Escorting the Player (The Escort Collection Book 3) (14 page)

C
HASE

I dropped Avery off at her apartment after dinner. It had killed me to drive away, but I wanted to give her the space she needed to make a decision.

About me.

Eric was sitting on my steps when I got home. "How's it going?" he asked.

"Haven't heard from you in a while," I said, pushing past him and unlocking the door. "Thanks so much for telling my mom about Avery." I wasn't really mad, but I was still having a
WTF
moment about it.

"I did that for your own good," Eric said. He followed me in without asking.

I grunted. "What do you want?"

He shrugged. "I know Avery's not here. I figured you might want some company."

"How did you know?"

"I talked to Reggie." He pushed his designer glasses up on his nose. "And Cole Bryson. I just checked in with Avery, too, to make sure she was okay."

I looked at him sharply. "Was she?"

"She's hanging in there," Eric said.

He went to my wine refrigerator and inspected the bottles, pulling out one that he deemed worthy. He opened it expertly and poured two glasses. "So, I've been thinking…" he said.

"Great. That usually gets me in trouble," I said. I gruffly accepted the wine he offered me.

"You should hold a press conference tomorrow."

"About what?" I asked.

"About Avery. And the fact that she's a prostitute. And the fact that you love her."

"I thought you were worried about her being a liability." I took a large gulp of wine. I still felt guilty about that conversation.

"I'm more worried about what you'd be like to deal with if you had to live without her. Which is also why I had your mother come down. I wanted her approval. We're doing this the right way this time, buddy."

Eric was a pain in the ass, but he knew me better than anyone.

"Back to the press conference. My thinking is, why not?" Eric raised his hands. "You're serious about Avery. The fact that she has a past is just something we have to deal with. And it'll be better coming from you than anyone else. The circle's too wide, now. The sister knows. Reggie knows. Martha knows. Jess and Pax know, too…"

I had some more wine and smiled at him. "This is where Chase Layne surprises and delights his agent."

Eric groaned at my use of the third person. "How are you going to surprise and delight me now?"

"I already scheduled a press conference." I gave him a smug look.

"You scheduled one?
You
?"

I shrugged. "I called my buddy at
WRX
and told him I wanted to talk tomorrow. I told him to bring friends."

Eric nodded at me, impressed. "I like it. But is it okay if I get involved? Just to give it a patina of professionalism?"

"I'd expect nothing less," I said. "You need to earn that commission, buddy."

"
I
'm sorry
?
What
did you just say?" Wes asked me. He ran his hands through his hair, making it stand up in crazy clumps.

"Avery was a prostitute. I hired her to act like my girlfriend. Then we fell in love."

Wes looked stymied as he paced behind his desk for a minute. He finally stopped. "Why are you telling me this, son?"

I swallowed hard. "Because Jessica and Pax know about it. And they're in talks to do a reality television show. They're going to be doing a ton of press, and I believe that this will be part of what they're talking about. Also, Avery's sister's threatening to go public with it."

West blinked at me. "The fact that Avery was a prostitute. And you hired her."

"Correct."

Coach and I looked at each other for a beat.

"When were you thinking about doing a press conference?"

I shook my head. "Later this morning."

Wes raised his eyebrows at me. "Where the hell's Eric at?"

"He's at the house, plotting." I shrugged. "He's on board with this. He also told me I had to tell you the truth."

Coach slumped down into his seat and sighed. "You think?" He scrubbed his hands over his face. "This is going to be an interesting season."

"It'll be okay." I hoped.

"We're going to stand behind you no matter what. This team has had a great run because of you."

"Thank you. I appreciate that," I said. "I didn't plan this. I'm sorry."

A glimmer of humor sparkled in Wes's eyes. "You can't help who you fall in love with. That's what I told Pamela when I left her for Angie, anyway."

Coach got a divorce last year, but he'd never spoken about it. "How'd that go over?"

Wes grunted. "About as good as the news that your girlfriend's a prostitute is going to go over."

I nodded at him. "Fair enough."

Wes grunted again. "Who said anything about fair?"

I
usually only spoke to
the press after our regularly scheduled games. I swallowed hard as I adjusted my tie and took one last look in the mirror.
You're doing the right thing, buddy. And, for once, it's for the right reason.

Her.

Avery was the one. I'd worked hard my whole life to get where I was, but it wasn't going to mean anything if she wasn't by my side.

Eric met me at the entrance to the conference room. "You okay?" My agent looked a little pale himself, but he seemed to be holding it together. Probably for my sake.

