by Various
“Way, way too much,” Brooks growled.
“Well, they’re just tense,” Annabelle reasoned. “They’ve worked hard to win this and they’re probably just…you know, nervous and taking it out on each other.”
“Yeah, well, unfortunately I know just what tactics Lolly resorts to when frustrated with Vance.”
“What do you mean?”
“When Vance makes her crazy, she kisses him.”
“Kisses him?”
“Yes, kisses him. That sound a little strange to you? Because it sure sounds like bullshit to me.”
Annabelle waggled her head, unwilling to throw her new business partner under the bus but unable to disagree. “Well, you don’t think she does that a lot, do you?”
The way Brooks rubbed his hands together and the way his jaw got all tense didn’t bode well. “As far as I know, it's only happened once.”
“Oh, well, once,” she grinned. “Even I’ve kissed Vance Evans once. Let’s order lunch, shall we?” Annabelle suggested, waving over a waiter with some menus.
Lunch came. The match started. The first set went easily to Vance and Lolly. Mr. Evans and Genevra came up from where they were watching to say hello between sets. Duncan arrived in the middle of the second set, just as Vance lost his serve.
“Uh-oh,” Duncan said, sitting down. “That’s not good.”
“They’re doing well,” Annabelle assured him. “Won the first set 6-3. It’s fine.”
But it wasn’t fine, Annabelle started to realize. It wasn’t fine at all. Lolly and Vance continued to play well, but their opponents started playing out of their minds. Out of reach shots careened by Lolly. Drop shots landed dead on the line for the other team and just out for Vance. The two of them weren’t talking for several games, and then they appeared to start sniping at each other between points. They lost the second set 4-6.
The couples took a water break when they changed sides after Vance and Lolly lost another game. Vance stood close to Lolly’s side, barking in her ear until she finally nailed him with her elbow. He grabbed her arm, pulled her close, and put his face right up in hers. They stood like that, arguing, until their opponents had been standing on the court ready to play for a full minute. Finally, Vance released Lolly and they moved to their side.
Brooks cleared his throat, leaned forward, and put his forearms on his thighs, rubbing his hands together. Quietly he asked Duncan, “Any luck finding this Piper Beaumont? Because, in case you are fucking blind, Vance has fallen for my girl and distracting him from her right now would be a really good idea.”
Duncan shot Brooks a horrified look. “What do you mean, he’s fallen for Lolly?” There was no missing the panic in Duncan’s voice.
“He admitted as much a couple weeks ago. Said he could handle it. Told me it wasn’t going to be a problem.” Brooks glanced down at the court as Lolly won her serve. Watching as Vance celebrated by pulling her ponytail. “But from where I sit at the moment it looks like one giant nightmare.”
“Oh, shit,” Duncan cursed.
That caused Brooks’ head to swing toward Duncan. “What?” he demanded.
Duncan assumed the same position Brooks was in so their heads were close together. Annabelle had to strain to hear their conversation.
“He called off the search for Piper.”
“What are you talking about?”
“When I called and told him I’d found her right where he told me to look, he told me to drop it. Said he didn’t want to go down that path anymore. I told him I could easily arrange an introduction and why not just see where it would lead? He shot me down. Wasn’t interested.”
“He told me you were taking your time finding her. Being discreet.”
“Didn’t take me any time. She’s a friend of a friend. He could have met her weeks ago.”
Below them, Lolly and Vance broke their opponents’ serve and celebrated with a high five.
Brooks leaned back in his chair, blowing out a long breath. He crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. “Okay. So…obviously…he’s, what? Attached to Lolly,” he answered his own question with an air of finality. Then he started to rub his hands through his hair, speaking slowly as if trying to unravel a mystery. “Which isn’t surprising because she’s the first woman who’s treated him like a human being in years. He’s latched on to her because she’s made him use his verbal and physical skills to do something other than give her an orgasm. They talk about books. They engage in sports. They joke, they laugh, they argue, and they piss each other off. Of course he’s going to fall for her. She’s pulled him out of his five-year abyss of feeling nothing but momentary sexual release.”
