Game (Gentry Boys #3) Read online

  GENTRY BOYS

  Book Three

  GAME

  © 2014 by Cora Brent

  All rights reserved.

  *WARNING*

  This book is intended for mature audiences over the age of 18. It contains explicit language, sexual situations and deals with issues of addiction and violence that may be upsetting to some.

  BOOKS BY CORA BRENT:

  GENTRY BOYS

  Draw

  Risk

  Game

  Untitled (Deck’s Story): Early 2015

  DEFIANT MC Series

  Know Me: A Novella

  Promise Me

  Remember Me

  Reckless Point

  I love to hear from readers! Contact me at [email protected].

  www.facebook.com/CoraBrentAuthor

  https://www.goodreads.com/CoraBrent

  Amazon Author Page

  COPYRIGHT

  Please respect the work of this author. No part of this book may be reproduced or copied without permission. This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Any similarities to events or situations is also coincidental.

  The publisher and author acknowledge the trademark status and trademark ownership of all trademarks and locations mentioned in this book. Trademarks and locations are not sponsored or endorsed by trademark owners.

  © 2014 by Cora Brent

  All Rights Reserved

  Cover Design: © L.J. Anderson, Mayhem Cover Creations

  Dedication

  To my husband, my best friend.

  Were it not for you I would never have been able to tell a love story.

  Because without you I wouldn’t have understood what love meant.

  Table of Contents

  CHAPTER ONE-Stephanie

  CHAPTER TWO-Chase

  CHAPTER THREE-Stephanie

  CHAPTER FOUR-Chase

  CHAPTER FIVE-Stephanie

  CHAPTER SIX-Chase

  CHAPTER SEVEN-Stephanie

  CHAPTER EIGHT-Chase

  CHAPTER NINE-Stephanie

  CHAPTER TEN-Chase

  CHAPTER ELEVEN-Stephanie

  CHAPTER TWELVE-Chase

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN-Stephanie

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN-Chase

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN-Stephanie

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN-Chase

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN-Stephanie

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN-Chase

  CHAPTER NINETEEN-Stephanie

  CHAPTER TWENTY-Chase

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE-Stephanie

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO-Chase

  CHAPTER TWENTY THREE-Stephanie

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR-Chase

  CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE-Stephanie

  CHAPTER TWENTY SIX-Chase

  CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN-Stephanie

  CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT-Chase

  CHAPTER TWENTY NINE-Stephanie

  EPILOGUE-Chase

  CHAPTER ONE

  Stephanie

  I tried craning my neck to see the television mounted over the bar but a bunch of sloppy drunks with fat heads were in the way. I sighed and peered into my champagne glass. Usually there wasn’t a lot of betting action in baseball but this was Game Six of the National League Championship Series between the Cubs and the Dodgers. People grew emotional anytime the chronic underdog Cubs were involved. Emotion led to rash decisions and that led to empty pockets. If I was still running my sports book, this would have been a hell of a busy day.

  But I wasn’t.

  After the shit that went down last month I hadn’t gotten my nerve back. No one, particularly a female, could run a sports book without a set of brass balls.

  The room we were ushered into after the ceremony was small, but there were only about twenty five of us here. The wedding had been brief but nice. I liked the bride and groom. Saylor was a close friend of my roommate, Truly, but lately we’d hung out together often enough for her to invite me to Las Vegas for the event. I’d asked her why she didn’t just get married in Arizona. Saylor smiled and said, “This will be the biggest party I ever have. So it has to be the best.” That made sense to me in a weird way. Still, I wouldn’t have come along if Truly hadn’t dragged me.

  Even though I doubted that the whole Happily Ever After thing was meant for everyone, I had to smile over Saylor and Cord Gentry. It was tough not to. I sipped my champagne and watched the two of them. Saylor was radiant in her simple white dress. Her long brown hair had been curled and hung down her back. She kept absently running a hand over the small bulge in her abdomen as Cord held her possessively close. There was a story about them but I’d only heard it in bits and pieces and I wasn’t nosy enough to ask. They’d known each other as kids and she hated him for a long time. Apparently he’d been quite the piece of work in his youth. All the Gentry boys were.

