Game Changer

by Rene Folsom

  By the time I turned back to thank Sky, she had vanished. I swear she was harder to catch than a fucking Golden Snitch. I felt like an idiot standing there, scratching my head, and looking around for the blue-haired girl who no longer stood in front of me.

  To hopefully save face, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and headed back out the revolving door, immediately looking up the retirement home. The place wasn’t far from Maci’s apartment, which might be another piece to the puzzle.

  Maybe I could catch her there and see what was so important—

  Stopping mid-thought and mid-step, I began an internal war in my head, arguing how many ways this was completely wrong of me to invade her privacy. Showing up at an assisted living facility she frequented? Was I nuts? She probably had a very good, very intimate reason to keep this from me. Plus, it wasn’t like we were an item. We only went out a handful of times and slept together twice for Christ’s sake—not like I was keeping count or anything.

  As I stood on the sidewalk, contemplating whether to get in my Jeep or head back into my office, people bustled by me. They had places to go, people to see, and there I stood, not knowing which way my legs should take me.

  I at least needed to get my happy ass in my Jeep, if nothing more than to think. Quickening my step, I made my way into the parking garage and hopped in, starting the ignition and putting it in reverse before I could change my mind.

  Common sense completely left me. Before I knew it, I was parking in front of the fancy retirement home and climbing out. My subconscious told me just what a mistake this was, but at this point, I didn’t care. I could just ask a few questions and then leave, right?

  Approaching the front desk, I eyed the residents and noticed this was definitely more of a community than it was a nursing home. The elderly seemed to be making their way around freely, some with walkers, some without. And my mind wandered to what family member Maci could possibly have in this place considering she said she lost her whole family in an accident.

  “May I help you?” a young desk clerk asked with a cheerful smile.

  “Ahh, yeah. I’m here to see Maci Layne, who’s vising a family member?” I couldn’t help the stutter that left my lips. After all, what would I do if they told me which room number? Just show up unannounced?

  “Sure thing. Maci is having lunch with her grandmother out in the atrium,” she said with a nod to her head in the right direction. “Could you please sign in here first, sir?”

  Her grandmother. Maci never told me she had a surviving family member. Considering this grandmother was important enough to come see every day, you’d think she would’ve mentioned it. Absentmindedly, I signed my name on the lines and immediately began making my way to the atrium, as if a magnet started pulling me, forcing me toward her.

  Before I rounded the corner, I could hear a hint of music—a song I hadn’t heard in quite some time—being sung a cappella with the most breathtaking harmonies I’d ever heard. The notes and words of Somewhere Over the Rainbow lifted through the atrium and filled the space with a sense of peace.

  Looking around, I tried to find the source of the melodic sounds filling my ears. It only took me a few moments before I spotted Maci facing an elderly woman with short, blonde hair. As they held hands across a small table, they stared at each other and continued to sing in perfect harmony, Maci keeping time with a slight nod of her head.

  Her voice was simply… stunning. It wasn’t until I saw the tears streaming down the old woman’s face that I realized this was a rather intimate part of them both. This musical bond they shared was beyond words and clearly touched their hearts and everyone who had the pleasure of hearing them.

  I suddenly knew I shouldn’t be here. This was not something I should be intruding on. She probably had her reasons for not telling me about this personal part of her life, and I was a total asshole for being so forward and nosy.

  As their song came to a close, I began to turn so I could get the hell out of dodge before Maci saw me. Suddenly, a large hand came down on my shoulder, halting me before I could get my first step in.

  “William Allen. What a surprise,” the big man said, and I knew immediately who had a hold on me.

  “Big Jim,” I said, turning to face him and praying with all my might that Maci didn’t hear my name echo through the spacious walls of the atrium. What the fuck was he doing here?

  Glancing in Maci’s direction, my worst fear was realized.

