“Come in,” Jax says. “Sit down. I imagine if you’re here, we must have much to discuss.”
My more reasonable senses are telling me to just apologize and get out of here, but I’m not feeling particularly reasonable at the moment.
“I get that you’re trying to get into my head, but you risked an innocent woman’s life today, and I’m here to see that you answer for it,” I tell him.
Jax smiles. It’s a big, white, toothy, emotionless smile that disappears just as fast as it came.
“It has been some time since someone has had the nerve to come into the private room of my own restaurant and threaten me,” he says. “How, oh dear Eli Ransom Faust, do you intend to make me answer for it?”
The next second, the guard who’d had his gun to my head spins me around and pushes me up against the wall. Kicking my feet apart, he frisks me for a weapon.
I didn’t bring one.
The guard nods and Jax speaks again, prodding, “Well?”
“I want your word that neither you nor any of your guys comes near her,” I tell him. “If you can’t give me that, I guess I’ll have to figure out a stronger bargaining position.”
I glance toward the gun now in the back of the guard’s pants.
A different kind of smile comes over Jax’s face. “I will make you a proposition,” he says. “I will agree to your terms if you will agree to mine.”
“What?”
He scratches his chin, saying, “As you may have heard, I intend to profit from my little tournament.”
“I heard you’ve been taking pink slips,” I respond.
Jax shrugs. “For an opportunity to win a quarter of a million dollars, people will risk a lot,” he says. “I wonder if you are prepared for such a risk.”
“You’re probably going to have to get to a point eventually, otherwise we might never know,” I answer.
Jax tilts his head from side to side, his neck cracking loudly.
“I have collected four cars through my own races, my people have collected a few more. What I keep hearing, though, is that yours is the only one in town that has consistently evaded the police. Is it the driver or is it the car, I wonder.”
It doesn’t sound like a compliment. “So you want my car?” I ask. “In exchange for what?”
“Firstly,” he starts, “I will abide by your wishes and not only ensure the safety and autonomy of Kathryn, but you, as well. There will be no further attempts at intimidation and I will chastise the individual who played so carelessly with the wellbeing of you both.”
“You said ‘firstly,’” I observe. “What’s secondly?”
“Secondly,” Jax says, “I will give you the option of simply handing over the keys to your vehicle as well as transferring legal ownership of the same to me for the price of $1—as otherwise it would be viewed as a gift when it comes time to do taxes—or, should you so insist, we can race for it and I can take it from you that way.”
I’m wondering how a scumbag like this guy ended up so educated.
“So, basically, either I just give you the car, or I have to throw the race?” I ask. “What happens if I say no?”
“You misunderstand,” Jax says, holding up his hand. “Whether you enter the race or not is of no matter. I do not just want the second half of the pack, though,” he says. “Three is better than two.”
“What happens if you lose?”
Jax smiles again.“In such an unlikely event, I would naturally demand only the pink slips of those cars behind me. In fact,” he says, laughing, “if you can beat me, you can have my car.”
He’s still laughing.
I’m not quite so amused.
“I don’t understand,” I tell him. “That seems like a fair trade. Why did you have your guy try to run us into a wall?” I ask.
“I thought it might get your attention,” Jax says. “As I am sure you can understand I cannot very well just take these cars without their owners’ permission. There must be an agreement. Without that, I would have to resort to less savory ways of shifting my new collection and that is simply more trouble than it is worth, assuming there is another option.”
“So, if I agree to give up my car if I lose,” I start, “you’ll back off and we’ll have a fair race.”
He smiles.
“Fine,” I tell him, “but if you or anyone comes near Kate or contacts her in any way-”
“It may be best if we end our conversation while we are still on pleasant terms,” Jax interrupts.
Looking around the room, the guard next to me isn’t the only person with a gun. I decide to quit while I’m ahead.
So I nod to Jax and walk out the door, and while the deal sounds good to me, the only thought going through my head right now is, “That was too easy.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Breaking Through
Kate
“So you think he’s cheating on you?” Paz asks.
“No,” I tell her. “I really don’t, but I know he’s keeping something from me.”
“You know what I’d do?” Paz starts and I tune out.
I’ve heard enough of her solutions to know whatever she’s going to say, it’s going to have something to do with breaking Eli’s legs. She tends toward the dramatic.
I don’t even know that there’s really a problem, but ever since that day at the track—I don’t know, it just feels like he’s holding something back from me. We talk and we spend time together, but he’s been distant.
Tomorrow’s the final race in Eli’s tournament. He might just be psyching himself up for it. If that were the case, though, why wouldn’t he just tell me that?
“Or, you could just break his legs,” Paz says, coming to the end of whatever horror show she was describing.
“I don’t know,” I tell her. “This doesn’t feel like before when my mom got to him and he just wouldn’t talk to me. It’s almost like he’s scared of something.”
Paz brings a forkful of mashed potatoes to her mouth and consumes it. She hums her satisfaction, staring at her plate. “What’s the name of this place again?” she asks. “These potatoes are fantastic.”
