More than the Game by Jenni Bara
9
@USWeekly:Well ladies sorry to break so many hearts but we’re getting more confirmation that Marc Demoda is off the market. Although many of you might be holding out hope he’s still single until @HotShotDemoda confirms it himself
“Don’t get out of the car until I come around,” Marc demanded, pulling the keys from the ignition. He glanced down at his phone as another tweet came up. His cell had been vibrating for the entire drive, and each buzz made Marc’s guilt grow. The screen showed twenty-seven missed calls from Austin, but Paul was supposedly reaching out to set up a meeting, so Marc ignored his agent.
Hearing Beth talk about her past had made it clear he should have been more careful, but he hadn’t realized that fame was bad. There had been times things had been blown out of proportion for him, but not the same way the media had chewed into her. And even now, when the baseball teams were calling him too crazy to hire, no one was forcing him to go to rehab. Not like they’d done with Beth.
It might be possible to get her out of this, to claim they were just friends—except for the porch pictures. His brain was spinning, trying to figure out a workaround for that.
The parking lot was a circus. It reminded him of the outside of the stadium after a playoff game. The secretary was big news, and representatives of every media outlet were apparently willing to stand around hoping for a comment from the man himself.
Marc opened the door for Beth and she quickly moved ahead into the cameras, ignoring the questions they were throwing at her left and right. She was robotic—so different from the woman he knew. Marc caught up with her and placed his hand on the small of her back, propelling her through the jackals. She was a ball of tension. Once again, he wanted to protect her. He just wasn’t sure how.
To make matters worse, Marc had withheld another piece of information Beth should know about. He hadn’t lied: He was standing in this parking lot because he felt like he shouldn’t leave the woman standing next to him. Especially knowing that ten years ago, both her father and Corey had left her to flounder in the media’s harsh glare alone.
But that didn’t change the fact that Marc was going to get something out of this arrangement. Social media would blow up with pictures of him and the secretary of state’s daughter heading into her church, and that wouldn’t be a bad thing. It would give him some stability, maybe. However, it was something Beth didn’t want. And he didn’t know how to balance those two things.
He never would have thought he’d be grateful to see three large, angry guys eyeing him like he was a son of a bitch, but when he saw Beth’s brothers standing by the steps, Marc was relieved. Mostly because he knew her brothers would help her.
Once inside, Beth introduced them.
“This is Will. He runs Flip, the gym in town,” Beth said, pointing to the shortest of the three giants. “You already met Danny and Clayton,” she added. Then Mandy called for her, and Beth joined her daughter, leaving Marc with her brothers.
Marc looked at the men, who didn’t move. They all had a few things in common. First, they were all huge—tall and well-built. Second, they were all extremely good-looking. Marc preferred ladies, but he was comfortable enough with himself to acknowledge when another guy was attractive. And third, they were glaring like all of this was his fault.
“I told you not to fuck with her.” Danny seemed completely comfortable cursing in church. “This,” Danny continued, shaking his phone at Marc, Twitter visible on the screen, “is fucking with her.” He spun on his heel and walked away.
“She hates this.” Clayton shook his head. “I don’t know what happened between last night and this morning, but it has you written all over it.” The younger guy also walked away, giving Marc a look of disgust. Boy, wasn’t Marc Mr. Popular.
Will’s brown eyes glared, and he said, “You’ll explain what your intentions are toward my sister when we get home.” Marc didn’t get the impression that it was optional.
The question would be, what were his intentions? He didn’t know. According to the secretary, Marc and Beth would spend the next few weeks dating. As in, a relationship with responsibility. His whole being rebelled against that idea. But he had to admit: This was an excellent opportunity to improve his image. If she agreed.
Marc followed Will into the church’s sanctuary, thinking that the Evanses were finally acting like Beth’s brothers. The fact that there were four more of them was slightly intimidating, and he hoped they wouldn’t be at her place when he and Beth got home.
So when he pulled into Beth’s driveway later that afternoon, Marc was less than thrilled about finding two different giants standing on her front porch. He knew instantly that these were new Evans men. Instead of suits and ties, these guys wore jeans and t-shirts, and the blond one was wearing cowboy boots—but that didn’t make them less intimidating.
