“But, Coach, we can’t—” The look on HughJack’s face caused Zach to swallow the rest of the sentence.
“One more word from either of you and you’ll be riding the bench for the rest of the season. I’m not so sure I shouldn’t do that anyway.” Coach looked down at his computer, dismissing them.
Zach had no intention of letting this team down by warming wood during the season. Harris stood and looked at Zach, his expression unreadable. Zach looked right back.
Harris leaned close. “Thanks, asshole.” Heaving an exasperated sigh, the jerk walked out of the office.
Zach shot a hopeful glance at the coach. HughJack shook his head without ever hearing the question. Shoulders slumped, Zach left the room.
His life was being jettisoned right into the cold waters of Elliot Bay without a life jacket. The coach was forcing him to be best buddies with Harris, and Kelsie had a hand in this.
Yet for a Super Bowl ring, Zach would sell his nuts to science. He wasn’t so sure how he felt about Kelsie’s involvement.
Except for the wanting sex part. He definitely knew how he felt about that.
~ ~ ~ ~
A few hours later, Zach walked in the door as Kelsie stood on a six-foot ladder and cleaned cobwebs from the ten-foot ceilings in the parlor. She felt his powerful presence before she saw or heard him. Belatedly, Scranton lifted his head and yipped a halfhearted hello and went back to sleep.
Zach’s heavy footsteps echoed across the hardwood floors. Kelsie didn’t turn around. She stretched as far as she could to reach one large cobweb in the corner. The ladder teetered precariously, then tipped. A scream ripped from her throat as she grabbed the air for something to break her fall. That something happened to be Zach. He caught her in his strong, muscular arms and pulled her to his solid chest.
Gasping, she clutched his shoulders and buried her face in his sweatshirt. She clung to him, breathing in his clean, woodsy scent, and waited for her wildly beating heart to slow to an idle, while Zach held her stiffly to him.
Only it didn’t slow. It sped up, pounding like the bass in a teenage boy’s car. She nuzzled his neck while his scent permeated every cell in her body right down to her wet panties. Lord, but she wanted this man. Now. She nibbled at his neck. He groaned, but rather than responding in kind with those hot lips, his body tightened.
Realizing he was angry, Kelsie wriggled out of his arms, uncertain what she’d done to upset him. Straightening her clothes, she wiped the cobwebs and dust from her shirt. If her mother could see her now, she’d collapse in a dead faint. Carringtons did not do manual labor, especially dirty manual labor, and she’d done plenty lately, but the place was looking pretty damn good. In fact, it looked like a place that even Kelsie’s snooty mother would be proud to call home.
She lifted her gaze to meet his. Desire and anger merged together. His nostrils flared as if he’d caught a whiff of her own need. It had to be rolling off her in waves.
He looked around the room, and his gaze fixed on something. He looked more pissed than Scranton had the time she’d informed him they’d run out of dog food. He continued to stare as if she’d sold his prized possessions and spent his last dime. Kelsie followed his gaze to the pile of shopping bags still sitting in the entryway. He knew he was going to regret giving her free rein on his credit card.
“I made an appointment with a tailor recommended by Lavender. He does all of Tyler’s suits. You’ll need at least one tux and a nice suit for less formal occasions. We’ll start with the tux for the wedding and—” Her voice dropped off. “Zach? What’s wrong?”
“Did you leave anything in the stores?”
She knew what he was thinking—that she’d jumped at the first opportunity to spend his money. Instead, she’d been quite frugal and was proud of it. “I bought you a few things.”
“I don’t need any more clothes. I have plenty.”
“Not the right kind. We need to make a good impression, and that has a cost.”
“We do?” He swung his gaze back to her, disappointment melded with irritation in those chocolate depths.
“You, I mean. But me, too. This is my career on the line.”
He grunted.
“You’re home early for you.” She glanced at her watch to verify. It was only seven thirty. “Hoping to find me in the tub again?” She teased him with a wide smile.
