Game Changer

by Beth Orsoff

  That should’ve been her cue to drop it, but she took it as an invitation, or maybe a challenge. She sat down in the chair across from his desk and leaned in. “Don’t forget about my second sight. Perhaps I can use it to spy on her for you.”

  “What makes you think this is about a woman?”

  “Because it’s always about a woman. Unless you’re a woman, and then it’s always about a man. Unless you’re gay, but you get the idea.”

  He finally cracked a smile.

  “Samantha?”

  His slight good humor vanished at the mention of her name. “I told you that ended.”

  “Yes, but a week isn’t enough time to get this upset over someone new, so it must still be about her. Am I right?”

  He shrugged.

  “I’ll take that as a yes. Are you going to tell me what happened voluntarily, or am I going to have to use one of my special extraction tools?”

  He shot her a raised brow. “And those would be?”

  She smiled and drummed her fingers together like an evil scientist hatching a plan. “I never divulge my methods, but I always get results.”

  He finally laughed. “I bet you do.” And for a moment he imagined her in a skintight catsuit, a riding crop in one hand, a glass of something icy cold in the other, the southern charm a delightful counterpoint to the pain she could and would inflict. Then he shook the image from his head. An ill-advised evening with his voluptuous assistant was the last thing he needed.

  “C’mon, Jake, let me help. It’s my job.”

  It wasn’t. This was personal. But he had no one else to turn to. He knew if he confided in Mark that Rita would wheedle the story out of him and report back to Samantha. And the rest of his friends weren’t the confiding-in type. They were the drinking, sports-playing, chasing-women type, which normally worked for him, but not in this instance. So bit by bit he told Caroline everything. Or almost everything. He was vague on the details about his evening with Lydia. She nodded a few times but otherwise stayed silent. “So Ms. Resourceful, how are you going to fix this one?”

  “I’m not,” she said. “You are, but I can help.”

  “And how are you going to do that? Book an exotic dancer for me? Maybe a blonde this time?”

  “No, Jake, I’m going to help you win back Samantha. But it’s not going to be easy. You really messed up.”

  “Win her back? Weren’t you listening? She lied to me. Made a fool of me. I don’t want her back!”

  Caroline laughed. “It’s amazing. No matter how smart men are, when it comes to women, you all turn stupid.”

  “Hey, I’m still your boss!” It was bad enough listening to it from Rita, but Caroline worked for him.

  “Yes, boss, and do you honestly think you’d be acting this way if she meant nothing to you? You’re in love with her!”

  “If there’s one thing I’m not, it’s in love with Samantha.” Not anymore. He’d thought he might be for about two seconds when she’d been lying in his arms that first night. At the time he’d thought she was a game changer. But that was before he knew the truth. Now he just wanted to forget her and move on.

  She shook her head. “Don’t make me pull out my special tools.”

  “And those would be?” He couldn’t help but think about her with a riding crop again. He knew she owned one because she’d dressed up as a jockey for Halloween last year.

  “Never you mind,” she said as if she could read his thoughts. “Face it, Jake, as a boyfriend, you suck.”

  “I do not suck! I’m a great boyfriend. I take women out to nice restaurants, I buy them gifts, I—”

  “Lie and cheat and disappear without explanation.”

  Yes, but he always had a good reason. “You know I’d rather have a root canal than a scene.”

  “So that gives you the right to make a woman fall for you, then never call her again?”

  “How do you know she fell for me? Maybe she was just using me for sex.”

  Caroline rolled her eyes. “Right. Because that happens to men all the time.”

  He thought of Lydia. She hadn’t seemed too upset by Samantha’s appearance on his doorstep. In fact, she’d seemed more amused than anything else. Surely Lydia was using him for sex, or at least that had been her intention coming to his apartment that night. “Not all the time,” he said, “but sometimes.”

  “If Samantha were using you for sex, she would’ve just slept with you the night she met you—whether at the wedding or the club. She waited weeks, Jake. She waited until she fell for you. Then you tossed her out like yesterday’s leftovers.”

