The Slot: A Rochester Riot Sports Romance (19 page)

Chapter 7

“Hi. My name’s Carter.”

The man stood to her left as he sipped some type of whiskey neat in a lowball glass. He seemed out of place for western night in his blue pants and dress shirt. Must have come straight from the office.

“I’m Julia,” she replied, keeping one eye peeled for Adam’s return. Jeff and SueAnn hadn’t been able to stay away from the dance floor and when the first strains of a Garth Brooks mega hit wafted across the speakers, they’d deserted her.

“Are you here alone?”

“No, I’m here with a friend. You?” she asked as she made the required small talk. She had no interest in this guy, but Adam had been gone for a good ten minutes and she was starting to get bored. And lonely.

“Actually, I’m here for a bachelor party,” he said and pointed to the group of guys high-fiving and backslapping at a large table across the room. “I’m actually in a desperate situation.”

“Really? Why?”

“My friend, the groom, says he knows you and he bet me a Benjamin that I wouldn’t be able to get you to dance with me. If I have to pay up, I won’t be able to afford the cab ride home. You wouldn’t want to be responsible for a tipsy driver, would you?”

Even though she knew Carter was only joking, he turned Julia cold. After what happened with Adam just a few short days ago, impaired driving was an off-color reference at best.

“Hmm…?” she said as she squinted and stared across the room. “Doesn’t look familiar. Exactly how does he know me?”

“Said something about a wedding dance in a barn you decorated. Said you blew him off.”

Julia’s mind raced backward. She’d lived in Duluth all her life so she’d been to a hundred wedding dances. Some in barns and halls she’d been involved in renovating. Still, she wasn’t sure if what this guy referenced had actually happened or if he was just trying to blow smoke up her ass to get her to dance with him.

“I’m sorry. I don’t remember him.”

Carter put his arm across the bar behind her back. Close. Too close to her bare skin since she’d removed her jean jacket in the heat of the crowded bar. Something about this guy was off and gooseflesh crawled up her exposed arms to settle in the nape of her neck.

“Can I, at least, buy you a drink so I don’t look like a complete tool in front of my crew?” he asked with raised eyebrows.

She didn’t want to agree, but the beer Adam had bought was just about gone and she’d look like a bitch if she didn’t go along. Julia hated being backed into a corner, but her parents had raised her to be polite and this guy was obviously a local. If word got around town that she was difficult or rude, that could harm her business reputation.

“Sure.”

The bartender replaced her Leinie’s with a fresh one and she took that opportunity to lift her butt off the stool and scan the crowd for Adam again. Nothing. She hoped he was okay. SueAnn and Jeff hadn’t left the floor in three songs and they were now in the process of learning a new line dance to Tim McGraw with a group of other couples.

“What do you do for fun, Julia?” Carter asked, still too close to her back for comfort.

Julia lurched forward and perched herself on the front lip of the stool as far forward and away from Carter as she could get without getting down. “I’m a designer. I specialize in converting old buildings and re-purposing them.”

“That’s work,” he leaned down and whispered in her ear causing an uneasy shiver. “I asked what you do for
fun
.”

She grabbed her beer and took a deep swig before answering. Fortification. He was out of line and starting to irritate her with the innuendo. Come on strong much? Where the hell was Adam? She’d give SueAnn an SOS stare if she could catch her eye, but her friend hadn’t even looked over in at least fifteen minutes.

All of a sudden, Julia felt claustrophobic and the heat of the crowd surrounding her caused a flush to overtake her porcelain skin. A cocktail napkin served as a fan and all she wanted to do as she flapped it back and forth in front of her face was escape outside. Fresh air. She really needed to cool down. It was almost like a cotillion of spiders had started at her toes and were crawling their way up her legs. She tingled all over.

“Is something wrong,” Carter asked. “Can I get you a glass of water?”

“No,” Julia stood on legs that suddenly felt boneless. The room started to sway and she saw multiple Carters standing before her with a steadying arm on her shoulders. “I really need some fresh air. I feel like I’m going to pass out.”

