Swirl: The Complete Collection (BWWM Interracial Romance) (Books 1-3)

by Lexi Lewis

  Paul had been in this business for some time already, and he knew a disaster when he saw it. It would be one thing for Chris to be this confident if he had anything to back it up, but as far as Paul knew, Chris hadn’t been training very much since his fall from grace, and he didn’t have any sponsors.

  He’d promised to look into it and find someone willing to put their company name with Chris Hamilton, and he had been looking, but there were very few takers.

  It wasn’t going to be nearly as easy as Chris seemed to think it was, but Paul didn’t tell him that. He was banking on Reese figuring it out before Paul had to do anything extreme or tell Chris that he had no intention of hanging around for long enough to see how this played out. If Reese had watched this interview, then he should have been smart enough to figure this out.

  But just in case…

  It wasn’t in his best interests to name names, but there was definitely still a part of him that felt protective of Reese and wanted to look out for him. He didn’t want him to get hurt any more than he already had, and something told him that this wasn’t going to end well.

  He pulled out his phone and scrolled to Reese’s number, bringing up the option to send him a text.

  Be careful. There’s a lot of desperation driving the person who’s working against you, and desperate men are always the most dangerous.

  CHAPTER 9: DESPERATION

  Be careful. There’s a lot of desperation driving the person who’s working against you, and desperate men are always the most dangerous.

  Reese frowned at his phone for the tenth time since he’d gotten Paul’s message. It was easy enough to understand what he meant. Somehow, even though he wasn’t doing anything at the moment, he was making this guy nervous, and Paul was…warning him? The real question was why.

  There was a part of him that still wanted to trust Paul. That wanted to believe that his former agent and friend was looking out for him, even though he’d basically proven that his loyalty could be sold to the highest bidder.

  There was another part of him that wondered if it was some kind of trick. That line of thinking didn’t go very far, because it didn’t make a lot of sense for Paul to try and trick him into being careful. He remembered that Paul had said that he didn’t want Reese to get hurt anymore, and he wondered if this was that in action.

  He was sitting in front of the television in the living room, up early because he’d heard that Chris was going to be on Up and at ‘Em, and he wanted to see what he would say in the interview. To be honest, he’d been surprised. Chris Hamilton was not great at talking to people, it seemed, but there was clearly passion in him.

  Reese interpreted that as passion for the sport. It was sort of ironic that they had both grown up in the same area just about and had gotten their start around the same time. If he remembered correctly, he was older than Chris by a couple of years, but he could understand that it wasn’t easy to watch someone who had basically the same background as you be better at something you loved.

  If there had been another competitor who’d come from his hometown and performed better than him all the time, he would be bitter too, he thought.

  Maybe…maybe Reese just needed to talk to him. Make him understand that this didn’t have to be that much of a competition. Yeah, they’d have to compete against each other when it came to the actual tournaments and stuff, but there was no reason that there shouldn’t be room for both of them.

  Reese relished a challenge, and he didn’t want Chris to think that there was no place for him just because Reese had been better. Standings changed all the time, and there was plenty of time for them both to train and do their best.

  He chewed his lip a bit, thinking and enjoying the quiet of the house. His mother was off at work, and his dad was in his office with the door closed, which meant he was digging himself out of a pile of work that he’d gotten swamped under.

  Despite everything that was going on, he still felt pretty good, and he was seriously considering going and having a talk with Chris.

  His mother had turned up some information on him from one of her sources, so he knew where Chris lived and worked, and it wouldn’t be too hard to call a cab or something to take him there.

  It was kind of bizarre to have grown up and lived so close to someone who wanted bad things to happen to him and never have known it. He was almost certain that he hadn’t spoken to Chris directly before, and for him to be that upset with him, upset enough to send threats and land him in a cast for months, he had to have been working on his grudge.

  Maybe there was some way that Reese could make him see that there was no need for it to be one of the other of them. They could both have their share of the spotlight if they earned it.

  That was how he had always looked at it, anyway. He’d never really thought that he deserved to be on top, he’d just fought tooth and nail to get there and didn’t back down from a challenge.

  That’s all this was really, another challenge. Overcoming his injury, making whatever amends he could with Chris. It was a challenge he had to face before he could get back to doing what he loved, and the more he thought about it, the more determined he was that he had to do it.

  Worst case scenario, Chris would slam the door in his face and tell him to go away or hurl more threats at him. Reese could handle that. And he’d be able to say that he’d done what he could to try and make amends and make things better.

  “So that’s what I’m gonna do,” he said under his breath, levering himself up from the couch and making his way back to his room so he could get changed. Considering how early Chris would have had to get up to do his Up and at ‘Em interview, it was probably fair to assume that he had the day off from his job. And if not, Reese would wait.

  This was important, and it felt good to finally be making some strides in getting this whole thing figured out and diffused.

