Royal Bastard (36 page)

The door flung open and I watched as Crystal entered, tears making thin black mascara streaks on her cheeks. She was followed by the bright lights of a camera, with two more people that hurried in behind her. “Where is he? Where is my baby?”

I almost bowed my head to hide under my cap, but the melodramatic tone of her voice had me standing up to confront her.

“Excuse me?” I asked, narrowing my eyes. She looked at me and the tear-streaked expression rapidly changed as her eyes snapped to mine.

“Why the hell are you here?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” I challenged, crossing my arms over my chest. She looked back at the camera and made a slashing motion. “Cut it off! Cut it off!” The light immediately winked out and she all but shoved the other people out of the waiting room before she turned her gaze back to me, crossing her thin arms over her chest. “So, apparently the rumors are true. You stole my fiancé, you bitch.”

“That would be ex-fiancé now,” I said, amused at her attitude. I was no longer working for her so I could talk to her any way I wanted to, and I wasn’t going to allow her to drag Connor into the circus that was currently surrounding her.

She fumed, anger written clearly all over her face. “Listen here,” she said, pointing at finger at me. “There is no way Connor is going to be sticking his cock in you anymore. He’ll be over you if he isn’t already and bam, I’ll be back in.” She laughed, her eyes glittering in triumph. “And I will take him back, of course. Connor and I are both after one thing. Fame.”

I barked a laugh right back at her and stepped forward, throwing her off balance. “I think Connor already has that. You, on the other hand, look like you have been after it for quite a while. Is this what this stunt is? Are you that
desperate
?”

She pursed her lips, and I was surprised to see the panic in her eyes. Maybe I’d just hit the nail on the head, this sour-faced bitch was desperate for the fame? “I don’t know what you are trying to do,” I said, a bit more gently this time, “but please leave Connor out of it. I know he’s hurt you, but it’s over, Crystal.”

She looked at me hard, some of the anger leaving her face. “You love him, don’t you?”

I swallowed and looked away, my heart hurting at the fact that I was going to tell him that very thing tonight. Now I would have to wait.

Crystal made a little nervous laugh. “That’s just rich. Honey, let me educate you. Connor will never love anyone. Football is his life, his one true love. You will always be second rate so I suggest you hide your feelings. That’s what I did. Bury them if you know what’s good for you.”

I looked up, surprised to see the real hurt in her eyes. Huh. I would have never guessed.

“Crystal, for what it’s worth, I am sorry.”

She sniffed and walked to the door, turning back before opening it. “Don’t worry about it, that’s life. And you’ll be glad to know I won’t be bothering Connor again. Looks like he has enough to worry about.”

“Thank you,” I said softly. She nodded and then disappeared through the door, pushing past a surprised Jay. “Are you okay?” he asked as he entered the waiting room. “Do I need to call security?”

“Yes, I mean no,” I sighed, sinking back in the chair. Crystal might be crazy, but she and I had one thing in common. We both loved a man who had the hallmarks of not being able to return those same affections.

“
S
hit man
! Watch the goods!”

Jay looked at me and grinned, his hand on the passenger door as he started to close it. “Geez Connor, it’s just a car door. I wasn’t going to shut your arm in it or anything. Give me some credit, will you?”

I gave him the finger, wincing as he slowly eased the door to his car shut, encasing me in the passenger seat uncomfortably. I couldn’t help it. My shoulder, my money-maker, had been surgically put back together. There was no way I was risking ruining what the surgeon had done for anything. This would be the one time I followed his advice to the letter. I had to get back to being one-hundred percent as fast as I could.

Jay climbed in the driver’s side and pulled out of the parking lot, the cloak of night a good cover for us to escape the hospital virtually undetected. It had been the plan all along. I wasn’t ready to address the media so a plan was hatched to be discharged in the middle of the night, when most of the vultures would be gone for the day, or at least sleeping in the waiting rooms in the hospital.

They’d sat outside for days, waiting for some tidbit about my injury and progress, the only official statement from the team being that I would not play in the opening season game. In reality it was probably going to be most of the season if not all of it before I would be able to test out that shoulder. I had strict guidelines to keep it in the sling and under no uncertain terms was I allowed to remove it unless I was showering. I couldn’t drive, I couldn’t swim or jog, and I could barely feed myself. It was going to be a long, painful recovery.

“Thanks for coming to get me,” I finally said as we headed towards my house on the beach, the roads virtually empty. “I have a feeling I’ll need a lot of cabs over the next few months.”

“You’re welcome,” Jay replied, turning toward the beach. “And I’ve already taken care of a car service for you. I got you a driver, housekeeping, and your chef will double your meals.” He then grinned, looking over at me briefly. “And I have you the hottest nurse to take care of you. Well, she isn’t really a nurse if you get my drift… She cost me a pretty penny too but you’ll enjoy looking at her. You’re welcome.”

