Small Town Daddy: A Dark Romance

by B. B. Hamel

  I leaned back against the bench and looked up at the crowd. They were cheering again as my touchdown was played over and over on the big screen.

  “Fuck,” I said, and let out a breath.

  17

  Taylor

  I knew he was going to go for it.

  From the second he walked into that huddle, I knew it. After he broke out that big run, setting them up on the one-yard line, I knew he couldn’t let it go. He just wasn’t the type of man to sit down and let the rest of the team take over from there.

  But that was it. Once the other trainers saw the pain he was in, they pulled him from the game. Coach didn’t argue at all.

  I was angry, though. He should have known better. He should have sat that play out, iced it up, rested for the next game. He’d done good work already, and everyone had already been impressed. He hadn’t needed to risk himself even more.

  I only hoped that the damage wasn’t bad. I could see some swelling, and it was clearly tender to the touch, but that didn’t necessarily mean he was out for the season. I guessed he’d miss at least one game.

  After some treatment on the bench, they carried him back into the locker room. I went with them, staying on the periphery and paying close attention to the other trainers. I had a lot to learn still, and seeing how they reacted and what steps they took was a huge help to myself, and hopefully I’d be able to help Owen better in the future.

  Assuming I even had a future with him and the team. If they found out that I’d kept an injury under wraps for him, I would be out on the street.

  I was risking a lot for that asshole, but he wasn’t able to do anything for me. He had seen me tell him not to do it. He had seen me say the word, but he’d ignored me. I had known he would, but that still stung. He should have listened.

  He got an X-ray almost immediately, which came out clean. There was no break, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have tendon damage. He was scheduled for an MRI the following day. The lead trainer taped his leg with ice, gave him some anti-inflammatory medication, and then left him to sit back and relax.

  We were alone in the room. The game was still going on, so the other trainers had to get back on the field in case something else happened. He grinned at me.

  “You’re pissed,” he said.

  I nodded. “Damn right I am.”

  I sat down on the table next to him, my legs dangling over the edge. He just smiled at me.

  “Sorry.”

  “No you’re not.”

  “Yeah, I guess not.”

  “You will be if that MRI comes back with some issues.”

  “You’re right.”

  “You saw me tell you not to do it.”

  “I did.”

  “And you did it anyway.”

  “I did.”

  “Why?”

  He shook his head. “I’m not sure I can explain.”

  “Try anyway.”

  “Football isn’t just a game for me. It’s my life, my legacy. It’s the only thing I’ve ever been good at. I can’t just back down when I have a challenge put in front of me on the field. That’s why I got to where I am.”

  “I understand that,” I said, “but you’re thinking so short-term.”

  “All football players think short-term,” he said, laughing. “Look at us. We put our bodies on the line for a sport. Our job is to inflict pain and punishment on other guys, all for your amusement. Everyone knows a football player sacrifices his body for the sport, and yet we do it anyway, because we believe in what the sport is.” He sighed, shaking his head again. “I can’t just back down. Injury or no injury, I won’t back down.”

  I sat there looking at him, and I had to admit that I felt something. Maybe he was being stupid, but I was impressed. I respected him for that decision, even though I disagreed with everything about it.

  Still, I was angry with him. He had ignored me when I’d directly told him not to do something that would injure his body. He knew I had my own career at stake here, and he’d only thought about himself out there.

  “You’re not alone in this,” I said. “Maybe you’ve been alone before, but you’re not anymore.”

  He stared at me for a second, his cocky smile leaving his face. He went to say something but was interrupted by a noise at the door.

  We both looked over. Standing in the doorway was a man I didn’t recognize.

  He was tall, though not as tall as Owen. He wore a business suit, an expensive-looking one, and his dark hair was cut short. He was muscular, though not as huge as Owen, and I could see hints of tattoos at the edge of his collar and near his shirt cuffs.

  “Hello, Owen,” he said.

  Owen’s face got serious. “Tony. What the fuck are you doing back here?”

  “Just came to talk.”

  “You’re not welcome.”

  I looked at Owen. “Who is this?”

  “He’s nobody,” Owen said, not looking away from the man.

  “Please, ask your trainer to leave,” Tony said. “We need to talk.”

  Owen stared at the man, and I could see that he was angry and uncomfortable. He didn’t want me around this guy, though I couldn’t tell why.

  “Taylor,” he said after a second, “can you give us some privacy?”

  I looked at him and nodded. “Fine. I’ll be back soon.”

  “Sure.”

  I stood up and headed toward the other door. I glanced back and saw the man moving into the room, and Owen’s face was even darker and angrier than before.

  They began to talk softly as I headed out of the room. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it didn’t sound like a good conversation.

  I’d never seen that guy before in my life. I’d been around the organization for a fair amount of time, but I’d never seen him before. I had no clue how he had gotten back here, but he must have been important if he could come and go like that.

  Owen clearly knew him, and he clearly didn’t like him. That alone made me want to tell someone about the guy, but something about him was holding me back.