His eyes darkened at the memory, and his lips actually turned up at the corners. “Not a bad thought, but actually the power’s out at the facility so we couldn’t watch film. Some idiot backhoe operator digging nearby broke the underground power line.” Zach walked over to a framed painting and fingered it as if to straighten it, only he made it more crooked. She expected him to comment on his missing football posters, but he didn’t.
“Something’s wrong?” She had a good idea what it was.
He met her gaze, and she braced herself at the look he gave her.
“You sold me out to Coach.”
“HughJack decided to implement our plan?”
“He sure did. Why didn’t you warn me?”
“Because your coach said he thought our idea was stupid. I guess he changed his mind. Besides, it’s for your own good.”
“Forcing me to work with Harris is for my own good?” He stalked toward her, anger radiating through him. For a moment, she had a flashback of Mark’s furious face just before he’d beaten the crap out of her. Irrational fear clawed at her insides, and Kelsie backpedaled a few steps and cowered, hugging herself.
Zach hesitated, his anger dissipating. “I might be upset, but I’m not going to hurt you.”
“I know.” She hated that she’d reacted like that to him, but she couldn’t help herself.
“I’ve got the security guys coming tomorrow to install a complete system, just in case your ex gets out of prison and decides to come looking.”
“Thank you.”
“I want you to feel safe here.”
“I do.”
Motioning to her, Zach turned and headed for the door. When she didn’t follow, he stopped in the doorway and motioned to her again. “Let’s go get something to eat. I’m starved.”
“Dressed like this?”
“Where we’re going, you’ll look just fine.” He didn’t wait for her response, just headed out the door.
Grabbing her purse, Kelsie ran after him, a little annoyed at his high-handedness. He helped her step up into his huge truck, and she patted herself on the back for teaching him a smidgeon of manners.
“Where are we going?” she asked as they drove out of the city and headed east.
“To my kind of place. I’ve had enough of fancy dinners to last a while.” Zach stared straight ahead and didn’t say another word.
“Is this payback?”
“Damn right. Let’s see how you blend in with the common folk.”
Kelsie had never been much of a blender, more like an attention-grabber, but she’d do her best to fit in and demonstrate to him that playing nice made friends in any social circle.
She stared out the window as the rain pelted it and ran down the glass in a steady stream of water, acutely aware of the virile, somewhat angry man a few feet from her. Her hand moved to the console, but she stopped it there. He’d already rejected her once. She wasn’t sure her beaten-down ego could take a second rejection.
The freeway gave way to a four-lane highway, which gave way to a two-lane country road. Streetlights became few and far between until they drove down the main street of a small town. A sign proclaimed it to be Millville. Millville consisted of a half-dozen blocks of mostly boarded-up buildings and ancient houses. Zach pulled into a parking spot in front of the most happening place in town. At least, it was the only place with a sign of habitation.
She eyed the dump with skepticism. “What is this?”
“The Squatch. Best home-cooked meals west of the Columbia River.”
“The Swatch?” The log structure looked old enough to have been constructed b
y the first loggers in the area. She didn’t care for the looks of the place or for the group of rough-looking men and women standing near the doorway smoking cigarettes.
“The Squatch. You’ll see.” Zach hopped out and greeted the group as if they were old friends. Kelsie’s stomach rumbled and she stepped out into a mud puddle, drenching her new shoes. She swore she’d been dumped into the middle of that country-western song about the city girl who married the country boy.
Skirting past a couple of Harley-Davidson motorcycles parked on the sidewalk and under the building’s eaves, she nodded politely to the group near the door. They stared back at her. The women frowned. The men looked her up and down like hunters sizing up a doe.
Following Zach in the door, she stopped in her tracks. A life-sized, stuffed Sasquatch, looking eerily real, stood near the old stone fireplace. The mangy thing had seen better days, just like everything else in this hovel. Its huge yellow teeth must have been donated from a poor, hapless bear. All in all, the hideous thing probably gave small children nightmares. Good thing the state of Washington didn’t allow children in bars.
“Cool, huh?”
Kelsie turned to Zach and shook her head. He guided her toward the bar with a chuckle. At least the place put him in a better mood.
