Second and Short

by Michel Prince

  “I heard your voice in my head. You weren’t as loud as they were.”

  “I’ll come, but if I see any of this shit you’ve been pulling I swear to God, the angels and your mother you’ll no longer be my son.”

  The threat had been given to him a dozen times growing up and he’d even failed in the past. Somehow this one seemed real. Maybe because his father had been so distant over the past six years that being cut off completely wouldn’t take much more.

  “Dad,” Dalton said as he gathered all his strength. “I want to be me again and for the past few months I’ve been working on that. In the last month, I finally found myself again. The only thing missing are my parents.”

  Chapter Seven

  Willeen woke with a bit of a headache. Reaching for the water bottle on her nightstand she sat up slowly and sipped. Maybe this was the altitude sickness Dalton had warned her about. When her hand pushed over a handful of airline size alcohol bottles, she remembered Rachel was childless and needed girl time. The sound of tablets rattling alerted her to an incoming bottle of pills.

  “These will help,” Rachel said right as the bottle plopped on her bed. “Damn girl you’re a lightweight.”

  Cracking one eye open, Willeen was so happy the drapes were still drawn. “Is that another thing I need to get caught up on if I’m going to be with a professional football player?”

  “No,” Rachel laughed. “Just to be my bestie, but I don’t think we’ll be around after this year.”

  “Why not?” Willie asked as she finally pulled herself up in the bed and swallowed a couple of pills.

  “We’ve had a good run, but the quarterback styles are changing. I told Matty, go out on a high note. Don’t drag it out trying to find some glory we might not achieve.”

  “Won’t he miss it?”

  “I used to think he would, but the last few years he spends more time in ice baths than hot showers. He wants to play with our kids when he’s done and he’s still the city’s hero most days.”

  Willeen finished the last of her water and got in the shower. Matt Bishop was older than Dalton and Rachel had known him since college. Her drinking was more for a freed mother than a wild football wife. Willeen wasn’t sure how attached she should get to anyone associated with the Grizzlies. Lord knows she needed to figure out more about her life, but as she got ready with Rachel she felt relaxed and normal.

  “Cute, I think the away jersey looks better on you,” Rachel said as Willie pulled the jersey over her long-sleeved t-shirt before pulling the zip up hoodie on. With a stocking cap that matched the one DeMonte had gotten at the last game, she felt ready to go. “You know they have an outdoor stadium, right?”

  “Noon game, in the desert.” She stuffed her hands in the pockets of her sweatshirt. “My man gave me the skinny.”

  “That’s the first time I heard you admit Dalton is your man.” Rachel smirked. “And the alcohol has left your body.”

  “Nothing on the record, but…well…I think he is.”

  “Uh-oh, I don’t like the sound of that. I’ve been around long enough to hear those words.”

  They headed down to the lobby to meet the same driver they had the night before. Willie rocked back on her heels as Dalton’s forecast was pretty spot on. She might need to take off the sweatshirt at some point in the day. “It’s not him that’s making me say maybe.”

  “You? You’re not sure about him? Because I’ve known him for a few years now and the whole blood thirsty thing is a joke.”

  “I know, but don’t they all have roles they play?”

  “Matt’s a great dad and husband. When he’s on the road I’m not worried about him sleeping around or picking up some random woman. It’s not a role if they are who they are. Dalton will be less conflicted when he gets to be who he is at home with everyone.”

  “I’m not the biggest football fan, so I’ve really only known him one way. The other things make me laugh. He couldn’t be that way.”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t go that far. I’ve seen him snap before, but never without cause.”

  Willie closed her eyes for a moment and tried to push out all the visions of men snapping around her away. “You’ve known Matt for forever—”

  “He says take the for off the front.”

  “Right, you’ve known him for ever. Dalton’s house is huge and empty.”

  “There’s a metaphor for you if I ever heard of one.”

  The car pulled up and they both got in. “It’s not that I’ve never had finer things before, it’s just they came with strings.”