I shrugged. "I'm passable."

Eric looked around. "There's a lot of reporters here."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"You'll be all right. You're Chase Layne." He clapped me on the shoulder.

"Did you tell Avery about this?" I'd been worried she would try to talk me out of it, so I hadn't called her. I missed her so much it was killing me.

"Don't worry. She'll be watching," Eric said.

"I appreciate it. Everything you've done."

He grinned at me and his eyes sparkled. "Especially setting you up with Avery. I love that I get credit for that, especially because you were giving me so much shit."

"I'm sure I'll be hearing about it from you for the rest of my life."

"You know it," he said as we headed into the room, both of our chests puffed out beneath our best suits.

I took a deep breath to steady my nerves. Every single news outlet was here and the crowd was rowdy, buzzing with excitement. It wasn't every day that Chase Layne called an emergency press conference. I nodded at Wes and Tim, the owner, already seated up on the stage.

I climbed up on stage and got behind the podium, smoothing my tie. Wishing it was beer o'clock, I cleared my throat. The room settled quickly. "Ladies and gentlemen, members of the press and management, thank you so much for being here this morning." I swallowed hard as dozens of eager faces—faces I'd known for years—watched me expectantly. "You know I don't often call press conferences…"

One of the reporters I knew raised his hand. "Are you announcing your retirement, Chase?"

I nodded at him. "Hey, Pete. I'll be talking about that, too. But if it's okay with you guys, and ladies, I don't want any questions. Maybe at the end, for a few minutes, but that depends on how well you behave." I grinned at them as I felt the curiosity level rise palpably in the room.

"All right," I continued. "So all of you know a lot more about me than you probably should. You know I'm in the process of getting a divorce. You know that I'm now dating a smart, kind, and beautiful young woman. But what you
don't
know is the truth about her past." I paused as what felt like a thousand flashes went off.

"I asked you here today so that I could be the one to tell you, and to also ask that you continue to respect my team and my own family's privacy during this time. This will be my final season with the NFL. I was going to wait and announce that later, but it's an important piece of why I'm here today. As you all know, football is my life. I've been looking forward to this season my entire career. I intend to play every game to my fullest, and I intend to win as many games as I can for this team. Because I
love
this team. This team is my family."

I swallowed again, bracing myself. "I'm sure you're like me—that your family is the most important thing in the world to you. My team is my family, as well as my mom, my agent, and now my girlfriend, Avery. I will fight for my family, and I will always choose to put them first. I've made some mistakes, but I don't regret any of them. Because without those mistakes, I wouldn't be who I am or where I am today."

I scanned the faces in the crowd. "When my wife told me she was filing for divorce and then subsequently started a relationship with one of my teammates, I panicked. You all know I'm a private guy. I like to keep my personal life out of the spotlight, and I was worried about how these personal issues might impact my teammates and our season. So I took the unorthodox step of hiring someone to pretend to be my girlfriend. And that someone was Avery. I thought that having a new relationship would salvage my public image."

To their credit, no one said a word. They looked largely dumbfounded.

Finding courage in the silence, I continued on. "Avery and I signed a contract, and I agreed to pay her a certain amount of money in exchange for her company. I had second thoughts about what I was doing. I thought it was unethical and probably immoral. I was lying and I was asking someone else to lie, and I was paying her to do that. My attorney has assured me this doesn't rise to the level of criminal activity, as it was a private agreement between two consenting adults. We weren't breaking any laws, but I was lying. To all of you."

I took a sip of water and watched the confused, calculating, disbelieving, and furiously texting members of the audience.

"And I lied to Avery. And to myself."

They erupted into questions and I groaned. Then I saw one of my favorite reporters, Suzanne, with her hand up. I could usually count on her to get to the point.

"Go ahead Suzanne." I shot the rest of them a warning look. "And
only
Suzanne."

"Can you go into more detail about that? About lying to Avery and yourself?" she asked.

"Sure. It's the worst part. It makes me feel sick, and I deserve that." I looked toward the news cameras, wishing I could look into her eyes. "Avery, if you're watching, I want you to know I realized something. I never told you how I felt about you. I'm an idiot, babe. I love you. I've loved you from the moment I met you. Or maybe since the swan boats…or when you first made me lasagna…or that night with all the shots…"

Eric coughed behind me and I shook my head. "The point is, I never told you that I put you first. That's because I'm a jerk. I was putting
myself
first because I was afraid of what would happen to my career if the truth came out. And it's taken me this long to realize that's not the most important thing. The only thing I care about is you. So this is the public version of my apology. The private one's where I get on my knees and grovel. If you'll let me."

