“Mmkay, princess,” he muttered back as he dug into his wallet for a card.
I moved as quickly as I possibly could—thanking all the gods in heaven that there was only one woman in line for the bathroom and she let me cut ahead when I told her I only needed to wash my hands. After scrubbing the sticky mystery substance from my palms with a grimace, I dashed back to where I left Jared.
Who, of course, was missing in action.
“Oh my god,” I groaned. “Where the hell did he go now?”
“Ahem.”
I looked over to the bartender who was smirking with amusement and gesturing toward the dance floor. I spun around and scanned the floor, groaning when I spotted Jared being dragged toward it by two overeager blondes. In his defense, he was putting up a fight about it—wildly gesturing back with one hand toward where I was standing before he finally turned enough to see me.
The moment his glassy eyes locked on my angry ones, he broke into a wide grin. The girls pulled at his arms but he shrugged them away absentmindedly before moving back toward me.
“You came back,” he whispered in awe.
I gave him a ‘what-the-fuck’ look as I said, “Jared, I didn’t leave. I was washing my hands after crawling around on the floor to find your wallet.”
He seemed surprised and for a split second, I was sure he was going to open his mouth and tell me he didn’t believe me. Instead, he reached down and grabbed my wrists— bringing my hands up to his eye level to inspect them.
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh. I told you to stay put,” I grumbled before I pulled his arm over my shoulder and started guiding him to the door.
“Where are we going?”
“Home,” I said with a grunt when he leaned a little too much weight on me and nearly sent us both toppling over. I was nowhere near tall enough to hold up his massive frame like this for very long.
We made it outside and I was in the process of hailing a cab when Jared craned his head down so much that his lips brushed against the shell of my ear.
“Home. Sounds nice.”
I jolted with surprise and looked up at him questioningly. But he had already straightened himself back up and was letting his eyes roam the streets, drunkenly grinning at every person who looked his way.
I wasn’t entirely sure why I was so bothered by his choice of words, but I strongly suspected it had something to do with how perfect it felt for Jared to refer to my apartment as ‘home’.
As I helped him into the cab, a flash went off to my right. I instinctively knew what it was, but didn’t waste time looking over to confirm it. I just slid into the car and told the driver to haul ass— praying it had been a fan snapping the picture and not a photographer.
10
Jared
“Now this is more like it,” I said as I folded my arms over my chest and raised a brow at April.
She was donning a sexy red thong and nothing else, lounging comfortably on her bed. My bed. Our bed.
Whatever way you sliced it, she was giving me a come-hither look like she had been waiting for me.
Oh hell yes.
I crawled up the bed and settled between her spread legs, growling when she arched her back and pushed her tits up in the air. My intention had been to kiss her first, but I wasn’t going to pass up such a delicious opportunity.
Just as I stuck out my tongue to lick a tight pink bud, a loud ringing startled me. The noise was so sharp that I sat up on my knees and covered my ears, my head feeling like it was splitting in two.
What the—
I shot up in bed and instantly regretted the quick movement when my stomach rolled and my head pounded. After a brief moment of confusion, I identified the sound that interrupted my dream as my cell phone, which had been placed on April’s nightstand and plugged into the charger.
Last I recalled, I had switched it off. Which meant April must have turned it back on.
The phone stopped ringing and I glanced around, the girl in question nowhere to be found. But since I had obviously made it back to her apartment, I could safely assume that she was out on the couch.
Did she bring me back last night? I wondered as I swung my legs off the bed and leaned forward, willing my stomach to stop gurgling. Fuck, I haven’t been this hungover in a long damn time.
My cell started ringing again and as much as I wanted to ignore it, I knew I shouldn’t.
I pulled it off the charger and swiped to answer before I hoarsely said, “Yeah?”
“What in the ever-loving fuck is wrong with you, boy?”
With a wince, I pulled the phone a few inches away from my ear. “Good morning to you, too, coach. How’s the off season treating you?”
“It was treating me pretty damn well until I saw a picture of your drunk ass making the rounds of those gossip magazines. They’re calling you an alcoholic now.”
Shit.
“Coach—”
“What happened to that intern who’s supposed to be watching you? I can only imagine the brick that Lauren is probably shitting right now.”
The thought of Lauren reaming April for a mistake that was entirely on me just made me feel even more sick. Coach was still berating me for doing the exact opposite of what I agreed to do, but I was only half-listening. I knew I fucked up. I didn’t need him to tell me that.
What I needed was to fix it.
“Coach, I gotta go. I need to talk to Lauren.”
“Boy, you listen here. I—”
“Later.”
I ended the call and chuckled a little at the mental image of his face turning red as he clutched his phone, but the amusing thought only distracted me from reality for a moment. I slowly stood from the bed and waited a minute for the room to stop spinning, then headed out to find April.
The bathroom was empty and so was the kitchen. The couch had been slept on, but it was only obvious because the stack of blankets had been neatly refolded and moved to the other end. I searched for a note from April but came up empty. The only thing I found that was proof she had been there was the bottle of Aleve that she had left on the kitchen table.
