Side Game (Men of Trance Book 2)

by Nicole Loufas

  I shake my head like I told you so.

  “Bro, I know. You warned me.”

  “Look, this life isn’t for everyone.” I look at Theo doing push-ups with Dain. “Eventually, you’ll move on. When the chance comes don’t fuck it up.”

  Percy soaks up every word I say. He thinks I have my shit together, but little does he know we’re all hanging on by a thread. Everyone here is one bad decision away from losing it all. That’s what life is about—the higher the risk, the better the reward.

  “All right, let’s get started,” Ivy announces.

  We spend the next ninety minutes polishing the cobwebs off the old routine. It’s only new to Theo and Percy, but Thor is the one struggling. He goes left when we turn right, and he steps on my toes twice. We don’t call him Thor for nothing—the guy is a monster with monster-sized feet.

  As soon as Ivy calls it for the day, I check my phone.

  Nothing.

  I shouldn’t expect anything from Leeyan. We don’t owe each other anything. That doesn’t mean I can’t miss her. For a few weeks, she was my friend, my everything.

  I’m a hypocrite.

  If the tables were turned, if she were the one desperate to hear from me, that would make her clingy, psycho. What does it make me?

  I sit next to Theo because he’s the closest thing to Leeyan. I hand him a bottle of water and ask him about her.

  “So, is Leeyan driving you nuts?”

  “You know she is.” He pulls his boots off.

  This is the attitude I always wanted Theo to have when it came to his ex, but instead of saying I told you so and launching into a bitch-fest, I want to defend her, want to ask him to cut her a little slack, remind him that she’s trying.

  “It doesn’t help that Dennis let her move into the apartment upstairs.”

  “At least she can’t hear you and Sylvie banging.” I’m trying to add in some humor, like the old Gio would do.

  “All right, listen up children.” Jimmy stands in front of the room and makes an announcement. “Sway’s going on the wall.”

  Making the wall is a big deal, if being a famous stripper is your dream. We congratulate him for making it to the wall of fame inside Trance. He’ll be featured on the website and all social media.

  Rico sits next to Theo and starts talking about a side job he booked for tonight. If Theo is gone, it might be safe to stop by and see Leeyan.

  Am I really that desperate?

  I ear-hustle the details just in case I find myself in the neighborhood. The job is a dinner party with a businesswoman, and Rico is trying to explain the required attire.

  “Business casual,” he says.

  “Like khakis and a polo?” Theo has no style.

  Rico looks to me for assistance.

  “Think Banana Republic,” I suggest.

  Theo pulls up Google and starts scrolling through ideas.

  “This one,” Rico says. “You have that blue button-down—wear it with dark jeans and dress shoes. Do you have a sports coat?”

  “I have one,” I offer. “It’s the Gucci one from the fashion show.”

  I conveniently left it at Leeyan’s. Now I have a reason to see her.

  “You fucking lifted that?” Rico pretends to be pissed.

  “Fuck yeah—they underpaid us.” I shove my towel into my bag and stand to leave. “I’ll stop by around four.” I offer my fist, and Theo hits it.

  Rico flips me off.

  I text Leeyan and ask her about my coat.

  Me: Hey, did I leave a coat at your place?

  Leeyan: You mean the one I used to dry my dishes?

  Me: Ha. I need to stop by and pick it up tonight. Theo is going to borrow it.

  Leeyan: I see how it is now.

  I can’t tell if she’s being sarcastic. I hate texting.

  Me: How what is?

  Leeyan: You.

  Me: What about me?

  Leeyan: Are we still friends?

  Me: Of course.

  My heart pounds. I want to tell her I miss her, tell her the last few weeks have been torture.

  Leeyan: Why haven’t you called?

  Me: I figured you wanted space. You have a lot going on.

  She doesn’t respond right away. A million reasons go through my mind. Does she want to say more? Does she miss me? Is she using me?

  Leeyan: What time are you coming over?

  Me: Three-thirty

  Leeyan: :)

  At three-twenty I pull in front of Theo and Leeyan’s building. I double park and run up the front stairs.

