Authors: Sophie Lira
“I’ll have the nine-ounce filet, medium-rare, steamed green beans with butter, and the macaroni and cheese. Thank you, so much.” My toes curl in my snug heels as his fingertips swirl and caress my leg.
“We’ll also have the Caymus Special and two bottles of sparkling water with a side of limes … no lemon,” Kyle adds, as his hand drapes my leg over his.
He has to notice.
“Well, that about covers every question I had, sir.” His hearty laugh bellows around us. “I’ll be right back with your wine and beverages. Anything else?”
“Oh, and the ahi tuna sashimi appetizer and a half-dozen oysters, too. Take your time.” His hand drifts up my skirt and his fingers brush my barely-there lace underwear before I grab his hand.
“Sir.” Roland nods and smiles at me before turning away.
Kyle laughs and wraps his arm around me. “So, anyway, I never finished telling you about how the questioning went.”
“Please tell me this wasn’t a ploy to prepare me for bad news. Please.” I move away from him. I’m trying so hard to be strong but stuff like this takes me ten steps back. “You told me your questioning went fine.”
“Whoa.” Kyle cradles my face. “I just told them we’re planning on moving to be closer to family and friends. Nothing bad.”
“We’re moving?” My eyebrow raises and I pull back. I blink a few times and press my palm to my forehead. My doubts keep reminding me we’re still in the honeymoon phase and all this could come crashing down. “Your family, Kyle. Not mine. I have Natasha and that’s it. So, thanks for the heads-up!”
He rubs my cheek with his thumb. “I love you, but I can’t see you get hurt again. I’ll really wind up in jail if anything else happens to you.”
“I love you too, but I haven’t even thought about where to go from here. I know you mentioned it in passing but I feel like you’re about to sign a lease without my input!” My back rounds as I sink back into the lavish booth. I know I can trust Kyle. The madness of the past four months makes it impossible for me to make this kind of decision on the spot. He sighs, smiling at the sommelier as she delivers our wine.
“Can we talk about this later? I don’t want to think about it today. All I want is to enjoy this wonderful date with my wonderful, handsome boyfriend … ” I pause to smooth out the side of his hair and kiss his cheek. He holds me close as his fingers run up and down my arm. “Okay?”
“I can handle that.” He kisses the top of my head and I take a long sip of the cabernet.
Heartburn be damned.
It’s the least of my problems right now.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Smize
Kyle
“They want to sign you? For real, dude?” My jaw drops as I slump against the kitchen counter.
Cam laughs, holding up his beer. “Yeah, man, they want me to be their strapping, American face.”
The beer I downed minutes ago is knocking against the door of my esophagus from shock. At least this is good news to offset the rest of shit in my life right now. “That’s awesome. Congratulations.”
“Not even the best part. I told them the only way I would take it is if you were my manager. They tried to just throw me with someone they had stateside.” Cam picks up Dale, using him to do a few arm curls.
“Holy shit. Wait, this isn’t the supplement company, right?” Cam’s been trying to land a hefty sponsor for almost two years. I know he has more than a few now, but combined they barely pay for his rent. His record is stellar, seventeen-to-one. The one, we never talk about. That shit ended so bad. I told him he couldn’t up his weight class that quick.
“Hell, no. This clothing line based out of Sweden. The rep said they saw me on YouTube from that dumb exhibition fight in Charlotte.” The front door unlocks and Dale perks up, bolting full speed. He does the same howling, gasping bark he does for Olivia every day. Within seconds of pushing the door open, she drops her bags and kneels to the floor.
“Love button!” She hugs Dale as he jumps, placing kisses all over his face. “I missed you, buddy boy!”
“Aw, I missed you, too!” Cam walks over holding his arms out. “What am I, chopped liver?”
“Hi, Cameron.” She shakes her head and smiles before giving him a hug. “So, Mister Fancy Pants. When are you going to practice your modeling face for your shiny new sponsor?” Olivia picks up Dale’s leash and harness, fastening it around his torso.
“How the hell did you know already?” Cam looks between us.
“What, you think Natasha didn’t call me an hour ago?” She nudges his hip with a smile. “You can tell me all about it while we take the spaz for a walk. Dale missed his favorite uncle.”
