Sidelined: A Sports Romance (14 page)

W
e won our game Sunday
, but after the first few snaps, I realized Wes wasn’t throwing to me. He was still pissed about last week. I tried to talk to him on the sideline, but he walked the other direction. I was going to have to prove myself again. Fuck.

This was one time I wished I had the power to get Coach to call the plays. He wanted Wes to throw to me, but the quarterback called the shots once we stepped on the field. He didn’t trust me, and it showed.

I sat in the locker room after the game and waited for the room to clear. Wes was dressed in his dark suit. He had to move over to the press room in a few minutes.

“Hey, man. Can we talk?” I cornered him by the mirrors.

“Yeah. I have a minute. I’m waiting on the golf cart.”

“Look, I know I fucked up last week. But what happened out there today? I can catch the damn ball.”

His hand landed on my shoulder. “You blocked today. That was your job. And you did a damn good job keeping the defenders off our asses. So thank you.” He paused, and his eyes hardened. “But if you ever drop another pass in the end zone again, I swear…”

“Blakefield, they’re ready for you.”

He looked at me. “Catch what I’m saying?”

I glared at him. “Throw me the fucking ball next week.” I walked away from him.

I had it today. I could feel it. Everything was together. I had closed on the new apartment. The construction started tomorrow. It was only a matter of a couple weeks before I could move Natalia in. If he had thrown the ball to me at all, I could have given him twenty yards. But no, the bastard passed it off to Persons or threw it to Stubbs. He used me as a wall.

I picked up my bag. I remembered what Natalia had told me at the cabin. She didn’t let one mistake define her life. She was back in her shoes, preparing for auditions. I couldn’t let one dropped pass be the end of my relationship with the quarterback. I needed him and he needed me.

I lugged my Wranglers bag over my shoulder and stepped into the tunnel outside the locker room. The Fillies were grouped together, talking about going out.

“Hey, Sam.” One of them turned around and waved.

“Hey, Vanessa.” They reminded me of Natalia. I wondered how her halftime show went today. I wondered if she was in the air flying home.

“Want to go get a drink with us?” she asked.

“I think I’ll pass. I’m pretty worn out, girls.”

She pouted. “You never come out with us anymore. Last year you were so much fun.”

Last year I took advantage of every new opportunity. I had rookie fever—no doubt. But I had someone in my life and I wasn’t going to fuck it up.

“Sorry.” I shrugged my shoulders and walked past them. “Maybe next time.” But there wouldn’t be a next time. I was done with the Fillies. I was done with other women. There was only one person meant for me.

* * *

I
walked
into my apartment and grabbed a beer from the fridge. We had the early game today, so there was still plenty of football to watch. I stretched out on the couch and turned on the TV.

I looked down and saw Natalia’s name light up my screen.

“Hey, baby.” I smiled.

“Hey, we’re stuck.”

I sat forward. “What do you mean stuck?”

“Our jet is down for maintenance or something. That said it’s going to be tomorrow before we can fly out.”

“The Warriors aren’t getting you out of there?”

“No,” she answered. “We have to wait until a part comes in. I don’t know. They aren’t handing out many details.”

“I’ll get a ticket for you. I can fly you in here and then drive you back to Austin in the morning. I’m off tomorrow.”

“I can’t let you do that. I just wanted to let you know what was going on.”

“You can let me do that. It’ll take five minutes for me to get you on a flight out of there. You can be here in three hours.”

“Sam.” Her voice was firm. “What will everyone think if I fly out of here like that?”

“They’ll think you have somewhere important to be. They don’t have to know that place happens to be my bed.”

It made her laugh. “As much as I want to be in your bed tonight, I’m going to have to wait until all the Goddesses can fly out of here together.”

“I don’t like it. I don’t want you on a jet with maintenance problems. This is ridiculous, Natalia. Let me get you out of there.”

She was being stubborn and hard-headed. It was the French side coming out. Although, she said my stubbornness came from being Texan.