Marc grabbed the bag from Ambera, the bookstore where they had stopped on the way home so he could buy Mandy a birthday present. Beth had chosen the book. It was Pink-a-something, but she assured him Mandy would like it.
Beth hopped out of the car and ran into the arms of the blond giant. The masculine arms and hands that had looked so menacing a moment ago now seemed soft and careful as they wrapped around the woman, pulling her tight to his chest.
She practically screamed in the man’s ear, “Luke! I didn’t know you were coming!”
“I wouldn’t miss my niece’s birthday party. I took an early flight. Grant picked me up in Philly on his way from the farm. You’re stuck with me until Tuesday.” He kissed her on the cheek. ‘Stuck’ seemed inaccurate, as it was easy to see Beth was glad to have him here.
Beth released Luke, then hugged the other man as he kissed her gently on the forehead.
Luke tipped his chin toward Marc. “This must be the acorn.”
“Be nice,” Beth sighed. But Marc doubted these men were going to be any nicer than the others.
“You got a house full of people and papers to read in there, girlie. Better get moving,” the other man said to Beth as he released her.
“This is Marc.” Beth flung her hand in his direction. “Marc, this is Luke and Grant. And don’t worry, my other two brothers aren’t coming.”
With that, she went inside, leaving him with the boys. Again. Marc was feeling a bit pissed that she kept stranding him with them; she had to realize they didn’t like him. Was it too much to ask that she ease the tension?
“You don’t do my sister against the side of a house in broad daylight. And if a picture of her less than fully clothed ends up anywhere, I will kill you.” Luke slammed his finger into Marc’s chest, then stormed into the house after Beth.
Wow, that’s a low expectation, Marc thought. Although he had to admit the pictures from this morning didn’t make him look good. And in truth, neither did his reputation.
Marc turned to Grant. “Do you have something you’d like to say? Because your brothers have all had their pound of flesh.”
“They covered it,” Grant said coolly. He turned and went into the house, leaving Marc alone on the front porch.
He might not understand a lot of things about the day, but one thing was clear. All the Evans brothers were very protective of their sister. And although they were technically the brothers of Beth’s late husband, he didn’t miss that they all left out the ‘in-law’ part when they referred to each other.
“Marc,” a voice called, and he finally felt like he was on solid ground. “What is going on?”
“Sydney, what are you doing here?” Marc asked, spinning around.
“Well, it’s my goddaughter’s birthday party. But turns out, I had to be here early because Austin’s going over paperwork—regarding you.” Sydney’s look said ‘Explain—now.’
“Mandy’s your goddaughter?” It all clicked together. Finally. “Which would mean Beth is Austin’s friend, the one who’s on the board of his charity.”
This kept getting worse.
“I know we’ve been telling you to find a nice girl, but I wish you had asked me about her.”
“I didn’t know you knew Beth.”
“Where to start with that?” Sid shook her head like she was trying to decide. “Austin talks to you about Helping Hands all the time; how did you not know about Beth?”
“Golden doughnuts, Sydney,” Marc said, almost shouting, and she raised her eyebrows. Yeah, that sounded dumb; it wouldn’t be a curse word replacement he’d use again. “You can’t cuss here,” Marc explained.
“I know the rule. I didn’t realize you would follow it. You know I hate it when you curse, yet you do it around me all the time.”
He sighed. “She asked me not to.”
Sydney looked at his face, searching it, and Marc was beginning to feel uncomfortable before she finally said, “You genuinely like her, don’t you?”
Did he? He hardly knew her to know if he liked her or not. He kicked the front porch with his toe.
“Every time I’m with her, I feel like I have no idea what’s coming next, and half the time, I think I might want to strangle her.” He cracked a laugh, but then paused. “But it’s been fun. Even this morning—all we did was get the kids dressed, and yet I enjoyed it. Sid, I neverhave fun anymore.” He didn’t like the desperate tone in his voice, and was grateful that Sid ignored it.
“I saw the pictures, and you two did more than dress the kids. But maybe spending time with her would be good for you.” Sid’s look said, ‘You’re going to fall for her.’
Marc had to pull her back. “Hopefully it’ll help me get a job.”
She frowned, but he held the door open for her and then followed her into the house. The second he was inside, he heard them laughing.
