First and Ten (17 page)

“And she’s getting your fetti?”

“Exactly.”

“Those working out for you?” the public
relations guy asked, breaking up their conversation. It was the
first time they’d been allowed in pads, but it was just for promo
pictures.

“Yeah, they’re fine.” Rome pulled on the new
jersey style they were using for the season and headed into the
studio that had been set up to take pictures of a few of the
veteran players.

Holding a football with one hand on top and
one on the bottom, Rome was the center of the picture with a few
linemen behind him. Then he held it out straight at the camera. A
dozen other poses with a few other players and he headed back to
the locker room to get ready for the last few days of OTAs.

“You know,” he said as he unhooked his
shoulder pads and looked at Dalton. “If he wasn’t living in one
half of a duplex, that last time I saw was falling apart, I’d have
less of a problem with it. Candace is living it up in Naperville.
I’m surprised she isn’t in a condo downtown. Her fuck buddy must
live there.”

“Jealous?”

“Not even slightly.” Rome reached for his
practice jersey and looked down at the poly-blend fabric resting in
his hand. Damn, there were too many things running through his
head. “Bad part is, I don’t know if I’m more comfortable with him
not being around her man and having DeMonte living in a dangerous
neighborhood. You know how fucked up insecure men get.”

“Yeah, and not having to work because you’re
dropping a stock broker salary on the house each month has to be
eating away at him.” Rome couldn’t tell if Dalton was joking or
not. “This doesn’t explain how you broke Dani’s heart.”

“You know her Tuesday rule.”

“Yeah, that sucks during the season because
we have Tuesdays off.” Dalton’s face shifted and he suddenly
realized. “You stood her up to be with DeMonte and she had no way
to know.”

“Then some damn paparazzi snapped a family
pic and slapped it all over the internet. I’m the Speed Demon of
Love because they had shots of Dani and I from a few weeks
ago.”

“I need to catch up on my gossip.”

“Dani’s getting reamed by her father right
now.”

“For what? Not getting him season
tickets?”

“Yeah, something like that.” Rome was already
in the doghouse for a host of indiscretions, the last thing he
needed to do was add to the fire by outing Dani’s family line.

“No seriously, what’s the issue? Did her
phone get hacked with naked pictures?” The smile on Dalton’s face
surged the jealousy Rome usually had under control.

“You’ve seen me naked enough in the shower.”
Rome tried to defuse the situation, but failed.

“But Dani, with that ass. Please say those
pictures got out? Or you have them.”

Rage was a motherfucker, especially when
Rome’s fuse was shorter than a fly’s dick at the moment. Rushing a
lineman with close to two hundred pounds of muscle over him was his
second error. Dalton just laughed and shoved Rome back into a
chair. The locker room went from a dull roar to silence.

“What?” Dalton barked in his deep bass. “You
never seen me block a guy? That’s my level one get this shit out of
here block. Next motherfucker that comes after my Berry Good Bar
will find out why those defensive pansies don’t come around the
left side.”

“Technically speaking,” Adrian Marcum, the
all-pro defensive back said as he reached for his helmet and curled
his fingers around the facemask. “We go left all the time. Our
left, not yours. But don’t worry, Gresham, we aren’t about to take
your stash of candy bars.”

“They’re power bars,” Dalton corrected,
keeping the tough psycho killer façade up.

“If that’s where you get your power, we might
have to start running the other way.” Adrian tapped the other two
d-backs standing next to him and they headed out of the locker
room.

“Back to you.” Dalton put his hand on Rome’s
forehead. “You might need to see the team doc.”

“And why would that be?” Rome asked as he
turned his eyes up to see the massive hand.

“You’ve caught feelings.” Rome smacked
Dalton’s hand away. “Don’t blame me, you need to see a specialist
or something.”

“I haven’t caught shit.”

“You like Dani and not in the usual way.”
Dalton passed Rome his helmet. “Whatever you did, fix it and don’t
let it fuck up this practice. I think Marcum has you in his sights
today.”

“My ass as I run past him, maybe.”

Dani had never been more excited for a test
than her micro econ one. Anything to have a reasonable excuse to
get the hell away from her father’s lecture on public perception
and her responsibility. She’d thankfully been living in the dorms
when her sister went off the deep end a few years ago. God knows
the rages during holiday meals were enough to keep her away between
family responsibilities.

After two hours and seven blue books, she
couldn’t really feel her right arm. It had gone numb somewhere
around book five. As she sat in the vestibule by the door, she dug
her left thumb into her forearm while rotating her right hand.

“You didn’t answer my text,” Esme accused as
she approached Dani.

“Would you pick up your phone if my father
was on a rant?”

“You had the drive to school.”

“You’re right, dying from a texting and
driving accident could have helped my mother start another
charitable campaign.”

“And would have answered my question.” Esme
sat across from Dani and placed her hand over Dani’s. “Don’t be
brave. Exactly how pissed off at Rome are you?”

“I’m not anything right now. Are we ready for
tomorrow?”

“Dani, don’t do this. If you go back in the
dating closet and hang it up because of one—”

Dani pulled her hand away. “When you say
closet are you trying to get me to make out with you again?”

“One time when I was half in the bag and you
can’t let it go.”

