Hang Em' Up: A Bad Boy Sports Pregnancy Romance

by Ashley Stewart

Iraja put her phone away reluctantly and entered the room. I looked over to see Jackson chatting up the secretary.

  “You might want to hurry,” I murmured to Jack as I passed him on my way into the office.

  The thick, wooden doors thudded heavily shut behind me as I entered. I sat in a brass-studded leather chair next to Iraja. Five people sat before us, arranged in a large semi-circle behind a wooden desk that matched the doors. They were the judgment board of the Better Business Bureau, or the BBB, that would oversee this case.

  After a few minutes of settling in, the woman sitting directly in front of us, at the middle of the desk, began making her announcements about the case at hand.

  “Are the two parties ready to proceed?” she asked, once she had finished dictating the summations to the stenographer.

  “Of course, your honor,” Iraja said smoothly. I turned to look at her. She had to know what was coming.

  “Actually, if it pleases the board, I would like to call for an indefinite postponement of the case,” I said immediately after.

  The entire board stopped what they were doing and stared at me. I felt Iraja sigh resignedly beside me.

  “On what grounds?” a man sitting on the far left of the judgment board asked.

  “Ms. Puri has broken my sixth amendment right to face my accuser. Her client is not here, and if he refuses to appear, then I demand the case be thrown out.”

  It was a catch-22. Victor couldn’t come to represent himself in the case because he would be arrested on the spot if he set foot in America, but he couldn’t accuse me without being here to represent himself. He and Iraja had been banking on my not finding out about the time of the case. I mentally thanked Sally again.

  “There is enough evidence of malpractice to warrant an investigation by the BBB,” Iraja protested.

  “If so, then it was evidence of crimes your client either participated in or facilitated himself! If the BBB finds reason to put a hold on my license in order to investigate, then they have the same reason to put a hold on your client’s business as well!” I exclaimed.

  Iraja stared at me, desperately furious.

  “Is that true?” the woman in the middle asked. “Is the accuser not present in this room?”

  “No, your honor. Unfortunately, something detained him,” Iraja said bitterly.

  “Then I elect to postpone this case for two weeks or until the accuser presents himself to this board.” The other four board members voiced their agreement, and within twenty minutes of entering the building, Jackson and I were on our way out.

  Chapter Five

  “I’m here to see the Dean,” I told the secretary at the Admissions Office. I prayed that she had time to see me now. It would be embarrassing to storm in here full of righteous anger, only to be told to make an appointment.

  The secretary looked over at Julia’s office. Several blurry shapes moved beyond her office’s opaque windows.

  “She’s in a meeting right now. She should be done in a few minutes if you would like to take a seat.”

  I declined, choosing to stand. I had far too much energy to sit down. Julia’s office door opened and I watched as people began to trickle out.

  Julia caught my eye as she made her goodbyes to the people leaving. She quietly spoke to two, the short man and the thin woman with oversized glasses, whom I recognized from the appeal. Julia said something to them, and they simultaneously looked at me and then sat down on a couch in the lobby.

  Finally, Julia motioned me to come into her office.

  “Ms. Carter, what can I do for you today?” she asked, once she had shut the door behind me.

  “I want to graduate from this school, Ms. Brunner,” I told her.

  “You still can!” Julia said brightly.

  “Really?” I asked, doubtfully.

  “Of course. There’s a one-year waiting period, and you may reapply for entry at the end of that year. Once you’re reaccepted, you can come back and graduate.”

  I gritted my teeth. “I meant this year. I only have one semester left. I know it wasn’t reflected in my schoolwork, but you know that I am a hard worker, Ms. Brunner. I couldn’t have made the EyeRead if I wasn’t.”

  “Ah, yes, but that’s the thing, isn’t it? The court decided that you didn’t make the EyeRead. So, how am I to judge your work when it might not even be yours?” she asked me.

  “That was just an appeal!” I said hotly. “It wasn’t even…” I trailed off as my brain began to click things into place.

