Linc pointed back, almost as if he were waiting for Jessie to do it, and held a fist high in the air.
Jessie followed suit, and I realized that something silent had passed between the two men.
I loved that they shared something like that.
“Holy shit,” I breathed as I finally caught my breath. “That was epic!”
Jessie turned to me, a smile on his face a mile wide, and winked.
Fucking winked.
And there went my panties.
“You’re incorrigible,” I informed him, patting him lightly on the chest. “And I hate to do it, but I have to pee like a racehorse. All that jumping around nearly did me in.”
I’d been holding it for what felt like forever, and I probably should’ve gone at halftime, but I had stopped myself when I saw all the women heading in that direction. Now I didn’t have any other choice.
So, after offering my lips, which Jessie readily took, I scooted out of his hold and continued down the stairs that led off the bleachers.
I rounded the corner of the bleachers, and I came to a sudden halt.
Why? Because there was Margot.
I tilted my head down and tried to pass her hoping that she wouldn’t see me, and I thought I succeeded.
I even made it into the bathroom and relieved my bladder under the assumption that I’d dodged that bullet.
But when I came out of the stall and saw her leaning against the wall across from it, I gritted my teeth.
She was waiting for me.
“I see that you’re here.”
I didn’t know what to say to that that wouldn’t sound sarcastic, so I kept my mouth shut.
I moved down past her and walked to the end of the row of sinks that was nearest the exit, ignoring the bite of the cold water hitting my cold hands.
“I’m talking to you.”
I looked at Margot, who was only inches away from me, in the mirror.
“I see that,” I murmured softly.
Women were coming and going out of the stalls behind me, and I wanted to hurry so I didn’t miss any more of the game.
Especially after I heard the roar of the crowd a few seconds later, and I cursed the woman who was now standing in the way of my exit.
“Why are you here?” she snapped.
I threw the paper towel away and turned around, my intention to go to the other exit even if it would lead me in the opposite direction of where I needed to go.
I did not want to talk to this woman.
I did not want get in a fight with her when I knew damn good and well that it wouldn’t end well.
But as I exited the bathroom and started stomping my way around the building, she came up behind me and grabbed a hold of my hair, giving me no other choice but to stop.
“Let. Go. Of. Me,” I ordered, turning my head to stare at the woman who had a death grip in my hair.
“I was talking to you, bitch.”
I gritted my teeth, then reached up and took hold of my hair right above her clenched fist.
Then, with a vicious yank, I pulled it away from her.
I didn’t miss the surprise in her eyes as I did, either.
Nor the leftover brown hairs that were still in her clenched fist.
“I realize that you want to have a conversation. But I don’t want to talk to you. I want to watch the last few minutes of the game,” I ground out, starting to turn.
“They’ll lose. Or, at least, if Linc knows what’s good for him, he’ll throw it like he’s supposed to,” Margot snapped. “So I believe you have plenty of time to talk to me. You won’t miss anything good.”
I blinked.
“I…”
“Don’t,” I snapped. “Don’t.”
“I…” She opened her mouth again.
I held up my hand.
“Right now, I’m seconds away from beating the shit out of a pregnant woman,” I said. “So, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll let me leave before I do something stupid that’ll get me put in jail for the night instead of celebrating Linc’s win with my man and his son.”
Margot’s eyes flashed hot with anger.
“You listen here,” she hissed.
I turned and walked away from her, this time moving a hell of a lot faster than Margot did, weaving my way in and out of the crowd quickly so she couldn’t stop me again.
By the time I reached Jessie’s side, there were twenty nine seconds on the clock and the other team had the ball.
Jessie didn’t even look down at me as I made my way up to his side. His eyes were solely focused on the field and the defense as they tried to keep the opposing team from scoring.
And they did, but I barely was able to finish watching the game as worry spiraled through me like a freakin’ out of control tornado.
What had Linc done? Had his mother forced him to do something? Had I misheard her? Surely, I’d misheard her.
Jessie’s arms left me suddenly, and he hooted his excitement as the last few seconds finally melted away from the scoreboard.
Then the crowd around me went wild.
Too bad I was a worrywart and couldn’t figure out what in the hell I was supposed to tell the man who looked incredibly excited at his son’s accomplishment.
Dammit!
Chapter 18
I don’t even believe myself when I say I’m only going to have one glass of wine.
-Face of Life
Ellen
I nervously waited in the parking lot next to the other old ladies—who weren’t old, might I add—and fidgeted. I was working through whether or not to inform Jessie now or later about what happened with Margot, and I was clearly drawing the attention of the ladies at my side.
“So you never really told us what happened between you and Jessie,” Tally said. “It’s obvious that there was something there between the two of you before, but you’ve never really said anything about it.”
I looked at Naomi, warily, as she stared at me with the same curiosity.
“Jessie and I were together when we were in high school,” I murmured softly. “He left. End of story.”
