Play of Love: The Gladiator Players Box Set

by Gray, Khardine

  They could hear my crying and that encouraged them to taunt me even more. Dom had turned off the electricity in my apartment so I couldn’t even charge my phone. Now the battery had run out.

  I wished I’d asked Josh to get me. Or better yet get the police.

  At the time when I spoke to him I was so scared I couldn’t think straight. Then I’d heard one of the men at the door, who’d apparently been spying on me all these weeks. The things he said to me were so revolting and despicable I just about managed to finish the call with Josh.

  Now it was later. It was later now and I didn’t know what would happen to me.

  With the fear of God in me, I’d grasped so tightly onto my legs that my fingernails dug into my skin, making my legs bleed. And I couldn’t stop shaking. I’d heard of things like this happening to women. Being kidnapped and gang raped, then killed. These men weren’t decent, none of them were. They were all animals, and from what they’d said during the day I was sure that I was in for a terrible fate.

  There was a knock at the door. It made me jump and shake even more.

  “Amy.” The person sounded like Josh, but how could it be? He wouldn’t be here, he didn’t even know where I lived. I thought I would pass out from the shaking and the terror that took me when I watched the door and the bin move.

  “Amy.” The person moved the door with a little more force, prying it open.

  I moved up against the wall under the window, recoiling away, as if that could help.

  “Please have mercy,” I begged as the tears wracked my body.

  “Baby, it’s me.” I looked up and saw Josh coming towards me. He came up to me and lowered next to me so he could pull me within the safety of his arms. I threw my arms around him and held onto him so tight my hands tingled. How had he known to come?

  “Josh,” I cried into his chest. Then he pulled back and looked me over.

  “Amy, what the hell are you doing in this shithole?”

  I couldn’t talk, I was crying too much.

  “What happened?”

  “They took my stuff, everything is gone.”

  “They? Who is they?” He released me and stood up so he could flick on the light switch, but of course there was no light.

  “They turned off the power.”

  He got out his phone and shined the flashlight on me so he could see me better. I could see his eyes widen when he looked at my face and could only imagine that hit Dom gave me must have left a mark.

  “Jesus. Who did this to you?” He held my face.

  “It’s okay. I’m fine.”

  “No. You tell me right now who did this to you and who they are,” he demanded.

  “The landlord and his jerk friends.”

  “Do they live here?”

  I nodded.

  “Okay, pack up what you have left.”

  All I could do was look at him and try to work out what he meant. “What are we doing?”

  “We’re going home, but first we’re going to get the rest of your things back.”

  I looked at his stern, very serious expression on his handsome face. I opened my mouth to talk but didn’t know what to comment on first. I didn’t have a home, and going after these guys would be dangerous. Dom had a gun.

  “Home?” I breathed.

  He reached out and held my face and his expression softened a little. “You’re coming home with me, and I’m going to take care of you.”

  That moment was the most safe and secure I’d ever felt in my life. And as I gazed into his eyes I didn’t think I’d ever experienced the warmth and care I felt from anyone. Not even from Mom. She tried to take the very best care of me and Tristan, but sometimes she just couldn’t. Sometimes they really had to rough it out. Whether that was the trailer park, or in the back of a car.

  “I’ll take care of you,” he repeated with an assertive nod. “Now come, get it all together and let’s go.”

  “Thank you.” I continued to gaze in his eyes. He took my hand, brought it up to his lips, and kissed my knuckles. I savored the moment for a few brief seconds, then pulled in a sharp breath at the memory of the gun. “Josh, they have a gun. The landlord pointed it at me. You could get hurt.”

  His eyes blazed when he heard that. “Baby you let me worry about that. Come on.”

  Since I didn’t have much to grab we were out of there within minutes. He kept me close as I directed him to Dom’s apartment. Loud music came from inside and it sounded like there was a party going on.