“No. We’re going back to the hotel and I’ll call you when I find out more. Okay?”

I took a swig of beer. It wasn’t okay. But she wasn’t playing along.

“All right. But call me as soon as you find out. And if there’s something unsafe about that jet, you’re not getting on it. The Warriors are a bunch of cheap bastards. I don’t want them fixing the plane with duct tape.”

“If I see any duct tape I promise to call immediately,” she answered sweetly, but I knew she was mocking me.

“Should I fly up there?”

“No. God, no,” she whispered. “And get me fired?”

“All right, then take your safety more seriously.”

She huffed. “I’ll call you later.”

“Hey, wait.”

“What is it?”

“I miss you.”

She whispered, “I miss you too.”

Then there was silence.

I
t took
two days for us to make it back to Austin. The maintenance staff had to order a part that wasn’t easy to find and the Warriors refused to buy commercial tickets for us when they had to pay for the jet to be fixed. I sat in a hotel room two extra nights with Heather, missing my chance to meet Sam at Canyon Lake.

I sat on one bed while Heather sat on the other, flipping through channels.

“Do you think the Warriors would pay for us to watch
Game of Love
?” she asked.

“They need to after leaving us to die in DC.”

She hit the purchase button. “Done.”

I laughed. “I’ve always wanted to watch this movie. It’s the one about the baseball player who falls for the reporter, right?”

Heather eyed me. “You haven’t seen it?”

“Umm, no, but I really want to.”

The opening credits started. I had a new interest in sports romances, only I couldn’t tell my roommate about it.

“Oh, we should order big desserts while we’re watching,” I suggested. I pulled out the room service menus.

“I like how you think.”

I picked up the phone to call the restaurant downstairs. I covered the receiver. “I’m getting a double brownie with ice cream. What do you want?”

“Oh, I want that.” She smiled. “But we have to do double cardio tomorrow for the double brownie.”

I glared at her. “You just took the fun out of it.”

“Sorry.” She shrugged and threw herself on the pillows while I ordered our sinful dessert.

I signed for the silver trays when the waiter brought our snack to the door. “Voila.”

I presented one platter to Heather and placed mine on the end of my bed. Things were just starting to heat up in the movie. I couldn’t take my eyes off the pitcher. There was definitely something hot about athletes. Why hadn’t I noticed it before?

“So,” Heather turned to me. “Who’s the guy?”

“There is no guy. I told you and Pres that.”

She scooped some ice cream on her fork with a bite of brownie. “Really? No guy? All the secret texts and phone calls? There’s no one?”

I didn’t want to be interrogated and I didn’t want to miss the scene where the couple went on their first date. He was taking her to the ballpark for a candlelit picnic.

“It’s my mom. That’s all. She’s in Dallas and she worries when I travel. She’s one of those hover mothers, you know? A dance mom.”

Heather laughed. “I think we all have dance moms. I guess that makes sense. Sorry. We thought it was a guy.”

“No, but what about you?” I wasn’t paying attention and dropped a dollop of ice cream on my leg.

She rolled her eyes. “I wish. I tried online dating, but that was full of creepy weirdos who found out I was a Warrior and then lied about what they did for a living. Presley set me up with one of her brother’s friends, but that was a disaster. I’m not going to date a player.” She sighed. “I don’t know. It seems impossible right now to find someone. Do you feel like that?”

I chewed on my bottom lip. What I should tell her was that it was completely possible. When she least expected it, some guy would show up out of nowhere and turn her world upside down and make everything else seem less important. He would be there for her. He would surprise her and romance her. Yes, it was worth waiting for. It was worth all the lonely nights that came before his existence.

“Oh, I know what you mean. Dating is the worst.” I felt my stomach turn. I hated lying to her. She had done so much for me.

“Oh, here’s the best part.” She turned up the movie with the remote.

We both sighed as the pitcher kissed the reporter on third base. It was sweet and sappy. But he was clearly an amazing kisser. The girl was swooning.

“See, that’s what I want.” Heather whispered. “All of that.”

