Page 10 of Game Changer

Rule number one in my business is do not check out any woman a client is interested in.

“The contractor is coming super early.” She points at a door not more than two feet from where we’re standing. “I have to be here to meet him because I refuse to hand over another set of keys to a contractor. The last one I did that with lost the keys.”

That would all make a hell of a lot more sense if I had some context beyond the fact that a contractor is coming to this location to check on whatever is hidden behind that door.

My team of three back at the office are geniuses when it comes to digging up every small detail about the men who hire me and the women they’re interested in. I haven’t looked at Miss Waverly’s file yet, so I have no background information to draw from other than the fact that Percy pointed me in this direction when he told me she’s about to open a business on this block in Murray Hill.

Since I was passing through this neighborhood on my way back to the office, I thought I’d check it out. I didn’t expect to run into Miss Waverly.

“I’m opening a bar here.” Opal sweeps her hand in the air in front of a shop. Dark blinds block the windows, so it’s impossible to see anything inside. “It’s called Turquoise Crown.”

“Like the board game?” I ask because I kicked ass when I played it with my brother, Bauer, when we were kids. I went head-to-head against him more times than I can count. I always pulled out the win.

“You know it?” Opal asks with a glimmer in her brown eyes.

“I’m the reigning champ,” I boast, not bothering to mention that’s in the Knight household and only against my brother. I wouldn’t dare play any game with my younger sister as my opponent because Scout is not only smart but she’s strategic as hell.

“I am,” Opal says, her hands dropping to her hips.

“Are you challenging me to a game?” I ask, hope dripping from every goddamn syllable.

“I said leave me alone!” A woman’s frantic voice breaks through my Opal-induced trance. “We’re done, Dougie.”

Opal’s gaze flies to my left at the exact moment mine does. We both catch a glimpse of a guy down on one bended knee with a small gift-wrapped box in his palm. Standing in front of him is a woman with long red hair and a look on her face that screamsleave-me-the-fuck-alone.

“Anna, you’re my one and only banana,” Dougie drops that gem as he pushes the box closer to the woman whose name I assume is Anna. “Please peel back the paper to reveal a big surprise. Peel, get it? You peel a banana, so peel the gift wrapping.”

“That’s bad,” Opal whispers. “Like, so bad.”

“I don’t like being called a banana,” Anna explains to the guy still down on one knee. “I broke up with you three months ago because I hated the nickname. You were also the worst boyfriend in the world.”

I highly doubt that. I’ve met some of theworst boyfriends in the worldin my quest to educate them on how to get their rank up to the best boyfriends category. Some had the potential to make that happen, and they did. Others were too far gone for saving, so I turned down the big payday and sent them on their way with a primer on how to be a fucking decent man.

“Stop it,” Anna insists. “You’re embarrassing both of us.”

“I bought you a goddamn car!” Dougie yells as he pops back up to his feet. “What about that new phone and the computer I dropped two grand on?”

The spite in his tone hits me like a freight train because I’ve heard it before. I know this fool. We met years ago. The woman he loved at that time was named Mary.That’s it. Mary the Cherry, he called her.

“What the fuck, Doug?” I mutter.

“Are you all right?” Opal reaches for my forearm but stops herself when she remembers the green slime is still seeping into the fabric of my suit jacket, marring it for eternity. The window to drop this off at my dry cleaner has officially closed. I won’t subject Roberto to this putrid mess. I value him too much.

“I need to take care of something.” I smile at Opal. “How does nine tomorrow morning at the coffee shop around the corner sound?”

“Okay,” she says hesitantly. “I can do nine.”

Technically, I can’t since I have a meeting, but I’ll push it back a few hours. My clients are always flexible. How could they not be? I’m the best chance they have at obtaining the life they crave.

I toss Opal one last smile before I head toward the disaster playing out for all on this sidewalk to see. Phones are now out, and their cameras are capturing this epic proposal fail. It will most likely be trending on social media by the time I’m back at my office since far too many people love the misery of others.

“Doug!” I call out the name of the man who has a fondness for fruit-based nicknames for his lovers. “What the hell are you doing?”

The look on his face when he spots me says it all. Everything I taught him about how to treat a woman flashes before his eyes. He knows he fucked up. The slap of his palm against his forehead is evidence of that. “William? Shit. I’m sorry, man.”

I get why he’s apologizing to me. I made him vow to never be a raging jerk to a woman, and he just broke that promise. Something tells me this isn’t the first time he’s dropped that particular ball.

“You owe Anna an apology,” I point out.

---