Hunter Derby: (Show Circuit Series -- Book 3)

by Kim Ablon Whitney

  “Julia, Bennett, and Nate are meeting us,” Morgan said as they emerged onto the level of all the private boxes. Many of the boxes had gold plated signs with the names of the companies that owned them.

  Zoe wasn’t altogether surprised that they were meeting them. Morgan usually hung out with his pack. He’d been with them the first of the two nights he and Zoe had slept together. In a way, she was relieved it wouldn’t just be her and Morgan. She wouldn’t have to sit through the game alone with him, figuring out what to talk about.

  They arrived at the box with the sign that read Rutherford Wallace, Inc. Morgan pushed open the door revealing a living room with leather couches, several big-screen TVs, and a full kitchen where chefs dressed in uniform stood at the ready. Zoe walked to the back of the room, which opened onto the stadium. The pitcher was warming up as the batter took practice swings on the on-deck circle.

  Zoe looked out over the field, nearly transfixed. The energy in the air felt a little like before a big class.

  Morgan came up behind her and put his arms around her. He nuzzled her neck and she leaned back into him. She couldn’t believe how good it felt to have Morgan Cleary this into her. Why was she so lucky? Why was he even interested in her? He wasn’t just asking her to his apartment so he could have sex with her. This felt like more. They were at a ball game—his friends were all coming.

  “Pretty sweet,” she said.

  “Perks of the job,” he replied.

  At the sound of people entering the box, Morgan let go of her. She missed his arms around her.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “Hey, man,” Morgan called out, walking over to Nate to give him a handshake that was part high-five.

  Nate was a friend of Morgan’s who hung out a lot at the shows but didn’t ride. He had the wrong body type for riding anyway—chubby, bordering on overweight. Zoe wasn’t exactly sure how they had met but Nate was on the fringes of the wealthy, horse show posse now.

  That posse also included Julia and Bennett. Julia was getting her PhD at NYU in comparative biology, whatever that meant. She still had jumpers that she kept with a trainer in New Jersey but she only showed every so often.

  Bennett was her best friend and showed all the time in the jumpers. She didn’t have a job. “I’m taking a break after finishing college,” Zoe had heard her say once.

  They were both pretty and moneyed—a different class altogether than Zoe. They had gone to exclusive private schools and Ivy League colleges, they drove expensive cars, attended Fashion Week, traveled internationally, spoke other languages, and ate at the best restaurants. Their families belonged to country clubs and owned houses in multiple locations, including usually some remote tropical island.

  Zoe fit in with them to an extent, simply because she was an amazing rider. The show world was crazy in the way that your talent could make you somebody even if you’d come from nothing.

  But that was where the similarities in their lives ended. Neither of them would ever have to work a day in their lives if they didn’t want to. Julia would earn her Ph.D., go by Dr., and probably only use her degree as a board member of the Museum of Natural History.

  She and Bennett would either make horse showing their lives, competing on their family money, or they’d ride for a while and then meet some hedge fund guy, get married, have kids, and become a Real Housewife of New York.

  “Zoe, so good to see you.” Bennett leaned close and kissed her cheek. Julia followed up with a kiss too.

  They made her feel welcome, even if it was all for show.

  “Great to see you too,” Zoe said.

  Bennett and Julia wore classy sundresses with wedge heels. Bennett had pearls on. If they’d gone through the turnstiles like everyone else, they would have looked ridiculous but in the box with the uniformed chefs, they looked appropriate.

  Zoe was the one who looked ridiculous. Suddenly she felt young and trashy. She missed the homogenizing outfit of the riding world.

  “You’re in Bedford now?” Bennett asked.

  “Yeah, I’m riding horses for Dakota Pearce and Linda Maro.”

  “How’s Linda doing?” Bennett said. “She worked for Kenny when I was a junior. She was so much fun.”

  “She’s great. She’s got a boyfriend now—a nice Irish guy. Eamon—he works for Tiernan Murphy.”