  I headed back into the locker room to give Owen and the man a few minutes. I was angry with Owen anyway, and maybe he deserved to be a little uncomfortable.

  The asshole needed to learn that he couldn’t just do whatever he wanted anymore, not when other people were depending on him.

  18

  Owen

  It was bad enough that Taylor was annoyed with me. I didn’t need some mafia asshole to show up without announcing himself first on top of that.

  “How did you get in here?” I asked him.

  “You don’t get it yet, do you?” he asked as he sat down on a stool. “We can reach you anywhere, anytime.”

  “What do you want? I have enough problems right now.”

  “I know you do. Your team is about to lose.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “The Patriots scored on their next drive. Really, they scored on their first play.”

  “Fuck,” I said. “What happened?”

  “Blown coverage in the secondary. Brady threw a bomb.”

  “That goofy bastard. He has bad hair.”

  Tony laughed. “Yes, he does. And a hot wife. But that doesn’t help your situation, now does it?”

  “I’ll get your money.”

  “You know, Owen, I like you. We’ve known each other for a long time now.”

  “We have.”

  “We’ve done a lot of good for you.”

  “Not really. Not without getting an ounce of flesh.”

  “We’re a business. We can’t just do things for free, can we?”

  “Maybe not, but you come after me. I don’t want anything to do with you people.”

  He smiled and shrugged. “That’s a good point.”

  “And yet here you are, still pushing.”

  “Let me explain something to you, Owen. We make our living by making people do things they don’t really want to do.”

  “I know.�
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  “So why should it be different with you?”

  “I paid you. We have no connection anymore.”

  “We both know that’s not true.”

  “Tell me what you want and then get out of here before the team comes back.”

  He sighed and looked around. “Where did that girl go?”

  “I don’t know. She left.”

  “What was her name?”

  “Don’t worry about her.”

  “I’m not worried. She was pretty.”

  “Don’t talk about her.” I wanted to get up and beat the fucking shit out of this bastard cunt. I would have, too, if it weren’t for my fucking knee.

  Tony was a piece of shit, but he wasn’t a man to fuck around with.

  Still, hearing him talk about Taylor set my fucking nerves on fire. Nobody talked about her, especially not some mafia cunt who was shaking me down. It was bad enough that he wanted to get my money from me, but he couldn’t fuck with her, too. I wasn’t going to allow it.

  “No need to get upset,” Tony said, smiling at me. “I can see it on your face. You must like her.”

  “She’s my trainer. That’s all.”

  “That’s not all. I saw how you two looked at each other. I heard a little of your conversation. She’s much more than just a trainer.”

  “You piece of shit.”

  He held his hands up. “Don’t get the wrong idea.”

  “I’m not supposed to assume you’re threatening her?”

  He dropped his hands. “Oh, then you do have the right idea.”

  “Fucking bastard.” I shifted my weight, but my knee hurt too much. “Is that all you’re here for?”

  “More or less. I just want you to see that I can reach you anywhere. I see things and I hear things. I know more than you realize.”

  “Great. Now fuck off.”

  He sighed. “One day you’ll appreciate me, Owen. One day you’ll need something. Maybe you’ll kill a hooker by mistake, or you’ll get caught with drugs, or drunk driving. One day you’ll need our help and we’ll be there for you.”

  “I won’t need you.”

  “You will. All you NFL kids are the same.”

  “Good. I’m glad you think so. I’ll be very happy when I prove your ass wrong.”

  Tony stood up. “We’ll see about that.” He looked at his watch. “The game should be over by now, and you probably owe me five thousand dollars.” He looked back at me. “How does one week sound?”

  “I can’t get you that money in a week.”

  “Why not? I know how much money you make. It’s a fucking ton.”

  “I put all of my money into old debt. I don’t have any cash lying around.”

  “You’ll make something work, I’m sure.”

  “Tony, I need at least two weeks until my next check.”

  “One week.” He walked over to the door. “Bye, Owen.”

  Just then, I heard the low murmur of the guys coming back down the hall from the field. They sounded dejected and quiet, and I knew what that meant.

  Tony was right. We had lost the game.

  When I looked back toward him, he was gone. Guys slowly filtered into the training room, looking annoyed.

  That motherfucking bastard Tony. He came here just to threaten me and give me an absurd deadline. I didn’t know what his game was, but I wasn’t going to give in to him. I was going to find a way out and be done with the fucking mafia.

  To make shit worse, I had nearly wrecked my knee for nothing. We didn’t even win the game. Sure, it was an important play and a good touchdown, but it didn’t really matter in the long run. If I had sat out a few plays and rested up, we’d still be just as well off.

  I hated to admit it, but Taylor was right. I should have thought more long-term. I needed to start thinking in terms of a career, not in terms of each individual game.

  I shook my head, tensed my knee, and hoped that the MRI would come back negative.

  19

  Taylor

  All of that risk and they didn’t even win the game. I was furious with Owen, but I didn’t say anything to him about it. I could tell that he was upset himself.

