Saving Maverick (24 page)

Mav had been staying in a condo downtown away from most of his teammates while they'd been in Arizona. He'd been able to keep his location a secret. When he pulled into his parking space, he'd hoped to see her rental car already there. It wasn't. He pulled out his cell and called her. Voicemail. He should have stopped for flowers and her favorite wine.

His
body hardened every time he thought of her, giving herself to him, pleasuring him in equal measure. He grinned when he thought of the last time he had her underneath him, her perfect body warm and smooth as silk against him this morning.

He opened the door and noticed his lights were on and the door to the bedroom was ajar with music drifting out. Kelsey. She was already here. He kicked the door shut and began stripping his clothes off.

He crossed the threshold and froze. He had a naked woman in his bed all right. But it was the wrong woman.

“What the hell are you doing here, Syndi?” Maverick grabbed the bedspread and wrapped it around his hips and his now soft cock. He stepped farther into the room and yanked the sheets over Syndi. “Get dressed. You need to leave. Now.”

Maverick turned on his heel and left his room cursing. Shit. How the hell did she get in? He picked up his slacks, pulled out his cell and called Luke, the only one he trusted besides Kelsey to help him out in this situation. Jesus, Kelsey. She was due any minute.

He needed a witness to prove Syndi was the one turning his life upside down with her demented photos and he needed it not to be Kelsey.

Luke answered on the third ring.

“Man, get your ass to my place. Now.”

“Maverick? What's going on, bro? You need to be down here. Come celebrate with us . . .”

“Syndi's in my place. Naked. In my bed, and I need your help.” Maverick hung up and tossed the phone on the kitchen counter where it slid to the floor. Shit, he closed his eyes and hoped he hadn't busted another phone. He walked over to pick it up and heard shuffling noises.

When
he turned he was faced with a delusional female who looked like a little girl lost, all made up in her mommy's makeup.

“Who did you call?” she asked.

“Syndi, I need you to go back and get your clothes on. You don't belong here.” He spoke in as calm a voice as he could muster.

“Listen, Mav, I've waited a long time for us to be together, and I'm done waiting. I always get what I want.” She dropped the sheet. “And I want you.”

Jesus. He stepped forward to pick up the sheet and had it almost to her shoulders when Kelsey walked in.

“Mav, sorry I'm late but . . .”

“It's not what you think, babe.”

“You!” Syndi screeched.

The three of them spoke at once. Before Maverick could turn fully toward Kelsey, Syndi launched herself at her.

“You whore! Maverick was supposed to be with me.” Syndi, naked and furious, made it to Kelsey before he could stop her.

Kelsey dropped her purse and raised her hands to fend off Syndi's punches. She managed to get one strike in before Mav took the sheet still in his hands and threw it over Syndi's head.

An unholy sound came from under the sheet as she struggled to escape. Kelsey moved away from Syndi and looked at Maverick. “What's wrong with her? Did she hurt you?”

Maverick's worry over what Kelsey would assume vanished. His woman was too smart to fall for the setup, thank god. He shook his head, and tightened his grip on the woman losing it in his arms. The situation would be funny if it hadn't been happening to him.

“
Kelsey, can you go get a blanket off the bed? This sheet isn't working. We need to get her to calm down somehow.”

“Get your hands off me!” Syndi began sobbing and reached out again to find Kelsey. “Where is she? You ruined everything!”

“Syndi, you need to take a breath and calm down,” Maverick crooned. “You're going to hurt yourself if you don't stop fighting.”

Kelsey ran back to the bedroom for the blanket.

“Grab her clothes too.” Maverick called after her as he tried to move the now kicking Syndi to the couch.

As he was trying to get her to sit down, Luke came in. “What the hell, Mav, what is it with you and women? They all flip out on you, man.” Luke stood near the doorway and shook his head. “What can I do?”

