False Start (Mavericks #1)

by Julianna Marley

  * * *

  Walking through the fifth floor of the Mav’s office building, Alivia stopped frequently to chat with various members of her other family.

  Her Mavericks family.

  Reaching the large desk in the center of the bustling floor, she chatted briefly with Barbara Nelson, the head of human resources. Mrs. Nelson had been the first person to greet her six years ago when she walked into the same office building, nervously awaiting her first meeting with Mr. Mathis, the team’s general manager. Mathis had been so impressed with Jax’s SFWC charity event, he had insisted she come in for a meeting. At the time, he had been skeptical, her business had only been open for a year and the charity event had been her biggest account at that time. But when she had refused to leave his office until he gave her the opportunity to be the new event coordinator for all the Maverick events, surprising both of them by her brazenness, he offered her a probationary event to organize. The Mavericks women’s appreciation brunch had been her chance to impress him again.

  And she had.

  Walking into the largest office on the far side of the busy floor, she was immediately greeted by a big smile from Mathis’s assistant, Emme McGovern. Circumstantially, Emme organized Mathis’s entire office and most of his life, which had given her and Alivia the chance to work closely together. It had been awhile since she saw Emme between taking most of the year off to get her life back in working order, so she hadn’t had much of a reason to stop by the offices lately. With the draft party quickly approaching, she was pleased that she would be stopping in more often.

  “I got so excited when I saw your name squeezed into the appointment book!” Emme said cutting across the office giving her a big hug.

  Leaning down to squeeze Emme into a hug, the short woman only coming to her chest, Alivia gushed, “I was hoping you didn’t leave for lunch yet.”

  “Absolutely not, I was waiting for you. Hurry, let’s catch up before the warden comes out.” Emme ushered her to the couch in the front of the office, sitting down.

  “How are the girls? How is Jax? How is life?” Emme ran off, causing them both to laugh.

  “Wonderful!” Alivia smiled, beyond happy that she could finally say her life was wonderful instead of plastering on a fake smile to hide her hell. “How are you?”

  Leaning back into the big leather chair, Emme groaned making her laugh.

  “Crazy. That man in there makes me nuts,” she said pointing to Mathis’s door.

  It was no secret to anyone that worked closely enough with Emme that she wasn’t happy being Mathis’s assistant. Mathis was a good man, not problematic or difficult, but Emme wanted the General Manager position. She was hungry for it. For years Emme had made Mathis look good and Alivia had no doubt that she could handle the enormous job title, maybe even better than Mathis. She had already proved how good she was when the infidelity rumors with Jax broke all over the local news and sport channels. Emme had been able to convince the hotel that Jax and the rest of the team had been staying in that night to release the video surveillance tapes of Vanessa conniving the inexperienced front desk agent for Jax’s room number, claiming to be his wife. The video in the hallway where she had thrown herself at him after he opened the door singlehandedly saved Jax’s reputation. Something that she would forever be grateful for. Emme was strong and just about the gutsiest woman she had ever met and Alivia knew she would have no problem managing an entire professional team.

  Before she had a chance to ask if there was any buzz about her possibly taking over Mathis’s position since the man was on the verge of retirement, Mathis’s door swung open. His furrowed brows smoothed when he saw Alivia. Bill Mathis was a very big man. A very eccentric, very loving, but very hefty man. Wearing his customary bow tie and tri-colored t-shirt under a white sports coat, his face lit up and she couldn’t help but grin. The man had awful taste, but she had always found it endearing, only adding to his appeal. His grey hair was lighter than she remembered, matching his mustache. Standing up, she made her way towards the jovial man that she owed a lot of her success to.

  “There’s my girl,” Mathis smiled holding his arms out wide.

  Wrapping her arms around the big man, his big belly in between them, Alivia joked. “Is Gail feeding you?”

  “No,” he scoffed, his voice raspy. “She’s trying to get me to do that Atkins diet crap,” he announced grabbing his big belly. “Woman’s damn near trying to kill me, I tell ya,” he shook his head.

