Wicked Player (A Rough Riders Novel Book 3)

by Stacey Lynn

  “I can understand that. It’s why I go to Velvet, too you know.”

  I knew that. “Yeah, but then I learned Jaxon was your brother and you had that connection with Hale. And then Shannon. Plus Velvet. I had no idea you knew the girls and it didn’t take long for my mind to spin and conjure a bunch of shit. It made me wonder if you were playing me, or if you and Connor were working together. It wasn’t right, Elizabeth. I know that. It wasn’t then, felt shitty even while I was thinking it.”

  I turned in the bed quickly and put my hands on her hips. “Oh!” she gasped in surprise, but I kept moving us until I was sitting, back to the headboard and she was in my lap. “I can’t do this not looking at you.”

  Her hands went back to my shoulders. She trekked her own movement down my arm and back up, down the front of me.

  My dick took notice and I gritted my teeth to will away the erection forming. “Keep doing that and it’ll lead to a lot more than an apology, Elizabeth.”

  She didn’t need the warning, I had no doubt she could feel my dick pressing against her backside. Somewhere I hadn’t been in awhile but seemed like a really great fucking idea in the moment.

  “You know how I met Shannon and I told you about my brother.” Her eyes stayed on my chest and I hated she wouldn’t look me in the eye. “And Connor, well, he’s a jerk. I didn’t know he had all that in him months ago. But I think what hurt more than your words, Gage, was that your instinct wasn’t to trust me.”

  Twenty-Eight

  Elizabeth

  Trust was something I freely gave. Perhaps too easily. Maybe I was naive. Growing up with such a great family and an easy life compared to many others, I gave that trust until you lost it or broke it. And often, I gave people several chances to lose it only because just like me, other people made mistakes, too.

  I would have understood if Gage had come to me and asked me questions. Yet that’s not what happened.

  He’d flung verbal bombs at me and hadn’t given me a moment to suit up in armor to defend myself against them.

  It still hurt and while forgiveness came easy, being vulnerable to move forward with anything with him wasn’t an easy decision.

  “I know.” His hands were at my hips, still holding me to him. Even through his soft Ohio State T-shirt, I felt the heat of his palms. The gentle brushes from his thumbs inside my hip bones.

  His cock was hard against my ass, making concentration difficult.

  A lot of this could have been avoided too if once he recognized me, he was upfront about it. Instead, he’d played his game, using me at Velvet while getting closer to me outside of it. Was I a game to him at the beginning?

  That thought hurt even worse.

  I dragged a finger down his chest, through his coarse hair there I loved so much. I loved he didn’t shave everything. He was all man and muscle and heart and brain.

  “Connor had a point though.”

  His hand gripped my finger and the speed of it made me gasp, meet him eye-to-eye. “Did he?” His jaw jutted and I almost smiled.

  He hated Connor almost as much as I did, and I didn’t hate anyone, but Connor was at the top of my strongly-dislike forever list.

  “I’m up for a promotion. I can’t have attention on me now, either. Not with that and if I embarrass the station…I’ve always wanted to be on the prime time news, sitting behind the desk, not out in the field. It’s my dream and it’s important to me. Connor made a point. NDA’s or not at Velvet, you’re too recognizable, at least now with the hospital. And if I get that promotion, if someone finds out…”

  I trailed off. I didn’t want to end things with him. I wanted Gage. I was falling in love with him and the mere idea of not having him in my life was unquestionable.

  But was the timing right?

  “I destroyed Connor’s phone,” Gage said, and the admission made me laugh.

  “What?”

  He nodded, brought my hand to his mouth, kissed my fingertips oh so sweetly and then pressed my hand back to his chest. His heart thumped beneath his skin, and he held me there, feeling the beat of his heart as for the first time all day, his eyes gleamed.

  “Went back into Super Bowl, ripped the phone out of his hand and stomped it to shreds. Then I handed him a thousand bucks, told him to get a new phone, and warned him that if those pictures showed up, ever, on any outlet, I’d do worse to his balls.” He grinned shamelessly. “Not one of my finer moments, but I don’t really give a fuck either. I think he got my message.”

