Forever Branded (Billionaire Love Series #1) (21 page)

I was glad to have him as company. We could talk shop and I didn’t have to worry about him wanting anything from me. He wasn’t impressed by my wealth or the fact I was the owner of the team. He was a rare guy.

“You want something to drink?” I asked.

“A beer would be good,” he said, sitting down next to me.

I signaled Joaquin as I asked, “What brings you out tonight?”

“Just wanted to catch the game from the best seat in the house.”

“Good call. I could use a little company.”

“I know. You work too hard.” Micah studied the game as the Gators battled to get possession of the puck. “Richardson’s playing hurt. That shoulder is taking a long time to heal,” he offered.

“You know how he is, though. Won’t stay off the ice unless he’s unconscious.”

“Yeah, I know. You should piss him off and tell him he’s playing like a girl.” He smiled slyly as he took a drink of his beer.

I laughed, thinking about how tough-as-shit Richardson would react to being told he was playing like a girl. Let’s just say it wouldn’t go over well.

“DeLuca should be getting more playing time. He’s been on fire lately,” Micah added.

“Yeah, he has been playing well. But I’m just the owner, man. Not the coach.”

“Are you telling me you don’t have any influence with Coach Tremblay?”

“I gotta let everyone do their job, man. He’ll figure it out. He’s one of the best coaches in the pros. Speaking of which, why aren’t you coaching? You seem to really care about what’s happening on the ice.”

“Maybe someday, when the kids are older. But I’m having too much fun with them right now to sacrifice that kind of time.”

“So you’re enjoying being a dad?”

He got a goofy look on his face. “I love it. Two years ago, I would have said me being a dad was crazy, but those kids make my life complete. I can’t imagine my life without them. Just today, Josiah said da-da and my heart almost burst open.”

“Really? That good, huh?”

His grey glance lit up with barely contained joy. “Oh, yeah. It’s amazing. I highly recommend it.”

“Good to know.”

“Seriously, why aren’t you married, man? You should give it a try.”

“I did, but the girl turned me down.”

“What? That’s crazy.”

I shrugged. “It was back in the day, before I turned pro and made serious money.”

“Did you love her?”

“Hell, yeah. Hardcore.”

“Was it Marla?”

I gulped hard. “How did you know?”

“I saw the way you looked at her, when she wasn’t looking. You’ve got it bad. That’s a long time to carry a torch.”

“You have no idea. But I’m not carrying a torch anymore. I’m over her.”

He scoffed, laughing out loud. “Whatever, dude. You keep telling yourself that while we talk about what happened on that damn yacht the other night. That was a full-on orgy. I’m just glad I didn’t bring my kids along.”

“Overkill?”

“Oh, yeah and all you did was show Marla how much you care about her opinion.”

Shit.

Micah just shook his head. “I’ve played this game, Shepard. I tried to walk away so many times from Emma, but you know what happened, she got hurt and I was miserable. I could kick myself for treating her like that. You can’t treat the woman you love like crap.”

“That’s a tall order, Turner.”

His brows furrowed, his face growing serious. “Just giving you a friendly warning. You need to watch your step, Shepard. Marla’s like a sister to me and I won’t have her hurt. She doesn’t deserve that.”

“You don’t understand, man. We have history. Bad history. She drives me crazy.”

“I get that. But it doesn’t matter. Don’t play games with the woman you love. Take it from me, surrender now, because it won’t get easier. It will just eat you alive.”

I sighed as I ran a hand through my hair. “It’s been eating me alive for the last twenty years. How does a woman get in your blood like that?”

“I don’t know. What I do know is I am a much happier man with Emma in my life than I was without her. Don’t you want to see what you still have with Marla?”

“I don’t think so. You don’t know what went down.”

“You’re right, I don’t. But I do know this: Marla is as decent and kind as they come and she is all about family. You’d better keep it clean, Shepard. That's Emma's sister and I’ll do whatever it takes to protect my family.” 

I nodded. “Understood. But this situation isn’t going away and I have to work it out on my own terms.”

“Just give in, man. I promise it will get better.”

No fuckin’ way.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Marla:

The heart holds many mysteries.

It breaks in a moment, but mends together in time.

It suffers defeat and agony, but burns brightly with hope and love.

It expands and contracts, bursting with life, and ebbing with sorrow.

It is our greatest strength and most hopeless weakness.

At the moment, my heart was pretty shredded after that awful encounter with Beau. Everything was such a disaster with him.

He was hell bent on making me pay, one way or the other.

I didn’t want it to be like this between us.

At the very least, I wanted peace.

But I knew in order for that to happen, a resolution of the past was needed.

The messy past full of secrets and lies.

My problem was I didn’t know how to tell Beau what had happened.

It wasn’t easy to announce an alternate reality to the one he so forcefully believed. It wouldn’t be easy to reveal the truth. My biggest fear was he would think I was making up excuses and lying to him about what really went down.

We had no chance if he didn’t believe me.

I know...I know...believing in a miracle was wishful thinking.

But even though I had been crushed the night before, my heart was unwilling to give into the logic that Beau was over me. I was hanging tight to my claim that the universe would somehow work everything out.

Sipping pumpkin spice flavored coffee out of my favorite purple mug I sat down in my office in the back of the salon, trying to sift through the gobs of mail sitting on the glass top of my desk. Hints of Bergamot, rose, almond oil, and hair chemicals wafted through the air, reminding me how busy and in demand Casa Oschun was.

