Delayed Call

by Toni Aleo

  Then there was him hollering to her behind the bench. God, she was still so embarrassed by that. Especially because instead of just agreeing with him, she called him out on it and told him the truth. That it was a fucking tap in and not a wrister, but that did nothing but get her ass chewed out by her boss. She shouldn’t talk to the players like that, she shouldn’t be mingling, she needed to focus on the issues on hand. But there was no ignoring Vaughn Johansson.

  He had been grinning so damn hard. His face full of life and she enjoyed that. She loved when a player scored. It was like all their hopes and dreams came across their faces, and she adored that. She wanted so badly to cheer out for him, to tell him it didn’t matter that it was just a tap in, that it was amazing nonetheless. But in true JoHo fashion, he called to her, and she threw it right back in his face. She didn’t know what it was about that guy, but he made her crazy.

  Truly crazy.

  Then the next thing she knew, she couldn’t stop thinking about him. She wanted to know where he was today. She hadn’t heard a peep out of his apartment, except for what she knew was a dog. And she wanted so badly to kick the door down and get it out. She loved dogs, a little too much, and she wondered what it was. Probably some big dog like a Great Dane, because obviously, Vaughn was lacking in the cock department and had to have big things to make up for it. He was a cocky mother, but Lord, he was beautiful. So fucking beautiful, it was unfair.

  When he’d walked out of the locker room to leave Chicago, his suit fit him like a glove and it took everything out of her not to drool as she’d watched him get on to the bus. Man, she hated him.

  Rolling her eyes, she exhaled loudly as she leaned her head against the back of the couch, looking up at the ceiling. Rodney looked over at her. “I love your apartment. Too bad I can’t live here.”

  Looking back at Rodney, she smiled. “Right? We’d have a blast.”

  “Yeah, lots of popcorn and candy.”

  She laughed. “Yeah, probably a good thing we don’t live together.”

  “Yeah, you’d make me fat.”

  She snorted at that since they both knew it would be the other way around. Rodney was heavier than her, with a bigger lower half and wide shoulders. Classic Down syndrome body type, but even with that, he was also an eater. So was she, but she actually tried to be conscious, whereas Rodney did not care. “Sure, I would.”

  He gave her an exaggerated wink, and she smiled. Looking down, he inhaled hard before looking back up at her. “So, I go in on Friday?”

  She nodded. “Yup, I’m gonna be able to stay for four days, then I gotta meet the Assassins out in California. I’ll fly out on my own to be there before the game, but I’ll miss all the morning stuff and leaving early.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be. I want to be here. I wish I could just not leave, but it’s my job.”

  “And we need the bacon.”

  “We do love bacon.”

  He nodded. “Too bad Mom isn’t here.”

  Swallowing hard past the lump in her throat, she held his gaze. “I know.”

  “But it’s cool. I’m a man, I’ll find a hot nurse to flirt with.”

  She laughed, rolling her eyes. “Good plan, Rod.”

  “I thought so.” Leaning back in his seat, he cuddled with a blanket. “But you’ll call every day?”

  “Of course, I will.”

  “And we can FaceTime too.”

  “Yup, and I might even bring you something from California.”

  “Please!”

  “What do you want?”

  “I don’t know. I’ll Google it.”

  Laughing, she watched as he fumbled with his phone before tapping away. He Googled everything, and he was so good at it, sometimes he knew things before she did. When his eyes lit up, she smiled before he looked up to her. “See’s Candies.”

  “Done.”

  “Yes!”

  Chuckling, she took a sip of her eggnog as the timer for the apple pie went off. “Ooh, the pie is ready.”

  Placing her cup on the table, she kicked off her blanket just as Rodney yelled out, “You bought ice cream, right?”

  She snapped her fingers. “Crap. No, I forgot.”

  His shoulders fell. “B, we can’t have pie without ice cream!”

  “Ugh, I know. How did I forget?”

  “Because you are not a real pie person.”

