Pinned Down: A Triple Threat Sports Romance (16 page)

Kendra

After I hung up the phone, Lucky called me back a few times. I let the call go to voicemail each time, hoping he’d either leave a message or get the point. Eventually, he stopped. I wanted to be mad at him for calling my parents behind my back, but the fact of the matter was he was just trying to help. I couldn’t really fault him for trying to help me out.

The longer I sat and stared at the contract sitting on my table for Tommy, the more I realized that Lucky deserved some credit for what he’d done. He’d gone out and found my parents. Then he had called them out of the blue to tell them I needed money to help with Older Brothers. He had done all of that simply because I wasn’t going to accept his cash.

I leaned back in my old office chair and looked around at the walls surrounding me. Age had worn down the building. I wondered if I was even going to be able to come out on top this time. I had failed at other charity ventures, and I felt like I was fighting a losing battle with Older Brothers. I knew my parents didn’t get it, whether they tried to be encouraging or not. I knew Lucky didn’t understand, even though he tried to help. I just wanted to help people.

I wanted to do something that gave back to the community, and I wanted to do it myself. I wanted to do it without the support of my parents. They weren’t part of the community where I was working. They were part of my past. I wanted to be able to accept Lucky’s help because he seemed to support me most out of anyone I had ever known.

It sort of all hit me right then. I had reached the dead end to end all dead ends. I was sitting in a building that had been the last resort of the previous director. They had obviously come to this building to let the charity die. She hadn’t planned on rehabilitating the office. She hadn’t planned on keeping Older Brothers around long enough to even worry about it. Then, it had all been dumped into my lap. Since I had closed a couple of charity organizations before, I was the best candidate for a local chapter that was about to have to shut down.

I didn’t have any friends outside of the charity. I had moved around so much over the years that it was nearly impossible to develop lasting relationships with other people. There was no one to call to vent to. There was no one else to call for help. I had an offer on the table from someone who really just wanted to bend me over the desk and fuck me one good time. I had an offer from someone who just couldn’t get his own life together, despite how much he seemed to care about me. And I had an offer from my parents, who were going to use the money to try to control my life again.

My phone buzzed again on my desk. It was a loud, jarring sound, the only sound filling my decaying office. I looked at the number on the screen. It was my father again. It was like he knew I was thinking about their offer.

The phone kept ringing. It seemed to go longer than normal, as if the voicemail refused to pick it up for me. I stared at it as it continued to ring. He wasn’t going away.

“Hello?”

“Hey, we’re only a few hours away. Meet us for dinner. We want to talk to you about the money you need,” my father said.

I didn’t know what to say. It was only a little while before I was supposed to talk to Tommy again. We were supposed to be meeting up at some point to honor our transaction. I was out of time. Did I agree to meet with my parents and risk missing out on the opportunity to get the money from someone else in case things didn’t go over well with them? Or did I skip out on my parents for a sure thing with Tommy only to alienate them further and ruin whatever Lucky and I had growing between us? I didn’t know which way to go.

“I’m not asking,” my father said, as if he could read my mind.

“Okay. Where do you want to meet?” I asked him.

“The Waldorf,” he said.

“Of course. When should I meet you?”

“We’ll meet you there around seven tonight. Do you need me to buy you something to wear?” he asked.

I laughed. “No, sir, I have something.” I really only had a couple of evening gowns that looked decent, classy enough, but I rarely had the occasion to wear one of them, so it wasn’t like I was always showing up in the same thing. Most of the time, my business attire worked for most appearances.

“Okay. I don’t mind buying you something nice to wear. Your mother and I agree that you need something to wear for formal events and places like this,” he continued.

Before saying anything back to him, I took a deep breath and reminded myself that he was really only trying to help me. What I perceived as controlling was just his attempts at looking out for me. I needed to remain calm and keep a cool head about everything. If he was willing to talk to me about the money I needed in order to save Older Brothers, I needed to be willing to let him talk about the annoying little details like my clothes, right?

