Chapter Five
Dax
I held Payton’s elbow as she wove her way to the bathroom on wobbly legs, but when I pushed the door open and held it so that she could enter, she surprised me by pulling me in with her.
“Come in with me, frat boy,” she slurred a little as she pushed the door shut and turned the lock.
“Um, I’m not exactly sure this is a good idea, lady,” I said looking around at the dark interior and thinking about how easy the black walls would hide blood stains if Jack caught me in here with Payton.
“Don’t be silly,” she laughed as she went into a stall and sat down. “I just have to pee. It’s not like you’re ravaging me or something.”
“Still, I’m not sure Jack would be too happy if he found me in here with you,” I said nervously leaning against the door and hoping that no one came knocking on it.
“Oh, Jack’s just an overprotective bear,” she laughed. I could hear her urinating and it reminded me that I’d had quite a bit to drink as well.
“Don’t come out yet,” I said as I unzipped my pants and aimed into the sink.
“Oh my God, please don’t tell me you’re peeing in the sink,” she called from the stall.
“Oh please, this is a dive bar. You don’t think anyone’s ever pissed in a sink around here before, princess?” I laughed as I emptied my bladder and tried very hard to aim right at the drain.
“Stop calling me princess,” she said icily as she emerged from the stall just as I’d zipped up my pants and started washing my hands. “I hate it.”
“Why? You’re football royalty in this town,” I said as she stepped in next to me and ran her hands under the water. We were close enough that I could feel her hip pressed against mine, and when she reached across me to pump the soap dispenser, I could smell the fresh scent of her hair and perfume combined in a heady scent. She was a beautiful woman. She was smaller than I was usually attracted to, with the lithe frame of an athlete. I wondered what sport she played.
“Yeah, but I’m not a fragile hot-house flower,” she said in a melancholy tone. “I’m smart and educated and I know sports, I just don’t understand why…”
“Why what?” I asked curious as to what she was talking about. She finished rinsing her hands and turned around to grab a towel from the dispenser on the wall, but the space was tight and she wound up facing me, pressed against my chest. For a moment, she looked up at me with a puzzled expression, and then she wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me down. She pressed her lips against mine and kissed me with a combination of intensity and desperation that felt wild and reckless. I held back for a second and then tossed caution to the wind and wrapped my arms around her, lifting her up off the ground while we kissed.
“Put me down,” she whispered into my lips and so I complied. Once her feet touched the ground, she quickly unbuttoned my shirt and began running her fingers over my bare skin. Her hands traced circles around my nipples as she kissed me harder and I felt myself growing stiff as she moaned softly into my lips.
“Payton…Payton…” I gasped as she reached for my belt and began unbuckling it. “I don’t think…”
“Good, don’t think,” she urged, biting my lip as she unbuttoned my pants and began pulling the zipper down.
“PAYTON HALAS LASKY!” a voice boomed from outside the bathroom as a heavy fist pounded on the door. “If you are not in there alone, that son of a bitch had better hope I give him a ten-second lead before I pound the shit out of him!”
“Buzz off, Jack!” Payton hollered at the locked door as I backed away from her quickly, trying to close my pants and button up my shirt so that I wouldn’t be murdered for what I hadn’t yet done. “I’m an adult! I get to make my own choices!”
“NOT IN MY BAR, YOU DON’T!” Jack thundered. “Open the goddamn door, Payton! Don’t make me break it down!”
I quickly moved toward the door, unlocked it, and pulled it open. On the other side stood a man who was practically breathing fire as he prepared to bust the door to the ladies’ room down.
“Hey, hey, hey, it was an honest mistake,” I said, holding up my hands in a sign of complete surrender. I knew I could probably take him and beat his ass into the ground given the fact that I was in the best shape of my life and he had a good twenty years on me, but I knew that wouldn’t earn me any points with Payton and would most likely result in a lot of bad press coverage when I was charged with assault.
“Honest mistake my ass!” Jack shouted. “Get your traitorous ass out of this bathroom and away from that woman!”
“Jack, step down,” Payton said as she emerged from the bathroom with her hands on her hips. “I pulled him in with me. I’m a big girl and I can choose to mess around with whomever I like.”
“Jesus, Sweetness,” Jack said shaking his head. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but this is not good, young lady.”
“Goddammit!” Payton shouted. “I’m sick and tired of everyone treating me like I’m goddamn spun glass or something! I’m a woman who has needs and I’m not ashamed of that! This guy’s a good-looking hottie who seemed interested in me even though he already knew who I was, so I thought it would be nice to let loose and have a little fun before I’m chained to some rich asshole who sees me as his ticket to fame and fortune.”