Carter grabbed her jean jacket and set it on her slender shoulders. “It’s really cold outside. You may not think you want it right now, but if we go outside, you’ll want the protection.”

“Thanks,” she said as she slipped her arms inside. Julia lurched to the left as she wobbled on her high-heeled boots.

“Whoa there, I’ve got you,” Carter said as he caught her before she became intimate with the hardwood floor.

Julia pushed away from his embrace with limp arms. “I don’t need help. Can you go find my friend, SueAnn?”

“SueAnn?” he questioned as he scanned the room with his brown eyes. “I don’t know her. What does she look like? There are hundreds of people in here tonight.”

He snaked an arm around her waist and she found she no longer had the strength or mental fortitude to fight him or utter a protest.

“Water?” Her mouth felt as if a wad of cotton had been shoved inside.

“Let’s just start making our way toward the front door and I’ll look for SueAnn on the way.”

Carter led her through the horde of revelers and steered her toward the front door.

Wait, my phone!

She’d left it lying on the bar and SueAnn wouldn’t know where she’d gone.

Adam.

Julia tried to pull away, but couldn’t. She tried to speak, but couldn’t. Something was wrong with her. Very wrong.

***

Adam stared at the circle of guys and tapped his booted toe. He’d been gone for almost fifteen minutes and he’d left Julia alone at the bar. He didn’t like being the kind of douchebag that abandoned a woman alone in a crowded bar whether they were on an official date or not. If his mom were here, he’d be hearing about it.

“Dude,” the one with the Caribou jersey shouted above the music. “What the hell? ACL and now an accident? We need you, man.”

Adam had always prided himself on being cordial and warm to the fans, but he could feel his blood pressure rising. He was the one whose life had imploded. He was the one who could no longer do what he loved. They acted like they were the ones who had felt the physical and emotional pain of the injury. Then the accident and what had really caused it.

“Yeah, it sucks.”

They weren’t getting anything more out of him than that admission.

“Is it really true that you’ll never play again?” another one asked with a low whistle.

“I’m going to fight and try to rehab,” he promised. Knowing deep in his heart that the chance was one in a million that he’d ever claw his way back to the NHL elite.

“Thanks for doing Duluth proud.”

After a few more minutes of commiserating, autographs and selfies, Adam was finally able to thread his way around the crowded dance floor, heading toward the bar where Julia sat waiting for him. Except … her stool was now occupied by a forty-something, red-haired cowboy with a beer gut.

He stopped in his tracks and utilized his height to look over the heads of the patrons in a search for her petite frame. Thank God she had white on and with her long, thick hair, it shouldn’t be too hard to get her on his visual radar.

He craned his neck back and forth until a blessed relief poured over him when he spotted her leaning against some guy a few yards from the door. Until he realized she wasn’t walking under her own power and that same guy was leading her outside to the dark parking lot. And that guy was Carter Jenkins.

Shit.

They’d been frat brothers at UMD and Adam wasn’t a fan of the rich and spoiled Carter whose dad owned a heating and air conditioning company. Any scrape Carter got himself into, Louis Jenkins bought him out of so he never had to take accountability. Carter liked it rough and he’d heard rumblings for years that he liked to slip drugs to co-eds so he could sexually assault them.

Adam’s heart started pounding out of his chest. He searched in vain for Jeff or SueAnn to see if they were closer to Julia because there was no way he could make it to her before Carter got her outside to his car. Julia was only a few yards from the door right now. He pushed bodies to the side in an effort to get them out of his way.

“Watch it, buddy!” A college kid said as he almost took a header from Adam’s body block.

“Sorry,” he tossed back over his shoulder.

When he got within twenty yards of the front door, he saw Julia slump against Carter and he picked her up and carried her over the threshold into the vestibule.

Son of a bitch.

