“I was trying to make you happy,” he insisted, coming closer. She took a step back and he stopped, bringing his hands up to clasp them on the back of his neck. “Look, let’s just go. I’d like to talk more about this and we can’t do it here.”
“I told you. I want to go home.” She knew she was being stubborn and that she shouldn’t take her anger out on him, but she was hanging on by a very thin thread and one more wrong word would snap it. Annalise had a temper when she got going, and right now it was about to come out, if she didn’t collapse on the floor in tears first.
“Fine. If that’s what you want, I’ll get you a cab. But this isn’t over. We’re leaving tomorrow for a few days, but when I get back we’re gonna hash this out. I’m not losing you because my teammates are dating a couple of bitches.”
She nodded, wanting nothing more than to get away from him and this place. He got their coats and said his good-byes while Annalise waited in the bedroom. Then, head held as high as she could manage, they walked out. Melanie followed them.
“Don’t let them get to you. They’re just jealous because neither of them has anything to recommend them besides their looks, and no amount of plastic surgery can keep that going for them.”
“Thanks.” Annalise could only manage a slight smile. The woman reached out and touched her arm, then went back inside. She turned back to Marcus to find him staring at her, an intense look clear in his dark eyes. If she wasn’t careful she could get lost in those eyes, and then where would she be? She took a step away from him. “Look, you don’t have to come down with me. I can just take the subway home.”
He gave her a gentle smile and closed the space between them again. “Don’t argue with me, honey.” Marcus reached up and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and she fought to maintain her pique. Why did he have to be so damn nice? “At the very least, I’m putting you in a cab and paying for it. If I had my way I’d be bringing you home to my apartment to talk about this, but I’ve never forced a woman to do anything she didn’t want to do and I never will.”
When he’d gotten her a cab and had given the driver the fare and an obscene tip, he pulled her to him. Wrapping his strong arms around her, he lowered his head and kissed her. She wanted to just stand there, to not react, but she found her arms weaving around his neck as he pulled her even closer, touching the tip of his tongue to her lips to urge her to open for him. When she resisted he began to lick at her, and after a few seconds she relented and his tongue drove into her mouth, plundering her depths. He was so warm…
She remembered they were standing on the sidewalk in uptown Manhattan and abruptly pushed him away. Marcus was panting. In a cracking, thick voice he warned her, “I want you. I’m not letting you go.”
So he wouldn’t see the tears that sprang to her eyes with his declaration, she ducked into the cab and shut the door.
*****
Marcus walked back inside his teammates’ apartment building in a haze. What the hell had just happened? One minute he and his teammates had been swapping insults and a few fish stories and the next thing he knew he was putting an obviously upset Annalise in a cab. He didn’t know who had said what to her, but he sure as fuck intended to find out.
As he approached the elevators, the doors swung open and the team’s goaltender, Alex, stepped out with Nathalie behind him. Before he even knew what he was saying, he addressed her. “What happened up there?”
The woman frowned. “Barb and Deb got on her case. Melanie and I tried to stop them, but they just kept going on and on about what Annalise did for a living, how you only date models, blah, blah, blah until I think she just snapped.”
Marcus swore viciously and Alex squeezed his shoulder briefly. “You know how those girls are,” Alex said.
“I had no idea they would ever be this blatantly cruel. If I had known, I never would’ve brought her here.”
“Look,” Nathalie said, “I hate how the evening turned out for her. Do you think she might want to have lunch with me some time, make up for having such a shitty experience tonight?”
Annalise needed all the friends she could get. He nodded, smiling. “We are going to be gone for a couple of days and I’d prefer not to have her sitting there stewing the whole time.” He pulled out his cell phone. “She doesn’t have a cell, but she does have an answering machine.” He gave the woman Annalise’s number and pocketed the phone. “I’m gonna go back up and see if I can shake the truth out of those girls.”
“Good luck, man,” Alex answered. “See you tomorrow for the flight.”
Marcus waved and stepped into the elevator. He was angrier than he’d been in a good long time, and he had no intention of letting those wastes of female flesh get away with what they’d done. He knew his being this mad meant he was in deep with Annalise but didn’t take the time to dissect that at the moment.
Stalking back to the apartment, he opened the door and stormed in. Three girls were still there, and the guys had re-joined them. He pointed to Barb and Deb. “You two. What the fuck were you thinking?”
“What?”
“You know what you said. Now admit it to them.” He indicated his two teammates, who turned to the girls with expectant expressions.
Barb spoke up first. “We didn’t say anything that wasn’t true.” Her voice wavered toward the end as she noticed Ray’s expression had turned incredulous.
“What the hell did you say?”
His other teammate John leaned forward and took in the both of them. “Yeah, what the fuck kind of trouble could you have gotten in? We were only gone for a few minutes!”
“I know what they said,” Melanie piped up. Both girls glared at her, but she just shrugged. “Why should I keep my mouth shut?” She proceeded to relay the conversation and as she talked Marcus found himself clenching his fists at his sides. He couldn’t fucking believe it. It was even worse than Annalise had said.