“So basically, I’m peeing my pants, and I call Beth.” Luke shook his head as the other two guys laughed. “She says, ‘Well, maybe you should call her?’ Yeah, that’s a conversation I want to have! And Beth, being ever so helpful, adds, ‘Isn’t it better than morning sickness and afterbirth?’”
“I’m surprised she didn’t give—” Corey stopped talking as soon as he saw Marc, and the other two men turned to follow his gaze.
Marc felt about as welcome with these guys as a discussion about afterbirth. It added to his already bruised ego; usually, men liked him on sight. To these guys, his being Marc Demoda meant nothing. That was new ground for him. He’d spent the last ten years coasting by on his good looks and ability to pitch a baseball. Like Beth, none of the Evanses cared about those things.
Marc headed for the kitchen where his friend was waiting for him. Although today, Austin wasn’t his friend but his agent–an agent who also represented other people in this house and couldn’t blindly take Marc’s side. Not the way Corey and Beth’s brothers would do for her. And for the first time, he realized his life might lack something, although it was something he’d never wanted.
Beth was sitting at the table with Austin. She’d changed into jeans and a yellow top. She looked almost as good as she had in the dress, and he couldn’t pull his eyes away. Austin was talking and pointing out a few things on the papers in front of them, but Beth’s big green eyes glanced up. Marc braced himself for her anger.
“When I asked you what you wanted from me, or what my father said, you could have mentioned that he offered to help improve your image.” She didn’t sound mad. She made the statement as if mentioning she needed milk from the grocery store.
“You weren’t open and honest either,” Marc said, then cringed. His tone had a defensiveness that hers had lacked.
Beth simply nodded and looked back at the papers, not at all surprised when he didn’t explain. She had to be mad, though; she’d asked him directly, and he had mentioned none of this. And she didn’t know that he didn’t want this, either.
He’d spent the entire time at church trying to work out a way to explain the front porch pictures without saying they were a couple, without forcing her back into the spotlight she called a nightmare. The problem was that the only other explanation opened the door to the media going after her for simply hooking up with him.
Marc slumped down at the table across from Beth. Austin pointed to different parts of the contract, and she nodded a few more times before picking up a pen. She was going to do this. Even though Beth was probably mad at him, even though she’d been telling him no ever since he’d met her, she was going to agree to ‘date’ him for the next two months.
Why? Her father had said she would, but why would she? He’d felt her tension in front of the camera; he knew it wasn’t something she liked. Yet she was going to put herself in the spotlight—for him?
“Why are you agreeing to do this, Beth?”
She looked at Austin before turning to Marc. “There isn’t another option.” Her voice lacked any discernible emotion.
He scoffed. He knew he was acting like a real ass, but he didn’t want her help. He wanted her to remember that this was the last thing she wanted, that she hated the media that turned her into an emotionless robot. He didn’t want her to agree. He wasn’t going to fake a relationship just to get good press. He’d find another way.
“I’ll buy the pictures back, say everyone’s wrong, and we’re friends,” he said. But it was a crap idea that wouldn’t work. Both her parents had confirmed the “relationship” on Twitter and Instagram. Marc was reasonably sure her sister had liked their parents’ posts.
“Honestly, Marc, I didn’t want this, and I tried to tell you. I know I’m not your type.”
“How do you know my type?” he interrupted, finally getting a glare from her.
“You parade yourself around with one brainless blond Barbie after another, and I’m not that. So you can stop insulting my intelligence by trying to convince me otherwise,” she snapped, and slammed both hands on the table as she stood up.
He glared at her. She was wrong. His ideal woman wouldn’t be brainless, although Barbie didn’t sound so bad. But at the moment, ‘Barbie’ was petite, with curly blonde hair and big green eyes.
“Look, neither of us was straight with the other from the start. But at least tell the truth now, because we’re stuck in this. So there’s no reason for you, who wanted it from the beginning, to act like a jerk, because I will call you on that.” By the end of her tirade, the calm coldness she had been tossing his way had disappeared, and the feisty woman he recognized was yelling at him.
Finally!
“Elizabeth, let’s not get this off on the wrong foot,” Paul said, quickly attempting to rein her in and bring back robo-girl. “Don’t make a scene and ruin things.”
