Chapter Nineteen
GHOSTS
LAKE
Minnesota’s Monaghan and Banks Caught in a Love Triangle with Amputee from San Francisco
Monaghan Dates Amputee – Proves He’s the Real Golden Boy
Will Monaghan’s Game Be Affected by His Demanding Girlfriend?
The media buzz guaranteed me hot tea every morning, either at my apartment or Cage’s house, compliments of Flint Hopkins.
“The nanny. You have to stay the hell away from the nanny!” Flint barged past Cage at the front door, making a beeline to me in Cage’s kitchen. Normally he handed me my tea; that day he slammed it on the counter.
I spread chocolate hazelnut butter on my toaster waffles, wearing nothing but Cage’s white T-shirt and a grin. “Good morning, Flint. It’s Sunday. Don’t you ever take a day off?”
Just as I started to turn toward Flint, my protective lover held out a white terrycloth robe that I may or may not have taken from a hotel. I slid my arms in and Cage tied the front as he kissed me.
“I’m going for a run. Shower with me when I get back?” he whispered.
I squeezed my legs together and nodded.
Cage pointed a stiff finger at Flint as he passed him. “Upset her and you’re fired.”
Flint rolled his eyes, and so did I. It had become Cage’s daily motto.
I knew Flint’s number one priority was protecting Cage’s reputation.
He knew I didn’t give a shit about the headlines and pictures.
We had a whole routine: Cage left, we did our usual verbal sparring, then plastered on smiles when our boy returned.
“I’m serious this time. Training camp starts in two weeks.
The media is on high alert for absofuckinglutely any morsel of dirt they can run with.
” Flint jabbed his finger at a printed page of social media posts, newspaper headlines, and photos of me and Jamie with Shayna. The headlines all read “Secret Affair.”
I watched Cage’s truck pull out of the driveway. He liked to find a lake path to jog around for an hour or so in the mornings.
“Shayna’s like a daughter to me. Jamie is her nanny.
Sometimes I hang out with them when I have free time.
Everson knows. Cage knows. What’s the big deal?
Shayna is always with us. He’s worked for Everson for like …
two seconds, hardly enough time for a scandalous affair.
I’ve never even been alone with Jamie since I interviewed him. ”
“Do you see Shayna in any of these pictures?”
I looked at the pictures. She wasn’t in any of them.
Jamie and me on a park bench, laughing.
Jamie and me eating ice cream.
Jamie taking a bag from my shoulder, Shayna’s bag, but it did look intimate.
I frowned. Shayna was right there, sitting beside me while we ate ice cream.
She was walking next to Jamie when he took the bag.
She was playing on the playground maybe ten yards away when we were laughing on the bench—probably about something goofy Shayna did. But she wasn’t in any of the pictures.
“The tabloids said I was having an affair with Thaddeus last week because we were photographed having dinner when I flew out to San Francisco.”
“He’s your boss. That’s easy to explain.”
“So, Jamie is Shayna’s nanny.”
“But Shayna isn’t your daughter or sister or anything that’s easy to explain.
That’s why she’s not in the photos, because people don’t care about her.
They care about the woman who took one of the most eligible bachelors off the market.
They want to know that you’re worthy of him, and if for one second they think you’re not, then they’re going to tear you apart because there are thousands of other women out there who’d love to have the chance that you’ve been given. ”
My head jerked back. “Excuse me? ‘The chance I’ve been given?’ Like my name was drawn out of a hat to be Cage Monaghan’s girlfriend?”
Flint blew out a long breath. “I know it seems like my intentions are just to keep Cage’s reputation squeaky clean, but you don’t understand the impact this will have on your relationship with him, especially when the season starts and he’s under twenty-four hour scrutiny of the media.
The line between the truth and the lies begins to blur and doubt creeps in.
He looks at this photo and starts to wonder.
You see a photo of some girl’s hand on his ass before he has time to remove it and you start to wonder.
“You’re both young. Your relationship is in its infancy. Under perfectly normal, non-celebrity conditions it’s hard to make it work. This …” He shook his head. “This will destroy you if you’re not proactive about keeping things simple.”
Would that be my life forever? Tiptoeing around, worrying about finding clarity with that line between the truth and the lies? Was that why Cage wanted to give it up?
CAGE
I needed to pound the hell out of the blacktop beneath my feet. I needed my lungs to burn. I needed something to erase the worry in my head. Flint did my worrying. He did my fixing. He did the shit jobs so I could focus on my career. But Lake wasn’t my career. She was my … everything.