  Josh knocked on the door with so much power the wood shook. The music died down and I could now hear mutterings. They probably thought the police had come.

  Josh knocked again with the same intensity. Dom opened the door.

  “Is this him?” Josh asked me.

  “Yes.”

  Before Dom had the chance to even move and process what was going on, Josh head butted him, sending him straight to the floor in an unconscious heap.

  “Stay back, Amy,” Josh warned.

  I did as he instructed. As he walked into the apartment, two guys rushed him but Josh effortlessly sent them to the ground with his fist. With his height and build they were no match for Josh. I could see why he was called the Mancini Machine, and why he played defense for his team. Nothing and no one could get past him, unless he allowed them to. One guy tried to escape but Josh caught him and lifted him off the ground, holding him by his throat.

  “You and your friends messed with my girl,” Josh balked, squeezing the man’s throat. I stood back and watched. It didn’t escape me that Josh just called me his girl, but I was too shaken to think. “I’ll show you a bit of mercy because you weren’t dumb enough to attack me. Give me her things if you want to live.”

  The guy coughed as he tried to speak. “Okay,” he managed.

  Josh dropped him on the ground.

  I looked at Josh, impressed with his strength, and impressed that he would defend me. As if I really was his girl.

  The man scrambled off the ground and ran into the backroom. Josh waited for him with asserted dominance. The man brought the sewing machine first. It seemed like it was intact, probably because they wanted to sell it. He then went back to retrieve my other things and I could see that my mannequin was broken in half and my dress was ruined. All the stones were gone. The material was cut in places and filthy with what looked like grease on it.

  “Is that all of it?” Josh asked.

  “Yes, we sold the rhinestones.”

  A tear ran down my cheeks when I heard that. I spent a whole month’s salary on those stones.

  While Josh picked up the heavy stuff, I took the bags with my clothes and held my dress.

  “You better hope like hell I don’t see you again,” Josh cautioned the guy who nodded vigorously. “I know you know who I am, you look like you recognize me, and must know I’m bat shit crazy. So don’t fuck with me. Pass the message on.” Josh motioned to Dom and the other men on the floor.

  I followed him as he walked out; I tried to stop myself from crying but I couldn’t. The showcase was a month away and this dress had taken me months to make. Not because I couldn’t sew fast or put a dress together quickly. It was simply down to the fact that it was my winning ticket. It was the dress that was supposed to land me the job. I’d spent time designing it with all its intricacies. I didn’t know what I’d do.

  Josh put the stuff in his car then took me into his arms again where I broke down.

  I’d reached that point, that breaking point where I couldn’t take it anymore. It was all too much.

  Chapter 16

  Amy

  * * *

  Josh couldn’t have been more sweet and caring towards me. He took me home and fixed up the guest room properly to make sure I was comfortable.

  I was grateful to him and his kindness and appreciated that he took time out to make sure I was okay. Or as close to okay as possible. I was devastated about my dress, and really didn’t know what to do.

  Since he g
ave me the day off I slept in till ten and couldn’t have been more surprised when he came in with a tray of breakfast.

  “You brought me breakfast in bed?” I sat up and smiled at him. I’d never had breakfast in bed before.

  “I did, and you’ll love this.” He looked proud of himself as he placed the tray before me. I looked down at it, narrowed my eyes, and smiled at the amusing display.

  He’d made pancakes and created smiley faces on top of them with chocolate syrup. There were also little macaroons, like the ones I’d seen in those fancy European stores. These were in the shape of pink unicorns and teddy bears. He’d also made scrambled eggs and toast, which he cut up in triangles. It looked like something you’d give a child.

  “Josh, this looks like a kid’s meal. A very cool kid’s meal.” I couldn’t believe I could laugh, despite my inner turmoil. “How old do you think I am?”

  He gave me that wide-eyed, deer-in-the-headlights look. “Um, is that a question I’m meant to answer?”

  “You can if you want to.” Now I really wondered how old he thought I was.