The three of them sat in silence, watching as Vance won his serve. Then all three heads jolted at once when Lolly smacked him on the butt.
Annabelle wanted to bang her head on the table because the more points Vance and Lolly accumulated, the more intimate their touches became. The wider their smiles. The more flirtatious their actions. And as much as she heard Brooks trying to reason it all out, he was now standing with his arms crossed over his chest, rubbing his face whenever the interaction below got too uncomfortable to watch. One look over at Duncan told her this was bad.
Finally…finally the match came to an end. Lolly and Vance threw up their arms in victory as their opponents’ last shot bounced just outside the back line. They embraced and walked up to the net to shake hands with the other couple. Once the sportsmanship had been handled, Vance picked Lolly up, twirled her around, and kissed her hard on the lips. The kiss lasted just that much too long.
Annabelle sat defeated, unable to offer any sort of pretense as the three of them silently watched Vance and Lolly head into the clubhouse together.
Brooks could feel the weight of Duncan’s concern. But the complete and utter numbness he was experiencing prevented him from pulling his gaze from the ground. He was numb. And hurt.
Numb and hurt and pissed off and…numb.
He held a palm up toward Duncan and Annabelle and turned to walk away. He heard Duncan murmur something and then the sound of his footsteps coming from behind. He appreciated his friend’s dedication, but he didn’t want to discuss it. He really didn’t.
“Hey,” Duncan said quietly as he maneuvered alongside him—slow, steady steps heading to the parking lot. And then to God knows where.
“Hey,” Duncan said again, and Brooks sucked in a breath and did what he had to do. He turned and faced his buddy. It cost him about everything he had left.
“You know. That was just a— ”
“A what?” Brooks asked. “That was just a—what?”
Duncan met his eyes and Brooks watched all the life drain out of them. Just like his own. “Yeah. I think we both know what that was,” Brooks acknowledged and started walking again.
“Look, man,” Duncan said, coming after him. “I’m sure it wasn’t exactly what it looked like. I’m sure it was the heat of the moment. Competition and tension and neither of them meant it.”
Brooks’ hands flew up in the air as he spun on Duncan. “I’m not an idiot! I mean, I’m not a complete idiot. After knocking my head against the wall a few times even I can read what they could not have spelled out any clearer. And yeah! It sucks. And it must really suck for you as you are caught in the middle of this shit. But—” Brooks turned around, looking for a solution to materialize out of thin air. Finally he slapped his hands down against his sides. “I can’t help you with this,” he said, shaking his head.
“You don’t have to help me,” Duncan said, following after Brooks. “I told you I had your back on this. If we need to roll Vance, we roll Vance. If you need to kidnap Lolly and shake some sense into her, then I’ll run interference. I’m your wingman. You tell me what you want and I’ll make it happen.”
“Tell you what I want?” Brooks shouted, stopping and turning so fast that Duncan ran into him. “What I want is for Lolly to have taken her head out of the game for one split second, long enou
gh to find me in the crowd and throw me a goddamn bone like I mean something in her life.” He pushed at Duncan’s chest as he moved forward, picking up steam. “I want you and Annabelle to move your asses to Henderson so you can help me run interference on this kind of shit with Vance regularly.” He resorted to poking Duncan in his chest while saying, “And I want Lewis to figure out that his business is now stable enough and he’s now rich enough to move his multi-million dollar company back to Henderson so he can attract bright and energetic young people here by creating a whole lot of new jobs.
“What I want is to be surrounded by my friends. What I want is for all of us to be happy. And if you can find a way to make that happen, then you are a miracle worker. Because after what we just witnessed, it is painfully obvious that the best thing that ever happened to me is also the best thing that’s ever happened to Vance. He’s in love with my girl. My girl! And she’s…she’s Lolly. And there isn’t anything you or I or a thundering herd of archangels can do to change any of that.”
