by Cross,Lexi
I wondered if the meeting he’d rushed off to after we talked was in reference to the allegations made in the magazine article. I was sure that each daily paper had some variation of the story running that day. It was big news.
Then I remembered something that sent goosebumps up my back and down my arms. I remembered coming out and finding him on the phone with one of his exes while we were there. He’d played it off like it was nothing. I began to think it had to be her he’d been talking to, this Raven who was in the press telling everyone he’d beaten her.
There was a huge hole in her story—me. He couldn’t have gone to visit her and beat her or rape her, because he had been with me the whole time. She obviously didn’t know about me. If she had known about me, she would have known that I was there, and that her whole story was going to be undone if I just stepped forward to let everyone know I was with him all weekend.
My phone went off in my pocket while I was reading back over the article and looking at the photographs of her bruises that accompanied the story. I pulled it out, hoping it was going to be Lucky calling to let me know he was on his way back from the meeting.
It was a number I didn’t recognize with a local area code. I didn’t like the way things were looking. It looked like Lucky was in some serious trouble at that point. I assumed it was one of the coaches or owners of his team calling to tell me even more bad news.
It was Lucky.
He was calling to tell me much worse news.
“I only have a few minutes,” he said after I answered the phone.
“Okay. Lucky, what’s going on? I just saw the papers,” I told him.
“So you know the gist of it. I’m in jail. They’re going to hold me here for a couple of days, until I see the judge so he can set my bail,” he told me. His voice sounded so distant over the phone. I knew it was just because of the line he was calling from, but I couldn’t help feeling the physical distance between us while he talked. It sounded like he was in a deep tunnel somewhere, and his voice was barely able to reach me from its depths.
“Why are they holding you? Why can’t you just go ahead and post bail?” I asked.
“Because it was a violent crime, the judge wants to see me first so he can talk to both my lawyer and myself before making his determination. Don’t worry, though, I’ve got it all under control. The team lawyers are handling it, and this is pretty much the norm for people like me, you know?”
“Okay, just let me know somehow when you know how things are going to go,” I told him.
“I’ll call if I can or have my lawyer call you,” he assured me.
“Okay.” I didn’t know what else to say. I was sitting in his vast mansion, all alone except for his single staff member and the moving crew he’d hired to help me get moved in. I knew it wasn’t going to be long before they were all gone and I was really alone.
“How’s the moving going?” he asked.
“They’re handling it. Aaron is working with the moving crew to get all of my things inside.” I tried to keep my voice level so that he couldn’t hear how upset I was. Having him in jail for beating a woman meant so much more was going wrong than just not having him there while I was moving in. I wasn’t sure if he realized just how much his predicament messed all of our plans up.
“I’m sorry I can’t be there, Kendra, but have Aaron show you around when they’re finished. I’ll be home as soon as they set bail.”
“Okay, Lucky. I’ll be here.”
“Chin up, baby. I’ll be with you soon. Don’t let this get you down. It’s not getting me down, is it?” He did sound pretty chipper for someone calling from jail.
“Before you go, Lucky, can you tell me something?” I asked him. I could tell he was getting ready to let me go, so I decided it was time to take a chance and ask him the big question that was on my mine.
“Sure, what is it?”
“Did you have anything to do with it?” I asked, dropping all of the worry and sorrow from my voice.
“No. I was with you when she said it happened, but we can talk about that more when I’m home. There’s a lot I need to catch you up on. She’s been trying to cause trouble for me for a while. But, again, don’t worry about it. We’ve got it under control. I’ll be home soon. We’ll talk more then.”
As we hung up, I felt like there was something else we needed to say, just a few extra words that would have made all the difference in the world, but I also felt like we weren’t ready for those words just yet. We were just in the opening stage of our relationship, and we were already facing a pretty hefty challenge with his jail time.
I knew he would beat the charges, but that wasn’t the big problem. The big problem facing me now was that I had aligned the Older Brothers program with someone who was in jail for beating a woman. Her pictures were all over the place, and I was sure there were pictures and news reports of Lucky being locked up already.
I couldn’t let his drama be connected to the charity. Older Brothers was my heart. It was my big chance to prove myself after other charities I had belonged to had collapsed. I was already on the road to saving this one. I couldn’t let Lucky and his scandalous lifestyle ruin it for me, for the kids, or for the team members I had busting their asses every day to make it work. It wasn’t fair to any of us to have to pick up his slack like that.