“It’s called Soeur Torsadée,” I tell her. “Eli and I picked up some dessert from here the first time we went out together. Good stuff, huh?”
“Mmm hmm,” she says.
“Anyway, I don’t know, I guess what I need to do is just talk to him about it,” I continue. “It may be nothing, or it could be something big. I’m done wasting time with avoidance.”
“Good for you,” Paz says, though from the intensity with which she’s cutting her eggplant, I’m not sure that she heard anything I said.
“Excuse me, Kate?” a man’s voice comes, and I look over to find a tall, bald man with a goatee and a very expensive-looking suit standing over us.
“Yes?” I ask.
The man looks over at Paz and doesn’t look away.
“Can I help you?” I ask him, but he just continues glaring at Paz, unblinking, until my friend says something about a bathroom and excuses herself from the table.
The man takes Paz’s seat.
“What was that about?” I ask. “What’s your problem?”
“No problem,” the man says. “I merely wished to discuss a matter of some delicacy with you, and I believed it would be best done in private.”
“I don’t know who you’re looking for,” I tell him, “but I don’t know you. You’ve got the wrong person.”
“You are not Kathryn Chavez, daughter of the Doctors Chavez?”
I grip my fork.
“Who are you?” I ask. “What do you want?”
“I only wish to talk,” the man says. “I am concerned about your significant other, Eli.”
“Concerned?” I ask. “Why?”
“I believe he may have gotten himself in over his head,” the man says. “Recently, he barged into my private room and began threatening me. I did what I could to appease him by loosening some of the rules of my
tournament, but-”
“You’re Jax,” I interrupt.
He smiles. “I see our reputations precede us both.”
“You’re the one that tried to kill me and Eli at the track,” I seethe.
Jax shakes his head. “No, no, no,” he says. “I was not there, first of all. Second of all, I have no intention of seeing either of you come to harm. That is why I am here.”
“What’s the problem?”
“I fear your boyfriend has already agreed to give me his vehicle, pending my victory, of course,” Jax says. “Seeing him the other day only convinced me that he is not of a proper mindset for such a demanding race. I am afraid he may make a critical error, and I certainly would not want to see him hurt.”
This is it. This is the reason Eli’s been acting so funny around me. He knows how freaked I was when that car came at us. He was trying to protect me.
“What do you suggest I do about it?” I ask.
“The price for loss is the same as the price of forfeiture. Were your boyfriend to simply pay his debt, we could be sure that he would not risk his safety or his life in pursuit of something he has no chance of attaining.”
“His debt being the car that you haven’t won?” I ask.
Jax grits his teeth, but forces a smile. “It is only a matter of time,” he says. “I only wished to offer a way out for him. If he insists on risking his life only to come in second, I will not stop him.”
“You know,” I tell him, “I get that you don’t want to actually get off your butt and put your money where your mouth is, but I never figured you for a coward.”
Jax’s eyes narrow, his face scrunches up. “In what way am I a coward?”
“You’re not here because you care about Eli,” I tell him. “You’re here because you think you might lose, and instead of taking this to Eli, you take it to me. Now, it’s all nice and terrifying that you know who I am and where to find me, but if you’re not man enough to race against someone, maybe you should be the one to drop out.”
“You are making an enormous mistake,” he says and gets up.
“Oh, one more thing before you go,” I tell him. “I know you think dropping contractions from your vocabulary makes you come across as wise or mysterious or whatever, but it actually just makes you sound like an idiot who’s trying too hard.”
He stands there for a moment, and I’m starting to think that my newfound confidence may have just ended my life. But he smiles, a wide, toothy grin. “I like you,” he says.
“Yeah, whatever,” I respond. “Now, are you just going to stand there, or are you going to leave me alone so my friend can come back?”
He rolls his eyes and shakes his head. “It will be sad to see the legend of Eli Ransom Faust die so soon,” Jax says. “After he loses, I suggest you both leave town.”
With that, he turns and walks away.
* * *
I get to Eli’s place and my heart is banging against my ribcage. His new and surprisingly fuel-efficient sedan is parked out front.
The walk to his building is difficult. It’s hard to breathe.
When I get to the door, I ring the bell.
“Just a minute!” Eli calls from inside. He opens the door a second later and I push past him before he can say anything, flipping the living room light back on as I pass.
“There’s something you and I need to talk about,” I tell him.
“Okay,” Eli says, shifting his weight from one leg to the other. “What’s on your mind?”
I start, “I ran into our mutual friend today at Soeur Torsadée-”
“Oh my God,” he says. “I thought I told you not to go in there anymore.”
“Yeah, but when you didn’t give me a good reason, I ignored you,” I tell him. “Anyway, he told me about your arrangement, and he wanted me to try to talk you out of racing, but that’s when I realized something.”
“What’s that?”
“From the beginning, you’ve always tried to protect me,” I say. “It hasn’t always worked out the way you planned, but you’re the one that bailed me out of jail—I’m still going to want to know how you knew I was in there in the first place, by the way.”
“Police scanner,” he says. “A buddy of mine heard the report and gave me a call.”
“And then when Mick crossed the line—not that I condone violence,” I tell him.