  She nodded as she went into the kitchen, getting her oven mitts. “You’re right, I’m more of a cake gal.” He shot her a cheeky grin before getting up and putting his shoes on. “What are you doing?”

  “We’re going to get ice cream.”

  “Rod! The only place open is Walgreens, and that’s fifteen minutes away!”

  “So? I want ice cream. Are you going to deny a boy his Christmas wish?”

  She scoffed. “So now, when you want ice cream, you’re a boy?”

  He smiled. “Yes.”

  “Jerk,” she muttered, and he laughed loudly as he reached for the door. She slid her feet into her shoes, and he waited for her to get her coat on before he opened the door.

  But when she went to reach for her purse, she heard him yell, “Nate! What’s up man?”

  Nate?

  Nate Way?

  What the hell?

  “Rodney! What’s up, buddy?”

  Whoa. Whoa.

  No.

  Oh, fuck no.

  Peeking her head out the door as her brother came out of a backslapping hug, her eyes locked with the last person she thought she would see at that moment.

  “B! Look, it’s Nate. Mr. NateWay.”

  Her eyes were as big as quarters as he looked back to Brie, his lips curved in the most sadistic grin she had ever seen as he waved back to her. “Hey there, Ms. Soledad.”

  But it wasn’t who she thought Mr. Nate Way would be.

  No.

  It was Vaughn Fucking Johansson.

  “You?”

  He just stood there, a smug, sexy smile on his face as Jensen’s brows pulled together. Rod grinned happily, totally oblivious to what was going on. Meanwhile, Brie’s eye had started to twitch, and she was pretty sure she was about to have a coronary. “You.”

  She could only blink as her eyelid went crazy, probably making her look deranged. “Vaughn.”

  “Brianna. How ya doing?”

  “Brianna?” Jensen asked, confused. “Why are you calling her Brianna?”

  She was going to kill Vaughn. Right now. Right there, in the middle of their hallway. Hopefully, she didn’t lose her job for killing the Assassins’ star player, but in a way, she didn’t care.

  Before she could move to claw his eyes out, her brother asked, “Hey, how do you know my sister?”

  “Whoa, what? What’s going on?” Jensen asked. “I’m confused.”

  “You’re always confused,” Vaughn said before looking back to Rod. “I work with your sister at my other job. Remember, my hockey job?”

  Rod nodded. “Oh! I didn’t know it was with my sister, though.”

  “I didn’t either until your sister called me the other day.”

  “You didn’t tell me.”

  “I haven’t seen ya, buddy. I was going to tell you when you guys came to visit.”

  “But you didn’t think to tell me, huh?” she muttered, and he looked back at her as he shrugged slowly, acting as if this wasn’t a big deal at all.

  Before Vaughn could comment, though, Rodney asked, “Oh, and your name is Vaughn?”

  “My real name is Vaughn Johansson, but I go by Nate at the home.”

  Confused, like she was, Rod asked, “Why?”

  Vaughn smiled. “That’s a story for another day. Maybe during the tour tomorrow.”

  “Whoa, what? Rod is Brie’s brother?”

  “Welcome to the show, Jenny.”

  “So you knew about this?” she shrieked, and all three men looked back at her. They were unaware of the very fast-approaching heart attack Brie was experiencing.
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  Jensen held his hands up. “I didn’t know Rodney was your brother.”

  She could understand that since Vaughn was a lying bastard. “And you’ve met my brother too?”

  Rodney grinned, nodding his head. “Yeah, Jenny is cool.”

  She looked to her brother, her eyes wide as her heart pounded in her chest. Something wasn’t clicking here. “Jenny?”

  Jensen raised his hand. “Stupid nickname that Jo gave me.”

  “It’s not stupid.”

  Swallowing hard, she took in a cleansing breath as her eyes closed. She should have known. She knew that voice. She felt it in her bones. She knew something wasn’t right. That something was off. And that something was that Vaughn Fucking Johansson was Nate Way, which was completely confusing. Holy fuck, what the hell was going on?

  One thing was for sure, she still wanted to kill Vaughn.

