“I am, and I do—”
“Thank God,” he growled.
And then he was between my legs, and his dick was pushing into me, and it was too much. I whimpered and clawed at his back as my body struggled to take him. The pain of it was shocking, especially considering how turned on I’d been just seconds before. Wanting to get it over with, I slid my hands down to his ass and pulled him into me.
Law made a tortured sound as his thick length slid all the way into me. I let out a whimper when he pulled back and then surged forward again, the sensation far more unpleasant than I’d anticipated.
“It hurts,” I whispered.
“Fuck. Fuck! Were you a virgin?”
I nodded. “Of course.”
The look of absolute horror on his face was chilling.
“Jesus,” he snapped. Without another word, he pulled out of me and then pushed up and off the bed.
“This is so goddamn bad,” he said as he tried, and failed, to shove himself back into his jeans. He was too hard for it to be easy, which seemed to infuriate him.
I yanked the skirt of my dress down before I sat up and pulled the top into place. “It’s okay, Law. You didn’t have to stop. I want to keep going.”
He looked horrified. “Well, I fucking don’t,” he said.
Spinning on his heel, he walked to the door. I watched in disbelief. Was he really going to walk out without talking to me? As he turned the handle and pulled the door open, I called out.
“Law. What the hell? Just… wait.”
His shoulders jerked like I’d snapped a whip. He stood there, staring out into the hall for a few seconds in silence.
“This was a huge fucking mistake. I’m sorry, Addison.”
And then he was gone. Not just from the house, either. Two days later, Gen mentioned that he’d decided to go back to North Carolina and spend the summer there.
“Why?” I asked.
She rolled her eyes before she went back to painting her nails. “Jury says he was probably in a hurry to get back to the sorority girls he’s nailing. I’m not even a little surprised. Law’s a man-slut.”
I wanted to puke when she said it, but somehow, I kept it all inside. That was the moment I promised myself I’d do whatever it took to avoid Law for life or longer.
Chapter Two
Present
“I’m about to change your life.”
The last time Geneva said that to me, she’d given me a recipe for carrot cake. As delicious as that turned out to be, I could no longer afford non-essential items like cake. I hoped whatever she was about to drop on me wasn’t a recipe.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“I have a job for you.”
The certainty in Gen’s voice gave me hope for the first time in quite a while. I’d forgotten when that felt like since I’d been looking for work for a little over six months without a lick of luck. Each time I went on an interview and didn’t wind up gainfully employed, I lost more faith. I got passed over for one job after another for being too qualified at the ripe old age of twenty-seven. It had only been five years since I’d gone to my last college party. Overqualified was an insane assertion.
Unfortunately, I’d heard the excuse often enough that I learned to read between the lines. Roughly translated, I had enough education and experience to merit over fifteen dollars an hour, something that had put me out of the running for every job I’d applied for since the children’s library I worked at lost its funding and shut the doors.
Not being able to get a full-time job anywhere sucked. I worked two part-time jobs to survive. From nine to two each day, I cleaned houses, and from four to ten, I worked at Starbucks. My meager savings account was long gone, which meant I was in a hell of a pickle. At the moment, I was surviving on ramen noodles, hot dogs, and canned food from the dollar store. I was also a week late with my rent for the second month in a row. Last month, I’d begged my landlords not to charge me a late fee, and they’d let it slide. I had a strong sense I wouldn’t be so lucky twice. I wasn’t dumb. They could get rid of me, raise the rent on the guesthouse, and have a new tenant in a snap. If Gen knew of a job, a real job with an actual salary, I would be all over it.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Just hear me out, okay?”
My level of excitement ratcheted down several levels. As a general rule, hear me out rarely segued to something great. It was right up there with gems like we need to talk. Assuming she was about to suggest a job I either couldn’t do or wouldn’t want, I felt the hope inside me dim again.
“I already told you I can’t waitress at your cousin’s nightclub,” I reminded her.
It’s not that I was above it. If I’d possessed the ability to carry a full tray of drinks across a room without spilling half the contents or dropping the whole damn thing, I’d have applied in a minute. As it was, I barely made it from the drink station to the register with a single drink at Starbucks. Thus, carrying a full tray wasn’t in my future. Something about me and serving food and drinks didn’t mesh. It was a damn shame too because the servers at Lincoln’s club cleared two to four hundred dollars a night in tips.
“It’s not a job at Thrum,” Gen assured me.
I wondered why she sounded so keyed up. I wished we were talking in person instead of on the phone because that would have helped. Gen had a very expressive face, but since she was living in New York City, I didn’t have the benefit of seeing it. That meant there were no clues about where she was going with the whole job thing.
“I’m listening.”
“Before I tell you, walk me through how you paid for your car and car insurance throughout high school.”
I furrowed my brow. “I started babysitting for your aunt Caroline and uncle Reg when I was fifteen. During the summers, I worked full-time taking care of their two kids and the three kids that lived next door to them. I saved every dime for those three summers. You already know that, though. Why are you asking?”
“And what did you do for work while you were away at college?”
