Losing at Love (15 page)

“Thank you…” she trailed off.

“Ahmed.”

“Thanks, Ahmed,” she said, making a mental note to request him as a driver for the tournament and settling in for the twenty-minute ride back to Alex’s house, where he’d likely still be lounging in bed and she could crawl back in next to him and let everything else slip away.

June 20th

Indy wrung her fingers together, pacing the upstairs hallway of Alex’s Russell’s home. She’d ducked out of Jasmine’s match a little early, despite what Penny said about needing to show unity. Jasmine and Natalie had it under control and her presence didn’t have anything to do with it. Jasmine wasn’t going to miss her, that’s for sure. Her doubles partner, or former doubles partner, had barely spoken a word to her since she broke the news but still insisted to everyone else that she wasn’t angry. Penny had found the perfect solution for her, but if anything, that made it worse, the tennis world speculating about why they’d split up after doing so well together at the French Open. She just wanted to get away from it all, but now that she was back in the relative privacy of Alex’s house, Penny and Paolo still at the All England Club, the only thing she could think about was tiptoeing into Jack’s room, crawling into his bed and just…she didn’t know what. Her mind sped from curling up in a ball next to him and falling asleep to every other far-less innocent option under the sun. They hadn’t had a real chance to be alone in nearly a week and it was wearing on her. She didn’t realize how much she’d come to depend on their stolen moments together in France and back at OBX.

Finally pushing down the butterflies in her stomach, she took a deep breath and opened his door. There was nothing to be nervous about. Not really.

The room was still dark, curtains drawn closed. Teddy’s bed was rumpled and slept in, the dark comforter in a lump at the center of the mattress. Jack was asleep on his stomach in his bed, the covers shoved down at his waist, the muscles in his back rippling as he shifted in his sleep. One arm was shoved up under his pillow, holding onto it for dear life, the other tossed carelessly out to the side. Indy slipped off her shoes and then her socks, kneeling gingerly on the mattress, trying not to disturb him at first. She lifted a leg over his body, settling herself slowly onto his lower back. He grunted but didn’t stir. Slowly, she slid her hands up over his back, then brought them down again, letting her nails scratch lightly on his skin. Again, she repeated the motion with a little more pressure, before kneading the palms of her hands against his shoulders, massaging the muscles. He tensed beneath her and then, with a groan, relaxed into her touch.

“I’ll give you a half hour to stop that,” he mumbled into the pillow and then groaned again when she hit a particularly tense spot. “Jesus, you’ve got strong hands.”

“Just what every girl wants to hear. Such a sweet talker, Jack,” she said, leaning down and pressing a kiss to his shoulder blade.

He pushed up off the mattress and she moved up onto her knees to give him room. Settling back down, he took her hips in his hands and drew her against him. “You want sweet talk?”

“Mmmm,” she said, sliding down against him harder and rolling her hips a little, but his hands, tightening against her waist, stopped the motion. Then, before she could respond, he’d rolled them over, pressing her full body into the mattress.

‘No, I don’t think you do,” he muttered. “Sweet talk isn’t what does it for you, Indiana.”

Indy raised her eyebrows. Where was he going with this? “No?”

“Nope,” he said, leaning over and putting his mouth, hot and open, against that spot just below her ear. “You see, I’ve noticed something.”

“What’s that?” she breathed, her body arching into his; but he held her down.

“I’ve noticed that you like when I kiss you here,” he said, brushing his lips against her skin, “but you love it when I…” he trailed off, scraping his teeth along the same spot, making her whole body jolt. “And,” he began again, “I’ve noticed that you like my hands in your hair.” He cupped the back of her head, freeing her ponytail free; she nodded. “But you love it when,” he trailed off again, tugging sharply at the locks of hair in his fist. Indy groaned and threw her head back at the sensation. “So, no Indiana, I don’t think you want sweet talk. In fact, I’m pretty sure you want the opposite.”

How had he known that about her? She hadn’t even know it herself, not really. She’d had a few boyfriends, but none of them had made her feel like this and most of the physical stuff had consisted of heavy, unpracticed hands groping at her. This was different. Every touch was purposeful, every little bit of contact, soft or not, meant to bring her pleasure. Her mind reeled when his mouth collided with hers, his tongue pushing past her lips. It was a little sloppy and pretty damn rough and she friggin’ loved it.