  “Leeyan,” I call out as I open the door.

  I hear a man yell, followed by a boom.

  I run up the stairs two at a time. When I make it to the top, I see Dennis waddling toward me. He’s a short, stubby little fuck.

  “What are you doing here?”

  He’s holding his jaw.

  “Where’s Leeyan?” I move farther down the hall and look into the living room. Lulu is watching something on a tablet, bright pink headphones covering her ears.

  “Are you and Leeyan fucking?” Dennis snaps.

  I turn back, ready to throw him down the stairs. I don’t care if he owns this building.

  “Get out, Dennis.” Leeyan appears at the end of the hall with a towel wrapped around her naked body. “Leave now, before I tell him what you did.”

  I’m frozen. I don’t know if I should comfort Leeyan or murder Dennis. I stand between them, waiting to see which way the coin falls.

  “Once a whore—”

  Dennis doesn’t get a chance to finish his sentence. My fist crunches his nose. He stumbles against the wall and I pull back to hit him again. Leeyan grabs my arm, her eyes filled with tears.

  “No,” she mouths before looking toward the living room.

  “Get the fuck out,” I hiss. “If I ever see you in this apartment again, you’re dead.”

  Dennis has no smart comeback. He walks into the kitchen and out the back door. I lock it then check on Lulu.

  “Hey,” I greet her from the doorway.

  She looks up and waves then points to the screen.

  “Little Einstein.”

  Would she be watching anything else?

  I give her a thumbs-up.

  Leeyan is already in a pair of jeans and a bra when I walk into the bedroom and close the door.

  “Are you okay?” I take her in my arms from behind and inhale her freshly washed hair. It saddens me to find she doesn’t smell like Swagger, doesn’t smell like me. “What happened? Did he touch you?”

  She wiggles out of my arms to put on a black t-shirt. “Is Lulu okay? Did she hear any of that?”

  “I don’t think so.” I wait for her to finish getting dressed before attempting to touch her again. “Can you tell me what happened?”

  She turns around with a murderous glare. The strong, angry woman standing a few feet away is trying to keep herself from falling apart. I know whatever happened made her feel weak and it’s killing her.

  I hesitate to take her hand, but she leaps into my arms. Her breathing is long and deep; she’s trying not to cry.

  “I was in the shower,” she starts. “I thought I heard the bathroom door squeak open and I called Lulu’s name. She didn’t answer so I kept washing my hair. When I opened my eyes, Dennis was standing there with the curtain open, watching me.”

  I press her against me, holding her as tight as she’s holding me, hanging on to prevent myself from running out the door after Dennis.

  “He’s been obsessed with me since we were kids. I never thought he’d do something like that.”

  Dennis was her last resort for a reason. Somewhere deep down, she knew he was a piece-of-shit pervert.

  “I’ll get a locksmith out here and change the locks.” I bet my father can change them himself. Right now, I wish I were handy.

  “I decked him pretty hard.” She pulls back with a smile. “He won’t try anything like that again.”

  “Yes, well
, you still can’t stay here.”

  “This is my only option for now. I need to be close to Lulu.”

  “There is nowhere in the world I’d rather be.”

  “Not even Brazil?” she smarts off.

  At this moment, no.

  “I have to go. I’m supposed to be meeting Theo downstairs to give him my coat. Plus, I’m double parked.”

  “Thank you for being here, Gio.” She pulls me close so I’m holding her again.

  I lean in to kiss her then stop. “Are we doing this?”

  “It’s a bad idea, but I’m the queen of bad ideas.”

  She grabs the front of my shirt and pulls me to her mouth. It’s luscious and soft. I nibble her lip and lift her into my arms. Her legs wrap around my waist, and just as I’m about to fall onto the bed, Lulu calls her from the living room.

  “Leeyan?”

  That little cock-blocker.

  I look at her, confused. Leeyan shakes her head and shrugs. We’re both clueless as to why Lulu doesn’t call her Mom.

  “Yeah, baby. Hold on.” She adjusts her shirt and tames her hair. “You should probably go.”

