The Perfect Stroke (14 page)

Once I get there, I drag air into my lungs. It shouldn’t come as such a huge shock that I have feelings for Gray—that I care for him. I mean, I
am
sleeping with him. Somehow, however, it is. I have a boyfriend. I have a rich, famous boyfriend. What the fuck am I doing? I look out the window and try and get control of myself. That was probably the worst thing I could do, however, because Gray is standing there… but he’s alone.
Alone with Cammie
. Something inside of me twists in pain as I see her reach up to brush something off of his face. Gray’s back is to me so I can’t see what he’s doing, but seeing them like this is enough. I can’t handle it. I need to leave. I need to get back to my world. I’ve just been kidding myself.

My hand moves up to the wall to brace myself because suddenly I’m feeling dizzy. This is just too much
. It’s all too much
. Cold hits my hand and I look up to see the lid of a control panel. I open it to discover that it’s the controls for the outdoor sprinkler system. I look back at Cammie and Gray and, without taking time to second guess myself, I hit the switch to on. Then, I turn the flow all the way up to maximum output.

“Take that,” I whisper, then walk back outside, making sure not to be spotted. Maybe I’ll get lucky and it will drown Cammie.

“I was wondering, David, when the contracts would be ready. Seth would like my attorney to go over them before the first tour stop next month.”

“You see that, Adams? Our man here is always thinking business. He’s nothing like what the tabloids have painted him to be.”

“I wondered,” Adams said as they discuss me. It’s on my mind to walk away. No amount of money is worth this shit. I’ll just pay my own way and say to hell with the committee. I win enough of the damn grunt tours they somehow corral me into; they can’t keep me out of the big ones. “There were rumors…”

“Bullshit rumors. Grayson here has been all business and upfront with me since he got here,” Riverton says, and I’m taken aback. I even feel a little guilty for not liking the man. Maybe I had him pegged all wrong.

“Thank you, sir.” I really appreciate that.

“Just stating the facts, boy.”
Boy?
Really? It’s been a long fucking time since I’ve been called a boy. I wouldn’t care if it is a long fucking time before they say it again.

“Adams here knows that a man has to sow his oats once in a while,” he says, and while I really don’t wish to have my sex life reviewed by these idiots, I clamp my jaw tight and let them go on. Whatever. As long as I nail down the contracts and get the fuck out of here, I’m happy. I just need to get back to Cooper. I’m just about to tell him that when he claps me hard on the back. “Hell, boy. In my day, I had my own wild days. A man needs that.”

“Daddy,” Cammie says, and it’s the first time I see true emotions on her face. Is it hurt? Anger? Maybe a mixture of the two.

“That’s all in the past, princess. All in the past. Anyway, Adams and I are going to leave you young kids alone to get better acquainted. They’re dating, Adams. You know I wouldn’t let someone harmful into my family, not after the shit we endured.”

Whoa! What the fuck?

“David, I think you have the wrong impression…”

“Daddy, please do. There are things Gray and I need to discuss,” Cammie jumps in, screeching on top of me. She reaches up and kisses her dad’s cheek. Before I can even catch my breath, they’re gone. I’m left with Cammie.

“What the fuck is going on here, Cammie? Why does your father think the two of us are dating?”

“Because we are.”

“The fuck we are.”

“Really, Gray, hanging around with that mechanic is having a bad effect on you. We don’t use those words in…”

“Woman, seriously. What in the hell would make you think we are dating?”

“You kissed me. Are you going to deny it?”

My stomach churns. I do remember that kiss, and I remember hating every second I endured it, but how the fuck we went from there to her even thinking in her damn mind that we are dating is what’s beyond me.
What if she tells that shit to CC?

“
You
kissed
me!
”
And fuck, now she has me screeching like a banshee.

“You didn’t pull away. Listen, Gray, I know you’ve been messing around with Claude, but honestly, you can’t see her as anyone long-term. A woman like that…”

“A woman like what?”

“A woman with her history. Surely you can’t think…”

Before she can go any further, the sprinklers turn on. For a second, we’re both standing there stunned and it doesn’t hit us what’s going on. Actually, my first thought is that it had begun raining. Yet when I look up, the sky is a beautiful dusk—not quite dark yet, as it’s painted a variety of colors that remind me of home. As the water pressure picks up and I hear the little motorized propellers and feel more of it hit me, I finally realize what’s going on. My head jerks up when I hear Cammie screaming. I look at her and she’s drenched, her big fancy sequined dress looking just droopy now. Her makeup is rolling down her face, the mascara so dark and runny she looks something akin to a raccoon. I grab her hand, more so she’ll stop screaming than anything else, and we take off running towards the club. Running however, is a relative term; Cammie is wearing heels—the kind with points on them that could probably kill a man—so it’s definitely more like a steady walk-jog. I think we’re almost home free when her ankle turns on the grass and she nearly falls. My hold on her and her knee keep her from completely going down.

As much as I don’t want to, I pick her up and quickly walk to the entrance. I set her down and she’s barely hit the floor before she wobbles, picking up her long dress and walking into the entrance. I can do nothing but follow, especially when a wet Riverton and his buddy come up behind us.

I look immediately for CC, just needing to make sure she’s okay. The only thing on my mind is to get my girl and get the fuck out of here. I should have known with women it is never that easy.

