Page 1 of One Wild Night
Chapter 1
Lookat him posing with his entourage ofwomen.
Look at all the admiring fans and footballgroupies.
Standing by the grand marble steps that led to the hotel’s entrance, he straightened with pride and displayed his admirable athletic physique. He was an exhibition -- chiseled to perfection, all sleek with the kind of hard muscle you’d expect to see on only the most serious ofathletes.
With the inherent strength in his ruggedly handsome face and the bright morning sunlight bouncing off his spiky black hair, he looked like he’d just stepped out of a fantasy. He looked powerful andgodlike.
Abi rolled her eyes at the sight and pressed her hands against the cool metal rail that ran along the balcony. It overlooked the main entrance to the hotel, and so she could see all the guestsarriving.
She shouldn’t watch him. It wasn’t healthy, but she told herself she was just doing it out of mere curiosity.C
uriosity to see how she’d feel when she saw him again. Curiosity to see if anything had changed for the renowned and cherished LA Gladiators wide receiver, ScottEmmerson.
From where she stood, Abi couldn’t see any changes for the better. He seemed to love attention just as much as ever, and the host of women worshipping him only fueledthat.
Irritated by his cool and self-absorbed manner, Abi frowned.How on earth did they know he would be in San Francisco thisweek?
He was here for Margo’s wedding. Margo is his little sister and Abi’s very best friend. Margo was like a sister to Abi, too, and Abi knew that Margo wanted her wedding to be a private affair and not some publicity opportunity. Abi figured that Scott’s PR company must have purposely announced hispresence.
With the new football season only months away, this was the time when the main players did all their media and magazine appearances. Part of it was to build up the hype for the onset of the season, but it was also done to attract more fans -- women fans, specifically. Why else would a guy have to pose shirtless or in his boxers on the beach for CalvinKlein?
It made women want them, and it made men want to be just likethem.
And this guy below was one of the most self-centered attention grabbers Abi had ever known; he loved any opportunity to be in the publiceye.
How did she know all this? Well, Abi had the unfortunate privilege of dating him for sevenyears.
Unfortunateprivilege.
Those words didn’t make sense together, and probably wouldn’t make sense to anyone if she said them aloud, but they did make sense toAbi.
She was unfortunate because her relationship with him drained her out. Scott was her first love. She had met him in her freshman year of college, just after she had become friends with Margo. She was nineteen, and everything had changed for her in a dramaticway.
Abi’s grandmother had died a few months before she started college, leaving Abi completely alone in the world. Everyone she knew had died. So, not wanting her friend to be by herself for the holidays, Margo invited Abi to her family’s Thanksgiving feast. Abi had been completely charmed by her parents and the kindness they showed her, but when she met Scott – the completely gorgeous, hot older brother – she could have sworn the world had literallystopped.
It was what she called the ‘heart-stopping, mind-stopping syndrome’ that stayed with her for years. He was five years older than her, and having a guy like that show interest in you at that age was one of those memorable moments a girl alwaysremembers.
She thought it was a dream when they got together, and Abi had loved himfiercely.
Scott was one of those guys who oozed confidence -- and quite rightly so because he had the personality and the looks to go with it. He was one of those guys who could hook you -- hookher.Abi was sure that most of the women he’d been with could relate. Scott had captured her with one look that controlled her like she was a mindlesspuppet.
Things were amazing initially, and everything had moved so fast. She’d liked his charm, and he charmed her into believing that he loved her, too. Maybe he did at one point; she’d never know. What she did know was that things were wonderful until he got signed to the Gladiators and got a taste of fame. With his talents and skills, he progressed very quickly. Everyone loved him, and things changed between him and Abi. With fame came a host of admiring women, and Scott soon he grew bored ofAbi.
After that, when he was with her, he was with her in body, but not in mind -- like an empty shell. And, what was worse was she could tell he wanted to be with other women and most likely stayed with her only because she was Margo’s bestfriend.
Her love for him controlled her, made her think with her heart and never her brain. It made her give her all, but, in the end, she came to the devastating realization that it was just her who was making all the efforts in theirrelationship.
Leaving him broke the spell and released her mind from the thrall he had over her. It was difficult at first to get her head around it, but she did, and she pushed him out of her mind. It was all made easier by her move from LA to New York. She made an effort to see Margo when she could and spoke to her practically every night. She missed Margo, but being so far away from Scott had been good forher.
It set her life back ontrack.
She was thirty-two now and hadn’t seen him for almost sixyears.
The privilege of being with Scott was that it taught her to never give her heart away to anyone like him – someone who took advantage and couldn’t commit –everagain.
She blamedit on her youth. She young when she first got with Scott. She was inexperienced in life and in dealing with men. Her grandmother was very prudish and never spoke about relationships, and her mother and father had died in an accident when she was five. There was really no one to guideher.