  He was strange after that man left. He didn’t want to talk, and he didn’t even make a single dirty, flirtatious comment to me. Even when I had been trying to put distance between us he had made at least one or two comments a day. It was part of who he was.

  But when I returned, he didn’t want to talk. Instead, it was all business with him.

  That suited me just fine, but I knew something had happened, and it definitely had to do with that guy.

  The next day, Owen had his MRI. I wasn’t around for that, and we wouldn’t get the results of it for at least another day or two, but I knew he’d be stressed. I sent him a text wishing him good luck, but I didn’t hear back.

  That was fine. If Owen was going to act that way, then I’d just accept it. We’d been getting too close anyway.

  But something kept nagging at me. It was the way Owen’s attitude had shifted as soon as that guy had appeared.

  Monday came, and I was at work early. Owen had the morning off, which meant I wouldn’t see him until later in the day for our session. Instead of sitting around doing nothing, I decided to do a little investigating.

  I started with the training staff.

  “Hey, Michael,” I said, poking my head into the head trainer’s office.

  “Morning, Taylor.”

  “Can I ask you a quick question?”

  “Sure. Come on in.”

  I walked into his office and sat down. “How well do you know the staff around here?”

  “Pretty well. I’ve been with the team for six years now. Why?”

  “I saw a guy yesterday. I’ve never seen him before. He’s pretty tall, wore a suit, dark hair. Looked Italian.”

  Michael frowned. “Doesn’t sound familiar.”

  “He had tattoos. Brown shoes. He was in the back training room after the game on Sunday.”

  “Huh. Really?” Michael shrugged. “Sorry. No clue.”

  “Okay then.”

  “Why do you ask?”

  “I just didn’t know him. He was talking to Owen like they knew each other.”

  “Maybe he was someone Owen brought in.”

  “Oh, yeah. Probably. Thanks, Michael.”

  “Any time.”

  I stood up and left his office more confused than before.

  That man didn’t seem like someone Owen had wanted to see. I had assumed he was just another doctor, or maybe some coach I hadn’t recognized, but Michael didn’t seem to know who I was talking about. It wasn’t impossible that he just didn’t know who it was, but that would be surprising.

  I went into the main office and asked a few other coworkers, but none of them knew who I was talking about. Before I could bug more people, the training staff had to head out to the practice field for the morning session.

  Since Owen wasn’t practicing, I didn’t have much to do. I mainly stood around and watched everyone else get to work. I scanned the fair number of people standing around and watching, but I couldn’t spot that man from yesterday. I didn’t see him with the coaching staff, and I didn’t see him with the support.

  I felt frustrated as the day wore on. I knew I should just let it go, but for some reason I couldn’t.

  It was the look on Owen’s face when he first saw the man. He had looked shocked, purely shocked, and then angry. It was almost as if he hadn’t expect the guy to show up there, and then he was pissed off that he had.

  Finally, the morning session ended, and I knew Owen would be coming in for a light session. I hadn’t talked to him yet about his MRI, so I looked forward to finding out what it had been like. I headed back to my desk, and maybe fifteen minutes later, I got called down to the training room.

  I found Owen sitting against the wall. He looked up when I walked in.

  “Hey, Owen,” I said.

  “Taylor.”

&nbs
p; “How’d it go?”

  He shrugged. “They put me in a big, loud machine, and now I’m here.”

  “Sounds exciting. When do we find out?”

  “I don’t know. Soon.”

  I sat down next to him. “How are you feeling?”

  “Annoyed.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m fine,” he said. “My knee is fine.”

  “Let’s see it.”

  He stretched it out, but I wasn’t watching his leg. I watched his face instead, and I saw what I had suspected I would: a small flinch of pain as he straightened it out.

  He wasn’t fine. He was still trying to power through.

  “Okay then. Let’s see what we can do,” I said, and I started in on a light stretching exercise.

  If he was in pain, he did a good job of hiding it. I had to admit that I was impressed. If he was seriously injured, which he really might have been, there should have been considerable pain.

  Either he wasn’t as hurt as we feared, or he was good at pretending.

  “So listen,” I said, “about Sunday.”

  “We don’t have to go over it again,” he grunted. “I know you were right.”

  I paused, surprised. I never thought I’d hear those words from him.

  “Really?”

  “I shouldn’t have gone for it. All that risk for one tiny play that didn’t even matter in the long run.”

  I nodded slowly. “Long-term thinking,” I said.

  “That’s not my specialty. I live in the moment, and I live fast. Always have.”

  “You’re not a kid anymore, Owen.”

  “I know that.”

  I bit my lip, and we went through a few more stretches. He seemed a little off, but I couldn’t put my finger on why.

  “I meant to ask you,” I said finally as we finished one exercise and took a short break. “Who was that guy?”

  He looked at me sharply. “What?”

  “The guy who visited you when we were in the training room. He was in a suit.” I paused. “You seemed unhappy to see him.”

  “Why are you asking?”

  “Well, I’ve been asking around, but nobody seems to know him.”