Chapter Two
“Hey, Jace. If I kill someone, you’d come visit me in prison, wouldn’t you?” Gabe sat back in his black leather chair and closed his eyes, squeezing the bridge of his nose. He felt a tension headache coming on, which would be a reprieve from the full-skull headaches he’d had almost daily since taking over the Players’ Club.
Jace popped his head toward the office at the rear of the club. “That depends.”
Gabe let his hand drop and sat up. “On what?”
“On if it was someone I liked or not.”
“Oh, okay. We’re all good then. Because there’s no way you’d like this fucker.”
“Which fucker are we talking about?”
Gabe took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “That asshole Cole Barnes. The guy who wants back in the club and isn’t afraid to make threats to make it happen.” When Mike Tarino—the club’s founder and original owner—died suddenly, Gabe felt like he’d be able to find a positive in the tragedy. He’d been thinking of retiring from baseball for some time, so when the opportunity to take over the club arose, he’d jumped on it. Losing Mike had hit Gabe harder than it had hit his best friends Jace and Ben, but he’d been determined to make Mike proud by running the club with the same love and dedication Mike had.
As it turns out, that was easier said than done. After Gabe had expressed an interest in the club to one of the managers, he’d been put in contact with a lawyer and gotten the ball rolling. A few other players had expressed the same interest, but as it turns out, Mike had left explicit instructions for the future of the club. And that had included a list of people Mike would have wanted to take over the place if anything happened to him.
Gabe had been floored to find out his name was at the top of the list. Though, in reality, he shouldn’t have been too surprised. Mike and Gabe had talked at length about what Gabe wanted from his life after baseball: something that he could pour himself into, just like he’d done with baseball for most of his life. A new passion he could latch onto. Something that would revive the rut he felt he’d been in leading up to retirement.
But Gabe had been running the club for three months now, and he felt like he was drowning under the stress of the job. A fact Jace must have picked up on, since he’d sent Gabe a text an hour ago saying he was in the parking lot of the Players’ Club and to let him the hell in. Jace had a couple of hours until he needed to be at his team’s facility to run through some tape, and said he was all Gabe’s until then. Gabe would’ve kissed him if he hadn’t thought Jace would punch him. Hard.
But now he looked like he wanted to punch Cole Barnes, which Gabe would ordinarily be down for, except Jace was a week away from playing in the Super Bowl, and Gabe didn’t want the quarterback to fuck up his hand. “What threats? You didn’t tell me he was making threats.”
“Yes, I did,” Gabe replied.
“No. You didn’t.”
“Oh.” Gabe shrugged. “Well, I told someone. Maybe Ben.” Jace glared at him, making Gabe laugh. He really couldn’t ask for better friends. “He’s not threatening to come after me with a baseball bat or anything. Just that if I don’t reinstate him, he’ll start talking about the club to whatever media outlet will listen.”
“That’ll make him real popular.”
“He doesn’t seem to care. Everyone hates him anyway. He’s a prick.” Gabe shuffled some papers around on his desk and tried to think of how best to deal with Cole. When Gabe had taken over, the manager of the club had shared Mike’s ban list with Gabe. There were only seven names on it—people Mike had to kick out of the club for a variety of infractions. Cole had been a notorious drug user at the end of his football career, and he’d brought that shit into the club and tried spreading it around. Since he was protecting not only the privacy of the professional athletes, who were members of the exclusive club that catered to the best in their respective leagues, but also their overall safety and well-being, Mike had a strict no drug policy. Cole had been shown the door immediately.
And because, Gabe assumed, Mike had connections that ran deep around the sports world, Cole hadn’t fought to get back in. Until now. Gabe had no idea why being a member was so important to the guy, but it seemed to be Cole’s mission now. But he was still bad news. There was no way Gabe was going to let him back in. He just needed to think of a way to keep the guy quiet.
If the media caught wind of the Players’ Club, its entire purpose would be dismantled. Mike had opened the club so pro athletes could have somewhere to go where the media would never look for them. A place they could unwind and be themselves. Gabe wasn’t going to fuck up the safe haven Mike had created. “I don’t know. I can’t think of any way to make him go away other than to have him whacked.”
The corner of Jace’s lips quirked up. “Been watching Goodfellas again?”
“Sopranos,” Gabe answered.
“I can’t believe Mike didn’t leave any instructions on how to deal with these guys,” Jace said.
“He probably assumed that anyone who took over the club would be able to handle it.”
Jace’s voice was softer when he responded. “True.”
Gabe scrubbed his hands over his face. “I’m sure it’ll all blow over. I’m stressed about it now, but if this guy’s sat on info like this for this long, I don’t think he’ll actually do anything about it now. He’s probably just making empty threats to try to get back in the club.”
“You never know what people are capable of,” Jace said, entering the office. “I wouldn’t assume this dude’ll just forget about it.”
“So you think I should let him back in then?”
“No, not if Mike specifically said not to. And not if he’s bad for the club.”
Gabe thought for a moment, his options running through his mind like a movie reel. “Maybe I can make an example out of him and hang his severed arm in the hall like that one dude did to that other dude in that story we had to read in that freshman English class we had together.”
Raising an eyebrow, Jace replied, “I should probably know what you’re talking about, but despite your detailed description, I have no idea.”
“Shut up. Yes you do. It was that one with the monster.”
“I got nothin,” Jace said.
