The Player Next Door ✓

48 | Operation Millie

Chapter 48: Operation Millie

I have never been threatened before.

But I make one new friendship this year and I'm being forced to drop it. It's laughable. I honestly didn't realize I had an enemy out there. Heck, I barely have any friends.

"Excuse me Miss, you asked for a size 4?" I asked, holding a dress the customer had requested.

I was almost through with my shift at Lola Rae, treating today like any other. Life goes on, whether you've been blackmailed or not. The letter was in my backpack by the cash register. I'd held onto it all day, thinking I would confess to someone.

But I didn't. It stayed hidden, like a dirty secret. My burden.

"Yes, I did," the customer retrieved the dress out of my arms, "Are the changing rooms that way?" she asked, pointing to the sign that said 'changing rooms'.

A for effort.

I nodded and watched her go, foolishly thinking I was now alone in the store.

"Does this dress match my eyes?"

My heart froze. I recognized the deep, charming voice and I slowly turned around.

Luke Dawson stood in front of me, raising a blue dress by the hanger.

He held it in front of his actual clothes and smirked, "What do you think? Does it bring out the color in my eyes?"

It did. His blue eyes were sparkling like diamonds.

But I grabbed the dress out of his hand and tried to push him away. "I know your life is about basketball, but not everything is a game."

He let me take the dress away, but my shove did absolutely nothing to deter him. His muscular body didn't even flinch. He followed me to the counter.

"I thought we had a good thing going between us," he sighed, leaning casually on the counter. He picked up my pen and twirled it between his fingers, "I put myself out there. I asked you to be my friend and now we're interacting even less than we did before. It's confusing to me."

It's confusing to me how he doesn't just give up.  At this point, he's done some things and I've said some things and yet he keeps coming back.

"What are you doing here, Luke?"

"I just told you, Minnie. Were you listening?"

I gulped. I hadn't heard him call me that in a while.

"I haven't seen you in a while," he said, putting in words what my mind was thinking. "You pushed me away, and I'm not the type to sit back and wait. Not like Jakey."

I ignored his diss at Jake.

The truth was that I felt disrespected. He was too cocky sometimes, he played games with so many people and I worried he'd been playing the biggest game with me. Saying nice things to me, and still seeing other girls behind my back.

If I don't hold standards for myself, no one else will.

Maybe now was the right time to tell him about the letter. It may not be safe for us to interact anymore. The letter targeted him too. 

But then again, if I do tell Luke, I could just sit back and watch him take everyone down. 

That's not my style, though.

Suddenly, the customer in the changing room screamed. I spun around, worried that the threat was coming through. Had the blackmailer been following me and saw us talking? Was (s)he sending a warning?