Maddie’s voice trembled. “But it’s too much. I don’t deserve this.”
“Nonsense.” I leaned closer. “I’d be happy to help.”
She kept looking down, and I exchanged a nervous glance with Lucia. Maddie’s voice was soft. “But what if my score doesn’t improve?”
And I thought I put a lot of pressure on myself. “Then we’ll buy you an MCAT prep course.”
Maddie’s head shot up. “You will not! Those are, like, over two thousand dollars.” She exhaled. “I think you Ramirez niños went overboard…but okay. Thank you. I really appreciate it.”
I let out a breath. When I looked at Dane, though, I tensed. He cocked his head like he was trying to figure me out. Could he see my affection for Maddie? Could Lucia tell? I looked at my sister, but she was wrapped up in her teammate. Seeing both of them happy relaxed my shoulders.
I didn’t stay relaxed for long, however. Once our agents led us out of the restaurant into the freezing night air, camera flashes blinded me. Someone had tipped off the paparazzi.
“Lucia!” one reporter said. “Do you still have your eating disorder? What did you order for dinner?”
I gasped.
“Not one word,” China warned.
Dane pivoted toward one of the cameras, showing me the hard set of his jaw. I was jealous he didn’t have to listen to Secret Service anymore.
Before he could speak, Lucia whispered, “Don’t give them the satisfaction.”
“How do you feel about your mother losing the election, Dane?” another reporter asked.
He still looked pissed off, but his mouth closed, and he started walking again.
Reporters jostled closer, and one almost tripped Maddie. I reached out for her hand to steady her. We weren’t quite to the SUVs when one reporter asked, “Who’s your date, Alejandro?”
Maddie’s eyes widened.
Lucia giggled. “She’s not his date!” Frank tucked her and Dane into the backseat of their vehicle, while China got my “date” and me into our SUV. We sped away.
“Sorry to drag you into the national spotlight.” I rolled my eyes.
“That was intense.” She laughed. “No worries. I had a great date.” When her thumb stroked my palm, I realized we were still holding hands.
Chapter Nine
I CAN’T BELIEVE he wants to tutor me. Sure, Lucia said the present was from them both, but I had the sense it was all Alejandro’s idea. Only he had survived the ferocious, slashing claws of the MCAT. I looked over in the backseat of the SUV to find him watching me. The passing streetlights glittered in his dark eyes, sending a shiver up my spine. Was I hot for teacher?
When we arrived at my apartment building, I didn’t protest his exit from the vehicle along with me. I was getting to know his gentlemanly ways. It also wasn’t a surprise when China joined us on our brisk walk inside.
But I was surprised to find two hundred fifty-five pounds of chocolate muscle and cheating hustle waiting at my apartment door.
Jaylon’s eyebrows drew together when he saw my companions.
“What’re you doing here?” My throat constricted when I spoke. I felt Alejandro step closer behind me, and China didn’t appear to be leaving either.
Jaylon’s glare lingered on Alejandro before landing on me. “I got to talk to you.”
“I think your actions have said far too much already.” My heart pounded with heated indignation, which flared up my neck into my face.
“You got this all wrong!” He pointed at me as he neared. “I told you nothing happened with Nina—”
“Back off, Mr. Hart.” China wedged her way between us.
Jaylon’s eyes stormed. “Who the fuck are you?”
I patted China’s hard bicep. “It’s okay.” She kept her focus trained on Jaylon as she stepped to the side. I glanced over my shoulder at Alejandro, and he looked even more suspicious of Jaylon than China did. Turning back to my ex, I said, “This is Lucia’s brother Alejandro and his Secret Service agent.”
“Everything copacetic here?” Brad asked as he climbed the last few steps.
“And this is his other agent.” I dipped my hand toward Brad, who winked at me. China must have summoned him via the bat signal.
Jaylon inched back. “Why’re they with you?”
“Lucia and Dane took me out for a birthday dinner. Alejandro, too.”
“Aw, damn!” Jaylon knocked his forehead with the heel of his hand. “I forgot. February twelfth, right?”
I shook my head. “Why do you care? You broke up with me. You don’t get to care about my birthday.”
