Perfect Sense (Perfect Series Book 1) (18 page)

Grabbing the rest of my things, I leave him and his immaculate home behind, making a mad dash to the elevator, out into the fresh morning air.

A quick cab ride later, and I’m still trembling, walking through my front door and into the living room.

“It’s six in the morning! You have got some explaining to do,” Lyndsey says with a slight bit of humor to her voice. She is standing in the kitchen in her flimsy silk pajamas. I look over at her, gloating, and I immediately frown. “Where the hell were you?” she asks.

“Out,” I mumble, tossing my purse on the couch.

“Well, well, well.” She says, following behind me. I roll my eyes and make a beeline for the bathroom. I need to wash the intoxicating scent of Cash from my body. But Lyndsey cuts me off and blocks the door. “You were at Cash’s, weren’t you?”

I press my lips together. “Seriously, Lynds, what does it matter?”

“Oh, it matters. I heard you two caused quite the scene last night before you took off together through the backdoor. Thanks a lot for leaving me to deal with Theo and the aftermath. He went a little crazy when he heard what happened. He even threatened to call Dad, but I assured him I saw you hop in a cab by yourself. Could you imagine how pissed Dad would be if he knew you left with Cash?”

I can hear my dad’s voice in my head.
Hockey players leave, they play out of town and there are a million and one temptations. Like me you don’t trust easily, and it will never last. I promise you that. Stay away from them.

“Shit,” I mumble.

“I knew it. You totally slept with him. I knew something was going on. I can’t believe you weren’t even going to tell me.”

Her smugness only irritates me more. “This isn’t about you, Lynds. I’ve created a big fucking mess.”

“Admit it. You like him.” She grins like a gloating idiot. “Now, spill. I am so jealous. He’s a fucking alpha from the heavens. Was the sex with him great? Like multiple-orgasm great?”

“Move.” I say, annoyed at her nosiness.

“Was he huge? Those skates and hands look big.”

“Seriously, Lynds. Move.”

She doesn’t budge, so I study the floor, worried my eyes will tell her everything she needs to know. The last thing I need is for my sister to witness my perfectly constructed walls crumbling all around me. I’m supposed to be her role model, not her slutty partner in crime. After our mother died—and even before— I was all she had to look up to, and I’ve taken that role seriously throughout the years.

She finally steps away from the doorway, crinkling her nose. “You smell like sex. I won’t hold you up any longer from your shower of shame.” She turns her back to me and says over her shoulder, “By the way, I should probably warn you. Louis texted me around five this morning. He told me to warn you that Theo was going ballistic. There’s a video of Cash knocking out Kirkland. It’s spreading like wildfire in the Twitter-sphere. Apparently, there will need to be some serious damage control on the Bruisers end.” Yawning, she shrugs. “Anyway, you might want to call Theo. Shits about to go south fast for the team if Cash’s bad rap gets smeared all over the media.”

Chapter 10

Theo frowns when I click off the video from my computer screen.

“What am I supposed to do about this, Quinn? I’ve got our affiliate team from the National Hockey League questioning me on why the President’s daughter and newest employee of the AHL is the cause of a brawl between Cash Brooks and Peter Kirkland. Do you understand the type of damage control I’m going to have to do here to protect your father and stop the media from having a field day with this?”

“I’m sorry. I was only trying to help.”

He shakes his head and runs his fingers through his hair. “Why didn’t you come and get me?”

“It all happened so fast—”

“Fucking Brooks knows how to ruin everything.” He paces back and forth, his hands shoved in his pockets.

“Cash didn’t do anything wrong. Kirkland was being a complete ass.”

“Listen Quinn, when Brooks was sent down to the Bruisers, our job was to clean him up. Fighting on the ice is one thing, but attacking another player and having it caught on video and publicized on the web is another. The affiliates are questioning whether or not he’s abusing substances again and I don’t fucking appreciate heat under my ass from your father who thinks I’ve put his little girl in danger. This isn’t good, Quinn.”