  I knew Cord and his brothers were triplets but they must not have been identical because I could tell them apart easily. They were all big, blonde, square-jawed and strong. Even just one of them would have been enough to soak all the panties within half a mile. The visual effect of the three of them together was nearly spellbinding.

  Cord had a lot of tattoos and seemed like he was the steadiest of the three. If he’d once been an asshole he must have gotten over it because he seemed all right now. I prided myself on being able to tell the difference. Creedence was Truly’s boyfriend. He was a monster of strength and steely blue eyes. But one thing I could say for Creed was that he wasn’t a phony. He just plowed through life not caring who likes or doesn’t like him. The first time I met him I thought he was a dick, but then again I’d mistaken him for his brother, Chase.

  Chase Gentry.

  He was sitting at the next table with Creed and Truly as a waiter brought out steaks for all the guests. Chase was looking at me again. We shared a psychology class and once he realized we knew the same people he made a habit out of seeking me out. Like a cat batting a ball between its claws, every approach had a mischievous quality. Usually our conversations ended abruptly and profanely. In truth, Chase was so goddamn hot I had trouble staring straight at him without flinching. I could swear that jerk knew it too. He was used to chicks climbing all over him and he thought all he had to do was flash an impish smile to get what he wanted.

  I put my glass down and started cutting my steak. I felt out of place. Plus, even though I had no money in it, I was still dying to see the game. I would have been better off pacing in front of the television or staring tensely at my phone. My fingers fairly itched to pick it up. Ordinarily I would have had my face buried in the screen, but it seemed wrong to be an electronic parasite in the middle of a wedding. I left it in the small purse Truly had forced me to carry in place of my backpack.

  Saylor’s cousin, Brayden, and Millie, his girlfriend, were at my table. They seemed determined to get me to like them.

  “So,” said Millie cheerfully, “you go back to New York often?”

  I shook my head. I hadn’t been back in three years. There was no reason to. Robbie and my mother were dead. My father was locked away in some upstate prison tundra. And Michael and I had always been at odds. I didn’t even know where he was now. “I don’t go back.”

  “What was that like?” Brayden asked with a little bit of awe. “Growing up in a place like New York?”

  “Long Island, actually,” I told him. “Suburb about thirty miles outside of the city.”

  Brayden nodded. “You used go there often though?”

  “To the city? Not really, maybe four or five times a year while I was growing up.” Whenever we took the train into Manhattan it seemed like an alternate universe full of crowds and noise and confusing smell
s. My mother hated the city. She was forever pining for her childhood country home in the Catskills. She did love the beach though. I couldn’t think of my mother without remembering the old Jones Beach boardwalk.

  Millie rested her head on Brayden’s shoulder and smiled at me while I half-heartedly took a bite of my meal. My two companions were very nice people. Being around them made me want to make a little bit of an effort.

  “How long have you two been together?” I asked in what I hoped was a friendly tone.

  “A year and a half,” Millie answered. She really was a beautiful girl; slightly built, with glossy black hair and flawless brown skin. She was even more beautiful when she gazed up at Brayden. I wondered if love always did that to people, made them prettier. My gaze turned to Saylor, who was positively glowing as she stood on tiptoe and kissed her new husband.

  I didn’t usually drink and even a few drops of champagne had made me a little fuzzy around the edges. It wasn’t a feeling I enjoyed. I would always rather know which direction I was traveling in.

  After glancing at the time and figuring I ought to stick around for at least another hour, I settled back into a conversation with Millie and Brayden. At one point Saylor stopped by, hugged her cousin and told me how glad she was that I had made the trip. I smiled and told her she was a stunning bride. I wasn’t lying.

