Game. Set. Match.

by Jennifer Iacopelli

  “We were just going to get dinner,” Teddy said. “Why don’t you join us?”

  “Ted, she just said she had a lot of work to do,” Jack cut in. Indy felt like someone slapped her. Apparently, he didn’t want her to go. Where was the guy who cheerfully rescued her just a few minutes ago from OBX’s queen bitches?

  “He’s right. I really do have a ton of work, plus I already ate.” She tried to ignore the clear relief that spread across his face at her words. “Thanks so much for your help. I’ll see you guys around.”

  Indy left the court, trying to focus on the good. She had a great ranking for the Classic. That’s what she’d come to OBX for, to win the Classic, but despite that, her thoughts kept drifting back to Jack Harrison and the way his voice sounded when he said her name.

  ***

  The next morning pink slivers of light crept above waterline far in the distance, giving the beach an unearthly glow. Indy stretched her arms over her head, muscles suddenly so much heavier than they were the day before as she clomped down the wooden stairway leading from the OBX practice facilities down to the sand. Each step made every fiber of muscle in her legs throb. After just one day, her body was in shock. Her mind had forced her out of bed that morning knowing the sooner she moved, the less it would hurt—eventually.

  Gingerly she reached the bottom of the stairs and landed in the sand, and suddenly, even standing still was painful as she tried to keep her balance on the soft surface.

  “This was a friggin’ stupid idea,” she muttered to herself. She wanted to turn around and crawl back into bed. She could run tomorrow, when her body was more accustomed to OBX’s training regimen.

  She grasped the handrail of the stairs to pull herself back up them, but as she looked up, she saw Penny Harrison, long, dark hair piled at the top of her head and headphones plugged into her ears, jogging down the stairs.

  Indy froze. It was one thing to be introduced to one of your idols, especially with two other people around as a nice buffer, but what the hell was she supposed to say now? Should she wait until Penny said something or just say hello to her like it was no big deal? She probably had people acting like crazed fans around her all the time and Dom had said not to bother her while she was training, but they knew each other now, so…

  “Hey,” Penny said, cutting into Indy’s mental ramble as she jumped down the last couple of steps into the sand. She toed off her sneakers, then pulled off her socks and tucked them inside.

  “Hi,” Indy finally managed, and her resolve to limp back to bed crumbled. She came here to train at the academy that made Penny Harrison one of the best tennis players in the world. If that meant pushing through the soreness, then that’s what she would do.

  Penny raised her eyebrows and nodded down the beach. It was probably the closest thing to an invitation Indy was going to get, so she nodded and they set off, their pace even and measured.

  The smell of ocean air wafted up from the shore, filling Indy’s senses, forcing the last traces of sleepiness from her. She quickened her pace just slightly as her muscles loosened and energy began to flow through her limbs.

  “Easy does it,” Penny cautioned from a step behind her. “You want to warm up, not tire yourself out for training later.”

  The sun finally burst out from the horizon, the ocean a sea of orange, purple and pink as the light reflected off the water. They ran for about ten minutes, turned at the edge of OBX property and followed their footsteps back toward the practice courts.

  “Crap,” Penny muttered as soon as they turned and saw a figure jogging in their direction.

  “What?” Indy asked, squinting into the distance. The little part of her that would always be a tennis fan recognized the silhouette. Alex Russell was headed straight for them. Indy had no idea how that could be a bad thing, but she kept her mouth shut.

  “Good morning, ladies,” Alex said, flashing them a charming grin, his eyes twinkling at them, though after a brief glance in her direction, he focused on Penny. He wore a pair of long tennis shorts, but nothing else, the waistband just below his well-defined abs, the blue ink of a tattoo, words in a fancy script etched across his left ribcage. He was definitely hotter in person than he was on TV.

  “Morning,” Penny said and kept jogging. Indy followed her lead.

  “Argh,” Alex shouted from behind them and they both whirled around. He was lying in the sand a few feet away, clutching at his chest. “You wound me, right here, like a bloody arrow.”