  “Good for her,” Bennett said. “I love Linda. Tell her I say hi. Oh my God, this one time, all of us juniors got so wasted and we were supposed to have a six o’clock lesson and we were like still drunk so we called Linda and she totally covered for us and told Kenny we all had food poisoning. She was so awesome that way.”

  “Kenny actually believed that?” Nate said. “That’s like the horse show equivalent of the dog ate my homework.”

  Bennett shrugged, jostling her string of pearls. “I guess he did.”

  “Speaking of being wasted . . . we need drinks,” Morgan said.

  The bartender poured them cocktails. Zoe asked for extra ice. She would stop at just the one drink but she needed something to take the edge off and she didn’t want to stick out.

  Zoe actually liked baseball and would have been content to watch the game, but it became clear that while they were at the game, they weren’t exactly going to be watching it.

  Zoe typically enjoyed any kind of professional sporting event since she felt she could learn something from the way the athletes approached their sport. She didn’t feel that different than a professional baseball player in a way. She even liked the idea of herself as currently in the minor leagues, waiting for her moment to get back to the majors. It made her situation more tolerable.

  Nate and Morgan paid attention to an inning here or there, when there was some action, or a big at-bat, but even Morgan didn’t seem to care that much. It was true that the Mets’ season wasn’t off to a great start but Zoe thought it was a little concerning that the heir apparent to the presidency of the club didn’t really care about the outcome of the game. Maybe it was all about licensing deals.

  Every so often Morgan would toss out something about a player that made it clear he was privy to important insider information. “Ramon’s contract is up after this season so of course he’s hitting the best he’s hit in four years,” Morgan shared.

  “Are you going to pick up his contract?” Nate asked.

  Zoe couldn’t help but feel a little shiver of excitement at the word ‘you.’ Morgan got to approve—or would get to approve—multi-million dollar contracts.

  “Not sure yet. Need to see if he stays healthy. He’s been on the DL thirty games two out of the last three years.”

  Sometimes Morgan revealed tidbits about the players’ personal lives and off-field activities. This always got Bennett and Julia interested.

  “What about Matt Hargraves?” Julia asked about the player often photographed out with celebrities.

  “He’s totally hot,” Bennett quickly followed up.

  “I know, right?” Julia agreed, but Zoe thought her response seemed forced.

  Rumors had swirled for years that Julia was in love with Morgan. When they were juniors, they’d hooked up once but nothing else had ever happened between them.

  “He likes to party,” Morgan said. “If you ever see the newspaper say a player has ‘flu-like symptoms’ that’s code word for stayed out too late partying.”

  “Flu-like symptoms,” Julia said. “I love that.”

  “I wish I had known about that when I was a junior,” Bennett added.

  Julia laughed. “Yeah, you could have just told Kenny you were having flu-like symptoms.”

  “I’m still totally going to use that next time I miss the course walk,” Bennett said.

  “Speaking of course walk, did you see Miranda before the grand prix last week?” Julia’s eyes went wide.

  “She looked like hell,” Bennett added.

  “I heard she was partying all night with some guys from the Saudi team,” Julia said. “Talk about money. That’s a whole differen
t level.”

  “Yeah, those guys make you look poor,” Nate ribbed Morgan.

  “Sure,” Morgan said, spreading his hands toward the stadium that he owned. “I’m poor.”

  Zoe felt uncomfortable with both the gossip and the talk of money. They’d probably gossiped about her before, or maybe she wasn’t worth gossiping about because she wasn’t privileged and wealthy. And they would die if they knew that she only had two-hundred and thirty-three dollars sitting in her bank account right now. That was it. That was all the money she had in the world.

  “Tell them about the party at school.” Bennett elbowed Julia.

  Julia flushed red. “Really?”

  “Yeah, come on. You guys have to hear this.”

  “Well,” Julia said, “Have you ever heard of a porn party?”

  “I usually watch my porn alone,” Morgan said.

  “Isn’t that how everyone watches it?” Nate added.

  Julia shook her head. “No, apparently not, because this one guy had this porn party where they show pornos on a giant screen and people sit around and watch them.”

  “Girls and dudes?” Nate said.

