Jack: An Enemies To Lovers Sports Romance (Bad Boys of Hockey Book 2)

by Violette Paradis

  “The Knight of Pentacles,” Madame Lacroix says.

  From my history of having my cards read by Madame Lacroix, I know that there are four Knights. Each one represents a different element and energy. And considering the Knight is a court card, and court cards are supposed to represent people in our lives, I know what this might mean.

  I look up at Madame Lacroix who is smirking up at me, confirming my suspicions. The candlelight continues to play with the shadows on her face. I know what she’s thinking.

  If this isn’t a sign, then I don’t know what is.

  The song playing on the speakers comes to an end as Golden-Haired Beauty starts playing. It’s the song that was playing the other night when Jack and I started dancing together.

  I instinctively look up at him. He’s already looking at me with a subtle flirty smile on his face. The thump of the bassline transports me back to the other night when we were dancing, vibing with one another. I know he’s thinking about the exact same thing. My cheeks burn.

  At this point the universe is practically screaming at me.

  “Jack,” I say, looking up at his dark brown eyes, that wild hair, the dark stubble on his defined chin. Wow. He really is handsome.

  The thick heady air is getting to me as I find myself pausing for a little too long.

  “Yes?” He asks.

  I snap myself out of my temporary daydream. “Would you join us?”

  This surprises both Jack and Madame Lacroix.

  “Oh.” He puts his hands up in protest. “I don’t want to impose on whatever it is you ladies are doing.”

  “You’re not imposing. I’m inviting you to join us.”

  “Really?”

  I nod.

  “Well, that’s nice of you,” he says. “This isn’t a cult or anything, is it?”

  I laugh. “No.”

  Leaning through the beaded curtain, I grab a chair from an empty table nearby and pull it into our little intimate space.

  “Besides,” I say. “The cards are talking about you.”

  “They are?” He looks at the table with interest as he takes a seat next to me. We’re sitting so close that our knees are touching. I can smell his cedar scent and minty breath. He looks closer at the card on the table. “That’s me? I’m the guy in the armor on the big black horse? Cool.”

  While Jack is momentarily distracted, Madame Lacroix smiles wickedly at me.

  “What?” I ask. Surely, she wanted me to do this.

  “Nothing,” she says innocently. “It’s just interesting.”

  I give her a stern look as she looks at Jack.

  “I am Madame Lacroix by the way.”

  “Madame Lacroix,” he says in a perfect French accent. “I’m Jack.”

  He reaches over and shakes her manicured hand.

  “Parlez-vous Français?” She asks.

  “Oui, bien sur.”

  “Ah! Quelle surpise!” She smiles.

  Yeah,” I say, looking at Jack. “Quelle surprise.” I say this in my hopeless American accent, completely butchering the beautiful language. But I can’t help myself. “You speak French? Why didn’t you ever tell me that?”

  He chuckles softly. “I told you I grew up in Quebec City.”

  I want to argue but that definitely sounds familiar. “But you never said you spoke French.”

  “You never asked.”

  Biting my tongue, I slump back in my seat as Jack smiles smugly.

  “So, this is me, huh?” He points at the card. “The guy with the big-ass coin?”

  “I really hope you’re the guy with the big-ass coin before the end of the week,” I mumble. It comes out sassier than I expect it to.

  “Will I be?” He asks Madame Lacroix with a cute smirk. “Don’t these cards tell the future?”

  Madame Lacroix shrugs one shoulder. “If you want them to. I’m a big believer in manifestation and self-fulfilling prophecies.”

  “So, what does this card mean?”

  “This is the Knight of Pentacles,” she says. “This is a person who is willing to put in the work to get the success they want. He represents work, personal responsibility, and following through on dreams.”

  Jack stares at the card as if studying it. “So… if you see a card, and you want it to happen, you make it happen?”

  “Exactly.”

  He looks at me. “Hmm, interesting.”

  I sigh. “What? Why do people keep saying that?”

  “It’s just interesting that you saw this card and instantly thought this knight in shining armor was me.”

