no strings attached - j.b

traitor

"You don't have to like her, but at least be nice to her, okay? She fucked up, but she regrets it" Sam murmured to Joe as they walked together across the parking lot to the facility a few days later, watching Phoebe just get out of her black Range Rover.

"I'm still thinking about it" Joe growled back as suddenly the passenger door of the car opened and a guy got out. Surprised, Joe stopped, causing Sam to almost run him down.

"who's that?" Joe asked before Sam could complain about the near-accident, pointing to the guy who just stood by Phoebe at the trunk. He handed her her bag while she playfully punched him in the shoulder laughing and then linked arms with him.

"I don't know" Sam whispered back as the guys slowly resumed their walk so as not to run into the other two, but Phoebe seemed so engrossed in talking to the guy that she didn't notice them at all.

"you don't know who he is? You think this is a new one already?" Joe eyed the two of them. "Why do you want to know, Joe? I thought you couldn't stand her, now you're getting jealous because she has a new guy by her side?" Sam looked at him in confusion. "Did you think she was going to go celibate now after what she did to you?"

Joe gave Sam a questioning look. "What, no, of course not. I'm not jealous. I just thought she learned from her mistakes, which it doesn't look like she did. Do you think she's trying to impress this guy right now with the fact that she's a Brown?"

"I don't know, and it's none of my business. Until Phoebe asks my opinion or talks to me about it, I'm not getting involved in the whole thing" Sam shrugged.

• • •

"oh, Joe, I've been looking for you! Do you have time to join me in my office? The video for your recovery is ready and we wanted to show it to you before we uploaded it" Paige just intercepted Joe on his way out of the locker room.

He just nodded and followed the social media representative through the hallways until they were at the door of her office where, to Joe's surprise, she knocked. When Paige knocked on her own door, it could really only mean one thing....

"Come in" Phoebe's voice sounded through the door and Joe rolled his eyes. After watching her this morning, he had no desire to face her today, but there was no way around it.

Paige had already yanked open the door and had more or less shoved Joe into the office. "I brought you Joe for the video. You know what to do, right? I have to take care of the other video" Paige gave Phoebe a questioning look.

"Sure, I know what to do. Go ahead. Joe and I will get it done" Phoebe got up from behind the desk and came around to the other side of the table, where she leaned against the tabletop with a smile and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"You're a true angel, Phoebe" Paige threw her an air kiss in relief, while Joe made mocking noises amused by the irony.

No sooner had Paige closed the door behind her than Phoebe pushed herself off the tabletop and dashed toward Joe. "You...you...you traitor" she dug her finger into his chest as she glared angrily at him.

"Did you have to run to Sam right away and tell him what I did? I thought we cleared things up. But apparently you're still not over it, did the action hurt your ego so much that you had to run to Sam and rat me out? Why didn't you go straight to my grandpa?" she turned around and put her hands on her hips energetically.

Joe, a bit taken aback by the ambush, stared at her speechlessly for a few moments before clearing his throat. "first of all, I didn't tell Sam, he more or less figured it out himself when he tried to explain to me how great you actually are, and secondly, I don't think you're in any position to be making accusations like that to me"

"What's that supposed to mean now?" Phoebe crossed her arms in front of her chest while still fixing Joe with an evil stare.

"That you shouldn't complain about me exposing your mean little games when you're already coming up with the next one. What were you doing here in facitlity with him? Bragging that your grandpa owns everything? That you played games with the quarterback?" Joe faced her, making no bones about it.

"I have no idea what you're talking about"

"You don't? I saw you with that guy this morning, Phoebe. And Sam was there. So cut the acting" Joe rolled his eyes as Phoebe's features slipped.

"Oh god, you mean Tristan. I was here with Tristan this morning" she recalled. "And who is this Tristan? Your new boy toy?" Joe raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"You really think I'm an arrogant tramp, don't you?" she shook her head in annoyance. "Tristan is my fucking cousin. He moved into the apartment with me yesterday"

"Your cousin? He's a Brown too? You guys are a fucking pest" Joe remarked in surprise. "The pest made you a millionaire, so watch your mouth" Phoebe hissed angrily.

"And how the hell did Sam guess what happened?" she got louder and more reproachful again. "He's known you for a while, maybe he knows what kind of woman you are and how you deal with men" Joe countered.

"you said yourself before that he wanted to explain to you how great I am. So your statement doesn't really make sense" Phoebe sparkled angrily at him.

"Yeah, it's a real shame what an angel everyone thinks you are. I guess no one sees your true colors" Phoebe had to grab the edge of the table to keep from going completely off on Joe.

"I never thought I could hurt your ego like that" she shook her head.

"You're not hurting my ego at all. I'm just annoyed that you promised me I'd be rid of you if I let you talk and I still see you way too often"

"Oh sorry, what did you think? That I would change my name and move to another country so you wouldn't have to put up with me anymore?"

"Would be a start. But then you won't have the name Brown anymore. How are you going to get through life then?"

"I don't need my name to get anywhere in life. You got into bed with me without me having to mention what my last name is" Phoebe stated.

"But also only because you knew that in this case, it would result in you not getting what you wanted" Joe remarked.

"You really act like I'm the worst person on earth..." Phoebe rolled her eyes.

"You're definitely in my top three" Joe interrupted her.

"... Yet I didn't have to do any convincing at all to get you to make the deal or have sex with me. So somehow you must have liked me after all, you even left your number"

"Well, I didn't know then what kind of sick game you were playing with me. If I had known that, I would never have come to you. Not even an attractive appearance, can make up for your ugly character" Joe hissed.

"I think we're done here. I'll tell Paige you liked the video. Please leave the office" Phoebe angrily stomped to the door and yanked it open swinging.

"Hopefully that was the last time we had to see each other" Joe gave her a nasty look before storming out of the room.

"You bet your ass" Phoebe yelled after him before slamming the door behind her.

I swear this is a romantic story and they will get together at some point!!

JOE IS AFC OFFENSE PLAYER OF THE WEEK!!!! He deserved it!!

WHO-DEY🧡