The Final Score

by Jaci Burton

  "I'm not discussing my personal life, today or any day." He got up. "Thanks, everyone."

  When he left the media room, his coach came over to him. "Sorry about that."

  "It's okay, Coach. They can keep asking the questions, but they won't get an answer from me."

  "You did good, kid. And in the future I'll take care of those questions. They won't like my answer."

  Nathan could well imagine how his coach would handle reporters asking personal questions. His coach was a nice guy--until you pissed him off.

  "Thanks. I appreciate it."

  "Hey, I agree with you. What you do when you're not on the field is no one's business but your own. So now go relax and we'll see you at practice."

  "Thanks, Coach."

  He went to his locker. Jamal was just finishing up, so he smiled at Nathan.

  "Wendy and I are headed out to celebrate. You in?"

  "Not today, but thanks. You two enjoy."

  Jamal laid his hand on Nathan's shoulder. "You okay, buddy?"

  Nathan laid his hand over Jamal's. "I'm good. And hey, great game today. You were always right where I needed you to be."

  "Always will be. On the field and off."

  Nathan grinned. He knew he could always count on his best friend.

  At least there was one person he knew he could always count on.

  "What the hell did you do to my sister?"

  He turned to see Flynn standing in front of him, arms crossed, a fierce expression on his face.

  "What?"

  "Mia."

  "I know who your sister is, Flynn. I just don't know what you're talking about. I didn't do anything to her."

  "Didn't you? She's upset."

  "Oh, is she? Well I didn't cause that."

  "Didn't you? She didn't come to the game today. And when I asked her why she just said she was busy with work. Which sounds like a bullshit reason to me and could only mean she's upset with you."

  Nathan shrugged and grabbed his bag to leave. "If she didn't want to come to the game, that's her decision."

  "Did you two break up?"

  "No, Flynn. We didn't break up. She dumped me. Two weeks ago."

  Flynn frowned. "She did? What the hell did she do that for?"

  "Hell if I know. Maybe you should ask her, because as far as I know everything was going great between us, and suddenly she decided her career was all important, and our relationship was getting in the way of that."

  Flynn's stance softened. "That doesn't sound like Mia."

  "Apparently it is, because she gave me the boot right out the door, and I haven't heard from her since."

  Flynn was silent for a few seconds. "Hey, I'm sorry, man. I didn't know."

  "No reason you would unless Mia wanted to tell you about it." Which, apparently, she hadn't.

  "So you two didn't have a fight or anything?"

  "No."

  "Huh. I need to go talk to my sister."

  "Yeah, you do that. I'm outta here."

  "Okay. Later, Nathan."

  Nathan walked out the door, mixing in with several of his teammates who were greeted by wives and girlfriends and family members.

  His mom and dad weren't there today, which meant there was no one to greet him.

  He walked down the long hallway toward the parking lot.

  Alone.

  THIRTY-SIX

  MIA HAD JUST FINISHED A MEETING WITH A PROSPECTIVE client and was on her way back to her office when Monique flagged her down.

  "Your brother is here."

  "Flynn?"

  "Yes."

  Curious, she went to the reception area. Flynn was alone, wearing dark jeans and a button-down shirt and currently being ogled by her receptionist. She remembered Lina telling her about her crush on Flynn when she interviewed her, even though she'd informed Lina that Flynn was taken.

  She smiled at the memory. "I wasn't expecting you."

  "I know. Do you have time for lunch?"

  She looked at her phone. It was still early, and her staff meeting wasn't until two. "Sure. Let me grab my purse."

  They ended up walking to the Plant Cafe Organic, and got a table outside since it was a warm day.

  They both ordered water and the shitake spring rolls for an appetizer.

  "Where's Amelia?" Mia asked.

  "At home making both a chocolate and a lemon tart."

  "Now I'm really hungry."

  Flynn laughed. "Yeah, it smelled pretty good in there when I left her place."

  The waitress brought their appetizer, so they dug in, and also ordered lunch.

