Sneaking around with #34, page 7
“You’re definitely giving off that vibe. If you want us to leave, just say so,” the hairstylist says, looking at the makeup artist. They’ve obviously been in awkward situations before.
“No, we’re not a couple,” Imogen answers for us.
“Yet,” I add.
“Warner.” Imogen’s eyes meet mine through the mirror and she quickly shakes her head once.
“Truth is, I want to date her, but she’s blowing me off.”
“Are we really playing this game?” she asks me.
Both women collect their stuff.
“You’re our easy one, already came in here gorgeous,” the makeup artist says as they leave.
Imogen stands huffing. “What if they tell someone what you said?”
“Tell someone what? Who cares?”
“Because, Warner, there are a few things we should be clear about when it comes to you being the face of the organization. There’s a reason we’re not using Aiden or Ford or Maksim. They’re all taken. One of the biggest things you have that they don’t is that you’re single.” She puts her hands on her hips. She’s wearing another one of those power pantsuits with a silk tank top underneath. And her heels. Every damn time I see her in heels, I imagine them digging into my ass as I fuck her.
“Just because I’m not in a relationship doesn’t mean I’m single.”
Her face twists in annoyance. “I don’t even want to know what that means.”
I stand from the chair and walk toward her. “Think about it.”
The door opens and in walks the two hosts of the show, Maggie and Mitch. I wonder if those are even their real names.
“Hey, you two,” Maggie says. She’s a petite brunette and has that look women get when they’ve spent too much time under the knife and needle of a plastic surgeon.
I shake her hand, then reach out to Mitch, who is more concerned with whatever is on his phone than us. Must not be a hockey fan.
Maggie looks at Mitch in annoyance. “We just wanted to pop in and say hello. I’m sure Ollie went over everything with you. Should be quick and painless.” She winks.
“Did you get the topics that are off-limits?” Imogen asks.
Maggie nods. “We did.”
“Actually, nothing is off-limits. Ask me whatever you want.”
Imogen huffs and her eyes burn a hole in the side of my face. “Warner,” she says sweetly, but I know the syrupy sweet tone in her voice is anything but authentic.
“It’s fine. They want honesty and I’ll give it to them.”
Maggie’s smile brightens and even Mitch tucks away his phone to pay attention to the conversation now.
“That’s great to hear. We do love when guests will be candid,” Maggie says.
“We’ll see you out there,” Mitch says, shaking my hand again, never bothering to introduce himself to Imogen.
After the door shuts, Imogen walks over to her computer to pack up her stuff. “Why would you do that?”
“Because I don’t want to live behind lies anymore. Because I’m damn proud of who I am and where I came from. Did you tell them not to ask me about my childhood?”
She swings her laptop bag over her shoulder. “I told them only to talk about the trade. To keep it on Florida Fury, but to not ask about… Ford.”
I chuckle. “And they agreed to that?”
“They did.”
“Half the league is watching how Ford and I play together, waiting for a fight to break out between us in the middle of a game.”
“Warner, they’re going to ask what happened between you two.” Her voice is grave.
“Which is fine.”
“No, it’s not.” Her eyes narrow.
There’s a knock and Ollie peeks in his head. “We’re ready for you.”
I nod. “Let’s go.”
“Warner!”
I leave because Imogen’s crazy if she thinks I’d tell them anything that would compromise her, but I’ll still be as truthful as I can. Her heels click behind us on the way to the studio. They set me up with a microphone, and the entire time, Imogen is mouthing things to me. I shake my head. I’ve got this handled.
Once they’re back on air, Maggie and Mitch introduce me, and I answer their questions as truthfully as I can. How I was surprised by my trade to the Fury and what it’s been like since I joined the team at the end of last year.
It’s Mitch who says, “It’s no secret that you and Ford Jacobs aren’t friends. There were a lot of fights on the ice between you guys when you were on opposing teams. Now you’re teammates. How do you see that playing out?”
I glance at Imogen. She walks toward someone who looks as though they might be in charge. Probably trying to stop this before I can say anything.
“Ford and I attended the same high school. We were best friends when we played at Lauder together and got our team to the finals.”
“Oh, I didn’t know you were best friends in high school.” Maggie plays the ditzy part she does on the show. “Did a girl come between you?” She waggles her eyebrows.
“All I will say is that some bad choices were made on my part. Choices I regret every day. Decisions I wish I could do over. I never thought I’d have the opportunity to play with Ford again or be in his life. But I believe in fate. There’s a reason I was traded to his team. A reason we’re playing together, and I hope I can earn back some of the friendship we once had.” My gaze focuses on Imogen, who’s watching intently behind the camera.
Maggie laughs. “You talk about Ford as if he’s a lost love.”
I shrug. “Ford had my back when not a lot of people did. Sadly, I wasn’t the friend I should’ve been in return.”
“Well, there you have it. I wasn’t expecting so much honesty this early in the morning.” Mitch chuckles. “Head to a Florida Fury game to see firsthand whether this friendship can be patched up. I think everyone would agree that if you and Ford Jacobs get on the same page, you’ve got a good shot at the Cup.”