He looked around the room. “These are my people, Kelsie. Get used to it.” He motioned her to an empty barstool next to him.
Kelsie slid onto the stool, careful not to touch anything. On the other side of her sat a wiry little man arguing with an equally wiry woman about the merits of catching moles with traps versus a good mole-hunting dog
The waitress wandered to the counter, gave Kelsie the once-over, and raised a who’s-this-chick eyebrow at Zach, who just shrugged. “What’ll ya have?”
“How about a glass of merlot.”
“Don’t have none of that fancy French wine, but we got a box of Mer-lot.” She phonetically pronounced the word.
“That’ll be fine.” She folded her hands primly in front of her and ignored the man next to her who was now eyeing her boobs.
“Enjoying yourself?” Zach grinned at her. Oh, yeah, payback was a bitch, and he’d likely only begun.
“Immensely.” A bit of the old Kelsie’s scathing sarcasm leaked into her voice.
“Now you know how I feel when I’m with your people.” He took a long pull of his cheap beer and sighed with satisfaction.
Kelsie’s people didn’t use chewing tobacco or smell like cigarette factories. They rarely drank beer, and if they did, it was a microbrew. And forget wine in a box. She shifted uneasily, feeling their eyes upon her and knowing she didn’t fit in.
The waitress came back, flashing her disgust and disapproval like the mega-electronic casino billboard bordering I-5. She stopped next to Zach and placed a possessive bony hand on his muscular thigh. Kelsie stared at the hand with its red-tipped nails as it caressed Zach’s leg. He shifted uneasily and cleared his throat. Answering the bellow of the big, fat customer lounging in the back near the pool table, the woman cast one last threatening glance at Kelsie and sauntered off.
“Old girlfriend?” Kelsie kept her tone light even as she fought off the urge to mud-wrestle this woman for Zach. God, this place was rubbing off on her.
“Wannabe girlfriend.” He stared at the college football game on the television hanging above the bar.
“That’s what I thought.” She laid a possessive hand on his thigh.
“What’s it to you anyway?” He stared at her hand and swallowed.
“Just nosy.”
Their eyes locked. The sexual tension arced between them, sizzling and smoking like a short in the wiring. Her wiring definitely shorted out when he was near.
Kelsie gazed into his warm brown eyes. She liked this Zach, liked when he softened his edges a little and relaxed. She liked how he smiled with his whole face, especially his eyes, and those rare dimples came out. Yes, if Kelsie Carrington-Richmond didn’t watch herself, she might do something inexcusably dumb and fall hard for Zach, and she couldn’t do that to him. She was damaged goods, and he deserved better.
She looked down at her Mer-lot and swirled the red liquid around in her glass. She needed to keep her freedom and her emotional distance, because if she dropped her guard, she might end up right where she’d been last year.
She hadn’t gained those hard-won inches of freedom just to lose them to another man.
Chapter 16—Charged a Time-Out
Zach, still adjusting to having Kelsie underfoot, needed to escape, so he spent Tuesday night the way he’d spent every Tuesday night since he joined the NFL, volunteering for a homeless family organization, Family Ties, which worked to keep families together even though they didn’t have a roof over their head.
Zach did what he could, giving of his time along with a generous anonymous donation every month. Sometimes Zach almost caved under the futility of helping homeless families. As soon as one family had a roof over their heads, five more would show up. Seattle’s outrageous rent prices were driving the average person out of their home and onto the streets. He’d heard multiple stories about a landlord doubling the rent and giving the minimal notice allowed by law.
Zach soldiered on, taking care of his little piece of the world as best he could.
Dedication to helping the homeless happened to be the one thing he had in common with Veronica. At times his resistance to the gala twisted his gut with guilt, not just because of Kelsie, but because each year it raised a significant amount of money for Seattle’s homeless. And here he was being a shit about hosting it. He supposed if he dug deeper, it wasn’t because he didn’t want to support the cause. But more because these events reminded him of Kelsie’s country club crowd and how fake and superficial he’d found them to be. He rebelled against being something he wasn’t.
