Ruthless Renovator : A Hero Club Novel

by Paisleigh Aumack

  Needless to say, Wes felt it was exactly what he wanted and was prepared to fight through the controversy it could bring. His exact words might have been something along the lines of, ‘We are going to shock the world with a sexy as fuck, fun, refreshing show.’ For me, it was something I discovered fairly quickly I loved and was good at. Ratings soared and we were the second largest talk radio show on satellite. All of this happened within the first year and a half of the show starting. But as with all successes, there were sacrifices you had to make and there was one I tried my best to avoid like the plague. Those same powers that be that Wes fought with for me were the same ones that turned my life upside down in the matter of minutes.

  _______________

  Interviewing Zane ‘Mac’ MacIntyre was at the top of my hell-no list.

  Bruno Haynes, the channel’s head boss, had other ideas now that we were almost two years into the show. According to him, it was time to meet up with the rest of the corporate suits to discuss my future contract. Booking Mac was the biggest “get” at that moment, because he was everywhere in the media discussing the new renovations to the skate park in Venice Beach that was being unveiled this fall. It didn’t matter if my contract would be in jeopardy. I was still stuck at hell no. I could be incredibly stubborn.

  But Wes, Bruno, and the rest of the suits, unfortunately, overruled me. They were good at manipulation and sweetened the pot just enough to where I couldn’t say no. Yes, I agreed to a deal with the devil but had no other choice.

  Even though I had my music and was on my board heading to a job I loved, I was in my head. I was nervous and for the first time since I started at the show, I didn’t want to go to work. My palms were sweaty and my past was racing through my mind on a steadfast loop. Today was the prep day for Mac’s interview, which meant he would be across the table from me in the conference room. Not wanting it to seem to him like I was dreading this whole experience, or on the possible edge of a panic attack, I did my best to gather my shit together in the time it took me to get to work. It helped me retreat from the edge of the anxiety I felt, but it changed my mood entirely. And as your not so typical, or maybe very typical female, the current change of moods was written clearly across my face. It was one that should have been heeded by any one in my general vicinity. That was just simply an impossibility at that stage. I needed to keep a clear head, my attitude close by, and my guard up and activated. I tried to hold on to it, I really did.

  As I skated up to my building and flipped my hot pink cruiser board into my hand to carry in with me, I noticed a man turned away from me, dressed in a suit but with hair that was slicked back with way too much product. His hair was jet-black and reached just past the collar of the white button-down shirt he was wearing. He was blowing out smoke from the drag he had just taken on his cigarette as I walked by. My body was oddly aware of him and if it hadn’t been as long as it was, I might have recognized the feeling that raked over me. Instead I ignored it and the man in the suit. I’d gone inside, up the two floors to my office, and got myself ready for the shit show that was about to go down.

  In hindsight, I should have paid attention to that feeling I had. Because if I had; I would have recognized it instantly. The suited, long, slicked back haired man was Mac. Well, not Mac as I knew him, but more Zane. And if I had been paying more attention, I would have been prepared for when he walked into the conference room and locked his beautiful green eyes on me.

  The shitty mood I was trying to hold on to, to disguise my emotions, flew straight out of me. And wouldn’t you know that smug bastard lifted the side of his mouth up in a smirk, like he knew exactly what just happened and said, “Josselyn. Good to see you.”

  Fuck me.

  CHAPTER 2

  Some Ghosts Are Meant to Haunt You.

  Mac

  THERE SHE WAS.

  Josselyn Easton.

  Standing across from me in the conference room, I took her in from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. She was wearing these sexy as sin cutoff white shorts that allowed me to ogle her gorgeous legs. Resting right above her pierced belly button was a black halter top that left little to the imagination, considering how tight it was. Her naturally dark hair was longer than I remembered and had streaks of blue through it. A baseball cap sat sideways on her head, and the attitude adorning her face screamed Joss was pissed as hell. The new ink covering her always-tanned skin and a few new piercings had been made obvious by the lack of a bra under that tight halter. Some not so hidden additions included a septum piercing. She was still as gorgeous as I remembered, maybe even more so now that some time had passed since we had been face-to-face with each other. In contradiction to how she covered her body in art, Joss still went light on the makeup to slightly accentuate her natural features. A bit of blush, some lip gloss, and mascara to highlight her hazel eyes.

  By the time I had gotten past the upper part of her body, I saw she had these ridiculously high, black tube socks on with sandals. My cock twitched in my suit pants. That wasn’t something that normally got blood flowing to that particular region of my body, but if it had to do with Josselyn, it always caused my body to react in some way.

  So being the asshole I was, I smirked at her.

  Then I said, “Josselyn. Good to see you.” It came out a little bit more arrogant than I had wanted, but I was the Zane MacIntyre after all and had a reputation to live up to. I felt like a total shithead because it was Joss, but I could see the fire in the depths of her eyes and I missed her smart mouth.

