Play Maker

by KB Winters

  “I’m sure the rest of those knuckleheads are gonna be pissed,” I said, tossing a glance at our nearby teammates. Most of them were single—or at least acted like it—and wanted to live it up, especially on the road. I’d never given their teasing too much attention, and I certainly wasn’t going to now.

  Chance grinned. “Nah. They all think you’re boring, Leverette.”

  I chucked a towel at him. “Just sayin’. They practically held a funeral when you got engaged.”

  He laughed and balled up the towel he’d effortlessly caught mid-air. “Yeah. I was more fun, though, pre-Lacey and Aria. You were never the strip club, pussy chasin’ type. No matter how hard those bozos tried to corrupt you.”

  I nodded. I couldn’t deny it. Partying and chasin’ skirts was never a luxury I could afford. In school, I’d had to work twice as hard as everyone else to overcome a learning disability that slowed my reading speed to a crawl.

  Then, in college, I had to maintain my grades to keep my scholarships, which was no easy feat. All the while climbing to the top of the pack and managing to get the eyes of pro scouts on me.

  After four years on the bench, I was all too aware that my days were numbered in the NFL and if they dumped me out on my ass next season, I’d be forced to reboot my life from scratch. With that hanging over my head, it was hard to let loose and party, even with my paycheck—if only for a few hours.

  “Well, I for one, am happy for you. Welcome to the pussy-whipped club,” Chance said, dropping the towel to the bench between us. “I gotta say, it’s a hell of a lot better than I’d thought.”

  I laughed and thought of Shelby; she had some amazing pussy, but I didn’t think I’d ever be whipped.

  “Hey? Y’all want to come to dinner with Lacey and me tonight? I pulled reservations at this sweet place Lacey’s been dying to go to. I can make a call and get a couple of extra seats at the table.”

  “Really?”

  “Sure. Why not? Sounds like our ladies are becoming fast friends.”

  “Thanks, man. That’d be great.”

  “Consider it done.”

  He walked off to get ready for the game, and I sent Shelby a quick text to let her know about dinner before pocketing my phone and following after Chance.

  Before I could let my mind wander to where the night with Shelby would go, I had to put all my focus into annihilating the New York Cougars.

  It was a bitter, cold day for a football game, made even colder by the chorus of booing and jeering that rang down on us as we trotted from the tunnel onto the field. I glanced around at the crowd and smiled to myself. Shelby was watching from a luxury box, and I was determined to put on a show.

  “Okay, we know this is your house, but right now, I’m planning to do a little redecorating. Tear down a few walls.” I laughed to myself and jogged forward to join the rest of the team.

  Prior to the game, we’d all been peppered by the pregame interviews. I was the focus of a lot of the questions and a bubble of anxiety had started to rise inside of me. After all, I’d gotten a lucky break to showcase my skills and win the last game, but would I really be able to pull it off for a second time? With an even heavier weight of responsibility on my shoulders?

  I didn’t have a choice. Peters and Brandon were still out. Whatever happened next, it was on me. My team needed me.

  From the first play, it was like I’d been doused by some kind of invisible shield. No one could touch me. They tried to run me down, fuck up my plays, get in my way, and I outplayed them all. My feet felt like they were riding on rockets and each pass was a laser guided missile. The team was on top of their game and when the dust settled; the scoreboard read 6-44 and three-quarters of the home team’s crowd had abandoned their team to hit the parking lot early.

  The surreal feeling of the game spilled over into the post-game interviews. Even though I was sitting at the table, one hand on the microphone anchored in front of me, it was like watching a movie of someone else’s life. In two weeks, I’d gone from a no-name quarterback, third string on a team that hadn’t made the playoffs in several years, and now, I was vaulted to being the star quarterback of a team that just won their second playoff game and would host the League Championship game next Sunday against the Baltimore Bulldogs.

  The questions were coming in rapid fire, every reporter dying to get their questions answered. I did the best I could and let Chance—who served, more or less, as the face of the Knights—do most of the heavy lifting. Coach jumped in and fielded his own set of questions, and by the time they had shuffled the last cameras away, my head was spinning from the conversation.

