by Jessie Cooke
“Get the fuck out of my gym and don’t come back.”
My muscles tensed, and I felt the hand on my shoulder tighten. I didn’t need to look back. I knew it was Lance. No one else had that kind of presence. “Let go of me.”
“Are you cool?”
“I’m fine. I’m leaving.”
Lance let go of me and I watched Brock pull Jacob back. He didn’t take his hand off his shoulder. I didn’t give a fuck if he did or not. It would actually feel good to unleash on him, but I wasn’t going to throw the first punch. I grabbed my bag and left. I was halfway down the street when I heard Kane calling my name. I kept walking.
“Nick! Stop, man!” I kept walking. I was at the end of the street when he caught up with me. “Man, I just want to talk to you.”
“This doesn’t have anything to do with you, Kane. Go back to your workout.”
“No! Stop.”
I stopped. “Kane, I don’t want to go off on you, but, I swear to God, if you don’t fucking back off…”
“What, Nick? You’re gonna hit me? Something is going on with you, man. You can’t keep it bottled up or you’ re going to unleash on someone and get yourself into some shit you don’t want to be in. Trust me, I’ve been there.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Man, you can’t keep shutting everyone out. You’ve been coming here for two years and none of us really even know you.”
“You don’t want to know me, Kane. Jacob lives in his ivory tower with his queen and their little princess. Brock and his lady are busy being Mr. and Mrs. Heavyweight. Lance is living the good life with Ian, you and your girl…”
“Fight like cats and dogs. Brock is stressed out, he doesn’t think he can beat Mantooth and defend his title. Jacob's queen had a miscarriage last month. Lance and Ian broke up. Lance moved out last week. Man, we’ve all had problems, but you know how we got through them? We leaned on each other.”
I suddenly felt like shit. Worse shit than I had an hour ago anyway. “I’m sorry man, I didn’t know any of that.”
“It’s because, when we invite you out for a beer or over for a barbecue or just to stick around the gym and bullshit with us every once in a while, you make up some excuse and take off.”
“They’re not excuses…I don’t fucking have time to breathe, Kane, and I think it’s killing me.”
“What do you have going on right now?”
I looked back towards the gym and laughed. “Apparently nothing.”
Kane smiled. “Come back and let me get my keys. We’ll go have breakfast.”
“Thank God, I’m fucking starving.”
“Don’t let Jacob hear you say that, it’ll be one more thing for him to yell at you for.”
“He quit…or fired me…I’m not sure how that goes. Either way, what I do shouldn’t matter to him anymore.”
Kane put his hand on my shoulder as we walked and said, “Jacob has quit on every one of us at least once, some of us more than once. He’ll calm down and he’ll call you. In the meantime, we’re going to feed you, because your ass looks skinny as hell in those jeans.” I laughed again. It felt good.
5
Margo
I sat at my desk, staring at the phone in my hand. I had just gotten off the phone with my attorney, and I think I was in shock. I’m not a crier, but I could feel the tears burning behind my eyes. What the hell was I going to do?
“Margo?” Nick stuck his head in the cracked-open door. I tried to look away, but as soon as he saw my face he rushed in. He was suddenly kneeling next to my chair with the sweetest, most concerned look on his beautiful face. “What’s wrong? Did someone hurt you?” I smiled and, as I did, the tears started falling. I couldn’t stop them. Everything I’d worked so hard for was about to be ripped out from underneath me. I felt like I was on top of the tallest building in the city and I was falling… “Please don’t cry.” He put his big hand on the back of my head and pulled me against his chest. He smelled amazing, but even my raging hormones were quelled by the news I’d received. I dissolved into nothing but a pathetic, snotty, torrent of tears…
Nick rocked back on his heels and pulled me out of the chair. He was holding me in his lap as I sobbed, and I was making a huge wet spot on the front of his shirt. I felt him lay his cheek on top of my head and his big arms engulfed me as he rocked back and forth. At first, he didn’t say anything and then, all of a sudden, he started saying, “It’s okay…everything’s going to be okay. Nothing is so bad that we can’t fix it.” That only made me cry harder. I’ve never met anyone like this kid. It’s like the inside of his giant body was nothing but heart. I was so embarrassed to fall apart like this in front of him, but I literally couldn’t stop myself. The harder I cried, the tighter he held me and we sat there like that on the floor for a really long time before I was finally able to speak.
