“You know that’s not where I wanted to be,” she scolded him. “For obvious reasons.”
“Are you the reason I’m here?” he asked baldly.
“Partly,” she said, hedging. “I had nothing to do with you leaving the Ravens. But when word got out, I convinced the Rebels to blow the bank on you.” She grinned at him. “I told them you were worth it.”
“So they know about you and me?” He crossed his arms and stared. He’d be good at interrogation.
She shook her head. “No. Just that we’ve been friends since college, and that I didn’t tell you I was here because you wouldn’t have been happy.”
“Woman, that is the understatement of the century,” he said, sounding every bit as unhappy as she’d imagined he’d be. He pointed at her office door. “And that is why.” He sat down in the office chair with a weary sigh. “Want to tell me what’s going on with Dumb and Dumber?”
“Not really,” she answered, knowing very well he wouldn’t be put off.
“Don’t do it, sweetheart,” he said softly. “Don’t go there again. Wasn’t the last time enough?” He looked startled for a moment. “Have there been others since?”
“No,” she said sharply. “No others. But Cass and Beau are different.” She sat in the chair next to him and took his hand in hers. “I want them both, Danny. And they want me. I know it’s a risk, but you have to let me take it. I’m ready to take it.”
“Are you?” he asked earnestly, studying her face. “Because I still remember the sound of your screams. I fucking dream about them.” He looked away and slid his hand out of hers. “You know what these guys are capable of, Marian. So do I.”
“I’m telling you they’re different than Darren. They’d never hurt me like that.”
“They are fucking football players,” he said harshly, his voice rising. “I know these guys better than you. I’ve heard the bragging, I’ve seen the shit they do, the destruction they cause. Because they don’t care about a damn thing but themselves and playing the game.”
“Maybe some of them are like that,” she agreed. “But not all. Those aren’t the kind of guys on this team.”
“Are there more? Are you fucking more of them?” he asked incredulously.
She blew out an angry breath. “I’m going to give you a pass on that one because I know you’re angry, confused, and generally an asshole. But watch it.”
“I haven’t been here, Marian. I don’t know. I don’t know anything that’s been going on. What if something had happened, something bad? I wouldn’t have been here to save you again.”
“I don’t need saving,” she tried to tell him.
“You need saving from yourself,” he told her. “I didn’t prevent what happened before, but I can prevent it this time.”
“You couldn’t have prevented it.” She shook her head, afraid there was no reasoning with him. “It wasn’t your fault. And in the end you were there to stop it. You saved me. You already got to play the hero. But I don’t need a hero anymore. I need a friend. I’m a big girl and I can take care of myself now. You need to let go of it and move on. That’s what I’m trying to do. You’ve got to let me.”
“I hate this game,” he said vehemently, and Marian was taken aback. He stood up and started to pace. “Hate myself for playing it, for not walking away. Not doing the right thing.” He pointed to her door again. “And I hate them. I hate every fucking one of them because I saw what they tried to do to you. What they did to me. I know what they’re capable of. I don’t trust them, and I never will. Surrounded by them day after day, taking hit after hit, forced to be on a team with some fucked-up dick who beats his wife or rapes his girlfriend or some stranger in a bar. They think they own the world, Marian. They think they can do whatever they want. And they’re right. They are so fucking right.” He walked over and punched the wall.
She hadn’t realized how bitter he was, how much anger he’d been holding inside. With shocking clarity, she understood then that Danny needed the Rebels more than they needed him. He was going to learn to love the game again here in Birmingham, and in the process he was going to learn to forgive himself.
“Danny,” she said, moved by his confession. “They’re not all like that. They aren’t. I know my father railroaded you. I know he threatened to keep you out of football forever if you went to the police about what happened.” She walked over to him and tentatively put her hand on his arm. “It was love of the game that made you stay. You loved it so much. I still do. I never left. He couldn’t make me. I compromised, too. I went to my father and he helped me get this job.” He swore. “No, no, hear me out. I don’t care. The past is the past. I don’t blame you, I don’t blame me. We did what we did, and look where we are.” She motioned around her office. “This is my dream, and I’m living it. Have there been rough times? Yes, but I’m getting over them. And Cass and Beau are helping.”
