Calling the Play (19 page)

“He set me up,” Tom was telling Ty as they walked back to the locker room. The whole team was sweaty, exhausted, and in pretty good spirits, considering the way the day had started. “He picked a woman who would never give a guy like me a chance.”

Danny laughed as he squirted water into his mouth, and ended up spraying it all over Cass, who was walking in front of him. Cass reached back and swatted at him. “Not my fault a bangin’ black chick don’t like white farm boys,” Danny said. “She was all over me, playa.”

“Man, she had one sweet ass,” Tom said, outlining a big, round ass in the air with his hands in front of him. He bit his lip. “Mmm-mmm.”

“You don’t even know,” Danny said, punching him in the arm. “So fucking sweet.”

“Man, I saw that ghetto booty on YouTube,” Jo Jo said behind them. Ty turned to see him smiling and laughing. “You two know that whole thing was on the ’net, right? Both of you chasing that girl around the bar. And farm boy’s sad face when she went home with my man.” Danny grabbed Jo Jo’s outstretched hand for a moment and then they let go, hands flying up in the air.

“Boom,” Danny said. “Gotta teach my ace my moves.”

“Fuck that,” Tom said with a laugh. “Next weekend I’m choosing the girl.”

“Oh, ho,” Jo Jo laughed. “We got us a competition. My money’s on Danny. No woman’s gonna choose farm boy when she could have black dick.”

“That’s right,” someone said in the back of the group.

“You got that right,” another voice chimed in.

Ty laughed with the rest of them. He’d missed this, he realized, this sort of smack-talk camaraderie among the team. Everyone had been so tense for the last couple of years. He could already feel the difference on the team with the addition of new players. Never in a million years would he have imagined that bringing in Danny, one of the most hated players in football, on and off the field, would result in a more relaxed atmosphere. But he and Tom had hit it off in a big way, and their antics were entertaining the team.

“I’m not sure that’s what Melody Ann had in mind when she asked us to do things people would want to film and put up on YouTube,” Beau remarked drily. “I believe she specified
not
X-rated YouTube.”

“You’d know, playa,” Jo Jo chimed in, which made Beau frown.

“Not funny,” Cass growled.

“Sorry,” Jo Jo mumbled. “I forgot that was a sore subject.”

“You try having some bitch secretly film you having sex and then throw it up on the Internet,” Cass said. “Not so funny when it’s you.”

“Hell no,” Rasheed agreed. “I’d lose my fucking shit. My mama would have a heart attack.”

“Exactly,” Beau said. “My mother is still having the priest say mass for me over that. So learn from our mistakes, kids.”

“What about your mom, Ty?” Tom asked. “Is she cool with you and Brian and Randi?”

Ty stopped and stared at Tom. “I don’t know,” he said. “I haven’t told her yet. Shit. I’ve got to tell her. She’s moving to Birmingham.”

“Family,” Rasheed said with a sigh. “It never gets easier. I live with my mama.”

“What?” Jo Jo asked incredulously. “That’s got to mess with your game, my man.”

Rasheed laughed. “I ain’t got no game,” he said. “But that’s cool. My mama’s older and she ain’t doing so good anymore.” He shrugged. “I don’t mind taking care of her.”

“A mama’s boy,” Danny said and Rasheed shoved him.

“I don’t think Ty’s little motivational speech was G-rated,” Jo Jo argued. “And Melody put that up on the Internet.” He held up his phone and Ty’s voice rang out, yelling, “My ass! You know you want it!” Everyone laughed.

“Where did you get that?” Ty asked, frowning.

“I think they made it a ringtone, too,” Rasheed said from behind Jo Jo.

“There’s a meme with Wolverine admitting he wants Ty’s ass,” Tom said, laughing so hard he was doubled over.

“Shit,” Ty said. Then he grinned. “Okay, I want to see that one.” He turned to the guys who were still laughing. “You hear that, bitches? Wolverine wants my ass. Fuck you.”

By then they’d arrived back at the locker room. Most of the players went in, but Ty stood outside the doors with Tom and Cass, waiting for Tom to find the meme. The locker room door opened and Jo Jo leaned out, his eyes wide. “Ty,” he whispered. “You better get in here. Your cop is just sitting in Brian’s office on the floor in the corner. Rasheed went in to see if he could help and she just glared at him and told him to fuck off.”