Cam and Olivia leave a few minutes later and I slump into the couch. As I rake my hands through my overgrown hair, I try to figure out how to handle his news. We’ve been talking about him going pro for years. Just like we talked about me. Now he has it and I don’t. I never will. But I refuse to act like some pissed off kid about it.
Cam’s my best friend and, in some regard, I’m more loyal to him than anyone. Even Olivia. Maybe I’ll be able to get some satisfaction from still being involved in sports, even if I’m not playing. There’s also a high school traveling team that practices at LSU and they need an outfield coach. It would be way better than Little League. I’ve been on the fence about applying after how Olivia reacted about leaving when we were out to dinner.
Aside from the job, I want to go to Baton Rouge so Olivia would be close to Natasha and maybe she’d find comfort in the familiarity. I just don’t know if it would put her in more danger. All points lead to us moving somewhere totally different. Out of state, out of the country, I don’t know. I also don’t know how to make all of this go away for good.
We still haven’t told Olivia about Natasha’s trip to the jail, let alone the whole money thing. I hate keeping things from her, but if she doesn’t need to know, I’m not going to add anything to her plate. My dad’s been keeping tabs with the jail and Braden’s lawyer. They know about his demands and it’s in some weird limbo with his plea bargain. The only good thing is no one has showed up looking for money.
***
Cra-aaaaaaaack!
The ball explodes off Olivia’s bat, launching into the sky, the sun hidden by dense clouds. This isn’t going to stay in field, but I doubt it’ll land more than a few feet beyond the fence. My stride picks up, and I barely need to use my hand for balance as I hop over the five-foot wall.
So much for taking it easy.
As I glance up, the ball hits the palm of my glove, a few feet before I’d become alligator chum in the bayou. I spin around and release the ball. It rockets the two hundred and fifty feet toward home, give or take.
It’s not going to bounce. It never bounces.
The only sounds coming through the night air are the crickets in the bushes and the equally as deafening smack of the ball slamming into Olivia’s now-leathered grasp.
It didn’t bounce.
As I jog back through the soppy weeds and gracefully hop over the fence into centerfield, Olivia shakes her head from home plate. One of our favorite things to do is come out and hit some balls for fun. Sometimes, I’ll field just to get some exercise and show off.
Olivia snuggles into my side, wrapping her arm around my waist when I get to her. “That was incredible.”
Dale barks from the dugout just as the sky opens.
“I’ll get him.” I jog over to grab the rest of our stuff as she runs to my truck. The bottle of Gatorade Olivia brought me goes down in seconds as I slump onto the bench. Dale hops into my lap and licks my face. I pour the last few drops of Gatorade into the cap and he nearly eats the plastic as he laps it up.
Olivia would kill me if she knew I sneak him Gatorade more than water.
Out of nowhere, Olivia shrieks and I stand. Cam grabs Olivia into a fierce hug, spinning her around. Natasha follows, snaking between Cam and her.
Dale nearly paws me in the face as he takes off in their direction, and I follow. I have no idea what the hell they’re doing here. Olivia abandons Cam for me and dives into my arms. “Braden confessed to everything. Even things I didn’t know about. Your dad called Cam when he couldn’t get ahold of you.”
I pat down my pockets and drop my head back when I realize I left my phone charging back at the apartment. We haven’t been home in hours. “Shit. What’s going on?”
Cam smiles. “Well, after Natasha went to the jail and ripped Braden’s head off, I had an idea.”
Olivia freezes, shooting daggers at Natasha. “Tash, I told you a million times not to go. There was no reason for you to talk to him!”
I have no idea if either of them is going to bring up the whole money thing, so I’m keeping my mouth shut. “She probably only wanted the best for you. I mean, I’d rip him a new one, too.”
Olivia rolls her eyes, but I can tell she’s got a hint of a smile. “Cam, what the hell did you do?”
“Papa Avery is pretty fucking mad at me, but I made a visit to the jail, too.” Cam smiles, cracking his knuckles. “I went to my cousin Thiago the other day. He’s been in the same facility for a few months.”
“No shit.” My jaw drops. I completely and totally forgot about Cam’s shady as fuck cousin. Not to mention, he’s got two inches on Cam and is twice as huge.
