Back to Me (Carolina Rebels 1)

“Okay,” Meredith says as she runs her fingers through my hair for the millionth time since we left my apartment. I was impressed when I saw how well she did. “I think I really like this better.” She gently tugs on a chunk from the top of my head. “How can you be hotter?”

I laugh. “It’s a natural ability,” I reply, causing her to giggle. “God, I’ve missed you,” I blurt out. It feels as if it’s been centuries since I last heard her laugh, and to hear it as often as I have in the past day is blowing my mind. Not to mention that I’ve been able to talk to her, to kiss her, to make love to her. Thankful doesn’t begin to cover how I feel about having her back.

“I’ve missed you too,” she tells me quietly as I park the SUV. “I wish I’d never met Vance, then I could’ve come back sooner and,” she hesitates as if choosing her words carefully, “avoided some of the heartache.”

“How about we stop thinking of the should’ves and could’ves and focus on you being here with me now?” She nods, so I add, “Let’s go meet Marc.”

We get out of the car and meet around the front. I take her hand and she makes me laugh when she says, “You know, I thought you would’ve kept me in your apartment for more making up instead of taking me to meet one of your teammates.”

I groan. “Don’t make me change my mind.” There was a serious debate going on in my head while my hair was being cut before I settled on her meeting my closest friend on the team. I think that’s one of the toughest things about being traded. You have to learn a new system, adjust to a new coaching staff, and get to know a new round of players. Marc, however, was traded with me from my previous team.

We walk into the restaurant, and I tell the hostess who we’re meeting. She leads us to a booth. Marc slides out to stand and greet Meredith. All I told him was that he was meeting my new girlfriend.

“Marc, this is Meredith. Mere, this is Marc.”

She shakes his hand, but all he’s doing is staring at her in wonder. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Holy shit.” Marc glances at me. “Meredith as in the Meredith?” he asks, pointing to where her tattoo is on my chest.

“Yes,” we both confirm.

“Wow.” We sit down in the booth and Marc says, “How the hell did this happen?”

We’re unable to respond right away because a waitress comes to take our drink orders. When she walks away, Marc keeps talking instead of giving us time to reply to his first question.

“I’m stunned, really. I won’t lie; I was starting to think you were a figment of Rams’s imagination.” Meredith raises an eyebrow at me at the mention of my nickname. “He told me the story once, and the way he described you, I was about ready to come find you myself. I would’ve if he’d have told me how hot you are.” To my dismay, Meredith laughs. “How long are you here for? When are your hot tennis friends coming to visit, so you can set me up?”

At the mention of tennis, Mere loses her smile. Fucking Marc. I kick him under the table and he glares at me.

“I’m here for the foreseeable future. You’re on your own if you need a girlfriend,” she answers. “How long have you known Noah?”

“Too damn long,” he laughs. “We’ve been playing together for, what, four years now? We were both traded to Carolina as a package deal. He took me under his wing from day one and we’ve been friends ever since.”

“Only because he doesn’t know how to make new friends,” I say. “He was shy when I first met him.”

“So, you probably have some good stories to tell about Noah then?” Meredith asks hopefully.

“Absolutely,” he grins.

After we order, Marc launches into the story of our friendship pretty much. He even manages to tell her everything in chronological order. I don’t focus on what he’s saying, though. I’m too busy having the utmost surreal feeling. We’re a couple. She’s laughing, enjoying herself, and is relaxed. It’s so surreal that I’m waiting for something to go wrong, for something to ruin this amazing moment, to destroy this feeling.

Nothing happens.

“Okay, you’ve talked enough, Marc. Save some of it for another time, yeah?” I interrupt. I’m ready to go home and take Mere to bed. “We still have catching up to do ourselves.”

“

I’m sure you do,” he smirks.

“It was really nice to meet you,” Meredith says, ignoring his comment.

“You too. It’s good to know you exist.”

I leave some cash on the table, not wanting to wait for the waitress. “Make sure the waitress gets the money. This isn’t a tip for your company,” I tell him, making him laugh.

With that, Meredith and I make our way back to my apartment. She seems to like Marc, which is good. She’ll be seeing him quite a bit between him being my teammate and best friend. Something seems different with her, which makes me worry.

As we ride the elevator up to my floor, I ask, “You doing okay with everything?”