  "So what brings you out here?"

  "I missed you at the game yesterday."

  "I missed being there. It was lonely cheering for you at the house all by myself. I mean, the game was awesome, of course, but not the same as being there."

  "So why didn't you come?"

  "I had work."

  He took a large bite of spring roll, swallowed, then took a drink of water before answering with, "That's a load of crap, Mia. You can't keep hiding behind work."

  She sighed. "Nathan told you."

  "Yeah, but only after I accused him of hurting you."

  She frowned. "Oh, you didn't."

  "I did."

  "It was me, Flynn. I broke up with him."

  "You can tell me it's none of my business, but you know I'm always here for you if you want to talk."

  She knew that was true. And Flynn of all people would understand.

  "Two weeks ago after the game we were all gathered outside the locker room and Nathan had his arm around me. The press was out there, too. That was the day we were all headed over to Mick and Tara's for a postgame celebration."

  "I remember that. You decided not to come."

  "I surfed some social media sites after that, and they had linked Nathan and me together. I got scared."

  "Because you don't want to be linked to Nathan? Why? Because of MHC?"

  "No. Okay, partly yes because some articles implied I was using Nathan to benefit my company."

  "Assholes."

  "True. But I can handle that. It was mainly because of Nathan's career. Because I didn't want the press to focus on the whole Cassidy/Riley dynasty thing to the detriment of his career. One photo of the two of us together and that's all the media covered. Not how well Nathan played that day, but how Nathan Riley and Mia Cassidy were a couple."

  Flynn took a sip of water and looked at her. "I see. So you broke up with him because of that."

  "Yes."

  "And you think that would matter to Nathan?"

  "It matters to me. As someone who manages athletes, it matters how they're perceived, and what the press focuses on. Nathan's just starting out and the attention should be on his performance on the field. Not on what he's doing off of it."

  Their lunch arrived, so Flynn didn't say anything else for a while. Mia tried to enjoy her miso soup, but she wanted to know what was on her brother's mind, so she ended up leaving half of it.

  "Well?" she finally asked.

  "Well, what?"

  "What do you think?"

  "I think you should talk to Nathan. Tell him the truth, and then the two of you should decide what's best for both of you. I don't think it's up to you to make a decision about his career, Mia."

  She sighed. "I was afraid you'd say that. But I did what I thought was right."

  "So you don't really care about him."

  She threw her napkin on the table. "How can you say that? I broke up with him because I love him."

  Flynn laughed. "Yeah. That's how you tell someone you love them. By telling them you don't want to see them anymore."

  "Screw you, Flynn."

  Their waitress came over to refill their water glasses, so that silenced her for a few minutes, which was probably a good thing, because she was about to blow up at her brother in a public restaurant. Instead, she took a couple of deep breaths and a few sips of water to calm herself down.

  "How i
s Nathan?" she asked.

  "He seems a little pissed."

  She nodded. "Okay."

  Flynn reached over and grabbed her hand. "I know you think you did the right thing. But you didn't give him a chance to be a part of this decision you made. And knowing Nathan, I don't think he would have been on board with your idea."

  "But--"

  "But nothing, Mia. If he cares about you like I think he does, it won't matter. And honestly? The media is hot on a topic one week, and the next week they're on to something else. It might not be as big a deal as you think it is."

  "Of course it shouldn't matter. But the timing of it sucked. Nathan's career is a priority right now."

  "Nathan might think you're just as important a priority. Don't you think you should give him the chance to prove that to you?"

  "I guess." She was kind of surprised by Flynn taking Nathan's side. She'd worried for so long about how her brothers would react to her dating Nathan. Flynn didn't seem surprised--or even bothered by it. In fact, he seemed pissed that she'd broken up with Nathan.

  "So talk to him."

  "I will."

  They walked back to her office and she hugged him outside. "Thank you for lunch, and for listening. And I guess for the lecture."

  He laughed and gave her a tight squeeze. "That's what big brothers are for. To give you all that unwanted advice you need."

