Down by Contact - A Seattle Lumberjacks Romance (40 page)

“Are you telling me it’s over?” She locked
her knees so she wouldn’t collapse to the floor in a heap of
blubbering female regret.

“It never even started. Not really. This was
a stupid idea from the beginning.”

She turned away from him and started
throwing clothes onto the bed from the closet with shaking hands.
The tears flowed freely down her cheeks and blurred her vision.

“You can stay here until we play our last
game. That was our deal. I’ll sleep elsewhere.” Zach’s harsh voice
softened. “This is for the best, Kelsie. It would never work
between us. We’re too different.”

“I know.” She hiccupped.

“It’s best we end it now before one of us
gets their heart broken.” He stood there for a moment, as if he
wanted to say something else, but he didn’t.

“It’s too late for that.”

“I know.” Zach walked from the room. She
started to run after him, stumbled and fell against the bed. She
sank to her knees on the floor and sobbed into the soft fabric of
the down comforter.

Her heart cracked apart and left a gaping
hole no one could fill but Zach. 

CHAPTER 26

Zach stood near the window, the dreary day
outside highlighted his obvious misery. In one corner sat Veronica,
arms crossed over her chest, as she glared at Zach. Her father
sighed and leaned forward in his executive chair, while HughJack
paced the floor.

They were going to suspend him, possibly for
the rest of the season, or cut him, and cut their losses. The Zach
Experiment would be considered a major disaster. He’d torn the team
in two with his blatant dislike of their popular quarterback—the
man who’d legitimized the Seattle Lumberjacks as a contender.

Zach stared at the practice field and Lake
Washington beyond. So not the way he’d planned to finish his NFL
career. And definitely not the way he’d planned to finish his
marriage to Kelsie. Out with a fizzle, no fireworks, no last-ditch
effort to save his career or his marriage. They’d both just sputter
out like a wick buried in candle wax until all light was
extinguished.

Gone was his hope for a ring, his lifelong
dream. And gone was the other lifelong dream—Kelsie. Somehow a ring
paled in comparison to losing Kelsie. He’d never thought they’d
click like they did, in bed and actually also out of bed. In fact,
for her he’d dress in some stuffy suit for a night on the town just
to see her in a sexy evening gown or bring home a bouquet of roses
just to watch her face light up.

She used him and now she wouldn’t want to
align herself with the man who’d been labeled a major fuck-up by
his NFL team—probably his last team. Which explained why she’d
called in the cavalry—her ex. Yet, even as he thought the words he
didn’t completely believe them. She’d been truthful with him at
last, and he believed what she’d told him.

The door slammed open. Zach yanked himself
out of his pity party and looked up just as Tyler Harris bullied
his way into the inner sanctum of the owner’s office. He looked
madder than a swarm of yellow jackets having their hive doused with
water.

“Harris. Get out. I’ll deal with you later.”
HughJack jabbed a finger toward the door. Tyler ignored it and
stomped into the room, slamming the door behind him.

“Like hell, I will. Zach didn’t throw the
bowl. Kelsie did. I saw the whole damn fucking thing.”

Veronica rose to her feet. “You’re lying.
You jocks stick together.”

“Really? You think I’d defend him if it
wasn’t the truth? We’ve barely said a civil word to each other all
season.”

Mr. Simms looked at his daughter. “Is what
he says true?”

Veronica wrapped her arms around her body
and glared at Zach. “That’s not how I saw it. He started the food
fight.”

Tyler rounded on Veronica. “You say you want
what’s best for the team, so prove it. Admit you had a hand in
this.”

All eyes in the room turned to Veronica.
Silence reigned, except for Harris’s heavy breathing. The guy must
have run to get here. Veronica refused to look at Zach, or anyone
else for that matter. She crossed the room to the small bar and
poured a glass of ginger ale.

Harris waited, hands on hips, chest heaving,
displaying a level of patience Zach would never master. But then
his ability to stay in the pocket and wait for plays to develop and
still not get sacked was legendary. A skill he sorely needed this
year considering their offensive line.

Three months ago, Zach would’ve preferred
suspension to allowing Harris to defend him. He’d come a long way.
Now he stood back and gratefully let the quarterback present his
case, knowing for once they were all on the same page.