  “In the pornos or at the party?” Julia said, her face constantly flushed, either from the topic or the cocktail.

  “Both, I guess,” Nate replied.

  “The movies were regular, like, uh . . .” Flustered, Julia searched for right word.

  “Heterosexual?” Morgan supplied.

  “Right, heterosexual.” Julia giggled.

  “I thought you were a smart girl,” Morgan said. “But suddenly your vocabulary is down to single syllable words.”

  “The people at the party were mas-cu-line and fem-in-ine, you mo-ther-fuck-er,” Julia said, drawing out the syllables.

  Zoe had to give her some credit for the clever comeback.

  “I never knew comparative bio programs were that crazy,” Morgan said.

  “Yeah, seriously,” Nate agreed. “I can only imagine what the nuclear physics people are doing.”

  “Did you go to the porn party, or just hear about it?” Zoe asked.

  She hadn’t talked that much all night—just a quick comment here or there. She’d been content letting the four of them banter in the way they were clearly used to. Now, though, they were on a topic she felt more comfortable with.

  “I just heard about it,” Julia admitted.

  “Oh no, you’re kidding,” Morgan said, playfully slapping his thigh with his free hand and nearly spilling the drink he held in his other hand. “I thought you went to it! You just heard about it?”

  “Why didn’t you go to it?” Nate said.

  “Why would I? It sounds . . . I don’t know, uncomfortable.”

  “Have you ever watched porn?” Zoe asked.

  “Sure,” Julia said quickly.

  “Like real porn, not Showtime series with lusty sex scenes,” Morgan said.

  Julia looked rattled. Her face had gone from flushed to bright red. “Well, yes, I mean, like maybe once.”

  “You’ve watched porn, right, Zoe?” Nate said.

  Nate was looking at her like this whole conversation and thinking of Zoe and porn was giving him a hard-on.

  “Of course,” she said. Julia and Bennett were probably thinking she was a low class slut but that was because they were jealous that both Nate and Morgan wanted her, not them.

  “Next time go to the porn party and report back,” Morgan said.

  “Or even better, invite us!” Nate said.

  Nate and Morgan high-fived. Julia and Bennett rolled their eyes at them, pretending they were annoyed by their immaturity, but Zoe could tell they really weren’t.

  At the end of the game, Morgan took them down to the first level of the stadium. Again, security guards greeted Morgan by name. Julia and Bennett exchanged excited glances.

  “This never gets old for me,” Julia said, seemingly for Zoe’s benefit, like it was her way of pointing out she went to games with Morgan all the time.

  They wound their way past offices to a large waiting room with more couches and more big screen TVs showing game highlights. Some of the players were already coming out of the locker room with wet, slicked back hair. A reporter with a press pass slung around his neck hurried inside.

  “He’s usually out about now,” Morgan said.

  “Who?” Julia said.

  But Zoe had a pretty good idea who. Matt Hargraves.

  He came out not long after, wearing jeans and a camo T-shirt. He was a big guy up close, with huge forearms full of elaborate tattoos.

  Julia and Bennett might have thought he was hot on TV but they were probably scared of him now. Zoe wasn’t.

  “Morgo!” Matt bellowed when he saw the group.

  Zoe wondered what it was like for a player like Matt. He had to know that soon Morgan would be the one running things. Maybe that was why he was so friendly.

  “Hargraves, come meet a few of my friends,” Morgan said. “They’re fans.”

  Morgan introduced Nate, Julia, and Bennett. Matt offered them smiles but his expression changed when he was introduced to Zoe. He did the quick up-and-down once-over that Zoe was used to. Kind of like a judge does the first time he or she sees a horse come in for a model class.

  In a model class you’re supposed to stare—not so much in real life, but Matt stared.

  Julia and Bennett barely existed—they were the wallpaper now, Zoe could feel it.

  “What’cha all doing now?” Matt said.

  “We hadn’t really made plans yet,” Morgan said.

  Zoe wondered if there was some rule against hanging out with ownership.

  “I’ll take this one out for a drink,” Matt looked at Zoe a little lecherously. “How ’bout it?”