  Indy snorted, trying to muffle her laugh and she glanced at Penny, whose eyes were focused on the sky, shifting now from the pinks and purples of the sunrise to a clear blue. Alex propped himself up on his elbows.

  “See you at training, love.”

  Penny just shook her head and started running again, picking up the pace as she went. Alex winked at Indy before climbing to his feet and jogging in the opposite direction.

  By the time Indy caught up to Penny, she was already at the bottom of the stairs, pulling her socks and sneakers back on.

  “Are you okay?” Indy asked, not really sure what else to say.

  “I’m fine,” Penny snapped at her and then cringed. “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay,” Indy said.

  “No it’s not, but thanks.”

  Indy nodded and started up the steps. Her muscles weren’t quite as sore anymore, thanks to the solid workout she’d just put in. Penny was right behind her. They walked in silence through the maze of practice courts, past the back doors to the atrium and they both turned left at the edge of the main building toward the entrance of Deuce.

  Open twenty-four hours a day, Deuce served as a dining hall for the live-in students, staff and any tennis vacation guests, plus it was open to the public for lunch and dinner. With vaulted, wooden, whitewashed ceilings and contrasting dark-stained floors and tables, plus an outdoor eating area that overlooked the beach, it was the place people gathered before and after training, and that morning, it was bustling.

  “Why is it so crowded?” Indy asked, looking around into a sea of faces she’d never seen before. It hadn’t been nearly as packed during lunch and dinner yesterday.

  “The Classic players started showing up last night and this morning. The players, coaches, families, it adds up to a lot of people at OBX for a couple of weeks,” Penny said, leading the way to the breakfast buffet at the far end of the room.

  They each grabbed some fruit and toast, and when Indy turned, she saw Jack and Teddy already sitting at a table waving them over. She hovered uncertainly at the empty chair between the Harrison twins for a moment, her eyes lingering on Jack, who was looking anywhere except in her direction, but then Penny looked up at her, eyebrows drawn together.

  “Are you going to sit?”

  “Oh, right,” Indy said, putting her plate down and sliding into the chair.

  Across the room, Lara and Addison were holding court with a few other OBX girls, including Jasmine Randazzo. If looks could kill, Indy knew she would’ve dropped dead as soon as Jasmine’s eyes locked on her. All three Harrisons seemed oblivious to the attention, so Indy decided to ignore it. Having them with her was like a solid wall that could keep out any crap those girls probably wanted to throw at her.

  “Got confirmation last night that Harold Hodges’ll be here covering the Classic, Pen. He wants to do a feature with you and Alex, if that’s okay?” Jack asked, dumping an insane amount of sugar into his coffee.

  Penny’s mouth twisted into a pout, but she nodded.

  Teddy laughed and then using his fork for a microphone said, “You’re like so famous, Pen. What’s it like to be so awesome?” He nudged his sister with his elbow, making her drop the knife she was using to butter her toast, but Penny rolled her eyes and laughed with him.

  It was weird. Indy hadn’t really expected them to be so…normal.

  “Indy!” Roy called out from the edge of the restaurant, approaching the table quickly. The entire restaurant, buzzing with activity just seconds
before, fell into total silence. “Coach wants to see you. Come on with me back to his office.”

  “Oooh,” Teddy said, chuckling as Indy’s eyes widened in panic.

  “Shut up, Ted,” Jack said, glaring at his younger brother. She nodded to Penny, who smiled encouragingly as she stood and left with Roy. Her joints were stiff, her feet dragging like lead and her throat tightening against the panic that tore through her. Why the hell did Dom want to see her? It felt like being called to the principal’s office, only a million times worse. Had she done anything wrong? He hadn’t even coached one of her training sessions yet. Did he think she’d run into Penny this morning accidently on-purpose after he’d warned them to stay away? How would he have even known about it?