“Don’t worry, I got it,” I said, refraining from snapping at him.

“Oh yeah, rich boyfriend and all,” he joked.

“Right. That’s exactly it.” It felt good to hear my father make a joke instead of trying to steer me in one direction or another. We were making progress. I wasn’t snapping, and he wasn’t insisting.

“Okay, we’ll let you go for now, but we’ll see you tonight at seven,” he said.

“I’ll be there.”

We hung up, and I saw that I had a missed call from Tommy. I knew he would only keep calling, wondering where I was. I needed to get out of the office in case he came looking for me, which was also a very real possibility. I pocketed my phone and threw my suit jacket over my shoulders as I got up to leave.

I had an excuse to get out of the office anyway. I needed to get dressed to have dinner with my parents. Even if their visit was just to give me money to get out of my rut, I was starting to get a little excited about seeing them.  It would have been nice if we could have just visited instead of having to sit down and discuss business, but I was willing to give it a shot. If I had been willing to sell myself, surely talking to my parents was going to be a piece of cake, I hoped.

I still hated the idea of letting my parents rescue me, but I was starting to warm up to it. Letting them do it meant I wasn’t sleeping around for it, and I wasn’t risking the scandal it would cause if I let Lucky give me the money I needed.

I had to admit that my parents were the best and safest option.

My phone started buzzing in my pocket as I started down the hallway. I pulled it out, careful not to touch the screen in case I accidentally answered it. It was Tommy again. I wanted to answer and tell him I was in a meeting with a new donor, but I also didn’t want to answer his call. I didn’t want to talk to him. I didn’t want him to possibly corner me on the phone and catch me in a lie. Then I would have been screwed.

I checked through the windows in the front of the building to make sure no one was outside waiting on me before I left. I locked the door behind me and hurried down the steps to my car, parked at the curb. I fumbled with my keys to unlock the door and get in.

Meanwhile, my phone went off again. Panic was starting to set in as I imagined him waiting for me on the street. I expected to see his headlights come on as I backed out of my parking space and pulled into traffic. I picked up my phone after it stopped ringing and muted the ringer.

The only place I had to go to get ready was Lucky’s mansion. I didn’t have any place of my own anymore, and with the charity going under, I didn’t have any money to go shopping with before meeting with my parents for dinner. That would have been ideal, though.

I hadn’t seen my parents in years. I was actually nervous for more reasons than just the obvious. Sure it was going to be awkward to sit down with them and talk about the charity going under, but it was going to be even more awkward just to sit down with them after having not seen them for years.

I drummed on the steering wheel as I drove out of downtown to the ritzy neighborhood where Lucky lived. I didn’t want to see him. I knew that by going to the house before going out to eat there was a really good chance I was going to run into him. And just like the man blowing up my phone for sex, Lucky was going to want to know what I was doing.

He was the
last
person I wanted to tell about going to eat with my parents. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of thinking his little stunt was paying off. Regardless of how the evening went, he wasn’t going to get the satisfaction of knowing he had at least set up a meeting with my parents.

I wished I had taken up on the offer to have my own separate room as I pulled up in the driveway to the house. I didn’t see any sign of anyone at home. I parked by the front door, killed the engine, and watched the house in silence. There were a lot of windows, but they didn’t really seem to tell the story I wanted to see. They weren’t letting me see inside to tell if anyone was home.

I didn’t see any lights turn on or off, and after a few minutes of waiting, I decided to take my chances. I needed to go inside. I had no choice but to get ready for dinner. I was not going to let my parents see me wearing my work clothes out to a place like the Waldorf.

I walked into the house and the silence hit me like a ton of bricks. It was the silence of absence, the kind of silence that only existed in empty places. I knew right away that Lucky wasn’t home. I had no idea where he could have been or how long he was likely to be gone, so I hurried upstairs to our shared room to grab some clothes and get dressed. I didn’t care if I had to drive around town until seven to avoid running into Lucky and Tommy. I was prepared to do that if I needed to.