“Payton, stop,” Jack said as he moved toward her. She held out her arms to stop him and backed up.
“No, don’t do that ‘Payton, you don’t know what you’re doing’ bullshit!” she shouted. “Don’t baby me, Jack!”
“But you don’t know who the hell this guy is,” Jack pleaded as he tried to calm her down.
“The hell I don’t,” she said looking me up and down. “That’s Dax Connor, owner of the Chicago Storm, Jack. I can’t believe you didn’t recognize him.”
“What the fuck?” Jack said as his head snapped so hard that I thought he might have actually done some damage. “You’re the fucker who owns that new team? The one who built the stadium and displaced all those kids who went to Morton?”
“Guilty as charged,” I said, raising my hand trying not to show the shock I felt about having been identified. She’d known who I was all along, but then I guess turnabout was fair play since I’d known who she was, too.
“How’d you figure it out?” I asked looking at Payton.
“Oh my God, you are such an idiot,” she said rolling her eyes and walking back to the bar. I followed her knowing that Jack was still out for blood, and feeling a little weird about the fact that Payton was my protection. I’d had my ass kicked many, many times before I learned how to fight dirty and make sure that none of the boys from Canaryville ever ran roughshod over me again. I didn’t like thinking about those days.
“But seriously, how did you know?” I asked as I took the stool next to her and waited for Jack to calm down enough to pour us each a fresh beer.
“Dax, aside from the fact that I belong to the family that started pro football as we know it, I have two degrees in sports management from Northwestern and have spent the past six years working my way through college football up to the low-ranking pro teams,” she said raising an eyebrow and finishing with, “You might say I pay attention to what’s going on in the league.”
“I had no idea,” I said shaking my head.
“No one really does,” she sighed. “That’s the problem. I want a career in football, but no one is willing to take a chance on me because they’re all afraid that I’m just biding my time until I take over the Bears organization.”
“Well, you are next in line, aren’t you?” I asked as Jack set two beers in front of us and muttered something threatening under his breath before moving down the bar to warn the bankers who were becoming a little too rowdy to tone it down.
“You want to know the truth?” she said, turning toward me.
“No, lie to me; that always helps establish trust in these kinds of situations,” I said dryly.
“Jackass,” she chuckled. “I want an opportunity that I’m not likely to ever get.”
“What the fuck?” I said stunned.
“Never mind,” she replied waving me off. “It’s just a little family drama that I’m sure goes on in every family.”
“You sure you don’t want to share it?” I asked as I picked up my beer and drank deeply. Payton did the same, and when we’d both set our glasses down, I asked, “What are you going to do?”
“Beats the hell out of me,” she sighed. “Keep working?”
“On what?”
“What I’ve been working on,” she shrugged. “Aiming high and hoping to be the first female GM of a Super Bowl winning team.”
“That’s a pretty big goal,” I said as I watched her draw circles in the moisture on the side of her glass.
“I know, right?” she said sadly. “I feel like my mother hates me for wanting something more than she had, but I don’t know why. I’m still young, you know?”
Not sure what else to say, I just nodded as I finished my beer, but by the time we were both ready to leave, I had a plan in mind that I wanted to run by someone I trusted before I took action.
Payton and I exited the bar together. Jack had grudgingly taken Payton at her word and offered me a temporary stay of execution, but as I paid the bill, he grunted that I’d better not try to take advantage of her or else there would be consequences. Despite the fact that I found his overbearing protectiveness tiresome, I gave him the satisfaction of pretending to be scared of his threats. If nothing else, it would ensure that he didn’t talk to the press about me.
“Can I drop you somewhere?” I asked as we walked toward my black Lincoln Navigator.
“Yeah, actually, would you mind taking me by Soldier Field?” she asked as I held the door for her and helped her up into the vehicle.
“Not a problem,” I said as I told my driver where to go and hopped in on the other side. We both spent the drive in silence, looking out the windows at the city rushing by. I wanted to touch her again, but everything about her body language told me not to try. For some reason, Payton Halas Lasky made me feel like a fifteen-year-old schoolboy, and I spent the ride trying to come up with a clever way to ask her out. It felt ridiculous. I was one of the richest men in the country, and this woman struck me dumb.
When we pulled up in front of the stadium, Payton quickly opened her door and hopped out before I could get out. She quickly walked toward the side entrance tossing thanks over her shoulder.
“Hey, can I get your number?” I shouted at her back just before she reached the door.
“You’re a smart guy,” she called over her shoulder. “If you want it enough, you’ll figure out a way to get it!”
Then she disappeared into the dark, cavernous opening on the side of the building and left me standing there cursing the fact that I hadn’t asked sooner and then grinning because she obviously knew how much I enjoyed a challenge.