  “Danisha? Are you alright?” Julia asked me.

  I snapped out of my reverie and looked at her.

  “I’m still a student for the rest of the semester, correct?” I asked the Dean.

  “Yes…” she replied warily.

  “And you’re only kicking me out because the court said the EyeRead wasn’t mine, right?”

  “Well, there are some issues regarding your behavior… The complaint regarding your relationship with the older man, Adrian…” Julia said.

  “Right, but you said if the court ruled in my favor, then you would be able to look past the issue? Ms. Brunner, if I managed to prove to the court that the EyeRead is, in fact, mine, before the semester is over— would I perhaps be allowed to stay?” I asked hopefully.

  Julia studied me carefully. “Would you please wait outside while I discuss this with a few members of the board?” she asked, referring the two people outside. Julia had obviously asked them to stay, suspecting what I might be here for.

  I waited in the lobby for a little over fifteen minutes as Julia discussed my future with the board members. At one point, I heard dull shouting, and shortly afterwards, Julia’s office door flew open and the short man came storming out. The thin woman trailed slowly after him.

  I watched them leave and turned back to see Julia standing in the doorway to her office, looking more than a bit pained at how that might have gone. She motioned for me to come back inside.

  “What did they say?” I blurted out. I couldn’t wait a second longer.

  “They’re not happy, but it doesn’t matter,” Julia said.

  “So…So, I can stay?” I asked hopefully.

  “I want your schoolwork to be above reproach. Anything you’re doing to secure your invention for yourself comes after your assignments, and MIT will receive one percent all profit made from the EyeRead.”

  “You make that a half of a percent and you have yourself a deal, Julia!” I said enthusiastically.

  Julia raised her eyebrow at me.

  “Er, Ms. Brunner, I mean.”

  “Very well. Half of a percent. With the supposed profits you’ll be making, that’s more than enough for the school.” Julia put out her hand for me to shake. I knocked her hand aside and hugged her.

  “Thank you, Ms. Brunner! Thank you so much!”

  Without waiting for a goodbye, I ran out of her office and headed back home.

  I had a lot of work to do and not very much time to get it done.

  Chapter Six

  My ears rang from the sound of smashed glass. The wall was covered in expensive brandy. My chest heaved with the effort of trying to control my rage.

  “Explain to me again how you lost this case?” I said quietly.

  Iraja seemed unaffected despite my outburst. “I didn’t lose the case, Victor. It was postponed,” she said, sipping her own glass of brandy.

  “Regardless, I can’t very well walk into the courtroom unless I want to get arrested for half of a dozen other crimes, can I?” I asked scathingly.

  All Iraja had to do was show up, make her case, and leave it to the judge to make the obvious choice of freezing Adrian’s business license. Then Adrian had gone and ruined everything by showing up.

  Adrian. I seethed with rage at the thought of him. He never did exactly what you expected of him, and that’s what made him dangerous.

  “How did he find out?” I asked Iraja after several minutes of silence.

  “I don’t know,” Ir
aja shrugged, seemingly bored.

  “Is there somewhere you’d rather be right now?” I demanded. “If you have better things to do, then by all means!” I said, pointing at the door.

  Iraja rolled her eyes. “I just don’t understand the amount of work you’re putting into ruining this guy. If you really want him gone, then kill him.”

  “You’re all about cost-effectiveness, Iraja. You never understood how pleasurable it is to hold the future of another person’s life in your hands. To be the master of their fate, able to wipe them away with the merest command. It is a game of the highest stakes,” I explained.

  “I’ll keep that in mind for next time. That is, if we ever get to next time. Can we please move on to step two now? Danisha’s appeal was denied, and that’s great, but that doesn’t mean she can’t reapply later,” Iraja pointed out. “Adrian and Danisha aren’t going to give up so easily. They’re going to look for evidence against us, and we need to get our patent through the system and secured before they find something.”

  I conceded her point, nodding. “So what’s our next course of action?”

