City of Champions by Chloe T. Barlow Read Free Book Online Page A

Jenna, glaring at her with an amount of frustration in her eyes that surprised her, considering Tea was usually so nice — maybe a little dramatic at times, but always sweet. "You really can't be serious, Jenna. Not after Griffen went to all this trouble."
    "I know, and I am so grateful for getting to make that connection with Tom, I had a crappy day and am totally beat. It's not like I blew this off."
    "You're blowing it off now," Tea whispered angrily in response. "I can't believe you."
    "Calm down, Tea…"
    "Tea, ignore Jenna. She's just nervous about spending so much time with Gunslinger McCoy."
    Jenna rolled her eyes at Tea but was getting no support from that member of their triad.
    Instead, Tea simply glared at her.
    "Hey, are you guys coming?" Jenna heard Griffen's deep voice boom back to them. He headed over to their direction and immediately looked at Tea with concern. "Gorgeous, is everything okay?" he asked her softly, as he placed his hand at the small of her back. Tea looked up at him and the two simply stared in each other's eyes. The adoration they shared for each other was almost palpable.
    "I'm fine," Tea said reassuringly to Griffen. "It's Jenna, she's got a bad case of the stick-in-the-muds. She's trying to skip the tour."
    "No way, Jenna, this is a huge opportunity to spend time with these players and they're expecting all of us to be there. It will look bad if one of us bails. It'll be short, I promise, and I know Johnny will be bummed if you leave. Please ?"
    Griffen shot his best puppy dog eyes at her, bending his head down and letting his longish, dark, wavy hair fall on his forehead.
    "Uh-oh, Jenna, he's got you in his blue-eyed clutches, you're toast," Aubrey said, with a giggle, which Tea quickly joined in on with her own snickering.
    Griffen wouldn't look away and threw out his bottom lip further. Jenna had to admit that he was devastatingly handsome. Yes, he was madly in love with her best friend, but she was a woman with eyes, after all.
    "Fine," Jenna muttered in defeat as she started walking toward Tom and Johnny.
    "Sweet," Griffen exclaimed. "Come on, hurry up, ladies, they're waiting for us."
    "I win," Aubrey whispered to her.
    "Grow up," Jenna said, elbowing her in the ribs.
    "All right, folks, are we ready?" Tom asked when they caught up to him. Everyone nodded and proceeded to fall in behind him again like obedient puppies until they made it to the entry area in the NFL team's locker room.
    Tom stood next to the three players that were pegged for the meet-and-greet portion of what was rapidly feeling like one of the longest days of Jenna's life. The sight of Wyatt McCoy was unnerving. She worked with athletes every day, but none that had intrigued her for such a long time like he did — plus, he was staring at her with such focus that she began to feel downright overwhelmed.
    Only one person had ever stared at her that way, or had that kind of power over her, in her whole life. Jenna wanted nothing to do with anyone who stirred up that memory, no matter how much Wyatt may have fascinated her as a player over the years.
    "I have our quarterback, Wyatt, wide receiver, J.J., and safety, Trajan, here to meet you. If you're NFL fans, as I know at least a couple of you are, they won't need much introduction," Tom said, with a smooth tone suffused with authority.
    Although Jenna was forcing herself to look at Tom, she was having a difficult time listening to his words. Her chest felt oddly tight and her palms were sweating. She refused to meet Wyatt McCoy's stare or let him see that her breaths were becoming unnaturally short and sharp in her throat.
    She tried next to distract herself by watching the happy response of Johnny, whose eyes were wide with excitement. Jenna couldn't help but be amazed at how he was speechless for probably the first time since he was born. She loved to see Johnny so happy and proud, knowing that his "Gwiff" had done all of this for him.
    Out of the corner of her eye