Brooks turned and headed to his truck, leaving Duncan to call after him. “You can’t just walk away.”
“Watch me!” Brooks shouted back and then picked up his pace. He was gonna walk away, go throw back a few shots, and eventually get himself to work right on time—like his heart hadn’t just been pitched, tipped, and slammed against the cage, shattering into tiny glass fragments left for someone else to stomp into the dirt. He was walking away.
“You gotta fight for her,” Duncan called.
Ha! He almost laughed. He’d been fighting his whole life. Fighting to do the right thing. Fighting to be the stand-up guy. Fighting to keep friendships thriving. Yeah, he’d fought the good fight and look where it got him. Sick and tired. Sick of being the Hero of Henderson and tired of excusing Vance because his mother left him.
Yeah—he was done with that.
And good for Vance, he thought as he opened his truck’s door. Ended up landing himself a great girl. And like Annabelle had said, they sure look good together.
Well, fuck that. Fuck all of that. He was now an island.
There was a loud banging on his passenger window as he started the truck. He turned his head to shout at Duncan, but his words caught in his throat. “What the hell?” he muttered as his ex, Tansy Langford, opened the door and slid inside.
“I need a ride,” she told him.
Like hell.
He didn’t fasten his seat belt, didn’t bother to look at who was calling his cell—he just threw his truck into reverse, backed out of the spot, and then hit the gas, throwing it into first and laying rubber on his way out of the parking lot. He managed to get up some pretty good speed heading down the long driveway of the Club.
“Wow!” Tansy said after falling forward and slamming back into her seat as he hit the brakes at the end of the drive. “Is there a fire somewhere?” she asked.
Brooks turned his head and shot her a long, hard stare. Finally he said, “You’re smart enough to know what’s going to happen here, right?’
“I am.”
Brooks simply nodded and turned his truck west, toward home.
Chapter Twenty-six
Vance and Lolly had played a couple of tough matches to get to the finals, but nothing like that one. Which made the win all the sweeter.
They stood at the water fountain going over their game, analyzing the second set for several minutes. Then they shared in the exhilaration of winning all over again by reliving their comeback in the third set, point by point.
Genevra and Hale showed up to congratulate the newly-crowned mixed doubles champions, offering to buy drinks and lunch up in the mixed grill to celebrate. Vance accepted readily, as Lolly checked her watch and looked around.
“Where’s Brooks?” she asked.
“Brooks?” her mother questioned, shooting a look at Hale.
“He usually meets us here after a match.”
“Are you …? Aren’t you two …?”
“I think what your mother is trying to say is. What the hell is going on?” Hale snapped. “By the middle of that third set, we’d become convinced that you two are now an item.”
“What?” Lolly said, looking horrified. She pulled out her cell and dialed. “That’s ridiculous,” she said, putting the phone to her ear. She waved her other hand between herself and Vance. “That’s just the way we roll.”
“That’s the way you roll?” Hale repeated, his brows lifting, his eyes zeroing in on his son. When Vance only returned his father’s steady stare, Hale placed a hand on his son’s shoulder and moved him away from the women. “You want to tell me what’s going on here?” His low voice was almost a whisper. “Because I’m not quite as young and naive as lovely little Lolly. And neither are you,” he said pointedly.
“Nothing,” Vance said, dragging a hand through his hair. “Nothing is going on. Unfortunately. She’s mad for Brooks and I’m…I’m just an experiment in socialization.”
“Come again?”
Vance let out a long exhale of breath. “She’s helping me refine my taste and appreciation for women.”
A single burst of laughter exploded from Hale. “And how’s that working out for you?”
“Obviously, it’s boomeranged, Dr. Phil,” Vance scowled, exasperated that his father would find it all so amusing. “Because now we’re friends. Which boils down to her being the woman in my life in all things—except the bedroom.”
“You’re in love with her.”
“It sure feels that way.”
“And Brooks loves her too?”