“I know,” he says with a smile.
Am I really doing this?
“Ever since that day at the track, you’ve been hiding something from me, but it wasn’t until Jax sat down at the table that I understood why,” I say.
“I didn’t want you to be scared,” he says.
Suddenly, the words don’t matter so much. Slowly, I step toward Eli and I rest my arms on his shoulders as we kiss.
I tighten my grip on him, and without giving warning, I jump up, wrapping my legs around his waist. Of course, Eli’s not expecting it. He tries to keep his balance, but after a few wobbly steps, he falls backward onto the couch.
We’re laughing and kissing, and I’m still too chicken to say what I came here to say.
He tugs at the bottom of my shirt, bringing the fabric up and over my head. I’m pushing his shirt up with both hands, kissing his stomach, then his chest on my way.
The moment the shirt is over his head my hands descend over the top of his pants, which I unfasten before unzipping and pulling the pants off and tossing them onto the floor behind me.
His throbbing erection strains against the fabric of his plaid boxers and I coax his part from inside as I’m pulling his boxers down. I stop pulling against the boxers somewhere around Eli’s knees, and I guide his tip into my waiting mouth, sucking him gently.
I lift my head off of him just long enough to say, “In the future, though, don’t keep things from me. I’d rather know if I’m in danger than walk around like a naïve idiot.”
“Okay,” he breathes, nodding his head, and I take him into my mouth once more.
As I pull back, I slide my tongue down the length of Eli’s hard-on, tasting the clean, earthy delights of his skin.
I reach his base, and while I stroke him, I run my tongue over his sensitive orbs, softly taking one and then the other into my mouth. His skin is soft, hot.
“Come here,” he says, and he runs his fingers through my short hair.
I kiss his shaft from bottom to top before rising and crawling over him.
“Yes?” I ask, shaking my butt.
He chuckles and pulls me toward him, kissing me with a fiery intensity that makes me want to melt. He wraps his arms around me, and I look down at his gorgeous body.
Eli doesn’t say anything; he only smiles as he reaches down my front, grazing my nipples on his way, and undoes my pants. I wiggle my butt a little bit more to encourage the fabric to come off easily.
By the time I’ve kicked my pants off, I’m tired of waiting. Moving the fabric of my panties off to one side, I settle over Eli and lower myself onto him, his thick shaft sliding easily into my wetness.
Feeling him inside me now, knowing what I know, it feels different. Every sensation comes through my body with an intensity I hadn’t expected, much less was prepared for.
Eli runs his hand through the hair at the back of my head and pulls me closer, kissing me deeply, and my legs are already starting to shake as I tell him what’s on my mind.
“I love you,” I whisper as I pull away from his lips.
The moment the words are out, I feel my whole body growing warmer with a mixture of thrill and embarrassment.
“I love you, too,” he says, and he pulls me so close, our bodies moving in perfect rhythm with each other.
I gasp as my senses propel me past the point my body would normally dissolve into orgasm, and the feeling just keeps rising.
I’m trying to say something, but the words won’t come out as that first jolt hits and I’m riding Eli hard as I come with such force I’m a little afraid I might pass out, though I don
’t.
His eyes are piercing as he watches me, and right when it feels like my body’s given all it can, his arms tighten around me, and he rises with me, first sitting and now standing as I cling to him.
His hands slide down my back and under my butt, and he lifts me up and down his shaft.
I lean back to look him in the eyes, my hands caressing his hair, his stubbly face. His arms are so strong, supporting me.
With me still cradled in his arms, Eli carries me from the living room into his bedroom, and he lies me down on the bed.
“Mind if I…” he starts, glancing down at my panties.
I nod as he pulls out of me slowly. It only takes a few seconds before he’s slid my panties off of me, but in that time, my core aches for his return.
Eli runs the palm of one hand down between my breasts, and he presses himself into me again as I stretch my arms over the soft fabric of his duvet.
There’s a light breeze coming through the open window, and it offers a perfect contrast against the heat of our sweating bodies.
The cool air hardens my nipples, though Eli’s quick to warm them up again with his hot mouth. Not that that softens them any.
I drape my arms loosely over his shoulders, just letting myself be consumed by the force of the passion between us.
The muscles across his shoulders begin to tense and his tempo increases. I’m kissing him on the mouth, one hand on each side of his head as I adore this beautiful man, my protector, my love.
He’s breathing so heavy now, and I can feel my own body responding.
My fingernails curl into the skin of his back and he’s entering me so hard, so deep. I’m just trying to keep breathing as Eli’s mouth comes open and as he gasps, I can feel new warmth inside of me.
Every inch of me is swirling energy as my body gives way, and my head presses hard against the mattress beneath me.
I’m pulling him into me with every part of me as I come once more and I’m beyond breath.
As the feeling begins to fade, Eli slowly pulls out of me, kissing me softly on the lips as he does. With a gentle sigh, he lies next to me, and I crawl into his strong arms.
We drift to sleep in a much better world than the one we woke up to.
Shifting Gears: The Complete Series (Sports Bad Boy Romance) Page 23