“NLL?” She wrinkled her nose. Did he mean NFL? He and Caleb were both tough enough to be football players, though Seth’s leaner muscles fit the build of a dirt-bike rider.
She heard a yell and a crash from the house through the trees. Cringing, she wished she could just stand out here with Seth all night.
He chuckled. “National Lacrosse League. He’s an amazing middie.”
Was this a foreign language? Middie? Lacrosse? “Is lacrosse like polo or something? We don’t really have fancy sports like that in Idaho.”
“Don’t tell Caleb you think it’s fancy, and it’s definitely not a gentleman’s sport. It’s pretty violent. Some people say it’s like soccer with sticks, but it’s more like rugby on the violence level. His right arm is honestly deformed from being whacked and broken so many times from vicious hits.”
Her eyes widened but she nodded as if that made sense, not sure how to carry on a conversation about a sport she’d never heard of. “Anybody else famous in your family?”
He shrugged. “Joshua and Isaac both own a lot of businesses. They were voted as ‘best billionaire catch in America’ and ‘hottest billionaire bachelor’ before they each got married. So, I guess they could be considered famous. The media seems to like featuring them.”
Breeze caught a breath. Billionaires? Was he stinking kidding her? Somebody at the house had claimed that Flint was a millionaire. It made sense if he could afford to rent a huge place like they were staying in and pay for all the motorbikes and drugs, but growing up she thought someone was wealthy if they had their own hundred dollar bill or drove a car that was less than five years old. A billionaire? Two of them?
“I … I’d better go.” It was clearer than ever that the handsome extreme athlete, Seth Jewel came from a different planet than her. She was heading back into the den of sin to scrub poop, pee, and puke off toilets, pick up after disgusting men, and cook and clean up meals. The only good thing was she had a room to herself and she was pretty certain the men weren’t touching her because Flint had claimed her. She prayed he would leave her alone for the next two weeks, but wouldn’t bet on it. Her life was pretty much awful. If she and Ridge made it through the next couple of weeks and earned the money to be free of Flint she’d go back to working eighty hours a week and planning on getting her teaching degree in the next ten years or so. A billionaire? An extreme athlete? Wives who owned and created the best perfume in the world? Not computable in her brain.
“It was an honor to meet you,” she said, hoping she sounded educated and not like the girl who’d grown up in a trailer home in Idaho. She brushed past him toward the massive cabin.
“Wait.” Seth put a hand on her arm, stopping her.
Her arm felt so good with him touching it. Why couldn’t she stay in this alternate reality? She looked up into his brilliantly blue eyes.
“Are you safe here?”
“Yes.” Breeze nodded quickly, knowing any hesitation would make him doubt her answer and maybe rush in and fight her battles for her. A man like Seth wouldn’t allow her to be in danger, but Ridge had brought this trouble on them. Seth didn’t need to get mixed up in it. She also sensed that a confident, impressive athlete like Seth would make any semi-sober and halfway lucid man in that house instinctively want to fight, and she didn’t want Seth to get in a fight for her.
His eyes revealed his doubt in her response, but he didn’t press the issue. “I’m afraid I won’t see you again,” he said.
She bit at her lip, knowing he wouldn’t, but maybe that was what he meant. He knew he’d never see her again. A pure, clean, and perfect man like this should never associate with the filth she was walking back into. Yet he was in the motocross crowd and from what she’d seen they could be rough, so maybe he knew exactly what she was walking back into. Maybe he was just letting her down gently.
“Meet me here tomorrow night?” he asked.
Her eyes widened and her stomach took flight. Hope was a beautiful thing but also scary. She had no real hope of living in Seth’s world, yet she was desperate to see him again. He represented the goodness and light that she craved, especially in her current situation. She was indentured to Flint for the time being because of her misguided little brother, but she wasn’t his servant. She could’ve chosen to leave, but she wouldn’t do that to Ridge, so she’d gotten a leave of absence from her waitressing job and been grateful school was on break for the summer. Yet she was almost afraid to meet Seth again. Not only because she worried that if Flint or one of the other men from the house saw him that they might try to hurt him simply because they were idiots, but that she also had no right to be in his life. It wasn’t fair to either of them to pretend she could associate with someone like him.
“Please,” his voice was deep and so appealing her knees felt weak and that beautiful hope took flight within her.
“Ten?” she asked, gasping immediately. How had she dared say that?
“Perfect.” He smiled and it was like the sunshine coming out from behind the clouds after a month of rain.
He released her arm, and his smile faded as he glanced over his shoulder toward the house. It was barely visible through the trees, but she could hear the music and men’s raucous laughter. “I hate to let you go,” he said, obviously sensing what she was going back to, even though she’d told him nothing besides that she cooked and cleaned.
“I’ll be fine,” she lied. Luckily Flint hadn’t touched her, yet. She prayed she could clear Ridge’s debt before he did. “See you tomorrow.” She had to force herself to run past Seth to the house. She didn’t let herself look over her shoulder. Tomorrow night she’d see him again. It was the most incredible gift he could’ve given her, the hope and joy it would give her to daydream about being near him again, no matter that she feared the daydreams and hope would sting them both. If Flint hurt Seth, she’d never forgive herself. She’d simply have to sneak out again and keep Seth far from the losers who were controlling her and her brother right now.