The Perfect Stroke (33 page)

“Mom, I appreciate you being worried about—Oh, Riverton. What are you doing here?”  I ask once I open the door and discover it’s him there.

“I’ll tell you what the fuck I’m doing here. Would you like to explain to me why the spokesman for my new line of golf merchandise was caught buck-naked running across the golf course during the most important match of the season?” he growls.

He probably has good reason for being upset. He has a lot of money tied up in this new venture. I sigh and hold my head down, knowing that this isn’t going to be over soon. I’m about to shut the door after him when his daughter walks in.

Just what I needed to make today an extra special shit pile.

“Listen, I know you’re upset and you have every reason to be, but it’s not as bad as you’re letting on. I already have my men on it to stop the media attention. We’ll contain this, and…”

“
Contain this
? You and
that
woman are already plastered across every tabloid rag out there,” he growls, shoving a couple folded newspapers into my gut. I put them on the table, grabbing the top one and opening it up. Fuck me running, it’s worse than I imagined. It’s a picture of me and CC running across the golf course in nothing but our birthday suits. The butts have been blurred out, but it clearly shows that we’re naked. The headline reads:
“Golf’s bad boy caught once again with his pants down.”

“Fuck!” I growl.

“They get worse. Look at the next one,” Cammie says just as CC comes to my side looking broken. She leans in and reads the picture. She gives a soft cry that rips through me. Her hand covers her mouth when she sees the picture.

I’m almost afraid to read the next one, but I do. I have to because CC is already reaching for it. That’s when I discover that Cammie has a knack for understating. The headline on the inside is not only worse; it rocks my entire world:
“Golf pro Grayson Lucas caught cheating on fiancé with her father’s secret love child.”

“What the fuck? We’ll sue the bastards. By the time I get done with them, they won’t own a paper to print their vicious lies in anymore,” I growl. “CC, you have to believe me, I will handle this,” I tell her, holding her shoulders and forcing her to look at me. When her face slowly lifts, I see those big tears in them I’ve come to hate. Her face has gone white.
Fuck!
I’ve got to find a way to fix this.

“Gray,” she whispers, but I just pull her close. I need to deal with Riverton and get them away from CC. She has too much to deal with; she doesn’t need them here, too.

“Why in the hell do they even think they can get away with printing this garbage? I mean, calling Cammie my fiancé? And who the fuck knows what was in their heads when they said that shit about you and CC. David, you have to admit this is overboard. You can help me take them down. We’ll file suit today.”

“It’s true,” CC whispers.

“Of course it’s not, baby. Don’t you worry about… What did you say?”

“I said it’s true, Gray.”

“What are you talking about?” I ask, confused. But when I look around the room, there are three sets of eyes on me. Three sets that don’t look the bit lost.

Three sets of eyes that look eerily alike.

“My mother… well, I’ve told you enough that you know she’s not the best person in the world.”

“Yeah, but…”

“She had an affair with… this man,” she tells me, indicating Riverton. “He had money and power and she thought that she could trap him into marriage by getting pregnant with me. The plan backfired because even as fucked up as Margaret was, she had no idea just how cold the bastard she was sleeping with was.” Her voice is still a whisper, but there’s a coldness in it. When I look up, I see she’s staring straight at Riverton.

“Jesus,” I mutter, not sure how I feel about this shit or the fact that she kept it from me. I mean, why? Why wouldn’t she tell me? I went into business with this asshole and that alone makes me sick. I don’t want to work with anyone who can’t even acknowledge his own daughter. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask her, not wanting to have this out with Riverton and his daughter around, but unable to keep myself from asking.

“I wanted to. It’s just… I was…”

“She was using you, Gray. She wanted into the world my father and I have because she’s jealous. Jealous of me. Jealous of the fact that she’s just too far out of your league,” Cammie chimes up in her annoying voice. There has to be a mistake somewhere, because this woman cannot be kin to CC.

“I was not! I…” CC starts, but I interrupt her.

“You need to shut it, Cammie. CC has been through enough. She doesn’t need you trying to land digs at her expense,” I tell her, defending my woman even if I don’t understand her right now.

“Gray, I really was going to tell you. I started to before they got here, I promise.”

“It’s not important right now. What’s important is we need to figure out a way to do damage control here,” I tell her. I sound short with her and I regret that. I’m not really upset with her over the secret, just the thought that she kept it from me. I’ll think about it later. It was her secret she didn’t have to tell me, no matter how much that upsets me. Still, my main concern right now has to be how to get these pictures taken down.

“It’s much too fucking late for that,” Riverton says.

“No. We just need…”

“You don’t get it, Lucas, so I’ll spell it out for you. You’ve been suspended from this tournament.”

“What? They can’t do that!”

“They can. You signed a contract with a morality clause. This is clearly in violation of those terms. You’re out. The sponsors have given you and your entourage until the end of the day to leave the club.”

CC’s startled gasp tries to grab my attention, but I stay focused on Riverton.

“I understand the temptation to lie with pigs, son,” he goes on. “After all, I did it myself, but you can’t allow them to drag you down into their mire.”

I blink. For a second, I think I must have imagined what he said. Surely the asshole wouldn’t say that shit in front of CC—a woman who is apparently his own daughter.

“We can still spin this, Grayson. I’ll go out with you and we can present a united front. We’ll tell them that we were separated at the time…” Cammie chatters.

I’m barely listening to her, still going over what Riverton says, and I can’t control myself. I slam my fist into his nose, and even when blood is spurting out and he’s groaning in pain, I don’t feel better.

“You fucking loser! How dare you talk about CC like that! She’s worth ten of you and your crazy-ass daughter!” I growl, hitting him again just because I have more frustration and I can’t hit Cammie. I do turn to her, though. “And you! Are you crazy? ‘
Separated?
’ We were never together! Are you the reason the press thinks we’re an item?”