“Get Brian,” he told Cass as he pulled open the door and jogged through the locker room to the coaches’ offices on the other side. A few players watched him go, obviously aware of what was going on. Rasheed stood at the doors that led to the coaches’ hallway.

“She’s still in there,” he told Ty, opening the door for him. “She looked okay. Just sort of pissed.”

“Randi looks like that a lot,” Ty told him. “Thanks.”

Brian pulled open the door and rushed into the office hallway just in time to see Ty enter from the other end. He’d been in a meeting in one of the conference rooms when Cass had rushed in to get him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, his voice worried.

“I don’t know,” Ty said.

Brian shoved open the door to his office and stumbled to a halt when he saw Randi sitting on the floor in the corner behind his desk. Ty stepped in beside him. “Randi?” Brian said softly.

“Yeah,” she said with a sigh. “It’s me.”

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yes. No. Maybe.” She looked down at her hands in her lap. “No. Definitely no.”

Brian exchanged a look with Ty. By unspoken agreement, they slowly walked over to her. “Okay,” Ty said. “Can we sit down?”

“Be my guest.” She waved at the floor next to her.

“You’re not bleeding from a gunshot wound, right?” Ty asked. “Been there, done that. Over it.” That made her laugh and Brian felt the vise around his chest relax.

“Nope,” she said. “I’m all about the scars from gunshot wounds past.” She sounded dark and bitter.

Brian sat down next to her. “Good,” he said. “Although, in a pinch, I was a Boy Scout and I know a lot of first aid.”

“Tell me about it,” she said. Then she surprised him by crawling into his lap. “You always make me feel better,” she said, burying her face in the side of his neck. He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a squeeze. “I had such a shitty day, and all I could think was that I needed to see you guys.”

“All right,” he said firmly. “Spill. What’s going on?”

“The whole locker room wants to know,” Ty said, exaggerating a little. “Poor Rasheed thinks you don’t like him.”

“Tell him I only say ‘fuck off’ to the ones I love,” Randi said, her voice muffled against Brian.

“That will definitely make him feel better,” Ty told her, sitting down next to them. She blindly reached a hand out and he took it, kissing her palm.

“Now I feel better,” she said, tucking her head under so she could look at Ty. “Can’t you come closer?”

Ty straddled Brian’s legs on his knees, scooting as close as he could get while still wearing his practice pads. He kissed the top of her head. “Close enough?” To Brian he seemed like a big, warm security blanket.

“Well, I guess that’s the best we can do here,” she said, but she sounded disgruntled. “I don’t like all these windows everywhere. No privacy. I don’t know how you two managed to fuck in here.”

“Late night, no one here but us,” Brian said. “You came too early if that’s what you want.”

She shook her head and played with the button on his polo. “I always want to fuck you guys, but maybe not right this minute.”

Well, that wasn’t like her at all. “Sweetheart, you’re making me crazy with worry,” he said softly. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

“I saw Tater Sullivan again today,” she said. “He’s still a giant prick.”

Brian tightened his hold on her and Ty scooted even closer. “What’d he do?” Ty growled. “I still plan to break every one of his fingers next time I see him.”

She huffed out a laugh. “I’m sure he couldn’t stop you. He’s so fucking stupid.” She reached up with two fingers and wiped her cheek and Brian realized she was crying.

“You’re killing me,” he told her. “You want me to go do it now? You know what, I’m going to bury him. Someplace they’ll never find the body.”

“There you go again,” she said, patting his chest. “Being all fucking sweet. Both of you. You’re gonna make me use the L-word.”

Brian couldn’t breathe for a second. “Am I?” he asked, trying to play it cool. “That’ll be a first.”

“It will,” she said. “I’m pretty sure there’s a bet going around out there about me never falling in love, so there may be money in it for you two. Ask Johnny.”

Ty’s gaze met his and Brian could tell he was feeling the same overwhelming emotions he was. “They can keep the money,” Brian said. “I don’t want to be too greedy. After all, I’ve got you two.”

“God,” Randi moaned. “Doesn’t he ever stop with the sweet?”

“Nope,” Ty said. “That’s part of his charm. He lures you with all that sweetness and then orders you to do dirty, kinky things. That’s a pretty potent combination.”

She nodded, back to playing with his buttons. “So,” she finally said. “I sort of had a breakdown and went to see the police psychologist today after I punched Tater and told the feds to fuck off.”

“Wow,” Ty said. “You had a busy day.”

“What feds?” Brian asked. He didn’t want to ask if she’d just ruined her career. She was upset enough.