  “Come in and sit down, let me get you that guest list,” he said pointing towards his office.

  “Em?” Alivia called, watching Emme gather her bag to head out for lunch. “How about you come over to my house for coffee soon?” she asked. “Catch up?”

  Smiling, she swung her purse of her arm.

  “Absolutely. Give those beautiful girls a kiss from me, okay?” she winked leaving the office.

  “So Liv, I have some good news,” Mathis said, plopping down into his chair grabbing the 42 ounce Slurpee, draining the red sugar drink as she cringed. Shutting the door behind her she sat down in one of the thick leather chairs on the other side of the desk, picking up the most recent picture of Mathis’s nine grandchildren. They were so cute.

  “You’re getting the achievement award this year at the draft party.”

  Whipping her head up from the picture of children hanging off of a tree, she met his amused grin. There was no way she had heard him correctly. The achievement award?

  “Excuse me?” she asked. The yearly award had been presented to an organization member who delivered outstanding work. An award she had always secretly hoped for, the honor usually reserved for staff members and coaches. People like Emme, who had been the recipient the year before. And for good reason.

  “Are you sure?” she asked, her body shaking a bit. “Me?”

  “Yes, you!” Mathis shot back. “And yes, I’m sure!” he spat, his eyes flashing with aggregation. “If those damn fools on the board would have listened to me years ago, you would have won it by now.”

  “But I’ve only planned less than half of the events for the Mav’s this year,” she insisted, her heart pounding. Surely there was an error.

  “Liv, you have been a part of this family for almost seven years.” Mathis leaned forward, patting her hand. “This was a long time coming,” he smiled, shifting all his weight backwards into his poor chair. “Enjoy it!” he cheered loudly, causing her to jump a bit.

  She couldn’t believe it. Every year she had planned the draft party, she had watched in awe of the various recipients accepting the coveted award and now it was her turn. What she did to deserve it, she had no idea, but she knew one thing for sure, this had to be the best damn draft party this team ever saw. After being grilled with twenty questions by Mathis on her life, the draft party and Jax’s focus for the upcoming season, she left his office feeling on top of the world. Life felt surreal. In the course of one month she had somehow managed to fix her relationship with Jax, get back on top of her game with work, plan her best friend’s wedding and was chosen for the achievement award inside an organization that she truly adored. Digging through her bag, she grabbed her phone to check the time, bumping into someone.

  “Oh gosh, I’m so sorr-” she stopped, looking back at the one person who had the ability to deflate her great mood.

  “Vanessa?”

  Why was Vanessa inside the Mavericks complex? Last she had heard she was in California on a beach spending her daddy’s money and staying far away from her and Jax.

  “Alivia,” Vanessa smirked, sizing her up. Something she had been fond of doing since the day they had met in Jax’s bedroom.

  “What are you doing here?” Alivia asked, not taking her eyes off her. When Jax had insisted on putting a restraining order against Vanessa after her last attempt at a public humiliation stunt, she had been too far off the rails to argue with him; always fearful of Vanessa’s threats to get him traded or tarnish his reputation on and off the field.


  “Well since my daddy owns the team, I can be anywhere I want to be. Plus, I don’t think I need to explain myself to you,” Vanessa smirked.

  Why was this woman such a bitch?

  “I saw Jax this morning,” she grinned raising a perfectly sculpted eyebrow, “looking delicious as ever.”

  Rolling her eyes, Alivia looked down at her phone noticing she had only ten minutes before her next meeting.

  “Honey, I know how delicious he looked this morning, he woke up next to me,” she said holding Vanessa’s stare. She was so tired of this woman gunning for her husband and stirring up problems. Something was wrong with her. Seriously wrong.

  “Goodbye, Vanessa,” she smiled sweetly, digging through her bag for her keys hiding her shaking hands. She refused to let her know that she could get under her skin.

  Pushing the elevator button, she took a deep breath waiting for the doors to open.

