Face-Off at the Altar Read online

  Markus’s heart crashed into his stomach. “Oh,” he said, the air knocked out of him. He had always thought of himself as a team player, but then, had he been a team player since he came to the Ninjas?

  “We’ve been in talks with Coach Saint, and even he believes you aren’t a team player, that you’ve been partying too much, and that you come to practice worthless. I haven’t seen this. Did you have a bad practice today? Yes, but everyone does. Usually, with this much stacked against you, I would just let you go. I wouldn’t give you this opportunity, especially since your contract with us is almost over—you’re a free agent as of the end of December—but Jayden truly believes you can get the job done. So instead of doing what I normally do, I’m listening to my captain. Now it’s on you. Are you who I’m looking for?”

  It was a lot to process, and Markus felt like he was drowning. Had he really just gone to shit since he’d come here? Who was this person she was speaking of? Because the Markus Reeves he knew was awesome and, above all, a team player. Yeah, things had to change, but those things didn’t matter in his life anymore. His future was on the line, and he wasn’t going to squander it.

  “I am,” he said simply, his heart in his throat. “And I’m going to prove that to everyone.”

  Including himself.

  After getting the details on when he was leaving, Markus walked out of the office as Coach Saint walked in with a couple of other guys. They looked at him, and he looked back. They were his linemates, and he wondered if they were his competition going up to Nashville. But as soon as he thought it, he knew that was the problem. He was looking at everyone around him as competitors and not as his brothers. And it was because of that he was now known as not a team player.

  Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he called Jace.

  “Bro. You going?”

  “I am,” he said, and Jace let out a whoop of excitement. “But apparently, no one believes in me.”

  Jace paused. “Huh?”

  “Yeah, I guess I got a bad rep. I’m not a team player.”

  “So prove them wrong,” he said simply, and Markus grinned when he heard Jace’s daughter hollering for him.

  “Daddy! Juice! Now!”

  “Demanding little thing, huh?” Markus laughed as Jace groaned.

  “You have no clue. She knows who runs shit,” Jace sighed.

  “And it’s her?”

  “Completely,” he groaned as the sound of the refrigerator opening and closing reached Markus’s ears. “But, you got this, dude. You didn’t fit with the Ninjas, but you’ll fit with the Assassins. When do you leave?”

  “Tomorrow, actually.”

  “Wow. Cool, go in there and show them you’re it. You got this.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.”

  “So you’ll practice with the team this week, folks go off to Worlds while we all go to Lucy’s wedding. Seems to me that God was at work with that one. Now you’ll be home for all the festivities and see everyone,” he said, and Markus nodded. He had planned to leave for Jace’s sister Lucy’s wedding on Friday night. Based on the quick turnaround, he would miss everything but the ceremony. He had been upset about it, but at least he would have been there to see Lucy and her groom say “I do.” But now, he could be there all week. Which was good since Jude, Jace’s other brother, and his wife, Claire, were flying in for the week. It would be like old times, all of them together.

  Maybe Jace was right, this was a sign from God.

  “Even though I’m sure Mekena would think differently,” Jace laughed then, and Markus’s heart stopped.

  Mekena.

  Mekena fucking Preston.

  The girl he screwed over royally.

  “Yeah, I bet she would,” he said dryly, swallowing hard. “Maybe we can be civil.”

  Jace scoffed. “Yeah, sure, she’ll just forget that you banged her sister and take ya back.”

  Markus cringed. “Don’t sugarcoat it, asshole.”

  “Oh, I won’t because Avery does not let me forget that you’re an asshole.”

  “What? I thought she loved me!”

  “Eh, when Mekena’s not around, Avery’s okay. But when she is, they all hate you.”

  Markus groaned. “It wasn’t even my fault.”

  “’Cause your dick fell in her sister?”

  “Fuck you, I’ll talk to you later,” he bit out, his eyes narrowing to slits. Jace knew the truth. He knew how it all went down, yet he still was giving Markus shit. He knew that Jace had told Avery the truth, but he was pretty sure she didn’t care. In her eyes, Markus was scum, and she was probably right.

  It wasn’t like he had told Mekena’s sister no.

  But he never said yes either.

  Jace laughed. “Fine, fine. But, hey,” he said, and Markus paused, not hanging up on his friend.

  “What?”

  “Congratulations, bro. I know you’ve got this. So don’t let me down, all right?”

  Markus smiled. “I hear ya. Thanks, bro.”

  “Anytime. And don’t think too much about Mekena. She’ll never stop hating you.”

  Markus’s smile dropped, his brow furrowing. “I hate you.”

  “Just a friendly reminder!” Jace sang before the line went dead, and Markus tucked his phone into his back pocket.

  While he knew Jace was right, he couldn’t help but wish he wasn’t. Markus didn’t want Mekena to hate him. He wanted her to love him, to care for him, to be his, but that ship sailed when he got in bed with her sister, Skylar. No matter how drunk he was or how persistent Skylar was, he should have said no.

  That is, if he had known it was happening.

  But none of that mattered. He had one goal in mind now and that was to be an Assassin.

  Especially since he was swearing off women anyway.

  When the knock came at the door, Mekena eyed it suspiciously.

  Mr. Right didn’t even move.

  A part of her didn’t want to answer it; she wanted to ignore it. But if it was her mother, she knew she wouldn’t go away. If by chance it was Skylar, though, ignoring her may work. Before she could make that choice, the door cracked open and Libby popped her head in.

  “Hey there, buttercup,” she said, sliding in and shutting the door behind her. “Still a no-go on dinner?”

  Wiping away a stray tear, she nodded. “No-go.”

  She hadn’t realized how much seeing her sister was going to hurt. She knew it would suck. She hadn’t laid eyes on the woman in over a year nor had she spoken to her, but seeing the smug grin, hearing her poor excuse for why she did it, her callousness to the situation sent Mekena into a tailspin of epic proportions. It was like her heart was breaking all over again.

  And she still had to see him.

  Man, she was screwed.

  “You got your angry bun on top of your head, so I guess I should have known the answer, huh?”

  Mekena scoffed, cupping her hair that was in a very messy and maybe a bit angry bun. “Guess so.” Pushing her black-rimmed glasses up her nose, she read the same sentence she had been reading in her book for the last ten minutes and begged her tears to stay back. Skylar didn’t deserve them. Nor did he. No, she had to keep those for herself.

  “Do you wanna talk about it?”

  She didn’t even look at her aunt. “Why in the hell would I want to do that?”

  Libby laughed. “Hell, I don’t know. That’s what everyone always said to me.”

  That made her glance up. Unlike Mekena, Libby wasn’t the least bit sad. She didn’t even look affected anymore about what had happened. Mekena guessed that since it had been over twenty-five years, Libby had healed. Did that mean it would take twenty-five years for her? Clearing her throat, she asked, “What did you say?”

  Libby laughed. “I was an asshole and said to fuck off, that there was nothing to speak of, that I didn’t care. But I think Linda always knew I was a bit broken. I know she still blames herself, and it’s been eons.”

  Looking away, M