Powerplay (8 page)

Jen’s new friend raised his head and looked at Mark, his face splitting into a grin. “Hey, look who it is: Mark Atwell.”

Mark nodded, glancing at the small group. “Hey, guys, what’s up?”

Tracey smiled, wagging her finger at him. “Why am I not surprised to see you here tonight?”

He laughed. “Am I that predictable?”

Jen leaned her head on his shoulder. “Hi, hon, I missed you.”

He knew she was under the influence, enabling her tell him how she felt without censoring her words. He hooked his arm around her chair. “I missed you too, baby. That’s why I’m here.”

The guy who had been coming on to Jen took a step back. “You coulda told me your fiancé was Mark Atwell.”

Jen frowned, looking confused. “But Mark’s…”

He kissed her lips, cutting off her protest. He didn’t care what her friends thought of his public display of affection. As far as he was concerned, Jen’s days of wearing another man’s ring were numbered.

“Listen, baby, why don’t we get outta here? I just came from having dinner with Davis and I’m beat.” He wasn’t tired, just anxious to get her alone.

One of the men crowding the table asked, “Hey, is it true they may be trading him next season?”

Mark didn’t want to talk about hockey tonight. He wanted to talk about weddings, or more specifically, when Jen planned to cancel hers.  “Not as far as I know, man.”

The guy nodded, seeming satisfied. “Good to hear. That’d be a hell of a loss.”

“It sure would.” He looked at the women seated around the table. “I’m gonna send a car to pick you ladies up in half an hour, okay?”

“You don’t have to do that,” Tracey said, raising her glass. “We’re fine.”

Mark rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well, I’d sleep easier knowing you ladies had a designated driver.”

Callie came up behind him, slipping her arms around his waist as she flattened her cheek to his chest. “Isn’t he the sweetest? If you don’t want him, I’ll take him, Jen.”

Jen scowled at her friend as she slid off her seat. “Don’t even think about it.” She slipped her hand into Mark’s and looked up at him, her eyes shifting, as though she were having difficulty focusing.

He leaned over to kiss her cheek. “You okay, baby?”

She took a deep breath. “Yeah, I think I just need some fresh air.”

He settled his arm around her waist to support her. “Hey,” he said, looking at the men still standing around the table. “You guys want me to send another car?”

The guy who had been flirting with Jen reached out to shake his hand. “No, thanks, we’re good, man. I haven’t been drinking. I’ve got to get up early for work in the morning.” He smiled at Jen.

“In case I didn’t say it earlier, congratulations. I hope you two will be real happy.”

“Thanks,” Mark said, turning Jen away from the group. He was sure her girlfriends had questions, but he didn’t care what anyone thought of him or their relationship. He loved her, simple as that. Anyone who had a problem with that could take it up with him.

Jen wrapped her arm around his waist, leaning into him.

“Where’s your coat?” he asked, when they reached the door.

She looked back at their table. “Uh, I don’t know. I’ll go and look for it.”

He shook his head, slipping his leather jacket off and settling it around her shoulders. “Forget it. I’m sure one of your friends will grab it.”

She tried to take his jacket off, but he held onto it, pulling it tight around her. “But you’ll be cold.” He chuckled, wondering how much she had to drink tonight. It didn’t matter; he was going to be there to take care of her as long as she needed him. “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get you home.”

She looked up at him, smiling. “Your place or mine?”

He recognized the innuendo, but there was no way he was going to take advantage of her, not in her condition. When they made love again, he wanted her to be stone-cold sober and a free woman. 

CHAPTER EIGHT

Mark insisted on stopping at a drive-thru to get her a strong black coffee on the way home. He said they needed to talk, and he wanted her to have a clear head for this conversation. If she had her way, she would have proceeded with the night in a blissful, wine-induced fog, picking up where they left in her office. She didn’t want to talk. She wanted to fuck, now. “Pull over,” she said, gripping the interior door handle.

“Are you okay?” he asked, shooting her a concerned look. “Do you feel sick?”

She took her seat belt off. “I’m fine.” She pointed to the parking lot of her father’s dental office. “Pull in here.”