“Claudia Cooper, you did this!” Cammie screeches, and everything seems to come to a halt as if in slow motion—all the music, the talk, and the chatter. Hell, even the servers stop moving, and all eyes go to CC who is standing there looking beautiful and entirely too close to some fucking man. Cammie pretty much resembles a drowned rat.

Shit.

I can’t deny the glee that runs through me as I hear Cammie’s familiar and ultra-annoying shriek. I’m talking with Jason again and I school my face to show nothing but dismay. Years of dealing with shit like this makes it easy. As if on cue, I gasp when I turn around. When I see Cammie standing there like the drenched rat she is, I have to admit, it’s not that hard. Behind her is Gray and he’s wet, but he doesn’t look mad. No, there’s something else in his eyes—almost humor.  Behind him are Cammie’s dad and some other man I’ve forgotten the name of.

I turn my eyes back to Cammie, taking in her ruined hair, the running mascara, and her dress… oh my. Wearing no bra was definitely a bad fashion decision; getting that white material wet made the dress see-through. Whoops.

“Cammie! Oh my God! What happened to you?” I ask, doing my best to lace my voice with disbelief and shock. Gray coughs in the background and I refuse to look at him because he might see through me—you know, as easily as I can Cammie’s dress.

The girl really should invest in support bras.

“You know exactly what happened to me!
You
did this!”

“I did? I hardly think I can control the weather, Cammie. We should get you some towels or something to cover you up. I’m afraid you’re flashing the whole club, sweetheart.”

Behind me, Jason laughs as well as a few others. Damn, did I fail to keep my tone from being sarcastic there? Did I give myself away?

Gray takes off his jacket, which is really wet, and puts it over Cammie, hiding her ta-tas.

“Is my daughter right? Did you do this, Claudia?”

My head jerks around. God, how I hate this man and the fact that he thinks it’s okay to talk to me in that tone. I’m taken aback for a minute because honestly, David Riverton has not spoken to me in years.
Years
. But while I’m trying to form words and swallow down the bitterness I have where this man is concerned, Gray tries to defend me.

“Really, David, I doubt CC could turn the sprinklers on for the club. For one, she’s only visiting here. Do you really think she could even know where the controls to the lawn are?”
Oh, look. He’s so cute defending me. It almost makes me feel guilty for trying to drown Cammie. Almost.

“Besides that,” Jason pipes up, “she’s been with me the entire time, and I can assure you that she didn’t have time to do anything other than make me a very happy man by agreeing to dance with me.”
Aww, Jason!
Covering for me even though he probably suspects that I did, in fact, turn on the sprinklers—which, by the way, unless someone finds the controls, have turned the green grass into grass with mini-rivers running through them.
I look up at Jason and smile as he puts his arm around my shoulders in support. It kind of shocks me, but the small growl I hear from Gray shocks me more. I look at him and can clearly see jealousy shooting out of his eyes. Inside, the little girl in me is screaming:
yes!

“You’ll have to wait for that dance. I need to go home and change, and since CC is with me, she’s going too,” Gray says, his voice hard.

“She can stay if she wants. I’ll be glad to escort her home. After all, if I had been her date, I wouldn’t have left her all alone in a room full of strangers,” Jason says.
Yikes, what have I gotten myself
into? 

“I want you gone!” Cammie says like the spoiled child she still is.

“I don’t. Really, David, you need to control your daughter. Making these wild accusations against my friend and now demanding she leaves? It’s all very childish and unprofessional,” Jason says, and if I wasn’t afraid Gray would tear his head off his body, I just might kiss him right now.

“Yes, well…” Cammie’s father begins, looking very uncomfortable. Jason might not be on par with Riverton Metals, but his mother and father definitely are, and Jason isn’t exactly a slouch. Gray must get tired of all of this—especially Jason. He comes over and very securely pulls me into him and away from Jason. He locks his arm around me, keeping his hand on my hip. He’s warm and it feels good to be in his arms again, even if he is wet. How does a man get to be so bone-snuggling hot when he’s wet? That should be impossible, but Gray feels like a heater right now—my own private heater.
Mine
. One that Cammie can’t have.
Who knew I could be territorial?

“I’ll be taking CC home, since she’s my date for the evening, but I think she’s at the very least owed an apology.”

Geez! Okay, this might be taking it too far.

“What?” Cammie shrieks again. Seriously, that woman’s voice. I’m surprised the windows didn’t shatter. “I most certainly will not apologize! I don’t know how, but I’m sure she did this!” Time to pack it up and go home. Not because I want to back down, but because I’m standing entirely too close to David Riverton and my knife is nowhere around with which I would geld him.

“I’m sorry you feel this way. I, however, am rather tired. I’ll just be going.”

“Lucas, in light of tonight, I think we should have a meeting about your future with Riverton Metals,” David says, playing his trump card.

Fear hits me and a shiver runs up my spine. I reacted from the gut. I didn’t mean to ruin Gray’s chances of getting the endorsement deal he’s been working for.
Shit.

“Mr. Riverton,” I start to say.

“That will be fine, David. We’ll talk tomorrow before I head out of town.”

“You’re going out of town?” I ask at almost the same exact time Cammie does.

“I’m taking CC home to meet my family. We’ll be gone for a couple of weeks,” Gray says and my gasp competes with Cammie’s.

I’m still trying to form words when he escorts me out of the club from hell, leaving a drowned Cammie there with her mouth hanging open, an outraged David Riverton, and a smiling Jason. Gray takes me out to his car and I’m inside and buckled in before I even have time to go over the exchange that just happened.