Chapter 2 Lincoln
LINCOLN
“I’m too old for this,” I murmured as I walked through the front door. I was hit with a blast of music so loud my eardrums almost shattered. The living room looked like a scene out of a high school movie. The ones where the kids threw wild keggers when their parents were out of town.
One leather sectional was littered with a tangle of rookies and groupies. A TV that took up an entire wall played game highlights. A beer pong competition was ongoing over the coffee table—a bad idea, considering it was made of glass. I eyed the furniture with concern as I moved on.
This wasn’t my scene, but I had to act as a chaperone. Of course, I didn’t absolutely have to. I could leave right now. No one would even know I’d been here. But I paused and thought about last year.
I skipped one of my clients’ parties because he was…
You know, an adult. Boy, did I pay for that mistake.
I spent the next couple of months going through a PR shitstorm, trying to fix the fact that a woman overdosed and tried to blame it on my guy.
That turned out to be a setup for a money grab, and luckily, I’d been able to prove it.
After working my ass off to prove it, I then had to fight tooth and nail to get back every endorsement deal I’d gotten for my client.
I shuddered at that nightmare. Nope, not happening this year. I’d play chaperone to a bunch of twenty-somethings and cockblock just to save myself from the stress.
Speaking of cockblocking…
As I advanced into the house, I passed two people making out against a wall.
They were really going at it. Seriously, I could imagine clothes coming off any minute.
I couldn’t have that. Not here. There were too many risks of allegations and lawsuits.
I stopped beside the two and cleared my throat loudly.
They jumped apart as if they were guilty teens caught by the strict principal.
I suppose that was what I was to these young football players.
I recognized the guy as my client’s friend and gave him a raised-eyebrow stare.
A hint of color rose in his cheeks as he loosened his grip on the random woman who had been dry-humping him.
I took off, shaking my head. As a sports agent to youngsters just coming into fame and shitloads of money, I had no choice but to cockblock and chaperone, especially if crap was going down at my clients' residences.
“Jaden and these damn parties.”
I did my rounds, headed upstairs, and came back down. Everywhere I looked, there was potential for trouble. At the bottom of the stairs, I ran into another of Jaden’s teammates.
“Linc, my man!” he greeted me with a hand clap and one-shouldered embrace.
“Hey, Josh. Have you seen Jaden?”
“Yeah, he’s at the pool. Things are getting pretty wild out there. This party is epic.”
I watched Josh take off up the stairs with a red cup in his hands.
“Epic, alright—an epic pain in my ass.”
Hopefully, Josh was exaggerating about the things getting pretty wild part.
Outside, by the pool, the DJ—someone’s friend or cousin with a laptop—bounced and bobbed as he clicked on his device. People danced, some lounged on chairs in swimsuits, and others sloshed around in the pool.
As I stared at the pool, for a moment, everyone in there disappeared.
The image of a younger version of myself in another pool, miles away, in a different time, appeared.
A Massachusetts summer… A girl’s legs wrapped around my waist as we drifted.
She was beautiful—hair wet and slicked back from her face, which was radiant with youthful innocence.
Droplets beaded on her long lashes. Her amber eyes, which were close enough for me to count the flecks, fixed on me. Our mouths were just centimeters apart…
“I love you, Lincoln,” she whispered.
I said the words back without hesitation.
Her soft declaration echoed in my mind as I slowly came back to the present. The noise slammed back in. The image vanished, replaced by strangers splashing around. I gave my head a sharp shake to clear away the ghosts and shoved my emotions back into a box.
I recognized a familiar face. It was the physiotherapist who typically worked with Jaden and his teammates. Walking over to him, I grinned. “Tom, what the hell are you doing here?”
Grinning sheepishly, he pulled his hand from his pocket, and we shook. “I got invited, and I didn’t want to be rude.” He swept the backyard with a hint of amusement mixed with horror in his eyes. “I guess I also dropped by for the same reason you did. Keeping an eye on the guys.”
I grunted as Jaden did a backflip off the diving board into the pool. Well, at least his legs were insured.
“Now that someone else who isn’t insanely reckless is here,” Tom said, “I can inch my way to the exit.”
I chuckled.
“Besides, the wife is expecting me home soon.”
“Yeah, go ahead. I’ll make sure nothing disastrous goes down tonight.”
Laughing, Tom made his way toward the sliding doors.
He disappeared inside moments ago, but I still stared at the door.
The hollowness I’d been feeling in my chest for a while struck me.
Tom was one of the lucky ones, having a wife and a kid to go home to.
My penthouse felt cold and empty. After a while, the glitz and glamor of this world got old.
You needed someone to share your life with, to make you feel like there wasn’t a void in your entire existence.
“Lincoln!”
Jaden’s enthusiastic greeting pulled me from the emotional spiral I was heading into.
I wondered what the hell was wrong with me lately.
I couldn’t call it a midlife crisis at thirty-two.
Maybe it was more like a fear of missing out.
My friends from college were settling down one by one—getting married and having kids.
Shaking off the weirdness, I turned to see Jaden jogging over.
Water dripped from him as he shook his dreads and wiped his face.
“How’s it going, Jaden?”
We did that handshake I’d gotten used to—a horizontal high five, with our palms sliding down to lock fingers, followed by an aggressive flick of our thumbs.
That was how he greeted me when we met. I’d been shocked, and a tad amused.
