Jake
For the fiftieth time in five minutes I struggled with my tie in the hallway mirror. Why the fuck hadn’t I decided on the bowtie instead?
Rapidly losing my patience I ripped it loose and pulled it over my head to try again, just as the doorbell rang. We were at Johnny Pepper’s mansion in Calabasas, just outside of Los Angeles. We were in town for the ESPYs . . . Johnny had flown Casanova, Cowboy, and myself out to California to represent the Fury at the glittering sporting event.
Even though red carpet events weren’t my thing, I was desperate for the distraction from my pre-game five nerves. We had lost game four and I blamed myself because I had been so damn distracted.
Taking my fifty-first shot at getting my tie to look halfway decent, I opened the door and came face to face with a stunning woman standing on the doorstep. Dressed in a tight pink and aqua dress, glittery heels and big, bouncy, blonde hair, she had Cowboy written all over her.
“Well, hi there, handsome,” she drawled. Her smile was big, and cute, and she had the whitest teeth I’d ever seen in my life. She was a few years older than Cowboy’s usual dates, probably somewhere in her early forties, although she was so well put together it was hard to tell. She was also sexy as hell, and clearly knew it.
“Let me guess, you’re here to see Cowboy?” I asked.
She looked at me seductively. “I sure am, honey.”
“I’m Jake.” I offered her my hand, which she took. “Nice to meet you.”
“Well, now. The pleasure, it seems, is all mine,” she replied, her voice thick with a southern drawl and as smooth as warm whiskey. “I’m Lucile.”
“Lucile, that’s a pretty name.”
Lucile smiled that big Texas smile of hers. “Why thank you, honey. Now are you going to let me inside? Or you planning on leaving a girl out here on the doorstep all night?” She winked and there was so much fake eyelash happening I swear I could feel it flap like a fan.
“Of course.” I moved and opened the door wider so she could step inside. “I don’t suppose you know how to tie a tie?”
“Oh, honey, if there’s one thing I know my way around it’s a man’s tie.”
Okay, this woman had so much sex going on I felt dirty just standing next to her.
“Great. I’m kind of having a hard time with this one.” I pointed to the limp tie around my neck. Because apparently she wouldn’t have worked that out herself. Inwardly, I grimaced because this woman was like a sexual driveby and I really didn’t know what to do or how to act around her.
“Oooh, well now.” She winked and cocked an eyebrow at me seductively. “One tie, one hard time. Sounds like a perfect evening to me.”
I swallowed hard and then froze. Was Cowboy’s date coming onto me?
“Mom! Are you hitting on my teammate?” I heard Cowboy yell from his bedroom down the hallway.
Wait. What?
“Oh, relax, Bartholomew,” Lucile called back to him calmly, stepping toward me and taking me by the tie. As she wrapped and tugged at it she winked at me. “My boy is so touchy sometimes.”
In under a minute my tie was perfect. Lucile patted me on the shoulders and took a step back to look at her handiwork.
“There. Perfect.” She winked again, and her smile was warm and affectionate.
“Wow, Mom. You look sensational!” Cowboy swooped in and gave his mom a peck on her smooth cheek.
“Well, don’t you look handsome,” she replied proudly to her son, then turning to me added, “My son is such a good boy.”
Cowboy looked almost coy around his mom.
“Should we get a drink before the car arrives?” he asked.
“Good idea,” I agreed, and followed them into the kitchen.
Casanova had his head buried in a newspaper at the kitchen counter and looked up when we walked in. His eyes rolled over Lucile in appreciation as she and Cowboy walked past him to the bar.
“Who’s that?” he mouthed to me.
“Cowboy’s mom,” I mouthed back.
Casanova’s mouth dropped open. “For real?”
I nodded, just as Lucile looked around and smiled.
“Don’t tell me you two handsome boys are dateless tonight?”
Casanova looked at his watch and stood up. “Nope. In fact, I’m on my way to pick Chloe up from the hotel.”
Lucile turned to me. “What about you, handsome?”
“My date is on her way.”
“You’re not picking your lady up?” Lucile sounded surprised.
“She kind of insisted on picking me up,” I replied.
“Jake’s date is Ana Karena, current womens’ WWF champion,” Cowboy explained to his mom as he handed her a glass of champagne. “And if two-hundred pounds of pure muscle says she’s picking you up, then she is picking you up. No argument.”
As if on cue, the doorbell rang. I excused myself to answer it and found Ana Karena standing on the doorstep.
And she looked incredible. “Wow!”
“Hey there,” she grinned and stepped inside.
Ana Karena was a stunner. Tanned. Strong. And with bright blue eyes. She was at the peak of her career and totally committed to her sport. I would lay money on it that she had been at the gym as late as an hour ago.
“Sorry I’m a bit late,” she said. “I was at the gym and didn’t realize the time.”
I kissed her cheek. “You’re not late.”
Her eyes rolled over me appreciatively. “You know, you don’t scrub up too bad.”
I offered her my arm. “And you look sensational.”
She nodded. “I know.”
This year, the ESPYs were being held at the LA Live complex in downtown Los Angeles, which was a little under an hour’s drive away. We took a limousine, courtesy of Johnny Pepper, which gave Ana and I the perfect opportunity to catch up.
