of the drink. “So, maybe this isn’t a hallucination; maybe it’s a dream. You coming to my rescue, calling me baby. I like this dream. I want to stay in it as long as I can. Real Ryan can be a dick.”

  I smiled at her honesty. “Is there anything else you need?”

  “Another blanket. I’m freezing.”

  I looked all around her room and in the closet but no blanket. I lifted the blankets she was buried under to find she already had four on top of her along with having on a sweatshirt, sweatpants, and socks.

  I remembered from my Boy Scout days about body heat being the best way to warm someone else quickly, but her body itself wasn’t cold. At this point, I couldn’t think of anything else that would work, so I shrugged off my coat and stripped down to my boxers. I stripped her of her sweatpants and lifted her to take off her hoodie. She wasn’t wearing a bra under her tank top, and I had to remind myself that she was sick, and I was taking care of her … not ogling her beautiful breasts.

  She looked up at me and smiled brightly. “Best dream ever,” she said through chattering teeth.

  I slid under the blankets and pulled her body flush to mine. Although her skin burned against mine, her body fit perfectly.

  She sighed contently and rested her head on my chest. “I wish Real Ryan were like you. I’d fall deeper than I already am.”

  I tucked her head under my chin and tightened my hold on her. “Go ahead and fall deep and hard, baby.”

  Because God only knew I was.

  Chapter Twelve: Sammie

  I felt like a dump truck had run me over, thrown it in reverse, and done it again.

  I couldn’t remember feeling this terrible in my life, even when I’d had appendicitis. It wasn’t possible for nails or hair to ache since they were dead skin cells, but right now, I would be willing to argue with any scientist or doctor that it was a possibility. I felt like freaking death. It hurt to even open my eyes, so I didn’t even attempt it.

  That was, until I heard cartoonish music playing from across the room. I barely lifted one eyelid open and had to quickly open both fully to make sure I wasn’t seeing things. Sure enough, Lexi was sitting at my desk with her feet propped on the edge, playing a game on her phone.

  “Lexi?” My throat felt and sounded as if it’d been rubbed raw with sandpaper.

  She had a medical mask covering her mouth and nose, but I could tell by her eyes that she was smiling. “She’s alive!” She hopped off the chair and sat on the edge of my bed. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like death.” My voice croaked. “Why are you here?”

  “I’m here because I’m your friend, and you need help,” she said as if it was a simple fact.

  I struggled to sit up, so Lexi helped prop me up and put pillows behind me, so I could sit up against the headboard.

  “Thanks, Lex. I’m sorry. I’m just confused. How did you know I was sick?”

  “Ryan called me and said you were really sick and that your roommates were fucking dicks. He had to go to the pharmacy, but he should be back anytime. I thought we’d be able to gossip about how he stayed with you last night, but you’ve been unconscious, and Ryan told me he’d revoke my Paco’s gift card if I woke you up. What he doesn’t know is that gift card has been used. I was going to wake your ass up until I saw how shitty you looked. But, anyway, now that you’re awake, how in the hell did you get the biggest player in the city wrapped around that little finger of yours?”

  That overload of information made my head hurt ten times more than it already had. “Ryan? As in Ryan Cruz?”

  “Very same. Melody and Carson can’t even believe it. Your vajayjay must be magical.”

  “My ’jayjay? I haven’t had sex with him.”

  “Damn, he’s ’jayjay whipped without the ’jayjay. Can you imagine what he’ll be like when you are actually DTF?”

  “DTF?”

  She rolled her eyes. “DTF—down to fuck. Don’t you watch Jersey Shore? I’m DTF Vinny. He’s so damn hot. Anyway, I’m surprised it’s taken you two this long to get it on. I thought for sure it was going to happen the night of the gala.”

  “I asked Mel and Carson to cockblock, and they did a really good job.” I coughed. Damn it, that hurts. “I refuse to be another one of those girls Ryan just takes to bed and then doesn’t look back. I’m worth more than that.”

  “Damn straight you are,” Ryan said in the doorway. “Glad to see you’re sitting up. That shot Owen gave you seems to have helped.”

  The only Owen I knew was the team physician for the Blue Birds. “Owen? As in Dr. Ward from the team?”

  “The very same,” he answered.

  “Why was Owen here? And why did you stay with me last night? Will someone tell me what is going on?”

  Lexi rubbed my leg before standing. “You’re getting cranky, so I’m gonna go. I’ll text you later, Sam. Feel better.”

  I watched Ryan kiss Lexi’s cheek when she walked past him out the door. It made me jealous even though that was silly. I had no right to be jealous.

  He set two shopping bags on my desk with two others that were already there and put a duffel bag on the chair. He pulled out a pharmacy bag and handed me the p
rescription inside. “I called Owen this morning to come check you out since you were very lethargic. I couldn’t wake you up enough to get you to take more pills, and your fever was high again. He came over and swabbed you for the flu. Then, he gave you an injection of Tylenol. He took the swab to his office, and it was positive for the flu. He called in this prescription and said to take it twice a day. It will help lessen your symptoms and help you get over it sooner. He gave me one, too, as a preventive.”