  I don’t think Dennis has the balls to come back, but I’d feel better if Leeyan and Lulu were downstairs with me.

  “Come on, I’ll let you into Theo’s place. I have a key.”

  “No, that’s weird.”

  “We’ll tell him Lulu wanted to go home and you saw me going into the apartment.”

  I grab the jacket and give Leeyan my key to Theo’s place.

  “Here, give him this too.” I hand her the Gucci jacket.

  I run back to my car and take off, circling the block twice before finding a parking space. Finding parking is a crapshoot. Sometimes you get lucky, and other times you’re driving in circles for an hour. My head is spinning from how much has happened in the last ten minutes. I take a few minutes to catch my breath before I get out of the car.

  If Leeyan were anyone else in the world, anyone but Theo’s ex, it would make my life, my decision easier. For the first time, I want more—more than clothes and money, more than one-night stands. I want to wake up to Leeyan’s brown eyes and soft cheeks. I want to smell her in my apartment and make out with her while we wait for the coffee to brew. Hell, I don’t even mind having Lulu around. She might be a little cock-blocker, but she’s a cool kid.

  My phone rings and I answer it on Bluetooth.

  “Gio, darling.” Antonia’s voice booms through my car speakers.

  “Antonia,” I reply. “How are you?”

  “Amazing, darling. I just left your new place. I had furniture set up. You’re going to love it!”

  “I’m sure I will.”

  “What’s the matter? Something is wrong?”

  Everything is wrong. I’m in so deep with these women I’ll need a submarine to find my way out.

  “I’m driving, shouldn’t be on the phone.”

  “Okay, I won’t keep you. I wanted to let you know everything is perfeito! I have it all ready for you.”

  “Perfect.” I muster enough false enthusiasm to pacify her for now.

  I promise to have a video call this week and disconnect before she has a chance to say goodbye.

  What is wrong with me? This is something I’ve always wanted—running a club, living in Brazil, all of it—but it’s turning into a nightmare I can’t get out of even if I wanted to. If I bail on Antonia, I won’t just lose a job, the deposit on my beachfront apartment, and her friendship; I’ll lose my place here, my home—the home I plan to offer my parents.

  As I’m walking back to Theo’s place, Mom calls.

  “Hey Ma, I can’t really talk right now.”

  “The house sold.” Her words are harsh and informative. “Josie came by this morning with news of a buyer from Canada. He doesn’t care about the mold or the roof. It’s a cash offer.”

  I stop walking. Josie promised to call me if she accepted an offer. “How long do you have?”

  “Thirty days.”

  “How is Dad taking it?”

  “He’s the same. If we live here or live in China, he’s the same.”

  I end the call but not before she makes me promise to stop by for dinner on Sunday. We only have a handful of meals left in our home. The nostalgia kicks in hard.

  I walk into Theo’s apartment and smell food, which means one thing—Sylvie is here. Oh shit.

  “Something smells good,” I call out as I open the front door. I told Leeyan to leave it unlocked for me.

  “Hey Sylvie.” I kiss her on the cheek.

  She makes a face and motions to where Leeyan is sitting. I pretend to be shocked.

  “I made chicken fettuccine. You want to stay for dinner?”

  This may be my last meal with them, so of course I agree to stay.

  Theo and Leeyan are having a heated exchange when I return to the living room. The last thing she needs right now is more drama. I remind Theo he’s running late.

  I sit down to eat. Eating is my safe place.

  “What’s going on?” Sylvie demands. “Does he have a job tonight?” She hesitates to ask in front of Leeyan.

  “Rico got a last-minute thing for him.” I’m vague too, mainly because I don’t want Sylvie to think I’m comfortable in front of Leeyan.

  Leeyan is busy listening to Lulu explain the who’s who of Paw Patrol.

  I keep eating.

  I eat until Theo returns.

  “Good, you’re still here. I need a ride.”

  He looks good in my clothes, and I tell him so as I stand to take my plate to the kitchen. I never make eye contact with Leeyan or acknowledge her presence. I don’t want to draw any unnecessary attention to us.