  I imagined Connor’s face during that and my head fell forward. My shoulders shook with laughter and I collapsed against Gage’s chest.

  “We’ve done this all wrong, you know?”

  He tensed beneath me and his hand went to my scalp, ran through my hair. Delicious tingles spiked down my neck and spine. “What’s wrong?”

  “It was supposed to be a night of sex. Maybe we shouldn’t have continued that, not after you realized…”

  “When I realized the woman I couldn’t get out of my head was sitting in the front row of my first press conference? Yeah, I should have done something then, but I was worried you’d either done that knowing who I was or wouldn’t again once you knew I was your story.”

  “It could cost me my job.” I showed him my fear in my expression and the worry I had. “I can’t lose it, Gage.”

  “I won’t let you. I took care of Connor and the pictures. And as for Velvet, I don’t need it if I have you. Besides,” he ran his hand under my shirt. Pressed it up my back and I shivered. Lord, he felt good. Was so damn tempting. “The hospital stuff ends this weekend. After that, everyone will go back to not caring about us. If you’re with me and you can get past how big of a dick I was, I’ll call Tristan right now and end my membership. Give me the time to prove you can trust me.”

  I’d already made that call to Tristan’s surprise. I had too much baggage there. One with Connor, and if things between Gage and I didn’t work out, that was still the last place I’d want to return. I’d called the night I left the bowling alley. It could have been chalked up to a poor decision fueled by fury and wine, but in the morning when I woke up, I had no regrets.

  I shoved my hand through his hair and grinned. “I don’t know if you know what you’re asking. We don’t really know each other at all and this could get messy.”

  It was only a partial lie. I valued cleanliness and order to borderline obsessive tendencies.

  He pulled me to him until our lips pressed together. “Then we’ll be messy together and maybe through all our own messes, together, something beautiful could form.”

  I gasped at the beauty in his statement, the sincerity in his eyes, and the conviction in his tone. And then he kissed me.

  I’d called him a thief for stealing my breath along with my heart, but you couldn’t steal something freely given, so I melted into him, kissed him back, and when he yanked down his pants, pressed the tip of his cock against my center, I shoved my panties to the side and took everything he gave to me.

  “Gage,” I sighed his name as he filled me. My fingers clung to his shoulder.

  “I know, Elizabeth. It’s fucking heaven being inside of you.”

  “Rough morning?” Will asked as I arrived at my desk and plopped down my purse.

  I sunk into my chair and groaned. “Shayla was leaving outside,” I said. “Do you know why she was here?”

  His brows arched above his glasses frames. “No. But she was only in Shane’s office for a few minutes before leaving. She didn’t really stop and say hello to anyone, either.” He shrugged one shoulder. “Could be anything.”

  Great. I saw her outside when I was climbing out of my car that had somehow been delivered to my apartment building overnight. Gage meant it when he said he’d take care of it yesterday. I’d convinced him I couldn’t stay at his place last night. I hadn’t expected him to pack an overnight bag and insist on staying at my place with me, but I didn’t bother arguing either. I wanted him with me.


  “So, maybe she gave her notice?” I was trying to be hopeful, but I was exhausted. I could have easily blamed Gage for my lack of sleep last night, but it wasn’t solely his fault. It wasn’t solely him, either. I had an early morning and hours of work to do on the cutting room floor reviewing and editing footage for today’s final clip of the pre-opening of the children’s center. Considering everything that had happened in the last three days, I wasn’t exactly looking forward to talking about Brandon, but I had to. And that alone kept me up last night. And Gage’s sleep hadn’t been much better.

  “Elizabeth!”

  I jumped at Shane’s bellow and shot a glare at Will as he laughed. “Goddamn, woman. You have to stop doing that.”

  “I can’t help it.” I pushed away from my desk, still startled by the way Shane could make me jump like a rabbit every time. “He’s so loud.”