“Mads…”
I would’ve thought hearing my old nickname would pierce my heart, but all it did was make me angry. Mads.
“…I still care.”
Alejandro stepped into my shadow, and his spicy scent wafted over me. “You have an interesting way of showing it.”
“Man, pig off.” Jaylon shook his head. “This don’t involve you.”
The anger in Jaylon’s features quickened my breathing, but Alejandro didn’t seem fazed. “Maddie’s had a long day. How ’bout you save this for another time? You can leave now.”
“You don’t tell me what to do.” Jaylon’s eyes blazed. “You the one needs to leave.”
The hallway crackled with tension, and I was glad my neighbors hadn’t emerged. I wanted to suggest that Jaylon and I go somewhere to talk, but I knew Alejandro wouldn’t go for that. Neither would his agents. They’d inserted themselves into my little relationship drama, and it didn’t look like they would leave anytime soon. Too bad for them.
“Jaylon.” I sighed. “How about you tell me whatever you need to say so we can all go home.”
“Just me and you, inside. You owe me that at least.”
I don’t owe you a crumb from my cheesecake. “No.” The harshness of my voice surprised me, and seemingly Jaylon, too. I aimed for a more measured tone. “Look, Alex is right—I’m tired. It’s been a long day. Either you tell me right now what’s on your mind, or we talk later. You decide.”
As he chewed the corner of his lip, I noticed the wrinkles in his jeans. He’d probably grabbed them off the floor when he’d gotten home from practice. He didn’t have me to tidy up his place anymore. “You gotta believe me, Mads,” he said. “I didn’t cheat on you. That’s not me.”
My heart clenched.
“Nina threw herself at me, I swear. Don’t even like that girl.”
My stomach churned, and I wished I’d eaten fewer bites of my cheesecake. To picture Nina in Jaylon’s bed…I could puke all over his gold high-top shoes.
“You believe me, right? You know I’m no dog like that.”
It wasn’t until Alejandro touched my shoulder that I realized how frozen I’d become. I sucked in a breath as I wondered how to respond. He sure seemed like a dog to me.
When I didn’t say anything, Alejandro spoke up. “This is between you and Maddie, and I don’t mean to interfere. I’m just here as a friend, making sure she gets home safely.”
Alejandro’s warm hand cupped my shoulder in a more-than-friendly way, and I had to admit I liked it. Especially when my romantic failure stared me in the face. His touch bolstered me to speak. “So, Jay, you want to talk about the timeline?” I clenched my teeth. “The timeline for when you fucked my teammate?”
Jaylon flinched and Alejandro inhaled. Brad was behind me, but I could see China nodding, propelling me to continue. “You want to be the good guy in this scenario. But you’re not. Regardless of when things started with Nina, it’s not cool to hook up with my teammate. Don’t you see that?”
Jaylon’s eyebrows pulled together in a scowl. “What was I s’posed to do?” He shrugged. “I gotta focus on wrestling, man, but the girl went up and macked on me.”
Macked on him? Ew. I craved the satisfaction of smashing an entire cheesecake in Nina’s face. I could see it now: creamy goo framing her startled blue eyes and button nose, her pursed lips opening with a wail of protest
, chunks of melted chocolate clinging to her platinum hair…
That delicious image must have distracted me for some time because I noticed how quiet it had gotten when Alejandro cleared his throat. The pressure of his hand on my shoulder disappeared, and I watched him stroke his chin as he sized up Jaylon.
“Okay, so after you broke up with Maddie, what if one of your wrestling teammates had swooped in to seduce her? What if he’d started dating her, his hands all over her in public? How would you feel?”
Jaylon’s face fell in a crash, and a rush of gratification washed over me. He got it. He finally got how much he’d hurt me. And Alejandro had been the one to show him.
“Preach.” Jaylon nodded at Alejandro, then looked at me. “Any teammate who did that would be in for a beatin’.”
So Jaylon would feel jealous of me with another man? Was he telling the truth when he said he still cared about me? Then why did he break up with me? And why wouldn’t he just leave me alone in my breakup misery?
