Zak
ZAK
The door to my room pushes open and I look up from my bed at Alex with wide eyes. “Hey, man. Won’t you come in?”
“I’m here to tell you to stop.” He folds his arms and stares pointedly at the yellow lacrosse ball in my hand. “And put a shirt on.”
Keeping my eyes on him, I toss the ball to the wall, catching it effortlessly as it bounces back. “Why?”
“Because it’s cold and your nips are going to poke my eyes out.”
I roll my eyes. “Why do I need to stop with the ball?”
“Because you can hear it throughout the entire fucking house.”
He strides forward and tries to snatch the ball from my hand, but I leap to my feet and hold it against the ceiling, just out of his reach.
“Sorry,” I say, swatting away his attempts to grab my arm. “I didn’t realize someone had called the fun police.”
“Smashing a ball against a wall for two fucking hours isn’t fun,” he snaps. “For anyone.”
Two hours? I glance at my watch in surprise.
Alex gives up and sits down on my desk chair with a sigh. “Want to tell me what’s got you holed up in your room, pissing everyone off?”
Sinking back down onto my bed, I turn the ball over in my hands with a frown. “Nothing. I’m just bored.”
“Bored?” Alex’s laughter fills my room. “Never once in the years I’ve known you have I heard you utter those words. You don’t know how to do bored.”
The corner of my mouth kicks up. “Fine. I’m thinking.”
“About?”
“Stuff.” I move to toss the ball again, but Alex leaps out of the chair and snatches it before it can leave my hands. “Fucker.”
“Talk to me,” he says, placing the ball on my desk behind him. “I know I’ve been busy lately, but you know I’m here for you, right?”
Leaning back against my bedroom wall, I close my eyes. “You haven’t been busy; you’ve been getting busy.”
“Stop deflecting.”
“Fine.” I open an eye and peer at him. “I guess I’m a little stressed out about after graduation.”
Alex sits forward, resting his arms on his knees. “What do you mean?”
“You know . . . Life. You and Sol have shit sorted out and I . . . Don’t.”
“Do you need to have shit sorted out?” he asks. “Is anyone expecting that of you?”
It’s the same internal conversation I’ve had since the start of the year, but things have changed. Before winter break, I’d have said ‘no’, and breathed a sigh of relief. But now . . . Now I’m competing with a fucking billionaire, I kind of feel like I have to up my game.
But am I really competing? Jaime said she’d go for coffee with me next week but I’m not expecting her to keep to it. Fuck knows what’s going to happen this weekend. When she told me she was spending it with him, I swear I almost cracked a molar. Even the fact that she hasn’t slept with him yet holds little relief, because it’s only a matter of time before she does. What if he’s fucking her right this very second?
“?”
I blink, meeting Alex’s blue stare. “What’s going on? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you angry off the lacrosse field. It’s terrifying.”
For a second, I consider telling him everything. But I can’t. If I did, I’d be breaking my promise to Jaime, and that’s something I’d never do.
“What if I never find something?” I say, the words surprising me as they trip from my lips.
Alex frowns. “What do you mean?”
“Like, my calling,” I explain. “What if I never find something I really love?”
“There’s got to be stuff you love already,” he says. “Start there. What brings you joy?”
The name that jumps straight into my head isn’t a surprise, but I shove it to the side before it makes itself at home.
“Lacrosse,” I say without hesitation. “Peanut M&Ms, sex, hot showers, fall, and playing with my nieces.”
Alex stares at me for a solid minute, then blinks. “Okay. Unless we’re going for a sex worker paid in chocolate, or a nanny, I guess we’re looking at lacrosse.”
“Or porn star,” I muse, making my pecs dance.
“.” Alex gives me his ‘president’ stare, but it doesn’t work on me the same way as it does the freshmen.
“What?” My shoulders rise in a shrug. “Lacrosse isn’t a real option. I’ve left it too late to go down the PLL route.”
Alex eyes the trophies scattered around my room before looking back at me. “I’ve watched almost every game for years. You’re damn good, . It’s never too late.”