I pulled my head up and swiped at my face with the back of my hand. Before I could open my mouth to speak, he lifted up his shirt and wiped the tears away. “Oh, God, Nick, I’m so sorry.”
He put his hand on the side of my face and I was so close to saying fuck it all and just kissing him. But that wasn’t what he was doing here. He was trying to be my friend, and me being a pervert was not going to make him want to stay my friend. “Don’t say you’re sorry to me. You didn’t do anything to me. Are you okay? Margo, did someone hurt you?” I could see it in his eyes. If I said yes, he was going to find them and make them sorry. That made me cry again. I laid my head forward onto his big shoulder and went another round with my tears. This time, when I pulled back, I realized what I was doing. I was sitting in my employee’s lap, in my office. I was taking advantage of this sweet kid, just like Carlos’s family was trying to say I did to him. I pulled back further and used the chair to push myself to my feet. Nick’s face looked confused now. I held my hand out to him and he grinned. “Thanks, but I think we’d both just end up on the floor again.” He used the desk and pushed himself up. “I’m sorry if I…” I put my fingers over his mouth. I didn’t want him apologizing to me for anything. This was all on me, as usual.
“Don’t be sorry for anything, please. Thank you, Nick. Thank you for being my friend. Nobody hurt me…I did it to myself, as usual.”
“Margo…” he moved his lips against my hand, and my libido suddenly returned with a vengeance. I took a deep breath and stepped back.
“It’s okay, Nick. I’m okay.”
He furrowed his brow. “Just like that? Whatever happened right before I walked in here…”
“That’s right; you came to see me for something?” It was too early for him to be here for his show.
“It doesn’t matter. Are you sure you don’t need to talk or something?”
Or something… Shit! Stop it, Margo. “No. I’ll be fine, really. I’m probably just over-reacting to some news I received.” I took a tissue off my desk, wiped my face, and blew my nose. “Please have a seat, Nick, and tell me what you came to see me about.”
“It’s really…”
“Nicholas! What do you need?”
“I came to ask for tomorrow night off,” he said with a hesitant smile.
Damn it, that was not what I wanted to hear. “Tomorrow night?”
“It’s okay. It’s not important. I’ll see you tonight…”
“No, Nick, wait. It’s fine. Take tomorrow night off.”
“Are you sure? Because it’s not a big deal…”
I laughed. “We can do this all day, or you can just agree to take the night off. I’m sorry. The only reason I hesitated is because I have a party I have to be at tomorrow night and I won’t be here, either. I’m sure the guys can handle…oh, shoot! Will Steve be here?” He pulled his eyebrows together and looked confused again. He did that a lot.
“Yeah, I mean, as far as I know.”
“Good, okay. Well, then they’ll be okay. Steve will do the finale. They’ll be fine.”
He smiled. God, he kills me inside when he does tha
t. “Okay. Thank you, Margo.”
“You’re welcome, doll face. Thank you. And I’m sorry about that.”
“Don’t be sorry. You can talk to me, if you need to. A wise person told me a couple of weeks ago that it’s not good to hold everything inside until you explode.”
“That was a wise person, but I’ll be okay. Thank you, Nick.” He gave me a chin tilt and I watched him go out the door. I sat down at my desk, and for a few minutes I let myself revel in the warm feeling being in Nick’s arms gave me, before I picked the phone back up and tried to stop the unravelling of my life.