I popped a pill into my mouth and leaned over the sink to catch some water, then swallowed it down. With a resigned sigh, I plopped myself into a chair and dialed Lauren’s number. She answered on the second ring.
“I guess you aren’t comatose.”
“What a lovely greeting,” I deadpanned. “Do you know where April is?”
There was shuffle on the other end, followed by a curt, “How the hell would I know that? You realize I’m on the other side of the ocean.”
“So you haven’t talked to her.”
“Not since last night and not for lack of trying,” she said—pausing for a second and growling. A moment later, I heard the sound of a zipper and I could feel the dread coiling in my gut. “Her phone’s been off all morning. I’m packing now—I’ll be there in a few hours.”
“You’ve got to be kidding. Look—”
“It’s fine, Jared. I made a mistake thinking an intern could handle this task. I should’ve known better. I’ll be—”
“Let me talk!” I shouted, sick of being interrupted. “Look, this is entirely my fault. Not hers. Stop overreacting and let me handle this one, all right? I promise there will be no more fuck ups while you’re on your honeymoon. Consider me a permanent fixture in this apartment until the results come back. Is that good enough?”
There was a long pause, then a heavy sigh. “When I spoke to April last night, she said you stormed out after a fight. I know the majority of the blame is yours— I have met you, after all— but she should not have let you out of her sight.”
I felt like an asshole. Intern or not— this was still April’s job and it looked like my defensive reaction to being rejected was about to make her lose it. Even though I was still dying to sleep with her, I needed to make this right if I wanted to have any chance in hell.
“Lauren, please.” I paused, letting the word sink in
for a moment before I continued. “Give her— and me— one more chance. I don’t want April to get in trouble because I was being a jackass.”
The silence stretched on for so long that I began to wonder whether the call was dropped. But my phone never beeped to alert me of it and after nearly a full minute, she let out a groan.
“Fine. One more chance. Only because I can tell how depressed William is about me wanting to leave.”
Thank god. I couldn’t care less about her reasoning— only that I had at least partially fixed things. Now, I just needed to apologize to April.
If she ever comes back.
“Do you really not know where she is? She didn’t leave you a note?”
“No. Just a bottle of Aleve on the table.”
“Hmm. I’ll keep trying her cell. Let me know when she gets back.”
“Will do. Let me know if you get in touch with her.”
“I will do no such thing. As long as I have your word that you’ll stay in that apartment, then I’m happy to let you sweat this one out. She likely just wanted to escape from you for a while.”
I growled my irritation, but nodded to myself. “Fine, fine. I suppose I deserve that.”
“You do. We’ll talk later.”
“Bye Lauren.”
The call ended without a good-bye from her end, but I was used to it. I sighed and dropped my phone on the couch beside me, propping my feet up on the coffee table while I resigned myself to waiting for April to get back.
11
April
After hours of taking refuge at the library, I finally resigned myself to going back to the real world. I stepped outside and turned my cell phone back on, rejoining the land of the living.
As I was making my way back into my neighborhood not even twenty minutes later, it rang.
“Where have you been all morning?” Lauren asked, the curiosity evident in her voice.
“Hiding at the library,” I easily admitted. It might not have been the best idea to tell my boss that I was purposely avoiding her client, but I refused to lie to her after everything that had gone down. “I’m assuming you’ve seen the picture.”
“You mean the one of you loading a rather plastered-looking Jared into a cab? Honey, I think everyone has seen that by now.”
I stopped walking and stepped to the side to get out of the way of the street traffic, leaning against a brick wall as I sighed. “I’m sorry, Lauren. I tried to get him out without being spotted.”
“He shouldn’t have been out of your apartment in the first place,” she fired back with a harsh edge that made me wince.
“I know. I’m sorry for that, too. I understand if you want to—”
“But Jared insists that what happened last night was entirely his fault and none of the blame should be placed on you. Just so you know— I disagree with him— but I’ll let this one slide. Consider it your one and only free pass.”
Bewildered, I asked, “Are you serious? You spoke to Jared?”
“Yes, he called to ask if I knew where you were. He promised not to leave the apartment, so if you’d like to let him sweat for a while, you’re free to do so,” she said with a chuckle, apparently enjoying the thought of an intern making Jared Moore wait around. But her amusement was short-lived and she darkly added, “Last chance, April. I’ll do as much damage control from here as I can, but I don’t want him even showing up on some random fan’s social media page until the results are out. Then we can decide how to proceed. Are we clear?”
“We’re clear. I won’t let you down again.”
Lauren snorted, her lack of faith in me ringing loud and clear.
“I guess we’ll see. But don’t make a promise you can’t keep.”
I clenched my jaw and nodded to myself. “I can keep it.”
“Good-bye, April.”
I opened my mouth to quickly thank her for giving me another chance, but the line went dead before I ever got the chance. I knew the only way to get back into her good graces was to finish the job without another incident, but the idea of going back and spending more time alone with Jared wasn’t sitting well with me.