  “Of course it’s you. It’s a guy with money who isn’t exactly in a rush to give it away. Look at his horse. It’s just standing there!”

  He laughs. “You don’t think I’m your knight in shining armor on a noble black steed? I mean, you saw the card and then asked me to sit with you.”

  His knee presses against mine again as I look up into his honey-flecked brown eyes. I bite my lip, not knowing what to say to him. Maybe he’s right—maybe I manifested this. After all, I went to the club, I said yes to teaching him yoga, and I invited him to sit next to me.

  As I stare into Jack’s beautiful brown eyes, I remember that Madame Lacroix is sitting right there. I immediately push my feelings for him away.

  “Or maybe this means I’m the dark horse,” Jack says, looking back at the card. “That’d be pretty cool too, right?”

  He looks up at Madame Lacroix who gives him a polite nod.

  “Could be.”

  I look at Madame Lacroix. “I have a question for the cards.”

  “Yes, my dear?” She starts shuffling her deck again.

  “I want a clarification card,” I say. “Does this Knight of Pentacles card mean that Jack will give me back my money?”

  “Re-phrase that so it’s not a yes or no question,” she says.

  “Oh. Right! Umm…” I struggle trying to figure out how to ask that. All I really want to know is if Jack is lying to me about the money and if this is just an act to make me feel secure again. “What’s my relationship with Jack going to be like over the next week?”

  I look at Jack. He’s sitting close. Really close. I can smell cedar cologne on his collar and the mint on his breath. His curious brown eyes are watching me. His knee is pressing harder against mine.

  “Our relationship?” He asks.

  Out of my peripheral, I see a card fly out of Madame Lacroix’s deck.

  “Our financial relationship,” I say, realizing that the deck spoke before I had a chance to clarify.

  We all look down at a card of a man hanging upside down from a post.

  “The Hanged Man,” Madame Lacroix says.

  “That sounds bad,” Jack says.

  “It just means that there’s going to be tensions,” she says. “So I don’t expect your money situations to clear up right away. It’ll be a little while.”

  “Nothing we didn’t already know, right?” He gives me a smirk as he shrugs his shoulder against mine.

  “I guess.” I take a sip of my rum iced coffee. I can’t even smell the weed or incense in the air anymore. All I smell is Jack’s masculine cedar scent and the faint odor of sweat from the hot summer night. It all goes straight to my head, bringing back memories from the other night.

  I find myself staring at him again. He stares right back.

  “Why are you being nice to me?” I ask gently.

  Another card flies out of Madame Lacroix’s deck.

  “Judgement,” Madame Lacroix says.

  Jack and I smile at each other. He begins to laugh.

  “An inside joke between you two?” Madame Lacroix asks.

  “He called me judgy,” I say.

  “You are judgy.”

  “And so are you!”

  “Yeah,” he says. “I’ll admit it.”

  This catches me completely off guard. I sink back in my seat. “I guess I am a bit judgy too.”

  “And hypocritical,” he adds.

>   “Hey!” I glare at him. “You’re on thin ice.”

  He smirks.

  I look at Madame Lacroix. “Why is this feeling like couple’s therapy all of a sudden?”

  They both laugh.

  Hearing Jack laugh makes my heart feel like it’s blooming. I can’t even remember the last time a guy laughed at my self-deprecating jokes, and that includes Brendon.

  “Perhaps laughter is the way to ease this tension between you over the next week,” Madame Lacroix says. “Those inside jokes are important.”

  Another card slips out of the deck. A man and a woman stand naked in front of fruiting trees while an angel sings down on them. I know what card it is the instant I see it. My cheeks flare with heat.

  “Whoa!” Jack leans in. “Are they naked?”

  “The Lovers,” Madame Lacroix says. “The cards want you to treat each other with love during this tense time.”

  “Oh,” Jack says in a dispirited voice. “I thought they wanted us to fuc—”

  “Jack!” I playfully push his arm.