I looked at the press. "The truth is, Avery deserved better than what I gave her. But even if she never forgives me, something good came out of it. I met someone incredible. Someone who's taught me to be a better person."

I looked around. "Okay, that's all I have for today. Are there any questions?"

Everyone started talking at once.

I swallowed hard as question after question was hurled at me. "Are you saying that Avery's a prostitute?"

"Did you pay her for sexual relations, Chase? Isn't that illegal?"

"How does she feel about the whole world knowing the truth about her background?"

I held up my hands to stop them. Eric had told me the questions would be like this and worse, even though I'd had a friendly working relationship with these people for years. "She worked as an escort, which is different from being a prostitute. An escort is legal in the state of Massachusetts, and being a prostitute is not."

Another reporter stood up. "How is management handling this scandal? Their top player, who was slated to be the NFL player of the year, dating an
escort
?"

There was an uproar of more questions being shouted, but Eric stepped forward. "My client's done taking questions. On behalf of my client and Warriors management, we all hope that you can respect Chase and his family's privacy at this time." With that, he hustled me to a side entrance where I could get out of the building unscathed.

Eric clapped me on the back once we slid into the waiting SUV. "You did good, buddy. That was not an easy press conference to hold. You handled that like a champ. I wouldn't expect anything less."

I nodded at him.

"Let's get you home. You have some in-person groveling to do."

We pulled up outside of my house, but Eric didn't follow me out of the car.

"She's waiting for you," he said.

"You got her to come over?" I asked.

"I know you need help sometimes," he said. "And that's what I'm here for."

"Chase Layne loves you, buddy."

"Don't push it."

A
VERY

I was pacing around the house. Chase said he loved me. He'd said it out loud, in front of management, in front of reporters, in front of the world. And now it didn't matter if Lila tried to blackmail us, or if Jessica and Pax did an interview about us.

Because it was out in the open.

I thought I might be embarrassed, but I only felt relieved.

And desperate to see him.

My phone buzzed.

My phone buzzed again.

I ran to it and threw the door open.

Chase was waiting for me, his brow furrowed.

"Why didn't you just come in?" I asked.

He crossed his enormous arms against his chest. "Because I didn't know if you wanted me to."

"It's
your
house."

"But it's only a home if you're in it." He looked at me pleadingly. "Babe. I'm
so
sorry. This is just step one of my groveling plan. I love you so much. I've been an idiot—"

I threw myself at him, silencing him with a kiss.

Then I pulled back, running my hands down his face and looking into his eyes, which still looked a little puffy. "I'm sorry, too. I love you so much. I was trying to—"

Now it was his turn to silence me with a kiss, his big hands running over my hair and my face, touching me as if he was worried I wasn't real.

Then he pulled back. "So you don't have another boyfriend? A real one?"

I buried myself in his chest and he wrapped his massive arms around me. "There's nobody but you, babe. There's never been anybody but you."

C
HASE

We spent the next several weeks making up, i.e., kissing, looking at each other with googly eyes and having sexual relations whenever I wasn't at practice. I loved the master bedroom at the new house. It had floor-to-ceiling windows and excellent lighting, all the better to see Avery without her clothes on.

The bedroom was great, but I wanted her in every room of the house. It was my favorite new hobby.

We were on my bed. She'd put her clothes back on and I wasn't too pleased about it. "I need you again," I said, trailing my fingers down her shirt.

Avery laughed. "You're nuts."

"I'm nuts about
you
. Speaking of my nuts…"

She laughed again and swatted me. "What about them?"

I leaned down and looked at her intently. "We still haven't christened the dining room. Don't you think it's time we did something about that?"

"You're determined to do it in every room of this house, aren't you?" She grinned up at me and my cock rose to attention, as if it were saluting her.

"Absofuckinglutely. Are you?"

Avery looked at her watch. "You have to go in for your meeting in half an hour. You really think that's enough time to worship my body in the manner to which its become accustomed?"

I grabbed her by the hips, lifted her up and threw her over my shoulder. She squealed. "Plenty of time. You're getting spoiled lately, anyway. I bet I can make you come in five minutes or less." I proceeded to carry her down the stairs.

"What are we betting?" Avery asked me, while she hung upside down.

"Well if I lose, I'll just keep going. Does that sound okay to you, babe?"

