But yet, the fear was holding me back this time. It was the same fear that had propelled me to go forward with this in the first place, so it had a place in my heart and mind now. It had a purpose and a function and I was still apprehensive about whether or not that was a good thing. It kind of felt like the devil was playing games with me and baiting me.
But then again, if I let it my mind would always focus and dwell on the wrong thing.
I scratched an itch behind my ear and folded my arms as I leaned back. It was an awkward pose for me but it felt right at that moment. There was always some kind of chaos in life. You just had to be ready for it when it happened, I guessed. But eventually, you did get tired of dealing with a new ordeal. After a while, it would all wear you down.
“So, what are you going to do?” Jamie asked.
“Are you asking in an official capacity?” I teased her.
She smiled and acted as if she were going to chuck her cup of coffee at me. “No. But it would be a bomb story to throw in. Imagine the publicity that news would get.”
“Yeah…that’s why I don’t want anyone to know. It’s actually one of the bigger reasons I haven’t gone to the police. Anything like this is going to get a bunch of press, and this is the wrong type of press. Any reason to drag my name through the mud, and the big press will have a field day. No, I want to keep it under wraps. I imagine the coach will tell me the same thing. Hell, my roommate hasn’t event texted me back yet. Though he might still be drunk and/or hungover.”
Jamie laughed and took a bite of her croissant. She had a healthy appetite, this girl. I loved it. There had always been something for me about a woman who could out eat me. I wasn’t sure yet if Jamie could actually out eat me, but I did see her taking down any woman she might have challenged to a contest and a lot of men I knew, some of them on the football team.
“Anyone else besides Lucinda who might have done this to your room?”
I gave her a sarcastic look. She was asking a lot of questions and part of my occasionally paranoid mind was getting weirded out by it.
She laughed and continued. “I’m only asking because as a journalist we are taught to never assume anything and to put out feelers to any potential lead. That is all. I would never put anything like this in an article if you told me to keep it quiet. I do have strong ethics.”
“Oh, you make the phrase ‘strong ethics’ sound so sexual and dirty,” I teased.
“I can make anything sound really dirty,” she replied.
We finished breakfast and Jamie agreed to keep me in touch about what her editor thought about the story she was going to spend the rest of the day finishing. The editor wanted it on her desk by noon, but that was probably not going to happen. I hoped that it wasn’t my fault that Jamie was going to be late with her work. I’d never wanted anything more than to show her a great time.
And together we had joined our hearts together.
It felt odd to think that way, especially since neither of us had confirmed to the other anything of the sort. This was bigger than the two of us and as I headed off to practice later that afternoon, Jamie was about the only thing I could think about. Everything reminded me of her or something she said. Yeah… nothing had ever prepared me for this. No amount of cheesy pop love songs, or lame eighties teenage romance films ever really made it clear how real love would affect you when it actually happened to you. It made me wonder how many of these so called artists, writers, singers, etc. had ever actually been in love.
Then again, maybe I wasn’t in love. Could this be just wicked hard crushing, or a total infatuation that was mostly lust based?
Where in the world had that thought come from? Had I fallen asleep recently accidentally watching Dr. Oz or Oprah?
“What in the hell?” Jacob asked me when I arrived for work out with the team before we hit the field for practice.
“I assume you have seen our room?” I asked.
“Yeah. It’s a flippin’ nightmare. Any ideas? I assume you did not contact the cops.”
“No ideas, and you assume correctly. I figured we’d run it by the coach and see what he thinks. He might laugh at us like we are nuts, but if he does that is because he is way older than we thought and has no basic understanding of the internet or how fast information flies nowadays.”
“Right,” Jacob replied. “But, come on. I’ve gone through my list of mortal enemies and none of them have the means of transportation it would require for them to get here, pull that off, and then get back home safely.”
Jacob was a laugh riot. The way he put sentences together sometimes just made me laugh. At any rate, I always felt better with someone more paranoid than me around. Speaking of which, I’d gone a long time without the shackles of worry around my neck. I was usually so cool and calm that people just didn’t think I got upset. Well, that was true. I typically didn’t. But here I was feeling like I had to be watching my back all the time now.
“Well, I’m going to track down that psycho chick Lucinda and see if I can trip her up or convince her to get away from me all together, but other than her, Ricky is the only person I’ve thought about.”
Jacob glanced sideways towards Ricky who was working out with a few of the freshman trying to impress them with his skills and knowledge he didn’t really have. I had to laugh at the idea. Those kids would learn soon enough that Ricky was nobody’s role model.
“But I still don’t have any proof at all,” I said. “However, I was thinking of asking the Dean if we can have look at the security video footage and see if anything pulls up.”
Jacob sighed. “That’s risky. If we mention this to anyone else, even the Dean, it could end up in a media circus that will make it very difficult to be us for a bit.”
“Agreed, but at the same time, if this escalates we will need to have someone backing us up, someone in our corner.”