  “Hey! Where’s the love?” He grabs his arm as if I’ve just committed the worst possible assault on him.

  “Oh, come on. You’ve got thicker skin than that! You’re a hockey player, aren’t you?”

  “So you do pay attention to me. Or was that just a lucky guess?”

  I laugh. “You only told me like six times.”

  He stares at me with a cute smirk. “How many times have I told you that you’re judgy?”

  Rolling my eyes and suppressing a smile, I look back at Madame Lacroix who is staring at the cards that are already on the table. Poor Madame Lacroix. We’ve been neglecting her but Jack’s prickly flirt-game is truly impossible to resist.

  “Jack, do you have any questions for Madame Lacroix?” I ask.

  “About what? Us?” The candlelight flickers over his chiseled face and reflects in his mesmerizing eyes.

  Us.

  Hearing him say that sends a shiver down my spine.

  I clear my throat. “I think the cards have told us enough about that subject. Maybe you can ask about hockey instead.”

  Looking back at the table he thinks for a moment. “Will I score twenty goals this season?”

  “Please re-phrase to avoid a yes or no question,” Madame Lacroix says.

  “Oh, right. Umm… what will my personal success be this season? Is that a good question?”

  Madame Lacroix nods. Two cards fly out. The Sun and The World.

  “Whoa,” I say.

  “What’s that?” He asks, leaning in closer to look at The Sun. “It’s a naked baby on a horse.”

  He looks up with a confused expression as I hold back my laughter, snorting in the process.

  “I’m sorry.” I let myself laugh. “It just sounds so ridiculous when you put it that way.”

  He smirks.

  “This is interesting,” Madame Lacroix says.

  “What?” We both look at her.

  “The Sun is number nineteen but The World is number twenty-one.”

  “What’s that mean?” Jack asks.

  “Sometimes the numbers can tell us something. But considering The Sun means happiness and The World means completion, I think you’ll find success and satisfaction whether you reach your goal count or not.”

  “Hey, I like this.” He looks at me with a big grin.

  “Well, I’m glad you’re getting good news,” I mumble.

  I look back down at the table where I see the naked figures on the Lovers card. The rum, the caffeine, and the slow synth-rock of a Henry Sinner song are putting me in a hazy trance. My mind jumps from possibility to possibility about what the cards are telling me.

  “Do you have more questions for the cards?” Madame Lacroix asks.

  “You know, I think I’m satisfied with my reading for tonight.” I push my chair back and stand up. “How about I come see you next week?”

  “That’d be lovely, dear.” Madame Lacroix smiles. “Let me know how your Hanged Man money situation works out.”

  “Will do. As for tonight’s session, the Knight of Pentacles here will pay you.” I look over at Jack. “You can use your credit card to pay at the bar. Make sure to leave a good tip.”

  “Oh, sure,” he says, blindsided by my sudden end to the session. He gets up. “I just wanted to—”

  “Excuse me,” I cut him off. Feeling overwhelmed by the heady atmosphere and the messages from the cards, I get up and push my way through the beaded curtains, causing them to clatter behind me.

  Madison and Naomi are already gone, which I expected. I push my way out of the restaurant. The cool and clear outdoor air makes me realize just how hot and thick the air was inside. I fill my lungs with fresh oxygen which goes straight to my head. I realize just how spellbound I was in there—from the caffeine, the alcohol, the incensed air, and Jack’s stare…

  I continue toward my studio apartment just across the way. I make it about twenty feet before I hear Jack running behind me.

  “Jemma!” He calls out. “Wait up!”

  He rushes over.

  The street is empty. It’s well past midnight and we’re the only ones around. It’s dark out. The only light is coming from the dim orange streetlights nearby. He meets me in the shadows. I look up at him. His masculine scent is much stronger now that we’re outside and there are no other scents to compete with it.

  “You know, I just wanted to say I’m sorry. All I wanted was to do something nice for you,” he says. “You didn’t have to run off without saying anything.” His chest heaves as he breathes heavily. “I’ve been nothing but nice to you and you kick me out in the middle of the morning. Naked. You kick me out of your class—”

  “—which was justified—”

  “—you call me out in front of all my teammates. Who the hell are you to be so cruel?”