  “Coming!” I called back to Shane and gathered my things.

  I swiped my hand down my thigh, pointlessly smoothing out my gray wool pencil skirt and hurried to Shane’s office.

  “Good morning, Shane,” I said, taking my seat at one of the chairs across from his desk.

  “Elizabeth.” He stroked his gray lined beard and clicked a button on his computer before turning to me. His abruptness slammed my shoulders straight back.

  He was always friendly, and as his eyes landed on me, a trickle of unease settled low in my belly.

  Oh, this wasn’t good. Which meant Shayla’s visit meant bad things for me. Crap.

  “I saw Shayla this morning,” I said. All my dreams and hopes were crumbling, but I could take this hit. My job promotion hadn’t been guaranteed by any means. In all honesty, it’d probably been a long shot.

  “We’ll get to Shayla in a moment,” Shane said and spun his computer monitor toward me.

  As I caught the first glimpse of the photos on the screen, a curse fell from my lips. The images were grainy, and out of context, so…so very bad for me. But it couldn’t be denied that it was Gage and me outside Velvet. His hand at my waist and his lips were on mine. I was plastered to the side of my Explorer.

  This wasn’t happening. My hands curled into fists with the sudden urge to strangle Connor.

  “I can explain,” I said. My mouth went dry and I squeezed my eyes closed. “It’s not what it looks like.”

  “Really?” Two thick gray brows rose like bushy caterpillars on his forehead. “Because it appears you’re making out with the object of your current story, Elizabeth.”

  Oh damn. I hadn’t felt so scolded since I was thirteen years old and brought home a D in English Comp of all classes.

  “I know, sir. But—”

  “Outside of a fetish club?” He cringed at the word and bile rose in my throat.

  So the picture was exactly what it looked like. “It’s not…Okay. It is, but—” I shook my head. I had to know. “How did you get those?” The pictures on the screen weren’t the ones Connor had shown me. They were worse in that Gage and I’s faces were totally obvious. Fortunately, none of the pictures from inside Velvet were on the email. Thank God for small favors. But how many had he taken? And what else was coming?

  Shane adjusted his reading glasses and leaned toward the monitor, cringing again. “Came from an email lizzielikeskinkysex at gmail dot com.”

  Oh God. I was going to throw up. “What? Shane…”

  He lifted a hand and faced me again. “What you do on your own business is your business, Elizabeth. You know that. And regardless of what you do, you also know you’re always representing XTCP. And this not only puts you, and us, in a negative light, but it shows you kissing the source of your story.” He shook his head and pressed his forearms to his desk.

  Shit. Stupid. I was so stupid. I’d been so caught up in Gage and the crazy sex at Velvet with the stranger. Now it was too late. I should have walked away as soon as I realized they were one and the same. And there was no way I was explaining the ins and out of that part of all of this to Shane. Poor man might have a heart attack and I’d have that on my conscience.

  “It’s unprofessional at best, Elizabeth, and completely unethical at the worst of it.”

  His eyes were kind, blue eyes filled with so much disappointment, tears welled and threatened to spill. I’d screwed up. Stupidly. Hugely and there was no fixing it.

  “I know. I’m sorry. Does anyone else know?” I asked, pointing to the pictures. A fake email? Someone, i.e., Connor, had gone through a lot of work to keep that anonymous…and slapping me in the face at the same time. It had to be Connor, but was he really so vindictive? Despite his creepy attitude lately, I still couldn’t believe he’d sink this far.

  “Email was blind carbon copied to me. I have no idea who else has received this, but it’s the text that makes this even worse.”

  I didn’t want to know. I still had to ask and when I did, Shane leaned toward the monitor again and read:

  Elizabeth Hayes, reporter for XTCP gets up close and personal with the subject of her story for the last few weeks. Seen here, lip-locking with the Rough Riders very own wide receiver, Gage Bryant, outside a sex club just a week before his new family center opens at the children’s hospital.”

