Mother by Fate

by Tara Taylor Quinn

  Roy knew they had been young. Dating when they were nineteen, married at twenty-two. Hell, she was still young now at twenty-six, which was why Roy knew she didn’t have to spend the rest of her life with Danny Worthless. If only she could see him for what he was, she could get out and start over with someone else.

  Someone like Roy.

  He didn’t like to admit that was his end goal. It made the motivation for this party seem much less noble and infinitely more Machiavellian. He didn’t kid himself to think that just because her marriage to Danny might end, she would suddenly see Roy standing in front of her with open arms.

  Maybe because you hit on her the first time you met her.

  Roy winced at the memory.

  Even with her shiny new diamond engagement ring on her left hand she hadn’t been safe from his come-on, although, to be fair, he hadn’t been all that serious about it. Hitting on the other players’ girls was something he did—Roy’s personal vetting process for the women who dated his teammates, to see where their actual loyalties fell. Were they with the ballplayers because of who they were as men? Or were they baseball bunnies looking for fame and fortune and any player would suffice?

  In a way, it was a matter of self-protection. Roy had been hit on by too many wives who wanted to climb the baseball hierarchy. Leaving their husbands to attach themselves to the next highest rung.

  The best. Roy Walker.

  Once he knew which category the women belonged to, he knew which ones to avoid.

  So the come-on to Lane had been a test. In a bar filled with Washington Founders players, her fiancé included, Roy had asked her if she wanted to get together sometime. Just the two of them. To discuss...baseball.

  A perfectly harmless invitation that Roy and Lane both knew wasn’t harmless. Only by the time he asked the question he already knew Lane wasn’t the type of woman who jumped from one player to the next. There was something too open about her to be that type. So when he made his pass he expected outrage and fury.

  Instead she’d laughed at him. Actually laughed at him. Head back, full-on hysterical laughter.

  “Seriously?” she’d said. “Are you kidding me? What are you trying to prove? That you’re some badass who can have any woman he wants? From what I’ve seen so far you’re sullen and brooding. Barely civil to your teammates. Hate to break it to you, Roy, but that doesn’t make you badass and mysterious. It makes you sad and alone. I wonder if you know what love is. Even if I wasn’t engaged, someone like you wouldn’t get to have someone like me.”

  In a sort of crazy twist, in that moment when she’d been telling him how pathetic he was, he’d come to admire her. He could see how right she was—someone like him would never be worthy of someone as open and giving as her. He’d spent every day since then trying to establish...what?

  He didn’t know if it was a friendship between them. He didn’t know if she took their small connection that seriously. And it was a small connection. A couple of words exchanged outside the locker room when she waited for Danny after a game. A hot dog or two at some out-of-the-way place he tracked down because he knew she loved them. Some mocking banter where she would call him out for being an ass.

  That connection, of course, was fueled by the fact that he needed her. Desperately.

  Lane Baker Worth was a miracle worker when it came to physical therapy. She called her specialty kinesiology, but Roy called it woo-woo medicine. Some magic she was able to perform with her hands and her fingers by applying pressure to certain spots of his body that allowed for greater blood flow and a decrease in inflammation.

  It wasn’t traditional, but it worked. Any athlete who wanted to avoid the drugs and sometimes even surgery sought out her services. She was the hardest appointment to get in DC. Athletes from all over the country would fly to see her for a couple of hours of work.

  Danny Worthless had that gift every night if he wanted it. Danny Worthless had her. Her spirit, her smile, her love of the game.

  It wasn’t right. And Roy had finally decided it couldn’t continue.

  The doorbell rang and, despite the loud music, he heard it as if it was a special sound sent out over a frequency meant only for him.

  Danny was on his way. Roy had gone so far as to text him that he had some girls here who really wanted to meet the Founders’ shortstop. Danny texted back that he already had some company and would be there soon.

  All Roy needed was the second actor in this play.

  He opened the door and Lane smiled at him. Half sincere, half suspicious. It was always like that with her. As if she was afraid there was some prank he had set up that she’d step into or some joke he would make her the butt of.

  Probably very smart of her.

  “You came.” Which made him irrationally happy. Crazy, considering what he planned for that night.

  “You said I had to,” she reminded him. “Or I would be, quote, ‘the biggest loser who ever lived.’”

  Roy smiled. “Clearly you have self-esteem issues if you thought you had to prove me wrong.”

  Of course she didn’t. No one in the world knew who she was as well as Lanie did. That’s what made her so damn compelling. She didn’t play games. She didn’t manipulate or strategize to get what she wanted. She was always simply who she was.

  Unlike Roy, who frequently didn’t have a clue about himself outside of being someone who could throw a ball.

  No, Lane definitely hadn’t hunted down Danny as trophy-husband material the way so many of the other wives had. She hadn’t pursued him like he was some prize to be won. Like baseball players were nothing beyond their gloves and hats and bats. And money. No, Danny had had to win Lane.

  It’s what made her different from the women currently in Roy’s penthouse, drinking his liquor and shaking their well-toned, surgically enhanced bodies. Doing everything they could to attract attention. Hoping some player would notice them and set them up for life.