Holding his stare, I try to muster some sort of feeling about playing professional lacrosse, but it’s just not there. I freaking love the game, but playing it somewhere else, without Sol? It just doesn’t hold the same appeal.
Alex shakes his head. “Don’t worry about it. You’ll find something you love. And even if you don’t right away, you’ve got time. I’m not excited about going to work for my dad, but I’m excited to enter that world so I can find my own place within it. Maybe that’s what it’ll take for you. Find something . . . lacrosse adjacent.”
Chuckling softly, I open my mouth to make a joke about lacrosse themed porn, when my phone vibrates obnoxiously on my desk.
Alex turns to look, his head snapping back to me immediately, eyes narrowed. “Who’s Kitty Cat?”
“What?” My heart leaps into my mouth as I stand and snatch up the phone. Why the hell is Jaime calling me? I turn away from Alex’s curious stare and swipe to answer. “Hey. You okay?”
A faint sob sounds down the line followed by a sniffle, and I freeze, my heart rate kicking into overdrive.
“Jaime? What happened? Are you okay?”
I’m vaguely aware of Alex’s eyebrows hitting my ceiling, but I wave my hand in a gesture somewhere between ‘see you later’ and ‘fuck off’, and he takes the hint, closing the door behind him as he leaves.
“Jaime?”
Sniffles sound down the line, and my chest tightens. I hate that she’s somewhere I can’t get to. If I could only see her . . . Pulling the phone away from my ear, I click the FaceTime button.
“You don’t want to see me right now,” Jaime says through a forced laugh.
“There is no scenario that exists where I wouldn’t want to see you.”
Watching the screen, I smile as the video loads. But then my heart sinks as I see Jaime’s beautiful face, her mascara a little smudged and her eyes still shiny with tears.
“Hey,” she says, her smile small and unsure. “I’m not sure why I called you. Sorry.”
Climbing onto my bed, I lie back against the pillows. “You called me because I’m your friend. And because I know your big bad secret.”
“I told Abigail.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “Did you tell her everything?”
“No.”
A small ember of pride sparks in my gut before concern extinguishes it. “Maybe you should. It’s good to have people to talk to.”
“I have you.”
“Yeah? Are you still going to call me when you’re married to Billionaire Ken?” I know I shouldn’t, but the truth is as painful to me as it is to her.
Jaime’s face shutters and the camera moves further away from her face. “I shouldn’t have called. You’re right. I—”
“Stop,” I snap. “You did the right thing to call. Now, tell me why you’re upset or I’m getting my ass on a plane and turning up on your doorstep.”
Jaime’s lips quirk and she swipes her fingers under her eyes. “I was talking to Louis.”
Even though I know she’s there with him all weekend, the sound of his name causes my jaw to clench, my fingers tightening their grip on the phone. I have to take a deep breath to force a relaxed, open expression back onto my face.
“I mentioned the internship,” she continues. “And he said he didn’t realize I had plans to work.”
My face falls into a frown. “What? Like, during your senior year?”
“No. Like ever.”
The anger I pushed down into the pit of my stomach comes roaring back to the surface. “What the fuck? He wants you as what? A trophy wife?”
A wry smile curves her lips. “Pretty much.”
“I hope you told him to go fuck himself.”
Jamie’s laugh momentarily causes me to forget why I’m so angry, and I smile at the way her brown hair splays across the bedspread beneath her, her eyes crinkling.
“No,” she says. “Although, I should have. He started talking about how many kids he wanted, and I said I was feeling a bit queasy and left.”
This conversation is the sweetest torture. Jaime is confiding in me, she chose to call me , but she’s telling me about the man whose children she’s going to bear. Well, not if I have anything to say about it. That’s for damn sure.
“Speaking of queasy,” she says. “Could you put a shirt on?”
I laugh, lifting the phone to give her a full view of my chest as I flex my muscles. “You say queasy, but you mean horny, right?”
