“I’m not going to ask you again, Owens. What the hell is going on? You’re quitting on me, you’re going on dates with reporters, you kiss me then pretend like you didn’t for days—”
I stop and turn around to face him.
“I kissed you?”
“Of course, you did. You couldn’t help yourself.”
“That’s not how I remember it.” I smile.
“How much do you really remember about it all. Maybe you need your memory refreshed.”
“Maybe.” I flirt.
“Oh, that’s it … something is definitely fucking up.”
“I talked to Jim.”
“What did that prick say,” he demands to know, practically spitting nails.
“He said quite a bit, but what I want to know from you is did you have a nickname as a kid?”
“Did I what?”
“A nickname.”
He nods his head no.
“I need you to be honest with me?”
I grab his hand.
It’s warm and large and calloused.
I slide my fingers through his.
“What was your nickname?”
“Fuck me,” he mutters. Then he kisses my knuckles and then finally starts talking. “Football was my saving grace; it got me to come out of my shell because when I was a kid I was a loner. That’s why my family used to call me the lone wolf or just wolf.”
I squeeze his hand.
It’s him.
The wolf from my dreams.
“But your reporter friend and I didn’t talk about that. How do you know that, Owens?”
“When I was a little girl I was in a car accident.”
“With your mother. I know.”
“There was a storm and lots of thunder and lightning. I was frightened, so I took my seat belt off in the car and crouched down on the floor behind my mother’s seat.”
Coop starts to pull his hand away. I can already see that he knows what I’m going to say. I won’t let him off that easy though. I firmly grip his hand. I hold onto it for dear life.
“No one knew at first that I was even in that car. There were so many cars involved in the crash and it took a while for first responders to get to us. But one person did.”
“Owens—”
“And his name was Wolf.”
“That has to be a coincidence.”
“I don’t think it was.” I stare up into his smoldering, green eyes. “I think it was you.”
“Is that the reason why you’re giving me all of those adoring looks today? I thought it might have been because of what happened between us last weekend, but it’s because you think I was the person who pulled you out of the car?”
“I’m just glad to have finally found you. So I can say thank you.”
He walks away from me and toward the bay window. Staring at all the people below us or maybe staring at nothing at all.
“Before you do something silly like deny it, Coop, there’s something else you should know. I looked back at your old employment records. There were a lot of applicants for my position.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So, most of them had business degrees, all of them had prior experience as an executive assistant, and one had even worked briefly for Tom Cruise.
“And?” he says almost angrily.
“And you hired me. The acting major from a low ranked university with zero experience.”
He presses his hands against the window pane.
Hanging his head low.
I walk behind him placing my palms against his back. Then I wrap them around his waist.
“Why did you do that for me, Coop?”
He exhales heavily then breaks free from my embrace.
“I didn’t.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Jane and I have started to fall into an almost symbiotic rhythm at the office. I tell her what I’m working on and without me even having to ask, she starts working on assignments to support me.
If I’m talking to the builder about supply figures, she double checks behind me by searching our records for previous orders. If I say that it’s almost time for Coop’s lunch, she’s already pulled out a couple of menus from restaurants that he hasn’t eaten at in the last two weeks.
She even has the ratio of his protein smoothie down. He drinks it every morning and it has to be just right. Two scoops of protein powder, one large scoop of peanut butter, one banana, toss a few chia seeds in, eyeball the almond milk and then blend.
She also doesn’t miss a beat.
She notices almost immediately that there’s something not quite right between me and Coop. He walks by and barely says two words to us.
“Is Mr. Barnes in a bad mood today?” she asks. Her voice low.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with him,” I say pursing my lips. “It’s none of my concern.”
“Well I guess it’s just as well. You only have one more week do deal with his mood swings. I bet you’re excited. Not about his mood swings but about embarking on a new chapter of your life.”
“Totally,” I deadpan.
I reconsidered going to training camp about thirty times before I finally came to the big girl conclusion that I wasn’t going to avoid Coop any longer. I did nothing wrong.
I’m going to continue to do my job to the best of my ability until the very last day, and if he doesn’t want to admit to the obvious truth of our converged pasts, then I’m not going to push him. Maybe I did more harm than good revealing to him that I know he’s the wolf. Maybe I brought up memories that he rather forget.
“Hi, Ursula.”
“Hey, Jim.”
“You’re arriving a little late today.”
“Yeah, I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it here.”
“Your guy looks like a beast out there today. He’s ripping the defense apart.”
“Is he now.”
I’ve decided that Jim and I are indeed friends. Dinner with him was no love connection, but it was nicer than I thought it would be. We talked about our favorite authors, our childhoods, and debated the finer points of Marvel Comics versus DC Comics. He’s a nice guy.