Ray turned to Barb. “Do you admit you said these things to her?”
Barb’s chin raised a little. “She’s not like us. I wanted her to know what she was up against.”
Ray spoke again, enunciating his words carefully. “Did you say them? Yes or no.”
“Yes.”
“Get out.”
“Ray!”
“Get the fuck out of my apartment now and never come back.” He made to haul her to her feet but she scrambled away from him and then rose on her own.
“Fine. If you want to pick that ugly, stupid immigrant over me, fine.” Ray growled and Barb scurried to the door before turning around. “You’ll come crawling back when you want to get laid.”
“Go!”
John turned to Deb. “You can join her. Everything he said goes for me too.”
“You don’t mean that. We’ve been together for months! Honey, we’ve been talking about moving in together!”
“I mean every fucking word. I don’t want to be with someone who would treat another person with so little respect.”
“Please, John.”
John pointed to the door. “Go now before I get even angrier. I can’t believe I was so stupid as to think I might be in love with you. I’ll have your stuff messengered to you.” Deb stood up and sent a scathing look to Melanie. “Oh, stop with the looks. This is in no way her fault. You brought this on yourself when you decided you were better than Annalise.”
Deb left and Ray turned to Marcus. “Sorry about that, man.” Holding up a fist, he continued. “Bros over hos.” Marcus reached out for a half-hearted fist bump with both men, and then he turned to Melanie.
“Thanks for standing up for her. Nathalie mentioned she’d like to have lunch with Annalise. I can give you Annalise’s number if you want to join them.”
“Sure, why not?” He rattled off the number again after Melanie opened her cell phone.
Turning back to the three remaining guys, he said, “I’m sorry the evening was ruined, but I can’t say I’m sorry those bitches won’t be hanging on you guys anymore. L
ook, I’m gonna head out. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Ray nodded and rose. “Okay, dude. Again, I’m sorry for the way the girls acted. Never in a million years would I have thought they’d be so blatantly malicious.”
“How could you have known that? Hopefully she’ll come around and forgive me.”
“She’s that important to you, huh?”
Marcus considered for a moment before nodding. “She really is.”
Chapter Ten
Marcus used the time away from home well. In addition to channeling his anger into his play, which resulted in a few penalties but a lot of points, he called the sledge team’s trainer and doctor and discussed Annalise’s situation with them. Both men agreed she should have a better-fitting prosthesis, but when they told Marcus how much a really good leg would run he knew why she’d never done it. She’d mentioned she had no insurance and a new prosthesis cost well into five figures. He’d pay for it without a second thought, but he doubted she would go for that idea. She was a proud, independent woman—a trait he greatly admired until it interfered when he was trying to do something to make her life easier.
He also got contact information for several sledge team members. Marcus assumed she didn’t have a computer if she couldn’t afford a cell phone, so he made sure there was a phone number she could call for each man. For all he knew she didn’t even have long-distance service, but maybe he could convince her to use his cell to make the calls. At least that would be something.
When he got back to town he debated what to do–hedge his bet and cover all the angles by going after her himself or wait for Annalise to come to him? He still didn’t know where Annalise lived, but he knew where she worked. In the end he called the catering company and found out they were working a party that night in Brooklyn. They wouldn’t tell him whether or not she was scheduled to work, and he didn’t blame them, but he went out to Brooklyn anyway and stood outside the place for twenty minutes arguing with himself before deciding to just go in and see if she was there. He spotted her immediately. His gaze was drawn to her like a moth to a flame. Her back was to him and she was lifting a tray laden with discarded plates and glasses. Marcus forced himself to stay where he was even though his feet kept trying to run to her and take the heavy burden himself. She’d kill him if he did, he was sure of that.
He waited, standing in the shadows near the door of the banquet room. Marcus knew he’d be lucky if no one recognized him, but he’d pulled a baseball hat over his distinctive bald head when he’d left the house, and he hoped if he kept it low people would leave him alone. She came within ten feet of him and he softly called her name. Annalise turned and her eyes widened.
He tried to give her a smile but thought it might’ve ended up looking like a grimace. “Can I talk to you?”
“I’m working!”
“Just a minute, I promise.”
“One minute.” She led the way back out the door and then leaned against the wall. He noticed she was putting her weight on her good leg, and hoped she’d at least accept the information he had. “Spill. I need to get back to work. I can’t afford to lose this job.”
“You won’t lose it. If that asshole boss of yours tries to get you in trouble I’ll talk to him. I doubt he wants to lose the Empires’ business.” He paused for a few seconds, and when Annalise didn’t say anything he charged on. “Anyway, I have some things for you.” Handing over the folder of information he’d gotten from the doctor, he said, “There’s contact information for the doctor and the trainer for the sledge team in here, and both said they’d be happy to talk to you or take a look at your leg or both. I also got the phone numbers for a bunch of the guys on the team. They’re all open to a call if you want to talk to some other people about how they deal with their disability.”