  Saylor looked down at herself and patted her stomach. “Not a moment too soon. Another week and I wouldn’t have been able to squeeze into this dress.”

  Millie reached out and placed a gentle hand on Saylor’s stomach. “How are you feeling?”

  “Tired,” she sighed. “But good.” Saylor giggled. “Still can’t believe it’s really multiples. I should have known though.”

  “Multiple what?” I asked.

  “Babies,” she answered with glee. “Twins.”

  “That’s nice,” I said, feeling stupid because I knew less than nothing about pregnancy or multiples or anything that came with it. I also didn’t know why the hell a twenty two year old girl would want to be married and saddled with babies but Saylor was so blissfully happy I figured she must just be a different brand than I was.

  Saylor laughed and told me to have another glass of champagne in her honor before she moved on to talk to her other guests. I didn’t know most of them. There was some fortyish guy I’d heard someone refer to as Saylor’s dad, but the cranky blonde he was attached to apparently wasn’t her mom. She didn’t look happy to be here. Neither of Cord’s parents had made the trip and Truly had told me it was rather an unhappy situation between the Gentry boys and their folks. The only other Gentry here was a cousin of theirs. His name was Dreck or Decker or something. I hadn’t really been paying attention when names were being given out. He lounged in a corner while some trashy bimbo gave him a lap dance.

  The other guests were a mix of Cord’s coworkers from the tattoo place where he worked and assorted friends. As far as I could tell I was the only one who had arrived without a date. Except for Chase, and that was probably only because he liked to keep his options open.

  Speaking of Chase, I noticed him looking at me again as I adjusted my dress for the thousandth time while gritting my teeth. The damn dress was a whole new chapter of disgrace. Last night as we were getting ready to leave for the airport, Truly asked me how the hell I’d managed to stuff a dress into my backpack. I shrugged and told her I was just going to wear jeans to the wedding. After all, it was a small affair at the Excalibur, not a celebrity bash at the Bellagio. That caused her Southern accent to materialize like it always did when she got all huffy.

  “Stephanie Bransky, I plain forbid you to wear jeans to this or any other wedding.” Then she dropped her suitcase on the floor and ran back to her bedroom. I could hear her searching her closet and cursing not so quietly.

  Finally she emerged and shoved a wispy sky blue gown into my hands. “You will wear this,” she ordered, and then opened up another suitcase to carry it in.

  “Fat chance,” I snorted. “Look at your body and then look at mine. I’ll have to stuff the top full of gym socks to make that work and then no one will be looking at the bride because they’ll be too fucking fascinated by my lumpy implants.”

  Truly frowned but then waved a hand. “Nonsense. I’ll take it in a few inches when we get there.”

  She did try, but couldn’t take it in enough without committing to a serious redesign. That was what happened when you took a dress made for a girl with a DD cup and tried to make it work for one who couldn’t fill a B on her most bloated day of the month. Truly was clearly exasperated when I refused to prop up my rack with anything else. As a result I was pretty much swimming in this damn thing from the waist up. I felt ridiculous, like I was wearing my big sister’s prom dress. I figured that’s why Chase kept looking at me; he was probably laughing like a bastard on the inside.

  Once Saylor moved on to her other wedding guests, Brayden and Millie continued their attempts to chat me up. I realized they were doing me a favor. If it weren’t for them I would be sitting here alone and conspicuously uncomfortable. Still, I kept glancing at the time and wondering how much longer I needed to hang out before I could escape to my room.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Truly warned as she sat down next to me. She gave me a winning smile. Her thick black hair was glamorously teased and surrounded her heart-shaped face like a cloud. The dark green dress she wore was another of her homemade creations; she’d worked on it for a week. Truly was the kind of drop dead gorgeous men fell off their chairs for.

  “You’re not leaving,” she told me flatly as she grabbed a dinner roll.

  “The NLCS is on,” I argued. “Besides, I need to get out of this dress.”