A guy, who once I told him about my accident as a kid, recognized that there were blaring similarities to an accident that Coop had as a kid. An accident that Coop has never talked about publicly or privately–at least to me. An accident that explains why he prefers having a driver rather than drive himself around in New York; why he probably distrusts most women, why he lost part of his hearing when he was a kid, and why he hired me– the most unqualified applicant in the pile.
“I think he might hurt himself or one of his own teammates if he keeps it up at this rate.”
“They’ll be fine. It’s just Coop being Coop.”
I cue up my playlist of Earth, Wind and Fire to take my mind off of what’s going down on the field. Coop definitely seems like he’s on a self-destructive warpath today, but unfortunately there isn’t much I can do about it.
Jim takes the seat next to me and leans across me to extend a handshake to Jane who’s sitting on the other side of me.
“Hi, we haven’t formally met, but I’ve seen you here a couple of times and wondered who you were. My name is Jim McKinney, and I work for The Examiner.”
Oops, did I not introduce them to each other?
“Pleased to meet you, Jim. I’m Jane Perez. Mr. Barnes new assistant.”
“Oh…I didn’t realize. Ursula, are you leaving?”
Jane puts her hand over her mouth.
“I’m sorry. Did I speak out of turn? I apologize.”
“It’s fine,” I snap.
I think that I may have hurt Jane’s very fragile feelings, so she decides to make a trip to the concession stand to give me some space. I start to pop my earbuds back in when Jim continues talking.
“When were you going to tell me you were quitting?”
“I didn’t realize that I had to tell you.”
“Don’t bit
e my head off too. I just thought…we had dinner the other night. We talked about a lot.”
“You’re right, we did. It just didn’t come up, Jim. Sorry.”
“No problem. I just…never mind. What are you listening to today?”
“Earth, Wind and Fire.”
I show him the playlist I’m listening to on my phone.
“You have such eclectic taste in music.”
“I think I got it from my mom.”
“Can I listen? My dad loved this song too.”
I hand Jim an earbud but before he has a chance to place it in his ear, a football comes soaring through the air and hits him smack dead in the middle of his forehead.
“Oof!”
“Oh my goodness!” a spectator exclaims. “Are you all right?”
The two old timers, who always sit up front, turn and try desperately to hold in their laughter and now I see why. Coop is staring over at us like a fire breathing dragon.
This was no accident.
I stare him back down for a moment and hope that he feels the eyes of shame that I’m trying to give him. Then I turn to check on Jim.
“You okay?”
“I’m fine, everyone,” he says holding his palm to his head where there’s a dark pink knot starting to form. “It was just a football.”
Jane returns from the stand with a popcorn in her hand. “What happened?”
“Can you reach into my cooler and hand me the frozen water bottle I have in there?” I ask her.
“Sure, thing.”
I wrap the bottle in a few paper napkins and hand it to Jim.
“Here put this on your head to stop the swelling.”
“Thanks, Ursula.” He smiles in an obvious attempt to mask the embarrassment he must be feeling right now.
I notice that Saint Stevenson and the offensive coordinator are both speaking quite animatedly in Coop’s face. There’s no doubt they are reprimanding him for the hit. It was totally out of character for him and a juvenile thing to do. They’re also trying to stop him from approaching us here at the bleachers, but that’s the thing about Coop–nobody can stop him from anything when he’s determined or delusional.
He walks right over to Jim.
“Sorry about that, man. I was trying to show Saint something and the ball slipped.”
Translation: I meant to hit you and I dare you to say something about it.
Jim glares at Coop while holding the frozen Fiji water to his head.
“No problem, Barnes (he says without the Mr.). I know it wasn’t done on purpose.”
Translation: You did that totally on purpose, jackass.
“Jane…Owens are you two okay?” he asks us both.
“Totally fine, Mr. Barnes,” Jane answers. “The ball didn’t hit anyone but poor Mr. McKinney here.”
Coop picks up the football that he threw.
“Guess I’ll give this away. Owens, can you give me a Sharpie?”
I roll my eyes while I hand him a marker. Coop signs the ball, and hands it to one of the kids sitting closest to us.
“Here you go, kid.”
“Thank you, Coop!”
Practice continues on without Coop, and I can tell that he’s torn between getting back to it or staying to say something else. He looks up at me and then back down. Then to Jim and then back to me. By this point a group of fans have gotten their nerve up to ask him for an autograph and so the drill begins.
I hand Jane a stack of photos and a Sharpie and tell her what to do. “You try it today, Jane.”
She now stands in my usual spot and like the quick learner she is, she hands Coop what he needs as he works through the line. It’s just a small thing, but I enjoyed assisting with this part of the day. It brings so much joy to so many people just to have the opportunity to talk to a famous football player and get his autograph.
Now I’m sitting back and watching Jane take my place. Maybe it’s silly, but I feel kind of melancholy about it. Slowly but surely he doesn’t need me anymore.
“Are you all right?” Jim asks.
“I should be asking you that. You’re the one who was attacked by a football.”
