The End Game (Thron series Book 1)

by S. Tron

  Andrew tells me to have fun; we walk to the entrance; he gives me his black cab drivers number, he says he'll wait for me. That makes me feel all warm inside. Angela looks gorgeous; her hair is finely free; her small curls looks great; her red blouse looks magnificent against her dark skin.

  We start walking, and Andrew stops me, gives me a soft kiss on the chick and tells me I'm stunning, I blush and walk with Angela, hands entwined.

  "So girl, please tell me what is going on between you two? So much tension, you need to get a room" Angela laughs. She has no idea how right she is.

  Angela and I have a great time, she tells me about her life, like Andrew, she comes from a rough background, there's a charity, helps kids from those kind of environments to get into sports, they build small gyms with gymnastics equipment and running tracks, it allows kids to go off the streets and hang out in a pleasant environment, Angela does not like sports. She knew she could do better than what life gave her, so Angela went there searching for work after she graduated high school. First, she worked in the gym, then Marcus heard about her and took her to be his secretary, from there I know the story.

  She has a sister that got pregnant at sixteen, she lives with their parents, a brother in jail, her parents are good people, hard-working but have no education, Angela helps her family financially, and whenever she can, she goes to her parent's house to help and see her niece.

  Angela story brings me to tears; she looks annoyed by that, I explain to her, it's not pity or compassion. She touches me; she's an amazing woman. And I'm proud to call her a friend. She starts crying, and we both laugh, two emotional grown women, crying in the middle of a restaurant.

  Angela asks me about my different jobs over the years, I tell her all the crazy things I've done, all the stupid jobs I had, I tell her about the pub I used to manage, working as a pastry chef in the bast restaurant in Haifa, being an event planner, the music festival I produced, the weddings I planned. I tell her about Paramedics course, how I gave it up for the children after the accident. Angela asks me if I regret it, "it is what it is" I tell her with a smile, thinking of Andrew. "If I hadn't given it up, I wouldn't have the time to pursue my dream of breaking the women's world record; then I wouldn't be here, I think everything happens for a reason". Angela thinks for a few moments and asks "Do you think your husbands death also happen for a reason?" that's a hard question, "no matter what happens in my life, I always felt that everything happens for a reason, as I said before. the first time I didn't was when my husband died, but not because of his death, the reason for that one day I'll know, I thought it was because he died in a car accident while leaving me a voice message, what was the reason? Why did I need to hear that? Or is it just a bad twist of faith to get me stronger?" this is the first time I spoke about it, my hand trembling, I take a few cleansing breaths, "I just can't understand it, I don't think I'll ever will" Angela wipe away tears, she says quietly "I'm also proud to call you my friend" we hug and wipe away tears.

  We sit for a few good hours, we speak about lighter things, Angela tries to question me about Andrew, but I tell her nothing is going on, she thinks I'm avoiding. We have some drinks and a good time.

  When it's getting late, and we're both buzzed, I call the number Andrew left me, Angela and I share the cab, she goes off, we hug again, and I'm on my way to Andrews.

  When the cab nears Andrews house I see the door opens, I'm excited thinking maybe the driver let him know I'm here, but my world stops when I see Sabrina. I sit in the cab, ears ringing, my heart is aching, my vision blurred, I wait for her to go far enough before I climb out of the car. I can hardly move, I contemplate if not to go back to Angela, spend the night there. He does not owe you anything; you told him that. I hate myself right now, my ears hurt, my nose stings. I open the door; a very drunk and very angry Andrew welcomes me. I say nothing from the fear I will burst out in tears, I nod and go up the stairs "JUDE!" I hear his warning tone, "you don't owe me anything Andrew, I hope you had a good time", running up the stairs, Andrew grabs my arm "listen to me, please," he says in a low, broken voice. He has a glass full of whisky in his other hand.

  'Let me go!" I demand.

  "Jude, fuck, Jude."

  He is very drunk and angry, nothing that will come out of his mouth now is worth listening to, I run to my room, slamming the door behind me, I hear Andrew climbing the stairs, and I lock it.

  The tears start immediately; I sit on the carpet, leaning against the door.

  "Jude love, open up, I can't hear you cry like that, let me hold you."

