Dirty Talker (Filthy Dirty Summer)

My stomach knots in worry again. I have a hard time sleeping, and I toss and turn all night. I keep checking my phone, hoping for a text, a call or anything. When I wake up the next morning, there’s still nothing. When I go down for breakfast and she's nowhere to be found, I really begin to worry.

I see Ty and ask him about his mom.

He tilts his head to the side. “She said she wasn’t hungry. She’s having a protein bar in her room.”

I nod, distracted. I don’t have a lot of time, but I can surely run up and check on her.

I almost make it too, but when I get to the lobby, I run into Coach Killian. "Come on, Coach. It's time to leave. Will you help me get the boys together?"

I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Sure thing.”

Ty and Benny both load into my truck with me, and Griff gets in the front. I look at Ty in the rearview mirror. "What about your mom? Is she coming?"

He shakes his head as he looks up from his phone. "No, she's going to ride over with Krissy."

I nod and grit my teeth. Grif opens his mouth, and I hold my hand up. “Shut it. I’m not in the mood this morning.”

We ride into town in silence. The boys are listening to music on their phones. Griff keeps looking over at me, but I think he knows me well enough to know I’m at the end of my rope and barely hanging on.

When we get to the field, we start doing warmups. I keep glancing toward the stands, waiting for Megan to show up. When it's almost game time and she's still nowhere to be found, I tell Coach Killian, "I'll be right back."

He looks at me in surprise, and I can't say that I blame him. I'm definitely off my game this morning. I walk over to Krissy and Griff and ignore Griff's smirk. He takes any chance he gets to bust my balls. "Where's Megan at?" I ask her, getting straight to the point.

She points toward the parking lot. "She's still in the truck. She said she'd be out in a minute."

I barely acknowledge her answer before I'm jogging down the path to the parking lot. I find Griff's truck and jog toward it. Megan is sitting in the passenger seat, and I tap on her window. She opens the door, her mouth wide. "What are you doing, Kade? The game is about to start."

"I'm worried about you. I haven't seen or talked to you since yesterday."

She puts her hand on my chest and pushes me backwards and climbs out of the truck. She grabs her purse and slings it over her shoulder and then hits the lock button on the keys before stuffing them in her pocket. "I'm fine."

She starts to walk away, and I gently grab on to her arm to hold her. "What's going on, Megan?"

She won't look at me. It seems she's looking everywhere but at me. "It's not a big deal, Kade. Forget about it. You need to get to the game."

"I'm not leaving here until I know what's going on with you."

She crosses her arms over her chest. "This was a fling, Kade. I have no idea what I was thinking getting involved with you."

I turn her fully toward me and put my hands on her shoulders. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

She shrugs, and when she does, she pushes my hands off her shoulders and takes a step back. Finally, she looks me in the eye, and it's then that I see the worry and the sadness in her face. "I saw your phone yesterday. I saw the girl texting you about a hookup. Literally, I was in your bed and some girl is scheduling a booty call with you. I was so stupid, Kade. For just a second, I thought there could actually be something between us.” She chokes out a laugh.

My mouth drops wide open. I close it and open it again, but I'm speechless. Not even knowing what to say, I reach in my back pocket and grab my phone. I scroll through my text messages and click on the picture on the caller ID. I hold it up to her. "Is this who you saw texting me?"

She looks at my phone and then rolls her eyes. "Yes. Why, are there more?"

I close out of her picture and bring up the text message that Brenda sent me yesterday. With my jaw firmly set, I hold the phone out to her for her to take, but she doesn't reach for it.

"I don't know what your ex-husband did to you, but I'm not him, Megan. Everything that I said to you yesterday I meant."