“The title had something to do with a wolf or something, I think. And the dude fights the monster and the monster’s mom.”
Jace laughed. “Beowulf?”
“Yes!” Gabe shouted, pointing at Jace with excitement. He never would’ve remembered the title on his own. “I’ll Beowulf the fucker. I’ll go after Cole Barnes and his mom. That’ll teach him to fuck with me.”
“Sounds like a solid plan,” Jace said. “Taking out both of them will definitely make your life stress-free.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Gabe said with a smile that actually wasn’t forced. Even though he was concerned about Cole’s intentions, Gabe did think things would work out for the best. “Anyway, thanks for your help, but I’m pretty sure you have better places to be.”
Pulling his cell phone out of his pocket, Jace looked at the screen. “Nah. I got time.”
“What are you even doing out there?” Gabe asked.
“Organizing boxes and shit. Straightening up. Whatever looks like it needs doing.”
Gabe was quiet a minute. “Thanks, man. I appreciate it.” And he did. Gabe knew the place was in fairly good condition. He made sure of it. Jace wasn’t there because Gabe was slacking, he was there because Gabe needed him to be. Needed another presence to keep him from losing his mind.
“It’s no big deal. Aly has wedding magazines all over the fucking place. I needed to get out of there.”
Gabe’s gaze jerked to Jace’s. “Why is she looking at wedding magazines?” If this was Jace’s way of telling Gabe he was engaged to his doctor girlfriend, Gabe was going to kick his ass.
Jace smirked. “Because subtlety isn’t one of her strengths.”
Relaxing back into his chair, Gabe smiled. “Well, if you get any ideas, just remember that I look great in red.”
“I’ll be sure to take your preferences into account when I plan my wedding,” Jace said dryly.
“I appreciate it. I mean, ultimately I’ll look good in anything. Probably better than you. You should maybe reconsider making me your best man.” Gabe winked at Jace, doing what Gabe did best: using humor to mask the fact that he was phishing for information. Because if Jace was going to propose soon, Gabe wanted to know about it. And he also really did want to be the best man—he’d even share the honor with Ben. Gabe was magnanimous that way.
“I wasn’t aware I’d named a best man, but thanks for letting me know.”
Gabe scowled at his friend, who only laughed at him. “You’re not going to be one of those losers who makes his brothers his best men out of some weird sense of family loyalty, are you? Because that seems really unfair.”
Jace’s brow furrowed. “Unfair to who?”
“Me,” Gabe yelled, causing Jace to laugh again.
“Oh God forbid, I wouldn’t want to be unfair to you.”
“Good. I’m glad we got that settled.”
Taking a couple paces toward Gabe, Jace plopped down into the chair on the other side of the desk. He rested his forearms on his knees, his hands clasped together, his face suddenly serious.
Gabe widened his eyes comically. “Holy shit! You’re not proposing to me, are you? Because I gotta tell ya, even though I’m flattered, I can’t do that to Aly.”
“Shut up, smartass,” Jace scolded, though the twitch of his lips belied his amusement. “I just wanted to make sure you knew that, if I do propose to Aly—”
“When. Don’t give me that ‘if’ shit. We both know it’s a ‘when.’”
Jace rolled his eyes. “When I propose, there’s no one else I’d rather have stand up there with me than you and Ben.”
“Where’s Aly going to stand?”
Picking up a stack of Post-Its, Jace threw them at Gabe. “Can you just let me be serious for a moment?”
If Gabe were being honest, he wasn’t sure he could. It was either make a joke or cry like a sap. And since Jace wasn’t likely to ever let him live the second one down, joking it would have to be. But as he looked at the sincerity in Jace’s eyes, he couldn’t keep it going.
“I’d be honored,” Gabe said softly, all hint of laughter gone from his voice. The two men kept their eyes locked on one another for a heavy moment. Their gaze said what their mouths couldn’t: how important their friendship was to each of them, how much they depended on one another, how they were more like brothers than buddies.
And then Jace nodded once and stood, effectively breaking their silent conversation. He stretched. “And maybe one day, you’ll stop being a player and settle down so I can return the favor.”
Gabe felt his face twist up. “Nah, man. Not me. I’m not the settling down type.”
“That’s what me and Ben said too,” Jace said with a sly grin.
“Yeah, but you guys snagged the last two great girls on the planet. I’m shit out of luck.” Gabe smiled, but there was truth hidden in the jest. Gabe had dated—and fucked—his way through most of the greater Philadelphia area, and he’d yet to find anyone he felt he could go the distance with. Well, there was one, but that had been years ago in college, and Rachel hadn’t given Gabe the chance to show her he was more than the player everyone claimed he was.
Though he couldn’t say he blamed her. Gabe knew he was an acquired taste. He tended to be a little too much for the kind of girls someone would want to wife up. So he’d decided a long time ago that the single life suited him better. And he was okay with it. Really. He was.
“You’ll see. It’ll happen when you least expect it.”
Since Gabe was never expecting it, using Jace’s logic should’ve had Gabe married off by now, but he kept that thought to himself. “Whatever, Love Guru. Stop distracting me and go to practice. I’ve got big money on you winning the Super Bowl.”
Jace winked as he walked toward the door. “Easiest money you’ve ever made, buddy.”
“It better be,” Gabe called after him as he left the office. Taking a minute to stare at the mountain of paperwork around him, Gabe sighed. When he’d left baseball, he thought his most grueling days were behind him. He’d never been more wrong.