  "I love you, Flynn."

  "Love you, too, Mia. Now go talk to Nathan."

  After Flynn left, she rode the elevator back up to her office, and realized Flynn was right.

  She'd made unilateral decisions without discussing her thoughts or her feelings with Nathan. And without taking his feelings into consideration.

  She'd made a colossal mistake, and she needed to talk to Nathan.

  If he even wanted to speak to her anymore.

  But she loved him, she missed him and she was going to make him listen to her. After that, it was up to him.

  THIRTY-SEVEN

  NATHAN WAS SLUGGISH DURING PRACTICE. ALL DURING drills today he'd felt like he was dragging a Chevy through the turf. Even his coach had noticed and told him more than once to pick up his own ass and run.

  He'd never been happier to see the end of a practice. He'd stood under the running water in the shower for what seemed like an eternity, hoping it would wash away the tons of turf he'd eaten when his defense had knocked him down over and over again.

  There wasn't a part of his body that didn't hurt like hell. What he wanted right now was a damn beer and a cheeseburger.

  "You look like you've been run over by a truck," Flynn said as he passed by his locker.

  "Feel like it, too."

  "I've had rough practices like these before. Some days are just like that. You need to shake it off."

  "I plan to. With a beer and a cheeseburger."

  "Ninety-Two makes the best cheeseburgers in the city. Let me treat you to one."

  He wasn't in the mood to socialize. He'd planned to grab something on the way home and nurse his aches and pains on the sofa, but Flynn was a veteran and he could probably use some insight into why he'd been dragging ass on the field today. So he nodded. "Sure. That sounds great. Thanks."

  "Okay. Meet you there."

  Flynn left and Nathan sat there for several minutes, trying to summon the energy to get dressed.

  He had to start getting his shit together. They had a tough game coming up this weekend against Dallas and he had to get his mind-set right.

  Last night he'd stayed up way too late thinking about calling Mia. Or going over to Mia's place and making her talk to him.

  God, he missed her. He thought by now he'd be over her. It had been three weeks. He always got over women fast.

  But he'd never loved a woman before. Not the real love kind of love. This really fucking hurt. Getting over her wasn't going to be easy.

  Maybe he needed to text her, to ask her to meet with him so they could talk things out, so she could make him understand what the fuck had happened.

  Closure. What he needed was that mystical closure thing people talked about when relationships ended. He'd always laughed about that when his friends talked about it or he saw it portrayed on TV. What the fuck was closure anyway?

  Whatever it was, he needed it so he could move the hell on with his life.

  He got dressed and drove into the city, parking in the lot at Ninety-Two. By the time he got there, he decided that the closure thing was overrated. What he needed was a beer and a cheeseburger and an awesome game on Sunday.

  Those were all the things he needed to be happy. He needed to stay away from women and relationships, because those two things screwed with his head. All he needed in his life was football. If he just concentrated on football, everything would be perfect.

  Then he walked in the door of the restaurant and saw Mia sitting at the bar, and his newly constructed life plan went totally to shit.

  MIA SAW THE LOOK ON NATHAN'S FACE WHEN HE WALKED in. He was not happy to see her. She half expected him to turn around and walk out. In fact, she found herself holding her breath for that fraction of a second as their gazes met, waiting for him to do exactly that.

  When he didn't, when he walked toward her, she exhaled in relief. He could be mad as hell at her, he could even yell at her. But what she couldn't handle was him walking away.

  Though that's what she'd done, wasn't it? She'd walked away from him--from them, without even giving him a truthful explanation about why. She owed him that, so she really hoped he'd stay to hear her out.

  "I'm here to see Flynn," he said.

  She swallowed, her throat gone dry. "He's not here."

  Nathan frowned. "Okay. I'll wait for him."

  "I mean, he's not going to be here. I asked him to ask you to come."

  "Why?"

  "Because I figured if I asked you to come you wouldn't."

  "You're right. This is a waste of time."

