Winning Streak

by Alice Ward

  No one moved.

  “Kane Bartholomew Steele,” Nana snapped, breaking the tension that had grown to unbearable levels. “You’ll do no such thing. You will see Eliana home, and Zoe will go back with us. We have plenty of room.”

  Everyone seemed to begin moving at once, except for me. Except for Kane.

  Zoe’s soft lips brushed my cheek. “Everything will be fine, I promise.”

  Marsha, still looking stricken, came to stand in front of me. “Eliana, did you cheat on Kane?”

  Mutely, I just shook my head.

  She nodded. “Did you know you were being recorded?”

  I shook it again.

  Marsha sighed and gripped my hand. “That’s what I thought. We will hire the best lawyers and the best investigators, don’t you worry.” She too brushed my cheek with her lips. “I’ve not known you long, but I already think of you as a daughter. We’ll get through this somehow.”

  Nana was next. She no longer looked stricken, she looked mad as hell. “Damn straight we’ll hire the best, and we’ll get to the bottom of this, don’t you worry. You keep your chin up. You did nothing wrong besides do what comes natural with someone you thought you could trust.” She hmphed. “It’s a good thing they didn’t have those little spy camera things back in my days. Or the internet. People could get away with a lot more back then.” She winked. “Believe me.”

  The ice around my heart cracked just a little.

  A few moments later, she was wagging her finger under Kane’s nose, muttering something I couldn’t hear. Then they were gone, and the silence stretched again.

  “I’m sorry.”

  It was the only thing I could say, but it wasn’t enough.

  He pressed his hands into his temples, his fingers digging into his hair. “I’m sorry too. That this happened to you. I—”

  A light tap on the door interrupted him. It cracked open and Katrina Delaney poked her head in. “Sorry to bother you.”

  Kane nodded, and I just stared, realizing this was another person who had seen my body. Watched me, heard me having a sexual experience that should have been private.

  Shame washed over me as the violation of what just happened hit, and I began to shake. The tears that had stayed at bay broke through the dam, sending a river down my cheeks. Katrina stepped into the room quickly, closing the door behind her and flipping the lock.

  “Eliana, I’m so very sorry,” she said as I sank into a chair, “but you need to know that another video has just been released. It appears to be the same man, same room.”

  Kane cursed and turned to face the other way. I couldn’t blame him. I wouldn’t have been able to look at me either. I didn’t even flinch when he punched the wall.

  I held out my hand, and Katrina stepped closer, placing her phone in my palm. The video was already cued. All I had to do was tap the button. I took a deep breath and did.

  It was me again, totally naked sitting on the same bed with the same footballs in the background. I was giving Brett, the football player, head. Again, he was only visible from the neck down, but my entire profile was on view for the world to see.

  “Oh, Eliana, you’re so good. Don’t stop. It’s incredible.”

  I remembered his voice. I remembered how it felt to have someone so handsome and popular pay attention to me. I remembered how hard I’d tried to please him.

  And there I was, trying to please him, although to someone who wasn’t inside my head at that time, I only looked like another girl gone wild.

  I handed the phone back, unable to watch anymore. Katrina sat down beside me. “I’m so sorry.”

  Licking my dry lips, I finally found my voice. Maybe it was because she was a virtual stranger, I found it easier to talk to her.

  “I’ve only been with three men in my life. My high school boyfriend, Kane, and…” I nodded toward the phone, “him. We dated for a short time my senior year of college. I…”

  The horror of what just happened strangled me, closing my throat in a death grip. My life as I’d known it was over. No matter how good I’d been in the past or how good I planned to be in the future, today would define me in a way I could never defend.

  Then Kane was there, cupping the sides of my face in his strong hands, forcing me to look up at him. “Baby, breathe. I need you to breathe.”

  I tried to inhale, but my lungs wouldn’t inflate, not even a sip of precious air.

  “Look at me. See me, Eliana. I’m here. I’m not leaving. We’ll get through this, I promise.”