Vance barked a harsh laugh. “For a whole lot of years now. I can’t mess with that.”
“But you are. You know that, right? You’re definitely messing with that.”
Vance simply stared at his father. Yeah, he’d been messing with that.
“Listen, son. Even I can see Lolly is about ten sticks of dynamite tied together in one pretty red bow. And right now you are waving around a BIC lighter while Brooks is striking a pack of matches.”
“Your point?”
“This thing is about to explode.”
The two men looked over at the women. Lolly redialing and Genevra laying a hand on her cheek, trying to get her attention.
Hale turned back to his son, releasing a deep breath. He spoke quietly. “You know about risk and reward. What’s the risk in lighting this thing up? Telling her how you feel?”
Vance tilted his head in her direction. “She’s in love with the good cop.”
“Didn’t see a lot of evidence of that during the tennis match.”
“The heat of the moment. Like you said. Dynamite.”
“Maybe. But it’s time you two had a serious conversation. When the Hero of Henderson doesn’t show up to congratulate his best friend and his girl, there’s a problem. He might be the good cop, but he’s also human.”
“Yeah,” Vance moaned. “I am so getting my ass kicked over this one.”
Hale chuckled while patting his son on the back. “Let me see if I can extract Genevra from the situation. But do yourself a favor and be honest. With Lolly, with Brooks, but most of all, with yourself. If Lolly’s the love of your life, by all means fight for her. But if you love her because of her friendship, because of what she’s added to your life, then tell her that. Appreciate that. And then honor what she has with Brooks by keeping your hands to yourself.”
Vance smirked, glancing down and then back up at his father. “Would it have killed you to have had this conversation back when I was sixteen?”
Hale tapped his son gently on his cheek. “My bad,” he said with a wink and a smile. Then he left to drag Genevra off, mouthing a ‘good luck’ before leaving him alone with Lolly.
“He’s not answering his phone,” Lolly told him as he approached.
The desperation in her eyes opened a hole in Vance’s gut with pain so sudden and real it caused him to suck in a harsh breath and pull up short. Emotion spilled from his five-year-old, ironclad, blissful s
tate of denial. And it burned.
He’d actually been harboring hope. Jesus.
In an effort to leverage himself against the torment, Vance straightened his shoulders, tucked his hands in the pockets of his tennis shorts, and took a long, deep breath.
His gaze softened as he took in the complete picture of the girl he’d been crazy about for the past eight weeks. Ever since she’d hobbled into his training room with her pretty brown ponytail and her smoking hot sundress. Ever since he’d picked her trim body up and sat her on that table, massaged her feet, and tried to seduce her into going out with him.
The sharp jab of disappointment he had felt when Brooks barged in that day and claimed her as his own was a minor blister compared to the wound that was starting to ooze and fester around the area of his heart.
His throat clamped down on the swell of emotion threatening to rise up and swamp him. Oh, he loved Lolly. There was no denying that. Spending time with her had changed him. Just as they’d planned. So here he stood: a new man. Celibate. Appreciative. Enthralled. Hoping against hope that she wasn’t the love of his life, since she was already the love of Brooks’.
He’d intended to tell her it was going to be all right. That Brooks would understand. That he’d forgive their public display of…whatever on the tennis court. He intended to release whatever claim he might have on Lolly—but then he stopped. And an internal war started to rage.
“Has Brooks told you why?” he asked. “Why he’s been…interested in you for so long?”
Lolly lowered her phone, her expression uncertain. “He said something about low-riding jeans when I was eighteen.”
“And you believed that? I mean, considering this is Brooks we’re talking about, doesn’t that sound a little…shallow? A little more like something I’d say?”
“You’re confusing who you are with your…your act. The real you is complex and complicated. Driven, disciplined, and self-aware. It’s going to take a lot more than a pair of low-riding jeans for you to fall in love.”
“You sure about that? I’m pretty sure all it took for me to fall in love with you was your short little sundress.”
