CHAPTER 4

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"He said he's all wrapped up if you want to go in," she said, after a person who had to duck to fit inside the room. The door to the conference room was open wide, but even so, the dark curly-haired guy had to duck his head to come inside.

He took up most of the width too, shoulder to shoulder almost brushing wood, and Mackenzie nearly lost her portfolio.

But not due to his size.

Those dark, dusky eyes like a buck's coat, she'd seen behind the camera lens of her once. They'd been raging and very savage, and his fist had ended up bloody.

He'd been beating a man near death.

That's what the byline said. But she did not have anything to do with that. She could not help it when the papers came out with one of her pictures. She was merely there to tell a picture story, and that was what the reporters penned about him. This man. This.

"Tony," Queens wailed, calling him by another name. He strode over to the dude, pumping the guy's hand, which basically dissolved into Tony's. Thick fingers enveloped Queens's completely, but it wasn't the dude's hands that caught Mackenzie's attention.

A lot.

He had a square jaw, a clenched jaw that was well defined. Thick curls curled just below it, and he had a gold hoop hanging from his left nostril. He sported two, side by side and pressed hard against his flesh. She had a silver one as well, but it was more of metal in the nostril than anything like an accessory like his. It served to make him look even sharper in the all-black ensemble he wore. A black hoodie hugged his broad shoulders, his low-slung dark jeans. He had on solid-black high-tops under them, expensive-lookin' like the rest of him, and that said a lot given he was in jeans and a hoodie.

And he was looking at her, his eyes on her as he shook Queens's hand, and her entire body began to sweat, pits and under-boobs first. The double-Ds were catching sweat for sure, and she had every right to. She'd taken photos of this guy who'd stood on the edge of killing someone with a fan, and while that would have been bad enough, it hadn't. The worst part had come later on, and something she'd really gotten attuned to since she had provided the photos for all the news stories on this guy back in her sophomore year. He was one of the best players in the state back then.

And she had made him lose his junior season.

Tony

Ah, that was the reaction I was expecting.

Yeah, I remember you, Arizen.

I shook Queens Arrows's hand, a family friend. Arizen, meanwhile, stood behind him, shell-shocked in a poorly fitting suit, her hair back and away from her face.

Her face flushed.

Blasted with color, her freckled cheeks were the same shade as her hair. I distinctly recalled that much, the red, and she was not the same as that girl on the field. The suit was too big for her, hiding her. This girl had curves, and she had not been modest about showing them off in the cutoff shorts and crop top she'd been wearing that day.

Trying to impress today, Arizen?

I thought she was. She did have this interview with Queens today. Queens's assistant had informed me all about it before I came in.

Smiling, I let go of Queens's hand, the man grinning away before me. He clapped my arm. "Good to see you, my man."

"Good to see you," I said, though it was better to see Arizen. She still hadn't said anything, her hands twisting together. She walked in a pair of heels and caught my eye was the hint of a tattoo on the tops of her feet. That, and she had taken out the nose ring she had once had, her trying at blatant professionalism. She was attempting to stack the deck here with old Queens and attempting to play off whom she truly was.

And what she was capable of.

Arizen, Arizen, Arizen…

This is a girl who was as cutthroat as she was ruthless, and when Queens let go of my arm, he gestured to her. "Ms. Lanka and I were just finishing up," he told her, and while Arizen recoiled, she came over.

I fought my smirk again, pulling my hands out of my hoodie. I could see she hadn't expected to see me today, and that had been the plan.

Let the games begin, Arizen.

Mackenzie is one of my internship candidates," Queens explained. Arizen's eyes were on me, hazel and innocent to the point she didn't dare try that crap my way. This girl was anything but innocent, and each passing second that she tried to play that sort of shit my way had my fists tightened.

I tucked them away in my hoodie for safekeeping, and Queens Arrows had no idea. If he did, he'd realize he just introduced me to the girl who'd destroyed my damn junior year, or I guess he did realize. I just allowed him to believe I didn't care. It came up in discussion when my dad and I met Queens earlier today. We were all supposed to go get lunch together later today.

And we'd joked about all that shit about Mackenzie.

Water under the bridge, I'd told both of them, and my dad had looked at me like I was crazy. I thought he had good reason. That shit wasn't water under the bridge, not by a damn long shot.

Despite that, I had made it seem so, and I had to confess, my dad had been really proud of me. He told me I was the bigger man, responsible.

That was me, yeah.

I was forgiving and responsible in all kinds of ways. I held up my hand in Mackenzie's direction. "I'm pretty sure we know who each other is, Queens," I said to her, nodding. "After all, she did write that article about me."

"No, I just took the photos." Ballsy this damn girl, courageous. She did not back down. "But yeah, we know who the other is."

My fists tightened again, but I did not lose my smile on her. "Was just actually discussing with my dad and Queens that article." I looked at Queens. "We laughed about it. Didn't we, Queens?"

Well, this shocked Ms. Mackenzie Lanka like nothing else. She walked in those heels again, her interest zeroing in on Queens, and when he nodded, her eyebrow twitched up.

Queens tightened his hold on my arm. "Sure did, and can't wait to catch up more over lunch."

Enter my father stage right. Dad was escorted in by Queens's very efficient assistant, and to watch that shit go down across Mackenzie's face…

You scared yet, Arizen? You should be.