The red light on the camera clicks off and I stand and shake their hands.
Ollie escorts me back to the greenroom. I hear Imogen’s heels clicking behind us as she huffs the entire way.
Once Ollie has left the room, Imogen finally speaks. “What the hell was that? This was supposed to be a fluff piece.”
I whip around and she steps back, so her back is against the wall. I cage her in with an arm over her head. “Exchange every damn word I said about Ford with your name. I’m not being shy about this, Imogen. I want you back in my life. And if you won’t allow us to have the conversation we need to have, then this is what’ll continue to happen.”
Her chest rises and falls, her breath coming in short pants. “There’s no future for us.”
“Well, we disagree on that.” I step forward and watch her breath stagger. Sliding out my tongue, I lick my lips and stare at her for a second before pushing back off the wall.
I just want to make sure I still get to her. She wants me. Maybe it is just physical right now, but I’ll push past that eventually. I’ll prove to her that she can trust me with her heart, even if she couldn’t the first time around.
“What an asshole!” Ford yells.
“Quiet down,” Lena says, holding up the baby monitor.
“Why would he go on TV and say all that shit?”
I can’t tell Ford that it was meant for me and not him. Although I think what Warner said probably applies to us both. I believe he wants to repair his relationship with my brother as well.
“Because he wants you guys to be friends again.” Lena places a bowl of chips and salsa on the table.
We’re on the back patio next to their pool. Ford called this morning, demanding I come over. Big brothers can be extremely annoying at times, even if they have your best intentions in mind. It’s pretty warm out, which still feels so weird to me. Back in New York, I’d be wearing a jacket and quite possibly a hat and mittens.
“There are things in this world you can’t come back from and what he did is one of them.” He glances in my direction, then picks up a chip and dips it aggressively in the salsa before chomping down on it.
“Is that true?” Lena asks.
Ford stares at her and says nothing, as though she should heed the look as a warning, but we both know Lena doesn’t care about his silent brooding or loud outbursts.
“Everyone deserves a second chance.” She dips her chip and eats it, smiling at me.
Why is she smiling at me? I’m in agreement with Ford. There’s no second chance happening between Warner and me.
“Not him. Not ever.” Ford takes another chip just as Annabelle cries. He stands. “Fuck, I’ll get her.”
“I can—”
He waves Lena off. “No, I need our daughter before I lose my cool and end up driving over to that fucker’s house.”
Ford disappears inside and Lena sets her gaze on me.
“What?” I shift in my seat.
Since Lena worked for our family before she and Ford got together and got married, I’ve developed a good friendship with her. Although I didn’t tell her what happened with Warner until he got traded to the Fury, I’ve trusted her with a lot of other things.
“Tell me.”
I crinkle my eyes. “Tell you what?”
“Well, I know what happened to tear you and Warner apart, but he’s fighting so hard to get you back. I have to think you had a tremendous love story. How did it begin between you two?”
I bring my knees up to my chest and rest my chin on them, wrapping my arms around my legs. “Honestly?”
She nods. “Always.”
“I think it was what a lot of girls dream about when they’re teenagers. Warner was the most popular guy at school, and he wanted me. Plus, we kept it from Ford, so it felt like it was out of a movie.”
The sound of Ford arguing with Annabelle about swimming sounds through the monitor.
“Tell me.”
I shake my head. “Ford doesn’t want to hear it.”
“He’ll be up there forever. First, they’ll argue about swimming and Annabelle will get her way, then they’ll argue about the swimsuit. And then he has to change her. We have time.”
A smile forms on my face when I remember the kiss in the pantry at April Carrington’s party. “He kissed me the first time at a party during a game of seven minutes in heaven.”
“Ford let that happen?” Her eyes are wide, obviously surprised.
My smile dims. Warren played the best friend card with Ford, but the yearning between us was so strong, it was like neither of us had a choice. I didn’t want to be the reason their friendship ended, and we both knew Ford wouldn’t understand. He’d been so adamant about us not getting involved. I never even asked why.
“Warner told Ford he could trust him.”
Lena’s eyebrows rise and she takes another chip.
I sigh. “You really want to know the whole thing?”
She nods while chewing.
“After he kissed me at the party, I thought for sure that was it. That he’d either ignore me or tell me it was a mistake. But one night he stayed over after a late game, and he texted me after Ford went to bed.”
Lena slides back in her chair and places her hand over her heart. “Go on.”
My memory floats back to that night and the other nights afterward. When it all felt perfect.
He asked me to meet him in the theater room, so I sneaked down there. The penthouse was dark and quiet, and we both knew that after a game, Ford crashed hard.
I reached the theater first and sat on a recliner. It was dark except for the star ceiling above me, and I snuggled under a blanket since I was wearing my pajamas.
The door opened and in walked Warner in a pair of sweats and a T-shirt, barefoot. He didn’t say anything but sat in the recliner next to me. Both of us stared at the sparkling white lights in the ceiling.
“So… what’s up?” I asked, whispering, although the room was soundproof. No one would hear us, but I was so nervous. My stomach was in knots.
