Jake
Dinner was agony.
My heart ached. Having Mackenzie sit so close to me was torture. Pure fucking torture. And her smell. I didn’t know what perfume she wore, only that it made me want to bury my face into the exquisitely soft spot between her jaw and throat and inhale it right off her skin.
So I ordered my bourbons in rapid succession. I needed to dull my senses. My need. My pathetic, teenage heart. Only I hadn’t had a drink since joining the Fury and embarking on a campaign to get them to the championships, so the hits of alcohol went straight to my head.
“So, Mackenzie, what’s it like being a sports agent?” Casanova asked, oblivious to the nightmare taking place around me.
“It’s interesting, to say the least.” She smiled and the dimples that creased the spot on either side of her beautiful mouth made my chest tighten. So, I sought comfort in the fact that—judging by the look on her face—Mackenzie was in her own world of awkward right now.
“Apart from Sasquatch here, who else have you represented?” Casanova asked.
I watched her. Every inch of me desperate to touch her just one more time.
“Before Jake, there was Ethan Valentine—”
“The quarterback? Man, that dude has a throwing arm!” Casanova fan-girled.
“I also manage Daisy Jones,” Mackenzie said.
Casanova looked even further impressed. “The pop princess? Boy, I bet she’s a handful.”
“Enough with the business talk,” Chloe interrupted, leaning forward on the table so her arms pushed up her ample boobs. “Mackenzie, is it true that you and Jake got snowed in at his fishing cabin in Canada?”
My eyes shot to Chloe. What the hell? What sort of out-of-the-blue, random question was that?
I glanced at Mackenzie, not wanting to make eye contact but at the same time wanting to see her reaction. She simply smiled softly and if I wasn’t mistaken, there was genuine regret written all over her beautiful face.
I threw back my fourth bourbon.
Regret? Nah. She was too damn calculated for that.
“Yes.” Mackenzie’s voice was gentle. And then she turned her head slightly and her eyes found mine. “For four days.”
I looked away and signaled for another drink.
“Wow. Four days is a long time to be stuck with someone in such a small space. Whatever did you two do to pass the time?” Chloe asked, grinning like a Cheshire cat.
Again, my eyes shot to her. What the hell was she up to?
Mackenzie cleared her throat uncomfortably and I couldn’t help but feel a little smug.
“It’s amazing how well you get to know someone, that’s for sure,” Mackenzie said. If she looked at me I didn’t know because I refused to look at her. “You can’t help but to get to know them in such an intimate environment.”
I started to speak before I could stop myself. “Oh, I don’t know . . . some people are pretty good at hiding who they really are . . . regardless of how intimate they are.”
She gave me a black look, which I matched with my own dark look.
“So what else did you do?” Chloe asked with gleaming eyes. I wasn’t sure what she wanted to hear or what she was doing but if she thought she was going to get something out of me then she was wrong. I was keeping quiet.
Well, that was the plan. But then Mackenzie went and brought up that damn Dire Straits song.
“There was no TV. No music,” she paused and then added softly, “well, except that one CD single of Dire Straits, Romeo and Juliet.”
“Oooh, I love that song,” Chloe cooed. “It’s so romantic.”
I couldn’t help myself and scoffed. “Hardly.”
“Jake and I differ on that,” Mackenzie said quietly. She was trying to soften the fact that I was being an ass.
I slung back the rest of my drink.
“There’s nothing romantic about one-sided love,” I snapped, crunching on the ice in the bottom of my now drained bourbon glass. I was determined not to look at her but as soon as I started talking I couldn’t help it. My eyes went straight to hers. “Especially when the person who is in love is being blatantly used by the person he’s in love with.” I didn’t mean to make it so personal but the liquor swirling in my veins had weakened the wall keeping my anger and hurt at bay. And once I started, I had a hard time stopping. “I mean, she said she loved him. But it was only because she was using him.”
“That’s not true!” Mackenzie exclaimed, almost launching out of her seat, much to Chloe and Casanova’s surprise. Realizing her over-the-top response she sat back and said calmly, “Maybe if Romeo hadn’t been so worried about something that happened in the past—”
“In the past,” I scoffed. I know I said I didn’t want to look at her but I was too damn deep into this argument to back down. I’d be damned if I was going to let her win this one. So I met her eyes and held them. “It was hardly the past.”
“Yes, it was. And if Romeo could’ve just stopped feeling sorry for himself for five damn minutes and listen to her—”
“She broke his heart!” I erupted, surprising the hell out of Casanova and Chloe, not to mention a table of diners nearby. I took a deep breath and lowered my voice, speaking quickly. “She used him. She sold him out.”
Mackenzie spoke just as quick. “Maybe things wouldn’t have turned out so bad if Romeo had given the woman he loved a little more credit.” Her eyes were dark, her face stiff with emotion. “That perhaps everything she did, she did for him.”
I couldn’t help but scoff again. “Don’t kid yourself. Juliet was only ever looking out for Juliet.”
“Maybe Romeo didn’t really love her. I mean, he said he did but when it came time to trust her he took it all the wrong way and threw a tantrum.”
She thought this was a tantrum? I was heartbroken! I glared at her, hating that I missed her so much, hating that I would give anything to be kissing and loving her right now. I hated how much this hurt.
“Well, I guess Romeo never really knew Juliet after all,” I said.
“No, he just didn’t give her a chance.”
“Wow, you guys have really given this some serious consideration,” Casanova chimed in.
Both Mackenzie and I looked at him. He didn’t have a clue what was going on but based on the look of discomfort on Chloe’s face she had worked it out. She nervously played with her earring as she said, “Anyone interested in ordering dessert?”
Mackenzie threw her napkin onto the table and stood up. “I think I should leave.”
“No.” I stood up and also threw my napkin onto the table. “I’ll leave.”
“Oh, you would like that, wouldn’t you?” Mackenzie snapped, no longer able to keep her anger in check. “One more thing to add to your pity party for one.”
“Well, one is the safest number, after all. Less people to betray you that way.”
“I never betrayed you. I was doing my job.”
“Did your job involve making me fall in love with you?”
“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
My restraint was gone and I rushed forward with my words. “You came after me with everything you had, Mackenzie. You had something to prove to your father and you weren’t going to let anything or anyone’s feelings get in your way.”
When a waiter walked past with a tray of drinks I grabbed one and slung it back. It was straight scotch and it burned a deep path to my belly. It also fueled my malevolence.
“You did whatever it took to get me back on the ice,” I continued, slamming the empty glass onto the table. Then like a real dick I leaned in and added quietly, “In and out of bed.”
Anger flared in Mackenzie’s eyes. But I didn’t give her a chance to respond. I’d already done enough damage. I’d already sank as low as I could get and I hated myself for it.
So I threw a wad of hundreds onto the table and stormed out to find another bar.
Unfortunately, Mackenzie decided to follow me. She caught up with me out on the street.
“You don’t get to call me a whore and then walk away.” She swung me around to face her. And then she shoved me in the chest so hard it nearly sent me on my ass. But it was well deserved. I had insinuated that she’d whored herself to get me skating again, and I’d made a spectacle of myself. All because I was a drunk ass. A drunk, brokenhearted ass.
Anger swept through me. Anger at myself for being the cruel and loathing asshole I was. Anger at Mackenzie for breaking down the walls and making me love her with all of my heart. Anger at the goddamn world. Anger at being alone because in one fell swoop my family was taken from me. Anger at Tyler dying and the fact that it was my skate that killed him.
Anger at the fact that I was so damn in love with this woman I didn’t have a clue of what to do.
I hailed a cab.
I needed to get home before I did anything else stupid.
* * *