“Daddy, this was a test for Zach. You wanted
to re-sign him. I didn’t. He failed the test miserably.” Veronica
turned and pleaded with her father.

HughJack jutted out his chin. “She’s right,
Zach. You’re suspended. Your behavior might have been goaded by Mr.
Richmond, but you didn’t handle your reaction properly. You failed
to meet the requirements we outlined for you a few months ago.”
He’d have been throwing a clipboard if he’d had one in his
hands.

“You’re suspending him for something like
that? It’s not even related to his performance on the field.” Tyler
fisted his hands and stepped in between HughJack and Zach,
toe-to-toe with his coach.

“You’re taking Murphy’s side?” A smile
tugged at the corners of HughJack’s mouth.

“We need him.” Harris’s steely blue eyes
narrowed with determination.

Zach stood behind Harris and kept his mouth
shut as he watched the coach. Zach suspected both he and Harris
were being played.

“He’s a detriment to this team. He started
that food fight, and ruined the gala. The sooner he’s off the team,
the better,” Veronica recovered her stride and jumped back in the
conversation.

Harris rounded on her. “He’s not a
detriment. Not to me. Not to you. And definitely not to the
defense.”

HughJack’s eyes narrowed. Zach knew Harris
was walking into a trap but had no way to warn him. “I never change
my mind.”

“There’s a first time for everything. If you
suspend him, you’ll have to suspend me, too. I’m as guilty as he
is, and I’m calling bullshit on this entire thing.”

HughJack studied both of them, not bending
an inch. “You’re both team captains. You’re responsible for the
actions of your team. Half the team and all the rookies joined in
that food fight.” He turned to the owner and Veronica.

Tyler had the guts to grin. “Yeah, they had
a helluva good time.”

“I for one, did not have a good time. That
incident reflects badly on the team and my family.” Veronica lifted
her head, getting that haughty rich-bitch look Zach used to see on
a teenage Kelsie, the one that didn’t fit her anymore.

Tyler turned to Veronica. “Who gives a shit
about your reputation? We had a record-setting fundraiser.”

Veronica ignored her favorite player and
turned on Zach. “Zach deserves to be benched. He behaved like a
moron at the gala. That was the deal. He broke the agreement.” On
that note, she cast one last threatening glance at Zach, brushed
past Harris, and left the office.

HughJack almost looked sorry. Zach knew
they’d put him between a rock and a hard place. Zach hadn’t
conformed to the terms of the agreement in HughJack’s mind. “That
was the deal, Zach.”

HughJack turned toward Tyler who lifted his
chin in defiance, as if daring the coach. “For unacceptable
leadership behavior, I’m benching you both for the first half of
the next game.”

Zach nodded, and Tyler glared at each man
before he strode out of the room. Turning, Zach followed him into
the hall. Neither spoke as they walked down the stairs. Swallowing,
Zach turned to Tyler. “Thanks, I—”

“No, thanks. We’ve got a football game to
win from the sidelines, at least part of it. Let’s get
started.”

Together, they headed for the film room.
Maybe hours of film would burn out the image of Kelsie’s stricken
blue eyes when he had told her they were through.

* * * * *

Kelsie performed the physical motions of
being a wife. She cooked, she cleaned, and she tried to wrap her
head around what happened to destroy the fragile bonds they’d
forged. She and Zach barely spoke. He went about his business, and
she went about hers, what there was left of it.

Kelsie made it her mission to do as much of
the gala cleanup as possible by herself, just to show Zach that she
didn’t need his money. She underestimated the sheer amount of
lights and Christmas decorations and garbage littering the huge
house. The kitchen looked like a war zone and the parlor didn’t
look much better. Regardless, she toiled away like Cinderella, only
her Prince Charming had resigned from the job.

Day by day, she made a bigger dent in the
mess, but it was nothing like the dent in her heart.

Mark had to be behind this entire disaster.
He’d probably hired the PI to scare her and showed up at the gala
to further ruin her life just because if he couldn’t have her, no
one could. That was the type of man he was. He hated that she’d
moved on and found someone else.