Lucky

I tapped Raven’s number, telling my phone to call her. There was no turning back once I heard the first ring of her phone on the line. I had started back down a road I was supposed to be steering clear of completely.

“Why, Mr. Hendrix, it’s such a pleasure to hear from you,” Raven said in an amused tone with her sultry, temptress’s voice.

“I’ve been thinking about your offer, Raven,” I told her flatly, not wanting to mince words.

“I bet you have. Now tell me, have you been thinking with that wonderful mind of yours or one of those big, strong hands?” she taunted me.

I couldn’t help but chuckle in response to her little joke.

“Well, you left one out, but I guess you don’t know much about heart, huh?” I couldn’t resist taking a stab at her.

“I just figured since you’d left yours with me, you wouldn’t be using it anymore,” she fired back.

I laughed even harder at the thought that I could have possibly left my heart with her.  Sure, I had fallen for her act hopelessly in the beginning, but she was such a despicable person. It didn’t take long for her true colors to show. She used everyone she came into contact with. For her, sex and relationships just existed to help her gain status in the world.

“Let’s be clear, the only reason I’m calling is because I want to meet with you and talk about your offer,” I told her, cutting to the chase.

“Okay. You’re in luck. I’m in town. There’s a diner down on 49th. Meet me there at six. No lawyers, no reporters, no tag-alongs. Just you and me, and we’ll talk about how this is going to go down,” she said. Then she hung up, just like that.

She didn’t give me a chance to agree to meet her or argue about the time, or anything else. I didn’t have a choice, and I liked it that way. I had to meet with her if I wanted to bring this situation to any type of resolution.

I smiled at the silent phone in my hand. Raven had given up on playing the part of the insecure little groupie long ago. When she realized she had me eating out of the palm of her hand, she dropped the act in favor of her domineering personality. Even then I hadn’t run away immediately. I waited until I realized just how bad it was. I had to see how far she would go for her own advancement.

I decided to get ready to meet her. It was still early, but I figured the sooner I got out of the house, the less likely I would be to run into Kendra on my way out. We were going to a diner, so I didn’t need to wear anything
too
fancy. However, I knew that Raven wasn’t the type to dress down, no matter where she was going. She was going to wear something that accentuated her body perfectly, so I needed to make sure I was on par.

I threw on a pair of gray slacks and a blue dress shirt. I wasn’t going to wear anything really nice to a greasy little diner, but I wasn’t going to let her show me up either. I needed to look like I was worth someone like her. I’d been sitting around in shorts and white t-shirt all day. That wasn’t going to cut it.

I parked along the curb and went inside, taking a booth along the wall, away from the windows. 49th Street was in the heart of downtown. It was always busy. The bottom floor of each of the tall glass towers of commerce was dedicated to shops and restaurants, while business was conducted on the floors above. Many of the buildings didn’t have anything indicating what was actually in them. They just stood as self-important monuments to the exchange of money.

The men who owned those buildings and the companies that operated in them worked a lot to make the amount of money I brought home by simply helping to manipulate stats and helping league players enjoy the game more. I didn’t envy them, because while they were crunching numbers, I was going to dinner with a beautiful woman who was promising to give me a night I would never forget without any strings attached.

Raven walked in right at six. She wore a skin-tight black dress that stopped just above her knees. Her legs were perfectly smooth and toned. Her subtle, round hips swayed below her thin waist as she walked. The dress had just enough give to it that her breasts were able to bounce a little as she walked, just enough to notice as I stared at her. The look on her face was pure seduction. She was trying to seduce anyone whose eyes landed on her red lips. Her hair was swept up with a strand falling down in front on one side of her face.

It was easy to imagine that she had thrown her hair up and put her clothes on in a rush after a clandestine rendezvous with another of her toys before walking into the diner. Her body was built for sex. Seeing her, I wanted to forget about any agreements we might have been considering. I wanted to abandon drawing up any contracts or anything like that so we could just focus on the sex. She wanted a child. I wanted her ass and my freedom. That sounded fair enough to me.