  The look of bewilderment and betrayal on her face told me all I needed to know.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Maci: Sacred Hideout

  Seeing Liam in my sanctuary, my own personal space, didn’t frighten me quite as much as seeing Big Jim’s slimy hands on him. The sudden need to defend him, save him, overtook me, flooding my thoughts and wishing my grandmother wasn’t sitting in front of me to see my rage toward her son.

  “Grams, I see someone I’d like to say hello to. I’ll be just a moment, okay?” I said with a fake smile as I quickly got up from my seat and made my way across the atrium. Looking at the nearby orderly, I tried to speak as quietly as possible and said, “Keep an eye on her for a few, I’ll be right back.”

  I heard my Grams mutter something about being able to take care of herself, which was common for her to say if she thought someone was coddling her too much. At this point, I didn’t care, knowing she’d forget in a mere few minutes, and swiftly made my way toward the two men invading my space.

  My heart was hammering in my chest with adrenaline as I approached them, Liam’s eyes wide with shock, while my eyes were filled with contempt for them both.

  “Both of you, out front. Now,” I ordered, grinding my teeth in every attempt to keep from yelling. I really didn’t want to make a scene here and risk being asked not to return.

  “I think I’ll just stay right here, doll,” Big Jim sneered.

  “Don’t call me doll and get your ass outside so we can talk without an audience,” I muttered beneath my breath, attempting with every fiber of my being to control my anger and hatred for this man.

  “I don’t need to talk. You two go have a good time. I’ll take care of Mom from here.” Before I could argue with the man, he turned and stormed toward my grams.

  “Ugh,” I groaned, gritting my teeth as I watched the sly smile creep across Jim’s face followed by a condescending and territorial wink. He knew damn well I couldn’t do shit about it. It killed me to have zero control.

  Grabbing the stunned Liam by the hand, I gently, but swiftly pulled him to the lawn area out front where we could talk. I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins, heating me from the inside out. As soon as we cleared the doors to the outside world, he spoke… which was a huge mistake. Huge.

  “Maci, I’m—”

  “Stop. You don’t get to speak first,” I grumbled, dragging him to the small park area across the street so we could be fairly secluded from other residents. I wasn’t really dragging him. The outward appearance would just be two people swiftly walking hand in hand. But he knew damn well he didn’t have a choice. No man did when they were caught with their goddamned pants down.

  As soon as we were alone, shrouded in trees and out of earshot, I stopped, throwing his hand free from mine like it was poisonous. I fisted my hands at my sides and turned to face him. I wanted to yell, not necessarily out of anger, but frustration and hurt. Instead of yelling though, my voice came out weak, nearly whispering over the surrounding city noise.

  “You… this…” I stumbled, unable to get the words out. A tear threatened to fall from the corner of my eye, and I pushed it away before it could surface and show how truly fragile I was. The fact my emotional weaknesses were completely on display made my anger boil even more. It was as if this man did everything in his power to make me feel when all I wanted to do was shut off my emotions for just a few goddamned moments.

  “I’m sor—”

  Putting my hand up in his face, I abruptly stopped the apology that
was about to spew from his mouth. As if the barrier strengthened me, I finally found my voice. “I cannot believe you would show up here uninvited and unannounced. If I wanted you here, I would’ve asked you to come along. I mean, don’t you see how fucked up this is?”

  “Yeah, but—”

  “Stop! I’m not done!” I yelled, my voice gradually increasing in volume as I waved my hand around like a crazy Italian lady, never allowing him to answer. “So, what? Did you think because we finally fucked that you could follow me here? Worried that I wasn’t giving you all of my attention, so you just had to come see who Maci was shacking up with on her lunch break today?”

  He opened his mouth to speak, but I didn’t let him, my voice getting louder and louder with each word. “No. You know what? Don’t answer that. I don’t really care what excuse you have. You invaded my privacy, Liam! I told you lunchtime was off limits, and I meant it. Was this some sort of payback for your fucking DS being shattered to bits?”