  “Oh, and Alivia?” Looking over her shoulder she met Vanessa’s dark eyes. “If he left you so easily last year,” she said, a small grin spreading across her face, “make no mistake, he will do it again.”

  17

  “What do we think about having a cigar roller for the draft party?” Ross asked, looking up from his desk.

  “Sounds perfect,” Alivia said with a mouth full of lettuce, something her mama would have scolded her for, but completely necessary. “That’s why I suggested it three weeks ago.”

  They were all working through lunch again unable to lose the extra hours, leaving her to wonder if she was going to have to bring in extra hands. With Whitney impending maternity leave, the draft party quickly approaching and a slew of other events, she and Ross had been working nearly around the clock.

  Sighing, Ross shook his head, scribbling on a post-it. “Sorry.”

  Taking another bite of her salad, she was glad to finally have her appetite back from the nerves of running into Vanessa. She knew well enough to ignore Vanessa and anything that came out of her cruel mouth, but her words had struck a chord with her and she didn’t like it. Jax had been playing soccer with the girls when she arrived home taking one look at her he had known something was off. She didn’t trust Vanessa, she knew just how unstable the woman really was and it made her nervous. Vanessa wanted Jax and the lifestyle that came with marrying a superstar athlete. Maybe deep down inside she did love him, but she doubted that. Why she hadn’t found some other poor player that wanted nothing but arm candy was beyond her, but her patience was wearing thin. Jax had told her not to worry and that he would take care of anything that involved Vanessa and that he wanted her to focus on the party, her award, and her family. As much as she loved and appreciated his support, she didn’t want him anywhere near Vanessa either.

  “How much do y’all love me?” Charlotte asked, walking into the office shaking Alivia out from her morbid thoughts. Sitting beside her, Charlotte grabbed a chip from Ross’s desk popping it in her mouth, looking pretty satisfied with herself.

  “I’d love you more if you got that pile of contracts filed sometime this calendar year,” Ross said, cocking his head to the side.

  “Well, if I did that, then I wouldn’t have had the time to design these,” she said, slamming down a pile of sketches onto the desk, blinking sweetly.

  Scanning the large sketches, Alivia’s eyes went wide, running her fingers over the most beautiful gowns she had ever seen taking in the bright vibrant colors and intricate details of each drawing.

  “Charlotte, these are amazing,” she said, looking through each drawing. Charlotte’s eyes gleamed in pride at the drawings in front of them. The girl had serious talent, she had always known that, but she had never seen anything like this before. These gowns were incredible.

  “I was hoping you would like them,” Charlotte gushed, shuffling the papers around until she pulled out a sketch of a modest deep purple gown, showing both of them. “This is for Whitney. The black overlay on top of the purple chiffon will appropriately accentuate her belly,” Charlotte informed running her fingers over the drawing. “And she’ll get to showcase those pregnancy boobs in the halter top up here.”

  Taking the sketch from Charlotte, Ross agreed. “Eat your heart out Adam.”

  Pulling another sketch from the pile, Charlotte sighed in delight. “And here is my gown.”

  “Gosh, Charlie,” Alivia laughed taking the sketch from her, admiring it. The black gown was skin tight on the model that Charlotte had drawn, the smooth material nearly covering the model’s entire body, fully equipped with long sleeves and material hugging down to her ankles, the only skin exposed coming from the low back of the dress and a slit that went from the bottom of the gown all the way up to the hip bone. The otherwise traditional gown would look stunning on her.

  “And Ross,” Charlotte grinned, handing him the design that would have him looking like a true Cuban gentleman. The black suit seemed traditional enough, the white shirt equipped with small details of orange and yellow stripes laced into the collar, topping off his black and white shoes and fedora.

  Taking the large sheet of paper from Charlotte, Ross’s eyes never left the drawing. “I’m going to be the hottest one there.”

  Smiling, Charlotte picked up the last drawing; the dress Alivia had been hoping was hers since the moment Charlotte placed them on the table. “And last, but certainly not least,” Charlotte beamed, pressing the sketch against her chest before handing it to Alivia. “My pride and joy.”

