Page 24 of Recruited By the Billionaire

And then there was Robert.

He was seated with Jerry and the group, too, discussing a news account on one of their midlevel draft potentials and his desirenotto play in Pensacola, and as Frankie walked closer their eyes met.

Robert could see the pain in Francesca’s eyes when she reentered the cabin area, and he knew all eyes were on her. And he wanted to kick his own ass for letting it get to that. Now she had to deal with the stares and rumors. Now she had to be defined as yet another woman in his so-called stable, only he knew she never wanted to be there. That was not the kind of lady she was at all. But when he got her in his bedroom and tasted her, he couldn’t help himself. He had to have her. He had to fulfill his own selfish, greedy lusts just like he’d always done the whole of his life, regardless of the consequences for the object of his desire.

And since the damage to her reputation was already done, the only way he saw that he could help her was to leave her alone. To not rub it in. To pretend that what happened in that bedroom never happened.

That was why when she looked at him, and their eyes locked, he looked away quickly and went back to his conversations.

Frankie was beyond hurt when Robert looked away from her. She realized, in that moment, what she was really up against. He was denying her already. If she ended up pregnant because of their carelessness, he would surely deny their child.

Who would subject their child to that?

But when the plane finally landed in Pensacola and they all planted their feet back on solid ground, she was still hopeful that he would at least talk to her or tell her he was sorry or just say something to her!

But it didn’t happen. He never looked her way again as he made his way to the first of two SUVs waiting for them on the tarmac. And when his bodyguard opened the back passenger door of his SUV and he got inside, and the SUV just drove off with him alone, leaving the rest of them to pile into the second SUV all together, she was ready to take any abortion pill she could get her hands on. She would never have that bastard’s child, she inwardly thought as anger began to override her pain. She knew she was a willing participant on that plane. She would never pretend she was forced into doing what she did with Robert. But he was treating her as ifhewasn’t willing. As if she had forced him! As if, as her mother always told her about her other men, he didn’t give a damn about her. Which didn’t take a genius to realize he didn’t.

But when they arrived at the stadium, and Jerry announced that everybody could call it a day because it was already after ten at night, she began to make her way to her car.

But Jerry came up beside her and began walking with her. “He’s not a bad guy,” he said to her.

“He’s an asshole,” Frankie said without slowing her stride.

“He can be that sometimes,” Jerry admitted. “But he’s not a bad guy.”

“Look,” Frankie said with bite in her voice as she stopped walking and turned to Jerry. She didn’t want to hear it. She fucked up, she ruined her own reputation, and that was all there was to it. “Is there something you wanted because singing Robert Marris’s praises is not something I need.”

Jerry could hear the anger and frustration in her voice, but he saw only hurt in her eyes. “I’ve known that man for over a decade. I see how he looks at you. I see how you looked at him. And you gave him your body.”

Frankie frowned. “You don’t know what I gave him!”

Jerry looked at her as if they both knew better. And she backed down. “I’m much older than you,” Jerry said. “Hell I’m much older than Robert! And if you wanted my advice, I’d tell you to hang in there. Don’t give up on him.”

He was talking as if Frankie was the cause of their lack of communication. As if Frankie was the one who slept with him and then ignored him. And what was she hanging in for? A relationship with Robert Marris? Or just booty calls here and there? She felt dirty just thinking about such a thing! And giving up on him? Why did she always have to be the one to fight for a relationship? Why no man ever had to fight for her? Why did everybody give up on her?

Before she started shedding tears, she kept on walking. It was the story of her life. She thought Robert was different. But why would she think that? Because of his generosity? Him giving big money to two poor black families was like Frankie giving a few hundred bucks to those same families. She didn’t know that man from Adam, if truth be told. And she had unprotected sex with him? With some guy that would make such sweet, passionate love to her one minute, and then treat her as if she was some mangy dog the next minute?

She got in her car and headed straight to that 24-hour Walgreen’s by the stadium. It wasn’t morning yet, but she couldn’t wait to take that morning after pill.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Frankie was running. She was on shore and he was in the middle of the Atlantic ocean making love to a woman on his yacht. But she kept running toward him with outstretched hands, as if he could possibly get to her when he was so far away. He didn’t see the men running behind her until she was just about to jump into the ocean. And those men grabbed her by the legs and yanked her back.

Robert threw the lady he was making love to off of him and jumped into the ocean as soon as they snatched Frankie back. He began swimming furiously, hurrying to her rescue, but he was swimming against the tide and was nearly drowning himself. But he made it to shore.

But when he made it to shore, he only could see a glimpse of her being thrown into a car. He ran toward that car with all he had, but it was no contest. They sped off with Frankie before he was within a football field of being anywhere near them. And she was gone. Just like that! He felt as if he had abandoned her. As if he had neglected to protect that sweet sheep from those conniving wolves. That was why he kept running after that car anyway. It was the only way he could feel better. It was the only way he could convince himself he tried to save her, but those men moved too fast for him. They claimed her before he knew she was slipping away. They claimed her while he was cavorting on a yacht with some female he could easily live without.

But then the car turned around, and started racing back toward him, as if he was a witness to their abuse of Frankie and they had to get rid of him too. But he stood there. He held his ground as if he was daring them to try it. But as that car raced faster and faster toward him, and he could feel the wind of the engine blowing against his skin causing it to shake like jello, he lunged to the right and jumped out of the way. And the car kept going. And he could see the men inside of that car laughing, as if they knew all along he would not sacrifice himself for her or for anybody else. As if they knew all along that he wasn’t shit.

And Frankie turned around in that backseat and looked at him as if she knew it too.

Robert opened his eyes so fast that they were big as an old Kennedy-fifty-cent coin. Had any of that just happened? Then he quickly realized it was all a dream.

He had been tossing and turning and dreaming crazy dreams about Francesca all night long. He couldn’t sleep at all, so he threw his covers off and got out of bed.

He went to his full-size bar adjacent to his bedroom, poured himself a whiskey, and sat out on the balcony overlooking his courtyard. He bought that mansion in Pensacola so that the locals wouldn’t complain that he was an absent owner and didn’t give a flip for their town, but his home base remained Chicago. Florida was too quiet for him. He always viewed Florida as the place where old people went to retire. But it was the only state the NFL was eyeing for their next expansion team, and he wanted in on the most successful sports league in the history of the world he didn’t care where he had to plant roots. He always wanted the best.

Which reminded him once again, as he sat there without touching his liquor, of Francesca. When he left her at the airport and rode away in his SUV, he felt as if he was leaving something behind. Or, more accurately,somebodybehind. And it alarmed him. He wasn’t used to such powerful feelings for anybody ever. Even when he first met his ex-wife, he knew she was a vulture too. He knew all she wanted from him was his money and lifestyle, and that was fine by him. All he wanted from her was her body. It worked out initially. She was his kind of people.

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