Break (12 page)

“What?” he said as he turned around. “Oh.”

I don’t know what it was. Maybe the years of living in violent homes had prepared me to spot a volatile event before it happened, but all the hairs on the back of my neck were raised and a voice told me to get out of the stadium as soon as possible.

“Luke, we need to leave,” I said, my grip on his arm was vice-like.

“What? Are you all right?”

He sounded insulted. I could almost hear his thoughts:
Leave in the beginning of the match? Are you crazy?
He tried to pull his arm out of my grasp but my fingers bit harder into his flesh.

“No, I’m not fucking all right.”

Brandon wheeled around to join our conversion, his face pulled in a slight frown.

My heart raced like a bird beating its wings against a cage. More and more purple-red fans converged together, completely ignoring the game on the stadium, infused with alcohol and rage.

The West Ham fans in our section stood up in unison, some of them making threatening gestures towards the police. The policemen jostled to the side and they yelled into their radios, fear written all over their faces. Then one of the fans grabbed an officer and another one sank his fist into his stomach. The policeman crumpled to his feet and submerged under a wave of furious fans.

“Oh, shit.”

Suddenly, Luke climbed over our seats with a determined look on his face. “I’m going to help him.”

I looked at Brandon’s stunned face. “Where is he going?”

Is he nuts?
“Luke!” I lunged forward and caught his sleeve. “This is no time for bravado!”

“I need to help him,” he roared at me.

Brandon leapt over the seats and grabbed Luke’s arm. “Mate, listen. You can’t help him. You’ll get the piss beaten out of you.”

“Luke,” I screamed when he turned back towards the cop. “Don’t be stupid. You’ll get killed.”

A line of policemen moved down the stands with riot gear. I pointed towards them. “Look, help’s on its way. Let’s go.”

The entire situation blew up from a pack of rowdy fans to an all out riot within only a few minutes. I grabbed my purse and climbed over the seats as Luke came to his senses. Several of the rabid fans were already backing away from the police. Bleeding profusely from his nose, the policeman resurfaced and unhooked his baton swinging from his hip. Luke’s arm curled around my shoulder as we swept up the stands, desperate to get away. All around us, people were fighting and yelling—there was confusion everywhere. I saw several West Ham fans ganging up on a Tottenham supporter with broken, sharp pieces of plastic in their hands.

Luke broke away from me and pulled off a man beating on a crumpled Tottenham fan lying down under the seats. They grappled with each other and suddenly fists were flying. Bright camera flashes suddenly burned my eyeballs and I glanced towards them, horrified at the group of photographers clicking away. I turned around and tried to block the scene and screamed as Luke’s face whipped back with a fierce blow. Suddenly, Brandon jumped into the fray and pulled him off Luke. I slipped off my heels and held one in my hand as a weapon, ready to stab anyone who attacked me with the pointed stiletto.

His shirt was ripped and he was bleeding from his mouth. He winced at the bright flashes and held his arm over his eyes.

His lips moved to form one word as his eyes widened.

“Fuck.”

Chapter 7

“Well, you can’t say it wasn’t an interesting match,” said Brandon. His cheery voice echoed hollowly in Luke’s hotel suite.

Luke smoldered on the couch, glaring moodily at Brandon. “We didn’t even get to half-time. The tickets were two hundred pounds each.”

Holy crap. All that money wasted.
I sat next to him and stroked his arm. “Yeah, thanks for bringing me to the football game,” I said in a dry voice. “I mean, now I can say that I’ve been to one. I’ll never forget the experience.”

For a moment, Brandon’s eyes met mine and he looked like he wanted to laugh, but he quickly looked away.

“You don’t have to be so sarcastic,” Luke said, glowering at me. He suddenly covered his eyes with one hand and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “They took photos of me fighting. I can’t wait to see the headlines.”

Suddenly, I remembered what it was that we were doing and that his father would almost certainly see photos of Luke fighting with the West Ham fan. I sobered instantly and squeezed Luke’s hand.

“Alright, well, I’ll let you get patched up and maybe later we can meet up.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

I stood up and took Brandon’s hand. I wished that he would stop looking at me with that calculating look. “See you later.”