“Very funny. I was hoping to reason with her, but I think we need to call 911. Can you do that for me?” Maverick dodged Syndi as she tried to bite his hand, the sheet now on the floor. Both he and Luke looked at each other as the screaming and very naked Syndi Smith continued to fight them. Not wanting to hurt her, Mav backed off.

“Don't touch me!” Syndi screeched.

At a loss as to what to do next, he simply watched as the former beauty queen raged on, and black tears soaked with mascara streaked down her face. She continued to rant about her love for him, that no one else was good enough.

“Yeah, she's not going to calm down. She's gone over the edge. What a shit show.” Luke barely dodged a kick to his shin, and took out his cell.

Kelsey
rushed back into the room and threw the blanket over Syndi and sat on her. “You two need to stay away from her before you accidentally hurt her. I'll do what I can to keep her on the couch. Maverick, you need to finish getting dressed before the police show up.”

“I thought she was you, babe. I would never . . . not with her.”

“I know.”

“Get off me, you whore! Maverick's mine.”

“Maybe now's not the time to have this conversation.” Kelsey gave him a half smile and yelped when Syndi bucked underneath her.

“Yeah. Jesus, babe, I'm so sorry.” Maverick watched as his woman handled Syndi. Anyone else probably would have turned tail and run when they walked in the door. Not his Kelsey. She dived right in and took charge.

“Ah, Mav?” Luke asked.

“You might want to get dressed before the cops show up.”

He took one more look at the chaos that was his life, grabbed his clothes off the floor, and went back into his room. He prayed there wouldn't be any nosy neighbors taking pictures once the police arrived.

Within minutes the police showed up and after much negotiating with Syndi, got her to calm down. A female EMT had arrived not long after the police to evaluate Syndi who was now in his bedroom sobbing. Numerous law enforcement officials were gathering evidence and taking statements.

If Kelsey hadn't been supporting him he didn't know how he would have handled Syndi. She'd totally lost it. She'd obviously suffered some kind of psychotic breakdown and even after
all
the chaos she'd created in his life, which she deserved to be locked away for, he hoped she received the proper treatment.

He held Kelsey close to him as they watched Syndi being taken out of the condo in handcuffs. The media were going to have a field day with this. He didn't know if any of the paparazzi had picked up on the incident yet, but Kelsey had already talked about releasing a preemptive statement.

The surreal atmosphere with the police and EMTs had reminded him of the night of his brother's death. As he forced the memories back he was relieved the stalker crap had finally ended and his life could get back to normal.

Chapter 28

Last day of March and last day of spring training. Maverick was set to start the game. He woke Kelsey early and they spent the next two hours lost in each other.

He checked his Twitter account. They had composed a statement and sent it out before they went to bed. Looked like they beat the media to the punch. By putting out the statement before Syndi's arrest was discovered, the response was overwhelmingly positive.

Kelsey had stood by him and saved his ass—again. Too bad the season was just starting. He'd love to take her someplace warm and as far away from the public as possible. Just the two of them. Maybe in November, after they won the championship. He smiled at the thought and headed for the shower.

He let her sleep and left her a note that he would see her at the ballpark. He made coffee before he left and was taking his first sip on his way to his truck when his phone rang. The caller ID showed it was his sister calling. Damn, he wasn't up for her brand of sisterly advice this early in the morning either, so he sent the call to voicemail.

When Maverick arrived at the Arizona stadium he thought about his sister and grinned. She might be a pain in his ass, but he hadn't spoken to her in too long so he decided to play the message.

Miranda was two years younger, but she didn't let that fact hold her back from preaching to him if she believed he deserved it. And he'd given her plenty to preach about. But hopefully she was calling to wish him luck on today's game and not about last night's events.

He
listened to the voicemail and then had to listen to it again. He had a hard time processing what he'd heard his sister say between her sobs. He paused the message and sat stunned, unmoving, and suddenly cold. Fuck, the hits just kept on coming.

He looked back down at his smartphone and instead of restarting the message, he called his sister to see if she had calmed down enough to give him the full details on how the hell the driver who killed their brother Connor was acquitted of all charges.

