Player of Life (Perception Book 4)

by Shandi Boyes

  “He will leave you the instant you tell him about the baby”

  “No he won’t” I immediately reply while shaking my head that fiercely, my tears fling off my cheeks.

  “Yes he will, he will leave you and you will be left alone raising a baby that every single time you look into her face, you will see his face reflecting back at you”

  “Nick would never do that to me, he loves me” I reply angrily.

  “Your dad said he loved me too and where did he go? He left! He left me! He left you! He left us!” she screams as the tears stream down her face and she clenches her fists tight. Then suddenly she freezes and slaps her hand over her mouth when she realises what she has just said.

  I stand still, in shock, as everything my mom just said replays over and over again in my head. Your dad left. Your dad left me. Your dad left us.

  My eyes burn from the sudden rush of moisture that overflows in them. I dart out of my room and run down the stairs screaming my dad’s name at the top of my lungs with my mom following closely behind, pleading for me to stop. My dad rushes inside the house from the garden, his face etched in panic from my tormented scream. He pulls off his gardening gloves and moves closer to me as his eyes roam over my face. When he notices my tears, his eyes lift to look at my mom standing behind.

  “Is it true?” I question as I hastily brush the tears away from my cheeks. My breathing coming out in ragged pants. His face cracks as his eyes fill with tears, confirming what my mom had just informed me.

  “You will always be my daughter” he whispers as a tear falls down his face. He moves towards me and I angrily shake my head at him, halting his steps.

  “You lied to me for years” I whisper angrily.

  “Both of you lied to me for years” I continue as my eyes dart angrily between the two people that are supposed to protect me from all the people in the world that would try to hurt me.

  Now they are the ones that are hurting me more than anything.

  I dart back into my room and angrily yank a suitcase down from my wardrobe. I grab everything my hands can hold and harshly shove it inside through the blur of my tears.

  I need to leave, I can’t stay here, it hurts too much.

  I drove all the way to Hopeton with tears streaming down my face. The instant I started to get close to the studio Nick is recording at, I spot him standing outside.

  Now I wish I hadn’t.

  Chapter 28

  Nick

  When I first rocked up at Jenni’s house uninvited, I had expected her dad to not let me in. I knew that Jenni’s mom was not a fan of mine since the whole paternity fiasco, but I was worried when Jenni called to cancel our date as she was sick. When I said that to her dad, he seemed to consider my response, before he smiled and open the door for me to enter.

  I graciously thanked him, before I took the stairs two at a time. When I first walked in, I had a hard time spotting Jenni as she was lying in a mountain of pillows on her ginormous bed. When she noticed me standing in the doorway, she smiled her knock out smile. It took a bit of convincing, but once she finally scooted over in her bed, I fed her the chicken noodle soup Maria had made at my request. When I heard Jenni was sick, I remembered my dad always making us hot soup. I called the local grocer and organised for him to deliver all the ingredients to Jenni’s house, before I called Maria to request her to make it. She happily accepted my request and informed me that it should be ready by seven pm. I made sure I arrived at Jenni’s house promptly at seven.

  I did have a hard time trying to keep my dick flaccid every time Jenni’s generous lips covered the spoon. Even though she looked pale and tired, she is still beautiful. If there is only one word I could use to describe Jenni it would be ‘gorgeous’. Big pale blue eyes, strawberry blonde hair and perfectly portioned facial features.

  Taking care of her when she was sick just felt right. She snuggled in close to my chest as I rubbed her back soothingly. That falling I was doing a few months ago, just catapulted to a new level. My heart rate increased as the words started to flow from my mouth. Just as I said “I lov…” Jenni darted out of the bed and went running into her bathroom.

  Her back bending harshly as she vomited all the chicken noodle soup she had just eaten. I handed her a wash cloth, before flushing the toilet and turning on the exhaust fan. I don’t think I am going to ever be able to eat chicken noddle soup again now. Jenni looked half asleep while she was leaning against the edge of the toilet seat. I scooped her up in my arms and gently laid her in bed. Once I slipped in, I pulled her back towards me and spooned in closer to her.

  Just before her breathing evened out she whispered “I love you Nick” causing my heart rate to soar.

  “I love you too baby” I whispered back as I placed a kiss on the top of her head and snuggled in close.

  My ultimate rule breaker just made me break every single rule, and I couldn’t be anymore happier.

  I don’t know what the time was when I felt something poking me in the back. I grunted and attempted to move away from the pointy sharp object, only to be struck again. I sluggishly opened my eyes and nearly jumped out of my skin when I noticed Taylor standing over me. That sharp pointing object that was digging into my back was her fingers.