I finished dressing for the party. I had absolutely no desire to go out tonight and rub elbows with the Las Vegas elite, but the court battle I was facing would tarnish my reputation worse than anything I’d done has so far. I needed to work the crowd tonight and get some powerful people on my side. I sucked in a shaky breath and looked at myself in the mirror. The dress I had bought for tonight was just the right touch of elegant and sexy…I hoped. The last thing I needed to look like on the front of the society page was a whore. The dress was silver and made of really fine silk. It clung to my curves and came to the tops of my thighs. My boobs are pretty great, if I do say so myself, but my legs are what really draw the eyes. Carlos used to tell me that all the time. Shit! Now the tears are threatening to start again and ruin my make-up. I closed my eyes quickly and thought about Nick’s dance last night. Now then…at least my face wasn’t wet, but my panties sure were.
As I drove to the Bellagio, where the party was being held in a private club at the top of the hotel, I wondered about the party Nick took the night off for. Steve was at work, and Nick actually kept looking confused when I mentioned him. Maybe they weren’t together, after all. That made me think about the party again. I’d been invited by Gavin Wright, an old and very dear friend of Carlos’s. Since he died, Gavin had been kind enough to keep in touch with me. He’s one of the richest and most powerful men in Las Vegas. He was having a thirtieth birthday party for his oldest son tonight, and there would undoubtedly be a lot of other influential people there that I could rub elbows with, and hopefully recruit over to my side before Carlos’s spoiled brat son blew in like a hurricane from Tuscany and set about ruining my life.
I left my car with the valets and took the elevator up to the top floor of the hotel. This was my favorite hotel in Las Vegas. It’s where I had met Carlos. I was working there as a cocktail waitress at the time. He was a high roller who used to come in all the time. He finally asked me out and one thing led to another… Carlos was nearly fifty years older than me and rich, so of course I was a gold digger in the eyes of everyone on the outside looking in. I wasn’t madly in love with Carlos, but he was good to me…the first man in my life ever to be good to me, and I grew to love him. We spent five years together, and I was good to him in return. I never used him for his money, but when he died and left it to me, I certainly wasn’t going to turn it down.
The elevator slid open and I looked out at the Las Vegas elite. They were all dressed in their designer best, and the place was decorated with an artistic and elegant flair. There was a live band playing, with a few couples out on the floor, and two buffet tables full of food were set up on either side of the room, with smaller tables in the middle. A large open bar covered the back wall, and that was where I headed. I saw Gavin and his lady friend seated near the stage as I walked by, so I stopped to say hello.
“Margo!” He stood up and kissed my cheek. His lady smiled at me. I couldn’t for the life of me remember her name.
“Hello, Gavin. Thank you so much for inviting me tonight. Where is the guest of honor?”
Gavin rolled his eyes and said, “You know, I might just take that title away from him before the night is over. He’s at the bar, sulking. He broke up with his partner a few weeks ago and he’s been in a funk ever since.”
“Well, everything looks lovely. Maybe the party will cheer him up.”
“I hope so.”
Gavin’s girlfriend looked across the room and said, “Maybe it’s not the party but who he meets at the party that will cheer him up. He seems to be plenty happy right now.”
Gavin and I followed her gaze. I’m guessing Gavin’s landed on his handsome, smiling son. Mine, however, was stuck on the object of Ian Wright’s smile. Nick was sitting facing him on a bar stool and he had a big grin on his face, as well. He was dressed in a tux and his curly hair was styled in sexy waves that fell to the top of his collar. My breath caught in my throat as soon as my eyes landed on him. He glanced over and started to turn back towards Ian, when his eyes fell on me and he turned back. He looked surprised to see me, but he gave me a dorky little wave and a smile. I’ve spent my adult life in the company of sexy men and none of them had ever done what this sexy man/boy did to me.
“Do you know that young man?” Gavin asked me.
“Yes, he works for me…” No sooner were the words out of my mouth than I regretted them. The look on Gavin’s face told me everything I needed to know about how he felt about that. Gavin didn’t disrespect me for running the club…after all, it was Vegas. But the look in his eyes when he realized his boy was flirting with a stripper spoke volumes. “He’s a really nice guy…” I tried to fix it, but I’d already said too much.
“Excuse me,” Gavin said. As he walked towards Ian and Nick, I looked at his girlfriend. She sighed and rolled her eyes.
“He just can’t stay out of their lives.”
I hurried after him and caught up with him just as he approached Ian.