Maverick's mom answered his sister's phone and after hearing his voice, she too broke into uncontrollable sobs. That left speaking to his father in order to figure out what exactly had happened at the courthouse today. His father spoke low and controlled. The driver's lawyer had enough evidence to prove that the company had not serviced the semi-trailer properly and it was they, not the driver, who was at fault. His father ended the conversation abruptly as he heard his mother break down again in the background. Maverick pounded his steering wheel until his hand was numb. He'd known the sentencing would be happening soon, hell he'd blocked out the date on purpose. Mav stayed away from the trial for several reasons. He had a contract to fulfill and he didn't want to give any more photo ops to the media horde than necessary. But his father was the bigger reason.

They hadn't had a conversation of more than a handful of words in months. Today, Randall Jansen Sr. had once again been given another reason to be disappointed with his oldest son.

When Maverick had last seen his father the day after Connor's death, the only outward sign that Randall Sr. was affected by his youngest son's death was his five o'clock shadow. He spoke in his typical even-toned fashion. Never one to waste energy on emotion, Maverick's father let him know exactly how upset he and his mother were without so much as raising his
voice,
and he reminded Mav that if he hadn't chosen the fast-paced life of a baseball player, Connor would still be alive.

Connor would never have gone to the party with Maverick if he hadn't been struck with hero worship or envy of Mav's lifestyle. No, his favorite son would never have been so irresponsible as to allow anything like an accident to occur. Like anyone could control fate.

Even though Maverick had done the right thing by not driving impaired himself, he still managed to screw up. It didn't matter that the big rig truck driver chose to drive through his mandatory rest break and fell asleep, crossing the dividing line where he slammed into the driver's side door of the luxury sports car.

If only Maverick had been sober, he'd have been the one killed instantly and his brother would have lived to carry on the family name, the family dynasty created by an emotionally unavailable father. God damn it, he needed to . . . he didn't know what.

He started his truck and pulled out of the parking lot, and began driving with no destination in mind other than away. All he knew for sure was that he couldn't face his teammates, his manager, and especially Kelsey.

The only thought that kept going through his mind was that once again he'd failed his brother. He hadn't come through with the promise he made as Connor lay dying in his arms— justice.

His phone started to blow up with texts and phone calls about thirty minutes later. Dr. Caris Sloane kept calling and sending him text messages. She was more persistent than Syndi had been during her crazed pursuit.

Maverick
knew he needed to see the Doc, to get a grip on his crumbling life, but he couldn't bring himself to face anyone. Not today. Kelsey, Blake, and even T.S. had called, and kept calling, but all he wanted to do was escape.

He got on the interstate and headed for the airport. There was no way in hell he could pitch today. He bought a ticket on the next flight out of Arizona. He didn't even care where it was headed. He just needed to be on a plane away from the fans, his teammates, and the paparazzi who were sure to be at the game.

Tomorrow, he decided. Tomorrow would be soon enough to deal with everyone and their disappointment.

Chapter 29

For the first time in his life Maverick purposely missed a game. He knew there would be hell to pay, but he hadn't been thinking of the team or the fans. He'd thought only about the growing blackness in his soul and the fear that he could have done more. More for Connor, more for his family, for himself.

He knew he needed Dr. Sloane. He owed her for dropping everything for his sorry ass. So he pushed through his grief and called her as soon as he landed back in Idaho.

It stirred up a lot of shit he should have dealt with a long time ago. His missteps with Kelsey for starters.

Caris was quiet while he told her everything he'd kept inside for too long.

“Maverick, what if you allowed yourself to believe you had no control, no responsibility in Connor's death?”

“Doc, those are just words. Telling myself is one thing, believing it, feeling it, is another. And right now all I feel is guilt.”

Her face gave him no clue to what she thought of his statement. But she didn't call bullshit, which was a weight off his shoulders. Somehow, her allowing him to voice his fear was the validation he desperately needed.