  I kissed the top of Jenni’s head before I reluctantly slipped out of her bed. I tried my hardest to cover my morning glory that was pitched in my boxer shorts. Taylor’s eyes narrowed down to my crutch and thinned before returning to my face. I don’t know what she was expecting, but it was god knows what time in the morning and I was just snuggled up to one of the most perfect asses in the world, a stiff was bound to happen. She motions angrily for me to join her in the hallway. I quickly grab my jeans, shirt and shoes off the floor before quietly walking out of Jenni’s room.

  Taylor watches me cautiously as I redress in the clothes I had been wearing the night before.

  “She is sick” I explain, not wanting her to think we were doing anything sexual under her roof. Instead of my statement giving Taylor comfort, her eyes thinned even more.

  “How much will it take?” she questions quietly.

  After I finish hopping on one foot to place my shoe on, I turned my eyes to look at her.

  “How much will what take?” I query while bending down to tie my shoelaces.

  “For you to leave my daughter alone. How much money will it take for you to agree to never see her again?” she questions, forcing my eyes to dart up to look at her.

  “I don’t want your money” I inform angrily and perhaps a little loud, considering that Maria opens her bedroom door. When she spots the angry gaze of Taylor, she quickly dashes back inside her room.

  “I love her” I inform without any remorse.

  “You don’t even know the meaning of the word love” she retaliates angrily.

  A year ago, I would have agreed with her, but I have no doubt in my mind that I love Jenni. I just took me a while to work out why my heart would race every time she entered the room and how I couldn’t even eat without thinking about her.

  I offer Taylor a small smirk as I walk past her to make my way back to my truck. I have a meeting at Destiny Records Head office scheduled for this morning, so I may as well get a head start.

  “I won’t let you destroy her” she informs venomously as I walk by. I nod my head and continue walking. I won’t let myself destroy Jenni, so her mom has nothing to worry about.

  ****

  When the band first entered the boardroom, Cormack introduced us to a lady that I swear I have met before. He introduced her as Delilah Winterbottom and informed us that she was going to be handling all of the public relation matters for the band. To start with she seemed pretty stern and harsh towards Noah, but the rest of us remained unscathed by her fierce daggers and vicious snarls. My interest in the conversation only became peaked when she informed Noah that he won’t be able to publically declare that he is engaged as they want the band to appear attainable to its fans.

  No
ah appears just as shocked as I am by her statement. When he told her that he was not fucking hiding Emily away, I sat on the edge of my chair. It had taken me months to finally woo Jenni and now that I have fallen in love with her, there is no chance in hell I am ever going to hide my relationship with her. I was hoping with Jenni’s approval that I would be able to tell the rest of the band that we are a couple this weekend.

  “Noah” Cormack warns, urging him to calm down since he pretty much just told them to get fucked.

  “We are not saying that you need to break up with Emily. We just can’t have the public knowing about your relationship” Cormack confirms.

  “This is bullshit” I interrupt angrily, startling Cormack and Delilah whose gaze was staring firmly at Noah, since they believe he is the only one in our group that is in a relationship.

  “We don’t make music for immature little girls to think they can marry us. We make music because we are fucking good at it” I yell angrily as I stand from my chair and lean my hands on the table.

  “You don’t get to fucking pick who you love, so leave them alone” I yell harshly as the veins on my neck start to bulge. I am sick of people thinking they have a right to tell people who they can and cannot love.

  “This is not negotiable, you do this or the record deal is off!” spits out Delilah, before she rises from her chair and storms out of the office.

  Cormack tries to advise Noah that this type of agreement is nothing new in the music industry and that it is a publicist job to only let the public know what they want them to know, but I wasn’t fucking buying it. There are hundreds and thousands of musician in the world that are married and they still sell millions of CD’s every year.

  “Fuck this shit, this is bull shit Noah, you can’t let them do this” I plead, when I realise that he appears to be considering their request.

  Noah’s confused dark eyes roam over my face and I can tell when the realisation dawns on his. Her smiles at me as he cocks one of his eyebrows high into the air.

  “Shut up Noah, just shut the fuck up” I respond to his arrogant smirk. I then storm out of the room kicking one of the boardroom chairs on the way out. I finally fall in love and now my career is trying to make me hide it away like it’s a dirty secret.

  I push open the glass door at head office, deciding that I need some air to help settle down the anger that is coursing through my blood. I pull my phone out of my pocket and dial Jenni’s number since I wanted to hear her voice. Just as I was about to hit the call button, Delilah walks out of the Destiny’s head office. When she notices me standing over the side, she walks towards me, once again making my blood pump faster.

  “Nicholas Holt” she snarls while her evil eyes narrow over my body.

  “I can see a small family resemblance, pity you missed out on the grey eyes” she informs before she hops into the back seat of a black town car that had just pulled into the curve.

  I had a feeling I had seen her before. She must know Isaac.

  I dialled Jenni’s cell phone and left a message on her voicemail. I really hope she still isn’t sick the morning. Noah decided to go and talk to Emily as the rest of the band headed to the studio to finalise some musical tracks that we could do without Noah. I was in the studio recording the solo portion of our new song called “Tastefully Despised” when Marcus informed me that there is someone waiting outside of the studio for me.