“They know what happened?” She could tell from his expression he already knew the answer.
“No, I haven’t told them,” she admitted.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want them to see me as a victim,” she told him. “Like you do.”
“I don’t—” he started to argue, but she cut him off.
“Yes, you do. The minute you came into this office today you thought I was being taken advantage of; that you had to save me. I need to save myself.” She grabbed his hands again. “But you can help. You can help me by staying, by playing the best football of your career, by making this team—my team—a winning team. Can you do that? Can you love football again, just for me? Just a little?”
“For you, I’ll try,” he said softly, but she could see the doubt on his face. “But I can’t love them, Marian. I can’t forget what they’re capable of.”
“You let me handle that part,” she told him with a small smile. A knock on the door interrupted them and Marian sighed.
“Can’t that asshole leave you alone for a minute?” Danny snapped.
“Nope,” she said, resigned. Yet when she opened the door it wasn’t Cass, but Tom who stood on the other side.
“It wasn’t exactly a yell, but I heard a sound that was definitely a fist hitting the wall,” Tom said, peering over her shoulder with a frown. “Do you need any help?”
“What are you doing here?” she asked, looking up and down the hallway for Cass or Beau. No one else was around, which was conspicuous, to say the least.
“Cass made me swear to stay here until he left,” Tom said sheepishly, pointing at Danny. “Sorry. Captain’s orders.”
Danny came up behind her. “Danny Smith, Tom Kelly, our other running back,” she said, introducing them. “Tom, Danny.”
“I know who he is,” Tom said, in the least friendly voice she’d ever heard the laid-back player use. Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t super-effective, since he still looked like a commercial for toothpaste, or the Gap.
“And I know who he is,” Danny said from behind her in a very threatening voice. More macho posturing. Great, she thought. “What do you want, rookie?” he asked.
“If she has a single hair out of place, I’m going to rip you a new asshole through your neck,” Tom said, and Marian gaped at him. Tom pointed to his neck. “Right here. Lots of blood.” Danny just laughed.
“I’d like to see you try, rookie,” he said. “It’s worth staying just to embarrass you when I show you what a real running back looks like.”
“Well,” Marian said, drawing the word out. “Is this a good time to tell you that you two are going to be roommates?”
Chapter 19
Half an hour later, Cass was still frustrated as hell over what had happened in Marian’s office. He was hoping the workout with the team in the weight room would settle his mind. Weight training usually did. Beau called it Zen, something that you could focus on completely, body and mind. He sure as hell hoped so. He wasn’t just frustrated with Smith, but with Marian and what happened before Smith arrived. For every
step forward with her, they took two steps back. Both she and Beau had asked some hard questions, questions Cass wasn’t ready to answer. Not because he didn’t want to, but because he didn’t know the answers yet.
For some reason, he wanted Marian more than any other woman he’d ever met. Maybe it was the way she responded to them in bed, as if they mattered. She wasn’t just fucking the two most notorious players in the league, she wasn’t being a bad girl—well, she was, but that wasn’t the end goal—she wasn’t just posting another notch in her lipstick case. She wanted Cass and Beau. And she and Beau together were so perfect for him that they had nearly driven him insane, in her office yesterday and again this morning.
He wasn’t used to not getting what he wanted. Beau said he was spoiled like that. Damn right he was. If he wanted something he worked hard until he’d achieved it. That was his motto, his way of life. And he wanted Marian and Beau. He was determined to make this work. But first she had to tell them what she and Danny were hiding. How could he protect her if he didn’t know what he was protecting her from?
