Read Traded for Free Online

wasn’t made that way. He’d never been able to get over it. He held on to things, reliving them over and over in his head.
    He glanced at his phone again as he left the hotel gym and headed back to his room to shower. There was no practice today, as many of the players were taking off on holidays. It was the end of the season. There would be the spring camp and then the training camp in June. It would give him time to work out his kinks, get stronger, and figure out what he was going to do next. Find a place, an apartment, a condo, something. He couldn’t continue to live in a hotel forever. His options were open, but he wanted something close to the stadium and out of the downtown area.
    He stepped into the elevator and punched the button for the fourteenth floor. There was no one else on board when his cell phone rang. Of course he couldn’t help the surge of hope as he answered. “Jill?”
    There was a pause on the other end. “Ah, no. This is your brother Logan.”
    He thunked his head against the mirror at the back of the elevator. Idiot, what the hell was the matter with him? Every time the phone rang, he couldn’t stop hoping that Jill had a change of heart and was calling him.
    “Hey, Logan, how are you?” Jake was distracted and tired, having worked himself so hard that his muscles ached. But that was the only way he was convinced he could find a way to keep his sanity.
    “Um, good, but I’m calling about you. Haven’t heard from you in a while. Called you a few days ago, left you a message. You didn’t call back.”
    No, he hadn’t. He’d seen Logan’s name on the screen, but he hadn’t wanted to talk to anyone, and he couldn’t talk to Logan, not when his heartache was so raw, because Logan would know, and he’d pry and keep at him until he spilled. Jake didn’t want to talk about it anymore. He felt like such a fool, and he didn’t want anyone telling him, “I told you so.”
    “Yeah, I, uh…” He couldn’t come up with a lie that would be believable.
    “You’re not talking to anyone anymore?” Logan asked.
    “Sorry, just a lot on my mind. How’s Julia, the twins, and the baby?”
    “Great. Julia says hi. The girls would love to see you. You got time off now. Why don’t you come up for a visit, spend some time with us?”
    At any other time, he would’ve loved to spend time with Logan and his family. He’d always gone to Logan when he was in trouble, because he’d always been the one constant growing up. But not this time. There was something so hairy about this mess, this bitch of a triangle with Jill and Samuel, that he didn’t want anyone taking sides. So he decided to take himself out of the equation. “I think I’m going to stay here for the time being, get settled, find a place, you know, but thanks for the offer.”
    “Thanks for the offer? Seriously, Jake, this is me you’re talking to. Just what the hell’s going on with you?”
    “Nothing, Logan. There’s nothing for you to worry about.” He shoved his keycard in his door and walked into the freshly made-up room, taking in the king-size bed, the flat-screen TV on the wall, and the small table with two chairs by the window. It was an average hotel room with all the amenities.
    “Would this be the same ‘nothing for me to worry about’ that I heard from your brother Samuel?”
    Jake gritted his teeth hard and was positive his jaw cracked. Samuel was the last person he wanted to talk about. “Leave it alone, Logan. Samuel’s not my favorite topic right now.” He sat on the white duvet and leaned over to untie his sneakers, then kicked them off. He pulled off his sweaty socks and tossed them to the floor. He needed a shower, and he needed to get off the phone.
    “What happened with Jill?”
    Logan really wasn’t going to leave it alone, and Jake should’ve known that. He should just tell him enough so he could get off the damn phone and get in the shower and get back to his brooding.
    “What do you want