He’d left her planning more gala stuff with the girls at his dining room table earlier this evening. She’d looked damn good, smiling and laughing, her eyes sparkling and her lips parting to show those white teeth. He ached for her and walked around in a perpetual state of horniness. It seemed like he’d sported a boner for days.
Shaking off thoughts of Kelsie, Zach slogged through a large puddle and down the sidewalk. He tipped an imaginary hat to the old vet known only as Danny. As usual, the man sat on a bench under an awning next to the homeless shelter. Danny smiled a toothless grin and touched the bill of his new Steelheads ball cap in response, the very cap Zach had given him last week.
“How’s it goin’, Dan?” Zach paused and dug in his wallet.
“Good, man. My bones are aching, means it’s gonna be a rainy fall and a cold winter.”
“You would know better than me. Why don’t you let me put you up in a room for the winter?”
“Nah, I’m fine right here. Walls give me claustrophobia.” Danny took a puff on a cigarette stub he’d most likely found on the sidewalk. Zach tried not to think about it.
“I understand.” At least, he understood as well as anyone could who’d never been in Danny’s situation. The man had served in Vietnam and was a POW for a year. Dan hated to be penned either in jail or behind the confining walls of an apartment. Still, it didn’t seem right that someone who’d given so much to his country should live on the streets. Despite Zach’s best efforts, that’s where Danny stayed. In fact, he seemed to resent any interference from Zach except his friendship. Pride was a powerful thing. As was the bottle. Danny held on tightly to both.
Zach tucked a twenty in Danny’s shirt, even though he knew the man would spend it on cheap whiskey. Pushing his way through the heavy door, he walked past the reception area, where a large black woman sat with a pile of knitting. She made hats, gloves, and scarves to give to the people who came into the shelter. Anitra nodded, smiled, and never missed a stitch, or whatever it was called in knitting.
A couple dozen kids of varying sizes and ages waited for him in an adjacent room, empty except for a few scratched tables and rickety folding chairs. They le
aped to their feet with excitement, remembering he’d promised them a special surprise for this week’s visit.
These kids shared a common bond. They were part of an alarmingly fast-growing homeless family population in Seattle. He gave a high five to Ricky, an enthusiastic twelve-year-old who wanted to be a fireman. The kid had grown up in a middle-class neighborhood until his father lost his job and unemployment ran out. Now they lived in a tent city. Next, he greeted Caleb, a quiet ten-year-old who came to life when Zach talked sports. He lived with his two sisters and single mother in their car. She lost her job and her boyfriend on the same day, finding herself on the street.
Tonight, Zach had chartered a bus, and they were making the half-hour trip to Seattle’s Museum of Flight, where he’d arranged for a special private evening. Afterward, they’d dine on pizza at a local pizza joint.
“The bus leaves in five, guys. Load up.” Zach motioned toward the door. The kids ran for it, yelling and screaming with pure joy. A half-dozen chaperones followed at a more adult pace. The kids’ enthusiasm never ceased to amaze him. God, he wanted to take every one of those kids home with him to his big, rambling, empty house.
He’d done that once or twice before he’d come to Seattle, and it’d ended in disaster. Now he tried to give his time without getting too personally involved, as much as it pained him.
Not so with Kelsie. He was personally involved, more than he wanted to admit. He’d moved her into his house and given her a credit card. He couldn’t help himself. He worried about her being homeless. He worried he was enjoying her presence too much. He worried he might not stop the next time he found her naked. He groaned just thinking about the soap sliding off her shoulders to nestle between those creamy white breasts. Shit, his dick was rising to the task again. Down, boy.
Zach refocused his attention on the sweet little boy still sitting in a chair and clutching a child-sized football. The kid looked up at him with sad brown eyes, and Zach’s heart melted like wax on a stovetop. He reminded Zach of Gary.
Andy was new to his little group, about eight years old, and stick thin. His family was newly homeless. His sister had been in and out of Children’s Hospital with cancer. Their family spent every penny on her treatment. The mother and father worked when they could. They’d recently lost their home. It was a sad situation all around.
Offsides: The Originals (Seattle Steelheads Book 3) Page 16