  Without Paul’s help, Reese thought with a pang, but he tried to push that away. Paul had never been trying to help him anyway. He’d just been trying to make sure that he didn’t pick up on what was really going on.

  And he’d done a bang up job of it because Reese had been clueless until the last minute. He resented that a little bit, being played for a fool, but dwelling on that wasn’t going to get him anywhere, so he changed quickly and pulled out his phone to call for a cab to take him to the city.

  On his way to the door to wait for the cab, he knocked on his dad’s office door, snorting at the grunt that was the only indication that his father had heard him at all.

  “I’m heading out for a bit, Dad,” he called. “Don’t work too hard, okay?”

  Another grunt that sounded affirmative, and Reese was ready to go. He’d thought about telling his dad where he was going, but he was having a lot of positive feelings where his parents were concerned lately, and he didn’t want to ruin that by letting them try and talk him out of this.

  The ride into the city was shorter than Reese had been expecting, probably because he spent most of it thinking about how he was going to word what he wanted to say and not paying attention to where they were going.

  He looked around to get his bearings and saw that there was a diner just down from where he was standing and what was probably Chris’ apartment building a little ways up the street.

  Considering for a moment, Reese decided that he needed breakfast before he tried to make amends. He always thought better on a full stomach, and if he was stalling for time so he could try and figure out the best possible thing to say to Chris, well. No one needed to know that.

  The waitress looked shocked to see him when he stepped into the diner, and she blinked. “You’re Reese Abbot.”

  He smiled and rubbed at his hair. “Uh, yeah. That’s me.”

  “You were on TV a couple weeks ago, right? Man, this is weird. The scowly guy who was on TV this morning was in here on the day you got interviewed, and now you’re here on the day he did. Do you two plan this stuff?”

  Reese was surp
rised to hear that, and he glanced up at the TV that was over the front counter, seeing that it was turned to channel six which was the channel Up and at ‘Em came on.

  “Definitely not planned,” he said. “But I’m figuring out that there are a lot of weird coincidences in the world. Anyway, can I get a cup of coffee and maybe an omelet?”

  She smiled at him and gestured him to one of the seats by the window. “Put your leg up, and I’ll have that right out for you.”

  Reese grinned. He loved when people didn’t treat him like he was some kind of minor celebrity. This was definitely a good idea. Food and then he would figure out what he was supposed to say to Chris that would make him realize that there was no need for this at all.

  Forty-five minutes and one autographed menu later, and Reese was heading down the street to Chris’ building. He knew which number and floor he was on, and he thanked his lucky stars that there was an elevator because going up to the fourth floor with his leg in a cast sounded like the worst thing ever.

  He got off on the right floor and walked down the hall until he found Chris’ apartment, knocking on the door and waiting, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth.

  When the door swung open, it seemed to take a bit for Chris to realize who he was. He stood there, blinking at Reese for a good few seconds.

  “I have to be dreaming,” he said. “There’s no way you’re actually here. Not you. Not even you’re that stupid.”

  “Well, there’s no need to be insulting,” Reese said, stung a little. “I just wanted to talk to you.”

  “As if I have anything to say to you,” Chris snapped. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  Reese sighed. “You know you’re practically giving yourself away here, right? Aren’t you supposed to be hiding the fact that you were the one who was working with Paul the whole time? I know you’re the reason I’m in this cast.”

  Chris’ face twisted into an ugly sneer at that. “So what? You got the police backing you up or something? You can’t prove anything, and you know it. We’ve been too careful, and Paul’s not dumb enough to open his mouth and admit to anything. Only idiot here is you. I could easily make it so you’d never be able to compete again, and you’re just standing there looking like you wanna have a chat.”

  “That’s because I do,” Reese replied. “Look, I know it was you, and I’m willing to let it all go and not turn you in or anything. I just… I saw your interview this morning, you know.”

  The other man watching him warily for a moment and then stepped back out of the doorway. “You may as well come in. I’m not talking about anything with you standing in the hallway.”

  Reese nodded gratefully and walked into the apartment, trying not to look around too much. It was obvious that his time out of the games hadn’t really been good to him, and there wasn’t much to the apartment at all.

  Well, that was just more reason for Chris to listen to him. He could turn this whole thing around if he changed his attitude, and Reese was surprised by how much he wanted to help.

  “So, talk,” Chris said, folding his arms. “What do you want to say to me?”

  “I wanted to say that I get it. I understand how it feels to love something so much and be so upset when it doesn’t work out the way you want it to. Believe me, I wasn’t always at the top, and I had to struggle a lot to get to where I am now.”

  “Where you were, you mean,” Chris corrected. “You’re nowhere now. You can’t even walk right. What makes you think that you’ll ever be as good as you were before?”