  It was the most exquisite gown she had ever seen. Between designing events and attending them, she had worn her fair share of gowns from the elegant to the traditional and everything in between, but the gown that Charlotte had designed for her was by far the most beautiful she had ever laid eyes on.

  “Charlie,” Alivia whispered, taking in the gorgeous canary yellow gown.

  Scooting closer, Charlotte ran her fingers over the drawing. “This will all be satin,” she explained. “So you can’t wear any underwear,” she winked, “and the back will be entirely open down to the bottom of your lower back.”

  “So no sitting down?” Alivia teased.

  “And this gold rhinestone belt will go around your waist.”

  Looking at her designs with such awe and appreciation, Alivia could tell Charlotte was proud of herself and with good reason.

  “Char, I’m speechless,” Alivia said unable to take her eyes from the sketch.

  “Well you have to look stunning,” she said, peeling Ross’s drawing from his unwilling fingers.

  “It’s kind of your comeback party.

  Gathering the rest of her designs, she headed for the door. “I should really be getting these off to my dress maker, so does that mean I can take the rest of the day off?” she asked, smirking at both of them.

  Shaking their heads, she and Ross both yelled. “Just go.”

  The damn front office was just going to have to run itself.

  * * *

  “Can I see that one?” Jax asked, pointing to a diamond necklace with three black stones.

  “Ahh, yes.” The jeweler, Henry, smiled handing Jax the heavy necklace. “One of my personal favorites.”

  When Liv had come home and told him that she was receiving the achievement award from the Mavericks, he couldn’t have been more proud. She had been working her ass off for years planning the most memorable events for the team and she made going to stuffy charity dinners and draft parties entertaining and interesting. He was thrilled that it was her time to shine and that she was finally getting the recognition she deserved.

  “Do you have anything more unique?” he asked, handing back the all too heavy diamond chain, leaning against the glass case looking down at more necklaces. “This is kind of a big night and I want her to have something exceptional.”

  Smiling, Henry put the piece back into the case gently. “I think I have something for you. I’ll be right back,” he said, disappearing through the door behind the counter.

  He wanted Liv to wear somethi
ng irreplaceable for her special night, a big reminder of how much he supported her.

  “Here it is,” Henry said, coming back around the corner holding a large black and silver box. Opening it, he revealed the most impressive necklace he had ever seen.

  “Damn,” he said, reaching for the long strand of diamonds, pausing to look at Henry. “May I?”

  “Of course,” Henry nodded, “This is the current style of necklaces today,” he explained pointing to the length of the diamonds in Jax’s hands. “This piece wraps around her neck,” he slid his fingers around the pear shaped stones, “while the rest of the necklace trails down her back just past her shoulders.”

  “It’s incredible.” Jax stared at the diamonds littering his hands.

  “It’s the best of both worlds,” Henry grinned. “What woman doesn’t want diamonds around her neck and down her back, right?” he laughed. “It’s a one of a kind.”

  “I’ll take it,” Jax said, taking one more glance at the necklace.

  “But we didn’t discuss the price,” Henry said confused. “It’s outrageous, Jax.”

  Reaching into his back pocket for his wallet, he pulled out his credit card. “I don’t care.”

  The necklace was the most stunning piece of jewelry he had ever seen and a one of a kind. Just like his woman.

  * * *

  “This sun feels divine,” Alivia moaned to herself, resting her head against the beach chair taking in the heat from the afternoon sun.

  She was in heaven.

  After weeks of running around town and hustling inside the office from sun up to sun down, an overdue day off felt delightful.

  “Mama!” Hannah yelled a few feet in front of her, bouncing up and down. “Look!”

  Shielding her eyes from the sun, she looked at the large sandcastle the girls were building with their daddy, sand covering their legs up to their kneecaps.

  “It looks amazing, pumpkin’!” she smiled, snapping a quick picture of the castle with her phone.