“You’re an idiot,” I replied, hoping he was joking, but knowing him he probably wasn’t.

“Gotta look after my boy,” he said with a shrug.

But there was only one woman I was dying to see, a woman who had been suspiciously absent the last few days since I’d come out of surgery. If she had been there, she hadn’t shown her face. And I couldn’t help but wonder why. One meeting was not going to be enough and I was determined to hunt her down and lock her in my house with me until we sorted through this relationship of ours.

Jay pulled up to my house and opened the gate, pulling the car through and parking it behind my car. I had never been so fucking excited to see my own house as I was at that moment; I was so tired of the hospital, and though they took excellent care of me, I couldn’t say I was sorry to see it in the rear view mirror. Here I could kick back and relax while I tried to figure out the rest of my life. And with my arm not at one-hundred percent, I was vulnerable to all sorts of problems. The team could trade me, get rid of me and write me off. But without football, I wasn’t sure what the hell I had. I knew one thing, I wasn’t going to sit on my ass and wallow this time, I was going to fight for at least one thing; one woman.

I reached over with a wince and opened the door with my good hand, unfolding out of the car. My arm was starting to throb again and I hoped that whoever the hell this nurse was, regardless of her medical training, she had my pain meds at least. I was looking forward to knocking myself out for a few hours before I started the search for my disappearing wedding planner. I followed Jay up to the front door, allowing him to open it before stepping across the darkened threshold. “Shit, it’s good to be home.”

“There’s food in the fridge,” Jay said as he flipped on a couple of lights. “I left a calendar in the kitchen of all the appointments you need to go to—don’t even think about skipping your rehab appointments—and there’s the phone numbers of all of the people I told you about as well. I’m sorry, but I promised that I’d take Polly away this weekend or else I’d bunk here myself.”

“Nah, man I appreciate everything you’re doing for me,” I replied, clapping him on the shoulder. “You know I don’t have many friends that would step up like this and you’re more than an agent to me. You’re family.”

Jay looked at me and then burst out into laughter. “Dude, you must be on some killer meds, I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

I shrugged, the mere movement causing my shoulder to blaze with pain. “I’m turning over a new leaf. This is the softer side of me. Fucking get used to it.”

Jay shook his head, chuckling as he walked to the door, turning back to look at me. “But I appreciate it, you idiot. Polly and I think a lot of you too. Anything you need you let me know. We’ll get through this together!”

I nodded a goodbye as he shut the door behind him, leaving me in the relative silence of the house. God, it was good to be home. I was looking forward to some quiet time, watching the ocean, away from the media and trying to figure out the mess that my life had become. It was like I was in the twilight zone.

Sliding my feet out of my loafers, I walked barefoot into the kitchen, where the calendar and a few bottles of medication were lined up on the granite island. Fucking Jay. I was really going to owe him big time after this.

“Do you need help reading your bottles?”

Whirling around at the familiar voice, my jaw dropped to the floor as I saw April in the doorway, dressed in a simple t-shirt and pair of pajama shorts, her hair mussed. “Sorry, I fell asleep waiting on ya’ll to get here.”

“What are you… why are you?” I started as she walked toward me, a cute sleepy smile on her face. Apparently I wasn’t going to have to do any searching. She was right here in front of me.

She bit her lip. “It was Jay’s idea. You were going to need someone to take care of you and I’m without a job at this point in time. Are you pleased?”

I crossed the room as her words faltered, using my good arm to gently pull her close until her face was inches from mine. “Damn,” I whispered, looking into her eyes. “I am definitely going to have to buy Jay something extremely expensive now.”

* * *

I held my breath as his scent wound its way up my nose, my heart pounding against my chest, doing its best to break free. I had missed him so much over the last few days, thriving on the information that Jay had supplied to me in bits and pieces. After my confrontation with Crystal, I’d decided it was the best thing to stay away, to not muddy the already murky waters. The media had swarmed the hospital to the point where it had been a struggle to get out of the place the day of his surgery, and not wanting to draw any unwanted attention I’d left. But it had had nothing to do with Crystal’s words. Unlike her, I was going to prove that Connor was capable of love. You just had to be patient, and hard though it was, you had to forgive too.

When Jay had texted me about Connor’s needs once he got home and offered me a position to care for him, I had hesitated. Any sane woman would’ve! It wasn’t because I didn’t want to see him, be around him; it was because I thought he needed someone more qualified to take care of him. But Jay had told me that of all the people Connor would want to see, I was probably the most important one. And really, there wasn’t much to the routine; make sure he took his pills—Jay warned me he might try to go without—and keep him from doing anything stupid. It wasn’t like I was going to be injecting him with meds or performing lifesaving surgery on him.