  When they reached the atrium, Roy nodded at the staircase leading up to Dom’s office and she scaled the steps slowly, only to find the office empty. Indy took a seat in front of his desk and waited. Her eyes focused on the clock and she watched the seconds tick by slowly. If he didn’t show up soon, she might throw up. Her stomach grumbled, protesting that last thought. There wasn’t actually anything to throw up. She wished she’d grabbed a slice of her toast before leaving Deuce with Roy, at least then she wouldn’t be starving.

  Then two sets of footsteps echoed on the stairs. Indy stood, wiping her sweaty palms against her shorts, then smoothed back her hair held up high in a ponytail.

  Dom stepped into the room, followed closely by a tall blond woman in her mid-thirties.

  “Indiana, good, you’re here.” Dom quickly strode away from the woman, frowning over his shoulder at her. His eyes darted around the room and his hand wiped over his entire face. Indy’s stomach sank. That couldn’t be a good sign. “I’d like to introduce you to Ms. Morneau.”

  The blonde smiled, showing off two rows of perfect, white teeth. She wore a white pencil skirt and a blush-colored, silk sleeveless blouse, cut high at the neck. “Caroline, please.” She said her name in a soft French accent, like “Cah-row-lean” and Indy pictured her tilted slightly to the left, like that tower in Italy. Approaching Indy, she ignored her extended hand and bussed two faux kisses lightly on each cheek.

  Indy pulled away sharply and looked back and forth between Dom and this odd woman who thought it was okay to kiss her.

  “I take it your father didn’t call you,” Dom said, reading the confusion on her face.

  Indy shook her head. “Dad doesn’t have the time to call me. He’s far too busy with work. You know, hedge funds don’t manage themselves.”

  Dom cleared his throat. “Well, Caroline will explain then. I’ll just go.”

  Before Indy could ask him what the hell was going on, he was already out the door and down the stairs, leaving her alone with Caroline.

  “Why don’t we sit down?” Caroline motioned to the chairs in front of Dom’s desk.

  “I’m sorry,” Indy said, ignoring the suggestion. “I don’t mean to be rude, but who are you exactly?”

  “Caroline Morneau. Your father has hired me as representation.”

  “Representation for what?”

  “For you.”

  “I don’t think I understand.”

  “I’m your agent, Indiana.”

  For the next twenty minutes, Caroline rattled on, but Indy barely heard a word. Only a few things stood out. Caroline worked for a company called Trinity Agency who specialized in representing athletes. They were a subsidiary of the law firm who represented her father, and as soon as Dom called with the news of her ranking, her father had put Caroline on a plane to North Carolina.

  It was typical. Her dad was always doing things like this, barely speaking a word to her for months and then having a car delivered to her driveway for Christmas one year. Her mom used to say it was his way of showing affection. To Indy it just screamed of a guilty conscience. She wanted to go pro and sign with an agent, but hell would freeze over before she let her dad have anything to do with it.

  “Indiana, are you listening to me?” Caroline finally asked, pulling her from her thoughts.

  “No, I’m sorry.”

  “That’s alright, I can start again.”

  “No, that’s not what I mean. I’m sorry you wasted your time coming all this way. I haven’t even gone pro yet, not officially, and anyway, when it’s time, I’ll pick my own agent.”

  Caroline smiled, a small rise of the corners of her mouth that made Indy feel like she was five years old. “Perhaps you should call your father.”

  “Perhaps,” Indy agreed, but if he wanted to talk about this, he could pick up the phone. She had zero intention of telling her dad anything. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m late for a training session.”

  “Of course,” Caroline said. “Just take this with you. It is your contract. There is no need to make a decision today, but your father wishes to protect your interests.”

  “Sure.” She took the papers and sped out of the office, down the stairs and back into the atrium.

  “Everything okay, Indy?” Roy asked, laying aside his newspaper as she nearly flew past his desk.

  She stopped dead and turned to him with a smile. If he knew her better, he probably would’ve been able to tell the smile was fake. “Do you have a recycle bin behind your desk?”

  “Sure do.”

  “Could you throw this out for me?” she asked, holding out the contract.

  “No problem,” Roy said, taking it and glancing down at the cover page. “You sure you don’t need this?”