  I shake my head as I look up into his eyes. “Nobody’s ever spoken to me like this before.”

  “It’s because I’m angry and annoyed.” His jaw tenses. “Angry and annoyed with you. You just… you’re driving me crazy!”

  I can see the tension spreading to his chest, his shoulders, his neck.

  I take a step closer. “You’re so…”

  “Mean?” He says. “I’m only dishing back what you’ve been giving me. I think your coven calls that karma.”

  “No,” I say. “You’re so… strong.”

  “What?”

  “You’re just so robust and masculine. And maybe it’s the caffeine or the alcohol or the weed talking… I didn’t even smoke any, but I could smell it, and if I can smell it I can feel it…” I shake away the train of thought as I look back up into Jack’s confused eyes. “Okay, to be completely real, I’m not going to blame this on any of those things. This is all me.”

  “What are you trying to say?” He furrows his brow.

  I take in a deep breath and look up at him.

  “I’ve never been around a man that exuded this much testosterone before and you’re…”

  As I search for the right word, Jack watches me intently.

  “Intimidating?” He asks, his voice is deep and dangerous. I can feel the low vibration of it deep in my belly.

  I shake my head, my eyes still gazing into his.

  “Exciting,” I say.

  His expression instantly turns into one of seductive interest. His lips curl into a smirk. My heart starts beating hard in my chest.

  “You’re attracted to me,” he says.

  “Yes,” I answer, even though I’m not sure he’s even asking a question.

  He takes a step closer. Just to tease him, I step back, forcing him to chase me just a little.

  “More than just my body?” He asks.

  My skin suddenly feels hot. “Maybe.”

  I take another step back so that I’m standing in the hazy glow of the orange street light.

  Jack steps forward so that he’s illuminated too. He’s close enough now that I can feel the heat
radiating off his body.

  “I think we mesh well together.” His voice drops to a lower register. “We have good energy together.”

  As I stare at his lips, I wet mine. “I think so too.”

  His hands slide onto my waist. I can hear the pattern of his breathing and the smell of mint on his breath.

  “I want you,” he says in a whispered voice. “And I shouldn’t. You drive me fucking crazy. But I want you.”

  I look up into his eyes. The hazy orange glow of the streetlight is giving him a devilish glow. He’s leaning in close but he’s not kissing me.

  Why isn’t he kissing me?

  If he won’t kiss me, then I guess I’ll have to do it.

  Staring at his lips, I lean in. Moving in, I’m about to press my lips against his when he pulls back. My eyes widen in surprise.

  He’s smirking deviously at me. “I just wanted to see how upset you’d be.”

  I shake my head. “Why are you so cruel to me?”

  “Am I being cruel?” He asks, pulling me closer against him. “I thought we were just having fun.”

  His hands tighten around my waist as he leans in. Just as his lips are about to touch mine, I pull back. I see the same look of momentary shock on his face. I bite back my smile.

  “Now we’re having fun,” I say.

  His smirk widens. Pulling me tight against him, he lowers his head and presses his lips against mine, kissing me confidently. His hand strokes down my back, sending chills through my body. I feel completely secure in his arms as I press against him.

  Something magical happens when we kiss. It feels like the universe is opening up and swallowing us whole. We’re two stars colliding and sparks are going everywhere. We fit so comfortably against one another that I just want to keep winding tighter around him.

  As we kiss, I pull him to the front door of my studio. As I reach blindly into my purse, looking for my keys, he gently pushes me up against the windowed door. His lips find my ear.

  “I want to find out how wet I can make you.” His hot breath rushes into my ear and down my neck.

  “Why do you talk so dirty?” I ask.

  His lips find my cheek. “I can talk sweeter if you like.”

  I bite my lip. “I didn’t say I didn’t like it.”

  He smirks.

  “But now I’m curious to know what your sweet talk sounds like,” I say.