As he and Beau were walking to the weight room with some of the guys, they were hailed by Melody Ann from PR. “Mr. Zielinski!” she called down the hallway, waving her hand like a lunatic. Cass grinned. He sort of liked when she called him that, even though he’d told her to call him Cass yesterday. Made him feel like front office already.
They all stopped, and when she reached them she was out of breath. Her little black pencil skirt was her one concession to business wear. She had on a silky, pale-blue blouse underneath a tiny, light-blue T-shirt that said Lady Rebels Yell. Cass liked that one. He’d sent it to his college-age niece, much to his brother’s displeasure. She wore little white tennis shoes with those short socks that had a ball on the back. She was adorable. Today her hair was a collection of small, messy braids, all gathered in a knot on top of her head with pieces falling out. She had to know someone in the front office, because no way would the suits have hired her looking like she did. Nearly everyone else up in admin and PR wore boring suits.
“Yes, Melody Ann?” he asked with a smile.
“Have you seen the video?” she gasped.
Cass’s heart did a little stutter and then a two-step. He hoped to God this kid wasn’t watching that damn sex tape. “What video?”
“You,” she said, making it a little clearer. Her smile was so big that she looked like a lottery winner. “From last night.”
There were a few snickers in the crowd behind him and he turned to look. No one would meet his eyes.
“With Marian?” he asked, sharing a look of horror with Beau. Not again. Not with Marian. What had they been thinking at that bar?
Melody Ann frowned. “No. Was she singing too?”
“Singing?” Beau asked.
“Oh my God,” she said, exasperated. “Don’t you two Google yourselves? Twitter? Facebook? Anything?”
“They’re dinosaurs,” cornerback Rasheed Davis said with a laugh. “Regular cavemen.”
“Not anymore,” Beau said with a grimace, ignoring Davis. “I got sick of seeing all that shit about me online.”
She shook her head. “This is good publicity. Good. Yes?”
Cass got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. “Holy shit. You’re not talking about the karaoke?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said, nodding enthusiastically. “That was brilliant! You’ve gone viral again! That’s twice in one week the Rebels have trended. Brilliant,” she said again. “Whose idea was it?”
With narrowed eyes Cass thought of Tom, who was doing him a favor right now. “Kelly’s. And if I catch him I’m going to kill him.”
“Why?” Melody Ann practically yelled at him. “It’s the best publicity you’ve had in years! It’s your number-one hit on Google now. Do you understand what that means? The top of the page.”
“Not the other one?” he whispered, the light dawning.
“Not the other one,” she said with a nod and a wink.
“Still,” Cass said with a resigned sigh, “I’m not a good singer. Don’t lie, I know it.”
“I wasn’t going to lie,” she said with a shrug. “You suck. But the point is, people love it. The whole team up there.” She pointed at Tyler. “Air-guitar quarterback.” She brushed her hand along the side of her head. “Perfect hair. It was perfect! It was spontaneous! It’s fantastic!”
“Okay,” Cass said, a little alarmed at her enthusiasm. “And?”
“And, we want more,” she said, staring intently around at all the players, who suddenly started mumbling about having to get to the weight room. “Stop right there,” she told them, and surprisingly, they did. “Do you know how much our season-tickets sales have jumped in the last couple of weeks?” she asked them. “Ten percent up from last year at the same time. Ten. We couldn’t give them away last year.” She pointed to Cass and the guys behind him. “You made it happen. You want more fans, don’t you? You want to fill the stadium, don’t you?”
There were mumbled “Yeahs” among the guys.
“Then give me more of that,” she said. “I don’t care if it’s karaoke or something else. But give me stuff that the locals can film and put up on YouTube. Not the X-rated YouTube,” she amended quickly. “We’ve already got a couple of classics there. Stuff that will draw crowds to the games.”
“But we didn’t plan the karaoke,” Cass argued. “It just happened. I don’t know how to draw fans with crazy stunts.”
“Just watch YouTube, man,” King Ulupoka said with a nod. “You’ll think of something.”