“What do you mean abusing substances?” I feel an overwhelming trickle of forgotten emotion, as I suck a sharp breath.

He turns his head towards me, letting out a sigh. “After Brooks’ brother died in the crash, he lost it. How do you think a guy with his talent ended up playing for the Bruisers?”

My heart twists at Cash’s loss, and an aching pain spreads throughout my chest. “What kind of crash?”

Theo tucks his cell into his pocket and sits at the edge of my desk. “After Brooks was drafted, the story is that he and his brother went out celebrating with a bunch of their buddies. They started racing down a dirt road, driving real fast against a pick-up truck. A deer jumped out in front of Brooks, he swerved out of the way and he lost control of the vehicle. He flipped off the road and into the bush. The vehicle was totaled and his brother died instantly. Brooks is lucky to be alive.”

My heart pounds painfully as I let the breath I’ve been holding between my lips slowly seep out. “That’s horrible.”

“Yeah, his career was nearly ruined because of it.” Theo grabs his phone from his pocket and taps out a text then looks down at me. “But you know what’s horrible right now, is that the league is holding me responsible for Cash’s outburst, and your father is trapped in Texas dealing with questions from the media about your relationship with Brooks.”

I avoid Theo’s eyes, reluctant to even comment. I power off my computer and bend down to retrieve my purse, but when I pop back up his tapping foot tells me I am not off the hook.

“I’ve already called Cash’s agent. We’re meeting with them right now in the boardroom. It isn’t going to be easy, but we need Brooks to agree to a statement and press release. The affiliates want him to publically ensure his fans and the organization that he is not struggling with substances again. He is the National League’s number one future prospect and they need to protect him. What happened between him and Kirkland needs to be portrayed as a fight that started on the ice, and carried its way to the party. If the media uses this brawl to claim that Brooks is back on the wagon or fucking the newest President’s daughter, believe me, it won’t just be the leagues reputation one the line.” He pauses meeting my eyes, his voice faltering as he begins to speak again. “I can’t afford to lose you as an employee because of this outburst from Brooks.”

My face heats and I begin to lose my patience. “None of this is his fault. Kirkland was being a complete dick and Cash stepped in to protect me.”

He leans in, his eyes connecting with mine. “Then tell me I have nothing to worry about.”

He has everything to worry about. I broke the one rule I shouldn’t have; I involved myself romantically with a Bruisers player – and the highest profiled one at that. God. I am a terrible liar, but this is neither the time nor place to come clean. My silence engorges the room and I shift my eyes to the floor with my heart beating painfully in my chest.

I can see the muscles in his jaw clenching as I shake my head softly. “Cash isn’t as bad as you or anyone else thinks him to be -”

He lets out a heated chuckle. “Quinn, why are you defending him? I can guarantee you that Cash Brooks does not see you the way I do. To a guy like him, all you are is a brief challenge and a quick fuck. He would love nothing more than to stick it to me, the organization and your father by getting in your pants. If he even for a second has you thinking that you’re different from any other girl, you’re not as smart as I thought you were.”

“Are you done?” I stare up at him, beyond infuriated. “Brooks doesn’t have me thinking I’m different to him, I know I’m different to him. He stuck up for me when no one else did, including you.”

The chatter of voices filters in from the open door of my office and into the hallway where a bunch of media personnel have started to funnel into the main boardroom. Cash walks in followed by three cameramen, a half a dozen reporters, and his agent. The second he sees me, his tight ridged face softens and his eyes zero in on my lips. He pushes through the crowd, with his agent calling out behind him and demanding he follow him into the boardroom. But Cash ignores him. He steps in front of Theo and towers over me, smelling ridiculously good and looking insanely sexy in his backwards baseball cap and tight gray t-shirt.

He turns his head slightly in Theo’s direction. “What is she doing here?”