  Then I hear Lulu ask if she can call Sylvie “Mommy”. The details aren’t clear, but I know Leeyan is dying inside. I walk back into the room just as she is running out.

  “She’s just playing.” I fold her into my arms and rub her back.

  When I look up, Theo and Sylvie are staring.

  Theo waits until we’re in the car to grill me.

  “What the fuck was that?”

  Knowing I’m leaving for Brazil within weeks relieves some of the pressure of telling Theo. Now that a future with Leeyan is impossible, we can downplay the present.

  “Nothing, bro. We’re friends.”

  “I saw you walk into her apartment earlier.”

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

  “It isn’t what you think. She needed to talk one night and we kind of became friends.” I consider telling him about her staying at the Green Tortoise. I could lie, could say I ran into her at the cheesesteak place. It could’ve happened, but it will lead to more questions.

  “What do you guys talk about?” He air-quotes the word “talk”. He knows me—the old Gio didn’t talk.

  “You,” I answer, being honest for once—almost. “She feels horrible about leaving.” I don’t want to push too far in her favor, but he needs to know she’s sorry and deserves a second chance.

  My words fall on deaf ears. He warns me to be careful.

  “Leeyan only cares about Leeyan.”

  You’re wrong. You don’t know her the way I do.

  “I’m good, bro.” I hold out my fist, the one that just socked Dennis less than an hour ago. “Hit me up later if you need a ride.”

  I peel away from the curb and drive straight home, where I sit down at my desk and call Josie. She sends the call the voicemail, and the message I leave is not nice. Guilt leads me to my go-to. I warm up my mom’s eggplant parmesan, even though I already ate dinner. It doesn’t matter since I’m going to puke it up later anyway, along with my pride.

  Chapter Eighteen

  After I vomit and rinse, I decide to pack.

  I look around my apartment and consider what I need to take with me to Brazil: my clothes, the little jewelry I own, and my laptop.

  Everything else is bullshit.

  Leeyan left for the army with nothing, and she came back with nothing�
��to nothing. What will be my reason for coming back?

  The furniture, the art, even my car—I don’t need anything of those things to survive. They aren’t worth returning for. When it comes down to it, I don’t want them.

  I want her.

  The phone near the door rings. It can only be Fred.

  “Mr. Castillo, you have a guest.” Fred thinks it’s funny when he announces my visitors this way. “Shall I send her up?”

  “Who is it?”

  “It’s your houseguest, and she brought a friend.”

  I’m confused. Does he mean Leeyan?

  “I’m coming down.”

  I slip into my sneakers and put on a hoodie, zipping it to hide my bare chest. When the elevator doors open, I hear the voice of someone I know. Someone little.

  “Gio.” Lulu waves. “This is your house?”

  What the hell?

  “No, this is a lobby.” I pull Leeyan to the side. “What are you doing here?”

  She looks hurt and lost. “I didn’t have anywhere else to go.” Her voice is shaky. She’s been crying. “This wasn’t planned. It just kind of happened.”

  “Does Theo know you’re here?”

  She shakes her head while Lulu giggles at something Fred is showing her on his phone. He does a great job of keeping her occupied.

  “Sylvie left the room and I went into fight-or-flight mode.”

  “More like flight.” I gesture to the bags on the floor. “What is this, Leeyan? Did you take Lulu?”

  “Yes.” She builds a little steam. “She’s my daughter—I have rights too. We don’t have a custody agreement. I looked it up. She can live with me.”

  “Where is all this coming from?” I remember what happened with Dennis. Leeyan is spiraling, and when she gets like this, she runs.

  “I have an offer to work in Alameda for the sheriff’s department. They have a program for ex-military, and the job pays well. I’ll be able to give her a good life.”

  “Her life is here, with Theo.”

  She shakes her head. “I don’t know why I thought you would understand. You’re on his side.”

  “I’m on no side. This isn’t my—”

  “Problem,” she finishes my sentence. “I’m not your problem.” She spins away and grabs the bags. “Let’s go, Lulu.”