  “And you want to know what strings Dalton has.” Rachel let out a long breath and made sure she was looking directly at Willeen. “The reason why the blood thirsty thing makes me so annoyed is because he’s never been anything but sweet with me. He comes around enough you can’t fake that for that long.”

  “Does the spotlight ever bother you?”

  “What spotlight? That’s on Matty. Our kids might get seen at training camp.”

  “Dani was on the side of a bus with Rome.”

  “Dani’s Chicago royalty. Charity work for her is like doing laundry to us common folk. Something you do. Trust me, her wedding will be standing room only at Holy Name Cathedral downtown. Her family aren’t members, but you don’t turn down the Albrights and the church is beautiful and historic.”

  “Comparing Dalton and I to Rome and Dani wouldn’t be a good judge of what to expect then?”

  “Not unless you’re looking at schedules. The only thing you need to know is don’t expect to see your husband from late July until hopefully the first weeks of February.”

  “No one was saying anything about marriage.”

  “Then don’t be with Dalton, that man wants a partner. It’s who he is. Family is everything to him. Trades and cuts happen all the time with the players. He takes it harder than the player.”

  They were able to find their way to their seats in no time. With a couple of beers, nachos and a pair of hot dogs the women settled in for the game. Rachel pointed out men on the field and Willie laughed hard as Rachel lip read the men’s conversations with hilarious inaccuracy.

  An older couple was checking their tickets and lining them up with numbers. “Now how the heck is this ‘sposed to fit a fan?” the man said and Willie looked over at the man with a wide frame who dwarfed his wife by almost a foot. The woman just shook her head as she sat down next to Willie.

  “You have to explain this to me,” Rachel said bringing Willie back to her left side. With the program open to the roster Rachel had her finger pointing to Dalton’s stats. “We’re talking over three-hundred-and-fifty pounds of man.”

  Willie covered her eyes and tried to hush Rachel, but with the crowd noise raising as the announcer was preparing for the starting line ups, she was practically yelling.

  “Matt has inches on me and about fifty pounds of muscle.” Rachel’s hands spread wide. “But linemen are—solid.”

  “Are you talking about my man’s gut?”

  “Yeah, I mean you’re tall, but not big. How does that all work?”

  “How does what work?” Willie asked as she took a swig of her beer. “Are we talking about the deep meaningful conversations we have?”

  “Deep?” Rachel teased drawing out the word. “He does have big feet.”

  Willie looked from side to side and saw the woman next to her seemed to be ease dropping. Yeah, this conversation was over. Willie cut her eyes at Rachel to say it was time to end the conversation. Rachel burst out laughing, then took out her phone to demand a selfie.

  “No,” Willie adamantly denied.

  “You didn’t care last week.”

  “Last week? I didn’t take a selfie with you last week.”

  “Yes, you did. Dani was squeezing you tight.”

  “My eyes were closed. I didn’t know you were taking a picture.” Willie’s mouth went dry. “You didn’t post it, did you?”

  “Of course I did, are you in witness p
rotection or something?”

  “Or something.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I should have asked before I posted it.”

  “How many people saw it?”

  “Thousands.”

  Willeen twisted her hands together and tried to push down her fears. What are the chances Hector saw her? More important, being seen in Chicago what was he going to do? Go door to door in Chicago to find her?

  “Willie, please tell me everything is okay?”

  Even with the crowd noise she couldn’t hear anything. Every movement had her cutting her eyes as she watched for dark haired men. Not a good thing at a football game. The crowd jumped at something the announcer said and she gripped the handles of her seat.

  “Hey sweetie,” the woman sitting next to her laid her soft hand over Willie’s. “Take a bite of my pretzel.”

  “No thank you.” Willie said silent prayers of thanks for the stranger at her side, Dalton being in her life and to please keep her face away from Hector. Why would he be following a random quarterback’s wife? It couldn’t be shared and liked that much, could it?

  “I’ll take it down right now, Willie. I’m so sorry. I know social media rules, but we weren’t being stupid or naked or anything.”