  His beautiful green eyes became my focal point, and in their depths, I attempted to draw strength. As he continued to talk, my lungs loosened and blessed oxygen began to seep through.

  “Why did this happen?” I asked, the thoughts finally finding a voice.

  As if waking from a deep sleep, feeling began to return to my limbs, and my entire body began to hurt. At the same time, I felt a deep exhaustion climbing through my nervous system.

  “I don’t know, but we’ll find out. Right now, let’s focus on what you can control. Your breath, baby. Breathe.”

  I closed my eyes and breathed in. Maybe this was a dream. No, a nightmare. Both. I kept my eyes closed, unwilling to allow the light of day inside my head to sort everything out.

  Katrina took my hand and squeezed. “Kane is right. Focus on what you can control right now.”

  Opening my eyes, I looked over at her and my vision blurred as I saw the compassion on her kind face.

  “Please tell me this is a dream,” I said, clinging to hope. Her face fell, giving me my answer.

  “What can I do for you?” she asked. “Can I get you something to drink?”

  Without giving me time to answer, she stood and headed to the beverage bar and was back with another tea. Kane took it from her and twisted off the lid before putting up to my lips.

  The icy drink felt wonderful on my raw throat, and I drank it thirstily. Kane smiled. “Better?”

  I nodded. I really wasn’t, but from this moment forward, I was going to fake it the best I could.

  “I hate to tell you this, but—”

  “If you tell me there’s another video, I think I’ll explode.”

  Her smile was gentle. “No, I was going to tell you that the press is at every entrance. When you’re ready to go, I’ll have security help you get out.”

  I shot to my feet. “I’m ready. I’d like to go now, if that’s okay.”

  She nodded. “Sure. I’ll meet you at the player’s exit. Do you have a car?”

  Kane jangled his keys.

  Katrina gave us both a stiff smile. “Give me five minutes.”

  Precisely five minutes later, I was tucked against Kane’s side as security paved a path through a sea of microphones and cameras.

  “Kane, did you know prior to today about your fiancée’s infidelities?”

  “Eliana, who is the man in the video?”

  “Kane, do you two still plan to get married?”

  “Eliana, how did seeing the video make you feel?”

  When the door of Kane’s Land Rover closed, creating a barrier to the questions, all I could do was slump into the seat. At Kane’s building, we were mercifully allowed to park inside the lot although there were reporters and cameras that the parking attendant was doing his best to keep on the sidewalk.

  In his apartment, Kane led me down the hall and to the bathroom, turning on all the shower heads at full blast.

  “Thank you,” I told him.

  A part of me wished he would join me, waited for him to do so, but he only nodded. “Take your time. I… I need to go out for a while.”

  Before I could nod or even beg him to stay, he was gone. I sank to the floor and cried.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Kane

  I felt like a total shit the second I shut the door, but I needed to think, get my head on straight. Seeing that video tripped every emotional wire, and Eliana didn’t need to be around when everything inside me exploded. I wasn’t
even sure I’d be able to survive the shrapnel of my fury-sadness-pain-jealousy-doubt-fear if that happened.

  Skipping the elevator, I headed to the stairs, needing my feet to keep moving. Jogging down, I examined each of those emotions. Maybe giving them separate clarity would help.

  Fury was easy. Eliana’s face as she watched the video. The betrayal and embarrassment, the horror, of knowing that millions of people would see her naked body, her most intimate moments. I wanted to kill the man who’d done that to her, but doing so wouldn’t stop the spread of the video. I felt helpless. Impotent. For a man like me, not being able to control something, fix it, was beyond disturbing.

  Sadness was also easy. Watching the woman I cared so much about so devastated broke me. Her face. Her eyes. Her body language. The way she seemed to shrink in her skin. She’d held up amazingly well. Tears, yes, but not the hysteria many women would have succumbed to. The silent crying was actually worse than if she’d been the one to punch the wall, to kick and scream and wail at the top of her lungs. That I could have handled. The river of silent agony was heartbreaking to witness.