  Reese was taken aback by that, and he frowned before responding. “Because I meant it when I said I wasn’t giving up. I don’t know how to give up, and I don’t care how many hours of physical therapy or conditioning I have to do before I’m back in the right shape. I’m gonna do it.”

  “You're unbelievable, you know that? Nothing knocks you down. You literally fall on your face and you still think you deserve to be at the top. Not this time, Reese. I don’t care what I have to do to get there, I’m taking that spot from you. No one’s even gonna remember who you are once I’m done, and if they do, it’s just gonna be them talking about how you fell off and had to leave in disgrace.”

  The sheer venom in those words was the first inkling Reese had, indicating that maybe he had made a mistake by coming here. It was more than obvious that Chris was upset, and that talking to him wasn’t going to be as easy as he’d assumed it would.

  The words from Paul’s text came back to him, and he was beginning to see some of that desperation that Paul had been trying to warn him about.

  “It doesn’t have to be like that,” Reese said, trying to stay calm and hopefully calm Chris, too. “There’s room for both of us, you know? It’s a competition, but it’s not like me not being in it is going to make things instantly better for you. I wasn’t the only one who was beating you in the first place.”

  As soon as the words left his mouth, Reese knew it had been a mistake to say them. Chris’ face went hard and cold, fury snapping in his eyes.

  Reese backed towards the door, wondering how fast he could get out of there with the cast on and wondering if maybe he really should have told someone where he was going before he left the house. There was still a part of him that didn’t want to believe that Chris would hurt him, but the anger on that face clearly spoke of the desire to do not nice things to him.

  “All I am is a joke to you!” Chris shouted, and he whirled and dug in a nearby drawer for something Reese couldn’t see. “You think it’s funny that I kept dropping lower and lower until no one wanted me? You think it’s funny that no one remembers who I am anymore? That I worked my butt off for years to train and qualify and then I went nowhere? Is that funny to you?”

  Reese opened his mouth to say that no, of course it wasn’t funny, it was sad and unfortunate, but it wasn’t a joke. Only before he could make the words come out, he was very aware of the fact that he was staring down the barrel of a gun that was aimed right at his face.

  CHAPTER 10: LENIENCY

  Eve had been irritated since the day before when she’d walked out on her aunt and her father at the hotel. The drive back to her apartment had been silent, and Michelle seemed to understand that her niece didn’t want to talk.

  To be honest, there was a part of her that wanted to know what the two of them had talked about while she was gone, because it had taken nearly another fifteen minutes for Jason to come down, and he’d looked like he wanted to hesitate and say something to her, but Eve had kept her eyes averted until he’d gotten into his truck and driven away.

  Michelle had come down next, and the two of them had barely acknowledged each other on the way back.

  Eve knew that she had been a little childish, but she thought she was allowed that after everything that had happened. At the very least, she should be allowed to hold onto her anger, but the more she thought about it, the more she felt like she had acted out of turn or something, and she hated that.

  Sighing, she listened to where Devin was splashing in the bathtub, humming under his breath as he cleaned up. He was going to spend most of his day with Michelle since it was the weekend she was planning on leaving very soon. That was probably one of the only reasons he was alright with being up this early.

  She was well aware that she was going to have to make amends with her aunt, or at least apologize for being a brat before she went back home or she’d never forgive herself.

  Eve groaned and flopped back onto the couch with a sigh.

  It would be good to have some time to herself while Devin and Michelle bonded or whatever. She had half a mind to call Reese and see if he wanted to do something since he’d yet to meet her aunt, but she was pretty sure she’d just end up spending the whole time complaining, and no one wanted a girlfriend who just complained all the time. Especially not someone who could have anyone he wanted.

  Ugh. And there was that insecurity flaring up and making things terrible again. Honestly, she didn’t
know what to do with herself.

  It was like this thing with her father had her all out of whack, and she didn’t know why. She’d made her decision already. There was nothing he could do to make things better, and that was that.

  So why did it feel like she was being somehow unreasonable? Like she was… denying Devin something that he might want?

  Rationally, she knew that he needed a father figure in his life, but…

  Luckily Devin broke that train of thought by coming out of the bathroom, dressed in a nice shirt and pants and trying to make his hair lay down with his hands. Michelle was probably taking him out to lunch or something later, and Eve smiled at him sitting up and beckoning him closer with one hand. “Come here, little man. Let me fix your hair, alright?”

  “Not little,” Devin groused, but he came closer obediently, sitting down next to her. “Are you going to hang out with Reese today?” he asked.

  Eve shook her head. “I don’t think so. He’s probably busy. I might just go back to sleep. Or go in your room and mess with all your toys.”

  He made a face at her and then stuck his tongue out. “Privacy, Eve.”

  She smiled. “I was kidding.” Sometimes it was a little astonishing how fast her brother was growing up. It seemed like not that long ago that he’d come to stay with her, all withdrawn and sad.