Page 85 of Never Date A Player
“But you won’t always be. There will be times when I need you and your commitment to someone else will prevent you from coming.”
The door opens and my mom walks in with a bag of groceries in her arms, a smile on her face. Behind her, Jaeger carries four more bags.
Mom took a plane to Tahoe and could have rented a car, but that would have made too much sense. Mooching rides off my roommate’s attractive boyfriend and me is more her speed. She may be in love with Fred, but she’s not blind.
Her smile dies as she looks from Cali to Lewis, her gaze finally landing on me. “Genevieve?” She drops the bag and kneels by the couch, nearly knocking Lewis over to reach me. “What happened?”
Lewis stands and turns, his back rising and falling on deep, controlled exhalations, as if he’s attempting to keep it together. Jaeger sets the groceries on the counter and wraps an arm around Cali. She hugs him and whispers in his ear. He glances at me, and his mouth tenses.
Jaeger intercepted Cali’s run-in with Drake and knows the gist of what happened to me in the suite. It’s safe to say he’s not Drake’s biggest fan.
I don’t know why I thought Drake would leave me alone if I only stayed away from him. He’s worse than I ever imagined. The things he said to me… what he tried to do…
From a few feet away, Lewis turns his gaze on me, and it’s so intense that for a moment I don’t hear my mom’s incessant questioning, which I’ve managed to ignore thus far. His eyes cut away and I watch helplessly as he strides to the front door.
A deep panic fills my chest. He wouldn’t…
I sit up and glance at Cali’s boyfriend. “Jaeger—” I stare wordlessly at Lewis.
Jaeger nods and catches Lewis by the shoulder, mumbling something in his ear. Lewis’s grip on the doorknob tightens, his shoulders rigid. He jerks from Jaeger’s hold, but Jaeger continues to talk in a quiet rumble.
Lewis flings the door open and stalks out. Jaeger searches Cali’s face. She nods and he follows Lewis.
“Genevieve, talk to me!” My mom squeezes my hand.
I close my eyes and tune out the world.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
My mom snores. Loudly. I bought earplugs a few days ago when she first arrived, but it hasn’t helped. I slept off and on during the day yesterday to catch up and rest my arm, which has turned this purplish-green from shoulder to elbow. Nasty looking, but it feels much better. It turns out Drake didn’t burst an artery or maim me for life.
Cali went with me to the hospital after Lewis and Jaeger left. The story I gave my mom was that I fell down a flight of stairs at work. She sort of bought it. Even if she didn’t, that’s all she’s getting. My mother would go nuts if I told her the truth, and I can’t deal with her drama on top of my drama.
The nurse at the hospital took one look at me and called the police. I gave my mom another story for why the police needed a statement, sent her for coffee, then told the officer what really happened. I thought Drake was a creepy pervert, but this? I don’t know why I didn’t think he’d take it this far. The signs were there. I ignored them.
The idea of an investigation terrifies me, but I’m done keeping quiet. Lewis’s employee is willing to speak out, unlike the witnesses in the hotel suite, who were Drake’s accomplices. I’ve been passive, fearful in the past, but I’m channeling the competitive edge that’s had me training day and night for the mudder and I’m fighting Drake—the casino as well, if I have to. What he tried to do… I’m more than humiliated, I’m pissed. I won’t let him get away with it.
Jaeger followed Lewis to Zach’s house the night of the attack. Jaeger made Lewis promise to stay put, but Cali said that at one point Zach had to talk the two of them out of going after Drake. Lewis had convinced Jaeger someone needed to do something and that they were the ones to do it.
Zach has serious persuasion skills, because he’s physically no match for either Jaeger or Lewis. I don’t know how he talked them out of their testosterone rage.
Lewis was there for me. The look on his face after his worker brought me home… He cares—maybe more than cares, and I’m not sure what to do with that information. It’s not enough for the kind of relationship I want. Lewis kept important things from me and I’m tired of secrets and omissions. I want all in or nothing.
Tucked away in our tiny bathroom, I prepare for the mudder race and watch the sun slowly rise through the window. For the first time in my life, I didn’t mind waking early. It’s peaceful in the morning and I need the calm to prepare for what I’m about to go up against.
A loud banging on the door startles me, the tin of blue face paint I’m holding tumbling from my fingers into the sink. “Light a fire under it, Gen,” Cali calls.
I’ve been in here for an hour dressing and carefully applying the blue and black body paint my team selected. I open the door and glare at Cali. “Not so loud,” I grumble. She knows better than to make blaring noises this early.
Her eyes travel the length of me. “You look badass. You’re going to kill it today, aren’t you?”
Looking the part and playing the part are two very different things, but I have a burning need to prove something, so maybe she’s right. I want to win. For me. “Going to try.”
I zip my sweatshirt over the tight blue running shirt with “Mudder and Destroy” screened on the front, the same as the guys. Lewis insisted we wear fast-drying, formfitting clothes for the race, explaining how the mud and water get absorbed by plain T-shirts, weighing a person down. Black yoga cropped capris complete the outfit.
Because of the prizes this year, coordinators are treating the race like a triathlon. I pinned my number to my shirt and wrote it in body paint down my arms and calves. I’ve got blue face paint fingered over my cheekbones like the guys, to make it easier to spot one another. Eye black below my eyes will help block the glare, and the blue zigzags crisscrossed over my calves are a Washoe symbol.
Cali unzips my sweatshirt and inspects my wounded arm, twisting it front and back, examining the same symbol I added there.
