Chapter Five
Ryleigh
“He’s a freaking pro football player, Ry!” Desiree squeals, grabbing my upper arms as she jumps up and down.
“I know,” I say, shrugging out of her grip to collect the money he left at the table, and count it. Dear God . . .
I’m still shaking from my exchange with Alexei.
The last place I expected him to show up today was my work.
Let’s face it, I wasn’t expecting him to show up anywhere in my world.
I figured he’d run as fast as his athletic legs would carry him after he fulfilled his obligations from last night.
One knight in shining armor saving routine complete.
“Ry, I don’t think you understand. That was Alex Freaking Ivan. And he asked to sit in your section,” she says, still grinning at me like this is the best news she’s ever heard in her entire life.
I’m a little surprised she recognized him, but then again, it’s possible Desiree follows sports more than I do. Scratch that—if there are attractive men involved, of course she follows.
“Why don’t you seem excited? He’s one of the most talked-about players in the league right now.
He got into some huge scuffle with a reporter at the end of the last season, and got suspended.
He almost lost his contract. But then he signed a new and even better contract for thirty million dollars . . . as long as he can behave himself.”
Thirty million dollars. I feel light-headed and have to press one hand to the sticky table and take several deep, slow breaths. I can’t even imagine making thirty-thousand dollars right now.
I guess that explains why he throws money around like it’s nothing. What does one single man do with that much money? And why does the I can get my dick sucked anytime I want discussion we had flicker in my mind in response to that answer?
Stop, Ry.
“We’ve met once before,” I say offhandedly to Desiree as I clear the rest of Alexei’s uneaten lunch. I don’t dare tell her that I stayed the night in his guest room last night. She’d probably drop dead from a heart attack on the spot.
“He’s freaking hot. Tell me you’re going to call him. Please, God, I’ll call him if you don’t and pretend I’m you!”
I roll my eyes and lift the tray. Not one to be easily dissuaded, Desiree follows me into the kitchen.
She’s right. Alexei is hot. He’s tall and muscular and gorgeous. But given the circumstances of how we met . . . the circumstances of my life right now? Yeah, the last thing I need is another complication, even a gorgeous and generous one. And I definitely don’t need him taking pity on me.
“I don’t know,” I admit, and Desiree lets out a frustrated groan.
She pinches her lips together as she thinks this over. “Yeah, I guess it might not be good for him to be seen in public with someone who works at a topless bar. The media frenzy alone would be crazy.”
She has an interesting point, and one I haven’t considered. I’m trouble for a guy like him.
At first, I was horrified to have him see me here with my tits hanging out for God and everyone to see. But the way he looked at me? Like I was some lost puppy he needed to save? That felt like a punch to my gut. I won’t be someone’s pet project. Not ever. No freaking thank you.
So, I didn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing he’d gotten to me.
I just marched over to his table and treated him like any other customer.
I put on my game face like I do for every other XY-chromosome who walks into this bar, and pretended his look of pity didn’t make me feel like the dirt on the bottom of his football cleats.
Yes, of course I’d love to meet a man as handsome and successful as Alexei someday, but not because I can’t pay my rent and he wants to fix it for me.
I want someone who wants me for me, who likes what I have to say, who thinks I’m funny and smart and beautiful.
Not someone who sees a hot mess he needs to fix when he looks at me.
I don’t need some knight in shining armor to come to my rescue, no matter how attractive he is or how cute he looks holding Ella.
It’s really not fair to my ovaries to see a big, muscular man holding a baby.
My mind wanders back to the way he sang to her in Russian.
And yeah, how good he is with the baby only makes me feel more inadequate.
I’ll prove to everyone, including Alexei, that I can take care of myself. And Ella.
Who am I kidding? I won’t ever see Alexei again after the way I dismissed him a few moments ago like he was any other Joe in the club . . . like he didn’t matter when he does.
* * *
By the time I get back home, it’s raining.
I worked the lunchtime shift and would have stayed through the evening shift too, but it was slow and my manager sent me home.
Luckily, I made it to the auto-repair shop before they closed, and though I’m several hundred dollars poorer, at least I have my own car back and won’t have to rely on ride-share services.
It never bothered me before, but coming back to the dumpy apartment complex I call home after having spent the night in Alexei’s multi-million-dollar condo is a bit more depressing than usual.