  “I did not toss her out like yesterday’s leftovers!”

  “No, you just threw her out of your apartment and slammed the door in her face. Not the same thing at all.”

  Okay, maybe he had tossed her out like yesterday’s leftovers. “If she wanted to see me, she should’ve called first.”

  “Says the man who cased her house and was assaulted by a would-be police officer.”

  “Former police officer. And he was in exceptionally good shape for a man his age. And I didn’t case her house. I was waiting for her to get home. And I called first; she just didn’t answer.”

  “Jake, she came to your apartment wearing a garter belt, for God’s sake. You think she did that because she wanted to fight with you?”

  He didn’t like the direction this conversation was headed. He was starting to feel like a heel. “Why not? She’s a lawyer. Maybe she gets off on it.”

  “And if you believe that, then you really are stupid, but I don’t think you do.”

  “Calling me a liar instead doesn’t save you. I could still fire you for insubordination.”

  She gave him her most sultry smile, which was pretty damn sultry. “But you’re not going to, because we both know I’m right. Samantha wasn’t looking for a fight; she came to your apartment because she wanted you back. And when she arrived, not only did you have another woman there but you threw her out on her ass without even letting her explain.”

  When she put it that way… “Okay, maybe I wasn’t as nice to her as I could’ve been, but she lied to me. What did she expect?”

  “Obviously she lied because she was embarrassed.”

  Why was every woman taking Samantha’s side on this? “What is the big deal about meeting someone when you’re high? It’s not like she was dancing on a table naked with a lampshade on her head.”

  “She was massaging your private parts with her feet. In public. And telling you she hadn’t had sex in a year.”

  “Eleven months.”

  “Whatever! If I were in her shoes, I would’ve lied to you too.”

  He truly did not understand this. “Why? What is the big deal?”

  “The big deal is when you met her at Lux, you pegged her as an easy lay and nothing more. But when you met her at the wedding, she was a person you wanted to get to know. Which way do you think a woman wants to be viewed?”

  He opened his mouth to respond, then shut it again. She was right. He had thought the Samantha he’d met at Lux was an easy lay and nothing more. “Even if that’s true, it doesn’t give her the right to keep lying to me. She had plenty of opportunities to tell me the truth, and she chose not to.”

  “And when exactly would’ve been the right time to tell you?”

  “I don’t know, but she could’ve found one.”

  “Maybe she was planning to. Maybe you never gave her a chance.”

  “She had plenty of chances.”

  Caroline stood up. “I realize I’m risking my job by saying this to you, but someone has to. Is it possible this isn’t really about her lying to you?”

  “Of course it is. What else would it be about?”

  “Maybe you’re just using that as an excuse to escape.”

  “Why would I need to escape?”

  “Because if you stuck around, you might actually have to start thinking about someone else’s feelings for a change.”

  He was
too stunned to respond. Was that what Caroline really thought of him? Was that what everyone thought of him?

  “Typical female BS,” Mark said and handed him another beer from the mini-fridge he’d recently installed in the guest room/man cave. “They lie and somehow we’re to blame.”

  Jake had called Mark as soon as Caroline had left his office. He needed to know if all of his friends thought he was a selfish asshole, or if it was just the women in his life. He’d half expected Rita to answer Mark’s phone again, but thankfully Mark had picked up. Rita was at a school meeting, so he was home with the kids. Since he couldn’t leave them to meet Jake for a beer, he’d invited him over to the house instead.

  “Exactly!” Jake said. “I knew a guy would understand.” Mark was a whipped guy and he still understood. This was one of those crazy women things.

  “I mean, of course you were looking for an escape,” Mark continued. “Why wouldn’t you? You’re lucky you got out when you did.”

  Huh? “But you just said it was all BS.”

  “It is. She lied, and you, for once in your life, didn’t. But c’mon, man, who gives a shit where you met? You were looking for an out and she gave you one.”

  “I wasn’t looking for an out.”