Annalise was staring at the folder. Finally she raised her eyes and looked at him, her head tilted to the side. “Why are you doing this?”
“Why am I trying to help you? Because I care about you. I told you. We’re together, whether you think so or not. I gave you some time after those bitches went after you, but there’s no way in hell I’m going to just let you walk away from me, from this.” His voice had risen as he’d spoken and he took a big breath in and then pushed it out in an effort to calm himself down. He didn’t want to scare her.
“But I thought—”
“Whatever you thought, you thought wrong. I’m here for the long haul. Now take the information. If you wanna call these guys let me know. You can come over and use my phone so you don’t get charged for the long distance calls.”
“I don’t know, Marcus…”
“Why not at least call them?” he urged, knowing he was pushing her but so desperate to help ease her pain he didn’t know what else to do.
“I guess I could.”
“Great! Are you working tomorrow during the day? I have a game at night but I’ll be home during the afternoon. Hey, do you wanna come see me play? I could get you a ticket.”
He waited with breath held while she bit her lip. Finally, she nodded. “Okay. I have some things to do early but I could be there by two. And yeah, I’d like to come see you play. Just don’t get me a ticket near any of the wives or girlfriends. I’ll sit by myself.”
“You can bring your brother if you want.”
Annalise shook her head, her lip curled in disgust. “Hector’s in my doghouse right now. I’m not giving him any treats.”
“Fair enough.” He stepped closer and ran the pad of his index finger down the side of her face. “See you tomorrow.” Before she could protest he touched his lips to hers and then stepped back. All of a sudden he felt the urge to tell her he loved her, but now wasn’t the time or place. Besides, what did he know about love? He wanted to be sure before he said anything. With one final caress, he moved away and left, feeling good for the first time since that awful mess in Ray’s apartment.
*****
Annalise brought the information Marcus had given her home that night and began to pore over it. Not only had he put all the guys’ contact information in the folder, he’d also included their bios and their stories about how they’d become disabled. There was also contact information and office hours for the trainer and doctor he’d mentioned. She put all that aside and a bunch of printed pages wafted out of the folder and onto the floor. After bending to retrieve them, she glanced at one and her mouth dropped open. It was information about free or lower-cost prosthesis for those in need. She’d had no idea such a program existed.
Annalise quickly filtered through the rest of the papers. Her mouth was opening and closing in disbelief as she read more. Not only was there one program to help people like her, there were several. It looked like Marcus had printed it all off the Internet, which would explain why she hadn’t known about the programs. She didn’t have a computer and waiting for one of the four measly terminals at the library usually ate up an entire afternoon. And because she had no health insurance she hadn’t been anywhere but the free clinic in years.
She’d been planning to call and cancel on Marcus for the next day, but after reading this she knew she couldn’t. A tear escaped and she hastily wiped it away. Was it possible she was finally catching a break? Did someone really care?
The phone rang and she glanced at the clock. Nearly one a.m. It was never good news when the phone rang at that hour. She picked up, her heart in her throat.
“May I speak with Annalise Alonso?”
“This is.”
“I’m Detective Hayes, from the D precinct of the Queens Police Department.” Annalise closed her eyes, suddenly exhausted. What now? “We picked up your brother Hector tonight in a warehouse over by Elmhurst Hospital. He broke a window to get in, but since he was drunk—he threw up on the way out to the squad car and he reeks of booze—he made a lot of noise doing it. There was some other damage to the property as well. We’ve charged him with harassment, trespassing, burglary and resisting arrest. He’ll be arraigned in the morning, but wit
h his priors I’m guessing the judge is going to impose a high bail amount. I’d expect upwards of twenty grand.”
Annalise felt sick but knew she had to keep her head. “Is he all right?”
“He’s a little nicked up but, besides needing to sleep off the drunk, he should be fine. Do you know where the courthouse is?”
“Unfortunately, I do. Thanks for letting me know.”
“Look,” the detective said. “I’m sort of familiar with your brother. I don’t think he’s a bad kid and he’s still young. But he’s gotta start walking the straight and narrow or he’s gonna end up in jail again, and for real this time.”
“Yes. I’ve been trying to keep him out of trouble, but I work…” She knew how lame it sounded, but she was doing the best she could. When it came down to it, Hector was twenty-two and an adult. She couldn’t make him do anything he didn’t want to do.
She hung up and debated calling Marcus. If the arraignment was at ten there was a good chance she wouldn’t make it all the way into Manhattan by two. But when she glanced at the small alarm clock on her nightstand and saw it was nearly one-thirty, she decided to wait until morning.
As soon as she woke after a fitful, nightmare-filled sleep, she called Marcus.
“Hey, I need to postpone.”
“Why?”
Before she thought about the wisdom of telling him her problems she’d blurted out, “My brother got arrested last night. His arraignment is in an hour.”
“Where?”
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