Fastball (21 page)

“Over those
many
years, you mean. But
go on, I’m listening.”

Nate fiddled with his beer bottle. “I’m sure
Robbie is gambling heavily,” he said cautiously.

Jake felt a small measure of relief. “Not
exactly earthshaking news. That’s not great, but it’s not exactly a
capital crime either.”

“It is when you’re gambling on baseball,
maybe even on your own team,” Nate said in a grim tone.

Jake felt his mind go blank. He sat up
straight, pulling his legs off the coffee table.

“You know what happens to guys who get
caught,” Nate went on, the distaste evident in his voice. “Their
careers are over, and they’re disgraced. Even worse, the whole damn
team can be tainted by it. And even worse than that, I’m pretty
certain Robbie’s involved with one of the most hard ass bookies in
the city—Joey Nazarian. Sorry, but I think your buddy
is
in
big trouble.”

Jake was floored. Betting on your own team
was criminally insane, even for a guy as careless about his rep as
Robbie.

He sat in silence for a full minute before
speaking. When he could finally get it going, he had to talk
through clenched teeth. “Tell me everything you know.” His throat
and chest tightened as he tried to contain his anger.

Nate sat forward, resting his forearms on his
thighs as he stared across the coffee table at Jake. “I went down
to Angelo’s last night after the game. You know, grab a beer or two
and hang out with some of the regulars. I hadn’t been there more
than a few minutes when Robbie waltzed in by himself. He didn’t see
me, though. I was in a booth and he went straight to the bar and
sat with his back toward me. I was going to talk to him, but
decided to leave him alone for a while. He looked like he needed
some space, especially since he’s had a couple of pretty bad
weeks.”

Shit, shit, shit
. Jake just
knew
this was going to be bad. “Go on.”

“The guy looked totally agitated. All tensed
up and jittery, sucking away on beer like he couldn’t get it down
fast enough. Anyway, maybe five minutes later, Joey Nazarian came
in with some bulked-up thug who was obviously his bodyguard, and he
looked pissed as hell. As soon as he spotted Robbie, he headed
right over to the bar, kicked a guy out of the next chair, and sat
down beside him.”

Jake needed more than one beer to get through
this bullshit. He got up to get another, motioning an offer to get
one for Nate, too. His friend gave him the thumbs up sign and
continued while Jake listened from the kitchen.

“Nazarian was in Robbie’s grille from the
get-go. They weren’t exactly yelling, but they were going at it
pretty good. Next thing I know, Robbie gets up and heads toward the
john, way across the other side of the bar and down the hall.
Nazarian and his muscle stayed where they were for maybe thirty
seconds, then got up and took off in the same direction. That got
my antenna up big time. I figured I’d better head down that way
too, to get the lay of the land.”

With a brusque nod of thanks, he took the
beer from Jake’s outstretched hand. “When I got near the john, I
could hear Nazarian and Robbie inside, yelling at each other. I
decided to just listen, and only go in if it sounded like Robbie
was going to get hurt. I figured I might have to even up the odds a
bit, though I wasn’t exactly looking forward to taking on the
gorilla bodyguard.”

“Smart,” Jake said dryly, sitting back
down.

“Anyway, I heard the whole fucking story. The
gist is that Robbie’s been betting big time with Nazarian, and it
was clear he’s been putting money on some of our games. Nazarian
was telling him he was going to make sure the word got out about it
if Robbie didn’t pay up, and he’d ruin his career.” Nate let out a
heavy sigh. “I couldn’t believe it. You know I’m not a big fan of
Rob’s, but I never would have taken him for such a total
dumbass.”

Jake’s entire body ached with tension. Robbie
had always been impulsive, but he couldn’t believe the jerk would
be so goddamn stupid. He wasn’t just putting his career on the
line, he might be putting his life in danger, too. Jake had heard
about Nazarian before, and none of it was good.

“He’s in hock to Nazarian,” Nate added. “And
Nazarian was making it clear that his time to pay up was running
out. Then I heard a big thump, like a body slamming into a wall. I
figured it was now or never, so I pushed the door open hard and
went in ready. Robbie was on his ass on the floor, and Nazarian was
leaning over to help him up. Nazarian just grinned at me and said
his little pal was a bit loaded and fell over as he was trying to
get his zipper down.”