“What do you think she’s doing here, Brooks? She’s my intern and she’s helping me clean up your goddamn mess from last night,” Theo says from behind me.

Cash angry eyes turn back to mine, desperate. He stalks over in my direction, all the air vacuuming from my lungs watching his taut lean body in motion. He presses his mouth against my hair and whispers softly into my ear. “What happened last night is all on me, understand?”

The magnetism I feel from his presence and the sincerity behind his rough and ragged voice nearly brings me to my knees. He pulls away slowly with his protective blue eyes holding my gaze.

“Alright, you said what you needed to say, Brooks. Get in the boardroom.” Theo’s stern voice slices through our heated air.

“You’re a real piece of work,” Cash says, “involving her like this.”

“She’s my intern, and it’s her job to be involved. It’s for her own good, and about time I welcomed her to the fucked-up world of Cash Brooks.” Theo puts his hand on my shoulder and I shrug him off.

Like a flash of lightning, Cash grabs him by the shirt and slams him up against the wall, sneering through his teeth. “This has nothing to do with her.”

“Fuck you, Brooks,” Theo spits back. “It has everything to do with her. My employees are off-limits and you know it. It’s policy. Maybe you should have learned your lesson after Kimberly.”

“I wanted nothing to do with her and you know it,” Cash snarls. “You were just pissed she didn’t want you.”

“Maybe if you kept your goddamn cock under control from wanting what it can’t have we wouldn’t have to keep meeting like this,” Theo growls, his jaw tight. “And now, you’ll finally be exposed for the addict that you are. Kiss your hockey career goodbye, Brooks.”

Cash grips him harder by the shirt and balls his other hand into an angry fist.

“Quinn’s too good for you,” Theo taunts him.

In an instant, fire ignites in his eyes and the veins in his neck pop as it tightens. My heart races and as his fist twitches, I shout, “Cash stop!”

He cranks his head to the side and locks eyes with me, his chest rising and falling. His fist opens and drops to his side, releasing Theo’s collar. He takes a step back, freeing Theo from his wrath.

Muttering a curse, Cash reaches for the handle of my office door, pulls it open and slams it behind him.

The boardroom is packed wall to wall with media personnel surrounding Cash and his agent while members of the National Hockey League ask him rehearsed questions, waiting for his rehearsed answers. Watching him lean back in his chair, with his hands tented on his chest and a perfect shot of his chiseled jaw line sends a rousing chill up my spine.

While everyone else continues to talk in circles about the damage control following his violent outrage, he leans over and a low rumble resonates from his throat. “Do you always search through someone’s phone before you leave their home?”

I stare at him, stunned, and slightly embarrassed. “It was pretty hard to look away from the fake tits filling up the entire screen.”

“Don’t be mad, Mittens. It’s no secret that I like to flirt and fuck beautiful women. But, here’s what I don’t like. When the one woman I want all to myself, refuses to accept her feelings and admit she wants that too.”

I think about replying and change my mind. I close my eyes and turn away from his stare, taking the opportunity to focus on the discussion around the table.

He leans in closer and his hand disappears under the table and wanders up my thigh. I inhale a sharp breath, when his fingers slip under the hem of my skirt, inching their way closer to my panties. I slap my legs shut, trapping his hand between my thighs. He clears his throat, and whispers against my hair. “What can I do to get you to forgive me?”

“Pay attention,” I reply in the most annoyed tone I can muster. “This is
your
future on the line.”

I turn my attention to the note pad in front of me, feeling his eyes burn in my direction. I inhale a sharp breath at feeling his hand slide further up my thigh. I shift uncomfortably, desperately willing my arousal away, but all I do is knock over the jar of pens in front of me. I try to stop it with an outstretched hand, but the jar topples over and the pens jet out all over the long boardroom table, some even falling to the floor. In an instant, everyone’s glare is pinned in my direction and a thin line of sweat glistens on my brow. When I look up, Theo is glaring at Cash from the other side of the table, tapping his pen with a cocked brow.