“During the week, I worked as many hours as I could swing at the on-campus childcare center in the infant and toddler rooms. On the weekends, I babysat, and each summer, I worked full-time at the childcare center. Again, why are you asking me things you already know?”
“Is it safe to say you like children?” she pressed.
“I didn’t go to school to become a children’s librarian because I don’t,” I answered dryly.
“So there’s no reason working with children would be an issue for you, correct?”
I hesitated because it was suddenly very apparent that she was backing me into a corner.
“No. Why do I feel as though you’re trying to trick me into something?” I asked, my tone laced with suspicion.
“If by tricked, you mean getting you a job making six figures a year, then I plead guilty.”
My eyes went comically wide. “Six figures?”
When my savings dwindled to nothing, one of the first things I’d had to give up was car insurance, which meant my ride stayed parked. If I made six figures, I’d be able to drive again as opposed to taking public transport everywhere. Even better, I’d be able to eat real food again. The very idea was almost orgasmic. If I could go back to buying deli sliced American cheese as opposed to fake as hell individually wrapped garbage, I’d be on cloud freaking nine. Forget making it rain dollar bills. If someone tossed a pound of American my way, I’d be a happy girl. God, I missed cheese.
“Six figures,” Gen confirmed. “I’m talking two hundred grand, full benefits, four weeks of paid vacation a year, and free room and board.”
Holy. Shit.
Two hundred thousand dollars a year was like Jeff Bezos level money to me. If I didn’t have to pay rent, I could focus on paying off my debt, specifically the student loans that felt like a mountain on my back. For a few seconds, I got lost in a fantasy about checking the mail each day and not finding half a dozen past due
notices inside.
It’s often said that money can’t buy happiness. Being broke as a joke meant I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that was a lie. If nothing else, having money could get you next to it. People who thought money wasn’t that big a deal typically believed that because they had some. They weren’t one bad month away from being homeless. If I earned two hundred thousand dollars a year, my life would undoubtedly change for the better.
“Presumably, this job involves children. Tell me about it.”
“The twins, Holden and Hope, are ten weeks old. If you agree to take the job, you’ll be their live-in nanny.”
I frowned. “If I agree?” I parroted. “What kind of moron would turn down…” I stopped midsentence, right about the time I realized she was holding something back.
“What aren’t you saying?” I asked. “What’s the catch?”
She let out a nervous laugh. “Please remember that by your own admission only a moron would turn the job down.”
“Geneva Molly Manning, stop dawdling and tell me what the catch is.”
She paused before she answered. “You’d be working for my cousin.”
My breath caught in my throat, and my stomach dropped as my dreams of a real-cheese future dried up. Gen had a bazillion cousins, give or take a few, but I only despised one.
Lawford Manning. Shit. Why would Geneva think I could ever freaking work for him? I was equal parts miffed and disappointed.
“Not interested,” I said, my tone flat. “No amount of money is worth dealing with that dickish, egotistical, uptight asshole.”
“Geez, tell me how you really feel,” Gen groaned. “C’mon, Addison. He’s not like that anymore.”
I didn’t believe he’d changed at all. If he had, he wouldn’t have sent me a friend on Facebook or tried to follow me on Instagram last year. I’d declined both requests without a lick of hesitation.
A guy who wasn’t an asshole would not have attempted to make contact. We hadn’t spoken or seen each other in years for a reason. Since the night I’d lost my virginity to him, I’d avoided him like the plague, and it had worked. If I knew he would be somewhere, I didn’t go. There was no way he hadn’t picked up on that, either. I intended to keep my Law-free streak going indefinitely.
“Assholes never change,” I said, my tone frigid.
“He has changed,” she argued. “He grew up and became one of my favorite family members.”
I knew that but had trouble wrapping my mind around it. Whenever he came up, I changed the subject to less annoying things. Things like open mouth chewers, slow drivers in the left lane, and drunk girls at parties who cried and created a scene. All were preferable to thinking of Lawford Manning.
I was sure Geneva would know what a fucker he was if family ties hadn’t blinded her. The close-knit Manning family was similar to the Kennedy clan. By this, I mean there were a shit ton of them, and birth control was not high on their list of priorities. They were also collectively worth ten times what the Kennedy family was. Their wealth was staggering. You’d have expected them all to be pretentious dicks, but they weren’t. Not even Law. That he didn’t lord the family coffers over people was the only point in his favor, as far as I was concerned. Aside from that, he was evil incarnate, but the Manning family was loyal to a fault, so it wasn’t like they could see it. They stuck together, no matter what.
That was the reason Gen didn’t comprehend what a douchelord her cousin was. She’d known he was annoying when we were kids, but somewhere along the way, he’d pulled the wool over her eyes.
“Well, whether or not he’s changed…” My tone made it clear I believed the answer was not. “I have no interest in working for him.”
“Ugh. So to be clear, you won’t take money from my parents or me, and now you’re saying no to a job that pays four times what you made at the library?”
It hurt to think about, but money didn’t change my position. “That’s about it in a nutshell,” I confirmed.