“It was lovely meeting you.”

He gave me a swift smile and then he swept from the room. I didn’t move until I heard the elevator door chime.

My bare feet turned on the slick marble floor and I gazed around at the stunning suite. I had to suppress a wide grin as I took it all in. We might’ve hit a snag at the football match, but so what?  It was the most exciting day of my life. All day I walked around sightseeing and I was having the best time of my life, but Luke wasn’t.

“I’m glad that you think this is funny,” he said in a dour voice.

My face fell as I noticed his face flushed with humiliation and anger. “I’m not laughing at you. I’m just really happy here. I really want to thank you so much for everything.”

He didn’t say anything, but his eyes softened slightly.

I rejoined Luke on the white leather couch. He was still holding the icepack on his face. His hand was white with cold and a wave of sympathy rippled through me.

“Here, let me take it,” I said, placing my hand on his icepack. The goose bumps on my arm were raised as I inched closer to him. Our faces were close and he was looking at me with his hard, blue eyes that always made me feel vulnerable. “Your friend doesn’t seem to like me very much.”

“He’s just suspicious. Usually the girls I’m with are gold diggers.”

That took me aback. “Do I look like a gold digger?”

His shoulder shrugged under my hand. “No. You don’t act like one, either. That’s probably why he’s confused.”

“He’s going to figure this out. He’s going to realize it’s all a sham.” There was a sharp, painful feeling in my chest as I said it. None of this felt fake. I looked at his face, trying to register his feelings. I wanted him to say something.

Before I could stop myself, my hand flew to his hair and I began to brush the dark strands off his forehead. He closed his eyes and sighed, his neck craning over the couch as his shoulder sagged. “I’m worried about my father. He’s going to get the wrong idea from those photos because I used to get into fights at football matches.”

The fact that poised, dignified Luke would do something so pedestrian made me want to laugh. The two images clashed horribly. It didn’t make sense. It was like seeing the Queen of England throwing back a pint at a dive bar. “Maybe you should call him now and explain it all before it’s in the papers.”

Luke made a dissenting sound. “It’ll just make it worse if I bring attention to it.” His eyes opened and blazed with intensity. “I don’t have to explain myself to him.”

I just kept stroking his hair, dragging my fingertips across his scalp. “I’m going to take the icepack off for a few minutes.” I set the icepack on the coffee table and smiled at Luke’s grumpy expression. I leaned in slightly, my hair falling like a curtain between our faces as I gave him a kiss on his frozen cheek. His skin was so cold that it burned my lips. The blue eyes watched me carefully as I leaned back and resumed my stroking of his hair.

“Why are you doing this?” His voice was as cold as his skin.

“You know, not everyone has an ulterior motive revolving around screwing you over.”

“Not in my world.” He shook his head. “Do you know how rare it is for someone to approach me without expecting something in return?”

I would
, I thought fervently as a dull longing throbbed inside my chest.
I would never take advantage of you, ever.
“You don’t give people a chance.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Luke, the first night we met you shoved a NDA in my face.”

He looked bewildered. “So?”

“So, if you do that with everyone you meet, you’re never going to be able to trust anyone. Sometimes, you have to take a risk to get what you want.” I spoke more about myself than him. My cheeks went a bit pink as Luke gave me a shrewd look. “I was always afraid of men. Well, ever since my childhood. Being alone with men made me panic, so I never dated. I never had boyfriends. I just avoided the whole thing, even though a part of me was desperately lonely. Even though it wasn’t reasonable.” I looked at him directly. “Just like it’s not reasonable to make everyone you know sign a NDA.”

He sighed and waved me off. “For all I know, this is just part of your con.”

“You’re the one who interviewed my foster parents,” I said in a shaking voice. “I’m not lying about that. I’ve had a lot of bad experiences, Luke. They warped my perception of people, just like yours have. A part of me knows that they ruined me.”

Heat flushed under my skin and my hand fell from Luke’s neck to clench into a fist at my side. I hated what they had done to me.
They did ruin me. Look at me. I’m with this gorgeous man because he’s paying me, because I’m too fucked in the head to find something real.
I couldn’t look at Luke anymore and I dropped my face into my hands. My face was screwed up in pain, fighting against the pressure building up behind my eyes.