“I just wanted to see you.” He turned in his recliner to face me, and I mimicked his movements.
His hand slid under the blanket to find mine and my breath hitched with the contact. “Why?”
“Because I like you. I thought I made that clear.”
“Until you ignored me for a week.” I couldn’t keep the hurt from my voice.
He pushed a hand through his thick, dark locks. “I kind of freaked out after I kissed you. I thought for sure Ford saw through me. That he knew I betrayed him. Then I hated myself for betraying him. He’s been a great friend to me and I’m going behind his back…” He rambled on and on about how guilty he felt, but then he said the words I’ve never forgotten. “But, Gen, whatever this is is way too powerful for me to ignore. I can’t help but be pulled to you. You’re all I think about and it’s making me crazy. All I do at night is lie in bed and think about hearing your voice. When you laugh, my heart catapults out of my chest. The selfish part of me wants your laughter to be because of something I said. I think about putting my hands in your hair and feeling your soft skin again.”
“But—”
He put his finger to my lips. “Just tell me if you feel it too, because I’m done second-guessing myself. I do a lot of shit for a lot of people in my life, leaving myself for last. I want you, and I’m willing to step through the fire to have you.”
Lena’s mouth hangs open, and a strangled sound escapes her. She gets it.
“After that, we dated in secret. He would text me all the time, give me signs when he was on the ice. And we’d sneak into that theater room every time he spent the night.”
“Why didn’t you just tell Ford?”
“You know Ford.” I shrug.
She nods, understanding how stubborn and difficult her husband can be. “But it had to be hard.”
“At first there was a thrill about just the two of us knowing what we meant to each other. Then after a while, it felt like he was keeping me a secret. I’d see girls flirt with him, or Ford would say, ‘So and so likes Warner and we’re going on a double date.’ I’d be strangled with jealousy. But he never went. Always found an excuse. Hell, I think there was a rumor that he was gay for a little while because no one understood why he didn’t date any of the girls at our school when they all wanted him. I was in love with him. Still, I worried that I was just someone to pass the time with. But then, after a few months, he finally trusted me enough to confess something.”
Lena’s head tilts. She knows what happened between Warner and me, but I don’t think she knows this part.
“We’d talked about having sex, though Warner was always patient with me.” I stop for a moment and inhale. “Everyone thought his family was Langley Wines. That his parents spent a lot of time in California, and since he was a senior, he was left alone and that was the reason that he spent so much time at our place. But that night, we took the blankets and laid them out in front of the giant screen we never watched, and he told me the truth about this family.”
“Which was?”
I allow myself to transport back to that moment. To feel that feeling all over again.
His knuckles brushed along my cheek. “I have to tell you something and I don’t want you to be mad.”
My eyes popped open, and I stared at him, my body growing stiff and tight, expecting the worst.
“I’m not Langley from Langley Wines.”
“What?” I whispered, because in honesty, all my dreams of us in the future involved a lifestyle like I grew up in. One that he would be able to afford if he was the heir to Langley Wines.
“I go to Lauder on a scholarship to play hockey. I mean, I have good enough grades too, but they wanted me for the team.” He moved his hand off me, and I was unsure if he thought I was going to bolt or no longer wanted him to touch me.
“So, where are you from?” My forehead wrinkled.
He sat up and brought his legs up, allowing his head to hang between them. “A part of the city you’ve never been to. My mom is a single mom.”
“But why didn’t you say anything?”
He shrugged. “Someone assumed it and more people believed it. I just went along with it because it was easier than admitting the truth.”
“Which is?”
He glanced back at me, still on the floor. “That I come from nothing. That I don’t have one percent of the money your family does.”
I sat up and placed my hands on his arms and my cheek on his back. “It doesn’t matter where you come from. Look where you’re going. You’re already being talked about being drafted, and if that doesn’t happen, I bet you could get a scholarship like Ford will.”
He laughed. “The draft is the only option for me. I can’t go to college and have a job that would allow me to send money home. I need to get drafted so I can start supporting my family.”
“Warner?”
His hands gripped mine. “What?”
“Why are you trusting me with this? We both know if I slip up or if something bad happens between us, people would have a field day with this information. I’d like to say it wouldn’t matter, but to some, it would.”
I wasn’t naive about the people I grew up around. They were judgmental assholes.
“Because I want you to know me.” He turned around so fast I fell to my back. He leaned over to me. “Because I love you, Gen, and I want you to love the person I really am. Not the Langley Wines lie, but me, Warner Langley. The kid on a scholarship who comes from nothing. But I promise you, I will make it. I won’t be the kid with nothing for long. I’m going to work my ass off to give you everything you deserve.”
I placed my hands on either side of his head. How had we fallen so fast and so deep in this short amount of time? But we had and there was no denying it. We’d already been taking chances we shouldn’t. It was time to tell Ford and others.
“You owe me nothing. And I might not know your mom or how much money your family has, but I know you, Warner Langley.” My one hand fell over his heart. “I know you. I’m sure of it.”
And I was. At least until he had to make a tough choice. Then it felt as if I didn’t know him at all.