  Pain. Sharp knives of it clawed at my throat, chest, stomach. Heart. And it wasn’t only in response to her pain. Watching her in full color be fucked by another man was a kick in the gut. I knew she wasn’t a virgin when she met me. I didn’t expect her to be or judge her because she wasn’t. Hell, I’d had many women since popping my cherry when I was only fifteen years old. But knowing Eliana had slept with other men, and seeing it happen… Christ, the pain was agonizing.

  Yes, I was jealous. The dude was stacked, and he seemed to be pleasing her. If he wasn’t, she was a damn fine actress, which made me wonder if she was acting with me too. No. I knew she wasn’t. Surely I would have felt it. I would’ve known it, right? Which led to…

  Doubt. Was Eliana who I thought she was? Had she only slept with two other guys before? Had she been telling the truth, did she not know she was being filmed? Or was she more like her mother than… no. I refused to finish that thought.

  My lungs were burning as I burst through the parking level door and headed to the Land Rover. It sensed my presence and opened automatically. Within seconds, the engine was roaring to life, and I was squealing the tires through the exit.

  Fear.

  That was the emotion that had me by the balls. I wasn’t used to being afraid, but I was now. I didn’t want to lose Eliana. Somewhere between the time I bumped into her in that alley and now, she’d smiled and laughed her way into my heart. No, it was deeper than that. She was in every cell. I breathed her in and out of my lungs.

  I loved her.

  I gripped the steering wheel tighter. In a few short weeks, I’d fallen in love.

  The rage was back, and I slammed my fist in the Rover’s dash, over and over and over. I needed out of this enclosed space before I ran myself into a wall. Pulling into a parking space, I thumbed some coins in the slot and began to run.

  It could have been so perfect. I was already marrying her, for hell’s sakes. It was like destiny had surrounded us both, herding us to the altar and a future together, even though it wasn’t what either of us wanted. Had wanted at the time.

  We would have gotten married and just stayed that way. Had babies. Watched them grow. Snuggled our own grandchildren someday. Watched age spots form, gray hair replace our natural color.

  Now?

  I slowed, breathing hard, a stitch pinching at my side.

  Now, we could still have that. Maybe a little soiled by the video, but it was nothing that couldn’t fade away.

  I looked around, trying to orient myself and realized I was close to Rhett Hamilton’s building. I needed to talk to someone. Maybe I could talk to him.

  His doorman was there immediately to offer a polite welcome and discretely called up to announce my presence. Within seconds, the elevator was called, and I was soaring to my boss’s penthouse.

  Maybe this wasn’t smart, mixing business with personal. But hell, everything that was happening to me affected the Beasts… and my parents’ corporation.

  Rhett was already at the door when the elevator opened, two drinks in his hand. He handed me one without a word, and I tossed it back. He grinned and handed me his. I tossed that one down too.

  “Sit.”

  Taking both glasses, he went back to the bar while I sank down into one of the white leather club chairs sprinkled around the enormous room. Most everything was various shades of white, I realized. The floor, furniture, walls. It should have felt stark and clinical, but didn’t.

  “I’d ask if you’re okay, but I can see that you’re not,” he said and took a seat in a chair across from me.

  I sipped at this one; the alcohol of the others had already gone to my head. I didn’t drink a lot. I needed to stay focused, and alcohol made everything blur. But blurry would be good right about now.

  “Still processing,” I told him honestly.

  “I’m sure. It’s a great deal to take in.”

  “And I’m also sorry for bringing all this shit onto the team.”

  Rhett laughed. “Son, we’ve had shit smeared all over us before.”

  “I know, but this is more than a little wild partying and too many women, this is…” I didn’t even know how to finish the word.

  Seemed like I didn’t need to, he simply nodded. “It’s ugly. What was done to your girlfriend—”

  “Fiancée,” I corrected him, feeling an intense need to make my relationship with her clear.