  “Holy shit.”

  Chance laughed and slapped me on the back. “Welcome to the show, Leverette. Get used to it. After the last two games, there’s no way you’re going back to the bench.”

  I knew he meant it as a compliment, but for some reason, the words twisted my stomach and surged through my chest with something that felt an awful lot like panic.

  Chance pushed up from his chair beside me and jerked his chin in my direction. “Come on, Leverette. Can’t keep our ladies waiting for us for too long.”

  Just the thought of getting Shelby in my arms made me smile and drained away the tension filling my chest. It didn’t matter what happened next, at the big game or next season; it had been a perfect day, and I knew the night that lay ahead would only be better.

  15

  Shelby

  After a day spent wandering the city with Lacey, Chance Beauman’s fiancée, we took a cab to the stadium and watched our men obliterate the home team. Even as a football newbie, I saw the win was over the top. Most of the crowd filtered out before the game was even over. I felt bad for the Cougars. Watching Ross on the field, making pass after beautiful pass, and playing his heart out, made me even more eager to see him again.

  Lacey and I left the stadium as soon as the game was over and raced back to the hotel to get ready for our formal dinner date where we’d reunite with our men. I hadn’t thought to pack a formal dress, but Lacey assured me that something simple with the right accessories would work fine. It turned out that besides having a lot in common in our personal lives, we also had similar tastes, and she let me borrow a long, diamond pendent necklace that went perfectly with the diamond studs my parents had given me for Christmas.

  So, decked out in a black shift dress with black thigh-high tights, stiletto heels, and soft waves in my hair, I sat impatiently at the bar of the very chic restaurant with Lacey as we waited for Chance and Ross to arrive.

  “They probably got hung up with the post-game interviews,” Lacey said.

  I nodded in agreement. She’d been living the football girlfriend's life a little longer than me and knew her way around the procedures and schedule details. “After a win like that, they’ll probably try to keep them all night!”

  Lacey laughed. “No kidding. What a blowout!” She propped her elbow on the bar and planted her chin against her palm. “How does it feel to know your man is the hottest quarterback in the NFL right now?”

  I laughed and nervously sipped at my cocktail. “I have no idea what that means. This is all so new.”

  Lacey smiled. “Yeah. For me too.”

  “Well, you’re handling it quite well, let me just say.”

  “Thank you. It’s definitely not a lifestyle I ever pictured for myself, but now that I’m here,” she took a long look around the elegant restaurant. “I kinda like it.”

  I laughed and raised my glass. “I’ll drink to that!”

  We toasted and giggled together. Lacey stopped short and gestured behind me. “There they are!”

  I swiveled on my bar stool and immediately lost my breath at the sight of Ross. He looked like a movie star. He and Chance were decked out in dark suits, Chance with a silver tie, Ross with cobalt blue, and both of them looked like they’d just walked off a James Bond audition where they were each competing for the title role. They both wore broad smiles, and Lacey and I hoppe
d down from our high barstools in unison to hurry over to them.

  “Damn, Shelby, you look gorgeous,” Ross said, taking me by the hand and leading me through a spin. “Mm, mm, mm.” He pulled me into an embrace, and his lips moved against my ear. “Maybe we should skip dinner and go back to the hotel. I’ve been dreaming about you since yesterday.”

  My cheeks warmed even as I shivered at his sensual words. “Naughty boy,” I whispered in his ear. “Although I did pack a special little something for your eyes only.”

  He groaned softly. “You’re killing me.”

  I laughed, delighted at the sway of power I held over him.

  Chance and Lacey were exchanging their own affectionate greetings and when they parted, I noticed Lacey’s cheeks were pink. Apparently, Chance’s line of thinking was right there with Ross’s.

  “Shall we?” Lacey asked, waving forward. “The hostess was holding our table since you two were late.” She made a playful jab of her finger into Chance’s side. “Was he hogging the mic, Ross?”