“Gotta go,” Jaylon said as he tugged up the low waistline of his jeans. “But I’ll be back. I’m taking you out for your birthday. Belated and shit.”
What? I exchanged a confused look with Alejandro. Before I could protest that insane idea, though, Jaylon had hustled down the stairs. “Hasta la vista, Mads!” he hollered.
Brad followed Jaylon down the stairs, and China backed up to give us some space. I blinked at Alejandro, and he arched an eyebrow in response.
“So.” I exhaled. “That just happened.”
“He’s, uh…interesting.”
“Thanks for stepping in, making him see the light.” I felt myself unwind now that Jaylon was gone. “You made him think about someone besides himself for a second. Impressive.”
“You’re the one who was impressive, standing up for yourself like that. You started off so well.” A frown crept over his face. “But then you seemed to lose steam. Did he frighten you?”
“No. He’s not like that. It’s just that every time I think of him and Nina…” I shivered in disgust.
“It causes emesis?”
I smiled as I extracted my keys from my coat pocket. “Thank you for dinner, and the gift. You made me feel special.” I didn’t really want him to go, but he’d done far too much for me already. “Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Oh, no. I’m not leaving.”
“What?” I lowered my key from the doorknob.
“You think I’d leave you alone when Mr. Heavyweight Wrestler plans to return? He doesn’t seem the type to take no for an answer.”
So this was the overprotective behavior Lucia had mentioned. “Thanks for your concern, but I’ll be okay. Jaylon wouldn’t hurt me.”
“Physically, maybe not. But emotionally? You want him to hang around uninvited, dredging up images of Nina ‘macking’ on him?”
I shuddered.
“Mr. Ramirez.” China came forward. “We planned to house you at the greenhouse tonight.”
“Then re-plan to house me here. I can sleep on the sofa.” He looked at me. “You have a sofa?”
The turn of events revved my heart. Hot Jandro would sleep at my place? The idea excited me, but I didn’t want to seem too eager, lest he think I had men over all the time. “I don’t recall inviting you for a sleepover?”
“Oh, come on, Maddie.” He smiled boyishly, and I caught a glimpse of the charm that had won his father the election. “You need to study, right? I can help you. Start paying up on my birthday gift—mine and Lucia’s, I mean.”
A door clicked shut down the hall, and I saw my neighbor, an elderly woman crazy enough or poor enough to live in off-campus housing. She had her Yorkie, Charles, on a leash, and he gave the cutest little bark when he noticed us loitering at my door. His barks weren’t so cute on the rare mornings I got to sleep in.
“Hi, Mrs. Marshall,” I said.
She scowled at me through her glasses. Once she noticed China, then Alejandro, she paused. “You’re the president’s son.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Alejandro smiled down at her and stooped to let Charles sniff his hand.
“I didn’t vote for that man.” She tugged the dog’s leash and shuffled to the stairwell. “He’s going to ruin the country!”
Instead of looking offended, Alejandro’s eyes shone with amusement. He glided behind her. “Would you like some help down the stairs, ma’am?”
“Back off!” She flung her hand in a dismissive wave as she descended.
He returned to me with a grin. “Great apartment complex. Real friendly neighbors.”
“Yeah?” I studied him. “You should meet three C; he loves eighties hair bands, plays them at full blast. And the Korean woman below me. Kimchi does not smell good in the mornings.” I shook my head. “But Mrs. Marshall’s the worst. Does it bother you to hear stuff like that about your dad?”
He shrugged. “I hear it all the time. The press excoriates Dad on a daily basis.”
I suppressed a giggle. “Feeling anxious, Alex?”
“Why?”
“Excoriate?”
“Damn that Dane!” He skimmed his hands through his thick hair. “I can’t wait for my psychiatry block. I’ll learn some psychobabble to defend myself against him.”
Psychiatry would be fascinating to study. I wondered which defense mechanisms I used. I’d definitely been in denial about my breakup, though Nina’s sudden surfacing had squashed that. Then Jaylon had shown up tonight claiming he still cared for me—more than he did for Nina anyway. I supposed that meant he thought we had a chance of reuniting. Did I think that too? Did I want that? The graceful lines of Alejandro’s body captured my attention instead.