I considered standing as a sign of respect as she approached the booth, but I decided against it. There was nothing respectful about what we were about to agree to. She slid across the booth on her side of the table. She looked like a cat on the prowl.

“Thank you for meeting me,” she said as she sat her purse on the table. “I hung up the phone so quickly I wasn’t sure if you were going to agree to it.”

“You knew what you were doing,” I told her.

“Did I? Huh, that’s news to me,” she said dismissively.

“Order something,” I told her as the server approached us. I wanted it to look like we were actually meeting to eat and not just to make a business deal.

After we ordered, I asked her, “So, how do we do this?”

“Isn’t it a little late for a tutorial?” she asked, bringing one corner of those sinfully red lips up.

“I’m sure you’ve learned some new tricks since the last time. It’s been more than a week,” I said, returning the jab.

“It’s been a lot longer than that, Lucky.”

“Yeah, imagine what all you’ve done in that amount of time. Or who all.” I winked.

“Funny. Let’s get down to business.” She reached into her small clutch purse and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. She slid it across the table to me.

“Are these your stipulations?” I asked as I unfolded it and started to read. She didn’t respond at first, just let me read.

The agreement stated that we were to have sex once a week until she found out she was pregnant. After that, there would be no contact. There would be no child support, and I wouldn’t have any rights as a parent. I wouldn’t even be listed as the father when the child was born. The child would, of course, take her last name. I would not exist in the kid’s world.

“I’ve had it reviewed by a lawyer,” she said as I read over it.

“What did they say?” I asked.

“It’s legally binding once signed. By signing it, you agree not to have any contact with me or the child. Just as I agree not to bring our child around you, and I agree not to have contact with you ever again. It acts as a restraining order for both of us. Our kid will never know who you are, so you don’t have to worry about anyone coming to look for you,” she explained.

I looked back at it and chewed on my lower lip. I wanted to go ahead and sign it, but something told me to wait. I felt like I needed to take the time to consider what I was doing here. I didn’t want to rush into it and miss something that allowed her to nail me to the wall while she got away with murder.

The growing desire pressing against my pants urged me to sign it so I could quickly get inside her once again. I only wanted to do it once, though. I didn’t want to start sleeping with her again on the regular.

“And we only fuck until you get pregnant,” I said, trying to make some kind of small talk while I turned the agreement over in my head.

“Don’t start
that
again, Lucky. Yes, it’s just until I get pregnant. I’m not trying to really get involved with you again. I only want to be with you as long as this takes. If you’re lucky, maybe I’ll throw you a sympathy fuck here or there while I’m pregnant,” she joked.

I nodded as I read over it again, ignoring her extra comment.

“Do you need a pen?” I heard the click of a retractable pen as she pulled one from her purse to hand to me.

“No, I don’t think I’m ready to sign just yet,” I told her. “Let me take it home tonight and read over it.” I kicked myself as I spoke. I couldn’t believe I was turning her down when all I wanted to do was bend her over the table between us and take her right there, just to get this over with.

I needed to make sure everything was set and straight before I agreed to any of it. I was about to stab Kendra in the back and undo everything I had worked so hard to build between us, but I tried to justify it by focusing on how this was going to put all of the drama with Raven behind us so we could get a fresh start. There was just one thing missing from the paperwork.

“It doesn’t say anything about dropping the charges,” I said, sliding it back across to her. “It just concerns the sex itself. I need to be sure I’m going to be safe once I do this.”

“Okay, I’ll have my attorney add it in,” she said reluctantly. She folded the paper and put it back into her purse. Without waiting for her food to arrive, she started to get up with her purse in hand.

“No,” I said. “Stay and eat.”

“You’re not getting sentimental on me again, are you?” she asked as she sat back down.

“No, but you ordered food. You might as well enjoy it. Hell, it’s on me.” I winked.

“Sure, there’s no reason why we can’t actually have dinner together,” she said.

Meanwhile, as our food arrived, I wondered what I was doing.