  "Like you hold Sabrina, Andrew? You're disgusting" there is silence from the other side of the door. "The thing is, you don't owe me anything, Andrew, but you lied to me! That hurts the most; you could have told me the truth a few times, you choose to lie" my anger stops me from crying, I get up, I will go to the shower and then to bed.

  "It's not like that love" he sounds broken, he speaks in a soft voice, begging me to hear him out "nothing happened, I'm an idiot, I'm not a lair, please listen." my heart breaks hearing him beg. I open the door a little, I stand there, waiting.

  "When you get famous, people tend to judge you, everywhere I go there phones filming me, I buy whisky - his an alcoholic, I buy vegetable - he's a vegan, you get the picture. I isolated myself, it was easier, not going on tube, not going to social events, or fundraising, I can't see my brother, I have grocery brought here and organized in my fridge, I have a black cub waiting for my call, I hardly go to the office. I want to fuck it has to be quick, and with someone I can trust not to tell the media after" I'm entirely shooked from Andrews statement, he gulps his drink, "and then you came along, the complete opposite, widowed at thirty, never had proper training, don't have a real job, and you did it" I feel anger boils in me, Andrew sees it.

  "I'm getting to my point, calm down, so first, I say your video is a lie, then I'm jealous as hell, especially after Angela tells me about your perfect supporting family, and I want to hate you, I do, but I can't, you come here with your perfect legs, your round ass, those damn perfect green eyes, and I'm a goner, you want to go out, we do, you want to go on the tube, we do, you sit in front of a good damn piano. And steal my heart note after note, you go out looking like that" he gestures to my body, "and I can't touch you, I can't get the edge off, if I go running you're there and that is a major fucking turn on, so you know what, I wanted to take the edge off, fuck my anger out, I wanted to fuck you Jude, but I can't, and that made me angrier, I drunk, and I drunk some more, I am my fathers son after all." he drinks the rest of his whiskey. "so not only I will fuck, I will hurt you, so I called Sabrina, and you know what Jude, when she arrived my only thought was, she isn't Jude, she's not as sexy, or beautiful as Jude, and she's dumb and easy, not like the fairy woman who, by the fucking way, I can't touch. So I send her away, the only guilt I have is that she's going to make your life miserable. I can't even fuck because of you. You stole my heart, and I want it back!" with that, he goes to his bedroom, Slams the door shut. I'm shocked, he wanted me to listen, for what, so he can lash his anger in me. So he can have his release somehow, he didn't give me a chance to say anything, Andrew burst out with everything he had and left.

  I can't sleep, my head is full of information and questions, I toss all night, drifting in and out of sleep, at some point I look at my clock, it's a little after five in the morning. I need to clear my head, so I put my favourite running clothes, I want to go outside to run in the park, but London being London it's pouring rain. I walk past Andrew's door; he seemed to be asleep. I tip tow to the gym, closing the door behind me, I put my earphones in, and start running, processing everything that happened last night, the biggest problem, I don't know why is Andrew so mad because he's jealous? He hate me? Because he could not go through with Sabrina? Or maybe because I changed his life? He does not want to have a feeling for me; that's for sure. We need to stay professional, is that why he's so confused, he hates my children, maybe that's the reason, no matter
what, he was mean and hateful last night. I can feel his gaze on me, I look in the mirror seeing him watching me, he is so handsome, wearing only sweatpants, his chest, big, broad looks like silk, his pants hanging low showing his deep V shape, I would jump him if I wasn't furious, our eyes connect through the mirror, I don't stop my run, I turn the volume up.

  Andrew looks at me with a worried look; he slumps on the floor, holding his head in his hands.

  I raise the speed on the treadmill, more and more, the feeling of relief doesn't come, I run, changing the songs, need the one song that can help me the process. I get to the 10,000m goal and press stop. Andrew lift his gaze to me, he looks in so much pain, "you wanted today to do time measurement run, you better go and write that down". I walk out of the gym at 29:16:21 — a new world record.

  Going up, I send it to my dad; at least someone will be happy today.