  He started to walk away but she laid her hand on his forearm. "Please stay."

  "I don't need closure, Mia."

  "Closure? I'm not-- I don't want that, Nathan. I want to talk to you."

  He looked around and so did she. The restaurant wasn't crowded. It was still early so the dinner crowd hadn't arrived yet.

  "Fine."

  She felt such relief at that one word. "Let's get a table somewhere private in the corner where we can talk. Would you like something to drink?"

  He told the bartender he wanted a beer. Once he got that, they went to a table in the far corner of the restaurant.

  Mia took a sip of her wine while Nathan took several long swallows of his beer, then set it down on the table.

  "What's this all about, Mia?"

  Now was the time to lay the truth out on the table. She hoped he didn't bolt when she did, but she owed him that. She owed him the truth--and her feelings.

  "I lied to you."

  "When?"

  "When I broke up with you. It wasn't about my company or me. It was about you."

  He didn't respond to that, so she continued.

  "That afternoon of the preseason game, you put your arm around me and the media was there. They took photos and those photos showed up online. I sat outside Mick and Tara's house. You remember we were supposed to meet there."

  "Yeah, I remember. You cancelled."

  "Right. I saw those photos and what the reporters were saying about you and me. They focused on the two of us together. They asked if we were a dynasty in the making. They accused me of using you to benefit my company. And suddenly it wasn't about your game that day, Nathan. It was about us."

  "So?"

  She sighed. "How can you be so nonchalant about that? You know how the press focuses on an athlete and his personal life. I didn't want that for you. Not at such a critical juncture in your career."

  Nathan took a sip of his beer. "Oh, I get it. So you decided it would be best to end things between us to save me. How noble of you."

  She knew he
'd be mad about it. "I'm sorry. I thought what I was doing was for the best. For you."

  "Without talking to me about it. Without asking how I felt about it. Because Mia Cassidy knows best."

  She shook her head. "It wasn't like that. I was scared for you, Nathan. I was worried how you'd be perceived, that the focus would be about the two of us instead of your performance on the field."

  "So instead of treating me like someone you care about, you treated me like a client. Hell, Mia, for that, I should sign with MHC, because you handled me beautifully, didn't you? Your instincts were right on. Tell the client that personal life and entanglements come second to career. Right?"

  This was not going like she thought it would. Couldn't he see what she'd done for him? Couldn't he see how much her heart was hurting? "That's exactly the way I thought. I sacrificed us for you. Don't you see that?"

  His gaze narrowed. "Oh, I see it perfectly. Only I was in love with you, Mia. So while you were thinking all about business you ripped my goddamn heart out."

  He was in love with her? It was the first time he'd said it and she should be elated.

  But she could only watch him as he stood, tossed money on the table for his beer and, without another word, walked out of the restaurant.

  Mia stared at the empty chair where he'd sat.

  Oh, God. She'd hurt him so much, even more than she'd thought. Because she'd had to be the one in control. So instead of loving him and talking to him about her fears and concerns, she'd managed him. He was so right. Instead of talking it over with the man she loved, she'd treated him like a client.

  It really was over between them. And she couldn't fix it. What she'd feared the most had happened.

  She'd lost Nathan. Only it wasn't the sex or falling in love that had driven the wedge between them.

  It was her. She'd ruined them. And she totally deserved this feeling of utter loss and devastation.

  NATHAN THREW HIS KEYS ON THE TABLE AND PACED the confines of his condo. He raked his fingers through his hair, still hot after the long drive home.

  "Fuck."

  Mia had manipulated him, treated him no better than she'd treat any one of her clients.

  He'd loved her. Hell, he still loved her, goddammit. And she didn't care at all about him. How could she shred him like that without a thought to how he felt?

  His phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw that it was Mia. He gripped the phone so tight it made his hand cramp, so he threw the damn thing on the sofa.

  She'd made all the decisions and never once thought to ask him how he felt. Because in Mia's world, business was everything. Business came first.