I couldn’t ask for more.

Except for that morning after my blow up with Beau.

I just wanted to crawl back home and stay in bed.

But that wasn’t an option.

I took another sip of my sweet coffee as I looked around trying to find the good in the day. My office was a lovely hue of sage green brightened by the sun streaming in the rounded window from the far side of the room. The cheery decor served as a reminder of the simple pleasures in life and how grateful I was to have a business of my own.

I loved to come in early and enjoy the stillness of the morning before I got lost in the hustle and bustle of the day. Even on bad mornings, like this one. I picked up my warm mug, trying to find the energy to sort through the mail.

As I reached for the silver letter opener, Emma came in, carrying her cup of coffee and sitting down in front of my desk.

She sighed heavily, setting her pink ceramic mug down on the glass top.

Putting down the letter opener, I glanced at her. “What’s up?”

Her oval face was stricken, her big blue eyes heavy with regret. “I didn’t know it was going to be that bad, Marla. I’m sorry. I promise to never interfere in your love life again,” she professed tearfully.

“Are you referring to the nightmare that happened on Beau’s yacht?”

“Yes, I am.”

I wasn’t going to let her off the hook that easy. “Did you know it was his yacht we were invited to?”

“I did, although I didn’t know he was going to make it a hoochie party and parade all those women around,” she admitted.

“Hoochie?”

She gave me a sheepish grin. “You know what I mean...”

“I do. I think we all had to suffer through that disaster. You pinky swear you won’t interfere again?”

“Yep.” She held out her little finger, while I contemplated the truth of her answer.

I knew she meant well and in her position, I might have done the same thing. I had certainly done things to help get her and Micah together. Still, it hurt to have it go so horribly wrong.

But I couldn’t blame Emma. She had no idea of the mess between Beau and me.

I wrapped my pinky around hers. “I will hold you to your word. I don’t need any more help after last night. That was truly painful, Emma...excruciating to watch Beau be fawned over by all those women. You would think I could control myself around him, but blam! We just threw up all over each other. It was awful.”

“I’m so sorry, Marla. You don’t deserve that.”

“It’s not about what I deserve, Emma. It’s about Beau thinking I betrayed and rejected him, when really I was just doing the best I could under horrible circumstances,” I admitted.

“Wow. You’ve never told me that before. What happened?”

My eyes filled with tears, my heart splitting open again under her sympathetic gaze. “Oh, Emma. I don’t think I can bear to tell you.”

“It can’t be that bad.”

I shook my head as I reached for a tissue. “Oh no, it’s that bad.”

“Did someone die?”

“No, no. But let’s just say there was a lot of carnage after Beau and I broke up.”

“I had no idea. What happened?”

I struggle to find the words. “I can’t...I can’t tell you until Beau knows. I owe him that. He has the right to know this secret first.”

“That sounds super serious.”

A sob burst out of me, as another wave of pain hit my heart. “It is. I just have no idea how to tell him this story. He already hates me and I don’t know if he’ll even believe me.”

She came around the desk and grabbed my hand as she tucked my wayward hair behind my ear. “Honey, you are the strongest woman I have ever known. You have to trust you will share this truth with Beau in the right time. I will hold faith for you that Beau will believe you.”

“Thank you,” I breathed out, grateful I had raised such a strong sister.

She had been such a trooper when she was ten and missing our mom. I remember checking on her one night about six months after our mom passed.

I heard her muffled crying as I opened the door to her bedroom.

“Hey, Sugarpop. What’s wrong?” I asked gently.

“I miss Mom,” she said as she sat up on her bed.

I turned on the light. “I know, Sugarpop.” I gathered her in my arms as I sat on her purple comforter.

She laid her head on my shoulder. “I just feel bad and miss mom.”

“I do, too. Do you want to know what I loved best about her? Besides her amazing laugh and the funny faces she used to make?”

“What do you love?”

I kissed her temple. “I love that she had you.”

I heard her sniffle as she clung to me tighter. “I love that she had you, too.”

I squeezed her tight. “We will always have each other, Sugarpop. I will never leave you.”

Her blue eyes were as big as saucers as she looked at me. “Promise?”

“Promise. Pinky swear.” I stuck out my littlest finger and she quickly wrapped hers around mine. “It’s a deal now. We’re stuck with one another.”

“I don’t mind.”

“Me neither. We’re stuck for life, kid. Tell you what; let’s watch a movie. I got your favorite from the library.”

She perked up a little bit. “You did?”

“Yep. So why don’t we pop some popcorn, get in our pjs, and watch it?”

“Okay!” she agreed, popping up from her bed and jumping up and down excitedly.

“I’ll start the popcorn, while you get ready for bed.”

“Cool!” she squealed, running to her dresser.

We gathered on our worn tan couch, blankets and pillows overflowing while we loaded
Pretty in Pink
into the VCR and watched Andy and Blaine’s romance come to life.

We’d seen this movie a thousand times, but it never got old.

Emma snuggled in next to me as the brilliant Annie Potts, with her crazy hair, flounced around in her prom dress, counseling Andie about her love life.

My favorite part was always the end. The pop beats of “If You Leave” by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark blared out in the background, indicating Andie and Blaine were finally going to get together.

“I love that movie,” Emma proclaimed in the lovesick voice of a romantic ten-year old as the credits rolled.

“Me, too, Sugarpop.”

She glanced at me thoughtfully. “Does that really happen, Marla?”