“He’s in the Super Bowl,” Noor said.
“And that’s why you’re interested in him?” Mandy asked.
“He’s famous.” Noor grinned and did that side to side head bobble thing.
“You know, in America jocks like him beat geeks like us up and steal our lunch money.” Not to mention our self-respect.
Kaylin and Noor looked at each other. The shrug was implied.
Mandy stood up, hoping her clothes weren’t completely out of sorts. “I think I’m coming down with something.”
Noor put his hand over his mouth and stepped into the hallway. One down, one to go.
“So I’m going to head home early.”
“Do you need me to cover your class in the morning?” Kaylin asked.
“No, no, I’ll be back.” She took her coat off the hook and slid it on. Kaylin was still eyeing her as if she knew everything. Nightmarish. “Probably just a sinus headache.”
“See you in the morning. Have a good rest.” Noor said, already scuttling down the hall.
“Do you want me to bring you some citron tea?” Kaylin asked.
“I have some,” Mandy lied. She grabbed her purse and shooed Kaylin toward the door. She paused long enough to write a message on her white board that she had left early and would be in tomorrow for normal office hours. None of her students should be in this early in the term anyway. “See you tomorrow.”
“Call me if you need anything,” Kaylin called after her as she hurried down the hall.
Great, now Kaylin would be checking up on her.
Of all the universities in all the towns in all the world, he had to walk into hers. On purpose.
Chapter 2
Sonny’s anger got him as far as the outside of the front doors of the science building. Then the cold stopped him. His coat was open, and he could still feel the heat of Mandy’s body on his. The fact that she wasn’t still pressed there made him want to hit something. When Tawnie gave him her little spiel about getting forgiveness from someone he’d wronged, the first name that came to mind was Mandy’s. Not that Mandy’s name didn’t come to mind pretty frequently. Amazing how many times chemistry came up in conversation, at least around him. All those terrible equations and not enough explosions.
He and Mandy had lots of chemistry. They’d done lots of experiments too. He smiled, his body warming again. The fact that he was dating a woman named Tawnie should have been enough of a hint that he was off track for what was good for him. He wasn't designed for splashy, dramatic women who wanted to bathe in his reflected glow. He needed a woman who took care of her own shit and had her own light. Somebody like Mandy who kept her eyes on her own prize.
“Hey, aren’t you Sonny Black?” a girl in a black coat and combat boots asked. Heads swiveled in his direction.
“Yeah.”
“Can I get a picture with you?”
Sonny leaned down so his face was even with the girl’s as she snapped the selfie. By that time a dozen people had crowded around so he ended up rinsing and repeating for fifteen minutes before he found a guy wearing a football jersey.
“Hey buddy, you play ball?” Sonny asked. He still wanted to hit something. No way could Mandy still be pissed. All he’d done was tell a little white lie eons ago. Okay, it was mean, but he really hadn’t thought she cared what they thought about her then. Must have because she sure as hell cared now.
“I play defensive end.”
Sonny looked over the kid again. A little scrawny for a defensive end, but this school wasn’t known for its football program. They’d have weights and sleds that might burn out his frustration though. “You wanna point me in the direction of the gym? I have to get my workout in.”
“Really? You’re gonna practice here?” The kid pointed over his shoulder. “The workout room is across campus that way. I can walk you there.”
“Weren’t you headed for a class?”
“I’ll just skip it. I want to play pro someday and I could use some pointers. You want me to call the coach? He can meet us there.” The kid headed off at a brisk pace in the direction he’d indicated, already pulling out his phone. “Maybe you could scrimmage with us. Hey Coach, guess who’s—really? No, he’s with me.”
Another kid, this one a little bigger, fell in beside the original kid looking at Sonny with huge eyes.
See, that’s how he’d thought Mandy would have greeted him. Big eyes and awe. Not with anger and resentment. So he told the guys he was only doing her in trade for getting through chem. What was the big deal? Maybe it was awkward for her, but she’d always said those kids at school weren’t her real peers. She was better than the town they came from, and she was going to go on to great things. She was better and in more ways than brains. Great. Now he was hard all over again wanting her. He glanced over his shoulder at the science building. She might still be in her office. Of course now half the school knew he was here so it wouldn’t be a matter of shutting her door and working on her. He needed to know where she lived so he could drop by with some flowers or something. He needed that forgiveness.
More than that, he needed a second chance.
“Coach is cancelling his class so he can meet us at the workout room,” the kid said, cramming his phone in his pocket. “This is going to be amazeballs.”
“Word,” the second kid said.
Three more had joined them. He should have thought this through a little better. Showing up on a small college campus two days after clinching the division was probably going to make him the biggest thing to happen at this school in years. The wise play would have been to keep a low profile, but he’d already screwed that pooch. Might as well make it work for him. To get her forgiveness he had to prove that he wasn’t the kid he was in school, which meant telling people he was into her.
“Any of you guys have class with Amanda Daws?” He scanned the faces. His entourage had grown to fifteen, mixed male and female. Pretty soon the entire student body was going to be trailing him across campus.