Chapter 8

Julia’s head swam and she felt like she was floating. High above the parking lot. Above the street lights. Into the dark, starry night like an eagle soaring from high above.

Except, Eagles didn’t have their backs scraped raw by brick buildings. And they didn’t have hands pulling their lacy bras down and exposing their nipples to the frigid night air. She felt the sensitive skin puckering in protest at the temperature and vaguely realized that they shouldn’t be uncovered. But she also felt this delicious languorous feeling take over her limbs and she wanted something to fill her.

Something.

“My God, Julia,” a man whispered as he rubbed her erect nipples back and forth between his fingers. “So responsive. So hot. You’re going to be the best fuck I’ve had in ages.”

The man held her upright with one hand and used the other to guide her hand down between his legs to simulate a rubbing motion as he bent his mouth to capture a nipple in between his lips and then his teeth.

“Ouch!” she cried out as it took a few seconds for the pain to register in her foggy brain.

Adam. Adam, you’re hurting me.

So unlike him. She’d never thought Adam would hurt her when she’d dreamt of this happening. With him. Only him.

Adam … but not Adam. She tried to struggle but just couldn’t get her limbs to obey her.

“Help,” Julia cried, but in actuality, it was nothing more than a ragged whisper.

“That’s it,” he crooned. “Ask for help. Struggle. That just makes it even hotter.”

She clenched her eyelids and tried to keep the tears at bay. Someone had his hands and mouth where they didn’t belong. In the parking lot of Shooters.

Then all of a sudden, the man on top of her was ripped away and she heard the sound of rock crunching. Or was that bone? A savior. A voice she knew.

She was cold.

So cold.

But safe.

***

“Stop that asshole! She’s not with him.” Adam yelled at the bouncer outside the door as he pushed past the crowd of people waiting to get into the club. The throng came between Adam and the couple and Carter slid from view. A few precious minutes passed before he could make his way outside. He scanned the parking lot and all was dark. Then he heard the muffled sound of a man’s voice coming from the side of the club.

Adam ran toward the voice and saw Carter hovering over Julia with her chest exposed. He grabbed him by his jacket and yanked hard. The muscle-bound bouncer appeared quickly at his side and helped Julia get her jacket back on and her top re-arranged.

“What’s going on?” Carter sputtered, enraged at the interruption. “Can’t you see we’re busy here?” Then his visage turned from indignation to fear when he recognized Adam.

“Take her inside,” Adam ordered the bouncer. Julie had already slumped against the huge man.

“Now, Adam…” began Carter, but he never got a chance to finish. Adam reared back and delivered a solid right hook to Carter’s jaw that sent him reeling backward. Adam took advantage of Carter’s surprise and held him against the brick wall by the throat. He kneed him in the gut and then slammed his head back into the exposed brick. Carter was choking and gasping. Adam felt strong arms grab him and pull him back.

“I’m going to kill him!” Adam yelled, struggling and shaking in the tight hold of two men who had left the line to see what all the commotion was about. Julia would be avenged. Why had they stopped him?

“Stop! He’s had enough,” ordered one of the men as he failed to restrain his flailing burden.

Carter looked weakly back at Adam. Adam shrugged off the two men and took a step closer to him.

“If I ever see you around another woman again…” he growled, his voice a gritty rasp of barely contained rage. Carter wheezed, then doubled over as he slumped to the snow-packed ground.

Adam turned back to the bouncer who was holding the drugged Julia. She looked like a limp rag doll in the arms of a giant teddy bear. Adam rushed over to her and grabbed her gently by the shoulders. Lifting her toward him. Her eyes. Those beautiful eyes now glazed over and unfocused. He wished Carter would stand up so he could hit him again.

“Hey, sweetie,” he said as he swept her silky hair back from her forehead. “Are you okay?”

Julia stared straight ahead. Unseeing. She wobbled and clung to his forearms until the pressure of her fingers made deep indentations in the muscle. He welcomed the sensation. The discomfort. “Adam? Is that you? I don’t feel so good.”