This situation was so messed up. It angered me to think that someone was succeeding in interfering with my life. And I was not going to stand for it. After practice I was going to have a little chat with Lucinda and tell her to stay the hell away from me.
And she would damn get that message this time…
Chapter Fifteen
Jamie
“That actually happened? Like, for real? You aren’t messing with us?”
I looked at Rosie and Collette, both sitting there around the café table with me as we enjoyed a nice afternoon coffee after they picked me up, and I could hardly keep from glowing with laughter and joy. I had sworn to myself I’d be kind of discreet. But as soon as I was there with all of my friends, I could not contain it anymore.
“Yes,” I said. “For real. It happened… and it was amazing… that is the only word I can use. I’ve stepped into some kind of a fairy tale world where nothing makes sense, but I’m just going with it.”
“I’m so excited for you!” Rosie said, giving me a big hug and almost knocking the coffee drink out of my hands.
“How did this happen so fast?” Sara asked. “I waited up for you to come home a bit because I hoped we’d be able to talk about it awhile, and when you didn’t come home I knew something sweet was happening. But the whole thing didn’t really hit me until right now. This is just the coolest thing.”
I hugged Sara, mostly to get her to calm down and to stop spazzing out. Rosie and Collette already thought she was a socially awkward nerd (which she was) but I didn’t want to give them any validation on that. Sara was my friend, too. She was practically family.
“So, are you hearing wedding bells yet? I wonder what it will be like for you to be married to a future NFL superstar?” Rosie asked with her characteristic giggle.
I looked at her like she was insane. “Whoa… hold the phone. We are not even close to getting married. We only spent one night together.”
“Yeah, but you have that glow about you. Doesn’t she have that glow, ladies?”
Collette and Sara glanced at each other and then nodded in agreement. Those two w
ould always back up Rosie’s play. The three of them…it often felt like they were in cahoots against me. That was fine; they could believe whatever their little hearts desired.
“I might have a glow,” I said. “But no one is talking about wedding bells. We are just enjoying how things are going.”
“That’s great,” Rosie said. “We are all happy for you, but we want details. Lady, tell us—how big is it?”
The other two began blushing and giggling hysterically, especially Sara who was on the floor about to have a conniption. I found myself starting to blush, but it was more out of shock than anything else. I needed to go back to working on the article. I’d been stupid to let Rosie drag me away from my work, but I was hungry and I was craving some caffeine. I’d been kind of sleepy all day. I just wanted to climb into bed and zonk out for a while, but when I woke up I wanted to be in Chance’s arms. And then I wanted him to make sweet love to me all night. And then more snuggles. I wished the world would go away and leave us be, but real problems and struggles kept pulling us back. It was so hard being an adult sometimes.
“You would love to know, I’m sure,” I said. “But you are just going to have to use your imaginations this time.”
“Oh, not cool!” Rosie yelled. “I will take that to believe he is as massive as the rumors say!”
“Bye ladies. I have to get back to work,” I said.
“What? No way. You can’t leave us hanging!” Collette yelled to me. “I need more information.”
I laughed and walked out of the café glancing back at them with a big wave and a smiled. Yes, I loved my girls. They kept me down to earth and made life fun.
When I got back to my room, I sat down at my desk and finished tightening up a few things with the article. Then I pounded out a great finish and double checked everything for formatting and grammar. Once everything was finalized, I emailed it to my editor. I then sent her at text to make sure she knew that it had been sent in case her email didn’t notify her. I’d learned quickly that I had to cover all of my bases.
Then I went to the fridge and grabbed a much deserved beer before sitting down on the couch and enjoying the silence. Sara had night classes on Mondays, so I would not see her this evening until ten or so. And that was if she didn’t go to her friend Miranda’s to study. The two of them never seemed to need any sleep, at least not when there was studying to be done.
Now that I was alone with my thoughts, I couldn’t help but wonder what Chance was doing right now. As I checked the time on my phone, I realized he was probably finishing up weight training and heading out on the field to practice now. And then he most likely had some studying to catch up on, if he ever studied that is…
I just realized that I did not know much about Chance’s academics. I didn’t really care, but I was curious. I couldn’t imagine him doing anything halfway. If he was going to school to play ball, but didn’t care about school, he would give it his all anyway. That was the type of competitor he was.
I did love to watch him play football though… that image of him at practice was getting to me and I was so tempted to go and watch him, as a lot of the students did. But I didn’t. I was tired, and I did not want to start smothering him right now after we had such a great start to our relationship.
Was that what this was? Was it a real relationship? The not knowing, the lack of labels—it was unsettling to me. I desperately wanted to know. I wanted to tell my friends, I wanted it known on social media, and I wanted the rest of the world to know that I was dating the man who would most likely be one of the top NFL draft picks very soon.
As much as I always told myself that I hated that type of attention, on a primal level the status was attractive. It was just a weird little game that played with your mind. And it could be fun.