  “Hush—”

  “Don’t tell me to hush!”

  “You’re acting crazy.”

  “Oh, I’m acting crazy? Who followed who?”

  “People are staring!”

  “I don’t give a shit! You just walked in on something I wasn’t ready to share with you yet! And you want me to quiet down?” Closing my eyes and taking a few deep breaths, I finally managed to look at him, my vision blurring with unshed tears, and asked, “What is so goddamn important that you had to spoil this little bit of time I have with the one person who means the most to me?”

  “Is it my turn now?” he asked, the face of shock long gone as a mask of anger enveloped his features.

  “Have at it,” I said with a nod, crossing my arms over my chest before giving him permission to finally speak.

  “God, Maci,” he rasped, running his fingers through his hair as he looked to the ground, and then back up at me. “You act like I purposefully came here to ruin your fucking day. I’m sorry for just showing up, okay? I honestly didn’t mean to stalk you like some psycho asshole. I just… damn. I don’t have a reasonable answer. You just walk around with such confidence, yet you’re so goddamned closed off, I just don’t know where I stand. One minute, you’re amazingly affectionate and passionate, the next, you push me away like day-old garbage. How am I supposed to know when you’ll open up to me, if ever?”

  Turning my gaze away from his intense, blue eyes, I chewed on my bottom lip, contemplating what the fuck to say to that. On the one hand, I wanted to tell him to just give me time. On the other, I wanted him to just shut up and understand that I was who I was, flaws and all. Part of me kept my heart protected in this fortress, tucked away neatly high up on a shelf, so that I knew no one would come around and stomp all over it.

  Instead, I took the pussy route. “I need you to respect my boundaries, Liam.”

  For some reason, that statement just agitated him even more. Turning away from me and pacing a few steps, he whipped back around, gathered me up in his arms, and said, “How’s this for boundaries?” Before I could take a breath, his lips were on mine, kissing me so hard, so passionately, I thought for sure we’d end up humping here on the damn grass.

  With his warm mouth pressed against mine, our tongues warring to push past both our boundaries, I completely lost my head and wrapped my hands behind his neck, pulling him to me. Just when I thought I could live like this forever and our embrace would never end, Liam grabbed me by the shoulders and pushed me away, breaking our connection so abruptly, all my air went with it.

  Gasping, I struggled to regain my balance as he backed away.

  “I just wanted to get to know the Black Cat who rang in the New Year with me so long ago.”

  Leaving me tongue-tied, Liam turned on his heel and walked away.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Liam: Knowledge is Power

  I couldn’t help but grumble and curse the whole way back to my Jeep. I knew I was in the wrong by infringing on her private life like that, but there was no way I’d put up with the damn lashing I got in return—especially since I tried numerous times to apologize.

  I didn’t bother to turn back and look at her as I walked away. I knew I had stunned her silent. Right now, she was probably freaking the fuck out that she hadn’t recognized me before. Either that or she knew and didn’t want me to remember, therefore freaking that I found her out. Whatever. She could stew on that for a while.

  I had so many questions to ask her, but I was way too pissed to even attempt them at this time.

  She told me she’d lost her entire family, so why hide this grandmother from me? What was so goddamn important that she felt the need to keep it a secret? It wasn’t like family hadn’t come up in conversation yet. I suddenly felt stupid for pouring my heart out to her about my fucked-up family life.

  And what the hell was up with Jim Celeste being there? Was she related to the bastard? If so, she shouldn’t have pretended not to know him at the gala.

  The lies were just continually unraveling, and I was having a hard time figuring out which way was up as I rocketed my happy ass back to work, whipping into the parking garage like a bat out of hell.

  Resting my head on my steering wheel, I took a deep breath to try and calm myself, but all I could think about was the deceit. I couldn’t help but wonder what else she’d been hiding from me. Did I even know her at all?