I watched and realized that was exactly what I had.

* * *

B
y the time
we flew back to Austin, Sam and I figured out there was no way to see each other any time soon. Our schedules were off the rest of the week and we both had away games the next weekend.

I called him as soon as I walked through my apartment door. His voicemail picked up.

“Hey, we made it back. I know you’re at practice, but I wanted to hear your voice, and maybe you want to hear mine. Call me.”

I walked into my room, feeling the drudge of traveling clinging to my skin. I stripped down and stepped into the shower. The last three days were down the drain in seconds.

Heather and I finally had our romcom marathon and I discovered that Presley was a lot more fun than I realized. She was an excellent shoe shopper and there were some great boutiques in DC she scouted for us. I came home with three new pairs of heels.

Other than missing Sam like crazy, I had a great time. But I couldn’t believe that in a few days, I had to do it again. This time we were flying to San Francisco. I couldn’t think about that now. I stepped out of the shower and dried off.

I didn’t have the energy for anything but crawling under my covers and going to sleep. I put the phone next to the bed in case Sam called.

“
H
old on
.” I called to whoever was knocking on the door. It was probably one of the guys from the construction crew. They had been tearing the place down and rebuilding it almost from the studs up. It was going to be incredible.

I whipped open the door to find out what had gone wrong this time, when I stared into a pair of brown eyes I never thought I’d see again.

“Maddie?”

“Hey, Sam.”

I looked behind her. This wasn’t right. “What are you doing here? How’d you find me? Who in the hell let you in here?”

“I’m here to see you. Pretty much everyone in San Antonio knows this is your building, and I walked in with a really lovely older couple and told them I was your girlfriend.”

I was ready to slam the door in her face. “There is no reason for you to be here.”

“I told you on the phone Todd and I broke up.”

“So?”

“So, I thought it might mean something to you.”

She brushed past me and walked into the living room. She was wearing a short black skirt and a dark pink shirt that was tight enough I could see her nipples through the front. Damn, she wasn’t wearing a bra.

I shrugged. “Sorry you wasted a trip here. But it doesn’t. I don’t give a shit what you and Todd do.” I held the door for her. “Go talk to him about your relationship problems. I haven’t talked to that fucker in three years.”

“Come on, Sam. Isn’t there some little part of you that’s glad?”

“Not really.” Why was she sitting on my couch?

She tucked her hair behind her ears. I remembered how she used to do that in college when we were studying for a test or she was nervous about something.

“What’s going on, Maddie?” I closed the door. She obviously wasn’t going to leave until she got what she came for. “I already told you I’m not giving you any money. Todd can fund your shopping habit. I’ve been out for a long time.”

“I’m not here for money. I heard what you said on the phone. I’m embarrassed I even asked. I called you because I was desperate and scared. I shouldn’t have done that. It was a weak moment. I’m sorry.”

I scratched the back of my head. “Okay, so we’ve got that figured out. Why are you here?”

She wrung her manicured hands together. “I think I made a mistake.”

“Other than a drunken phone call?”

“Stop being such a dick, Sam. Yes, I made a mistake about us.”

“Now you think you made a mistake?” I couldn’t fucking believe this.

She nodded. “Will you listen? Just listen to me. Please.”

“No. You’re talking about something that happened years ago. I’m over it. I’m over you. I don’t care about Todd or your damn breakup. Go get a job. Make some money like normal people do and leave me the hell alone.” My voice boomed across the apartment.

She started to tear up. “Oh, hell. Don’t cry about it. We haven’t been a thing in a long time. I can’t make you cry. You didn’t cry when you cheated on me.” I glared at her.

She took a deep breath. “I’m not going to cry. It’s just that when I see you, I remember all the fun we had, and how much you made me laugh. And I know I shouldn’t have cheated on you. It was wrong. I was wrong.”

I nodded. “Now you’ve got something right. So you can clear your little conscience and get the hell out of my apartment.”