“The DEA. They wanted me to go back undercover as Tater’s whore, Sissy. They said I already had an established identity and they needed someone on the inside with Tater. I, of course, told them to fuck off.”

“Sounds reasonable to me,” Ty said.

“Well, then Tater said since I was fucking you two, whore shouldn’t be a stretch for me and I sort of broke his nose.”

“Sweet,” Ty said with a laugh. Brian wasn’t so amused.

“How did he know you were involved with us?” he asked.

“Exactly,” Randi said with disgust. “The feds. They assumed that my—what did they call it? Oh, yeah. My current lifestyle choices indicated I would agree with their plan. They told him.”

“What?” Brian asked angrily. “Can they do that? Just tell scum-sucking drug dealers about your personal life? Wait a minute. Are they watching you?”

“Apparently,” she said. “One of them said that they needed to have all the pertinent information on potential agents so nothing could come back and bite them in the ass. Don’t worry,” she said before he could comment. “I’m filing a complaint. I already did, actually, and so did the department.”

“Good,” Ty said. “Also, if you see those agents around, let me know. I want to break their fingers, too.”

“You guys know I love offers of violent retribution better than flowers, right?” she asked. “You are racking up the points.”

“So we covered punching Tater and telling the feds to fuck off,” Brian said. “Now tell me about the psychologist.”

Randi’s head was clear for the first time today since the meeting with the feds. All day long she’d wanted nothing more than to be here and do this, with these two. How fucking pathetic was that? And scary. She’d never needed or wanted anybody like that before.

“Well, that whole thing with Tater did a number on my head. No surprise, right? But apparently, it most probably goes back to my childhood, like everything does eventually. I don’t think I should be a mother. Think how badly I could screw up a kid.”

“We’ll talk about kids a little later,” Brian said. “Nobody needs to make any decisions now.”

“Jesus,” Randi said, some of her usual attitude coming back. “Did you not hear me? I just said I’d suck as a mom.”

“That’s not true,” Brian said, gently smoothing some hair off her forehead. “Because you know exactly what a mom shouldn’t do. Sometimes that’s more important than what they should do.”

“God damn it,” she said. “You suck the mad right out of me with that shit.”

“Sorry?” He said it like a question.

“Don’t be,” she said with a sigh. “I don’t want to be mad.” She sighed again. “Look, the psychologist said maybe she should meet you two.” She’d been dreading bringing it up. They’d barely decided to try a relationship and she was dragging them to a fucking head doctor. She could already see their footprints as they sprinted away from her.

“Okay,” Ty said with a shrug. “I’ve done shitloads of therapy in the last few years.”

“You have?” she asked, surprised. “Why?”

“Drinking, the drug charges, abandonment issues. Because of my dad,” he clarified when Brian looked upset. “Trying to get my game back. Therapy’s good for you. Seriously.”

“I haven’t tried it, but for you, anything,” Brian said. “Why does she want to meet us?”

“I think she’s worried that I jumped into this thing with you two because of my issues. She said something about me being very vulnerable right now.” Ty laughed out loud while Brian bit his lip and tried not to laugh. “What?” she asked.

“I bet that went over well,” Ty said. He laughed. “She’s right. You are vulnerable. But I love that side of you. When we’re making love and you let go and go all girly. I know you don’t show that to everyone.”

“Man, I love that,” Brian said, squirming underneath her. She could feel him getting hard. “Stop talking about it. Windows.” He hugged her tightly. “Ty’s right. You’re an amazing woman. Tough when you need to be and vulnerable when you can be. That doesn’t mean you don’t know what you’re doing.”

Randi realized at that moment that these two men knew her better than anyone else on earth. Even Johnny had bought the hardcore-cop-with-attitude act she presented to the world. But Ty and Brian had seen right through it. They knew about all her baggage and they wanted her anyway. They hadn’t run away. Instead they’d waited for her. Waited until she was ready, and kept coming back and trying until she couldn’t deny it any longer. They’d shared their love for each other with her, too. Made her a part of it. Her heart did a little skipping, lurching thing that felt like a heart attack. She supposed that was love. Figures it would feel like dying.

“Well,” she said, pushing away from Brian. She surprised both men and Ty jerked back, giving her some space. “Now that I’ve told you I love you, I should go.” She tried to get up, but it was awkward, so Ty got up first and then pulled her to her feet. He wrapped his arms around her loosely.