  Joss wasn’t exactly the same person I knew two years ago. But the pull I felt toward her was immediate when I saw her skate up to the building. I had felt her eyes staring holes at me but I refused to turn around. Instead, I stood there, ignoring her while I finished a cigarette, a habit I knew she detested. It wasn’t like I was a habitual smoker, just when I was about to go in blind to something. And for fuck’s sake, it had been almost a year and a half since I had seen her. The few times I had purposely bumped into her were never enough, and I knew I had done damage. The last time I had seen her it was brief, and for some reason, I knew she would start to avoid anywhere I might have been.

  Being the cause of Joss’s pain wasn’t something I was proud of. Walking away from her after her final skate was the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life. There had always been this thing with Joss and me. This pull we never acted on. Joss had wanted to make sure her career was earned by hard work and not because she was screwing her way to the top. My brief career as a skateboarder allowed me to be recognized in that world. If anyone thought Joss was getting ahead in her career because we were anything more than friends, it would have destroyed her. My name was synonymous wherever hers was and it wasn’t because people thought we were a couple. I was more or less her coach. She called me her mentor, but I didn’t have to really teach her much about skating or the way of the world. I respected her and her abilities as a skater too much to encroach on that.

  After her final skate, I ran from her. It was her time to bask in the glory that came with her ranking, and I knew the transition to ‘normal civilian’ would take time. It was possible the way I went about things was wrong, but it was what I knew best at that time. Arden, Joss’s friend and another female skateboarder, confronted me the next day and told me Joss was heartbroken when she saw me leave with another woman. I had told Arden at the time it wasn’t my intention to hurt Joss, but it was a lie. It was exactly what I had intended and I was glad it worked. Joss needed to adapt to life after skating just like I had after my injury cut my career short. Totally a douche move. I was seeing this now as I stood across from her. I’d been seriously fucking stupid. All I got from the whole thing was a divorce and a broken friendship that should’ve mattered more.

  _______________

  I’d been seeing Bibi for a few months before Joss’s last competition but I didn’t bring her around Joss, ever. It always felt wrong and I was scared Joss would see through my bullshit and call me o
ut on it. When Joss nailed those crazy, dope tricks in her last ride, I was so proud of her but didn’t want to lead her on, so I did my own thing with Bibi. I made the choice not to connect after that so I thought the best thing was to try to give it a go with Bibi.

  Not sure if you can call it eloping since we were already there, but Bibi and I got drunk while we were in Vegas. When I woke up, I was married, hungover, and the trending topic on Google Alerts. Apparently, we were spotted leaving the all-night chapel and the news spread like wildfire. The worst part of it all was I knew Joss found out from the alerts and not me. I fucked up and was a complete dick. I should have told her when Bibi and I started dating. A phone call, a conversation during one of the few times we ran into each other, or even a text message would have been better than hearing that Joss started avoiding any place I was or knew I frequented because I was a pussy.

  Like I said, I had purposely planned on running into her. That was when I first realized things needed to end with Bibi. I didn’t love her and frankly found her annoying. She had been on a few reality shows and in some B-list movies on some obscure TV channel and thought her social status was bigger than any of the Real Housewives. Needless to say, my marriage was short-lived and was over pretty much before it started. We gave it a go for a few months but, ultimately, I knew it was done. Bibi and I parted amicably and I paid for a quick divorce that was finalized about eight months ago.

  _______________

  That whole debacle never should’ve happened. I know that now. Still looking into Joss’s eyes, I saw them sparkle with something more than anger. It was only a matter of time before Joss would blow. We’d gone head-to-head a few times while I coached her and it was sexy then. Now, with something more than the angry fire in her eyes after smirking at her like the cocky son of a bitch I was, I waited. I was not disappointed.

  “Don’t fucking smirk at me like that, Zane. You may be this hotshot, rich guy people fall to their feet over now, but I know who you really are. That shit won’t work on me, but nice try. Now, can we just get through this damn meeting without your arrogance taking a front seat?” she spit at me.

  “Since when am I Zane to you?” I asked her, not caring that there were other people in the room since she didn’t seem to either. It wasn’t that I didn’t like my name, I did. But to Joss, I was always Mac.

  “Since Mac became a ghost from my past.” Direct fucking hit. The meaning in that wasn’t lost on me. I had to give her credit though. Joss wasn’t messing around.

  “Right. Well, remember, Josselyn. Some ghosts are meant to haunt you.” I winked at her and then pulled out the chair to take a seat.

  I watched as her face flushed with uncontrolled rage. This meeting was more entertaining than I had originally thought.

  “Right,” she started, mimicking me, “well, remember, Zane, in order to haunt someone, you have to actually be around.” Well, shit. Another direct hit, but this one made me full-on smile at her. God, I really missed her.

  “All right kids, everyone to your own corners of the sandbox,” Wes sarcastically reprimanded us both, while motioning for everyone to sit. Joss sat directly across from me. My assumption was that it best represented how we’d be seated during the interview.

  Watching Joss, as she removed a folder of papers from an unnoticed bag that was slung over the back of her chair, made me smile again at her. She was prepared for this meeting and was taking it seriously. Good for her. It was great to see her in action.