I didn’t like her being here. I didn’t like her acting as if this was even a possibility.

“Nothing? You feel nothing?” she prodded.

I pulled out my phone. “No. See?” I scrolled through to the picture of Natalia and me at the lake. “I have someone. Someone who doesn’t cheat. A woman who I’m fucking insane about.” I shoved the picture closer so she could see how serious I was. “
This
woman is my life.
You
are a bad memory.”

She closed her eyes and the tears started to slide down her cheeks this time.

“Shit. Hold on.” I dropped my phone on the table and walked to the bathroom to grab a tissue. I looked through a few drawers before I found one. Part of me wanted to throw her crying ass in the hall, but I didn’t.

“Here.” I handed the tissue to her when I returned to the couch.

“Thanks,” she sniffed, pressing it to the corners of her eyes. “You sound like you’ve found someone special then.”

“Yes, I have. Natalia isn’t like you. She wouldn’t do what you did. I’m happy, Maddie. I’m happier than I’ve ever been. So drop this idea that you have. You can give up on whatever scheme you have to get back together and drain my bank account.”

I started to relax. I didn’t have to be a complete asshole, even though this girl had shredded my heart at the start of the season. She had fucked my roommate all summer and the only reason I found out was I walked in on them. It was a day I didn’t like to remember.

That was college. This was the pros. I was over Maddie.

“I told you, that’s not why I came over.” She started to raise her voice and then stopped.

She rose from the couch. “If what you’re really saying is that you’d rather be with this Natalia girl, than trying to pick up the pieces of what we had, then I don’t know what to say.”

I stared at her in disbelief. “Yes, that’s what I’m saying.” I walked back to the door. “I think you should say goodbye.”

“For good?” Her eyes were misty.

“Yes, for good. Forever. Don’t call. Don’t check on me. Go see Todd next time you’re feeling lonely and broke.”

She huffed and I saw the anger boiling in her eyes. “Maybe you are just an asshole, Sam Hickson.”

“Thanks for dropping by.” I practically shoved her into the hallway.

She glared at me and walked down the hall toward the elevator.

I closed the door. What the fuck was that all about?

* * *

T
wo days later
, I figured it out.

I woke up when my phone started buzzing. I didn’t take calls this early, but I picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Turn on
Sports Now
,” Natalia instructed.

I grinned. “Since when did you become such a morning sports fan? Is there a story about me?”

“Turn it on,” she hissed.

I picked up the remote. It was still on the channel from last night. I saw the picture and read the scroll across the bottom.

“Fuck,” I muttered. I couldn’t believe it. There was a pit in my stomach. I felt panic and outrage. My hands balled into fists.

“How could you do this? Why did you do this?” she cried into the phone.

I shook my head, still foggy from sleep. “I didn’t.” But I was staring at a picture that was on my phone. One that Natalia and I had taken at Canyon Lake.

“That was a special place. A special night. And you did this with it?”

“I’m trying to tell you what happened with the picture. It wasn’t me.” She had never sounded this frantic before.

“Don’t try to tell me someone else sold our picture. You’re the only one who had it.” I could hear the sobs. “I thought you respected my decision. I thought you cared about me. You realize I’ve been fired? I have to take in my Goddesses uniform today.” She was crying hard. “I have to give them back the boots. They won’t even let me keep them.”

“God, Natalia. I know it looks like I could have done this, but I know who sold the picture. I would never do this to you. I would never hurt you like this.”

“Then who? Who has our picture?”

I exhaled. “My stupid bitch of an ex.”

“What?”

“She stopped by a few days ago and now I realize why. I played right into her hands. Damn it. There probably wasn’t a single ounce of truth to anything she said. I bet she and Todd are still together.”

“Who is Todd? Your ex stopped by and you didn’t mention it?” I could hear the outrage in her voice.

“Right, that sounds bad, but it’s not what you think either. God, this is fucked up.”

“Isn’t it?” She paused. “I have to go. I have to get to the stadium to meet Heather and give her my uniform. They won’t even let me inside. We have to meet at the gate. Do you know how humiliating this is? Do you even know what this is doing to me?”