“Am I right?” he asked, tearing himself away and grinning down at her, but her hands slid up into his hair, digging her nails into his scalp and pulling him back down. His hips thrust against her and his eyes slipped shut.

“Seems like you’re not one for sweet either,” she mumbled against his mouth.

“Never said I was. Why do you think I want you? Wild’s more my style, Indiana. Always has been.” He said the words as he dragged his mouth away from hers, trailing a path over her jaw line and down to her neck, using his teeth again, this time against her pulse point. Indy pushed up against him, bringing her legs around his waist, pulling him in as close as she could. His hands slid along her sides, pushing the material of her t-shirt out of the way. Her hands twisted into the elastic of the boxer briefs he slept in, before a wicked eye flashed through her head. She pulled the elastic away and then let it snap back into place with a satisfying thwap against his hip. Jack chuckled, a deep, husky sound from the back of his throat. “You learn fast.”

“Good teacher,” she said, sitting up and letting him drag her shirt over her head, her hair falling in waves around her shoulders, so long that it covered most of the skin he’d just revealed.

He tossed the piece of cotton away and his hands cupped her face, suddenly gentle where they’d been playing rough just moments before. “You know how beautiful you are?” he whispered, leaning in slowly and sealing his lips over hers, not giving her time to answer. The kiss was gentle too. No tongues and teeth, just their mouths pressing together.

Indy pulled away, eyes closed, breath ragged, holding on to both his wrists like they were keeping her afloat. “Jack, I…”

“Hey Jack, do you want to grab some breakfast with me and Pen?”

Indy closed her eyes, knowing that voice immediately. Alex Russell was leaning on the open doorframe, arms crossed over his chest. He looked like he’d just rolled out of bed, t-shirt rumpled, basketball shorts slung low and hair in complete disarray, but his eyes were sharp enough.

“Alex?”

“Shit,” Indy breathed, her forehead slamming against Jack’s shoulder. That was Penny, appearing in the doorway a second later. Indy could feel her eyes on them, taking in the scene, her shirtless in her best friend’s brother’s bed, but she didn’t look up.

“Oh my God.”

“Pen,” Jack started. “Let us explain.”

“No,” Indy said. “This is me.”

“Indiana.”

“Come on, love, let’s let them get dressed,” Alex said and she heard their footsteps headed down the stairs.

Indy slid out of bed and found her shirt where Jack had tossed it close to the doorway.

“Let me talk to my sister,” Jack said, finding some cargo shorts and a t-shirt in his suitcase.

“You’re her brother, Jack. She’s not mad at you. She’s mad at me.”

“We don’t know that she’s mad at all,” he said, but Indy spun and stared at him. “Okay, she’s mad, but only because we didn’t tell her and we agreed we’d tell her here….”

“Which means we kept it from her for weeks. Trust me. This is a girl thing. Let me talk to her.”

~

She found Penny downstairs in the kitchen, cutting up some fruit. Indy hadn’t pegged her for dramatic, but judging by the size of the knife the girl was using to chop strawberries, she was trying to make a point. She sat down on one of the cushioned stools at the island and waited. Penny just kept on chopping until a small bowl was full. Then she set the knife down on the island and looked up at her.

“How long?”

“Since we…”

Penny cut her off. “How long since you realized you liked my brother and you decided not to tell me?”

“I didn’t decide not to tell you, exactly.” Penny snuffed in disbelief. “Really. I mean, at first, I didn’t think anything was going to happen, like I didn’t have a chance in hell, so I didn’t think there was a point in telling you. And then I realized he liked me back, but he was so against it, it just wasn’t going to happen.”

“Clearly it did.”

Indy nodded.

“And when it did, you just thought, oh, I think I’ll keep this from my friend. She wouldn’t want to know I was fucking her brother.”

“We’re not…”

“Whatever. You know what I mean.”

“There wasn’t any time. It happened in France and you were dealing with your ankle and then you were in London and we were back home and we wanted to tell you in person.”

“And once you got here, what? You changed you mind?”

“No, we just hadn’t gotten the chance. I’m sorry. Jack is…he’s so great and I really…”

“I know how great my brother is, Indy. Does anyone else know?”