  Julia and Bennett tittered, surprised, maybe slightly offended—definitely relieved.

  “You should totally go,” Julia said to Zoe. Of course she wanted Zoe to go out with Matt. She wanted her away from Morgan.

  “No way, man,” Morgan said. “Zoe’s with me.”

  Zoe took that moment to act in a calculated and surreptitious manner. She took a step sideways toward Morgan so he could claim her by putting his arm around her. She leaned into him and said to Matt, “Yeah, sorry, no can-do.”

  Had she wanted to go out with the baseball player? Not really, actually. Yes, he was hot, but she had her sights set on Morgan.

  She had told Linda and Hannah she shouldn’t get involved with anyone. But Morgan Cleary wasn’t just anyone.

  “Sorry, man,” Morgan said.

  “No worries,” Matt said, giving Morgan a sly look. “You two have fun.”

  “So was that cool to meet him?” Morgan said on the way out of the park.

  “He’s not as hot in person,” Julia said.

  “No, not at all,” Bennett seconded.

  Zoe laughed inside her head. She would have liked to see either Julia or Bennett having sex with Matt Hargraves. They would be so out of their league.

  Julia and Bennett called an Uber and Nate said he’d wait with them. They thanked Morgan for the game. He and Zoe headed to the car, Morgan’s arm still around Zoe like he’d found her in his CrackerJack box. Zoe knew how proud he felt for beating out Matt for the reward of taking her home tonight.

  Let him bask in it, she thought.

  She liked feeling desired, feeling wanted.

  Sometimes she thought she liked it too much.

  CHAPTER SIX

  “Predictable, right?” Morgan said as he pressed ‘P’ when they stepped into the elevator.

  There was a dim light on in the hall inside the apartment and Morgan didn’t bother turning on any other lights. Zoe followed him down a long hallway, past a few doors, to his bedroom. She could only imagine how expensive an apartment like this was. But Morgan’s horses cost multiple millions so the fact that he had a place like this wasn’t surprising.

  “I’ve been waiting all night for this,” he said.

  He kissed her forcefu
lly, plunging his tongue into her mouth. Zoe would have preferred a milder approach but she appreciated his desire for her. Sometimes she thought that for her sex was more about feeling desired than desiring someone. He tried to pull her paper-thin shirt over her head and it got stuck.

  She reached up to help him maneuver it off but before she could, he decided to pull it in the other direction and tore the neck.

  “My shirt,” she said.

  “It’s just a fucking shirt.”

  “I know but—”

  She didn’t get to finish her sentence. He turned her so she was facing away from him and pushed her forward a few steps, until she was pressed up against the wall. She took a quick, short breath, feeling a rush of his powerful energy again like she had in the car. She tried to turn around but he held her tight. He pushed harder against her back, grinding up against her with his hips. Her cheek was smooshed up against the fancy wallpaper, which she oddly noted smelled like new money, and her neck kind of hurt from the twisted angle.

  Was this sexy, or scary—she wondered? Was this 50 Shades of Grey and she should be totally turned on, or was this a warning sign that he liked it too rough and was slightly off-kilter mentally?

  Finally, he eased off and she was able to turn to face him. He undid his jeans and shrugged out of them. Next her pants came off. He kneeled before her, kissing all over her breasts. She ran her hand through his hair.

  The light from the moon slanted through the windows—in the penthouse maybe you didn’t have to put your shades down? Or maybe he liked the idea of others watching?

  This was more like it—this was sexual territory she’d traversed plenty of times before—and she felt like she was the one in control for a moment since he was on his knees. Although that quickly changed again as he pulled her down to the carpet and pulled off her panties.

  “I don’t think I saw this before,” he said, meaning the tattoo on her hip. It was a constellation of tiny stars. She wished it had more significance than it did. What she had really wanted was the date of her brother’s birth, which she had confessed to the guy at the skeazy tattoo place. He had convinced her that stars had more meaning because they symbolized heaven and that it was better than numbers. But Zoe was pretty sure it was just because the stars cost more than numbers. The stars did have one benefit—no one asked what they meant.