Jim chuckles. “I’ve been attacked by worse. Just out of curiosity, did you tell him what we talked about?”
I nod my head yes.
“I did.”
Coop scribbles an autograph on a photo and turns to watch us talking. His eyebrows scrunch together.
“Owens, can I talk to you privately for a moment?”
“Are you finished signing?”
He quickly hands the photo to a young woman. “Thank you for supporting us today.” And then he turns his attention back to me.
“I’m done.”
I walk with him to the side of the field. Our arms swinging side by side, almost touching, but not quite.
“Are you dating him?” he asks in an accusatory tone.
“I’m not sure that is any of your business.”
“You work for me. That makes it my business.”
“I work for you like five more days.”
“He’s a dick. I think he’s trying to ruin my career.”
“Is that why you tried to take his eye out with a football?”
“It was a mistake.”
“You stink at lying.”
“You two seem pretty close all of a sudden.”
“Is this really what we should be discussing right now?”
“It’s all I want to talk about.”
“Well, I don’t.”
I turn to walk away, and he gently grabs my wrist.
“Where are you going? We’re not done talking.”
“I’m doing something that you’ve taught me. I’m ending a discussion without giving a rats ass if the other person was finished talking or not.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
“What are you doing?”
A pregnant woman holding two shopping bags approaches me. She looks very much like the woman I’ve seen in photos on Owens’s bedroom wall. This must be her sister Carla.
“Just fixing a broken light,” I assure her.
“You look more like you’re breaking in the place.”
“It does look a little suspicious doesn’t it.” I chuckle nervously.
“You’re Cooper Barnes I take it.”
“How did you know?” I grin. Hoping that my boyish charm will help melt the layer of ice coated around every word she says to me. I’m not sure this woman’s heard anything good about me.
“Everyone in the city knows who you are. What they don’t know is that you’re also a handyman or maybe a cat burglar.”
“Fixing things is one of my many hidden talents.”
She gives me no more than a cursory once over.
“You’re a lot hotter in person than you are on TV.”
“Thanks… I think.”
“Does Ursula know that you’re out here?”
“Probably not. I didn’t want to disturb her.”
“Interesting…well it’s a pleasure to finally meet you. I’m her sister Carla. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Nice to finally meet you too, Carla.”
“Is that your driver over there sitting in the car?”
“Yes.”
“Tito, right?”
“How’d you know?”
“Ursula talks about him too. Ursula tells us everything. We’re super close.”
That was definitely some sort of warning.
“Tell him if he stays there too long that someone might call the cops on him. They don’t like strange men sitting in cars on this block. Especially quiet men.”
Carla sits her bags down on the ground and stretches out her back.
“I’m going to sit for a minute,” she says.
So, I sit too.
“When’s the baby due?”
“I’ve got about another three months. Why? Do I look like I’m about to drop?” She looks down at her belly. “Dexter keeps telling me to lay off the cooki
es.”
“Dexter needs to mind his own business. You look great.”
“Thanks, but this baby is kind of Dexter’s business. He’s the daddy.”
“Still.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Still he should be nicer.”
“Do you know what you’re having?”
“Hopefully a sane human being.”
I chuckle at her joke.
“Actually, I do know the sex of the baby, but I told my sisters that I didn’t. I’m having a boy. I hope you can keep a secret.”
“Congratulations, and yes I can keep a secret.”
“Good. So now that we’re getting to know each other a little better, I feel comfortable talking to you about something. About Ursula.”
“Okay.”
I glance up at Owens’s window at the mention of her name. I’ve been lurking around her lately trying to get up the nerve to finally finish the conversation that she started. In the office, at the new school, at practice–but I just haven’t been able to find the words yet.
I had Tito drive me by the apartment tonight so that I could talk to her privately, but I ended up just taking a screwdriver out of the glove compartment and fixing a short in the light outside. I never rang the buzzer.
“I mean it’s not just a coincidence that you’re creeping around her apartment fixing stuff, is it?”
“This is not what it looks like.”
“No, I get it. Her quitting kind of threw you for loop. You might feel a little lost or angry even.”
“Well–”
“But this is the thing, Coop. I hope I can call you that.”
“Of course.”
“I think you’re probably a good guy. A little demanding and self-centered, but that’s just because you’ve got money and all rich people are like that. So that I can understand. But when it comes to Ursula…working for you is just not good for her.”
My face drops.
“I’m not trying to be a bitch or anything, but you have to understand. Ursula came to our family a broken little girl. She was in a horrible car accident that her mother died in. She had terrible nightmares for years after it. It affected every aspect of her life. Her sleeping. Her eating. Her self-confidence.
“We did everything we could to help her. To support her. She didn’t have any friends at school, so we made her audition for the school plays, so that she would be forced in situations where she would have to interact with other kids. Something about being in those plays clicked for her, and she continued participating in the theatre program all through high school and college.
Wolf: A Sports Romance: The Nighthawk Series #2 Page 11