“Jasmine knows and Caroline, but we didn’t exactly tell either of them, they just found out.”

“I just don’t understand why you’d keep it from me. He’s my brother and you’re my friend. Did you think I wouldn’t be happy for you guys?”

“Maybe,” Indy said, shrugging. “I don’t know. We didn’t set out to keep it from you. It just sort of happened that way. I didn’t really give it much thought, to be honest.”

Penny nodded, inhaling quickly through her nose and then blowing an exhale out of her mouth. “Right. Okay.” She picked up the bowl of strawberries and started to leave the room.

“Wait,” Indy said, standing up and starting to follow her. “Are we okay?”

Penny turned back to her, mouth in a firm line, her eyes looking over Indy’s shoulder. “I don’t know.”

“Do you think we will be?”

“I don’t know.” Penny actually looked a little sorry as she said it, her face softening for a moment, before she shook her head and swept out of the room. Watching her friend’s retreating back made Indy’s throat tight and her vision started to swim. A lump grew in her throat, choking her, making it impossible to fight the tears and they slipped out of the corners of her eyes, but she gasped for breath and wiped them away quickly. Crying wasn’t going to make it better, the only problem was that she had no idea what would.

~

Indy sat cross-legged on Jack’s bed, just staring at her hands. She didn’t know what to say to Jack as he came in from talking to his sister.

“She’s pissed,” Jack muttered, closing the door behind him.

A harsh buzzing cut through the air and they both glared at his nightstand where his phone was lit up like a Christmas tree. He huffed out a breath. “Damn it. I’m sorry. I have to take this.”

He stood up quickly and grabbed the phone.

“Who is it?”

“Sam Grogan.”

“Natalie’s dad/coach/manager?”

“The one and only,” he said, glancing at the phone and shaking his head. He leaned over and pressed a hard kiss to her lips and then pulled away just as quickly. He stepped away and answered the call. “Jack Harrison. Yes, Mr. Grogan…of course…yes of course, but…I assure you that…right…of course you do…what’s best for Natalie, of course. Well, thank you for calling and best of luck to Natalie at the Championships.”

Indy sat up, biting her lip. “Not good news.”

“They decided to go with another agent.”

“That sucks. I’m sorry.”

Jack shook his head, sitting down at the edge of the bed. “It’s not just that,” he said. “It’s more the reason why they decided on another agent.”

“Why’s that?”

“Apparently, someone told him that you and I were…together.”

Indy’s mouth dropped open. There were only two people in the world who knew she and Jack were together, well four now, but Alex didn’t care and Penny wouldn’t have…would she?

“Did he keep it to himself or…” she trailed off as her phone started blinging wildly from somewhere in the sheets. It must have fallen out of her pocket when he pulled her into bed with him. She dug around for a moment and found it, glancing at the screen before tossing it aside again. The phone continued to light up, as notification after notification asking her if it was true, tagging her in posts, old “friends” suddenly checking in after months of silence, just a barrage of messages.

“It’s all over the place by now.” Jack pulled back and grabbed the phone, handing it to her. “Shut it off.”

“Who do you think it was?” she asked, as his hands rubbed up and down her arms, thumb landing lightly on the inside of her elbow, stroking back and forth. Usually, his touch made her shiver, but now it was simply a warm, solid comfort.

“Our list of suspects is pretty short. Natalie signed with Caroline this morning, so my money is on her. Though she could have let it slip to any of the other agents who were vying to sign her. Classic maneuver, it’d keep her hands clean while getting what she wants out of it,” he said, not sounding angry, just resigned.

“I’m sorry,” Indy said, leaning her forehead on his chest. His chin came down to rest on her head before pressing a kiss to her hair.

“It was a risk I knew I was taking, Indiana.”

“Should I call my dad right now and rat out her cheating, backstabbing ass? Although that’ll probably make things even weirder with Dom and that’s the last thing I need right now. Still, she’s such a bitch.”

“What did she say that wasn’t true? We’re together. You’re seventeen and I’m not. Nothing to be done about it.”

When Indy turned her phone on again, it lit up like a stoner and she tossed it onto the bed, laying back and staring at the ceiling. Finally, the messages stopped, but then it rang and a picture of Caroline’s face with a photoshopped mustache and fierce eyebrows popped up on her screen.