Adam cuddled her close and stroked the back of her head. He loved the feel of her against him. He could keep her safe. He would keep her safe. He’d never fail again. “Can I take you home, Julia? It’s important to me that you get home safe.”

Adam turned to the bouncer. “Go inside and tell the DJ to announce for SueAnn Johnson to get outside right now. Her friend is waiting. And don’t you ever let that piece of crap back in your place.”

“Don’t worry about that, man. I’m calling the cops to report this shit. He’ll be blackballed at every club in town. Aren’t you that famous hockey player?” The bouncer nodded to Adam and he winked in affirmation. He went back inside and Adam continued to hold Julia as if he would a distressed toddler.

“I’m sorry I took so long getting back to you,” he whispered in her ear. “Do you feel sick? Do you want to go to the hospital? You should have a blood test to see what he slipped you. File charges.”

“No!” Julia practically screamed at him. “I’m okay. Really. I just want to go home.” Her hands hadn’t left the sanctity of his arms since she’d been pulled away from Carter. “I didn’t want to go with him, Adam. I feel funny. Why do I feel so funny?”

Because a despicable sexual predator slipped you a mickey.

There would be time for the truth tomorrow. Julia nuzzled in further, her warm breath tickling his neck. She felt so good and perfect in his arms. How did this tiny slip of a woman pick a crack in his Heather hardened heart so damn fast?

“What the hell?” the shrill half-tipsy voice of SueAnn cut through the air behind him. “What happened out here?”

Adam tossed the bouncer his car keys and asked him to bring around his car. “Dude. After you call the police, if they need to take her statement or obtain some sort of physical evidence, have them call me.” Adam held out his hand so he could program his private cell number into the bouncer’s phone. “Promise you’ll delete this after tomorrow?”

“Solid,” the gigantic man responded. “You’re a good man, Adam Spencer.”

Adam shook the man’s beefy hand and then turned to SueAnn who stood there staring with her mouth hanging open.

“We need to take Julia home,” Adam said. “I want you to come. Julia can drive you back tomorrow for your car.”

“But what? I don’t understand.” SueAnn stared from Adam to Julia. “Honey? Julia? Are you okay?” Concern filled her eyes.

“I’m okay.” Julia smiled at her. “I just want to go home.”

“We’ll talk at home,” said Adam quietly to SueAnn. “We need to get out of here before someone calls the press. For some reason, my comings and goings are still news around here.”

She nodded and took a hold of Julia’s arm. The car pulled to the curb, so the bouncer got out and tossed the keys to Adam while SueAnn helped Julia into the back seat. Julia promptly laid her head back and let out a deep sigh. SueAnn wrapped her arm around her friend and put her head on her shoulder. Adam remained silent as he drove to Julia’s with only sporadic navigation from SueAnn.

Adam parked out front of Julia’s newly remodeled Craftsman and came around to the side door. Adam bent over, and ignoring the pain from the accident, he picked her up and carried her up the front steps to her house while SueAnn unlocked the front door.

“Where’s her bedroom? I still don’t trust her to walk without stumbling. I think we’ve had enough injury for one night.” Adam paused in the front foyer while SueAnn flipped on the hallway and living room lights. Her expression betrayed her confusion as to why a famous professional athlete held her sleeping friend in his arms like a limp blanket.

“Follow me.” SueAnn led the way down a tastefully decorated hallway lined with beautiful black and white images of old barns and farms. Julia’s work? She swung a six-panel oak door wide. “In here.”

Julia remained fast asleep in his arms, and he almost couldn’t bear the thought of having to let her go. A sudden urge to stay the night, just sitting beside her to watch her breathe overcame him. When she woke up, she’d be scared and confused.

This was not how his night was supposed to go. He should have been there to protect her, but instead, he’d been indulging fans while that sleaze Carter was trolling for his next victim. He felt his blood pressure spike again as rage washed over him.