“Trust me,” he’d said. “Connor will be ecstatic to see you. Hell, he might even give me a bonus.”

Now, if there was any indicator from the way he was holding me so close against him, I actually believed that Jay was right. He knew his friend awfully well to predict this.

Connor leaned down and brushed his lips over mine, the sizzling heat spiraling down my spine at the contact. God, he smelled so good. I’d forgotten just how good. “Where the hell have you been, April?”

“I-I had my reasons,” I gasped, wrapping an arm around his waist and giving him a hug, afraid to let him go lest this be a dream. If it was a dream, it was one I had no intentions of waking up from. “I’m here now and I’m not going anywhere.”

“God, I hope not,” he said, his breath tickling my hair. “I take it you’re my nurse?”

I heard the amusement in his voice and smiled a little myself, my cheek resting right against his heart. “I’m going to try to be.” No other woman was getting her hands on him right now.

“Sponge baths and all?”

I laughed, pulling back from the hug to look at his grinning face. “You’re so crazy.”

“Crazy about you,” he said softly, releasing me. His face contorted then and he gripped his shoulder lightly. “Can you get my meds for me, April? Jay’s driving was horrible.”

Reality crashing down on the tender moment, I hurried to count out all of his pills, already separated in the pill sorter for each day.

After I had arrived here, I’d gotten the meds sorted, but after that there hadn’t been much else to do because the place was spotless, apart from a few dents in the walls, which had left me puzzled. Connor had a beautiful house on the beach, the kind most people could only dream about, and as I waited for his arrival I had restlessly flitted from room to room, taking myself on a mini-tour before pulling back; not wanting to pry more than I already had.

Sticking to the main rooms, I straightened up and flipped through the channels on TV, finding nothing exciting to watch, my nervousness of being in Connor’s house getting to me. Finally, I’d retired to one of the guest bedrooms and fallen asleep reading a steamy romance novel, still waiting for them to show up. But now he was here and I was about to give him whatever he needed to be on the road to recovery. And hopefully, he in return would open up… and tell me what I so desperately wanted to hear.

Grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge, I handed Connor the pills and watched as he took them in one go, guzzling the water before setting it on the counter. “I think I need to lie down.” He looked tired and pale. I could get pills and food and whatever else Connor needed but I couldn’t help him if he had something more serious going on. What the heck had I been thinking?

“You’ll have to tell me if you think you’re going to pass out or if I need to get you back to the hospital.”

“I’m fine, just tired. But I will, I promise.”

I helped Connor down the hall to his bedroom, a gorgeous room with a sweeping view of the ocean through the glass wall that covered one length of the room. I’d checked out this room earlier, immediately dubbing it Connor’s by the way his scent carried and lingered. It was by far my favorite and I could see why Connor had chosen it for his bedroom. Who wouldn’t want to wake up to the ocean every morning? The adjoining bath also had the continuation of the glass wall, a wide tub positioned in the perfect spot for the best soak ever.

“Your house is beautiful,” I said as Connor stopped before the bed, gingerly easing himself onto it with his head propped up on the pillow. “You should be very proud.”

“I am,” he replied with a yawn, “you know why I bought it, though, don’t you?”

I tilted my head at him and nodded. It no doubt reminded him of the island… our experience together.

“Come on, get in so I can get some sleep.”

“I’ll be in the other room if you need me,” I stammered, ignoring what he’d said. Sleeping in the same bed? That would lead to other things, other things we couldn’t do at the moment and not because I didn’t want to, but because of his shoulder and of course due to the mess we’d created. No, he needed his sleep and I needed answers first. I wasn’t about to fuck first and ask questions later—not again.

His eyes drooped as he patted the space next to him with his good hand, a frown on his face. “I said get in the bed, April.”

I rubbed my hand over my face and bit my lip, trying to decide what was for the best.

“I sleep better with you beside me.”

My feet were moving to the other side of the bed before I even knew I’d made a decision. There was no reason to argue with him and I slipped in between the soft sheets. I could tell that he was exhausted and I was feeling the same pull of sleep as well. Pulling up the covers over my body, I sighed inwardly as the bed conformed to my body. His bed was much more comfortable than the spare. Contentment washed over me as I reached for him and lay my hand on his stomach, smiling as he covered it with his own. “I’d give anything to hold you right now,” he said softly, his fingers tracing the back of my hand gently. “I’ve fucking missed you, April.” The emotion in his voice was real and it warmed my heart. He sounded earnest.

“Get some rest Connor,” I said gently, tears coming to my eyes. “We can talk in the morning.”