Jaden said it was how guys greeted their “brethren” in his father’s home country, so I guess it was a Caribbean thing.
It was an honor to be considered his brother.
The twenty-year-old was a pretty good kid.
“You made it! Man, I thought you were gonna ditch. I know this isn’t your thing, but I’ve got to have the big man here. You know what I’m saying?”
I smiled. Big man was a term of respect in his culture. “Thanks for the invite. Look, I’m not staying long. I just came to…”
“Make sure I don’t burn down the mansion, get drunk or high, and leap from the balcony, get caught up in a sex scandal with some models… Relax, man. I won’t.”
I couldn’t help laughing. “I’d hope not. Actually, I came because you’re meeting the reporter from Springfield tonight. I wanted to meet him first.”
“Oh, that’s right. He’s supposed to stop by.”
“Uh huh.”
“Cool. I’ll keep partying until he gets here. I have to keep the ladies entertained. You know?”
He turned to the pool where a bunch of ladies were batting their eyelashes and giggling.
One of them cooed, “Jaden, babe, get back here.”
Jaden made a humming noise and muttered something about fine honies. “Yo’ Linc, I have to go. You understand?”
I snorted with amusement. “I sure do, kid.”
I let out a laugh, watching Jaden saunter back to the “fine honies” in the pool. Who was I to judge? That was me a few years ago, throwing parties and entertaining ladies left and right. My smile faded. The lifestyle just didn’t cut it anymore. Maybe Jaden would feel the same when he got to my age.
Doing an about-face, I headed back inside to make sure there was nothing crazy going on in there. I walked past a woman in the skimpiest bikini I’d ever seen.
“Hey, I know you,” she purred, making me stop to take a better look at her.
I knew her too. Her face had been popping up on every magazine cover recently.
“You’re like a famous player or something, right? I saw you at a movie premiere two weeks ago.”
My lips twisted wryly. “I haven’t played for quite a few years.” Thanks to a career-ending injury. “Yeah…” That movie premiere was me doing some networking, hoping to get one of my clients a cameo in an upcoming sports film.
“I’m Chloe,” she said.
Right, Chloe, a rising star in the modeling industry.
She eyed me with interest. “Do you want to hang out?”
I stared at her for a beat, caught between amusement and secondhand embarrassment.
Chloe, barely out of her teens, was asking if I wanted to “hang out.” I was old enough to have been her chaperone at prom.
The thought of trying to have an actual conversation with her made me shudder.
What would we even talk about? TikTok dance trends?
Her skincare routine? I almost laughed out loud.
Still, I kept my expression polite. “I appreciate the offer, Chloe, but I’ve got some things to take care of.”
Her exaggerated pout was practiced, no doubt. She probably didn’t hear no often, especially from men. I offered a gentle smile to soften the brush-off. “Another time, maybe.”
Not waiting for her response, I eased past her and made it inside. As I walked through the kitchen, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and glanced at the screen. It was my assistant.
“Hey, Sienna.”
“Hey, Lincoln. Just a friendly reminder about the reporter coming in tonight.” Her tone was brisk and efficient. Typical Sienna.
“Yes, I remember.”
I spotted a guy rummaging through the contents of a table in the hallway. He was skulking, so he couldn’t be up to any good.
“Oh, and there’s been a—”
“Thanks, Sienna, gotta go.” I hurried over to the shady man. “Hey, can I help you?”
He jumped as if I’d caught him doing something wrong. The closer I got to him, the more I noticed something in his hand. “What is that?” I asked.
“Uh… Who are you, security or something?”
“Or something. Hand it over.”
With a sheepish expression, the guy placed a little black device in my hand. I immediately recognized it as a camera. It was tiny, and if strategically placed, it would be hard to notice. Gritting my teeth, I snapped my fingers and pointed to the door. “Let’s go. Now.”
“Come on, man. I was just—”
“Yeah, yeah. I know what you were just…” I said. “Out.”
I sighed. Jaden had barely peaked in his career, and already wolves were trying to get a piece of him.
I’d have to be extra vigilant. I escorted the wannabe spy to the front door.
There were two guys out front who were supposed to be security.
I’d hired them because Jaden hadn’t thought about it.
I instructed them to search everyone else who arrived and to check IDs before letting them in.
“Jaden said not to be too strict,” the burlier one said. “Open door policy.”
“I don’t give a shit what Jaden said. You do as I say. Got it?”
They both nodded.
Jaden was young in the business. Still entirely too trusting. I'd have to talk to him about what almost happened tonight. I’d have to have the place swept for bugs, too. Couldn’t be too careful. I was determined not to have another incident like last year.
“Looks like I’ll have to stay longer than planned,” I muttered as I swept the crowd back inside, which seemed to have doubled in size.
Yeah, I’d definitely have to burst Jaden’s bubble.
He couldn't just invite anyone into his house in the name of having a good time and hanging out with the fans. He had too much to lose now.
Speaking of being vigilant, I’d have to watch that reporter doing the feature on Jaden like a hawk.
I’d had a few bad run-ins with the press.
I didn’t like journalists, bloggers, paparazzi…
or any of those vultures sniffing around my clients.
However, a feature to get Jaden’s story out there would be good for him.
I thought The Springfield Sentinel doing the story was appropriate, considering Jaden was from Massachusetts.
I’d stick to that reporter like glue and make sure he didn’t screw this up.