  Roy saw nobody but Lane. Every damn time she was in the room.

  “Well, Danny’s not getting back in until tomorrow. Decided he needed one last golf game in Florida before the season starts next week. So I thought, what the hell.”

  A lie. Danny had been in town for two days. He was just spending his nights somewhere else. With someone else if his text was to be believed.

  That should be enough, Roy thought. Enough to end it.

  All Lane had to do was stay until Danny walked through the door with whomever on his arm. That alone should be enough to end their marriage. Lane wasn’t a person to tolerate disloyalty.

  Roy had no idea who the woman in question would be. Danny went through groupies like toilet paper. An easy thing to do when you were on the road for eighty-one nights of the season. It wasn’t as if he even tried to hide his behavior from anyone. As if he expected everyone to understand that when they were home, Lane drove him to every game, watched every play of every inning and then took him home when it was over.

  When Danny was on the road those tasks were done by some other woman.

  Of course the guys didn’t say anything. The locker-room bond was tight. It had to be to win championships. And this was a championship-caliber team, having already won two World Series and coming close again last year.

  So no one talked. None of the players talked to their wives. Or if they did, none of the wives talked to Lane. They all sat back and observed. As if it was entertainment to watch a dumb-ass twenty-six-year-old kid, who happened to have been gifted with athletic talent, shit on the princess of baseball. Night in and night out.

  Roy was done with it. When Lane had worked on his neck and shoulder recently he thought he could sense something in her. A sense that she wasn’t happy, and rather...lonely.

  Not that she would ever confide in Roy about her marriage. He was the man who didn’t know what love was. H
ow hard would it be for someone so proud to admit she was wrong about it, too?

  Which is why he decided he had to help her. Save her, really. She didn’t want to admit she’d picked the wrong guy. Understandable. No one wanted to admit their mistakes. Fine. He’d simply force her hand.

  In front of the whole damn team.

  “Uh, you going to invite me in?”

  Roy realized she was still standing in the corridor. He thought of some of the women he’d invited. Thought of the other nonwives who had come with some of the married players.

  Hell, he thought of the women he’d paid to be here. Backups to zero in on Danny if he didn’t show up with someone else.

  Lane would see it all. Instantly.

  No. Suddenly, he didn’t want to invite her in.

  This is stupid. A mistake. She doesn’t deserve this.

  “Look, you can’t change your mind now. I’m here, I’m thirsty and, if I have enough drinks, I might even dance.”

  Not waiting for his answer, she bounced around him and he had to move to let her in or risk her pushing him out of the way.

  “At least let me walk you to where you can put your coat down,” he said quickly, taking her arm. He needed to shield her from the party. They walked the long hallway from his oversize living room into a series of guest rooms. He didn’t think. Just led her into his bedroom and closed the door.

  Shit. You screwed this up. She is going to see all those guys not with their wives. She is going to see Danny not with her. This is going to hurt her.

  Roy wanted to open her eyes to the truth. He wanted her to leave her worthless husband. He didn’t want to destroy her faith. Not in love. Not when it was so damn pure.

  “Lane, I screwed up.”

  Her eyes widened. “Wow. Did you just admit you did something wrong?”

  He nodded.

  “Because the Roy Walker I know doesn’t do that.”

  “I get it. You think I’m an arrogant ass.”

  She smiled softly. “I don’t think it, Roy. You are. But I realize it’s a little, very little, part of your charm.”

  Damn, she was actually smiling at him. In fact, she’d been treating him differently since he’d helped her father by doing a charity stint at the Minotaur Falls Opening Day Fair. Danny had been away on another one of his “trips” and someone needed to raise money for the Youth Athletic League. Roy offered his services in exchange for a few therapy sessions.

  A few hours in the dunk tank and suddenly Lane had seen something in him that she hadn’t seen before. Maybe it was that she’d learned it wasn’t true that Roy didn’t do any charity work ever—a reputation he had fostered along with his ass persona. He just didn’t make a big show of his charitable work like so many of the other guys on the team. Which is why he never said anything about the equipment and uniforms he donated.

  Only Duff had made a point of thanking him for the stuff in front of Lane.

  Which meant his secret was out. He wasn’t quite the selfish, arrogant ass he’d always presented himself as. It must have been difficult, after years of thinking he was a pathetic scumbag, for her to realize he was a better man than he let on.

  The truth was he never really cared what other people thought. With Lanie, though, it mattered.

  Only now he was about to prove her shiny new opinions wrong. Really, really wrong.

  “Lane, I would like you to leave.”

  “What?”

  “This party...I don’t think...you’re going to like it. It’s getting a little out of hand. Not your kind of thing. I’m not sure what I was thinking asking you to come.”

  How far away was Danny? Hopefully twenty minutes. Maybe thirty. Roy should be able to get Lane away before Danny got here.

  “What’s the matter? Afraid I’m not hot enough to compete with all the eye candy out there. I saw how some of those girls are dressed. The ones dancing on your coffee table. By the way, those heels will leave scratches. I know I don’t compare.”