  “Honey, nothing can be solved on an empty stomach.” A pretzel was in front of Willie’s eyes. “Take a bite.”

  “What was that?”

  “Take a bite,” the woman urged.

  “Bonnie, can you stay out of it?” the man said.

  “Hush,” she scolded and a bracelet flashed on her left wrist. When the woman moved her hand back, Willie saw three words engraved. One on each band; Today, Tomorrow, Always. “Now tell me what is going on.”

  “Goddamn women get it over with, it’s kickoff.”

  “Gil I swear—” Bonnie cut her eyes back at the man with the same sneer Willie had seen before.

  “I’m sorry,” Gil replied and leaned over meeting her with a pair of crystal blue eyes. “Look I know you’re going through some drama right now, but I came to watch a game.”

  “Where did you get this?” Willie asked Bonnie as she held her wrist in her hand.

  “My husband, believe it or not does have a soft side,” Bonnie gushed. “It’s something we say to each other—”

  “I love you today, tomorrow and always,” Willie completed the statement for her as tears ran down her cheeks. The fear she had dissipated knowing Dalton’s father, though irritated by her at the moment, was by her. “I’m Willeen Fire, my friends call me Willie.”

  “Bonnie and Gil—”

  “Gresham.” Again, Willie completed the thought.

  “These are Dalton’s parents?” Rachel questioned as she entered the conversation. “Oh Willie, don’t cry. I bet Dalton set this whole thing up.”

  “Dalton?” Bonnie asked. “You know my son.”

  “Oh, she knows him,” Rachel said and Willie elbowed her.

  Bonnie’s eyes widened. “Well, those tears aren’t from my son, are they?”

  “Never.” Willie let out a cleansing breath and wiped at her tears. “I’m sorry, we should be watching the game.”

  “How did you know?” Bonnie asked.

  “Nothing can be solved on an empty stomach.” Willie let out a laugh that lightened the pain in her head. “More importantly, your son stole your line.”

  “Then you understand, my husband may grumble, but he’s a big old teddy bear.”

  “Damn boy needs to steal my pass blocking and quit messing with my seduction skills.”

  They made it almost to half time actually watching the game. Bonnie was more interested in the who, what, where and how of Dalton and Willeen, but she knew better than to interrupt during game time. Rachel and Bonnie left for the bathrooms at half time and Gil sat with his elbows resting on his knees. The future looked bright if Gilbert Gresham was an indication of the way men aged in the family. Size and build were similar, only Dalton had a few more inches on him. Quietly, they both sat flipping through the program.

  When Willie felt Rachel sit down, she turned and saw Hector sitting in the empty seat to her right. Gil had gotten caught up in a conversation with the couple next to him. Turning back to Hector, she had to choke back the vomit coming up her throat.

  “You know mi alma when Manello came to me about bringing a football team to Vegas I thought, why? We don’t care about one team we care about every team. The spread.”

  Willie stared straight ahead hoping to find a way to get up and run.

  “Then I was flipping through social media and I saw mi alma hugging up with a beautiful woman. Before I knew it, she was flying to Denver from Milwaukee. Now what kind of game are you playing Willie?”

  “I’m not playing a game and I’m just watching one.”

  “Interesting.” He pulled up his phone and the picture Rachel posted was on the screen. Holding it up to her face he shook his head. “Appears you’re wearing the same jersey, well not quite. Makes me wonder why would you wear the same man’s jersey two weeks in a row.”

  “Linemen are the silent heroes of the game. Without them there would be no game.”

  “Hmm…Lets hope that’s the reason because if I hear that he touched you mi alma…” Hector whispered in her ear so his lips could brush against it as the back of his index finger trailed down her cheek. “You know better than to let a man touch what is mine. Even if you are within my presence, I don’t appreciate a man even appreciating your beauty.”

  Her body trembled as she froze, praying she could melt away. Heat surrounded her lap and she knew she wet herself. The strength she showed around most people, she couldn’t with him. Why? Because she knew he was more bite than bark?