“I have Dr. Daws.” A chubby girl in a puffy pink parka scurried her short little legs around the crowd to his side. She reminded him of Mandy in high school. Cute, awkward, cheerful. “I have Dr. Daws for intro chem. I need it for my major. My roommate had her last semester and she said I should take her because she never makes it hard or boring. This is only the second week of class, but she’s been really nice. Do you know her?”
Boring, never. Hard? Always, and in more ways than one. “We went to high school together. She was my chemistry tutor.” Sonny stared ahead. It looked like more people were poised to join the parade. Thanks to the Internet, everybody on the planet was going to know that the love of his life was geeky, goofy Mandy Daws. What if she kept rejecting him? Then he’d be humiliated for all time. It would become a gif like that fumbled snap. However, no pain, no gain. “We dated.”
The girl sighed. “And you came to look her up again? How sweet. Why did you break up?”
Who was this chick? Perez Hilton in disguise? “High school ended. We went our separate ways.” After I told the guys on the team that I was having sex with her in return for tutoring. That really was a world-class slime ball move. I am such a jackass.
“So are you going to get back together with her?”
Sonny flashed her his patented grin. “If she’ll have me.” Which she nearly had, right there on her desk. “You don’t happen to know where she lives, do you?”
“No, but I’ve got her cell number.” The girl started digging through her backpack.
Mandy would just hang up on him, but the girl had a tablet computer in her hand already.
“Why don’t you write that down for me? Thanks.”
One of the hangers-on rushed ahead to open a door. The original kid started peppering him with questions about plays and routines, which was a much more comfortable topic of conversation. Pink Parka Girl pressed a scrap of paper into his hands so he stuffed it in his pocket. Now he didn’t so much want to hit something as g
o back to his hotel for a little manual relief and then hunt down Mandy’s home address.
“I saw the pictures, but I didn’t believe it.” The coach was a little round man with an alarming comb over wearing a tweed jacket like he hadn’t transitioned completely from liberal arts to athletics. “Coach Vlasic, just like the pickles. Honored to meet you Mr. Black. I could have gone pro but I blew out my knee in college.” Vlasic patted his leg for emphasis.
“Call me Sonny.” Sonny shook the coach’s hand.
“What brings you to our little university?”
“He’s dating Dr. Daws,” Pink Parka Girl said.
The coach’s face held that same shocked disbelief as Sonny’s buddies’ faces had in high school when he’d let slip that he’d been with Mandy the night before. Been with in a perfectly innocent way. Watching her favorite movie, Casablanca, in her parent’s basement. Play it again, Sam. “Amanda Daws from the chemistry department? She never mentioned you.”
“We’re not dating right now. We dated in high school.”
“Oh, and you’re trying to renew the acquaintance.” Vlasic winked. “I’ll be happy to concede to the better man.”
Now it was Sonny’s turn to gape. Mandy was seeing Coach Vlasic of the bad comb over?
“We only went out on a couple of dates. I guess now I know why she knows so much about football. So what did you want to do this afternoon? Hit the weight room, run a few plays?”
Sonny looked around at the eager faces jockeying for position in the hall. If he got hurt, the entire coaching staff would gang up to murder him and cover it up, but getting in a few plays, even with a lousy college team, could be the goodwill gesture that might soften Mandy up. It also might loosen Vlasic’s tongue on Mandy’s address. “Why don’t we run some plays?”
Chapter 3
Mandy dragged herself to the door. She’d come home, taken a hot bath with wine and Casablanca, and slipped into her favorite leopard print nightgown. Only rayon, but it was comfortable. Now, wrapped in her black velveteen bathrobe, she was waiting for pizza and the bell had tolled. Hmm, For Whom the Bell Tolls wouldn’t be a bad follow-up movie. She was looking over her shoulder at her DVD collection when she opened the door.
“Hi Mandy.”
She shrieked and leaped backward, clutching the neck of her robe closed. “What are you doing here?” Suddenly she wasn’t wearing enough clothes. A HAZMAT suit with a broken zipper wouldn’t be enough clothes.
“Trying to talk to you.”
“How did you find out where I live?” She backed up another step, which he naturally took as an invitation to come inside. “Get out!”
He paused in the act of closing the door behind him. “Why?”
“I don’t want you here. If this is still about me forgiving you then fine, I’ll forgive you if you’ll go away.”
“I don’t want to go away.” He closed the door.
“But you got what you wanted.” The maelstrom of emotion she thought she’d left behind in high school pelted her like sleet. “Please, just go.”
“Mandy, I love you.”
“You keep saying that like it should mean something to me.”
“It did once. You did love me.” He put his hands on her shoulders. “I’ll go if you really want me to.”
“I really want you to.” She took another step back and bumped into the arm of the chair.
He turned toward the door.
Without Sonny, she’d be left alone with her cold misery. Forever. “Wait.”
Sonny turned back again, but he looked angry. “Make up your mind. I just spent all afternoon playing nice with your school’s football team to get this address and I’m not interested in wasting any more time.”
“I said I forgive you.”
“And if you meant it, pigs fly.”
Mandy walked across the room, loosening the neck of her robe. The whole house was warmer with him here. “You spent all afternoon playing with our football team?”