  I would be lying if I said I hadn’t hoped it was Jenni. As I walk out the double glass doors a pair of arms instantly wrap around my neck and my mouth is swamped by a pair of lips. It only took me mere seconds to realise that the mouth covering mine wasn’t Jenni’s. These lips didn’t taste anything like hers. I pull away from the over eager mouth and ran my hand over my lips, wanting to remove the lipstick the person had just smeared all over me. It was only when the strawberry blonde haired girl lifted her head, did I realise that it was Megan. She must have colored her hair since last week.

  The fact that her new hair color nearly perfectly matches Jenni’s freaks me the fuck out. I rush back into the studio and lock the glass door behind me. The instant I reach my phone; I call the police. This girls level of craziness is reaching a point I am no longer comfortable with. I needed to ensure I kept her as far away from me and Jenni as possible.

  Ryan, a detective at Ravenshoe Police Station, assisted me in filing for a restraining order against Megan. The instant the judge approved my request, Megan was no longer allowed to come within five hundred feet of me. I requested that Jenni be included in my order, but Ryan informed me that she will need to request one of her own. The instant I left the police station, I headed straight to her house. I wanted Jenni to file the order immediately and I also wanted to check in and see how she was feeling today.

  I dashed up the front porch stairs and eagerly banged on her front door. It took several hard knocks before her dad finally answered. He seems a little dishevelled and disorientated and I chuckled under my breath when I realised her dad had hit the turps a little early for a Friday night. When he notices me standing in the doorway smirking at him, he mumbles something incoherent and staggers into his office. I hesitantly follow him in inside, closing the front door behind me. When he slumps down on his chair in his office, I take the stairs two at a time to Jenni’s room. I am surprised when I find that her room is empty, I quickly move towards her bathroom and knock on the closed door just in case she is there.

  “Jenni is gone” advises a voice from the door. I turn around and see Maria standing in the doorway. I smile at her as I move towards her, noticing that she doesn’t smile back.

  “Is she feeling better?” I question, happy that Jenni is well enough to be able to leave the house today. When Maria shakes her head, my eyebrows pull together confused.

  I sprint back down the stairs as a feeling of uneasiness overtakes me. Jenni is gone and her mom is nowhere in sight.

  “Where is Jenni?” I question her dad, who is chugging down whiskey directly out of the bottle. His glazed eyes look down at his watch before he mumbles “At the airport”.

  Jenni isn’t scheduled to go home until Wednesday. The last time she fled, I didn’t see or hear from her in months. My heart races as I bolt to my truck. The heavy compression on my accelerator leaves a cloud of dust behind as my truck skids out of the driveway. I continually dial Jenni’s cell phone on route to the airport. The normal forty-minute trip is done in under twenty. I leave my truck parked in the drop off section, the parking attendant yelling at me to come back as I dart through the double glass doors.

  My eyes scan over the departure board to see the next flight that is leaving for New York. The board informs that it is currently preparing to depart. I sprint towards the gate, jumping over the security barrier that requires you to scan your ticket. The security officer immediately starts running after me. I am probably lucky that we live in a small town, otherwise I would have been tazered by now. I outrun the overweight security personnel, until I reach gate thirty-four. My heart plummets into my stomach when I see her plane taxing away from the gate.

  I’m tackled hard from the side and slammed into the ground. The weight of the security officer nearly crushes me. Another officer comes to assist him in handcuffing me and I am read my rights as they quickly usher me out of the airport terminal.

  I remain in custody for the entire weekend.

  Chapter 29

  Jenni

  I have nowhere else to go. Emily and Nicole are at school. My dad’s parents died years ago, I have never met my mom parents. I have no one I can turn too. So I pulled back into my parent’s driveway with my tail firmly hidden between my legs. I tried to muster up the courage to walk up the front stairs, but I just can’t bring myself to do it. My heart was shattered today in more ways the one. First, finding out that my dad isn’t even my real dad and then turning up to the recording studio to find Nick kissing another girl. I don’t know how much more heartache I can take.

  I stay sitting in my car for
another thirty minutes before there is a brief tap on my passenger side window. I unlock the central locking and my mom hesitantly sits in the passenger seat. When her concerned eyes roam over mine, I can’t stop the tears that are flowing down my face.

  “You were right” I choke, feeling confused with how much has changed since last night and today. I swear I could feel the love practically beaming out of Nick last night and today he is kissing another girl in broad daylight.

  My mom looks at me concerned, but she doesn’t attempt to offer me any comfort or support. She keeps her cool calm bitch façade firmly in place like she has my whole life.

  “You need to go back to New York. I will organise everything from here and we will get this taken care off” she instructs firmly, like she is organising a doctor’s appointment for her client instead of killing her own grandchild.