  “Dude, it’s me. You don’t need to lie. I get it. You’ve got an amazing life. If I had your life, I wouldn’t want to give it up either.”

  He had a good life; that was true. But that didn’t mean he wanted to be alone. He enjoyed the company of women and almost never initiated a breakup. It was the women who always left him. They said it was because he wouldn’t commit—even though he always informed them from the beginning that he wasn’t the marrying kind.

  “You do what you want, when you want, with whomever you want,” Mark continued, “and you have no one to answer to but yourself.”

  “And that’s what you want?” Jake had always thought Mark was happily married. He’d always pretended to be.

  Mark set his beer down and considered the question. “When the kids are screaming, and my in-laws are calling, and Rita’s bitching at me for some stupid thing I probably didn’t even do, I think, yeah, it’d be nice to be single again. But then Emma gives me a hug and tells me she loves me, or the boys do something hysterically funny, or Rita and I get two minutes alone together where we’re not talking about the kids and the spark between us is still there, and I think I wouldn’t trade my life for anything. Not even your life.”

  And that’s when Jake realized he envied Mark’s life too.

  Shit, what have I done?

  Chapter 95

  Samantha

  At least now I knew the truth. Jake hadn’t dumped me because I was bad in bed; he’d dumped me because he’d found out I’d lied to him. I knew Michael felt terrible about being the one to out me. He swore it was an accident and I believed him. I’d told him that day at the hospital that I intended to tell Jake, and I had, eventually. I was just waiting for the right time. This was all my own fault.

  “This is not your fault,” Whitney said. “Don’t you dare blame yourself.”

  I’d told her I didn’t want company, but that hadn’t stopped her from inviting herself over for Sunday brunch, and then inviting Jenna too. They were on a mission to pull me out of my Jake-induced depression. Good luck with that. Now that I knew I was to blame, I was even more depressed than before.

  “I agree,” Jenna said, setting a mimosa down in front of me. “Jake should’ve confronted you and given you an opportunity to explain.”

  “Exactly,” Whitney said, scooping a frittata onto my plate even though I insisted I wasn’t hungry. “And he’s the one who cheated. Let’s not forget that.”

  Jenna stopped sipping her drink. “We don’t know that. Not for a fact.”

  Whitney slammed the frying pan onto the stove. “He answered the door in his underwear, Jenna. How’s that for a fact?”

  “You were dancing with another man at a party,” I said, “and that wasn’t what it seemed.” I knew I was grasping. I just didn’t want to believe I’d been so wrong about Jake.

  Jenna offered me a lifeline. “All I’m saying is, we don’t know exactly what Jake and his ex were doing that night, so we shouldn’t jump to conclusions.”

  I turned to Jenna. “You really think he didn’t sleep with Lydia?”

  Whitney snorted and Jenna gave me a pitying look. “No, sweetie, I think he probably did. But either way, you’re better off without him.”

  “Amen to that,” Whitney said and downed half her mimosa in one gulp.

  I tried to believe them. I told myself over and over. Yes, I’d lied, but he’d completely overreacted. And he wouldn’t even give me a chance to explain. And then there was Lydia. Of course they’d slept together. What else would they have been doing? She hadn’t stopped by for a game of Monopoly.

  And yet, I still wanted him. Not this new Jake who treated me badly, but the old Jake who wouldn’t sleep with me when I was drunk because I wasn’t a one-night-stand kind of girl. Where had that Jake gone?

  Chapter 96

  Jake

  He sat on his couch and stared at the TV. But for the announcer’s play-by-play, his apartment was silent. Michael had moved out that morning. Jake had told him he could stay as long as he wanted, but now that he and Whitney were officially calling it quits, Michael had decided it was time for him to get his own place.

  “Sorry about you and Samantha,” Michael had said after he and Jake had loaded the last of his boxes into the back of his SUV. He hadn’t brought much, so they were able to lug it all down to the garage in one trip.

  “Don’t sweat it,” Jake replied, shutting the trunk. “I had to find out sooner or later.”