She giggled. "I guess I can live with that…"

I smacked her on the ass as we arrived in the dining room. "You
guess
you can live with that? You're definitely getting spoiled." I gently placed her feet on the carpet, and started unbuttoning her plaid shirt. I loved it when she dressed like this: a button-down shirt, a pair of denim cut off shorts, no makeup, and a messy ponytail. She was so beautiful like that, just so normal and down to earth. And then when she got dressed up, she was absolutely stunning.

She was the best of both worlds. On top of that, my dick fit in her so tight, I swear to God—it was like she was made for me.

"You know I don't like to rush you," Avery said, as I took my time unbuttoning her shirt. "But you really do have to get going."

I dropped her shirt to the floor and then put my finger to my lips. "Shh. No more talking. Chase is in charge."

Avery rolled her eyes but she laughed. I undid her shorts and they dropped to the floor. I sucked in a deep breath as I looked at her, and in the middle of the dining room in a white lace bra and matching panties. "Damn, girl. It's a good thing your mine. Otherwise, I'd lock you up in this house and never let you out." I leaned down and kissed her, our tongues tangling as she ran her hands down my chest. "I might do it anyway," I growled.

I stripped her out of everything else and then picked her up and gently sat her on the dining room table. "Lie back." Her eyes widened excitement as she did as I asked. Her legs were dangling off the table and I spread them wide, kneeling before her. I looked at her beautiful body, spread open before me. I looked at my watch. "Four and a half minutes, I said, leaning toward her. "Now,
what
can I do for four-and-a-half minutes?"

I ran my tongue gently of her slit, loving the taste of her. I was rock hard as she moaned above me. I loved making my girl come. I licked the tender bud of her clitoris and her hips bucked. "Oh baby…" she groaned.

I circled her with my tongue, licking and sucking until she grabbed the back of my head and ground herself against me. "Oh my God, Chase! Holy fuck, baby!"

I took her clitoris in between my teeth and nipped gently, and then sucked her hard. I felt the orgasm ratchet through her, her body shaking uncontrollably under my attention. She cried out and her muscles clenched and shook. I continue to lick and suck her through her orgasm, until she was babbling incoherently. And then I stood up, stripping down as quickly as I could. "Two minutes," I said, checking my watch. "Turn over onto your stomach and put your feet on the ground. Ass in the air, babe."

She stood up and grabbed me first, pulling me in for a deep, wild kiss. I was panting by the time she pulled back. "I love you," I said.

"I love you, too." She smiled up at me and my heart squeezed.

She palmed my cock and I groaned. "Okay-turn over. Now." She followed my orders and I spread her cheeks and traced my finger along her slit to her clitoris again, rubbing it slowly, making sure she was still ready for me. At the same time, she reached around and grabbed my cock, circling it with her fingers and milking it. I grunted and put the head against her, thrusting and luxuriating against her wetness.

"Baby, I need you inside me…" Her tone was pleading.

"Since I already won the bet, we don't really need to do anymore." Still, I notched the head of my cock inside of her.

She pushed her ass back towards me, taking in more of my length. I sucked in a sharp breath. "We can stop if you really want to," she said, teasing me.

I inched myself inside of her, entranced by the feel of her body against mine. "No fucking way." Her body was so tight, her pussy was like a vice-grip on my cock. "Not ever."

Her fingers were still wrapped around the base of my shaft, the pressure making me feel crazy. Finally, I was all the way inside of her. She gave me one final squeeze of her fingers and then put her palms flat on the table.

She tossed her hair over her shoulder and looked back at me. "Fuck me, baby. I want to feel you explode inside of me."

"God, I love it when you're bossy. It makes me want to give you what you want." I put my hands on her hips and start started to thrust into her deeply, my balls slapping against her each time I entered her. She bore down on my cock, increasing the pressure. The tightness and the heat were making me insane. I could hear our bodies slapping together, skin on sweaty skin, Avery moaning and writhing beneath me.

"Jesus Christ Avery, you're so fucking tight…"

I reached underneath her and fingered her clit, and then she was bucking and shaking beneath me again. Our bodies slammed against the table, rattling it.

"Oh my God, Chase!
Chase!
"

All I needed to hear was my name on her lips. I exploded inside her.

The orgasm ripped through me and my vision got blurry. But I held onto Avery's hips and continued to pump into her, more slowly, savoring every second.

One thing was certain as I spent the rest of myself inside her. I loved this girl. She was mine.

Chase Layne was one lucky bastard.