Lavender told her Zach and Tyler had been
suspended for the first half of the next game. She tried to talk to
him about it, but he just walked away. She knew the Jacks’ playoff
dreams hung by a thin jockstrap, and one loss would pretty much
dash all but the dimmest hopes.

If only she could do something to help. Sex
helped, but Zach wouldn’t let her within a mile of him or his fine
body. Dang, she missed that body with all its hard, bulging muscles
and the dark crinkly hair on his chest. Those strong thighs and big
feet and even bigger—

Kelsie dropped the broom she’d been holding
and sank onto the couch. She needed another jetted-tub therapy
since Zach didn’t seem to want the task, but with her luck he’d
walk in on her again. Maybe her naked, soapy body would entice him
to crawl in the tub with her.

Scranton interrupted her thoughts with a low
guttural growl. Kelsie’s head shot up. A car without headlights
crept by on the street. As she watched, it parked across the
street. A dark sedan. A very familiar dark sedan.

Instead of fear, fury built inside her. She
grabbed Zach’s Ken Griffey Jr. autographed bat and ran out the
door. She’d never been a Yankees fan anyway.

Brandishing the bat, she ran for the car.
Trench-coat man stood several feet away, taking a leak. He yanked
up his pants and started toward his car. She blocked his escape,
swinging the bat in front of her.

He held out his hands, palms up. “Hey, look,
lady, I don’t want any problems with you. Just let me get in my
car, and I’ll be on my way.”

“Like hell you will. Not until you tell me
who hired you.” She threatened him with the bat.

“I can’t do that.”

“Really?” Kelsie swung that bat hard against
one headlight. It shattered into millions of tiny pieces. “You
don’t seem to like using these things anyway.”

“You’re fucking crazy. Leave my car alone.”
The guy tried to skirt around her on the sidewalk to escape.

“Not so fast, buster. Tell me who hired
you.” She smashed his windshield and watched with smug satisfaction
as a nice snowflake pattern formed in the glass.

“Damn it. You’re a crazy-assed bitch.”

“You’d better believe I am. Tell me what I
want to know, or you’ll be walking home tonight.” She did in the
other headlight.

“Stop. Please stop.” He begged like a
coward. Trench-coat man didn’t seem so formidable now. She couldn’t
believe she’d ever been afraid of the idiot.

“Who hired you? Tell me now or I’ll start on
the hood.”

“Okay, just stop, please.” He backed up
several steps and regarded her warily. “Veronica Simms.”

“Really?” She held the bat poised over her
head.

“Yeah, really. Said she needed to find a way
to bring Zach down, and you were it.”

“What else?”

“That’s it.”

Kelsie nodded as it all became crystal
clear. Veronica. All Veronica. She tossed the bat at the guy.
“Here, sell this on eBay, and you might have enough to fix this
car.” She ran into the house and dialed a phone number from memory.
“Don’t you dare hang up on me.” For a moment her threat hung
suspended in air like a jumper teetering on the ledge. Mark’s
breathing on the other end of the line indicated she’d interrupted
something strenuous. He’d never been known to hire his legal
assistants because they could use a computer. Their skills lay in
other areas.

“What the hell do you want?”

“The truth. Why did you come to the
gala?”

“Oh, fuck. You’re not going to give me any
peace until I tell you, are you?”

“Nope.”

“Fine. That Simms woman called me. I thought
her plan sounded interesting, and she was footing the bill.”

“So you came out here to harass me and drive
a wedge between Zach and me.”

“Honey, I sure did. And it worked from what
I understand. You got your answers, now good night.”

The line went dead. Kelsie sat down at the
breakfast nook and considered her options. She wasn’t done with
Veronica yet, and she definitely wasn’t done with Zach Murphy.

* * * * *

A few days later, Zach slumped on the bench,
miserable, cold, and frustrated. Harris sat next to him, hating the
helplessness of being benched as much as Zach did.

Out on the field, the Lumberjacks floundered
like coho salmon washed ashore and dying with their last
breath.

Brett couldn’t complete a pass to save his
soul—or the team’s. Bruiser ran like a ninety-year-old man. The
defensive line crumpled under the 49ers constant bombardment,
leaving big holes, while the secondary staggered and weaved worse
than his grandma’s knitting circle after a few shots of
Amaretto.