  “Yes, but I would’ve preferred she’d been the one to tell you. Not me.”

  Jake would’ve preferred that too, but would the outcome have been any different?

  Michael twisted Jake’s spare key off of his key ring and handed it back to Jake. “Thanks again for letting me crash here. And for what it’s worth, I know Samantha planned on telling you.”

  Jake shrugged in response, then they shook hands and Michael was gone.

  When the game ended, Jake shut off the TV. The apartment was eerily silent. He opened a window just to let in some street noise. Normally he enjoyed the solitude, but today it just felt lonely. He picked up the phone to call Lydia, then set it down again. She wasn’t the one he wanted to see.

  Fuck it. He grabbed his car keys and headed out before he could change his mind.

  Chapter 97

  Samantha

  The three of us were sunning ourselves in the backyard when we heard the shouting. We all stopped talking and turned toward the noise—it was coming from the other side of the hedge, possibly my neighbor’s yard. I knew if I told Whitney and Jenna that one of those raised voices sounded like Jake’s, they would’ve told me I was imagining it. And I probably was. But I needed to know for sure.

  I sucked down the remains of my mimosa and stood up. “Bathroom break. Anybody need anything?”

  They both shook their head.

  “I’ll be right back,” I said, then walked into my house through the rear door and outside again through the front. I spied the two of them at the edge of my lawn. Not again!

  Chapter 98

  Jake

  “Mr. Marsh, what are you doing?” Samantha cried.

  Jake thought it was obvious what he was doing. The lunatic had attacked him again. He’d snuck up on him from behind and wrestled him to the ground before Jake even knew what was happening. Now Jake was facedown in the grass, and Samantha’s insane neighbor was straddling him trying to pin his arms behind his back.

  “Samantha, be a doll and grab my cuffs. I always keep them on the back of my belt, but I can’t seem to reach them.”

  Jake called to her too. “Get this lunatic off of me!”

  The lunatic responded by twisting Jake’s wrist even harder. “Watch your mouth, sonny.”

  All
Jake could see of Samantha were her shapely legs as she ran to his side. “Mr. Marsh, let him go. He’s a friend of mine.”

  “A friend of yours?” Mr. Marsh eased up a bit, but Jake was still pinned to the ground.

  “Yes, a friend. You met him here a few weeks ago. Don’t you remember?”

  If he remembered, he didn’t let on. “Then why was he sneaking around your yard?”

  “I wasn’t sneaking around her yard!” He had been, actually, but not in the way this nut job made it sound. Jake locked his eyes on Samantha’s knees since he couldn’t turn his head up to her face. “I knocked, but you didn’t answer. With all the cars in the driveway, I figured you were home and thought maybe you were in the backyard.”

  “He was spying through your hedge like one of those perverts,” Mr. Marsh said. “Some just look, but others like to flash themselves. Sick bastards. You have to lock them up. There’s no cure.”

  “I know, Mr. Marsh, but Jake’s not one of them. Please just let him go.”

  The crackpot finally unpinned him and Jake scrambled to his feet. “If you ever touch me again,” Jake said, pointing his finger in Mr. Marsh’s face, “I’ll have you arrested.”

  The bastard laughed. “You and what army?”

  Jake raised his arm to take a swing at him, but Samantha grabbed it and whispered, “I’m begging you, please don’t do this.” Then she turned to his nemesis and said, “Thanks again, Mr. Marsh, I—”

  “You’re thanking him for assaulting me?”

  She raised her voice and continued, “I can take it from here.” Then she grabbed Jake’s hand and pulled him into her house.

  He waited until she’d shut the door behind them before he spoke. “I’m calling the police. That guy’s a menace, Samantha. He needs to be put away.”

  “Please don’t do that. He’s actually very sweet when he’s not accosting you.” She smiled, but he didn’t reciprocate. “I’ll call his daughter again,” she continued. “Maybe she can find someone to stay with him. In the meantime, are you hurt?”