“Asshole,” Jake snarled.

“No kidding. Well, I looked at Robbie and he
nodded like a scared little kid. Then Nazarian and his hired prick
chuckled and left, and I helped Robbie up and out to his car. His
lip was bleeding, but he wouldn’t tell me a damn thing. Not even
when I said knew something was seriously wrong. He told me he could
handle his problems himself, and that I should mind my own fucking
business and keep my fucking mouth shut. Quote, unquote.”

“Christ, I’m sorry. You sure as hell didn’t
deserve that.”

Nate shrugged. “I wish I could have done
more. I don’t care all that much if the little asshole gets his ass
kicked a bit, but I don’t want to see him offed. And if he gets
caught betting on baseball, it’ll be a disaster for the team. I had
to talk to somebody about it. Unfortunately, pal, you’re it.”

Jake had forced himself to listen as
patiently he could to Nate’s story. Now, he got up and began pacing
the length of his sparsely furnished living room, his thoughts in
turmoil. He stopped at the window overlooking the Delaware River
far below, staring blindly at the view. After a few minutes, he
finally turned to Nate. “I shouldn’t be too surprised, I guess.
Robbie always had this kind of thing in him, and I knew it. He
loves to live large, and he’s always run through money like water
through a sieve. And yeah, I knew he liked to gamble. He was always
running off to Vegas or Atlantic City whenever he got a chance. But
I never, ever expected him to be betting on baseball.” He rubbed
his hand over his face, trying to figure out what the hell to do
about it.

“It’s a total fuck-up,” Nate agreed. “But
something’s gotta be done. Can you talk to him?”

Jake sighed. “I don’t know if it’ll work, but
I have to try. We have to get him to stop the betting, and right
now.” He pondered for a few moments. “Not to mention pay off
Nazarian for whatever he owes him. Maybe that’ll keep the lid from
blowing off this thing. Once we get that taken care of, I’ll see if
I can get him some help for the gambling.”

Nate blew out a relieved breath. He put his
beer bottle down and got up. “Sorry to dump this on you, but we
can’t let Robbie drag the whole team through the mud for his
jackass mistakes. Just let me know what I can do to help,
okay?”

Jake walked Nate to the door to let him out.
Then he returned to the window, leaning his head against the glass.
He fell into thought, trying to figure out what he could possibly
say to Robbie to avert what would surely become a complete and
total cluster-fuck for them all.

* * *

Jake was still mulling over his conversation
with Nate when he pulled into one of the extra underground parking
spaces at Maddie’s condo. It helped that his Tahoe didn’t have to
be seen in front of her building almost every night, but he knew it
was only a matter of time until someone put two and two together.
He constantly worried about how such a discovery could affect their
budding relationship, and now he had Robbie’s problems to deal
with, too. That was a complication he truly didn’t need.

As he rode the elevator up to Maddie’s floor,
Jake ran possible scenarios involving Robbie over in his head. He
knew for sure it wasn’t going to be an easy conversation. Robbie
had an explosive temper, and he would almost certainly tell Jake to
piss off. Jake was tempted to do that already, but he couldn’t—not
when the team’s reputation was at stake.

In fact, he had no intention of being blown
off at all. He’d get a straight answer out of Robbie even if he had
to pick the little knucklehead up and hang him on a coat rack until
he came clean. And if he could manage to extract the truth, then he
could also probably get Robbie to agree to seek help for his
gambling.

As he headed down the corridor to Maddie’s
apartment, Jake tried to let go of his tension. The last thing he
wanted was for Maddie to read his dark mood and start grilling him
about it. He hated to keep a secret from her—there were already too
many secrets complicating their lives—but there was no way she or
any other reporter could be allowed even a hint of the kind of
trouble Robbie had stepped into. That might mean hell to pay if she
found out about it later, but he had to take the risk. He owed it
to Robbie, and he owed it to the team.

As soon as he quietly tapped on her door,
Maddie unlatched the chain and let him in. He started to say hello
but the words froze on his lips. Stunned, all he could do was drink
in the sight of her.