  “Clean yourself up, you’re coming to my suite over there.” He pointed across the stadium by the end zone. His hand curled around her upper arm as he yanked her up from the seat. She turned to see Gil breaking from his conversation in time to reach for her too.

  “Willie, tell me all about your trip out here,” he said as he pulled her back, only to get a resistance she knew he wasn’t expecting. “Let her go, son.”

  “I’m not your son,” Hector snarled. “And she is mine.”

  “You want to go with him?” Gil asked and Willie found the strength to shake her head no.

  “The lady says no and where I come from, no means no.”

  Hector scanned the crowd, who were all watching the scene unfold. With a shove, she went flying into Gil’s arms that circled her in protection. “This isn’t over mi alma. I know where you are now and I know who to hurt.”

  Gil held her tight with one hand on her head and the other around her body. “Threatenin’ my family has bad side effects for those involved.”

  “Don’t,” Willie pleaded. “He’ll kill you all.”

  “He knows salt from sugar,” Gil said gently as he held her until her body stopped trembling.

  “What happened?” Bonnie said as she came up on them still locked in a hug.

  “She needs to be taken and cleaned up, but I’m going with her,” Gil said as he looked at Rachel. “Find her some pants. They must have a big team store somewhere.”

  “What happened?” Bonnie asked again. “I want to know—Willie did you spill your beer?”

  Willie shook her head as she stayed in tight with Gil. “I just want to go, this is so embarrassing.”

  “Hey,” Bonnie said as she took Willie’s chin in her hand and turned it up. “Tell me everything.”

  Through muddied eyes, Willie looked at the woman she wanted so badly to be in her life. This caring stranger who saw her crying and offered her food. Her face was round, but Dalton was right his mother was slight in her frame. Tight, petite and barely came up to Willie’s chest. She was strong and fierce with a command of her own giant.

  “I just want to see Dalton. I need to explain why I have to leave.”

  “There’s been a situation,” the head of the stadium’s security stopped Dalton as he was
coming off the field.

  “We win and you’re taking me in? It wasn’t all me,” Dalton joked as he pointed to Rome. “He’s the one with almost two-hundred yards rushing.”

  “I’m being serious,” the man said and Dalton’s stomach dropped. “My dad?”

  “No, please come with me.”

  “We’ve got team huddle,” Coach Tricket said. “Whatever he did can wait until after.”

  “I’m afraid it can’t,” the officer said as he waved another officer over. “Explain the situation to the coach please.”

  “Am I under arrest?” Dalton asked, not about to go anywhere without a good reason.

  “Please, Mr. Gresham.”

  “Dalton go,” Coach Tricket said as he crossed his arms and spied the officer left to explain.

  Unlocking his shoulder pads, the vice released across his chest as he followed the security officer to the back elevator that took them up a few levels. When the doors opened, he was at the suite level. A few people were mulling around, but there was a line with the rent-a-cops blocking people from coming to one suite. When he walked in, he saw his father sitting on a couch with his hands in front of his mouth and the concentration stare burning a hole in the table in front of him.

  At the edge, in a cushioned chair Willie had her arms wrapped tightly around one of her legs as his mother rubbed circles on her back. Rachel was at a high-top table with her phone out as she swiped at the screen.

  “Dalton,” her mother called and got up to give him a hug. “Don’t let her go. She’s just scared.”

  Scared? Did Willie even have that emotion? Not his strong woman. She wasn’t scared of anything. Taking off his shoulder pads and jersey, he set them on the floor before taking a knee by her side. He couldn’t understand the forward frozen face she had or that she was wearing his jersey and a pair of Mustang leggings with work boots.

  “Hey babe,” he said softly to avoid startling her. Tears had streaked down her cheeks to the point any make up she had on became a rare watercolor decorating her skin. “Want to tell me what’s going on?”

  “I need to go.”

  “Okay, well I don’t have a problem with that.”