  I go to my room and lock the door, going to the bathroom and decide to fill a bath, I hear Andrew going up the stairs, knocking on my door, "go away Andrew" my heart still hurts so bad, some of the things he said were beautiful if it wasn't for the fact he was drunk, angry, mean and he called that whore! He lied, he said there was nothing but still she's the one he decided to call. My heart shutter, my chest hurt and my tears are streaming down my face. I put on music, Hebrew playlist, I don't want Andrew to be a part of my heartache. I go to the bath. The door from the other room opens, Andrew walks in, he turns off the music, I try to hide under the bubbles. He's kneeling beside me, "Jude, love" his voice is so soft and worried, "will you please listen to me?" I'm silent. "Please love, I'm sorry" chills run all over my body.

  "Andrew get the fuck away from me" I'm so mad I feel my heartbeat through every nerve in my body, "I listened last night, only to get whiplashed, get out," I say through greeted teeth.

  "Jude, I'm sorry, I was a drunken idiot, please hear me out".

  "NO" I yell at him, getting out of the bath. I don't even care I'm naked, grabbing my rope, going inside my room, Andrew doesn't follow me. I sink to my bed; I'm so angry and exhausted, I want some quiet. I lay in bed for a long time, my head empty. I fall asleep at some point. A soft knock wakes me up, looking at my phone, it's noon, and we have Pilates soon.

  "Jude, will you come out, please? You need to eat; we have a lesson soon."

  I want to be a baby about it and stay in bed, avoid Andrew. I can't, "ill come to eat and to class, but that's it.''

  I go into the shower, cleaning myself, cleansing my body from the sadness and hurt.

  Downstairs Andrew is waiting with a fresh cup of coffee. I drink, make myself some toast, we're silent. Andrew watches me closely; it seems like he is waiting for the right moment to speak.

  22. Andrew

  My head goes a million miles a second. I decided to give Jude time to cool off; I didn't think she will be locked in her room all day. She still looks exhausted. I did it; I was a mean, drunken ass. Just like my father, just like my brother. I hurt her so bad. She agreed to listen once, then my anger boiled inside me, and everything went to crap.

  "Jude, love" she flinched "I'm giving you time to cool off" she does not look my way. "I am deeply sorry, and I will explain when you let me, for now, let's be professional about it". I can see her fuming; maybe I should have tried to explain after all. My biggest problem right now, I have no explanation other then I'm an ass, and very much attracted to Jude, have feelings for her, we can't be together because of her boyfriend, I don't even care anymore about work, our chemistry is so good we can do anything together. So I got frustrated and acted out, like a child. So embarrassing.

  "I'll wait downstairs" Jude wakes me up from my thoughts.

  The Pilates instructor get to my house a few minutes after, she's young, hardly wears anything. She's fit and over-friendly. We go down together.

  Pilates is not for me; it's not what I thought it would be, and the instructor doesn't get hints, I see Jude getting angry, she thinks she can hide it from me, but I see how she reacts every time the instructor touches me. All the time my eyes is on Jude, this isn't going well, Jude gets angrier. Though she is thoroughly professional, she stretches and bends; she holds herself beautiful, Pilates is all about core muscles the instructor told me. Jude, like when she runs, effortless, graceful, magnificent. This class is one hour of fourplay, in one point I have to stop to cool my thoughts, my cock was so hard I knew they both saw it.

  When the instructor leaves, I tell Jude, that woman isn't coming back to our home.

  She ignores me. "Jude, I won't let you shut me out, I will-"

  Her phone rings "hey baby, yes, of course, you can, I love you, Sam, call me aft-" Rage like I never felt before, "Jude" I roar and punch the wall, lucky for me it is a plaster wall, and my hand goes through it. Still, I get a few shallow cuts, one deep; blood starts dripping on the wooden floor. "It is nothing baby; call me when you finish". He heard me through the phone. She looks concerned. "Let me take a look at your hand," she says without any emotion, "leave it," I tell her.

  "Andrew, I will look at your hand, then you can talk". She says softly.

  We go to the kitchen; I take a first aid kit out, Jude takes it from me, "seat" she orders, she takes my hand in hers, the warm touch relaxes me, I reach my other hand to stroke her, her eyes fly to main "don't". She stops me. "Jude, love, I am sorry, I have no excuse for the way I behaved. I was an idiot, a hurtful idiot, a mean, hurtful idiot" small smile tags on her lips; I smile back, she places a gaze with disinfectant on my hand, I burned like hell. "Shit! You did that on purpose?" she smiles again, her eyes are on my hand, cleaning it carefully. I feel the change of mood, deciding to leave it at that, I stop talking.