  Opening her eyes, she looked at her brother. “Rod, go inside.”

  His brows rose before looking back to Vaughn and then her. “You’re mad.”

  “Oh, Rodney, mad isn’t the word I’d choose right now. Please go inside.”

  His shoulders dropped. “At me?”

  “No, not even kind of.”

  “At me, buddy. But don’t worry, I got this,” Vaughn said, cupping Rod’s shoulder.

  “Why you? Is this going to ruin everything?”

  Not even her brother’s dismay could erase the anger that was in Brie’s soul at that moment. Vaughn lied to her. More than once and she didn’t like that. She didn’t like being made a fool of, and he’d done just that.

  “No, bud, I got this. We’ll work it out. Why don’t you go inside with Jenny and go play with my baby?”

  Baby? What baby? She was too mad even to care as Jensen looked at Brie. His face was full of worry before glancing back to Vaughn. “You sure? She might kill you.”

  “I can take her.”

  “No, you can’t.”

  “I can.”

  She wasn’t sure what got into her. In a way, she felt she blacked out as she stepped up to him, her eyes burning into his. “No, you can’t.”

  “Calm down, toddler. Let’s talk like adults.”

  “Vaughn—”

  But before Jensen could finish, Brie swung her arm up all of a sudden, her fist connecting with the tip of Vaughn’s chin. She expected his head to whip back, for him to cry out. But he just stared at her as she went to grab her hand, and then she was the one crying out. “Damn it! You’re like stone.”

  “She hit you.”

  “B! Don’t hit Nate. You said hitting isn’t nice.”

  “Go inside, Rod,” she bit out as she shook out her hand since it was throbbing so much. “You’re an asshole. You hurt my hand.”

  “You hit me,” he said simply, completely unaffected.

  Pissed off, she threw open the door and went inside her apartment, knowing that Vaughn would follow. Going to the kitchen, she got a bag of peas and laid them on her hand as she glared back at him. “I can’t believe you.”

  “Wow, you started to decorate.”

  Her eyes widened. He was acting as if this was nothing. “How dare you?”

  “So, we’ll go right in, no small talk.”

  “You lied to me. You had plenty of chances to come clean, to tell me you were who you were.”

  “I didn’t think it was a big deal.”

  He was so calm, so blasé about it. That was not okay. “It’s a huge deal. I’m giving all my trust to your organization, and we’re starting out on a lie!”

  He rolled his eyes. “Would you have looked into my organization if you knew it was me?”

  She pursed her lips. “That doesn’t matter.”

  “It does. As soon as I heard your voice and knew it was you, I knew I couldn’t tell you who I was. I mean, you just hit me.”

  She glared. “Because you lied!”

  “No, Brie, your hatred for me would mask what I can offer Rodney. I wanted you to come in, get the tour by my property manager, and then I would have joined you—when I knew you couldn’t say no.”

  “So, more deception!”

  He rolled his eyes. “I did this for Rodney. I get that we don’t like each other, and that’s fine. But it isn’t about us, it’s about him. That kid that needs a life that’s worth living and not in some shit-ass old folks’ home where he can’t grow or even enjoy the amazing life he has. He is special. He needs a place he can mature in and discover who he is.”

  “It isn’t a shit-ass home. It’s good, it’s all I can afford, and I sure as hell don’t want to discuss that with you.”

  “See? That’s what I mean. If you came in and saw what I can offer, then you wouldn’t worry about our feelings toward each other. You would see that I can give your brother what he needs.”

  “So you were gonna lie to me until I couldn’t get out of it. How is that okay?”

  “It may not be, but I didn’t know what else to do because I knew you wouldn’t let him come.”

  “You don’t know shit!”

  “I know you hate me.”

  “That’s a given. But still, I love my brother and will do what is best for him.”

  “I’m the best for Rodney.”

  “You don’t fucking know us!” she screamed, her eyes filling with tears. “You don’t know my brother, you don’t know me, and you sure as hell don’t know our situation.”