I couldn’t fix it. I couldn’t take away her embarrassment. I couldn’t retract the photo. God, I couldn’t even punish Maddie for screwing me over again.

“I’m sorry, Natalia. Look, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“No. Stay away. Stay in San Antonio with your ex or whoever. Just leave me alone, Sam. You’ve done enough.”

She hung up and I sat up in bed. I stared at the TV. The announcers were still speculating on when Natalia and I had met and how long we had been seeing each other. Maddie must have sent the picture to her phone when I was in search of tissues for her fake tears. With a first name and a picture, it only took two days to track down her position with the Warriors.

I should have given her the money when she asked for it. Instead, she found a way to take it from me. I didn’t know which tabloid had paid her for it, but they could expect a huge lawsuit headed their way. Someone was going to pay for what this had cost Natalia.

I knew Natalia was angry and hurt. She thought I betrayed her, maybe in more than one way. I had to prove to her that I wasn’t that kind of man. I had questioned it myself. I had the pictures. I knew with one social media post our relationship would blow up the headlines. A Wrangler and a Warrior. What would be more taboo than that? We’d get all kinds of attention. I knew she’d be fired and that would leave her free to finally move in with me. Yeah, I was the kind of asshole who thought about doing it. I had thought about it more than once. But fuck, Natalia made me want to be a better man than that. I didn’t want to trick her into living with me. I didn’t want to force her into my life. I could have been the one to do what Maddie did, and I was ashamed of that thought more than anything.

I rolled out of bed to get dressed. I had ninety minutes to get to Austin.

My phone rang. I looked at the number. It was Keith Stone, the Wranglers’ head of publicity. It was never good when Keith called.

“Hey, man,” I tried to sound casual as if nothing catastrophic was happening.

“Sam, we need to talk about the
Sports Now
story.”

I started getting dressed while I talked to him, grabbing a clean pair of jeans from my dresser. “What do you want to know, Keith?”

“Is the picture real? Is the girl a Warrior Goddess? What the hell is going on?”

I sat on the edge of my bed to put on my socks. “Yes, yes, and I don’t know.”

“Not what I wanted to hear. You know management is on me to find out what’s going on.”

“I know. I know. It shouldn’t be a problem, right? I’ve been seeing her a few months. We met when the team was in Austin for the season opener. Yes, she was a Warrior, but they fired her this morning. I’ve got to get to Austin, Keith, so we can talk while I drive or I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“No, I just needed the facts.”

“Is there a problem?” I ran my hands through my hair, holding my breath.

“Nothing a good story from my office can’t handle. Send me a picture of you two when you get a chance. Not that one. Something different we can use exclusively.”

Shit. Natalia wasn’t going to like that anymore than what had already happened. I needed to see her first. I needed to make sure we were okay. I had to fix us.

“All right. Give me a few hours and I’ll send you something. Anything else?”

“I’ll call you if there is. Just know fans are going to give you hell for a while, but it actually helps that the Warriors fired her. She’ll gain sympathy points. It might make it less brutal when you two are seen out together.”

I hadn’t thought about that. The rabid rivalry had kept us apart, but now that we were public, it could be a complete nightmare for Natalia. What if the Wrangler fans didn’t embrace her? What if they turned their backs on me?

I shook my head. It didn’t matter. She was worth it. And if I had to find another team that would accept both of us, I would. I’d do whatever it took to make her happy and make her feel safe. I’d even leave Texas.

“Thanks, Keith. Thanks for taking care of this. And anything you can do to make Natalia look good, to get her Wrangler support, I’d appreciate it.” I realized instantly how valuable this man was.

“I’ve got it. Don’t worry. The Wranglers are going to welcome her if that’s what you want. Let me work my magic and don’t forget to send me a picture.”

“Sure thing.” I hung up and raced to the parking garage.

Seconds were ticking by and I needed to know that Natalia was okay.