To top it off, I was in the process of moving into his house to avoid my own scandal as all of this was going down. Talk about horrible timing! It was too late to do anything about it. My things were already being moved in. From the sound of it, I guessed they weren’t far from finishing when I hung up the phone with Lucky.
I wasn’t sure what to do. I knew I couldn’t just ask them to pack it all back up. I hadn’t hired them, and they weren’t about to move everything back over to my old place. That would have been a ridiculous request anyway.
I couldn’t just break things off with Lucky. That wouldn’t have made any sense either. But I knew I couldn’t use him as the face of the charity. I had to scrap that idea. I also couldn’t move forward and allow him to be an Older Brother or to be a visible donor. I could already see the negative publicity on the horizon because I was connected to him myself.
Lucky was supposed to be our pet project in the charity. He was supposed to be the Older Brother who got reformed by being in the program, not the guy who couldn’t keep it together and ended up crashing the charity.
I knew I was going to have to make a public statement severing ties with Cade Hendrix because of his behavior. I was going to have to say something about how we didn’t condone that sort of thing in the charity, and because of it he was no longer fit to be a part of it.
Did that also mean that he wasn’t fit to be part of my personal life? It was a real question. If we started this relationship because of his involvement with Older Brothers, didn’t it stand to reason that if he left the program, we had to cut the relationship as well? I assured myself that no one would have said anything if I broke it off with him. Of course, everything had to be done publicly. We’d already made such a public spectacle of our relationship that only a public breakup would have sufficed.
I decided to wait on the break up. Breaking up with him would do more harm to him than good to me, I concluded. Dropping him from the program was a smart move for me, but staying with him would make it look like he was trying to overcome the problems he’d been fleeing when he came this way from his hometown. Besides, it was hard to break up with someone the same day I moved into the guy’s house.
I also needed to find someone else who could help with funding for the charity. I wasn’t going to be able to continue to accept money from Lucky because of his scandals. I only had one other option, and I didn’t want to think about calling him.
Of course, if I called Tommy, I wouldn’t have to worry about the charity or my own personal finances. Tommy had promised to take care of all of it before threatening to track me down and rape me because I didn't want to sleep with him.
Chapter Sixteen
Lucky
I saw the judge, and bail was set. It was covered by the time I made it back to my cell, and I was released. Raven was trying to cause me enough trouble to end my career. There were the assault and battery charges that the cops had mentioned when they arrested me. Then there was a rape charge that I was going to be tried on. It was the rape charge that kept me in jail until I had a chance to see the judge. The assault and battery charges carried a standard bail that could have been paid the day they brought me in.
I wondered what the hell she’d done to herself. I wondered if she’d paid someone to rough her up or if the beating she’d taken had something to do with why she wanted me to get her pregnant. I also wondered if she had been raped along with it and just decided to put it all off on me since I had refused to help her out.
That bitch. I never should have slept with her. I never should have allowed myself to get mixed up in her crazy little world. I had definitely learned my lesson about chasing beautiful women who seemed damaged or insecure in some way. My only solace was that I had a good woman waiting for me at home, a good woman who probably wasn’t going to be too happy with me for getting myself into this mess.
I walked out of the jail with my lawyer.
“Here’s your phone,” he said, handing it to me as we walked to his car. “I picked up your effects when I came down to post bail. The phone is charged in case you need to make any calls between here and your house.”
“You’re not taking me by the office after this for any kind of debriefing?” I asked.
“No, we’re going to look at everything that’s been filed and see what we can do. We can beat this, but we want to beat it without going to trial. We want to find some way to get her to drop the charges or get the court to drop the case. This could end your career, Mr. Hendrix,” he explained to me.
“I know, so I appreciate anything you can do to help. I trust you guys, because our management and ownership teams trust you, so I know you’re going to do a good job and take care of me,” I said.
“I don’t think you understand though,” my lawyer continued. “Cade, this could end your career even if it turns out well. The publicity is enough to generate pressure to get you off the field. I’m sure it’s already hurting your involvement with Older Brothers because charity organizations like that need all the positive press they can get. Even the slightest negative press can completely undo everything they’re trying to do.”
“So what you’re telling me is that this could easily undermine all of my efforts to turn my image around and abandon my former lifestyle,” I said in disbelief.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying, so we need you to tread extremely carefully from this point until everything is cleared up. We’re going to do what we can legally to keep you straight, but we need you to do whatever Anglin and Stevens tell you to do. And we’re going to need to know we can trust you to follow our advice,” he added.