  He smiled. “Right. Fiancée. What was done to her was irreprehensible. My understanding from Katrina is that the man was a college boyfriend and she didn’t know she was being filmed.”

  I nodded. “Correct.”

  “I can’t even imagine her shock. Or yours.” He eyed me carefully. “I’d imagine you’re feeling about a million different emotions right now, and you’re not sure which one to land on.”

  I lifted my glass. “You’d be right.”

  Rhett exhaled a long breath and took another sip of his scotch. “I’ve escaped the altar a couple of times, once by the skin of my teeth. Don’t know that I’ll ever be the marrying kind. Don’t know if there’s a woman out there who could stand me long enough to find out.” He lifted a shoulder. “But I’m envious of what you men have. Calvin, Ace, Todd, and the rest. Now you.” He narrowed his eyes. “I’ve still not figured you out.”

  “What’s there to figure?”

  “I know your background. I know who your family is, yet you work hard every day on the field. Not that I’m complaining. That’s what I’m paying you for. That’s why I chose you, but you have to admit it’s a contradiction.”

  I nodded. “I guess it is.”

  “It’s also a contradiction for you to be fucking a porn queen one week and engaged the next, to a sweet, wholesome young thing to beat it all.”

  Smiling, I thought of freckles and sweet tea.

  “It’s a contradiction that you’ve known a woman for a couple weeks, yet you look like a love-struck fool right now.”

  “So, are you saying I’m completely fucked in the head?”

  He chuckled. “No, I’m not saying that at all. Love is messy. People are messy. And you need to know one thing. Whatever you decide to do, I’ll support you. Understand? If you think this girl is the one, then you bring her to the game tomorrow, and everyone on our team and staff will help protect her. You don’t let her hide away, you hear me? She wasn’t doing anything you or I haven’t done a thousand times. She just happened to be with a pig who is now probably cashing in on the news that she’s connected to you.”

  “Yes, I thought about that.”

  “Don’t be surprised if you don’t get some type of phone call or email saying they’ll destroy any other tapes for a million dollars or some shit.”

  I puffed out a disgusted laugh. “Every now and again, I think about having a family and worry that some asshole would steal my kid for a ransom. It never even crossed my mind that I’d
need to pay a ransom for something like this.”

  “And it might not happen, just don’t be surprised. You getting the cops involved?”

  “Private investigators for now.”

  Rhett nodded. “That’s good. Track that bastard down and hang him up by the balls.”

  I rose to my feet, feeling steadier after our talk. “Will do.”

  “I’ll talk to Katrina. What’s happened to your fiancée has happened to a lot of young ladies. I remember reading about some laws that are being passed to stop revenge porn, I think they called it. It would require website and search engines to take those things down if requested. It’s a long way from solving the problem, but the subject is getting a lot of attention.”

  Revenge porn. For some reason, the name itself made me uneasy. I liked the idea of simple greed better than revenge.

  “Maybe what happened to… sorry, what’s your girl’s name?”

  “Eliana.”

  “Pretty name. Maybe through the Beasts’ PR machine, we can bring attention to revenge porn. The connection might help people have more sympathy toward Eliana, or at least not so much high-and-mighty hate. There will still be trolls, can’t avoid those, but maybe normal people will see the truth behind what happened.” Rhett looked far away in his thoughts. “Hell, I’m seeing a commercial out of this.”

  I shook my head. “Does your business mind never quit?”

  He chuckled. “Never. But think about it. There’s more than one way to rape a woman. Every eye that lands on that video is a rape, a violation. If we, through a commercial, could stop people from clicking, then it might reduce the number of uploads. Or at least help.”

  More than one way to rape a woman.

  Rhett was right.

  That Winston asshole had almost raped Eliana once, although I’d never asked her about what happened. And now… two million prying eyes. The letches. The predators. The curious.

  And where was I right now?

  I know where I wasn’t. I wasn’t holding her, reassuring her that it was alright.

  Punching the elevator down button, I felt an urgent need to go, to get back to her now.

  “Thanks, Rhett. This has been a big help.”