Mackenzie
The headline read: Jake Pennington: From Nothing to Number One.
My father threw the paper down on his desk.
“Congratulations, kid,” he said with a big smile.
I didn’t share his enthusiasm. In fact, I couldn’t even manage a smile.
My eyes shifted to Garrick.
“I want out of the bet,” I said.
Garrick looked like I’d just told him Madonna was retiring.
“You’re kidding me?” He scoffed but then realizing I was serious, his grin faded. “Wait, you’re serious? You’re backing out?”
I nodded. “It was wrong to begin with.”
I shoved my hands into the back pocket of my jeans.
Garrick started to laugh. “Well, I’ll be! You like him.”
When I said nothing, my cousin’s smile faded and he gasped. “Oh, my Lord, you’re in love with him!”
I swallowed hard. “Yes.”
My father said nothing. But his wise eyes reached across the room to me and I knew in that moment that he knew how I felt about Jake. Instead of the frown I half expected, he gave me a gentle nod.
But Garrick wasn’t going to let me off so easy. In fact, he was highly amused. He clapped his hands together as he walked toward the edge of the large, mahogany desk, leaning against it and shaking his head with an odd mix of disbelief, smugness and an emotion he wasn’t accustomed to . . . appreciation.
“My cousin, in love with the hockey player!” he said with another shake of his head.
“Yep.”
“What a shame. You know you totally kicked my ass with this bet.” He folded his arms. “Are you sure you want to bow out?”
“Yes.”
He nodded and chuckled, looking down at the gold ring on his finger. “You did the impossible and made Jake Pennington hot property again. Purgatory was yours on a platter. It was a bet well played, my friend.”
“What bet?”
Hearing the voice behind me, I swung around and saw Jake in the doorway.
For a moment all three Edens in the room were speechless.
Horror tore through me. I’d forgotten Jake was coming in to see my father today.
Oh, God. How much had he overheard?
“This was a bet?” His brows knitted together and he shifted on his feet, looking confused.
I could almost see the cogs turning over in his brain. He was going to misunderstand this.
Slowly, I shook my head. “Jake . . . ”
He closed his eyes, sucking in a deep breath through his nose before opening them again. “A bet?” he asked with disbelief.
Shame mixed with panic. “Yes,” I whispered.
Fuming, he locked eyes with me and then without another word he walked out.
I went after him and by the time I caught up to him, he was already in the foyer, empty but for the two of us.
“My father wanted to release you from your contract. He said you were done,” I called out to him. I hated saying the words because I could see that they hurt him. His back went rigid, his head dropping slightly and I was filled with an overwhelming need to protect him. “But I didn’t believe that.”
He stopped at the front door and sucked in a deep breath, then taking a step back from the door he turned to face me. “What was the bet?”
I was afraid he was going to ask me that. I didn’t want to tell him. It seemed so cold now—so callous.
When I hesitated, his sharp voice reached for me across the distance between us.
“What was the bet, Z?”
I swallowed hard. Maybe I could make him understand. Maybe I could make this right. But looking across at him and seeing the hurt on his face and the pool of heartache in his eyes, I was pretty sure I would never be able do that. If I had a million years, I still wouldn’t be able to do that. I stepped closer to him but he stepped back, shaking his head.
“I told him I could bring you back. He didn’t think I could,” I said quickly. “He said he was going to let you go. I saw it as my chance to prove myself. To show him that I was good at what I do.”
His eyes closed again—squeezed shut, as if to ward off the pain of my words—and when he opened them again, he couldn’t look at me. His eyes were cast down and he stared at a spot on the ground.
“What did you stand to get out of this?” he asked, his voice broken.
“Jake—”
“Tell me!” he demanded.
“He would give me Purgatory.”
His eyes shot to mine. “The MMA fighter?”
I nodded, full of shame. I had used this beautiful man and his tragedy to gain a better position in my father’s business. At the time I hadn’t looked at it like that, I had simply seen the opportunity to show my father what I could do. I hadn’t taken the fact that Jake was a living, breathing—feeling—human being into consideration. I would never have done that if I had stopped to think about it long enough. But hindsight was a bitch and I couldn’t go back and change what I had done. I had gotten carried away, and in the process I had hurt one of the most amazing people I had ever met. The guilt was overwhelming.
“I’m so sorry.” And, dear God, I was. I would give anything—anything—to take the pain out of those beautiful eyes.
He glared at me, his eyes narrowed and sharp as he stepped toward me.
“Well, I’m the best in the world, so I guess that makes you good at what you do.” He looked at me with such disgust my insides twisted with pain. “Congratulations. Enjoy Purgatory. Because you just lost me.”
He turned to leave.
“Jake, no. Please don’t.” Fear turned to tears. I grabbed his arm but he shrugged me off, dragging his lip under his white teeth as he tried to regain control of his emotions.
“Tell me one thing—was fucking me a part of the plan to get me back on top?” he asked.
“What? No! How could—”
He cut me off and took angry steps toward me until I was backed up against the wall.
“Was making me fall in love with you a part of your plan?” His palms slapped the wall on either side of my head as he leaned in even closer, his big muscular arms caging me in. “Was ripping my heart out just a bonus?”
“No,” I breathed desperately. How could he think that? I had given him my heart. I was so in love with him I couldn’t remember what it felt like to not love him.
“I told you that you gave me a reason to breathe,” he agonized, his voice hoarse and full of pain. “That you were my everything. Do you get that? My everything. And now I find out it was all because of a bet.”
I swallowed hard. He was my everything. And I couldn’t bear the thought of losing him.
“You must’ve laughed all the way to the bank,” he scoffed, pushing back from the wall.
“That’s not true.” I whispered. “I’m in love with you.”
For a moment his face softened and his eyes filled with desperate hope, like he wanted to believe me more than anything in the world. But then his anger was swift and fierce as it returned.
“I loved you,” he breathed angrily, emphasizing the word love in past tense, and my heart broke. “I wanted to give you everything and anything, because you gave me back my reason to live. But it was all a lie. Nothing but a cold and calculated lie to prove a point to your father.” He pointed a finger at my chest. “Well, you can take your daddy issues and go. You’re fucking fired.”
He turned away from me and went to leave.
“You’re firing me?” I cried, stepping toward him.
He swung back and with his face only an inch away from me, he fumed, “And why doesn’t it surprise me that you’re upset about me firing you. Yet you barely batted an eyelid when I said I loved you.”
Panic tore through me. Without thinking I grabbed his face and smashed my mouth to his.
And for a moment he let me kiss him. His surprised moan rumbled between us as our tongues collided and our mouths moved urgently together. He reached for my face and cupped my jaw with his big hands, moaning desperately as he walked me back to the wall again. I mirrored his hold on me and my fingers pressed into his jaw, urgently kissing him, desperate to show him how I felt about him.
I broke away from him to look in his beautiful eyes and tell him exactly how I felt. That I was in love with him. That he meant more to me than anything in the world. But when I saw the hurt on his face I faltered and had no words.
Unfortunately, Jake did. And as pain replaced desire in his eyes he released his grip on me.
“I’m done.”
And without another word, he walked out.
* * *