  “Now we file for our official patent. This will allow us to begin developing prototypes for profit. It will also make it so that Danisha will have a much harder time proving we stole the EyeRead from her.”

  Iraja pulled out a folder of files and forms necessary for the next step. As she began explaining them, my satellite phone rang. It was Sally.

  “I’m going to have to take this, Iraja. Please go ahead with whatever you need to do. You were right when you said we need to act quickly,” I said.

  Iraja left the room with the folder and I answered the phone.

  “Sally, what can I do for you, my dear?”

  “He’s getting suspicious, Victor. He’s going to find out,” she said on the other line.

  “You’re being paranoid,” I told her.

  “No, I’m not. Not this time,” she said. “He overheard me. The other day, when we spoke— Adrian came home early and he overheard me talking to you on the phone.”

  I went still. Wasn’t there anyone I could count on to do their goddamn jobs around here? Did I have to do everything myself?

  “How could you be so stupid?” I asked quietly.

  “He wasn’t supposed to be home yet!” she protested.

  “How much did he overhear and what did you tell him?” I demanded.

  “He…He heard me talking about your lawsuit…” Sally said hesitantly.

  “WHAT?!” I exploded.

  So Sally was the reason I lost the case! I was furious. She’d given Adrian just enough warning for him to swoop in and steal this from me. Had Sally been standing in front of me, I would have strangled her right then and there.

  “I fixed it though!” she said quickly.

  “How can you say you fixed it if it cost me the lawsuit?” I asked through gritted teeth.

  Sally explained to me how she had managed to convince Adrian she was actually helping him to work against me.

  I smiled slowly. This could actually work in my favor. I could use Sally as a means to supply Adrian with false information.

  “Well, Sally, it turns out you’re not completely useless after all.”

  “Thank you, Victor…” she trailed off.

  “What is it, Sally? Is there something you’re not telling me?” I asked threateningly.

  “No, nothing like that,” she quickly assured me. “It’s just… Adrian’s not stupid. What if he finds out? What do we do then?”

  “‘We’?” I chuckled. “We don’t do anything. What do I care if Adrian finds out you’re the one betraying him? You’re the one who wants to keep him in the dark about this, so I guess you had better come up with a plan.”

  I hung up the phone. Despite how today had gone, the future was looking much brighter.

  For me, anyway.

  Chapter Seven

  “Are you okay, Adrian?” Jackson asked me, concerned.

  Jack and I had just left the meeting with Iraja and the board and we were in the limo driving to the airport to head back to Colorado. Most of the short drive had been spent in silence.

  I looked over at Jack, surprised. “Yes, why do you ask?”

  “Uh, maybe because you just saved your business from complete disaster in the nick of time and you have yet to even crack a smile about it...? If I were you, I’d be standing up through the sunroof right now, shouting my victory.”

  I chuckled. Jack always had a way of lightening the mood.

  He was right. I should be ecstatic right now. Against all odds, I had managed to save my business from Victor’s clutches and was on my way to repairing my reputation.

  But all I could think about was Danisha.

  Victor targeted us both, and while she had lost, I had won. I was used to winning. I happened to be very skilled, but skill had not helped me here; I had been lucky. Lucky that Sally had learned about the lawsuit in time. I could have easily suffered the same fate as Danisha and had my life’s work torn from my hands.

  When I last saw Danisha, she had been a wreck. If I had lost today, I doubted I would have reacted any less emotionally than she had. I felt a powerful urge to go see her. I needed to know if she was okay or not.

  No one understood better than I what she was going through right now. Danisha would need comfort and support from someone who could relate to her like that.

  “Jack, do you need to be back in Colorado tonight?” I asked him.

  He shrugged. “If you haven’t noticed, I’m pretty easy-going.”

  “Do you think we could make a pit-stop?”

  “Where are you thinking?” he asked with a twinkle in his eye. He knew where I wanted to go.