It doesn’t help that the sky is gray and overcast, and dumping what feels like buckets of cold water down on me.
I stopped at the grocery store on the way and am finally arriving home.
Carrying two heavy grocery bags, I trudge up the front steps.
I’ll pick up Ella from the neighbor’s after I drop off the groceries inside.
That’s my last thought before the bottom of my paper bags give out, sending everything tumbling to the sopping-wet ground.
Shit.
Heaving out a sigh, I bend down and begin gathering the wet, muddy groceries, piling as much into my arms as I can hold.
Shuffling to my door, I see there’s a lockbox fixed around my doorknob.
That wasn’t there earlier. I look up to find a yellow sheet of paper taped to the door, an eviction notice.
Apparently, the locks have been changed, and I have to pay the back rent I owe before I’ll be allowed inside to retrieve my things. The landlord said I had another week.
Fucking hell. Can this day get any worse?
Before I can begin to process all of this, before I can start to cry, I hear the crunch of tires and a car stopping beside the curb. Somehow, I know without looking up who just pulled up behind me, which makes me want to cry even more. Tears burn the back of my eyelids and my nose tingles.
Alexei hops out into the rain wearing a hoodie and comes over to retrieve the canned goods, bananas, and various cartons and containers that I’m juggling. “You okay?” he asks in that same rich tone that I’ve come to both love and hate in a matter of two short days.
Why is he here? Why does he even care? Why does he always have to see me at my absolute worst? The universe hates me—that’s the only explanation for this horrendous karma.
“I’m fine, Alexei. I told you that.”
He cocks one eyebrow. “You don’t look fine.”
I’m sure I look like absolute hell with stringy wet hair plastered to my forehead, food scattered at my feet, and the eviction notice shining from my door like a gigantic beacon, announcing what a loser I am. Hit by another sudden wave of emotion, I pinch my lips together.
Alexei looks behind me, and I can see his brain registering the predicament I’m in right now.
“Come on. Let’s get Ella. You’re both coming with me.”
My embarrassment may be through the roof, and there’s no denying I need help. But somehow the anger and utter helplessness at my situation is projecting into my tone.
“I’m not your problem, or your little outreach project. You don’t have to worry about me.”
He nods. “Yeah, I know. Just like you didn’t need to take in Ella when your roommate split. But it was the right thing to do, so you did it without a second thought. Come stay with me until things calm down for you and Ella.”
In that moment, I realize that this is all I am to him. An obligation. His latest charity contribution. If he walked away now and the media got wind of it, it could irreparably tarnish his image. So, he has to do ‘the right thing’. Ugh. That makes it somehow even worse.
“I don’t know you, Alexei, and I can’t just come live with you.
I can’t bring someone else’s baby into your house and expect you to put up with everything that comes with taking care of a two-month-old, no matter how long this situation lasts.
” My voice is as strong as I can make it, but I swear even I can hear the lack of conviction in it.
“Ryleigh, this is no place for a baby. It’s raining, and by the looks of it, you’re homeless. All I’m asking is for you to let me be your Plan B.”
I nod in defeat, the enormity of my situation weighing me down so heavily that I’m not even sure which way is up. What I do know is that Alexei is here, and he wants to help us. I can’t turn him away, even if I wanted to.
“Fine. Let me get Ella.”
Alexei grabs the groceries from me to load into his car while I go to my neighbor’s door to pay her for babysitting.
After flipping up the cover on Ella’s infant carrier to shield her from the rain, I hurry back to the car and place the carrier in the back seat.
Alexei takes over, buckling her seat in place.
Still fuming mad about my life’s turn of events, and horribly embarrassed, I climb inside his car. There’s not one inch of my clothing that’s dry, and I’m shivering but trying desperately to hide it, because I refuse to give in to it. I’m stronger than that . . . at least, I used to be.
Alexei rattles off his address, but instructs me to follow him.
As he drives, he goes slow, making sure not to lose me.
Tears gather in my eyes at his ability to make me feel like I’m the most important thing in the world.
I know I’m just something for him to fix, but it doesn’t matter in that moment.
I stare blankly out the window and wonder if I’ll ever get out of the messes I keep creating.