“You keep telling yourself that.” She smiles, but then it fades, the haunted look seeping back into her features. “I can’t do this, . I don’t want to follow him around the world while he lives his life until he knocks me up.”
“How about I murder him?” I suggest. “I have no plans after college, right? I’d be more than happy for my ‘direction’ to be a life sentence for voluntary manslaughter.”
“I’m pretty sure voluntary manslaughter is first degree murder,” Jaime says, her smile returned. “And no. You can’t murder him.”
“Fine.” I pout. “But you said it, Kitty Cat. That life is not you. Have you tried speaking to your parents? Surely, they know you well enough to know that would be hell for you?”
Jaime sighs and closes her eyes. “I’m not sure they care.”
“Well, you won’t know unless you try.”
I wish I knew what she was so scared of. Having met her parents, they do seem slightly terrifying in a rich and powerful way, but not in an evil villain kind of way. Surely, she must be able to talk to them about her life?
Jaime opens an eye. “Don’t think I didn’t notice your little self-depreciation back there by the way, Mr. Aldridge.”
“My what?”
“About having no plans after college.” She sits up and the camera moves around, giving me a dizzying glimpse of what looks like her bedroom as she moves to a sitting position at the head of her bed. “I’m sorry about what I said at Joe For Joe.”
I shrug. “No idea what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t ever lie to me, ,” she says quietly, her brow knitting together slightly. “Not everyone has their life figured out by the end of college, and I’m nothing but envious that you have the space and time to do so.”
“I already found out,” I say, giving her a lopsided grin. “I’m going to be a nanny by day and a porn star by night.”
Jaime’s eyes bug out of her head. “What the actual fuck?”
“Well, that’s an option on the list,” I clarify. “I’m still working on it.”
An expression I can’t decipher crosses Jaime’s face, but then she smiles. “Thank you for making me feel better, . I appreciate it.”
“Any time.” I wish so much I could reach through the screen and touch her. I’d give everything I owned to be able to hold her in my arms right now. “What are you going to do?”
She sighs heavily, dropping her head back against her headboard. “I’m going to speak to my mom. I should probably also speak to Louis. And I’m going to give the contract back to my lawyer and get her to check for clauses about my employment.”
I sit up so fast I get a head rush. “Contract? You’ve got a fucking contract?”
Jamie’s eyes widen, her lips parting. “It’s just a prenup.”
“A prenup?” A huffed laugh of disbelief leaves my mouth. “I’m not an idiot, Jaime. Prenups are about money and property. So, unless you’re the property in this fucking contract, it can’t stipulate whether you can work or not.”
“Maybe you should look into becoming a lawyer,” she grumbles.
Leaning back against the pillow again, I push my fingers through my hair, missing the longer length I would be able to tug in frustration. She’s only joking, but I’m definitely going to look into the technicalities of this. I’m really fucking certain Mason Smith can’t contractually force his daughter to marry someone she doesn’t want to.
Although, I’m certain Jaime knows that, too.
“I should go,” she says, pulling me from my thoughts.
“Do you have to?”
She nods. “Yeah.”
“We still on for coffee when you get back?” I ask.
Jaime’s lips curve into a small smile, and my heart thuds an extra beat in response. “Yes. I have too much course work on Monday, but Tuesday, I could meet you on my lunch from KBCX?”
“Sounds good, Kitty Cat.” I give her my brightest smile, and it works because her eyes gain back a little light.
As soon as she hangs up, my smile fades. It doesn’t sound good. I want so much more than a coffee, and I hate that she’s going to go and spend more time with him . Who the fuck does he think he is? Jaime was put on this planet to take it by storm, not to breed tiny billionaires.
Tossing my phone down onto my bed, I take a deep breath and reach for my laptop. Jaime might be reluctant to fight for her freedom, but I’m sure as hell not going to sit around and wait for her to disappear into the sunset with Louis. Even if she doesn’t choose me—even if what we have now is how it ends for us—I’m not going to let him have her. She deserves so much more, and I’m not letting this go without a fight.