“We’re family. If you had money, and I needed it, I know damn well you’d try to give it to me. I can’t deal with how stubborn you’re being about this.”
She was right, I would. The thing was, it would never happen. Geneva’s family was rich beyond measure, so the likelihood of her losing everything was less than zero. We were different, which was okay. I’d never had an issue with it, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t well aware of the fact that the socioeconomic status of my family and that of the Mannings was vastly different.
I’d grown up attending the same exclusive school she did (along with all her siblings and a ton of her cousins, including Law, that asshole) because both of my parents taught there. They’d retired and moved to Arizona two years prior. If things didn’t improve, and soon, I’d have no choice but to go stay with them in their fifty-five and up community. I was praying it wouldn’t come to that, but it wasn’t looking good.
“I feel like I’m drowning from the tens of thousands of dollars in student loans I already owe. Borrowing money from you guys would add another layer of stress to that.”
“You wouldn’t be borrowing anything. You know none of us would ever expect you to repay a cent.”
The very idea made me nauseous. “And you know I’ll never accept a handout. That guilt would eat me up even faster.”
Gen grumbled something about me being more stubborn than a two-headed mule. “So now, besides not being willing to take money, you’re turning down a job guaranteed to change your life for the better. I get not wanting a handout, but saying no to the job is stupid, Ad. It’s amazing money, and you can’t deny how much you love working with children.”
“I do, but I can’t get on board with working for the world’s biggest asshole. It’s a moot point, though, because you know he’d lose his shit if you called him and said you wanted him to hire me.”
“Well, you’re wrong about that,” she said dryly. “When I suggested you, he said yes before the words were completely out of my mouth.”
My eyes went saucer-wide as my jaw dropped so fast it damn near hit the ground.
“What the hell? Wait a minute… is this one of his play a trick on Addison things?”
“Absolutely not,” she replied forcefully. “He needs help, and he’s sweating the thought of hiring a stranger. Having two children is a huge responsibility. He’s up for the challenge but without a plan in place, it’s difficult. When I suggested you, he went for it without hesitation. He knows you. He trusts you. My entire family knows how incredible you are with kids.”
I was trying to process the fact that he’d said yes to hiring me when something occurred to me. “Wait a minute. When did Law have two kids? You haven’t said a thing about babies, Gen. How come their mom isn’t looking for a nanny?”
She sucked in a breath. “Holden and Hope’s parents were Kellan and Lana Tremaine.”
My stomach dropped because I’d seen the breaking news a few days before. The happy couple had been driving home from dinner when another car came around a bend and slammed into them. It had been raining, so the roads were slick. Kellan and Lana’s car went over the side of the road and down into Malibu Canyon. Neither survived.
“They left guardianship of the children to Law?” I asked, surprised.
Law had played soccer for the Washington Wolves for four years. They had forced him to retire after a serious concussion, his third since college. The brain can only be jostled so much before it becomes too dangerous to play. I knew he’d been sidelined long before he was ready.
Eight months after he left the Wolves, Law bought half-ownership in the Los Angeles Lions. Since Kellan Tremaine had played for the Oregon Owls for years before joining the Lions this season, it didn’t seem like enough time to get tight. It wasn’t like I had a clue, though. Honestly, I had such a firm anti-Lawford Manning policy that I knew next to nothing about his life.
“Kell and Law met during junior year in college. They were super tight.”
Shit. I recog
nized the name, and it explained a lot. Gen had mentioned Kell a bunch of times over the years, but as with all things Law related, I’d asked no questions.
“Who’s taking care of the kids right now?” I asked.
Damn my stupid marshmallow heart for making me curious.
“Aunt Christine is there, but she will only be able to stay for another few days because his sister Kathleen’s C-section is scheduled. She offered to take the kids with her to San Francisco for a few weeks, but Law isn’t having it. He says Kellan and Lana trusted him to raise their babies, not farm them out.”
It was not a shock that Law’s mom was there with him, but it surprised me to know he declined her offer to take the kids for a while. While I begrudgingly had to admit that his position on raising them was honorable, it didn’t sway me. There was too much water under that bridge.
I’d tried to play it off like I didn’t care, but the truth was I’d had a massive crush on him. Everyone else might have been ignorant of my feelings, but after the night I tried not to think about, I realized Law had known the whole time. If Geneva were privy to what had gone on between us, she’d never have asked me to take the job.
“I can respect that, but—”
The sound of a knock on my door cut me off. Thank God, I thought.
“Gen, someone’s at the door, so I have to go. I really appreciate you thinking of me, though. I’ll call you later, okay?”
“This isn’t over,” she warned.
Rather than prolong the conversation, I said, “Love you,” and ended the call.
Rising from the couch, I crossed the room to the front door. When I opened it, my stomach clenched at the sight of my landlord standing on my doorstep. I’d figured it would be him since he was the only one with access to the yard where the guesthouse was without my buzzing them in. But the uncomfortable look on his face told me what was coming would not be good.
“Hey, Jerry. What’s up?”
I wondered if he heard the anxiety I tried to conceal in my voice.
Team Player 2: A Sports Anthology Page 39