She closed the door and leaned against it,
wearing only a sexy smile and a pink baby-doll nightgown that
barely covered her perfectly rounded curves. The transparent, silky
material skimmed her creamy breasts and taut stomach. Peeking out
from under the nightgown were lacy panties in a matching shade of
pink. It took a few seconds for his brain to fully register the
unexpected but luscious vision, but his body was way ahead, already
painfully aroused.

Maddie went up on tiptoe to kiss him full on
the mouth, leaning into him. He let that last for about a
nanosecond before sweeping her into his arms. She looked good
enough to eat, and he intended to make her into a full course
meal.

“What did Nate want?” she asked in a husky
tone as he carried her into her small but cheerily decorated living
room. The room might be small but her pale pink sofa, loaded with
puffy white pillows, was big and comfortably soft. Good thing too,
since he’d never make it as far as the bedroom, not with Maddie
looking like a little fantasy come to life.

He laid her down on the sofa and started
kissing her face and neck. “Oh, it wasn’t a big deal,” he said
absently as he nibbled the satiny skin behind her ear. Right now,
he could give a shit about anything but the sweet, feminine package
in his arms. “Nothing we can’t handle.”

“Good,” Maddie breathed, “because I was a bit
worried. I thought it had to be something pretty important if you
were ready to bail on our dinner.”

“Sorry about that,” he murmured, trailing
kisses down to the delicate hollow of her throat.

“I’m sure you’ll make it up to me.”

Oh, yeah. Count on that, babe.

Maddie sighed with pleasure as he took her
breast and lightly stroked it, rasping the silky material across
her nipple until it drew into to a tight, rosy bead. “Sorry about
the loss today,” she murmured breathlessly as she arched into his
hand.

“It was a lousy game. We lost, and I sucked
big time.” Fortunately, he knew just the remedy for his
troubles.

Maddie gave a little gasp as he ran his other
hand up the inside of her thigh and lightly rubbed his index finger
along the seam of her sexy little panties. God, she was already
wet.

She let her legs drop open, sighing with
pleasure. “Maybe I can help take your mind off it.”

“I’m confident about that,” Jake growled,
tugging first one strap and then the other from her shoulders. The
wispy fabric slithered down, exposing her plump, gorgeous breasts.
He circled one rigid tip with his tongue, then sucked it into his
mouth, licking and biting it gently as she squirmed beneath him.
Maddie fumbled with his belt and zipper to reach his swollen cock
through his briefs. It was already so engorged the tip was
protruding past his waistband. Jake groaned, his mouth still on
her, as she ran her fingers up and down his shaft, then moved lower
to cup and caress his balls.

Only able to tolerate that action for a few
moments, Jake pulled back, yanked his shirt over his head, and
stripped off his pants and briefs. Pulling Maddie quickly into a
semi-sitting position on the couch, he kneeled in front of her. He
slid her panties down her slender legs as she pulled the flimsy
gown over her head, her luscious tits bouncing slightly as she did
so. She was completely, gloriously naked and, as he took in the
sight of her, Jake couldn’t believe how lucky he was to have found
her. Luring Maddie to that restaurant in La Jolla was the smartest
thing he’d ever done.

He slipped both hands under her bottom,
tilting her up to his mouth. He inhaled, breathing in her scent and
feeling his cock stiffen even more in anticipation. Maddie spread
her legs wider, her breath coming in excited pants.

Jake ran his tongue over her soft outer
folds, licking her to a creamy heat. When she began writhing with
pleasure, he circled her clit, then flicked the hard little nub
with the tip of his tongue. She gasped, pressing her head against
the cushions of the sofa.

As he draped her legs over his shoulders, he
glanced up. She was the most erotic sight he had ever seen, with
her back arched, thrusting her breasts high, and her sex all soft
and wet, ready for his cock. Jake increased the intensity, taking
her clit into his mouth and sucking it deeply as his fingers
stroked and probed her slick heat. Gently sliding two fingers deep
inside her, he stretched her, feeling her muscles grip. His need
flashed into urgency.

He sat back and whispered, “Turn over,
sweetheart.” He gently applied pressure to help her shift her
position. As she settled her face into the sofa, her sweet ass
tilted up, her arms out wide to her sides, Jake reached into his
pants on the floor and pulled out a condom.