  Exasperated, he glared. “Brie, I do know Rodney. Maybe not like you do, but I know what he needs. I’ve asked him, he told me, and I can give that to him.”

  “Behind my back. I am his sister.”

  “I know that, and I respect—”

  She laughed. “Respect! Vaughn, you’ve probably never ever respected anything in your life. And you sure as hell don’t respect me if you’re going behind my back and lying to me to get my brother into your organization.”

  He held her heated gaze as she fought back the tears. “Like you said, I don’t know you, you don’t know me. All I want to do is help Rodney. I couldn’t care less about our issues.”

  “We have no issues. Well, except for Rodney. And let me tell you, he isn’t coming to your community. Not now. Not ever!”

  His face filled with panic. “Brie—”

  “No! I won’t put my brother somewhere where the owner lies through his teeth and to my fucking face. You could have told me when I got off the phone with you and saw you at the compound on media day,” she yelled, throwing the peas into the sink. Her hand was still throbbing, but he needed to go. Now.

  As she stomped toward the door, he said, “I did it for Rodney, because I knew you would act like this. We have some crazy communication issues—”

  “Communication issues? You’re a lying, assholey douche! You are our issue.”

  He laughed, shaking his head. “Me? It’s two ways, baby. You’re a bitch who won’t let anyone even try to be nice to you.”

  Gasping, she glared. She may be a bitch, but he had never been nice to her. “Nice to me? You’ve never in your life been nice to me. You tear me down, you ruin my interviews, hell, I don’t think you know how to be nice to anyone. Probably not even your mother!”

  He paused, his face turning red as he looked away. “Considering my mom died when I was six, I really don’t remember if I was nice to her or not, but I hope so.”

  A heated silence fell between them as her hand shook on the door handle. Instantly, she felt bad, but she wouldn’t let him know that. It was hard when you found out someone else was motherless. As someone who had lost her mother, she instinctively wanted to hug him, but there was no way. When he looked up, his eyes locked with hers as he swallowed visibly, his Adam’s apple bobbing with the motion. His face was a unique shade of red, his lips pressed together as his eyes burned into hers. His shoulders were back, taut. How could she find him sexy at that moment? He lied to her; he deceived her. While he was right, she wouldn’t have even considered taking Rodney to his organization if she had known it was h
im, it didn’t matter. He held back who he was, and that was unforgivable.

  “Why?” she found herself asking, and he looked away. “Why do you go by this other name? Why didn’t you just tell me the truth?”

  Blowing out a long breath, he looked back at her. “I stand by what I said. I did it because I knew this would happen, and I wanted to sell you on the property before I told you the truth. I didn’t like lying to you. I didn’t do it to hurt you—”

  “But you have,” she admitted, holding his dark gaze. “Because now I have to explain to my brother why he won’t be able to move in or ever see you again—”

  “Brie, please, like I said on the phone, I would never hurt your brother. Or you, for that matter. I didn’t mean to.”

  Her lip wobbled as she shook her head. She hated that when she got so mad, she cried. It was something that really bothered her, but she had been that way since she was a kid. She was trying her best not to cry in front of him. It killed her that he just didn’t get it. She had trusted this Nate fucker, and come to find out, it was all a lie. It was him. Her archnemesis, Vaughn JoHo. How was she supposed to forgive that?

  “You didn’t say why. Why do you go by a different name?”

  She could see that he didn’t want to answer. The hesitation was all over his face as he looked at her, his lips parting but no words coming out. Finally, he cleared his throat. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

  “Try me, because I need something to keep me from breaking in to your house and killing you tonight.”

  He scoffed. “But you already hit me.”

  She glared. “I can hit you again.”

  “I don’t know about your hand—”

  “Vaughn!”

  Running his hands through his hair, he held her gaze. “Fine. I don’t want my name to get in the way of what I’m doing. I don’t like people coming to me. I like finding people who need help, not people who want to throw money at me to get in because of who I am. I want to help people, but I want to do it on my terms, in secret, and I want to do it by honoring my brother too.”