The Man Who Has No Heart - Victoria Quinn Page 0,51
baseball.”
“But you pay a hundred grand for season tickets?” she asked incredulously.
“I bought them from a friend.”
Tucker leaned forward. “Hey, what’s going on over here?” He extended his hand, smiling. “I’m Tucker. Sorry, my brother is just brilliant. Doesn’t know how to talk to people.”
She shook it. “Ivonne. This is Christy.”
“Deacon, switch with me.”
I didn’t want to talk to them, so I was fine with that.
Tucker spent the rest of the game flirting with them, one eye on the game and one eye on them.
I watched the players move around out on the field but didn’t think about the game. I didn’t really think anything at all, but it wasn’t the peaceful calmness I had at the cabin. It was something else…like I was incapable of feeling anything at all.
When the game was over, we made it to the front of the stadium.
“You ladies want to get a drink?” Tucker asked. “There’s a great bar just a few blocks away.”
“Sure,” Ivonne said.
“I’m down,” Christy said.
I pulled out my phone and texted my driver. I’m ready.
Tucker must have seen what I wrote because he grabbed me by the arm. “Just give us a sec, ladies…” He directed me out of earshot. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
I stared at him blankly.
“These chicks are so fucking hot, and you’re gonna go home?”
I didn’t find them attractive at all. “I’m not interested.”
He stared at me like I’d sprouted wings. “You aren’t interested in perfect pussy?”
I hadn’t been with anyone in a long time. It’d been months…at least. But I wasn’t eager to get laid. “Guess not.”
“Dude, what is going on with you? Are you and Cleo together?”
The mention of her made my mood sour even more. “No.”
“Then…?” He raised both hands. “What the hell are you doing?”
“You don’t need me, Tucker. Fuck both of them.”
“Uh, no. Ivonne wants you. Christy wants me. I can’t just go alone.”
“Well, I’m not interested,” I snapped. “I just want to go home.” I saw the driver pull up to the curb. “Bye, Tucker.” I started to walk away.
He tugged me back. “Deacon—”
“Grab me like that again, and I’ll break your arm myself.”
He stilled at my threat and raised both his hands in the air like I was holding him at gunpoint. “Alright, man. Let’s just calm down.”
“I am calm.”
“Deacon, what’s going on with you? I know you’re a moody guy, but I’ve never seen you like this. Did something happen with Valerie?”
I hadn’t spoken to her since I’d screamed at her. “No.”
“Then what am I missing here?”
I glanced past his shoulder and saw two guys move in on Christy and Ivonne. “You should go, Tucker. Otherwise, someone else is gonna snatch them.”
He didn’t even turn around. “I don’t give a shit about them. You’re the one I give a shit about. Now tell me what’s up.”
I bowed my head and sighed.
Tucker continued to wait, forgetting the girls altogether.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know what?”
“I don’t know what’s wrong.”
He cocked an eyebrow.
“Cleo and I haven’t spoken in three weeks…”
His eyebrow lowered, and he crossed his arms over his chest. “What happened?”
I didn’t want to relive the conversation. “After she dropped off Derek, she came to my place and…said she wanted to be with me.”
He shook his head slightly. “And you fucked it up?”
“I told her I didn’t want to be in a relationship.”
He sighed loudly.
“Now, she won’t talk to me.”
“She dropped you as a client?”
“No…she still does everything for me. But she waits until I’m not home, and if I am home, she sends someone else instead. Now I have no interaction with her at all.”
He watched me for a while, pity in his gaze.
I watched the girls get into the cab with the guys who replaced us.
Tucker didn’t care. “Deacon, why isn’t this obvious to you?”
I stared at him.
“You don’t miss what she does for you…you just miss her.”
My life still ran fluidly. She still took care of me completely. That part hadn’t changed. The only thing missing was her…her smile…our conversations…our friendship.
My hand moved to my chest. “I feel angry all the time. But I don’t feel anything at all at the same time. There’s this pain right here that just won’t go away. And I hate people…but I feel so lonely. I feel like there’s something missing.”
He continued to study me. “Deacon, you told her you didn’t want a relationship…but you were already in a relationship.”
I didn’t understand the statement.
“She was the person you spent all your time with. She was the person you confided