  “Always,” Ross replied without missing a beat.

  We all laughed and made our way back to the hostess station. The woman Lacey and I had checked in with wasted no time in showing us to our booth that hugged one wall of floor to ceiling windows. The restaurant was on the top floor of an impressive skyscraper and provided a spectacular view of the glittering city below, especially from our table, which was likely one of the best in the whole establishment.

  We talked about the view and the fact that it was actually warmer in New York than it was in Bitsberg. The blizzard we’d had never made its way to New York. We checked our menus and only once we ordered did we move on to talking about other things, mainly Lacey and Chance’s wedding plans. “What about you guys?” Chance asked after our appetizers arrived. “What are your plans after the season is over?”

  Ross shifted in his seat beside me. “Depends on if I have a job next year.”

  Lacey swooped in to the rescue. “Relax, guys. There’s no reason to worry about what’s happening after that. Let’s just enjoy the night.”

  Chance shrugged. “Dude, we just fucking won the second game in the playoffs. You ain’t going anywhere.”

  “We still have one more to go,” Ross said, taking a bite of blue crab crostini.

  “We still have one more to go,” Chance mimicked in a small voice, teasing Ross and picking up his own crostini.

  “Boys! Seriously?” Lacey interrupted. “You guys act like you play pee-wee football—or at least like you’re young enough to.”

  I snorted and flashed Lacey a smile while Chance grabbed his chest in a mock attack.

  “Oww! You’re breaking my heart, baby! I can feel it crackin’ in two right now.” We all burst out in laughter, but the question remained, what are our plans after the season?

  When dinner was over, we all said our goodbyes outside on the street in front of the towering building. Central Park was a few blocks away, and I’d never been there at night—mostly because it wasn’t entirely safe, especially for a single female—so I convinced Ross that we could walk off our heavy meals before heading back to the hotel.

  “That was nice,” I said, lacing my arm through his as we crossed the street.

  “Yeah. Chance and Lacey are good people.”

  I nodded. Something had changed halfway through the dinner. It reminded me of the sudden change from Christmas dinner at my parents’. I’d noticed that Ross seemed to have his mind set elsewhere for part of the meal. “Are you all right?” I asked him once we entered the park.

  He glanced over at me and gave a quick nod. “Sure. You?”

  “Mmhmm.”

  We walked for a little while, observing the Christmas fairy lights in the trees. When the silence started to swallow us up again, I stopped walking. Ross stopped one step ahead, his arm still interlocked with mine, and looked back before turning to face me. “What’s wrong?”

  “Something’s off. Why won’t you tell me what it is?”

  Ross’s eyebrows raised, and I instantly regretted my demanding tone. I sucked in a deep breath and held up my hands. “I just mean, it seems like there’s something on your mind, and I don’t understand why you won’t tell me.”

  “I don’t know what to tell you, Shelby. There are a lot of things going on inside my head these days.” He paused and ran a gloved hand through his thick hair. “I’ve played a grand total of two games now, and the stakes go up every day. It’s a lot to take in.”

  I cocked my head. “Are you sure that’s it?”

  His eyes locked on mine and the intensity in them startled me. “Yeah. What else would it be?”

  “When you got to the restaurant, you were excited, grinning from ear to ear, and I saw some of the post-game stuff when I was back at the hotel getting changed. You were happy. What changed in the last couple of hours that took that away?”

  Ross worked his jaw, and I shrank back, wondering if I’d gone too far, cursing my inability to ever let things go. My tenacious, never-give-up attitude was going to make sure I became one hell of a lawyer, but it also got me into trouble in my personal life. “Because the people who should be there to support me aren’t…” He paused and dragged in a ragged breath as though it were physically painful to breathe. “Because every step I take, every victory I achieve, it all has this ring of hollowness to it. It’s just another reminder that I did this on my own. Me. Alone.”

  “But you’re not alone,” I whispered, taking a step toward him.