  It wasn’t the fact she hid stuff from me—I mean, we were barely dating, if you wanted to even call it that—it was that she got mad as soon as I showed even a little interest in getting to know her better. And to think she’d been consorting with fucking Big Jim had my blood boiling over. Now that was something she should’ve shared with me, especially considering we talked about the asshat on multiple occasions. She knew he was my mortal enemy. Was that not important enough of a reason to mention she was related to him somehow?

  My phone buzzing once in my pocket startled me, making me jump from my skin momentarily, and I considered ignoring it completely. If it was her, I didn’t want to know. If it was work, I didn’t want to know. Who else would even care enough to call or text?

  Gritting my teeth, I pulled out my phone and answered my own internal question.

  “Thad.”

  Hey, douche. Your meeting is in 30 minutes, and we need to powwow beforehand. Where the fuck are you?

  I rolled my eyes. I knew he had people on his ass about things, but I wanted nothing more than to be left alone right now. I had to stop myself from throwing the phone across the parking lot and, instead, responded to his text.

  In the garage. Be up there in five.

  Laying my head back on the headrest with a thud, I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths. I needed to make sure I didn’t show any emotion at work. Otherwise, these nerds wouldn’t leave well enough alone and the questions would undoubtedly break my brain.

  Moments later, I was startled again, this time by a loud banging noise, bringing my attention to the door leading inside the building.

  There he stood, attempting to look all badass with his hands on his hips.

  “Dickwad, quit sobbing over some chick and let’s go,” he shouted, his voice echoing off the barren concrete walls.

  I made sure my groan was audible as I climbed out of my Jeep, stuffing my phone in my pocket, and languidly following my friend through the doors and into the air-conditioned building. My mood was getting worse by the second, but I knew I couldn’t blow off this meeting.

  As soon as the elevator doors slid closed with a ding, Thad turned to me.

  “What the hell is up? You seriously need to tell me right now and get it out of your system before we get up there. Walk in the meeting with a scowl on your face and the bitches will think it’s because of them.”

  “Bitches?” I questioned, wondering if I had the correct itinerary. I was supposed to be meeting with the web programmers about a serious overhaul we had planned on the site. “If my memory serves me right, they’re dudes.”


  “Not anymore. If you would stop doodling hearts on your damn memos and actually read them, you’d know that we had to let the dudes go. Hired a new team. Two chicks. They’re supposed to be way better and faster too, from what I’ve heard.” Hitting me on my back, Thad got my attention before continuing his rant. “But if you walk in looking like you’re out to get revenge for whoever just kicked the shit out of your puppy, then they’re likely to take it personally—all chicks do.”

  “Way to pigeonhole a gender. Not all chicks are that unstable,” I spat back. The thought of gender stereotyping immediately made me think of Maci and how she probably would’ve made a Thad-size dent in the metal walls of this elevator by now. The idea of his head being permanently imprinted in the surrounding surfaces made me laugh out loud.

  “What’s so fun—?”

  A startling tremor cut off his words as the elevator came to a jolting stop and the lights went out. My heart began to pound, the lack of sound making the blood whoosh in my ears like rolling waves. Small spaces were definitely not my friend, and I could feel the tendrils of suffocation enveloping me with each passing second.

  “Ahh, fuck,” Thad cursed, punching all the buttons like a child. “We’re gonna miss the meeting,” he whined.

  “That’s what you’re worried about? Heh.” I hurriedly pulled my phone out, thinking I could call someone. “No signal.” Just great.

  In an attempt to calm myself and give the appearance that I was composed, I leaned back against the elevator wall, crossing my arms and my legs to get comfortable, giving zero fucks about missing a damn meeting. The walls felt like they were moving—closing in on us—inching us closer and closer to our impending deaths.

  “And you’re not?” he exclaimed, a little louder than necessary.

  “Eh. I’d be more worried about what to do when I need to take a piss,” I joked, figuring humor would be the only way for me to keep from flipping shit. I was only half serious about needing to pee. Maybe.