  She didn’t compare. They were nothing. She was everything. But Lane Baker wasn’t the type to worry about the other girls in the room. She was still smiling as if she found the whole thing funny.

  She shucked her coat and he could see she wasn’t totally unaware of what type of party he might throw. Dark, skinny jeans, high-heel boots up to her knees, a silver blouse that showed way too much cleavage, in his opinion, but was conservative in comparison to what the other women were wearing. Or not wearing.

  “Look, Roy, I’ve been around enough baseball bunnies to hold my own. I’ve been cooped up all winter, mostly by myself, and I’m looking to... I just want to have a little fun. You know? I promise, if I see the other players getting a little handsy with the bunnies, I won’t say a thing. I took a cab so I can get my drink on and unwind.”

  She walked toward him, but he still had his back to the door, shutting out the party. Shutting her in.

  “Let’s get out of here, then. I’ll take you someplace else. You can get your drink on there and I’ll make sure you get home safely.”

  She blinked at him. “You’re going to leave your own party?”

  “Yeah. Why not?”

  She huffed, her hands on her hips, and shook her head like he’d exasperated her again. He did that to her a lot it seemed.

  “Roy, I thought the whole point of this party was for you to make a new start with the team. Get to know them for a change. You said this might be your last season.”

  “It is my last season.” There was no negotiating that. One more year, then he was done. Thirty-two years of age, the best in the game right now. This was how he was leaving baseball. On his terms.

  “I figured you wanted to do something different. Get along with the guys.”

  “Why? I’m leaving. It’s not like I’ve ever been friends with them before.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Then why throw this big party?”

  He couldn’t tell her truth. “As a going-away thing, I guess. But I don’t expect anything to change in the locker room.”

  Where he had his bench, his locker, his privacy. No one bothered him beyond an occasional “Hey, man, you got an extra bar of soap?” It was his thing. Roy Walker, loner.

  “Roy.” She sighed. “You don’t always have to be alone, you know. If you just let people in a little, you’ll see we’re not all bad.”

  “You want in?” he asked, his voice suddenly rough with truth. “I’ll let you in.”

  He could see her expression change. Like she understood what he was offering. More than he’d ever offered any woman before. A good thing, then. Lane would get angry at the suggestion he wanted something more from her. She might slap him. Certainly she would storm out the front door in indignation.

  How long until Danny got here? Ten minutes? Maybe he would blow off the party completely. Happy with the company he was with currently.

  “You know it can’t be me,” she said tightly. She clasped her hands together. Didn’t look at him. “I’m married.”

  And there it was. So obvious, so bald it almost made him gasp. She’d said the words like a death knell. Like she was trapped in a cage with no escape. It was his mission to save her.

  “Get unmarried.”

  She jerked then, as if he’d hit her. When she looked at him, the tears in her eyes almost broke his heart.

  “I can’t. I can’t fail. Duff wouldn’t—”

  “Duff would understand. He loves you. He would support you no matter what.”

  “You don’t get it.” She shook her head, her hair brushed her cheek. A cheek he so badly wanted to touch because it couldn’t be as soft as he imagined. Nothing could, right?

  “Then tell me.”

  “When Duff lost Mom he made us all promise we would try harder. That if we married, we
wouldn’t make the same mistakes he made. That we would find a way to be happy. Danny and I...we can be happy. Again. I have to believe that. I have to.”

  Roy pushed away from the door and advanced on her. He watched her, waiting to see what she would do, but she didn’t move. Until he was close, so close their thighs were nearly touching.

  “What if there is something else? Someone else.”

  She put her hand on his chest. She wasn’t pushing him away, but it was her signal to stop. So he waited and just breathed her in.

  “I can’t...”

  “I can.” Without another word his head dropped and his mouth was on hers. And it was like no kiss he’d ever felt before. Not even his first. This was the thing he wanted. For so long and he hadn’t even realized it. Now she was here, and he was kissing her and—

  “No!” She backed up, almost stumbling to get away from him. “This is not who I am.”

  “Lanie, I know that.” God, how he knew that. Her loyalty was unquestionable. But she had to see that with Danny, it was undeserved.

  If she gave it to Roy, if he could have it, he would revere it and never betray it.

  “Don’t call me Lanie,” she said. “You can’t call me Lanie and you can’t... I shouldn’t have come. This was a mistake.”

  “Lane, I’m sorry.” Roy ran a hand through his hair. This wasn’t how it was supposed to play out. He was supposed to be saving her. Not taking her. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. I know you would never do that to him. But you have to know though this wasn’t some half-assed pass. Tell me you know that. At least give me that.”

  She stared at him and he hid nothing from her. She might as well see it. Might as well know what she meant to him. What all those conversations and outings together had meant to him.

  Everything.

  “I need to leave.” She grabbed her coat and he didn’t stop her. After all, wasn’t this what he wanted. Her storming out before Danny got here?

  Only it was too late.

  She opened the door and on the other side was her husband. Who had a woman with long blond hair, wearing a halter dress and stiletto heels, pressed against the wall. His hand was on her breast, his tongue was in her mouth and he was grinding against her.