  He grimaced. “Please just tell me you’re legal because I’m at risk of going to prison if you aren’t.” He looked at my breasts and kept his gaze there. “You’re not wearing a bra are you?”

  “Josh,” I chided him, pulling up the sheets to my chin. No I wasn’t wearing a bra and didn’t normally wear one to bed.

  “I’m sorry. It’s that Italian blood thing again.”

  I giggled. “Anyway, you thought I might not be legal?” There was no way I looked that young.

  “Well you always get all squeamish when I talk about sex and you said you wanted to take things slow, so it occurred to me that maybe that was because you were waiting to turn eighteen. Either that or you escaped from the convent. I hope I’m wrong.”

  I couldn’t believe I was laughing. “Josh, you thought I was either under eighteen, or a nun.”

  He shrugged sheepishly. “Anything can happen these days.”

  I laughed even more. Really laughed, and he did too. “And I’m not squeamish about sex.”

  Mischief filled his eyes. “Have you done it before?”

  Great, now he thought I was a virgin. “If you must know, yes I have. Not as much as you. Definitely not as much as you.”

  “Hey, I can’t help that women crawl all over me. I swear to God some of them just land on me and we just end up doing the wild dance.”

  “Joshua Mancini you better hope the good Lord didn’t hear you just lie through your pearly whites.”

  He looked at me, studying me, and smiled. “You just sounded like Corey. His family is originally from Texas. His southern accent comes out when he’s well and truly annoyed with me.”

  I blinked and looked down at the tray he’d set before me. I had lived in New York for so long that my southern drawl had diminished to some extent. Living in Atlanta where there was a good mix of accents meant that mine had never been as strong and pronounced as my mother’s, who was originally from Louisiana.

  It didn’t surprise me to hear that Corey was from Texas. Aside from the hint of an accent I’d detected in his voice, he had the good manners of a southern gentleman.

  Josh continued to observe me, and I knew why. Last night had opened the door to a lot of questions. The biggest of all was what I was doing in an apartment like that in downtown when I worked for him.

  I held his gaze, pulled in a deep breath, and said, “I’m from Atlanta. I moved to New York after college.”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t know that weeks ago.” His eyes never left mine. “I feel really bad that I didn’t try to find out more about you when you helped me through such a tough time. It occurred to me that I don’t even know how old you are.”

  “I’m thirty-three.”

  “You don’t look a day over twenty,” he smiled. He certainly knew how to make a girl feel good, especially when I felt more like a hundred years old.

  “Thank you.”

  “I can continue my wild fantasies now.”

  “Wild fantasies?” I found that hard to believe.

  “Oh yes, but we’ll talk about that another time. If I tell you now and I get lucky with you from my glorious bravery last night, I’ll have to wait till later to find out about you. Also, Hilda wants to come in and see you, and if I get my hands on you it won’t be a quick thing.” He shook his head. “We’ll be at it for hours. Let’s just say the whole day and night. I’d have to send her home.”

  All I could do was stare at him with narrowed eyes and my mouth open. It never ceased to amaze me how his mind worked. Also, I knew he wasn’t joking and that’s what fascinated me more. I’d never met anyone who’d speak their mind so freely.

  “So, anyway, tell me, Amy Rose, what made you leave your job in New York to work for the biggest asshole you’ve ever met in your life, with just a sewing machine, a mannequin, and a beautiful red dress that used to have rhinestones?”

  I looked at him and thought about how to answer the question. The simple, short answer was money.

  It twisted my stomach to think of my situation and how he’d feel when he learned my story.

  I looked away again and focused my gaze on the sturdy features on the window. He had blinds up in this room as opposed to curtains, and the decoration was quite plain. In the corner was a small wardrobe, a matching chest of drawers, and a desk. My stuff was next to a box full of weights. All my belongings were in one pile on the floor.

  I looked back to him when he reached out to take a lock of my hair.