“I’ll sue you for this, Lucas. You won’t have a dime to your name when I’m through with you!” Riverton mutters through his blood-soaked hand which holds his obviously broken nose. “I’ll sue you right before I foreclose on your whore’s garage and burn it to the ground!” he spits. Before I can respond, the door opens with enough force that it slams against the wall.

“Like hell you will! You’ll tuck your head between your tail and leave my son and CC alone or you’ll regret it,” Ida Sue says while standing at the door. CC’s trying to pull away, but I don’t let her. I hold her close and together we turn to look at Ida Sue. I know my mother well, and there’s a fury behind her words, but that face is what I’m concentrating on. She’s got something big up her sleeve and I’m suddenly very anxious to see what it is. Hopefully she’s getting ready to hand Riverton his ass because if she doesn’t, I sure as hell will—
one way or another.

I feel like I’ve been standing in the eye of a hurricane, every horrible thing I can imagine battering me over and over. Now with Ida Sue standing there looking like she’s about ready to commit murder, I’m afraid to move and I feel out of control. I’ve not been like this since Banger got so horribly sick. I’m not myself. If I was, I would have throat-punched Cammie. Instead, I’m left staring at Ida Sue, wondering what could possibly happen next.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Riverton growls, probably remembering being on the wrong side of Ida Sue in Kentucky.

“When I saw the paper this morning, I just had a feeling you’d be like the snake you are and come here slithering on your damn belly and bothering my kids.”

I could almost smile at her. The only thing to make it more complete is if she had a shotgun in her hand. But my stomach feels like someone just kicked it:
Her kids
?

“Is Ida Sue…
claiming
me?”

“She did that weeks ago, Cooper,” Gray whispers, squeezing me tight. I hadn’t even realized I said the words out loud. “How did you miss that?” he asks.

“We’re all claiming you.”

That comes from Gray’s family, who come in and stand behind Ida Sue. They say it in unison. There’s White, Cyan, Petal, Maggie, Jansen, and Green. What they are saying is so huge, I’m momentarily stunned.

How did I miss this?
A warmth fills me that I can’t explain, mostly because it’s like nothing I have really felt before. But standing there among two people I hate more than anything in the world, I’m happy. I’m good because I’m standing with… a family. My family. Gray and his crazy bunch are my family.

“I’m not changing my name to Chrysanthemum,” I tell Ida Sue, and I have a few tears in my eyes, but I’m okay with these because even though I’m about to lose Banger’s garage—and my naked ass is plastered all over the world—at least I belong somewhere.

“Of course you’re not, dear, though speaking of Mums, I could always use some grandkids. Just make sure you don’t name him Skunk. That would never work.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I tell her, shaking my head.

“Though Sandy would work. We don’t have one of those in the family yet,” she says.

“What the hell are you all doing here? It’s like The Beverly Hillbillies visiting…”

Riverton doesn’t get to finish because Gray turns around and, as quick as lightning, punches him hard in the already-busted-up-and-bleeding nose. Riverton falls backwards and this time he’s down for the count.

“What have you done? Daddy! Daddy, can you hear me?” Cammie cries. She steadies Riverton’s head and helps him sit up.

“I’ll sue all of you assholes. I’ll bury you so deep, you’ll never see daylight!”

“I don’t think so,” Ida Sue says, walking over to him. “My daddy always told me if you had a snake in the henhouse, you should follow it back to its hole and make sure you cut its head off. I never much paid attention to that until I had kids. Then I discovered that I was a lot like a mama bear over her cubs. You ever seen a mama bear if she thinks someone is trying to mess with her baby, Mr. Riverton?”

“You’re crazy,” he growls, holding his face and standing up. It takes him three times to stand up, but he finally gets on his feet.

“I
am
crazy. You really should have factored that in. You mess with my kids and I’m going to fuck you up.”

“Lovey,” Jansen growls.

“It’s okay, Jan. The good Lord understands sometimes there’s only certain words you can use.”

“I meant, get it over with before Gray murders the bastard and we have bigger problems on our hands,” Jansen says, and that’s when I notice that Gray is tensed up beside me and looking at Riverton like he really is planning on killing him.

“Gray, sweetheart,” I tell him, pulling his attention back to me.

He gives me a smile, but it’s a strained one.

“I’m okay, Cooper. You and I are going to have a talk later, though.” I grimace at his words because I can only imagine what that’s going to be like.

“Fine,” Ida Sue says, reaching in the back pocket of her jeans to pull out a paper.

“What’s this?” Riverton says, looking at the paper as if it might bite him.

“A signed and notarized statement showing that CC’s loan is paid in full.”

“No fucking way. I wouldn’t accept payment.”

“Ida Sue,” I cry, completely blown away. She said she was working with the bank. How did she get the loan without me signing papers? She couldn’t have! Unless…

I look around for a place to sit down before I fall. I finally give up and just sit on the wooden coffee table. “Ida Sue, why?” I cry again, feeling horrible.

“Because you’re family, and family takes care of one another.”

“I guess I should have known you’d have your boyfriend pay your way out of trouble. Like mother like daughter, I guess.” Riverton sneers at me.

“I wouldn’t… I didn’t,” I cry, looking from him to Ida Sue and back up at Gray, afraid he would think I took his mother for a ride.

“You didn’t, sweet cheeks, but
I
did,” Ida Sue says. If I wasn’t knee-deep in fear and this sick feeling at having Gray’s mom shell out two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, I’d have to wonder about that nickname. Gray obviously takes after his mom. That could mean trouble for me, if he doesn’t kick me to the curb once he realizes how much money his mom is out.

“Whatever. I’ll use all the money I have to bury every damn one of you,” Riverton growls.