Page 12 of Play Hard
I shot him a look over my shoulder, then knelt down to pick up the first box. “Exactly. I’m good.”
I took a step but was stopped by that meaty hand on my shoulder again. I looked over at him, this time with a raised brow.
“You’d tell me if you weren’t good, right?” Rock asked. “Because you know how fast shit can get out of hand.”
I frowned. “What? You think I’m trippin’ over some bitch?” I shook my head. “I’m not worried about her trickin’ ass.”
“But you are worried about Serra Ward?” he asked, and I huffed.
Rock knew everything about what happened between me and Serra. We were closer than the others in our crew because we shared one commonality: addiction.
“I saw Crabtree when I was down at the docks picking up our order last week and he told me his granddaughter was coming to stay for a while. He said she was in some trouble, so I did a little research,” Rock said.
After setting the box down, I turned to stare at him. “And you didn’t think you should’ve told me this shit before I ended up stuck in a fuckin’ elevator with her. Shit, Rock! I almost fucked her right there!”
“Whoa!” Rock put up both hands in surrender. “Not being able to keep your dick in your pants sounds like a ‘you’ problem to me. So, what was me telling you she was coming to town supposed to do to stop that?” He grinned. “In the elevator though, Noah? Damn.”
I dragged a hand down my face. “Fuck you, Rock. And fuck you for not giving me a heads-up. But to answer your question again, I’m good. I saw her, we talked, we’re done.”
I grabbed that box again and walked away before he could say anything else. Or before I could examine how sick to my stomach those last two words had made me feel.
CHAPTER 6
Serra
“You should’ve come home so we could help you deal with this.” His tone had one timbre—judgmental—and I rolled my eyes.
Sawyer Ward was the firstborn and heir to the Ward legal dynasty. He was the spitting image of our father, from his milk chocolate brown complexion and low-cut curly black hair to their overbearing and controlling personalities. They both treated me like I was a helpless ten-year-old, and they’d groomed my other three brothers to do the same. It was to the point where all the Ward men thought I was nothing but another pawn in their game to rule the legal world.
To date, there were no women partners at the family firm, they were holding that spot for me. I had no idea how they managed to avoid being called out for that bit of gender discrimination but didn’t put it past my father to have paid off anyone that threatened to put up a fuss about it.
“I can deal with this on my own,” I told him.
It was just after six, and I’d already showered and changed into the second outfit I planned to wear to have the “talk” with Noah. I still wasn’t certain how that was going to go, but I was confident enough that I could handle it. And I’d decided thatNoah was right, us trying to avoid each other in this small town wasn’t going to work, so it made sense that we clear the air between us. The phone call had come just as I was headed to the door.
“Obviously you can’t,” Sawyer shot back. “Dad is pissed and was ready to get on a plane to come down there and get you, but I talked him out of it. I told him I’d handle you.”
Just like a good little flunkie. I wisely kept those words to myself. Sawyer was a phenomenal litigator and could go round-for-round dismantling any argument that came at him. With me, he just used the same hurtful tactics my family had mastered over the years—tear me down mentally so that I physically felt defeated.
“I don’t need to be handled, Sawyer. An issue arose, and I’m dealing with it. I’ve hired an attorney to protect myself legally and a PR company to cover the public. I’m going to be fine.”
“At worst, you’re going to be arrested. At best, your reputation in the sports world will be destroyed. You are not equipped to handle either of those things,” he said.
I rolled my eyes. “Which is why, as I just told you, I’ve hired professionals to help.”
“We’reprofessionals, Serra. You should’ve come to the firm, to your family to protect you,” he shot back. “But this is so like you. Run out into the world with your headstrong ass, make a mess, then we have to come behind you to clean that shit up. You would’ve thought you’d learned your lesson the last time.”
“The last time?” My brow furrowed and my fingers clenched around the phone. On my best days I could put what Sawyer, at my father’s behest, had done to me all those years ago, behind me. On my worst, the memory was as painful as breathing to know that my family would go to any lengths to break me. “You mean when you barged into my dorm room declaring me a foolish child for daring to fall in love?”
Sawyer sighed. “Awww, here we go with that shit again. Serra, you were fuckin’ twenty years old! What the hell did you know about love? And with some convict from a small town that was barely even on the map.” His chuckle was wry and infuriating. “You’re lucky I saved your ass from getting taken for every penny in your trust fund. That dude was going to use you until there was nothing left, then he was going to come after the firm and all we’d built. You’re damn right I put a stop to that bullshit!”
Even eleven years later hearing him speak those negative words about Noah still stung.
“At least back then you were smart enough to heed my warning,” he continued. “You’d be smart to do the same now.”
“No,” I snapped back vehemently. “I will not let you bogart your way into my life just to tear it apart again, then walk away. You and Daddy swear you’re out to protect me, but all you do is run me down. You think I’m a blemish on the upstanding Ward name? Fine! Disown me, keep that damn trust fund that I’ve never touched. I don’t want it or any of you in my life if it’s always coming with this negativity.”
He sighed even heavier this time. “There you go getting all emotional. This is exactly why you’re incapable of handling this shit on your own. You’re probably still talking to that jackass ballplayer who got you into this mess in the first place.”