“A woman like you doesn’t wait a lifetime and leave a man like Sean, for someone that she isn’t still in love with,” Naomi pointed out.
I cleared my suddenly dry throat.
“I still feel like there is this animosity between us, and I’m not entirely comfortable telling you more than I have,” I told her the truth. “That’s not to say that one day I won’t be, but you intimidate me.”
Tally snorted. Imogen, on the other hand, looked at me like I was nuts.
“Do you really think that’s going to stop us from getting the truth out of you?” she questioned. “We realize that you’re not entirely comfortable with us. You feel like you don’t belong, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. You’re just as much a part of us as anyone standing here. You may not be married in, but you’re ours.”
“I don’t know what you really want me to say that will make you feel better,” Naomi started almost the moment that Imogen finished. “Sean is my world. Though, he wouldn’t be if you hadn’t left him. I can’t say that I’m happy you caused him pain by leaving him, but I can say that I will forever be grateful that you knew it wasn’t right for you and left him before you broke him.”
I bit my lip.
“And,” she continued. “I don’t blame you for what happened to me.”
My eyes went wide.
How could she not blame me for what happened to her? She’d lost a child because I’d taken her away from her safe place. Sure, I’d done so on her insistence, but it’d still been my doing.
“I can see that you blame yourself, but you really shouldn’t,” Naomi murmured softly. “Everything that happened that night was of no one’s doing but a madman’s,” she explained. “Sure, it was more my fault that I went off and did something stupid, but in no way, shape or form di
d I ever blame you for what happened to me and neither should you.”
I looked down at my toes and wondered how long was acceptable to not say anything. Because had I opened my mouth right then, my voice would’ve cracked with unshed tears.
The gift this woman was giving me wasn’t something she realized yet.
I’d always been on the outside. Always.
In grade school, I’d been Tommy Tomirkanivov’s little sister who everyone thought was a little bit weird because she would rather read than play. In high school, I’d been the band geek who knew how to play a mean clarinet but was too scared to compete so I never went to any of the football games.
And then I’d met Jessie. He’d been the one and only person in my whole entire life that had known me for me. He hadn’t cared that I’d rather read than watch a movie. He hadn’t cared that I was a little on the weird side. He only cared about me.
I never once doubted his loyalty to me.
But he’d been the only person besides my family—and even they were iffy sometimes—who cared about me enough to bring me into his life.
And now, here were these women, offering me a place among them.
I didn’t know what the hell to say. I couldn’t form coherent thoughts.
“We’re all crazy here.” Tally threw her arm around me. “Welcome to the crazy girl club. The wine is fine.”
I snorted and tilted my head.
“Was that wine in your cup?” I challenged her.
Tally batted her eyelashes at me.
“I turned twenty-one. I should be able to drink whatever and whenever I want,” she shot back.
I snorted.
“I think that’s all kinds of illegal, but whatever floats your boat,” I eyed the Yeti tumbler in Tally’s hand, wondering if it did, indeed, contain wine.
“You’ll never know,” Tally teased, upending the cup and taking a healthy pull.
I giggled and turned away, surveyed the parking lot.
It was still going strong as the boys made their way out of the locker room.
I saw Linc and bit my lip, my eyes automatically moving to where Jessie stood next to the rest of the men who’d been able to come with us for this last game.
Jessie disentangled himself from the men and started toward his son. The moment the two of them were within arm’s reach, Jessie threw his arms around Linc and lifted him straight off his feet.
I found myself grinning widely as I watched them.
“Jessie makes me nervous.”
I looked over at Naomi.
“Really?”
She nodded.
“Me, too,” Tally said. “I tried to talk to him when I first met him, and he was so standoffish that I stopped trying almost immediately.”
I sighed.
“Jessie doesn’t talk much, even to me,” I finally explained. “He’s a quiet person who likes to watch and read the situation before he places himself in the middle of it. That’s not to say that he won’t hold a damn lengthy conversation with you if you ever pique his interest.”
“Are you saying that I’m boring, Ellen?” Tally drawled.
I shrugged. “He has particular tastes. Not to mention he doesn’t like chatter boxes.” I paused. “That really used to bother him when it came to his ex. He used to tell me that I was a breath of fresh air because I didn’t demand attention every single second of the day,” I snorted. “I don’t know if you noticed, but when he’s at parties, he’ll never be the center of attention. And God help you if you try to throw a surprise birthday party for him. I think if I ever tried that, he’d get up and leave.”
The wind kicked up then, blowing the game roster that I’d received at the front gate straight out of my hand.
“Shit,” I said, running after it.
The paper kept tumbling further and further away, and by the time I caught up with it next to the back of the bathrooms over thirty seconds later, I was over fifty feet away.
“Fucking crazy ass weather,” I grumbled to myself as I bent down to pick it up from where it’d stopped against the brick of the building.
“No.”
I froze when I heard the familiar bitchy voice of Margot.