  “Zane, if you don’t cut the shit, this meeting will be over before it begins. I have shit to do.” Guess she wasn’t happy about the second smile either. I’d let out a small chuckle at her use of my name again, but I was starting to get pissed.

  “Keep calling me Zane and we’ll see how fast your schedule fills up.” It came out as a growl and I watched as her eyes widened the slightest bit.

  “Whatever. Let’s just do this. We’ll start by going over the questions. The interview will be live and shit may go off track a bit, but let’s make this as easy as possible. For the both of us,” she’d said in a take-charge tone. I looked around the table at the other men and saw they all had small smiles on their faces. Joss was well liked by her coworkers. That was plain to see by the smiles. But the head guy who made this possible, Bruno I think his name was, had a more knowing smile on his face and what looked like pride in his eyes. Suddenly, I felt a rage pump through my veins as thoughts of Joss and this douchebag together. Were they fucking? Or were they a couple? The adoration in his look toward her seemed to sway more to the latter.

  “Fine. But I want to ask a favor before we start,” I said, as I looked at her beautiful face.

  “What’s that?” she asked me.

  “Can we at least pretend we like each other during the actual interview? I mean it may make it a bit more, tolerable. Plus, I am actually here to promote the skate park. And if I remember correctly, that skate park holds some pretty decent memories, doesn’t it?” It felt like I was begging her to be nice to me, even though I didn’t deserve it. I was playing on her emotions like the asshole I was.

  My plea for niceties must have softened her a bit because I heard her deep sigh and she mumbled, “Fine.”

  “Thank you, Josselyn,” I replied.

  “You’re welcome, Zane.” She was trying my patience with that bullshit and she knew it.

  For the next hour or so, we went over all the questions. My actual interview was going to happen this Thursday so it only made sense to hammer out everything we could. The rule at Joss’s show was that anything goes, even during interviews. It was the only way the corporate suits could get Joss to agree to do this with me. It was an interview I lobbied for but she’d had no clue I was behind it. There were people we had both known two years ago who had told me about her new job. I had never listened to the show due to being busy but knew I had to get on it. With the connections I had, I made it happen. So since this was something I wanted, I took every question seriously and answered as honestly as I could. Joss had some tough, personal questions for me. Some I had answers for and some I told her I just couldn’t answer.

  It seemed like Joss had exhausted everything she wanted to ask. The one question I thought was going to come never did. I released a deep breath and stood up from the table, along with everyone else. It appeared Joss was staying behind to do more work because she had not stood up. There was still this thick tension in the room between us. As Bruno moved around the conference table, he lightly brushed his hand along Joss’s shoulder as he moved past her. I saw her shift in her seat, as if she were uncomfortable.

  No fucking way. There was no fucking way in hell I just saw that. I waited for Wes, who had been watching Arden intently and waiting for her to move through the door into the hallway to follow. Then once the door closed the two of us in, out of earshot, I bit out, “Are you fucking the goddamn suit, Josselyn?”

  CHAPTER 3

  Far from Happy.

  Joss

  I MUST BE in the fucking Twilight Zone. What the hell did he just ask me? He didn’t just ask if I was sleeping with Bruno, did he? What business was it of his anyway? I swear, if I didn’t get out of this room I might cause bodily harm to his perfect face. The last hour or so had been the worst form of torture. Normally, I don’t filter myself when it comes to my interviews, but I knew sometimes you shouldn’t ask questions you really didn’t want the answers to. But now this asshat asked me something even Arden wouldn’t ask and the control I had during the meeting snapped.

  “Excuse me?” I asked him incredulously.

  “You heard the fucking question, Josselyn. I expect an answer.” He expected answer? Well, wasn’t he going to be disappointed? As if he deserved any type of response from me.

  “Fuck you, Zane. My personal life is none of your concern. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have more work to do.” I tried to blow him off and put him in his place all at once. If aggravating him even more wasn’t so much fun, I would have realized his mood cha
nge. Zane bowed his head then raked his hands through his hair and then down his face. When he finally looked up and at me again, I finally caught on. Before I could say anything else, he started.

  “You’re right, Josselyn. You do have more work to do. Especially if you think you can blow me off so easily and not answer my question,” he bit out and started to move toward me. “And for the last fucking time, you call me Mac.” He’d made it around the end of the table but I had started to back up and dart the opposite way toward the door. This game of chase was short-lived when I tried to fake Zane out and go one way but ran right into him when I went the other. He grabbed me by my arms to steady me before I fell on my ass and then yanked me against his body. I felt it immediately when our skin touched. That electricity you read about in romance novels. It really did exist and it was the last thing I needed.

  Being that close to him, smelling his cologne, and feeling his hard dick against my leg sent me into a tailspin. I tried to wiggle out of his hold but he clamped his arms around my back and it just tightened.

  “Stop fighting me for two seconds and answer my question,” he whispered near my ear. Like my body knew to obey his commands, I stilled. I looked up and saw his eyes were intent on me. He wanted an answer so I decided to make sure he asked the right question.

  “Am I fucking the suit? That’s the question you really want to ask me?” I raised an eyebrow at him. Up close, I watched Zane’s green eyes darken. It was heat but there was something more there.