  Jude puts a small bandage on my hand, she looks back to my face, still avoiding eye contact, "I need to get dressed for tonight." She gets up, I grab her arm, "are we good?".

  "We're keeping it professional". Jude goes upstairs.

  I pace in the living room like a caged animal, what can I say, what can I do to make her forgive me. Isn't it better the way it is now? We have distance, we are professionals, that will be best. But my need for her is growing; my frustrations are bubbling and make me act stupid.

  My thoughts get cut when I see her coming down, she has on a tight black dress, it's elementary, not revealing, goes all the way to her feet, she looks hot, very hot, the dress hugging her curves and ass, her eyes a dark green I never saw on her before. She squirming under my gaze, I can feel my erection growing, my cock begs for her, she looks down to my training shorts, licking her upper lip, my cock jerks. The air is heavy and thick; I take a step closer to her; she takes a step back. I take another step; she hits the wall behind her. I cage her between my arms, whispering in her ear "are we?" my voice is quiet and husky. Jude lifts her eyes to main, "are we what?" she is out of breath, confused, my cock is playing with her dress. "Are we being professionals?" I skid my nose over her jawline, Jude shivers from my touch, chills covering her soft skin.

  "Jude? Andrew?" Angela's voice comes from the door. Jude jumps like a scared cat. "We're here," she says, still her voice husky. I go upstairs, not saying a word.

  I can hear Angela and Jude talking on their way out. As soon as the door closes, I rush into the shower, get dressed in my suit and call my driver.

  I'm nervous, haven't been in those things for ages, probably people will ask questions. I don't care, I'm only here for one reason, and this reason is standing across the room with Angela and Mark, speaking to a few administrators from GB Team. Jude's eyes find mine; she looks surprised but continues her conversation. I walk towards them, trying to look casual and unaffected by people whispers about me. I see Mark hand on Judes back, the caveman in me wants to punch him in the face, Jude looks uncomfortable, tense, not knowing if it's my sudden appearance or Marks hand, I decided on being civilized, I wrap my arm around her waist and tag her towards me. Everyone looks surprised to see me, especially Mark, Jude leans into my touch, I give Mark a cocky grin. "Andrew, what a surprise!" On
e of the administrators says I don't know his name. "Haven't seen you in our events in years, is your new talent the one to thank for that?"

  Jude glances at me, she distances herself, but I pull her back. "She makes me do a lot of surprising things lately".

  Angela chuckles, "definitely".

  They continue their talk, Jude was telling them about her run this morning. We still hadn't talked about it. They ask questions about us working together; at some point, I excuse myself and Jude. I take her to the bar. She taps on the bar asking for water. I stand behind her, leaning in I whisper in her ear "relax, I got this" she nods Asking for wine. We walk around; I introduce her to everyone, we chat, make small talk. Angela and Marcus's sitting together, speaking quietly. We go to seat with them. The girls go to the bathroom, Marcus turns to me "I'm proud of you boy, hope you are here for the right reasons" I see the girls coming back to the table. "There is only one reason, and it's the right one.''

  23. Jude

  "So" Angela start enquiring about Andrew's appearances.

  "I don't know Angela, nothing is going on, I would have told you, promise."

  I'm just as confused as Angela; he told me he never comes to those events. That's a shame because he is so handsome in a suit, it's tailor-made, it fits him perfectly, I thought Andrew looked good before, seeing him in a suit, made my mouth water and my panties souk. And he trimmed his stubble, that by itself makes me hot for him.

  "Jude!" Angela huffs "where is your head?"

  "In the gutter." we both laugh, going back to the table.

  "What are all these events for?" I ask the people at the table.

  Marcus answers "this one is a show of money and status, there is a lot of money involved in sports. This event is GB athletic team show off; everyone comes, sizing each other" he says with a wink. I chuckle. "We need all these events to maintain our status, get good media coverage, get our runners reputation up. Also, a lot of people here donate money to our foundation, and you have to go to all of them, that was the deal with Mark, he really into helping kids get involved in sports and eat healthily."