“You wanna stop at your old man’s office? Why? Did he ask you to pick something up for him?”

“No, please, just do it.” She couldn’t stand it anymore. She had been hot and horny all night, and she was dying for some relief. “Come inside with me.”

He parked his truck near the front door and asked, “What the hell are we doing here, Jen?”

“I need you, now.”

“But…”

She reached for the door handle. With or without his help, she needed to come.

He muttered a curse and followed her to the door. “What if someone walks in on us?”

She fumbled in her purse, trying to find the set of keys her father gave her. Since her parents lived forty-five minutes from the office, she was listed as the contact person if the alarm sounded during the night.

Her hands were shaking by the time she finally extracted the silver keychain from her bag.

Handing it to Mark, she said, “Open the door, please.”

“Baby, let’s just go back to your place. We can…”

“No,” she said quickly. “I can’t.”

The overhead glow of the security lights lit his face and she saw the flash of anger in his eyes. “You don’t want me to come to your place because of that son of a bitch?”

She shrugged. “He stops by after work sometimes.” She hated feeling torn between the man she was supposed to marry and the man who satisfied her in ways she never thought possible.

“Let him walk in on us,” he said, clenching his jaw. “Let him watch while I fuck you.”

She grabbed his arm. “Mark, please…”

He turned on her. “What? You just want me to be your dirty little secret, Jen? You want to go on sleeping with me behind his back even after you’re married?”

No, she wouldn’t do that, would she? But how could she stop? Mark was like an addiction, a self-destructive habit she couldn’t break.

He stared at her, rage darkening his eyes. “My God, you’re actually considering it, aren’t you?” He stalked back to his truck. “Not gonna happen!” he shouted. “You think you’re going to marry him, have his babies, and use me to keep you satisfied in the sack?” He opened the driver’s door.

“Why not? You used me for sex for almost a year,” she cried. She knew, even though it was late and there were few people walking the streets, their conversation could still be overheard. She didn’t care. He needed to know how much his callous treatment hurt her.

He slammed the truck door, the sound reverberating through her ears. “I didn’t use you. We had an understanding.” 

She threw her hands up in the air. “Yeah, I understood that you had the right to fuck anyone you wanted and I had to keep my mouth shut, right?”

He leapt up the stairs, grabbing her shoulders. “I didn’t cheat on you back then. You knew the score. You could have been with other people.”

“I didn’t want anyone else,” she said quietly, looking at the ground. “I wanted you, only you. And I wanted you to want me too.”

He set a finger under her chin, tipping her head until she was forced to look at him. “I did want you, sweetheart.”

“You just wanted me for sex when it was convenient. I was your hometown connection. What about all those other girls? Did you have one in every city, Mark?” 

She had been afraid to ask him about his sexual escapades while they were dating. It would have destroyed her to know, for certain, that she wasn’t woman enough to keep him happy.

“Baby, let’s not do this,” he said, drawing her into his arms. “I don’t want to talk about the past.”

“We have to because that’s the reason we’ll never have a future together.”

He pulled away, holding her at arm’s length. “You don’t mean that.”

“Yes, I do.” She wiped away the tears sliding down her cheeks. “I could never trust you, not after the way you treated me while we were together.”

“I’m not the same man I was then, Jen,” he whispered. “Give me a chance to prove that.”

She shook her head. “No, I can’t.”

He crossed his arms, glaring at her. “You can’t trust me, but you can trust that piece of shit? The same guy who fucks a stripper weeks before he’s supposed to marry you? You really think I would do that to you?”

All of the old hurts were resurfacing, threatening to destroy the invisible armor she wore to defend herself. She thought she let it go when she met Kevin, but she’d allowed Mark to reel her in again, reminding her of how worthless she felt back then. “Do you remember where you were on the night of my thirtieth birthday?”

He frowned, as though trying to recall the date in question. “Uh...”

“Let me remind you. My parents had planned a party for me at Kevin’s restaurant. He and I just met. He was a client. I wasn’t interested in him at the time, but…”

“Obviously that changed,” he said, spitting the words out.

“Yeah, it changed when you chose to go to a strip joint instead of coming to the party. That’s when I realized I was wasting my time with you.”