Ana’s girlfriend, Krystal, was an archaeologist and currently occupied at a dig in Spain. Ana filled me in on their plans to build a holiday villa in the Mediterranean, while I filled her in on Mackenzie. Which kind of took up the entire drive from Calabasas into downtown LA.
The sun had set by the time we had arrived and as we approached LA Live the dazzle of lights and flashing cameras lit up the darkness. Reporters lined the red carpet leading into the mammoth entertainment complex, and as soon as Ana and I exited the limousine, they swooped in.
We paused to do the obligatory poses—ignoring the questions being fired at us—before moving inside.
Once inside, there was more mingling.
“Look, there’s Brianna Bronco,” Ana said, leaning into me as she pointed out her rival in a bright yellow slinky dress. “Goddamn, what is that girl wearing?”
“Z would look amazing in something like that,” I whispered back, without thinking. “Did I mention how tiny she is?”
“Yes, you did,” Ana replied flatly.
“Except, she wouldn’t wear yellow. Hell, I think she is afraid of the color yellow. Did I tell you how she has all these weird-ass phobias?”
“Yes, you did.”
“See that woman over there . . . the one in the midnight blue thingie—”
“That’s a pantsuit, Jake.”
“Yes, that. Well, she kind of looks like Mackenzie. Except Z has longer hair. And more blonde. And she has these great dimples. And much more—”
When I started to use the universal hand gesture to signal a big rack, Ana interrupted me. “Shall we go inside?”
An usher in formal attire greeted us and showed us to our seats. We were in the third row, in between an Olympic swimmer whose name escaped me, and wouldn’t you know it, Ethan Valentine.
“Z is Ethan’s agent,” I whispered to Ana while nodding toward the burly NFL player sitting next to her.
“Of course she is,” Ana muttered, looking ahead.
I sat back in my chair. The room was filling up and there was an energetic chatter in the air. But conversation between Ana and I seemed to have stalled.
“You know, when we were snowed in, Z had this funny—”
“Oh, my Lord, Jake! Stop. Just . . . stop. Before I grab you in a headlock and throw you down.”
What the fuck?
I looked at her, surprised.
“Don’t look at me like you don’t know what I’m talking about. Mackenzie this, Mackenzie that. And don’t get me started on all the Z nonsense you went on about during the car ride here.” She wacked me over the head with her clutch but then her face softened and she sighed. “Why are you here, Jake? Go to her. Forgive her. Tell her you love her and then put this all behind you.” She smiled softly. Well, as softly as a six-foot, two-hundred-pound WWF diva could. “It’s the only way you are going to be happy again.”
“Leave? I’m not going to leave you here by your—”
“Jake, I am begging you . . . go and find her. Make it right. You will never be happy until you sort this clusterfuck out.”
She was right, of course. And now that I realized it, finding Mackenzie and telling her how much I loved her seemed like the most important thing in the entire fucking world.
I quickly kissed Ana on the cheek. “You’re the best. Are you sure you don’t mind me taking off?”
She shooed me away. “Go. Before I kick your ass.”
I kissed her again. “Krystal’s a lucky gal.”
She grinned. “Why are you still here?”
“Going.”
“Good.”
I worked my way through the crowd toward the doors leading out to the foyer when I ran straight into Casanova.
“Hey, hey, where are you going?” he asked.
Rushed and breathless, I barely slowed down to answer my teammate. “I have to find Mackenzie.”
Casanova grinned. “Well, you won’t have to go far, she’s right over there.”
As if the stars had aligned in that one perfect moment on our doomed relationship, there she was…Mackenzie, the woman I was in love with, walking into the room on the arm of another man. And when I say man, I mean, Purgatory was the epitome of masculinity. The Greek god of supreme male hotness. The Adonis of Sports.
Yeah, sure, I was taller (and, let’s face it, waaaaaay better looking) but this guy was pure testosterone. His muscles had muscles. His testosterone had testosterone. Hell, his dick probably had its own moon.
I was rooted to the spot as I watched them stop for photographs. Mackenzie stepped closer to him and looped her arm through his, that dimpled smile of hers deep on her beautiful face.
Every hair on my body bristled at the sight of them. And before I realized it, my hands had fisted into balls at my side. Clenching my teeth, my eyes bounced back and forth between Purgatory and the woman who was making me insane. Jealousy seared a path through me, cutting me deep and blackening my mind.
Every ounce of me filled with pain. Because in that moment it all became very clear. She had moved on from me.
She had gotten what she wanted.
She had Purgatory.
Unable to stand it, I started to walk before I could stop myself, and within five large strides I was standing in front of them. Mackenzie’s eyes widened with surprise.
“Jake,” she whispered.
Purgatory looked momentarily perplexed until he realized who I was, then he relaxed and smiled at me but I ignored him. My eyes stayed fixed on Mackenzie.
“It looks like you got what you want,” I said, failing to control the growl from my voice.
A small hiss of air escaped Mackenzie’s glossy lips. “It’s not what you think.”
I shook my head. “That’s the point, Mackenzie. It never was.”
And with that I walked away.
I was done.
In two days we were due to face the Ice Cats in game five, and more than ever I had to keep my head in the game. I couldn’t let us suffer another loss. I owed it to the team to give them my full attention and not be preoccupied by Mackenzie or the stupid bet.
That meant I had to stay away from her.
That meant we were finished.
This time for real.
* * *