SueAnn pulled back a fluffy ivory duvet cover. Decorator pillows got tossed to the floor, and Adam gently laid Julia on to her emerald satin sheets and goose feather pillow. He pulled the covers up over her and tucked them around her slight body, wishing he could crawl in beside her and wrap his arms around her. Hold her. He gently brushed her hair from her eyes and gazed down at her. She was so beautiful. And fragile.

SueAnn came in with a bottle of water and set it on the nightstand beside Julia, who hadn’t stirred. Adam got up off the side of the bed, and they left the bedroom to stand in the foyer. He leaned against the front door with his muscular arms crossed and told SueAnn he’d found Carter with his hand down Julia’s skirt.

“That greasy, slimy son of a bitch,” snapped SueAnn. “You know, I’d heard the rumors too. Hell, everyone has.”

“I don’t know for sure,” said Adam. “But I don’t think she’d had that much to drink. Hell, only slamming a bunch of shots could get a girl that plastered in that short of a time. I feel pretty damn sure, she didn’t want to leave with him. She was barely upright. I should have taken her to the hospital, but she’d been so…”

SueAnn shook her head, shaking with fury. She pulled two beers from the fridge and handed one to him. “So much for a fun night out,” she commented as she took a swig from hers.

Adam held the brown bottle in a death grip. “It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have left her alone for so long. But the fans, they’re everywhere and they always want a piece of me.”

“Adam, this is not your fault, so don’t even go there.”

His lips twisted in a smirk. A half-smile that spoke volumes about how he felt about his lack of ability to stop what happened. He’d failed. His career. His life. Now, with Julia. And it felt like his failure to protect her was the worst punch to his gut out of all of it.

“Listen, you’ll stay with her right? All night? I don’t think she should be alone. What if there are adverse effects from the drug he gave her?”

SueAnn walked over him and took his hand. “Adam, when she wakes up, I’m going to tell her you’re a hero. Don’t you worry your gorgeous rink-hunk head over this. I’d go home and put some ice on that right hand, Rocky.” She winked at him as she held his swollen fingers up for a closer inspection.

Adam grinned and gave her hand a squeeze. SueAnn was a good friend to Julia, and he liked her. That’s what he needed in his life. Especially now. Good people. Friends who were genuine and looked out for each other. He gave her a quick hug and left. His heart ached to go back in and check on Julia, but he’d have to settle for a phone call in the morning.

A short while later, Adam pulled onto the gravel drive of his house and wound his way up to the front. From the street, he’d immediately noticed the lights were on and a new flood of rage ignited over him when he saw Mark’s jeep parked out front. This night just couldn’t get any worse.

He got out and slammed the door with every intention of killing his ignorant brother. He hadn’t been able to finish Carter off, but there weren’t any good Samaritans on the farm to stop him from beating the shit out of that Benedict Arnold. Mark’s audacity in thinking he’d be welcome here surprised Adam more than anything.

Mounting the front steps two at a time, he stormed through the front door, taking no pleasure in the sound of it banging behind him. Mark sat on the couch in front of the television, a beer in his right hand and his boot clad feet propped up on the coffee table.

“Whoa! Holy shit, you scared me,” he said as he jumped up and put his hands out in front of him, ready to defend himself.

“What the hell are
you
doing in my house?” Adam snarled. He clenched his fists into tight balls of fury to keep from wrapping them around his brother’s neck and choking his happy expression into a death mask.

“Technically, this is my house too, you know.”

Wrong answer.

“Like hell it is. I’m pretty sure I paid you off back when our parents died. When all you wanted was a quick payday. Get the fuck out of my house. I don’t even know you.” Adam’s voice remained quiet. Deadly. A thin veil of uncontained rage.

“Listen, Adam. I know you’re pissed. But we’re brothers. Blood.”

“Blood, huh? Tell me,
brother
, were you thinking about how much I meant to you when you were fucking Heather on a dresser like a two-bit whore?”

Mark shook his head. “Look, just once can’t you take a backseat for me? Let me be happy?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”