“I can’t. I told him to do it, but I can’t help it if he didn’t listen to me.”
I looked over my shoulder to see how far away from the crowd I was and realized that the closest person to me was still a good distance away, and I doubted that they’d be able to hear me over the excitement of the crowd.
The damn band was playing their drums, and I could feel the pulse of it in my very bones.
But I could hear Margot talking to someone. Though, possibly it was due to the fact that the wind also shielded the worst of the wind from me, causing me to be able to hear a little better than I had when I was standing in the middle of the parking lot.
“Time for plan B, then,” the man suggested.
His voice sounded silky and smooth, almost as if he were a sophisticated, refined gentleman.
It was the voice of a man that I would never expect to be around Margot, let alone talk to her for any length of time.
“Plan B won’t happen for a while. I have to have this kid to use it as any kind of leverage against him.”
My mouth fell open.
Then I started to get angry.
I peeked around the corner very carefully, and nearly came face-to-face with a well-dressed man in a zipped up Under Armour pull over, slick black track pants and tennis shoes that would probably glow in the dark.
Lucky for me he was looking down, shielding his face from the wind that I could feel coming around the corner.
“I didn’t want this kid. You told me that you’d take care of it. When you didn’t, you then convinced me we could make some money; I trust that you can do that. However, I’m not going to lose my job over the fact that you can’t get your son to follow simple instructions,” the man seethed. “I’ve already fallen for too many of your tricks. I think it’s time for you to just pay me back, and we leave it at that.”
The sound of the band suddenly stopped, and that was when I saw the rain.
It was heading my way and soaking everyone still standing in the parking lot within seconds.
I cursed myself in my head and when I looked back at the two people who had been busy discussing whatever illegal things they’d been contemplating, they were gone. Both were running away, each in opposite directions.
I turned around and sprinted toward Jessie, who was looking for me with a slight frown marring his face.
The moment I came into view, his eyes took in my wet appearance, and gestured me over.
“Tommy came in his truck. You ride home with him, okay?” He pointed at my brother, who was waving me forward.
I nodded once quickly, my teeth starting to chatter.
“Go.”
Then he was sprinting to the opposite side of the parking lot where his bike was the only one left.
I watched only long enough to see him start it, and then the wind started to howl again, forcing me to get into my brother’s truck or risk dying from exposure.
The entire drive home I worried about him, even when I saw him and the other two men with him pull off under an overpass to block themselves from the rain.
***
The ride to Jessie’s place was slow, and by the time Tommy dropped me off after having done the same thing for Imogen and Naomi, I was damn near exhausted.
I trudged up to the front steps, and I was surprised to find the door already unlocked.
“Hey,” I said, startling when Linc yanked the door open for me.
He grinned.
“You look like a drowned cat,” he informed me.
I sidestepped him and bent down to pick up Achilles before turning to the child of the man I loved.
Linc read my expression, and the smile on his face dimmed.
I’d been thinking for well over an
hour, and I didn’t know what to do. Didn’t know what would be the right way to approach what was on my mind.
Which was why I trudged right in, and I didn’t beat around the bush.
Jessie would’ve been proud of me.
“I need you to do me a favor,” I said to Linc. “I’m going to ask you this, and I want you to tell me the complete, honest to God’s truth. And, if you’re ready to share anything else with me, I’d be willing to listen.”
Linc looked up at me in surprise, his eyes wary.
“Yeah?”
I licked my lips nervously. “Did your mom tell you to throw the game?”
I’d surprised him. The look of shock written all over his face was enough to confirm the fact without him actually having to say the words. He didn’t realize that anyone knew, that was for sure.
“H-how…”
“Your mother made a comment,” I said. “Would you like to explain it better to me before I tell your dad?”
Linc’s jaw clenched.
“Do you have to?”
I nodded.
I did. He knew it. I knew it.
This relationship between me and Jessie was too new to not share something this important.
“I have to,” I murmured, taking a seat on the couch. “If I don’t, then this’ll always be sitting between us.”
He looked away, absently staring at the window while I assumed he tried to collect his thoughts.
“My mom’s a bitch.”
I didn’t say anything. There was nothing I could say to that. She was and always would be.
“I never wanted to see her.”
My brows rose at that, and I gestured to the couch. “Come sit down and tell me everything.”
“I’d need a beer to tell you everything,” he muttered under his breath.
So that was how I started getting Jessie’s sixteen-year-old son drunk.
Chapter 19
Buying one when you really want two.
-Gun control
Jessie
I parked my bike in the driveway next to Ellen’s piece of shit car, and idly wondered if she’d notice if I traded it in for a new one.
Of course, I knew she would notice. What I wanted to know was if she’d give me a hard time about it or if she’d just let me do it. I was hoping she’d just let me do it. Eventually, I would wear her down, but if she went down without a fight it’d be safer for her.
The Beard Made Me Do It (The Dixie Warden Rejects Book 5) Page 14