“You got it,” I assured him with a sigh. I didn’t want to be having that conversation any more than he did.
I tucked my phone into my pocket. I didn’t want to call anybody after all. I figured I could wait until I saw Kendra to talk to her and to explain to her everything that was going on, and why it was going on. We were pretty close to the house already, and I knew she would probably be there. If not, I was prepared to either call her or go see her at the Older Brothers office. Either way, I had to talk to her soon. I didn’t want to talk to anyone else until I had a chance to let her know what was going on.
Sure enough, she was at the house. Her car was parked in front of the garage. I hopped out of my lawyer’s car when we pulled up, ready to run inside and take Kendra into my arms, as much as I was able to run anyway.
“Remember what we talked about,” my lawyer cautioned me before I closed the door.
“Yes, sir,” I said respectfully. He was the boss for the time being.
“Keep your head down. Don’t make any waves. And do not talk to that woman under any circumstances, for any reason.” His voice was solid and hard. His dark eyes pierced me. He wasn’t playing and he wanted me to know he was serious.
“I got it,” I insisted. “Thank you, and I’ll be here waiting to hear from you guys.”
I closed the door and turned to walk inside. I saw Kendra standing at the door, waiting for me. She wore jeans and a thin t-shirt, probably the most dressed down I’d seen from her so far. She always tried to look professional in business clothes. She greeted me at the door with her chestnut curls and her hazel eyes. She looked up at me as I approached her.
I took her in my arms and embraced her. I pulled her against me and held her body to mine. We didn’t say anything. We just embraced each other while my lawyer drove back down the driveway. I felt her thin hands on my back, pulling me to her. I felt her warmth and curves against me. It felt good to be welcomed home. It felt good to know that this wasn’t just business anymore, and that I had something real in my arms.
We walked inside before we said anything, getting into the privacy of our home before we dared to discuss the private matters that had come up. Once we closed the front door, I grabbed Kendra and pulled her to me again, kissing her this time. I pressed my lips against hers, so soft, so welcoming and loving.
“I’m sorry,” I told her. It was the first thing I said, the first thing that came to mind.
“It’s okay. I’m just glad you’re home,” she said, running one of her gentle hands over the stubble on my face.
“We need to talk,” I said abruptly, changing my tone from loving to serious.
“We do.” She nodded. She shocked me by matching my serious tone.
I took her by the hand and walked her into the living room. I kissed her again and started to leave her on the couch to get drinks from the kitchen when I realized she had already done that. There was a bottle of beer on the table next to a glass of white wine. I couldn’t hold back the smile that spread across my face.
“I was ready for you,” Kendra said as she folded her legs underneath herself and turned to invite me to join her on the couch.
“Well, what do you know?” I asked her as I sat down and took a sip of my beer.
“I know what the tabloids said, that you dated this Raven Cox person before you came out here, and that she’s saying you beat the shit out of her while you were in town at your parents’ house with me. So I know she’s full of it there. Was she the one you were talking to on the phone? The number you wished you hadn’t answered?” she asked, leaning forward and grabbing her glass from the coffee table.
“Yeah, that’s her. We didn’t really date. It was just sex,” I told her.
“Well, it seems everyone accepts the notion that you two were dating.” She took a sip of her wine.
“Yeah, I guess it looked that way to everyone else. Okay, here’s what’s going on.” I told Kendra about being traded from my last team because of Raven’s legal battles and my connection to her. I told her about the phone call, about Raven telling me she wanted me to father her child and my refusal to do it, and about the threats she made.
“Sounds like she’s making good on those threats.” There was accusation in her tone and in her eyes. She wasn’t saying it, but she was thinking about how I hadn’t told her anything about all of this before it got carried away. I could see the broken and violated trust in her face.
“Look, I’m sorry I didn’t say anything to you about all of this,” I apologized.
“And I even told you about Tommy, the donor who threatened to rape me,” she snapped, throwing that in my face, which I figured was to be expected.
“I’m sorry. I just didn’t think anything was going to come of it. She’s threatened me before, and it’s usually just hot air,” I continued.
“Tommy’s threats could just be hot air, too, but what’s the difference between the two?” Kendra asked me.
“The difference is yours made a specific threat,” I said.
“Not quite what I was getting at, Lucky,” she said.
One of the things I was thankful for was her temperament. I could tell she was pissed. I could tell she was waiting her turn to tell me off. But she managed to keep a measured, patient tone with me.