  “Tell me, Amy.”

  I shook my head. The more I thought about it, the more awful I felt.

  “Why?”

  “Because I don’t want you to think that it wasn’t real, that I wasn’t real.” A tear ran down my cheek.

  “I have a habit of being able to tell what’s real from not. You’re the real deal, Amy. Let me make it easier for you. I know this job pays really well. I know everything about your job. I guess you needed money for something, but anything you did for me stopped being about money after the ESPN show. It stopped when you followed me inside after dropping me off and asked me if I was going to drink.”

  His eyes were full of understanding and deep appreciation. He ran his finger along to the side of my cheek and smiled. “Am I right?”

  “Yes.”

  “So now that’s cleared up, you can tell me what’s going on with you.”

  I bit the inside of my lips to prevent myself from crying as I thought about all that was going on. “My mom is really sick and needs special surgery. She has severe heart disease. I took this job so I could pay for the surgery for her.”

  His eyes filled with sadness as he searched mine. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Josh, you had a lot going on.”

  “But so did you. Do you need more money? Let me help.”

  “No. It’s all okay now.” In few a month’s I’d receive that fifty thousand and everything would all be okay. It did, however, warm my heart to hear him offer to help. “Thank you, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. But I have everything under control now.”

  “Okay, but let me know if you need me.”

  “I will,” I promised.

  “Until then you’ll stay here. I can’t believe you’d live in an awful place like that. Amy I have a room I keep my shoes in that’s bigger than that dump. You could have just come here.”

  “I can’t stay here, Josh. I couldn’t then and I can’t now. That’s such an imposition.” It was, and I was still trying to deal with my feelings for him.

  “It’s not.” He shook his head.

  “It will be when you want to invite Allegra and bed friends.” I had to be realistic. The man just told me women crawled all over him and it wasn’t his fault if they did the wild dance. “You get all cranky with me when you haven’t had sex in days. God forbid if I was the cause of you not being able to have your little fling parties.”

  I thought he�
�d make some sort of wise crack about that but he didn’t. He gave me this cautious look and I wasn’t certain what he was thinking.

  “I won’t be inviting Allegra and bed friends here anymore. I haven’t in months.”

  “But you might. You might miss them.”

  “I won’t.”

  “How do you know?”

  He took my hand and held it up. “Because of this.”

  “My hand?” I narrowed my eyes at him and wondered if this was another one of his crazy reasonings.

  “No, this.” He shook my hand.

  “What is it?” I chuckled.

  “Exactly, I don’t know what it is, but there’s something between us. Something that I don’t deserve.” He released my hand. I couldn’t have been more stunned by his words. “But since I want it, I’ll work for it. That means no more Allegra and bed friends. And it means taking us as slow as you want.”

  I pulled in a breath to calm myself. To calm my heart as I absorbed his words.

  “Josh.”

  “Amy, please just give me a chance to take care of you. Let me have that.”

  I felt a sense of eagerness coming from him and saw that he really wanted me to be here, so I thought I’d agree. “Okay.”

  “Good. So, that just leaves the dress. You made it, didn’t you?” He tilted his head to the side.

  “How’d you guess?” I smiled up at him.

  “It was the way you looked when you realized it was damaged.”

  “I’m a fashion designer. I applied to work with Dior and that dress was supposed to be my ticket in.”

  “Well, you are full of surprises. You really are. You’re a fashion designer?” He looked really impressed.

  “I want to work for Dior, but now I don’t have a dress and the new designer showcase is in a month. That dress took me months to make.”

  “Is that how long it takes?”

  “No, it just took time to design the right dress. Something I thought would win their hearts and I…” The dress had cost me a total of five thousand dollars. I didn’t even have three hundred right now.

  “How about you work out what you need and then you and Hilda can go shopping in Beverly Hills or something. There’s plenty of designers there and I know there must be places you can get your material and diamonds or whatever.”