What about Lucinda? The name was suddenly in my head. I had heard the name before from a friend of mine from the paper who had gone out to dinner with her. He said she was very bossy, weird, whiney, and possessive, not to mention the fact that she did nothing but talk about this football player from the team that she was in love with. Now that I knew she was talking about Chance and that she most likely had been the one who trashed his room, I wanted to find out everything I could about her.
I went back to the laptop and began researching. I believed in knowing the enemy, and if this woman was trying to sabotage my man, I was damn sure going to find out everything that I could about her.
I was aware this was somewhat akin to stalking and maybe a little creepy on my part, but being an investigative journalist, I was probably going to be snooping where I didn’t belong and doing it quite a bit if I was to have a lengthy career.
And plus, now this was personal.
After checking out the social media and the a few things on google, nothing was really adding up to much. So far Lucinda appeared to be normal, at least on paper. But I was going to delve much deeper than that.
I pulled up WhoDis? A popular background checker that I subscribed to. It had come in useful a time or two in my life, mostly when Sara and I were drinking and we decided to scan the background of people we did not like and wanted to find dirt on.
After typing in Lucinda’s information the scanner came up on a hit. Apparently, our girl had been arrested on three different accounts for aggravated assault. All of them had been related to stalking. But she had a family that was always helping her out. Her father was a lawyer and local politician who was in tight with the governor in Pennsylvania. Well, Lucinda was not in Pennsylvania any longer. Indiana was a ways from home and here the little shenanigans she tried to pull were not going to get her very far. I would see to that.
But it still proved that she was very dangerous. The last guy she’d stalked had told authorities that she attacked him with a knife, but no weapon could be found and there were no wounds to suggest such a weapon.
I shuddered as I continued to read about her. I couldn’t believe what a pass she had been given time and time again after committing acts of violence against the men in her life, but primarily attacking the women she felt got in the way. This woman was psychotic.
And I no longer felt safe.
I wished Chance were there to hold me. I was frightened for his safety most of all.
Chapter Sixteen
Chance
I was livid as I approached Lucinda. I almost went to her room to talk to her face to face there, but I realized how bad that actually looked on my part and it put too much advantage on her. No. I wasn’t going to let that happen.
I caught her leaving her dormitory with a few friends. She had friends already? Who knew? The woman was a charming psychopath. I was certain she could have charmed rattlesnakes.
“Lucinda,” I said in a friendly, jovial tone. The other girls saw me, recognized me, and began giggling nervously. That was actually starting to get old and it felt weird. Still, I smiled and tried to act friendly.
“Well, hey there,” Lucinda said.
“Can I speak with you for a moment? It is very important.”
Lucinda’s eyes narrowed on mine and I could feel that she was ready to go to battle with me right now. This could get ugly so fast, but I was in public. I had that going for me. Lucinda couldn’t lie and she couldn’t freak out with all of these witnesses around.
But I was going to do my best to be discreet anyway.
We walked away a few steps from the group. Seeing her in the flesh and catching the vibes she was giving out was maddening. Her attitude was one of “I can do what I want; what the hell are you going to do to me”. It was infuriating. And I knew that she would use every single trick in her little arsenal to get me to mess up while someone (probably under her employ) caught it on video. I had to be very careful here. I was thinking that this might have been a mistake altogether.
It was ok, though. I was going to take a deep breath, calm my nerves, and just talk to her in a friendly, relaxed tone. That was all.
“What do you want?” Lucinda asked.
> I smiled and let my shoulders ease back in a very non aggressive manner. This was going to be a challenge. But I would power through it.
“What do you think I might want?” I asked.
Lucinda scoffed. “Hey, if you pulled me aside to play silly games with me then you can just blow off right now.”
“Why did you do it?”
Lucinda paused and I saw the tiniest little twinkle in her eye. Yeah, that was pretty much all of the confirmation that I needed. She definitely did it. The girl was not nearly as good of a liar as she liked to think that she was. I was not going to let her off the hook so easily though.
“I really want to know,” I said when she didn’t’ respond.
She batted her eyes at me and looked around quickly to see who else was watching this little show. It turned out that no one really gave a toss. Lucinda hated it when there was no audience. The woman was so narcissistic that she just craved constant feedback.
“I have no idea what you are talking about,” she said.
“Oh, I bet if you search your memory a little bit you might have a pretty good idea.”
“I told you, I don’t have time for games.”
“Well, look at that; something we both have in common. I’m not playing games either.” I could hear my voice getting a bit higher in pitch and intensity, but I was still keeping it together for the most part. I was calm and relaxed. There was no fighting going on here.
Lucinda rolled her eyes. She looked up at me and glared into my eyes quickly before flashing that phony smile of hers again. “Eat me. You made your bed and you will have to lie in it. You should know better than to piss off a rattlesnake.”
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