  “Why?”

  I sarcastically shifted the fabric of the bodice again. “It’s uncomfortably tight.”

  Truly pursed her lips. She’d been my roommate for nearly a year but we’d only recently become close. The only other people I knew these days were acquaintances or business associates. For a long time that was how I wanted it. The friends I’d grown up with, the extended family who wanted nothing to do with me, were all left behind and I didn’t think about them. I’d only chosen Arizona because it had nothing to do with New York. I figured out here it might be easier to escape the shadow of being Nick Bransky’s daughter. But starting over is never easy. Starting over without money is nearly impossible. School was expensive and there was nothing left from my privileged upbringing. Everything my parents had was eaten up by federal fines, lawyer fees and medical bills. When tuition bills started piling up I turned to some old connections and started being a sub-bookie. Since I couldn’t very well carry on the business in the crowded residence halls of Arizona State University I found an apartment, figuring I could squeak by if I had a two bedroom place with a roommate willing to split costs and keep out of my way. That was how I’d come across Truly and her cat.

  “You’re not even tryin’ to have fun,” she scolded, nudging my shoulder.

  “I am too. I just don’t do ‘fun’ quite like everyone else.”

  “I know that. But Steph, you don’t need to look like you’re sucking on sour lemons.”

  “Oh,” I grimaced. “Do I really look bad?”

  Truly smiled. “Chase doesn’t think so.”

  “You’re full of it. He didn’t tell you that.”

  “The boy didn’t need to. He’s been giving you the eye every chance he gets. You should have seen how crestfallen he was when you didn’t come out for dinner last night.”

  “I was tired.”

  “Bullshit.”

  I glanced slyly over at Chase Gentry. He was telling a lively story to Cord’s friends and gesturing in such a way that I figured the subject had to be dirty. It usually was with Chase. His mind was slightly filthier than your average cesspool. Truly always liked to tell me how underneath that lecherous exterior, Chase was just an intelligent, sweet guy. Sometimes Truly was too optimistic.

  “You think Sa
ylor will mind if I duck out?”

  Truly sighed. “No, but I wish you wouldn’t.”

  I appreciated her Help Stephanie Be Normal project. I really did. I understood that since Truly had fallen in love with Creed Gentry her world was full of rainbows and fairy dust. Now she wanted to inflict happiness on everyone around her. Plus, I knew she worried about me after I’d had a weak moment and vaguely confessed what Xavier had done. I hadn’t given her details but I was a mess and Truly knew it.

  “I fucking own you, bitch.”

  “What’s wrong now?” Truly asked. “You sit on a tack or what?”

  “No,” I grumbled, trying to relax my face. My expression must have grown pretty homicidal over the brief thought of Xavier and his disgusting pack of hoods. Truly was staring at me with alarm. I didn’t like thinking about that night. I would happily stick a dozen straight pins under each of my fingernails if I could eviscerate the memory. For the last month I’d lived with the fear it would come back to haunt me. But the threats, the catcalls, and the pure shame never really disappeared from my mind. They were always there.

  “I am kind of tired though,” I finally said.

  Truly knew I was lying. She also knew when to back away and leave me alone. It was a big reason we got along so well.

  “All right,” she sighed as I stood up.

  “Hey, I told you I switched to the early flight, didn’t I?” I would need to leave the hotel by seven to make my eight am departure time. It had cost me fifty bucks to change the ticket but I didn’t want to fly back with the group.

  Truly nodded. “Yes ma’am. So I guess I’ll see you back in Tempe?”

  “I guess so,” I muttered, looking around for the bride and groom so I could choke out congratulations before retreating. Saylor was sitting all alone, her elbows up on the table. She looked strangely grim and I didn’t want to bug her. Cord was laughing with Creed and some of his buddies. I didn’t know him well enough to interrupt. I did wave to Brayden and Millie. They were very polite and said they hoped to see me again soon.