Could I play professional football and have everything?
I let Flint have his talks with her because I knew his words didn’t mean anything to her. She shrugged them off, and he felt better having “done his job.” Being in the middle sucked, but the truth was I needed both of them. I didn’t want to have to choose.
When I finally hit my exertion limit, I walked in a few circles with my hands laced on my head then collapsed onto the cool grass.
“Good morning, stranger.”
I lifted my head, squinting against the sun. “Kelsey, hey.” I let my head drop back and closed my eyes. Nothing like the ex-girlfriend appearing out of nowhere at the worst time.
“My guy’s not usually this visible in the media during the summer.”
“I’m not your guy.” We were never together during the summer. She had no clue what she was talking about.
“We used to jog these paths together. Remember? Then we’d go back to your place and—”
“I’m twenty-four not ninety-four. My memory is just fine.”
“Tell me, does she remove her leg when you’re together? Is it kind of weird? I’d have to insist the lights be out—totally black in the room.”
I rolled my head side to side. “You weren’t a bitch when we were together; I never would have been with you. Why now? Why stoop so low?”
“Why her? Are the tabloids right? Is she a charity case? A puppy from the pound?”
I lifted up on my elbows and squinted at her again. Why was she so damn ugly? How did I not see it before?
“I love her. That’s why.”
Kelsey fake stumbled back a few steps. “Love?” She laughed. “You told me you weren’t looking for love. You told me your career was your only love. Does she know that? Does she know your ‘love’ means nothing, because if you have to choose, you’ll choose your love of the game?”
“I’m sorry.”
“I don’t need your apologies. I’m going to watch you break another girl’s heart and that will be all I need to remind myself that you were a waste of my time.”
I honestly thought we had an amicable split. Clearly I was wrong. I stood and brushed the grass off my legs. “Enjoy your jog.”
“Cage?” My name fell softly from her lips.
I turned back to her.
“Would you? Would you give it up for her?” The pain in her voice stung a bit. I underestimated her feelings for me.
“I’d give her my last breath.”
Kelsey bit her lips together and nodded. I ignored the tears in her eyes. I had to.
“Take care, Kelsey.”
LAKE
“Lake?”
“On the deck.” I sat up in the lounge chair.
“Wine before noon? If Flint—”
I shook my head. “It’s Sunday and past eleven.
Close enough, right?” The wine had everything to do with Flint, but Cage didn’t need to know that.
Flint wasn’t just his agent, they were friends.
I could handle Flint. “I’m one lucky girl.
” My eyes perused his naked chest and the sexy way his jogging shorts hung low on his hips giving a tease of the V that my tongue had traced countless times.
“That’s the wine talking.” He squatted down in front of my chair and ran his large hands up my bare legs, stopping at my shorts. “You showered without me.”
I nodded.
“What’s wrong?”
I sucked at hiding my emotions, especially from Cage. Setting my glass down, I scooted to the end of the lounge chair. “Did you see the pictures?”
His eyes tensed a bit, like he didn’t want me to see his reaction. “Pictures?”
“Of me and Jamie?”
His Adam’s apple bobbed. He saw them. I didn’t need him to say it.
“I told Flint I’ve never been alone with Jamie since the day I interviewed him. I went with them because I had a free day and Shayna wanted me to go.”
“It’s fine. I trust you.”
I teased my fingernails along his shoulders. “I know you trust me, but do you trust your head to separate the truth from the lies? Do you trust the jealousy you hate so much to not overreact? To not question? To not wonder?”
“This is my life. You didn’t ask for this.
I won’t let it change you. I won’t let you change where you go, what you do, and who you do it with.
I trust you. Even if a million people reading trashy tabloids or who have nothing better to do than stick their noses in my business …
even if they don’t trust you. I don’t care and neither should you. ”
“Jamie is attractive. People are going to see that.”
The muscles in Cage’s jaw flexed.
“But I don’t think of him. Not one minute…” my fingers teased down his chest “…not one second…” my hand slid under his waistband “…of the day.” He hardened in my hand instantly as his jaw relaxed.
“You just showered,” he whispered.
“Do you like me dirty?”
He nodded slowly, his eyes fixed to my lips as his breathing became more ragged with each stroke of my hand.
Leaning forward, I whispered in his ear, “I like you dirty too … especially your mouth.”