“You think of something, too,” Melody Ann said to King.
“No, man,” he said. “They don’t want to watch me. They want to watch these guys.” He pointed to Cass and Beau, and then Tyler. “The big names. The pretty boys.” King pointed to himself, all six feet five inches and 305 pounds of him. “Not this.”
“Maybe,” Melody Ann agreed. “But we want them to want to watch all of you. So put your heads together and think of something.”
—
Cass watched Marian and Smith walk into the workout room. He was doing circuits with most of the team. He stood up when they entered and walked over to meet them. He wasn’t being a big dumb-ass this time. As captain of the team, it was his job to meet and greet and acclimate new players to the system. Right? Right.
“Smith,” he said, trying to maintain a calm, professional manner. “Welcome to the Rebels.” He held out his hand to shake. “We started off on the wrong foot and I’m sorry for that.” He wasn’t sorry at all, but Marian was beaming at him, which made this pussy move on his part tolerable.
Smith slapped his hand away and stepped right up in his face. “Don’t bullshit me,” he said in a low voice. “You don’t like me, and I don’t like you. Stay the fuck away from Marian if you know what’s good for you.”
Cass took the step that pressed their chests together. “You don’t want to go there,” he told him. “Not just because I will beat the shit out of you for daring to try to tell me what to do, but I’m pretty sure Marian will kick what I leave of your ass crying on the floor.” By now the entire room had gone silent while all the guys watched their exchange.
“Danny,” Marian whispered furiously. “I thought we worked this out in my office.” She was tugging on his arm while he and Cass stood there and glared at each other. Cass had about five inches on him, but, damn, Smith was one tough son of a bitch.
“No,” Smith said. “You talked, and I didn’t interrupt because my mama taught me good manners.”
“You are such a bullshit artist,” she told him. She looked out at the rest of the team and gave a nervous laugh. “Aren’t they funny? Just fooling around. Everybody go back to what you were doing.” Beau sidled over to her side and Cass relaxed a little. Beau would get her out of the way if the need arose.
“Who made you her champion?” Cass asked Smith, not looking away from him. He really wanted the answer to that question. “What gives y
ou the right to try to keep us away?”
“Us,” Smith hissed. “Exactly. That’s what gives me the right. You disrespect her and treat like that and wonder why I’m pissing on you?”
“Danny.” She was practically begging him now. “Not here. Not now.”
Cass looked between them. “Then when and where? Because I really want to know.” He looked at Marian. “I deserve to know.”
Smith pushed him away. “You don’t deserve shit,” he told him. “The why doesn’t matter, and the when is never.”
Beau had pulled Marian aside and was standing with his arm around her. Smith turned on him. Marian shook Beau’s arm off and advanced, jabbing her finger in Smith’s chest. “You are in so much trouble,” she said from between clenched teeth. She looked around the weight room. “But not here. Get acquainted, find your locker. I expect you to participate in this workout with the team. I will talk to you later.” She turned to Cass. “I can’t babysit you two 24/7. So grow up and act like the captain of this team. I’m not a bone that you two dogs get to fight over.”
“Marian,” Cass said angrily.
“No,” she practically shouted. “My life is none of your business unless I choose to make it so. I am not making that choice right now.” She turned and stalked out of the locker room.
Chapter 20
Beau was about to step up and offer to show Smith around, but Jo Jo beat him to it.
“Smith, yo, come on,” Jo Jo said, motioning him away from Cass. Smith walked over and they clasped hands. If Beau remembered correctly they’d played ball together in Detroit for a couple of years.
“How’s it going, brother?” Smith asked. Jo Jo let go of his hand, not smiling, which was unlike him.
“I ain’t your brother,” he told Smith. “This is a good place. I like it here. He’s part of the reason.” He pointed over at Cass. “Everything he does is for this team. We’ve all got a lot riding on it, man. Don’t think we won’t shut your superstar ass down if you get in the way of what we’re trying to do. Understand?”
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