In The Pocket (Sample - First 5 Chapters)

4 "Business" Meeting

I clicked on the tenth article displayed in the search results glowing from my laptop screen, making my way through the endless list. As my eyes roved over the contents, I heard the door to my apartment open. I didn't have to look up to know who it was. Nick and Tyler nearly always entered in the midst of a conversation.

"I'm just saying that the toilet paper is supposed to hang from the outside of the roll, not the inside," Tyler was explaining. "If you let it hang from the inside, it slides against the wall."

"Are you kidding me? It's just supposed to be loose on the outside, swaying in the breeze, touching who knows what?" Nick answered though I hardly heard him. "That's ridiculous. Back me up on this, Reagan. Reagan? Reagan!"

I looked up at them, both watching me expectantly, and blinked.

"What?" I asked. Tyler threw his hands up. Nick just settled in to the couch next to me.

"What are you working on?" He asked.

"Research," I answered.

"On what?"

"Liam Oliver."

"Oh cool. What do you need to know? Ask me anything. I know everything about the man. What do you want? Like completion percentage? Passing yards per game? RTG? Some people say he hasn't fully recovered from that wrist injury but-"

"His history with women," I told him and he faltered, looking to Tyler in surprise. Just then, the door opened behind me again and Tyler nodded at the newcomer, undoubtedly Emily, as she entered the apartment.

"History with women?" Nick repeated, confused. "Why are you looking into his history with women?"

Emily sat down across from me, smiling knowingly as she slipped out of her jacket.

"Because he asked me to dinner," I told him and he blinked, caught off guard by my confession. His mouth slowly fell open and he looked to Tyler first, each of them staring at the other as if in apparent disbelief.

"He asked you out?" Tyler was the first to speak. I nodded. He and Nick exchanged another glance before repeating the question, stuttering as he did. I affirmed it again and they both sat in stunned silence for a few minutes before I flipped my laptop around to face them all and pointed at the screen.

"This was the last girl he dated," I said, tapping the screen to emphasize my point. They all glanced to the stunning blonde bombshell Victoria's Secret model splayed out in lacy white lingerie across my screen. Nick and Tyler's eyes nearly bulged out of their heads. Emily bit her lip in that worried way of hers.

"Uh-um, well you're, you know, just as hot as she is," Nick tried after a moment. I raised a brow.

"Really?"

"No," he admitted. Emily reached over and slapped his shoulder and he gestured to the screen. "Oh, come on! It's a Victoria's Secret model. You know I love you, Reagan, don't be ridiculous."

"Yeah, let's all maintain reality here," Tyler agreed as Emily rolled her eyes and gave me an apologetic smile.

"That's my point," I told them all, feeling more defeated than I cared to admit. "What does he want with me?"

"Is it like a make-a-wish thing?" Nick asked. "Are you dying?"

"Could it be for charity?" Tyler ventured.

"Enough, you two!" Emily shouted, getting to her feet. "Reagan is a smart, kind, beautiful woman. Just because you knuckleheads couldn't land her in college doesn't mean a real man can't see what's right in front of him when it is. He asked her out because he's interested in her and I, for one, think she should give him a chance."