The Tavares family puts the
A
in Amazonian.
“Apparently, Braden’s been running his big ass mouth since he got there. T’ didn’t have a real reason to beat the shit out of him. He’s one fight away from solitary and didn’t want to go that route again.” Cam sits under the lift gate of my trunk as the rain picks up.
“So he went to solitary for me after you talked to him? Someone he doesn’t even know?” Olivia wipes away a tear. Even I think this is a little above and beyond.
“Nah, him and a few of his buddies cornered him during lunch, said a few choice words and left. If he keeps it up, yeah, he’ll beat the shit out of him. According to Kyle’s dad, he was so scared shitless he didn’t last twenty-four hours before he dropped confessions to the CO and begging for his lawyer.” Cam laughs, giving Olivia another hug.
Olivia smiles. “You’re not as scary as you want everyone to think you are, Tavares.”
“Oh, I’m still a scary motherfucker. But I think Avery likes you more than me. And he’s back to normal again, so I owe you big time.” Cam picks Olivia up about three feet off the ground in a big hug.
“Okay, can we take this Hallmark moment someplace else?” I laugh and help Dale hop into the back of the truck.
“Yeah, let’s go eat. I’m starving.” Olivia gives Natasha a hug and wipes away her remnant tears.
As we settle into the truck, I lean over and give her a kiss. “Maybe at dinner we can talk to them about moving?”
“Yeah, I’d like that.” She cuddles Dale in her lap and smiles.
Olivia and I talked about Cam’s new deal in depth the past few days. This isn’t about the money or the security of Cam’s family. It’s the new beginning we both hoped for but rewrapped. Everything has fallen into place and even though there still might be bumps in the road, everything has calmed.
Neither of us expected this so quickly. I thought Braden would never confess or take any kind of deal. We both thought it’d go to trial and we’d have to testify. That thought made my skin crawl. Then maybe afterward, we could move on. But now, our best option is to start over together in Baton Rouge and work for Cam. I know she’s going to be okay. Olivia’s safe now. That’s all I care about, and nothing more.
Epilogue
Xeno*
Olivia
It takes me nearly an hour to do my makeup and blow dry, curl, and braid my hair into a flowing up-do for this elegant occasion. I stare at the lace-up-the-heel, nude, five-inch stilettos Natasha bought me. They are superbly hot.
I finally get enough courage to open the door to our hotel suite in this adorable artsy section of Houston. My makeup melts down my face as Kyle struts toward me, his eyes burning with sex appeal.
Hell-looooo, Nurse!
“You look incredible.” His lips brush my cheek and his free arm wraps around my waist.
“I … ” I blink twice as I step back. My eyes take in each stitch of the luxury, ebony fabric hugging every muscle. The blinding white of his pressed dress shirt explodes against the contrast of the black skinny tie with a rose-gold tie clip and matching cufflinks.
Kyle’s thumb strokes my cheek. “What’s the matter?”
“No, nothing. It’s … you look so handsome.” My eyes travel farther down his lean stomach.
“Me and Tom Ford are bros.” He places a featherlight kiss on my forehead. “My mom special ordered this for me. Took forever to come in.”
Custom Tom Ford? Lord help me
.
“It’s very nice.” The words, barely a whisper, creep past my lips.
“Darlin’, if I said the thoughts running through my mind right now, you’d probably smack me across the face.” Kyle draws my body into his again. His hand travels down the back of my sleeveless, cream-and-gold sequined Badgley Mischka dress, giving my ass a brash squeeze. “I kind of want to hike up your—”
“I refuse to show up to this Christmas party with sex hair!” I press my lips to his before placing short, chaste kisses on his cheek.
***
We roll to a stop outside a dark building. No businesses are lit up and I’m not sure what we’re doing here. “Where are we?”
“I might have lied about the party.” He turns off his car and gets out. I’m too shocked to do anything but sit here. My door opens and he takes my hand.
“Watch your step on the curb.” He smiles and leads me around the side of the old brick building. He unlocks the old door and leads me through a small room.
“Kyle …” I gasp as he covers my eyes. My heels click on an old wooden floor, and I have no idea where we’re going. The snap of a light switch turns the blackness into an amber glow. His lips press to mine as he removes his hand.