She put fists on her hips and looked at Ben.  “We start filming in less than a week.  What happened?” She demanded.

Ben put the bag of frozen corn on the table. “He and Joey went up for a rebound at the same time.  Joey got the ball.”

Jess was out the door before anyone could say anything else.  She stomped her five-inch heels to the middle of the court and stood toe to toe with Joey.  The game came to a screeching halt.  Her brothers knew enough to back off and stay out of the way.  Even Tony kept his distance.  Joey was totally on his own.

She reached up and jabbed her right index finger in Joey’s chest punctuating each word.  “What the hell were you thinking?”  She said in that low, mad, Parker tone Joey knew so well.

On the fifth poke, Joey grabbed her hand and held it against his chest covering it with his own. What the hell was it with her and his chest?

“We were just playing basketball.”  He said quietly but firmly.

She didn’t attempt to pull her hand from his grasp.  “His nose is broken and we start filming in five days.  I can already see the bruising around his eyes.”

Gabe had come outside and was jogging toward them.  He took in the scene and the body language between Jess and Joey.

“Jess.  It’s not a big deal; we’ll film around it.  I have scenes that could easily cause this type of injury.  It’ll just give the make-up artist a little head start.  That’s all.”  He shook his head.  “They just play a rougher game of basketball in Kansas than we do in Hollywood.  Jamie caught me in the ribs yesterday.  Joey didn’t do it on purpose.  Trust me.”

Joey still held her hand against his chest and his eyes hadn’t left hers.  “What he said.  It was an accident.” He nearly whispered.

“Like I said in the house, it isn’t my first broken nose and it probably won’t be my last.  I’m not some candy assed movie star who’s made of glass for God’s sake.  Shit happens, Jess.  It’s fine.  I’m fine.”

She turned her gaze away from Joey and looked at Gabe.  Everyone else had gone into the house and the three of them stood alone on the lighted basketball court.

“And what are you going to tell the paparazzi as we walk through the airport Monday?” She snapped.

Gabe laughed. “Oh, that’s easy.  I’m going to tell them we had a fight because I made you sing Santa Baby at the nursing home and you punched me.”

“You what?” She practically seethed.

Gabe shrugged. “I’m going in the house.  Pauli gave me a painkiller and I should lay down now.  You kids play nice out here, okay?” Gabe said as he turned and walked to the house.

She couldn’t believe that Gabe had just turned and walked away from her.  Sure, she sort of understood the practical joker in him would say that he was going to tell the paparazzi that she’d given him the black eyes.  She was worried that the paparazzi would believe him.

She turned and looked up at Joey.  “I’m sorry.  I guess I jumped to the wrong conclusion.”

He still held her hand against his chest and now reached around her with his other hand and pulled her close to him.  “I guess you did.”  He whispered.

He turned so his back was toward the house and she was completely hidden from anyone who might be looking out the window to watch them. Joey knew that Gabe Greer had just screwed up big time by walking away from her and while he was still trying to figure out what Gabe was doing there, the guy had come out to defend him.

“I know you’re pissed right now.”  He smiled the mega-watt Bellini smile.  “At both of us.  But Jess, with what Pauli must have given him, Gabe probably had to get to bed before he fell down.”

She didn’t say anything.

“Why did you bring him here, Jess?  What’s going on?”  He whispered against her ear.

“We’re doing the movies together.  He’s a friend.  My best friend in Hollywood, but just a friend.  Trust me Joey, he’s not attracted to me.” She said.

How could the guy not be attracted to her?  Joey thought.  “That doesn’t answer why you brought him here. I thought we’d finally have some time together before you left but then you brought another guy home with you.”  He still held her close, as though his life somehow depended on having contact with her.

“Joey, there’s nothing going between me and Gabe.  He’s here because he didn’t have any place else to go for the holiday and we leave Monday anyway.”

She and Joey had started getting close last month when Ben had sent him to L.A. to bring her home and keep her safe from the stalker.  They’d spent the past several weeks trying to work on the logistics of a long distance relationship, but between her schedule and his, this was the first time they’d even been able to see each other.  He hadn’t been seeing anyone else, but he had been seeing pictures of her with Gabe all over the internet and on covers of the tabloids.  Pictures of them leaving her condo, Gabe’s house, the gym, restaurants, and the movie studio.  The reporters had them practically married for God’s sake, and they were going to be sharing a villa in Italy while filming there.  On one hand, she was standing here right now, in his arms, telling him there was nothing going on between her and Gabe.  On the other hand, she was an actress.  God how could one small woman cause so much turmoil in his life?  So what was he going to believe?  What he read, or what she was telling him and what he was feeling right now?

Besides, there was always the possibility that there wasn’t really anything between them, except the closeness that had been borne out of the pressure of keeping her safe from the stalker.  The fact that they hadn’t worked out getting together since seemed to support that possibility.

It was almost as though they’d both figured it out at the same time, but it was Jess who spoke first, “Look, Joey, maybe we should give this thing we think we have a rest.  I’m going to be out of the country for who knows how long, and we weren’t even able to get together when we were in neighboring states.”

He looked down at her.  She had a point and it wasn’t as if he was never going to see her again, her mother was married to his brother. If there was something between them, they had plenty of time to do something about it.  “You’ve got a point.  Maybe when you get back, we can see if there’s still anything.”

He kissed the top of her head and walked her back to the house.

Chapter 22

Friday morning at 5:30, Ben was up and dressed for his run.  He was surprised to find Gabe, who was sporting two black eyes, in the kitchen waiting for him.

“I’m doing the ten mile route again this morning.”  Ben said as Gabe followed him through the garage.

“Works for me.”  Gabe replied as they stood in the driveway doing stretches.

Again, Ben started out south on Mission Road and again this morning, Joey joined them just south of 99th street.  Ben thought that the tension between Gabe and Joey had dissipated last night after Joey had broken Gabe’s nose during the basketball game.  Maybe it was after the two of them had stood on the court talking with Jess.

Ben had no idea what anyone said last night, but Gabe came back to the house alone and went straight to bed.  Shortly after that, Joey got Pauli and went to Parker House. Jess came in later, changed clothes and went straight downstairs to the gym.

This morning, as they neared Parker House on the return trip, Joey peeled off, leaving Gabe and Ben to run the last half mile to Ben’s house alone.

Again, this morning, Ben didn’t get many cobwebs cleared.  He had Jury selection starting Monday morning and he hadn’t spent much time thinking about it.  He also hadn’t been able to talk with Tanner much yesterday about what was going on with the football team.

The game would be tonight at 7:30 in St. Louis.  Jamie was supposed to make the trip on the team bus, while the family would be flying over on the Lucky Bets jet.  Ben wasn’t sure how he felt about his son making the trip on the unsecured team bus, but he couldn’t let go of the feeling that whatever was happening wasn’t really about the whole team.  Sure, they knew now that someone had put peanut dust in the ventilation system, and peanut oil on the door handle and steering wheel of Justin’s Jeep causing his peanut allergy to trigger.  If Jamie hadn’t gotten there when he did and acted quickly, Justin could have died of anaphylactic shock.  It was also true that the next day Jamie had found the football coach with the back of his head bashed in.   However, it was also true that nothing had happened to any member of the football team in the two days since.  Of course, much to Jamie’s frustration, he’d had someone with him every waking minute since finding Coach Ferguson.