  Oh no. “I’m sorry,” I said again, sniffing away more tears. “I know you’re disappointed and this was such bad judgment. I know how bad this looks, and I should have told you when things changed. I know that now but I didn’t think. But Gage and I are seeing each other. It’s recent, but I can assure you that it in no way affects how I handled this story.”

  It couldn’t have. I didn’t even know the guy I was making out with was Gage until last weekend. It was such a lame excuse and yet honest at the same time. I should have gone to Shane as soon as I figured it out. I never should have gone to that private room at Velvet with him once I knew who he was.

  There were a million things I should have, could have, would have done if I had the chance to rewind time.

  In my lap, my phone vibrated and lit up. A text from Gage in all caps that sent my heart rate into overdrive. CALL ME. STAT.

  Shane was as perceptive as ever. “Let me guess. I wasn’t the only one to get the email.”

  I showed him the screen, shaking my head. “No. It appears not.”

  “This is disappointing. I had high hopes for you, Elizabeth, I really did. But you have to understand the position this puts me in.”

  Oh God. Did I? Wasn’t I sitting in Gage’s lap less than twenty-four hours ago worried about the same thing?

  “Would you like me to clear out my desk today or come back later?” The gavel was dropping. My job was over. What in the hell would I do now?

  “Let’s wait,” Shane said. And my brief moment of hope evaporated almost as quickly as it rose. “I have a meeting in an hour and if these photos go live and wide, I don’t know what the fallout will be. For now, you’re suspended and off the story. But let’s give it the weekend, wait for the damage to settle and we’ll see where you are.”

  It was better than getting fired. “I understand.”

  “I’m trying to be fair here, Elizabeth. But I can’t promise you anything. And you’ve shown a severe lack of judgment that I don’t know if my bosses will understand, and as far as Shayla—”

  “She’s coming back.”

  “No, actually. She stopped in early this morning and gave her notice. But I can most likely guarantee that if you are able to keep your job, you won’t get her spot. I am sorry about that.”

  I closed my eyes and sniffed again, unable to keep the tears away any longer. In my lap, my phone buzzed again, and I gripped it harshly. It was Gage again. I knew it.

  “I get it. And I really am sorry, Shane. I was caught up in everything and showed horrible judgment like you said. I take full responsibility for that. And I’m definitely more sorry for putting the station in the middle of this.”

  “You’re a good girl, Elizabeth. I know that. But for now, go home and we’ll touch base when I know more.”

&nbs
p; I nodded, swiped my tears and rose on trembling legs. The walk back to my desk took a lifetime and Amanda’s presence at my desk, hip up against the side, phone in her hand made everything worse.

  “They went public?” I asked at her expression. She didn’t need the clarification.

  Her lips twisted and her eyes held a heavy weight of pity. “Yeah. They’re up on Twitter by some of the local blogs already.”

  “Shit.” I dropped my head and grabbed my purse.

  “If it’s any consolation, he looks like a really good kisser.”

  “Jesus, Amanda,” Will said, walking around our desks. He placed his hand on my shoulder. “You okay?”

  “No. Suspended until we see the fallout. I need to go.”

  “We can do drinks tonight,” Amanda offered, but drinking was the last thing I wanted to do. At least in public. I’d seen the way gossip blogs went viral and with Gage as the subject, it was bound to be bad. So bad.

  Career ending, dream-crushing bad. I blew out a breath and reached for my purse. “Thanks, but I think I’ll just head home and wallow.”

  “Okay. But if you need me, call me. I can always come to you.” She wrapped her arms around me. I barely had the strength to lift mine and return it. “Love you, honey. It’ll be okay.”

  I wished.

  I said my goodbyes and left the station. Whispers and curious glances followed me. I kept my head down and ignored them all and it wasn’t until I was safely tucked into my car in the parking lot where I dared to look at my phone again.

  I wasn’t surprised to have more messages. More from Gage.

  PR just got emails, Elizabeth. Call me back.

  You okay? I’m sorry, damn it.

  Call me.