He shook his head. “Wait a minute, what are you talking about?”

“You promised me you’d be there. You didn’t show up—you didn’t call.” She struggled to get the words out. “I was so hurt and...”

He reached out to touch her, but she stepped back, just out of reach.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I never meant to hurt you,” he said quietly, raking his hands through his hair.

“Yeah, well, you did.” She remembered every detail of that night. Patrons of the club captured images of Mark and his teammates enjoying lap dances and posted them online. The next day, a friend sent her the link, encouraging her to stop wasting her time with him. She took her advice. After that night, she started dating Kevin.

“That was the night of Steve’s bachelor party...”

She shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe.”

“I told him I’d stop by for a drink, but I wanted to spend the night with you.”

She chuckled, trying to pretend she found some humor in it. “I guess you didn’t make it, huh? Those strippers must’ve given quite the lap dances to keep you there all night.” 

“How did you know about the strippers?”

“Someone posted it online to a social networking site. A girlfriend sent me the link.”

“Shit,” he muttered. “I had one drink, one…”

“Lap dance?” 

“Yeah, okay, yeah.” He sighed. “Look, the other guys arranged it. I wasn’t even into it. I just wanted to show my face and get the hell out of there so I could be with you. But by the time I got to the restaurant, Callie told me you’d already left with some other guy.”

“You were there?” she asked. “Why wouldn’t she have told me?”

“I asked her not to. I told her I wanted to explain. The problem is you never gave me the chance. I guess now I know why, huh?” He walked toward the driver’s side of his truck.

She followed him, settling into the passenger’s seat. “What was I supposed to do when you didn’t show up?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he said, starting the engine. “Maybe you could have given me a chance to explain why I was late instead of taking off with some other guy.”

“I was angry and hurt.” She sighed. “And I was tired of your bullshit.”

He stared straight ahead, gripping the steering wheel with both hands. “I wouldn’t have missed that night for anything, Jen.”

She looked at him, trying to read his thoughts. “Why? What was so special to you about that night?”

“I planned on asking you to marry me.”

Mark hadn’t planned to tell her about the proposal, but when she started to recap their history, he couldn’t help himself. Whether she realized it or not, he was devastated that night. He stood around making small talk with her friends and family, waiting for her to return so he could ask her to marry him. One hour passed, then two, before Callie finally told him the truth. She’d left with someone else.

He’d gone to her apartment and waited for her, calling, texting… He’d tried everything for weeks to no avail. No woman had ever destroyed him the way she had. And now he was giving her the power to do it again. No more. If she wanted to marry a man who lied to her and cheated on her, let her have him. He was through trying to convince her that he was the man for her when it was painfully obvious that she didn’t share his feelings. 

He pulled into the parking lot of her building.

She waved to the guard at the gatehouse, who raised the barrier and waved them through. She had been silent since he told her the truth about what happened that night. Not that he expected her to say anything. Nothing she could say would change it. 

He pulled up to the front door, setting the truck in park before he turned to face her. There was so much he wanted to say, but he couldn’t find the words. “Good luck, Jen. I hope everything works out the way you want it to.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it. She took his jacket off and handed it back to him. “I guess this is good-bye then?”

He wasn’t an emotional guy by nature, but the thought of never seeing her again tore him up inside. “I guess so.” He cleared his throat, striving to find his voice. “I hope you have a beautiful wedding.” That was a lie, but he couldn’t tell her the truth, not now. She would find out in due time that the man she was marrying was a parasite. Only he couldn’t be there to pick up the pieces and help her move on. He had to focus on fixing what was broken in his own life.

“Thank you,” she said quietly. She reached for the door handle, but he reached across to grab her wrist.

“Wait.” He moved to kiss her, needing to taste her lips one more time. “I love you, baby. Whether you believe that or not, I do.”

She pressed her lips to his once more before pulling back. “I’m glad we had this time together, Mark. It’s helped me to sort things out.”

He watched her walk into the building. With each step she took, widening the gap between them, the hole in his chest expanded until he couldn’t breathe.

He dropped his head on the steering wheel, pleading for a reprieve from this torture.