  “Positive.”

  Chapter 5

  May 15th

  Penny leaned over, hands on her knees, gasping for breath and glanced over at the sideline of the court where her coach was observing her training match. She was dying and she and Alex had only been training for a little over an hour. They were playing a mock match and were supposed to be working on each other’s weaknesses. Alex’s was his tendency to go for a winner too early in a point, and hers was playing a more defensive game while dealing with the clay surface stripping some of the velocity from her groundstrokes. Instead, all they’d managed to do was exhaust each other.

  Playing tennis with Alex Russell was almost exactly like having sex with him. No awkward fumbling of a first time or a short, unsatisfactory encounter some girls in the locker room whispered about, but the mind-blowing kind of sex most people dreamed of and very few actually had. It was intense and a constant struggle, a push and pull, every point a battle of wills, taking all of her physical and emotional strength, leaving her body suspended in a constant state of half pain, half pleasure.

  Alex wasn’t faring much better than she was. On the other side of the court, he was hunched over, each breath coming heavy and hard as he stared at her. His gaze was beyond unnerving. Not creepy, but not totally pleasant either. It was like he was looking deep inside of her into places she’d never let anyone see, not Jack, not Dom or even Teddy. Penny kept her eyes locked on his. Then he sent her a cheeky wink and quickly pursed his lips in a phantom kiss, before looking away.

  “What the fuck is going on with you two?” Dom marched onto the court from the sideline, confident that they’d sucked in enough oxygen to catch their breaths and were ready to take a total tongue-lashing. His face was shifting from lightly tanned to bright red and the vein in his forehead was beginning to protrude. “P, why the hell are you letting him dictate the pace? Stop being hesitant and hit the fucking ball.” She opened her mouth to respond, but Dom was on a roll. “And Alex, what is wrong with you? The way she’s playing, you should be thrashing her. What happened to the Alex Russell who would step on the neck of a player he had down? Just finish the point when she leaves you an opening! If either of you think this shit is going to fly in France, you’ve got another thing coming. We’re going to have media crawling all over this place in the next few days for the Classic. You don’t think they’re going to sneak a look at your training sessions while they’re here? Take a tour, clear your heads and come back ready to play.”

  Penny’s leg
s were already carrying her to the gate, an instinctive response to orders issued by the man with total authority over her training regimen for years. A tour, as Dom put it, was a run around the entire OBX facility, through the maze of courts and then around the perimeter. She rolled her neck and broke into a jog, getting halfway down the pathway lining the practice courts before she heard Alex’s long strides in a flat-out sprint as he tried to catch up with her. For half a second, she considered picking up her own pace and trying to lose him, but Dom would probably be pissed at her and make her do another tour.

  Their strides matched, the rubber soles of their sneakers pounding the concrete in unison. She was perfectly happy to lead him around the complex in silence, and for a little while, it seemed he was too, but as they rounded the corner at the outer edge of the practice courts he broke it, “How much farther, love?”

  “Done already?” she said, keeping her eyes trained ahead.

  “Hardly, just making conversation.”

  “Well don’t. I have nothing to say to you.”

  Alex chuckled, his stride breaking just a bit. “I don’t know, I think we have a lot to say to each other. Last time we were really alone together we didn’t exactly exchange a lot of words, though if I recall, my name was a favorite of yours.”

  Her nostrils flared as she tried to tamp down her reaction. They’d been operating under unspoken agreement for the last two days to just not talk about that night. Why the hell was he bringing it up now? “Just shut up and run.”

  “Hit a nerve did I?”

  She didn’t answer, but instead glanced up and sideways, taking in his profile, the strong jawline, a glittering blue eye, a nose slightly crooked, probably broken in a bar fight or something equally stupid.

  “I wonder what Dom would think?”

  That stopped her, both her mind and her feet. It was a few seconds before he stopped as well and jogged back to her. She wanted to scream, to blast him and let him know that night was the biggest mistake she’d ever made. But as he towered over her, his eyes softer than before, she couldn’t.