What did it matter if she made a scene? She sure as shit had the right, Marc thought. It wouldn’t even be much of a scene: No one was in the room other than people who worked for her and for Marc.
“You need to sit down and stop this; you two have a photoshoot in a few minutes. We don’t want you angry because it’ll show.” Paul put his hand on Beth’s shoulder.
Marc’s fist slammed on the table, shocking everyone but Paul, who quickly stepped away from Beth.
Marc had been clear with the asshole earlier. When he had come down from Beth’s room, the first thing he’d done was explain to this little fucker how it was going to be: If Paul spoke to, touched, or looked at Beth wrong, Marc would happily take him apart.
Marc continued to glare at Paul until he finally left the room. Austin cleared his throat, but his eyes said, ‘What the fuck, Marc.’
“This is a pretty simple contract: two months dating in public. You support each other; neither of you brings up past bad press. Behind closed doors, I think we need to pull back to a platonic thing. You have two months together in public, maybe longer. Anything more than friendship will clearly become messy.”
It was hard to argue. There were three women in Marc’s life: his mother, his sister, and Sydney. That was it. No one else lasted through an entire night. He didn’t want to deal with the morning after, let alone weeks, so he purposely picked the type of woman who wanted that same thing: a one-night fling, where no one got hurt, nothing got complicated, and there were no expectations aside from a night of mutual satisfaction. He had known from the start that Beth wasn’t that type, which was why he’d tried to move on from her. Even this morning, he hadn’t come here looking for a serious relationship. And he still didn’t want that. So what if they had some chemistry? It wasn’t like he’d be unable to control himself around her. He could agree to a friendship with her like the one he had with Sydney.
“Fine.” Marc grabbed three of the pieces of paper sitting on the table and started reading. He’d gotten through two paragraphs before he stopped, hearing the kids in the other room. Beth pushed back from the table and headed into the family room.
Marc put the papers down. “Can you figure out some way out of this that I missed?”
Austin frowned. “Marc, you aren’t leaving her—”
“That’s not what I meant,” he snapped. “I’m not asking how to fix it for me. I’m asking if there’s a way that gets her out of it—cleanly.”
Austin’s blue eyes blinked twice. “You’re worried about her?”
Not exactly.
“I don’t want to get stuck in a relationship, real or pretend. I told you this repeatedly. We need to walk away, her cleanly and me—well, I’ll deal with whatever sh… sugar I have to,” Marc said.
Sitting next to her husband, Sydney lit up like a firefly. “I was right. You’re crushing hard.” She smirked.
Marc huffed. “Sid, I’m not a total as—” Fuck this cursing rule. “Jerk. Had I known Beth’s backstory, I would have…” Marc paused, trying to find the truth. “I would have done things differently. But don’t get ahead of yourself. I’m trying to be decent while I run away.”
“If that’s all it is, then how come you’re working so hard at the no-cursing rule?” Sid asked, cocking her head to the side with a smile.
“Because,” he said, not understanding it himself.
“Could it be because her opinion is important to you since you care more than you’re ready to admit?” Sydney asked pointedly.
“Do you?” Austin cut in, unable to hide his surprise.
“I don’t know. But even if I walked away right now, I don’t think I’d forget her. And I can’t even remember the name of the last woman I slept with.”
Austin frowned, but nodded. Sydney smiled as if Marc had agreed with her.
“But Beth and I already went through the ‘Is there any other way out of this’ stuff. And the answer is a hard no,” Austin said. Marc raked a hand through his hair. He’d known that was the case. So he turned back to the contract.
“One other thing,” Austin said before Marc could put pen to paper. “While you’re with her, there won’t be anyone on the side. If we want to fix your image, we can’t have women coming out saying that you’re sleeping with them. So realize you’re taking an abstinence pledge. Because, even more importantly than rehabbing your image, you won’t do that to her.”
Austin was right. This was a commitment, a two-month commitment, and he would see it through. Marc had never condoned cheating of any kind, and wouldn’t start now. They were “in a relationship,” so he wouldn’t be sleeping with anyone else. Two months would be nothing. And Beth was right about not being his type. She was beautiful, but it wasn’t like she was irresistible.