  He swallowed hard. “You know the first thing the guys did once they got to the locker room? They called their family. Their wives, kids, moms, dads, or both. I mean, this is a big deal. We fucking won!” Ross broke away, his eyes wandering to a far corner of the park as though he couldn’t look at me any longer. “I don’t have that. My dad walked out on me when I was just a little guy, still in fucking diapers. My mom lost her damn mind and married the first dick who came along and had a job. He beats the fuck out of her and when I finally got old enough to fight back, they kicked me out. She’s still with that asshole. . After all those years trying to protect her, getting beat up by that fuckwad, she kicked me out.”

  He shook his head, and I caught a glimmer of tears in his eyes. My heart broke into tiny pieces as Ross’s story unfolded. My lungs burned in the cold air, but I couldn’t take a breath.

  “I bounced around at friends’ houses, sleeping on their couches for as long as I could before I had to move on. I didn’t want anyone to know I couldn’t go home because they’d call the cops or child protective services, and I’d end up in some foster home or worse. And still, my mom didn’t do one damn thing. She stayed with him. Hell, she’s still with him. I haven’t seen her in years. Haven’t even talked to her. It’s always the same story. He’s changed. He’s different. They’re doing well. But I know if I showed up there, it’d be the same old story. The rest of the family doesn’t do a damn thing. Her parents are gone, so are my dad’s. I’ve never even met them. I don’t have aunts or uncles or cousins. At least not that I’m close to. Some of them send Christmas cards. That’s it. So, on Christmas or on my birthday or on nights like tonight where I should be happy, I get lost. No—I get pissed. Pissed off that she was supposed to protect me and she couldn’t even protect herself. What kind of mom is that?”

  I took a shaky breath and reached for him. I wrapped my arms around him, waiting for him to relax into the embrace, but he remained stiff. “I’m sorry, Ross. No one should have to go through that.”

  My words sounded hollow, but I didn’t know what else to say. I was shocked, angry, and completely heartbroken for the man I cared so much about. The depths of his pain and loneliness were unfathomable to me. Even as an only child, I was always surrounded by love and support from my family and friends.

  “You don’t have to be sorry,” he said, his voice thick. “It’s fine. I’ll be fine. I just…” his words trailed off.

  I propped my chin on his chest as I looked up
into his glossy eyes. “You don’t have to be fine. Do you know that? It’s okay to be pissed off and fucked up and need some time and space to process things. You don’t have to grin and bear it. Not for the world, and certainly not for me. I’m sorry if I pushed you, but I am glad you trusted me enough to tell me.”

  Ross stared straight ahead, over the top of my head, for a long while before dropping his eyes to mine. A tear slipped past his lashes and fell down his cheek, glistening in the soft lights of the park. I wanted to reach up and wipe it away, but forced myself to stay still, my hands locked together behind Ross’s back. He shook his head and the tear bounced off.

  Without another word, he lowered his lips to mine and gave me the softest, sweetest kiss of my entire life. I clung to him, desperate to melt into him. When he broke away, he kept his forehead against mine, his eyes still closed. “Thank you for being here.”

  My heart fluttered in my chest at his quiet words. “There’s nowhere else in the whole wide world that I’d rather be.”

  16

  Shelby

  We didn’t say much as we continued our long walk through the park. There was more strength in the peaceful silence. The words that needed to be said had been said. We held each other tight as we wandered the path and exited the street closest to our hotel. We made it back to the hotel room before the snowfall started and we watched from the lobby—standing near the huge fireplace in the center—as the snowflakes fluttered to the ground. After a few lingering minutes, Ross wrapped his arm around my waist and directed me to the elevators.

  As soon as we stepped into the hotel room, my hands flew to cover my mouth. Ross had arranged for what looked like a hundred hurricane candles to be lit throughout the room, and deep red rose petals covered the white linens on the bed. “Oh my gosh,” I breathed, taking it all in. It was the most romantic thing anyone had ever done for me, and it was so much more meaningful after the fragile, raw conversation in the park.