  Within two hours, I was walking up the steps to Danisha’s apartment. I raised my fist to knock on her front door when the thought occurred that she might not be home. I hadn’t called ahead to let her know I was coming. What if she had someone over? Maybe she had gotten back together with Raphe… My stomach twisted in knots and I swallowed hard, pushing the thought away.

  I heard Jack clear his throat loudly behind me. Rolling my eyes, I took the hint and knocked on the door. I heard footsteps and within moments, I was staring into Danisha’s big, brown eyes. She had on an oversized cream-colored sweater with black leggings that showed every curve and muscle of her thighs.

  “Adrain!” she exclaimed in surprise. “Come in! What are you doing here?” Danisha stepped aside to let us in. Jack and I took off our coats and sat with her in the living room.

  I saw Marisol poke her head out of her room. Her eyes lit up when she saw Jack. I turned to look at him and noticed he seemed to be returning her gaze with similar intensity.

  That’s interesting, I thought to myself.

  “So, what are you doing here?” Danisha repeated. “Not that I’m not happy to see you, of course.”

  “First, please allow me to apologize for how I left you the other day. If it hadn’t been an absolute emergency, I never would have taken off like that,” I said. I hated myself for having abandoned her during such a stressful time.

  “I understand, Adrian. Had I been in your shoes, I would have done the same thing,” she said. “What was the emergency?”

  “Another one of Victor’s schemes to—”

  “Uh, hey,” Jack interrupted. “It sounds like you two have a lot to catch up on, so Marisol and I will let you guys get to it.”

  “We’ll just be in my room,” Marisol added as she stood. She pulled Jack to his feet and the two rushed into Marisol’s room, slamming the door behind them.

  “Subtle,” Danisha said sarcastically.

  I laughed. “Can you blame them?” I asked her with a raised eyebrow.

  Danisha’s lips began to turn upwards into a smile. Despite her best efforts to contain herself, she burst out laughing. I loved listening to her laugh. It was a loud sound that sent her curly hair bouncing with every breath she took.

  “So, you were saying?�
� she said, once she had caught her breath.

  “Right. Well, right after your appeal, a friend of Jack’s got wind of a lawsuit being filed against me. It was another one of Victor’s schemes to destroy my business,” I told her.

  “What was the lawsuit about?” she asked me.

  “Multiple infractions, all serious enough for me to have my business license revoked if the board had ruled in Victor’s favor.”

  “Why didn’t they?”

  “Victor and Iraja were banking on me not showing up for the lawsuit. Luckily, Sally found out about the case and told me in time for me to get to New York to fight it. Victor can’t come to the U.S., so I knew he wouldn’t be there. I claimed my right to face my accuser and got the case postponed for a while,” I explained to Danisha.

  “That’s amazing, Adrian,” she said with a huge smile. “You are incredibly lucky…Very lucky…” she trailed off. “How exactly did Sally find out about the case?”

  “Oh, it was brilliant, Danisha. She managed to convince Victor to trust her!” I exclaimed. “She told him she wanted to help him take down my business so she and I could have more time together and Victor believed her. What an idiot,” I laughed. “He tells her everything. Soon, we’ll have Victor behind bars where he belongs.”

  I grinned at the thought of Victor being put in a maximum-security prison with an overly friendly cellmate. I looked over at Danisha. She did not seem to be sharing in the joy with me. In fact, her smile had completely faded. She stared at me with those brown eyes of hers.

  “What is it?” I asked her.

  “Adrian… Don’t you suspect Sally even a little bit ?” Danisha asked hesitantly.

  I stared back at her, shocked. Jack had suggested the exact same thing.

  “No! Of course not!” I finally managed to stammer out. “I know Sally isn’t always the easiest person to get along with, but she’s not a saboteur.”

  “I’m just saying that maybe—” Danisha began.

  “I don’t want to hear another word about this, Danisha. Sally has done nothing wrong,” I said flatly.

  Danisha chewed her lip.

  “How have things been since I left?” I asked. I wanted to change the subject before Danisha could make up her mind on whether or not she wanted to push the issue with Sally.