Dare To Love Series: Hot Dare (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Avery Flynn Page B

run into her.”
    He slid a side-eyed glance at his former mentor. “So much for the fearless Darius Washington.”
    “Shee-it, you ’ ve never met my mom. ” Darius chuckled. “So what are we going to do about your girl?”
    Colt ’ s brain went blank. Women came to him . They always had. If one left, there ’ d be another to replace her. But there wasn ’ t anyone who could replace Angie and she rightly hated his guts right now.
    “ I don’ t think she wants to be mine.”
    “Then you better figure out what you can do to show her that you realize what a total asshole you were and that it will never happen again. I suggest going big.” Darius held his hands as far apart as possible. “When it comes to begging for forgiveness from a woman, I always recommend begging with a capital B.”
    Colt racked his brain. “Flowers?”
    Darius looked at him as if he ’ d just suggested sending her a bag of shit. “You are a hopeless loser. We need reinforcements.” He pulled his cell from his pocket.
    “Who are you calling?”
    He scrolled through his contacts. “ Mystie. ”
    Blinking in surprise, Colt couldn ’ t connect the dots. “Why?”
    “Up until I retired, I was her favorite player. She was president of my fan club for my entire fifteen-year career. Hell, she ’ s been to the house. Shontelle and her get their nails done together. Trust me, Mystie will have ideas.” He touched his screen and held the phone up to his ear.
    Mystie was a great Thunder fan and all, but when it came to a last-minute plan to win back Angie, he didn ’ t see how she could help. “I ’ m not going to like this.”
    Darius cut him a hard look. “You like the idea of losing Angie more?”
    That was all it took to smack the hesitation from him. “No.”
    “Then shut up and do whatever Mystie tells you to.” Darius walked out onto the balcony. “Hey girl, we got us a situation.”
    The chances of Darius and Mystie coming up with any kind of plan that would help him get back Angie were slim to none. He ’ d have to figure out something as soon as they got back to Miami. They worked at the same place; it wasn ’ t as if he wouldn ’ t have the opportunity—
    Work .
    Someone had taken video of him being towed down to the boat and the aftermath. Manny and Coach Cater might chew his ass up a bit for taking a chance like that, but Angie could lose her job.
    Pushing up from the wall, he ignored the throbbing in his wrist and focused all of his concentration on what he could do to fix any potential fallout before it happened. He grabbed his phone from the bedside table and dialed the number for the Thunder front office. The receptionist picked up on the third ring.
    “Mr. Dare, please. It ’ s Colt Butler.”
    “Let me see if he ’s available, ” the receptionist said.
    Three verses of canned on-hold music later and Ian Dare picked up the line. “Colt, how are you doing?”
    “I ’ m okay. The doctor says it ’ s just a sprain. I ’ ll have a brace for training camp, but it ’ ll be off before the season starts.”
    “Excellent.”
    He took a deep breath. He was breaking about a billion unwritten rules concerning the chain of command and Manny would be pissed as hell that this wasn ’ t going through him, but it needed to be done. “I need to talk to you about Angie Diaz.”
    “That situation has already been taken care of,” Mr. Dare said. “We ’ re going to let her go.”
    His grip on the phone tightened to the point that he heard a distinct crack. “It wasn ’ t her fault. I could have said no at any point.” The words rushed out.
    “She was responsible for you on this cruise. I was against having an active player on it in the first place just in case something like this happened, but I gave her the benefit of the doubt. I see now that I shouldn ’ t have.”
    Panic squeezed Colt ’ s lungs tight. He couldn ’ t let them fire Angie. She deserved better than that. They couldn ’ t bench—
    That ’ s