Maybe it had something to do with the chills I got when he laid his head on my shoulder during the cab ride home the night before.
Maybe it was because of the way he leaned against me in the elevator, pinning me to the wall while he softly murmured that I was the most stunning woman he had ever seen.
Maybe it was because when I brought him to the bedroom, he had begged me to lie beside him and swore not to touch me. He just wanted me close. When I declined, he rolled off the bed and crawled after me. So I obliged him until he fell asleep— making sure to keep a foot of distance between us even though I ached to roll over and bury myself in his embrace.
He infuriated me to no end, but I wanted him.
Hell, if I was really being honest with myself... I kind of liked him.
Or at least I liked drunk-Jared.
Shaking off the thoughts, I headed back in the direction of my apartment, stopping at the coffee shop down the street to sit for another hour to try to convince myself that having a crush on Jared Moore was the stupidest thing I could possibly do.
But when I finally resigned myself to going back, my heart pitter-pattered with every step closer to my building and the man waiting inside.
Jared sleeping on my couch should have pissed me off.
After all, he was the one who rudely demanded that I give up my bed for him. He was a client and a guest and therefor deserved it more than me. So it was only logical that seeing him napping where he had made me sleep should have been irritating as hell.
But it wasn’t. He was curled on his side and at some point during his nap, he had tucked my pillow under his strong arm and rested his head on the blanket stack.
Watching Jared Moore cuddling with a pillow was painfully adorable. So much so that I was considering taking a picture, but thought better of it.
The last thing I needed was a reminder of this moment on my phone. My heart was already beating wildly enough and I was trying to silently steel my emotions to confront him. I carefully placed my bag down and closed the door, twisting the locks back into place as quietly as I could manage. I slipped my shoes off and tip-toed into the kitchen, putting the pizza I bought as a peace offering down before moving back into the living room to wake him up.
It was rather startling to find his eyes open and focused on me. I froze in place, staring blankly at him as he blinked a few times then sat up.
“You’re back.”
“Yeah. Sorry I took off like that.”
Jared shrugged. “It’s cool, I get it. Where were you?”
“At the library. I stopped on the way home to get that pizza I promised yesterday.”
He nodded and stood up, grimacing a little as he placed the pillow back on the couch. It was clear that he was embarrassed at being caught in a position that one might view as vulnerable, which led me to believe that he didn’t remember asking me to stay with him last night. As he staggered past me into the kitchen, I wondered just how much of last night he had forgotten.
We both sat down at the kitchen table to eat, his eyebrows raising with surprise when he flipped open the box and found it loaded with toppings.
“Went a little overboard, don’t you think?”
“I didn’t know what you liked so I figured you could just pick off whatever you don’t.”
He gave me a half-smile and lifted a slice, pausing midway to his mouth so he could ask, “Anchovies?”
“No.”
“Thank fuck.”
Then he bit into the slice, wolfing it down and going for another before I even made it halfway through my first.
The silence wasn’t entirely uncomfortable, but it was still too tense for my liking. Once I finished my food and washed it down with a glass of water, I watched him eat as I debated how to open the conversation we really needed to have.
“I know you called Lauren.”
His jaw stopped moving and his eyes darted up to meet mine. He tipped his head, motioning for me to continue as he finished chewing.
“You realize that you’re the only reason she isn’t here right now. Probably the only reason I still have a job.”
He reached for his own water and took a few gulps before he said, “I’m also the reason it was at risk in the first place.”
I studied him closely, realizing that he had absolutely no idea that his words were still true. Jared didn’t know about what happened to the interns and employees he slept with over the years. For a moment, I wondered what would happen if I told him. Would he care? Would he stop trying to push me if he knew the real reason?
Or would he overreact and fire Lauren? I couldn’t risk that possible chain of events, so I shoved the idea away.
“I just wanted to say thank you for owning up to it. Honestly, I went to the library just for the excuse to turn my phone off and avoid the call I knew was coming. I thought for sure she was going to fire me. The last thing I expected was to hear that you defended me.”
Jared suddenly looked uncomfortable and I could only guess that he wasn’t used to having sincere conversations with many women like this. Despite the fact that he was nothing more than a client – and I was doing my best to keep it that way – I realized I had let my thanking him become a little too personal.
So I straightened my spine and gave him a curt nod. “So... thanks. And she also said you promised to stay here for the remaining duration?”
Jared immediately sensed the shift in my demeanor and frowned, but nodded in response to my question. “Yeah, I’ll stay put. You don’t have to worry about that.”
“Wonderful. Then what do you say to a truce?” A cocked eyebrow was my only response and I rolled my eyes before I continued. “You and I both know we’re not going to last thirteen more days if we keep arguing like we have been. So let’s agree to stop bickering and act like adults. Deal?”
He hesitated and I wondered if maybe I was taking the professionalism act a little too far. He seemed pretty displeased with the way the conversation had gone, but if he didn’t want professional and he was uncomfortable with personal— what the hell did he expect from me?
Infamous: A Bad Boy Sports Romance Novel Page 5