His thigh bumped against my leg as he slid closer to me and began rubbing my back. “Sometimes, I feel like that, too. Whenever he’d visit, he never had anything to say to me that wasn’t a criticism.”

I cringed against the heat in his voice, even though it wasn’t directed towards me.

“Even now, he calls me up to complain about everything: from the women I date to my management style to whatever the hell he notices in the press. It’s his fault that my mother killed herself. You’re not ruined, Jessica. You can’t think of yourself as a victim. It’s not healthy.”

His hand on my back reminded me that there were people in the world who cared about me, and the fact that his voice wasn’t full of pity made me feel a bit better. His hands curled around my shoulders and I allowed myself to be lifted up. He steered me into his arms and I collapsed into his warm strength, allowing myself to feel better. I still felt a pang of self-pity. No matter how genuine Luke seemed, I was just a means to an end. He needed me to protect his money. Maybe he felt something for me, but he would never trust me.

“I am really lonely.” I said it in such a low voice that I didn’t think he would hear. My chest tightened with this embarrassing admission, but I had already told him things that I had never told anyone before. Why? I tried to search for an answer, but all I could come up with was that we both seemed to be running away from things in our past. Even though we were from two completely different worlds, I had a lot in common with him. When I pressed myself against his chest and felt his heart pounding against mine, it was easy to forget that this was an arrangement.

“Me too.”

I was startled at the emotion cracking through his voice. I looked up and he seized my head, almost forcing his lips over mine. I fell backwards onto the couch and gasped as his heavy weight fell over me. I was registering nothing but shock.
Holy crap, what’s happening?
My heart was pounding somewhere in my throat, all of my ills forgotten. All I could focus on was the sharp contours of Luke’s body over mine, his mouth hungrily devouring every inch of my flesh as he kissed a hot trail down my throat.

I heard myself murmur a small oath as his lips and tongue brushed hotly over the top of my breast. A small moan ripped through me as he teased the delicate flesh, sending sharp, electrical signals down my body. I was amazed at how strong the response was in my body; it was jarring. My fingers were tangled in his dark head, roaming up and down his lean back.

He let out a small moan as he pulled back from my body, teasing the buttons of my blouse out of their holes one by one. “God, you are incredible.”

I said nothing. I couldn’t speak—I was confused. Desire and fear were mingling together in a whirlwind of emotion, crashing against my ribcage like an animal clawing to get out.
I want him, but am I ready for this?
An impatient voice inside me told me to shut the hell up.

His face had that sort of drowsy look, infused with lust. I sat up and allowed my shirt to roll off my shoulders. Every sound was amplified and it dropped to the ground with a harsh whisper. I shivered slightly in the cold, wanting and not wanting him. Under my jeans I felt the bulge of his erection, livid against my thigh. The roar of my blood pounding in my ears was deafening. I wanted him to go further. I wanted to feel his hands all over my naked flesh. I thought of his hands moving inside the waistband of my jeans and his fingers curving into my wetness and my stomach trembled. My legs moved on either side of his waist.

He groaned and leaned forward, his lips plucking my breast and his fingers scraping my shoulders, the thin bra straps drooping down my arms. With every kiss, I was being healed. It was as though Luke was reaching inside my core and mending my pieces back together.
Why did I wait this long? This feels so good.

“Dammit,” he hissed as pulled back from me as though he was burned. “This isn’t right.”

It was like falling into an ice bath, and the wonderful, euphoric feeling dissipated like gas. “What?”

His face was hot and bothered, his lips still slightly swollen. He held my face in his hands very gently and stroked my cheek with his thumb. “I really, really want to, Jessica. But it’s not right. You’re an employee.”

“To hell with that! I want this, too.”

He shook his head resignedly and moved away from me. I think he wanted to distance himself as much as possible. “I need to do something—”

He leapt up from the couch, clearly terrified by how close he had come to losing control. Luke dashed out of sight and I was left with the searing heat of his hands all over my flesh, slowly fading away.