“So what do you think?” He leaned against the wall, his scent hovering between us, his intelligent eyes on mine.
“About what?”
He smirked. “About me staying here. If not to protect you against Jaylon, then to save you from your unpleasant neighbors.”
“Well…”
“Got your bags here, Alex,” Brad said as he lumbered up the stairs clutching a backpack and duffel bag.
“Oh!” Alejandro straightened. “But Maddie hasn’t said yes yet…”
“Huh.” Brad looked between us. “China told me to bring the bags.”
I looked at her, but her face revealed nothing. I thought she’d said changing housing plans would be difficult.
Alejandro stepped back. “If you’d rather be alone, I totally understand—”
“If Brad already brought up your bags, I won’t make him drag them back downstairs.” My hand trembled as I unlocked my door. Could I deny the thrill that zipped through me?
“Gotta do a sweep of your apartment first,” Brad said.
I cringed. “It’s kind of a mess…” I led the two men inside, picking up wayward pieces of clothing off the floor and furniture as I went. I tossed them into a corner behind my sofa.
As Brad snooped around my tiny kitchen and headed into my bedroom—oh no, there weren’t bras lying around, were there?—Alejandro stood just inside the entrance. His sharp clothing highlighted my shabby décor. I nodded at the beat-up sofa. “It’s kind of a dump.”
But he didn’t seem repulsed at all. “You get to live by yourself as an undergrad? No roommates? That’s like paradise. How’d you swing that?”
“My dad got me a tutoring job at his school last summer.”
“His school?”
“He teaches history at Cuyahoga Community College.”
“All righty then,” Brad said as he swept back into the room. “All clear. One of us will be in the hallway tonight, the other in the SUV.”
Alejandro looked stricken. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to make you do that. Maybe I should—”
“Hey.” Brad held up his hand. “Es bueno. The protectee needs to live his life, right? I wouldn’t turn down a night in a pretty lady’s home.” He grinned wolfishly at me.
“Bye, Brad,” I said.
He laughed on his way out.
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I removed my coat. “Um, can I get you anything to drink? Something to eat?”
“You must be joking.” Alejandro took off his coat as well and hung it near the door. “Like Dane, I’ve still got a food baby going over here.”
Yet his navy jacket and dark jeans were a sleek fit over his lean frame. I thumped the sofa’s sagging cushion. “Want to sit on Shitty?”
“You named your sofa?” He grinned as he joined me on the monstrosity that would be his bed tonight. Beneath the armrest, stuffing bulged from a rip in the upholstery. Alejandro eyed the clouds of fluff gaping from the wound. “Looks like something our cat would do. He trashes everything.”
“Oh, right—you and Lucia have a cat. He has an unusual name, as I recall…” I looked at him for help, but he frowned.
“Damn cat hates me.”
“Did your family take him to the White House?” When he nodded, my eyes bugged. “Will he destroy all the furniture?”
Alejandro snorted. “Probably. It’s too stuffy, anyway. Time for some new décor, new blood in that place.”
It was so bizarre that his parents lived there.
“You said your dad teaches college history. Does he have a doctorate?”
My throat tightened at his change of subject. Dad had been in his third year of a doctorate program when Mom left, and he’d never finished. “No.”
Thankfully Alejandro moved on to a different line of questioning. “So you worked in Cleveland for the summer. Didn’t you have to train?”
“I was in Colorado Springs for a developmental camp in May, and I worked the Highbanks volleyball camps in July, but I got to go home for June.”
“I can’t believe Holter gave you a whole month off.”
“Oh, it was a negotiation. Believe me.”
“He’s intense.”
“He’s helped me have a shot at the national team, so I guess I like intense.” I shrugged.
He hesitated for a moment. “Like Jaylon?”
“Mmmmm…If you think that was intense, you should see him wrestle.”
“I wouldn’t mind seeing him wrestle China.” We laughed at that image. After a beat, he added, “Jaylon’s had unparalleled success in college.”
My eyebrows arched, and I noticed a slight blush on Alejandro’s cheeks.
Aced (Blocked #2) Page 10