“Yes. I really just wanted to hit the weight room, but I figured that if you saw I wasn’t the creep I was then you’d give me another chance. If you’re not going to do that, then I’m going to cut my losses.”
The doorbell rang again.
“Son of a bitch.” Sonny threw open the door. “What?”
The skinny kid on the step just stared up at him. “Pizza.”
“Pizza?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet.
“I can pay for that myself,” Mandy said. She had the money in her robe pocket already.
“I’ve got it.” Sonny handed the kid a couple of bills and took the pizza.
“Wow, thanks!”
Great, now he was overtipping the pizza kid in addition to playing with the school’s team for kicks.
“Pizza,” Sonny said. Kicking off his shoes at the door, he carried the box through the living room to the kitchen as if he’d been here a hundred times and could find his way around in the dark.
“And wine. I like pizza.”
“I remember. Next you’ll be sitting down to watch an old movie. Casablanca first or will you save that for later?”
“How do you remember that?” Mandy stood next to the table watching him go through her cupboards. She’d planned to eat off the lid of the box at the coffee table, but he must be in a civilized mood.
“Your favorite color is chartreuse because you like the way the word sounds, but you actually hate the color itself. You watch Casablanca on repeat when you’re depressed. You love fuzzy things, but not furry things. You’re allergic to lilies.” He took two plates out of the cupboard and carried them to the table. “You like Thai food and hate Indian food, but given a choice you’ll eat a burger every day of the week. I remember everything, Mandy. I never forgot.”
“Then why did you tell everyone I was a slut?”
“I never said you were a slut. I said we’d had sex.”
“Then why did you tell everyone we had sex?”
“Because I was a stupid little boy who didn’t know what I had and thought those jerks we went to high school with were more important than you.” He pulled a piece of pizza free and put it on a plate. Then he thrust it at her. “I forgot to mention that you eat when you’re depressed too.”
Mandy took the plate. “It hurt, you know.”
“I’m getting that, but can’t you give me some breaks for being here now?” He hadn’t put a slice for himself on the second plate.
She set down the plate, the pizza losing its draw. “So you just got some advice from some woman to get my forgiveness and decided to hunt me down on the spur of the moment?”
“I knew where you were. Sandy Sydlowski took her job as class president very seriously. She knows where everyone we graduated with is. She has a website that she keeps updated.”
“But I didn’t graduate from there.”
“That hasn’t stopped her. She posted it when you got the job here last summer. The only thing she didn’t have was an address.”
“Why?” Why now? Why here? Why work this hard? So many whys.
Sonny sat down in a chair. “Are you going to make me spell it out?”
“Yes.” Mandy sat down beside him. The pizza was cooling between them, but that’s what microwaves were for. “Don’t tell me it’s that superstitious thing about your bad luck and failing someone, because you know I’m not going to believe that.”
“I always knew you weren’t going to.” He folded his hands on the table. “Look, I’ve got the shoe deal and the shirt deal and the soup deal. My agent is working on getting me a deodorant deal and a restaurant deal. I might be part of the Monopoly McDonald’s thing next year. In less than two weeks, I’m going to be first-string quarterback in the Super Bowl. The office passed around lists for spots in the loge at the game and I couldn’t think of anybody I wanted there.”
“Your parents. Old coaches. Best pals.” Mandy listed them off on her fingers.
“You know what I mean. My mom will be th
ere. Coach Sims is bringing her. Other than them, there's nobody.
"Why is your old football coach taking her? What about your dad?"
"My dad passed away six years ago in the off season.”
"I'm sorry. He always seemed nice." Mandy stared at the pattern of wood on the table.
He nodded and stared at the tabletop.
Mandy clenched her hands to keep from reaching for him. “So you want me to go to the Super Bowl now?”
“No, I mean yes.” He reached across the table and took her hands. “What I want is for you to be in my life. I thought I’d be able to just walk in here and you’d be all over the chance to get back together with me.”
“You did always have a rampant ego.” Her stomach churned. Get back together with him? Being with him in high school had been crazy fun, but part of that was the sneaking around. She’d always had the sense that he didn’t want his friends to know so she’d kept away from him in the halls unless she had a tutoring related message to deliver. That should have been a sign, but what high school girl with the eye of the BMOC was going to do anything risk that?
He started rubbing his thumb in circles in the middle of her palm. Nice. Scary nice.
“Will you cut me some slack?”
“I am. I haven’t thrown you out.”
“If you want me to go that bad, I’ll go. I don’t need this shit.” He stood up and started past her, but she grabbed his wrist. He stopped.
For a moment she couldn’t speak. The war between wanting and being afraid took all her concentration. If he really meant what he said, she could get back to that Eden they’d shared in high school. “Hold on a minute.”
“Why? You’ve been pretty clear.”
“And you think you know me.” She stood up so she could be in range of his body heat. In high school he’d been really well built, but that was nothing compared to now. She still had her hand around his wrist and even there she could feel the fine tuned power of his arms. “You have to remember that this is coming out of left field for me.”
“Wrong sport.” His lips curled with humor.
Sacked By the Quarterback Page 2