“If I remember right, you were the one who
thought my breast was your own personal stress ball.”

“You’ve got good tits. Be proud.”

“That’s the second line on my resume. MBA
from Northwestern, used as the breast model of perfection for
plastic surgeons around the world.”

“Wait, let me find my purse, I owe you fifty
cents.”

“I told you my smart ass comments are choice
and deserve more.” Dani conceded defeat. Esme was the only friend
she had she could trust to keep her mouth shut. “Look there’s a
part of me that’s frustrated, but I’m not hurt. Rome got a chance
to hang out with his kid. He’s never even seen more than a picture
of him. The only thing I can be mad about is him standing me up and
that’s more my fault because of my stupid rules about turning off
my phone.”

“You sure?”

“Yes. There’s no picture of him pinning her
up against a wall. Or in some deep ass make-out session.”

“He pinned you up against a wall?” Esme
fawned as she closed her eyes. Dani snapped her fingers in front of
Esme who held her hand up. “Just give me one more minute. I’ve
almost—”

“Okay,” Dani stood. “I’m assuming you have
your half of the project done and I’ll be on my way.”

“No,” Esme whined and grabbed Dani’s hand and
pulled her back down. “Can’t I have a little fun?”

“Not if you’re imagining yourself being
fondled by my man.”

Esme straightened up. “You’re what?” She
smiled broadly.

“I mean…you know…look. His first call was to
me and then my dad came in my room and I had to hang up.”

“He still ditched you.”

“He ditched me for DeMonte. His son, not that
woman.”

“You sure?” Esme questioned.

“Until I hear different and see a picture
that looks more incriminating, I’m giving him the benefit of the
doubt.”

“Is this one of those grown up things?”

“Yes.” Dani went back to working out the sore
muscle in her arm. “Plus, I’m not too grown up. This bitch has cut
me off from him more than once. And not at a very opportune time I
might add.”

“Oh really?” Esme leered. “Any chance—yeah
that look tells me no.”

“And who says your brilliance doesn’t extend
into the real world?”

“Bastards, that’s who.”

Two hours, three way too early in the day
cocktails, and a plate or two of appetizers shared between them,
their project looked ready to go. Then again, Dani scratched a note
to review when the room wasn’t on a tilted axis. Driving herself
home wasn’t an option at the moment. Instead, she ordered a glass
of water and settled in to sober herself up and finally get back to
the people who’d left messages the night before.

A flash from outside the restaurant made her
close one eye to get rid of the spots. Assuming it had come from
chrome on a car, she took another sip of her water and started
again. A second, third, and fourth flash unsettled her and she
looked up to see a guy with a big camera and even bigger flash
pointing the lens directly at her. Looking from side to side and
behind her, she tried to figure out who, what, and where this
jackass was trying to capture. Then, she looked at her table with
six cocktail glasses that hadn’t been cleared by the waitress Esme
had dismissed when she’d been hovering too damn much and
distracting them. A plate of only chicken bones and another with
small dipping bowls they’d used with their soft pretzels sticks.
The headline on Down and Dirty flashed in her mind.
Depressed
and drunk socialite tries to cope with a broken heart.

Yeah, so not happening on her watch. The last
thing she needed was to lose clients from a bullshit lie. Storming
out of the restaurant, she took off after the chicken shit who back
peddled while still shooting.

“If you don’t give me that goddamn camera
right now.”

“Public street,” the man with his blue
baseball cap on backwards, t-shirt, and jeans all of which looked
to of not been washed for weeks, the man included said. “I’m just
taking pictures of the scenery.”

“And catching your reflection in the window,
right,” Dani snarled right as she was about to reach him, but they
were at the end of the block and he turned and hightailed it down
the street.

“Fuck,” she swore as she dropped to a
crouched position and put her fingers on her temples. The uneven
gait she had didn’t help her as she’d rushed the guy who now had
crazy woman pictures to add to the damn drunk and depressed.
Tripping a bit, she made her way back to the restaurant and made
the one call she never wanted to make.

“Albright Holdings International,” the bright
and chipper secretary greeted her over the phone.

“William Albright please, it’s Danika.”

“One moment.” The hold music didn’t help with
the dizziness as Dani gulped the water and waited for her dad.

She wouldn’t let him start, the lecture alone
would make her stop before she asked for help so the moment the
hold music clicked off she spoke. “Dad, I need your help.”

“There are times, Dalton, I wonder why I have
you as a friend,” Rome said as the trainer poked on his ribs.

“That was barely a love tap.”

“Your BDSM desires aside, Marcum isn’t my
type.”

Adrian Marcum had been on a mission all
practice and somehow he had been able to get past Dalton thanks to
a swim move by Jared Harrison, the defensive lineman that had to
have put on fifty pounds of muscle in the offseason. A second
stringer last season, he was making the move to take over the
starting position and helping stop Jerome Speed would be a good
start.

“In my defense, Guthry changed the snap count
and his dumb ass seems to think Yeltsvinick was the only one he
needed to tell.”

“Is there a dissention among the line? Just
tell me now.”

“The Southern playboy just needs to learn
he’s not in Mississippi and he’s not in college anymore.”

“Yeah, well I’m not his favorite teammate by
far,” Rome groused at being hit during a no contact time.