“You need to mingle,” Gavin said, standing with his back to Nick, and Nick suddenly looked nervous. Ian frowned at his father.
“I am mingling, Dad. You’re being rude. This is my friend…”
“I don’t need to know his name, and you need to forget it. After the scandal your “coming out” caused, I can only imagine what they’ll say about you dating a stripper.”
“Dad!”
“Dating?” Nick’s face registered shock. I stepped up next to him and took his arm. He stood up, still looking confused, and followed me. When we were a few steps away, he said, “What is he talking about? He thinks Ian and I are dating?”
“I’m sorry, Nick. I wasn’t thinking and I opened my big mouth about you working for me. Gavin is very controlling when it comes to his boys. Ian’s thirty years old, though, and he does what he wants. Just give him some space tonight so his father doesn’t embarrass him, but he can’t keep you from seeing him on your own time.”
“My own time…wait…Margo…”
“Margo!” I looked towards the female voice. It was a woman named Heather Browning. She had recently been elected to the city council and was one of my biggest supporters when it came to zoning and everything when I opened the club.
“Nick, excuse me, please.”
“Wait, Margo, do you think I’m…?”
“Nick, in a bit, okay, hon? I really need to talk to this woman.” I felt bad leaving him there, looking so distressed, he must really like Ian. I’d talk to him about it later. I was sure it would be okay.
6
Nick
“Excuse me, do you have a pencil I can borrow?” I was sitting in the library at school, supposedly studying. I haven’t been able to get Margo, and the fact that she apparently thinks I’m gay, off my mind. Seriously, what the hell? I looked up at the sound of the voice. A girl about my age, with really pretty blonde hair and blue eyes, was hovering over me.
“I’m sorry, were you talking to me?”
She smiled. She had perfect teeth and her skin looked like it would feel like silk. Jesus, that’s all I could think about lately, what would it feel like to hold a naked woman in my arms? This one was beautiful. Why couldn’t I like a girl like her, instead of lusting after a woman who was so far out of my league that she wasn’t even in the same ballpark? Then again, this girl right here was pretty far out of my league, as well.
“Yes, I’m sorry to bother you, but I forgot m
y pencil.”
I reached into my backpack and found a pencil. I handed it to her and she brushed her fingers against mine as she took it. Involuntarily, I shuddered. She smiled, and I smiled back. “You can just keep it.” Great, that sounded like I wanted her to take it and go away. No wonder I can’t get laid.
“Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome.” I looked back down at the book I was supposed to be reading, because I had no idea what else to say. I could still feel her standing there.
“I’m Brooke,” she said after a few seconds.
I looked back up. “Hi, Brooke. I’m Nick.” That was easy. Take a deep breath and keep going…
“It’s very nice to meet you, Nick. Do you go to school here?”
“Yeah, I’m at Boyd.” Boyd School of Law is part of UNLV. I finished my AA degree while I was still in high school and now I’m completing my B.A. I have one year to go, and then I’ll be a full-fledged law student.
“Oh, well, it’s really nice to meet you,” she said again. She still didn’t walk away, which I guess was a good sign. I still didn’t know what to say, which is typical. So I said something stupid, which is even more typical.
“Nice to meet you, too. Enjoy the pencil.” Jesus Christ. No wonder hot women think I’m gay.
She dropped down into the chair across from me. “Are you from Las Vegas?”
“Yeah.” I wanted to close my eyes and pretend like I was at work. When I’m at work, it’s all like this big fantasy game and I don’t get all freaking nervous like this. I can flirt with them, because I already know they’re there because they’re horny and they like what they see. Out in public like this, I had no idea. I was so afraid of doing something completely wrong. I hated this. “Um…you?”
She smiled again. Maybe I was doing okay. “No, I’m a California girl, but I needed a change. I came here to visit my aunt and uncle last summer when I graduated from high school, and I loved it. My aunt told me if I enrolled in college, I could stay. So, here I am,” she giggled. That kind of turned me off. It was one of the reasons I was attracted to Margo, she didn’t giggle. The girls in school used to giggle all the time. It was usually because I’d said something stupid.