First and Ten (18 page)

“You don’t highlight that cannon of an
arm.”

“Are you about done?” Rome asked the head
trainer who’d prodded him up and down his left side for the last
five minutes. Standing on the sideline of their practice field,
Rome could feel the eyes on him. The rookies who probably had his
poster on their wall at one time, now saw him as either a mentor or
an obstacle. Either way, they weren’t paying attention to the play
on the field or the coaches. “Seriously, Bucky, buy a guy dinner
first.”

“You know I have to take extra care of you,”
he replied with his patented gravel. Having worked for the
Grizzlies for forty years, he’d seen more than his share of
injuries and he was the one assigned to the franchise players. “At
least he didn’t mess up that mug of yours. Wouldn’t want the Speed
Demon of Love out for the season.”

Had everyone heard about that? “You need a
hobby.”

“I have one, fishing, and if I could get to
my cabin in Wisconsin more than two days in a row I might actually
get to relax. Instead, everyone’s all in a tizzy over you.”

“Are we going to need the doc?” Coach
Marshall asked as he approached, in a set of navy blue athletic
shorts and polo both donning the Grizzlies emblem. At
six-foot-five, the lean former college lineman looked the part of a
head coach even though he was only forty-five. The current face of
the organization, he’d taken to the short trim hair most white guys
had.

“Nah, but if you’re going to have them at
full contact you might want to add a rib protector.”

“I can’t run with that,” Rome said as he
pulled his jersey back down.

“I know you all just want to play in t-shirts
and shorts with full contact,” Bucky grumbled. “Fuckin’ morons. The
padding is there to extend the life expectancy of your bones and
joints.”

“Good, get back on the field, Speed,” Coach
Marshall ordered. “And Gresham, he doesn’t need you to hold his
damn hand.”

“You sure about that, coach?” Dalton joked
and got a look that had the giant jogging back to get in
position.

“Any smart ass cracks from you?” Coach
Marshall challenged Rome.

“How many after school specials did you watch
growing up? Just a ballpark?”

“What are you getting at, Speed?”

“Is
Rudy
your favorite movie?”

Coach Marshall gave Rome the you’re
replaceable look and Rome nodded in response before putting his
helmet back on and walking to the running backs. Guess trying to
cut out and catch Dani on campus was out. Guess he’d have to figure
out where she lived and stop in, but that meant meeting her family.
Maybe he could find her and they could have their dinner.

After practice, Rome showered and was walking
back to his locker when he heard the snickering. Checking his
towel, he was satisfied that wasn’t the issue and pushed past the
guys standing around.

“Danger, Speed kills,” Adrian called and the
teammates around him burst into laughter.

“You got me. Congrats. One time in how many
years?”

“Did I forget to say kills the pussy?” Adrian
chuckled. “Yep. Be careful, women, one touch and you’ll be drunk
stuffing your already fat ass. Too bad your woman taught you your
moves.”

Rome stayed silent, no reason to let Adrian
know he was getting to him. Instead, he crossed his arms and looked
at the man standing across from him with a wide smile. When he held
his smartphone up to Rome’s face, he saw a picture of Dani
stumbling down a sidewalk.

“Says here she was getting toasted over a
heavy carb lunch. Want to see the rest of the pictures? This is the
bitch you’ve been fucking, right? I don’t see it, or at least I
didn’t until they talked about her father. Are you a kept man?
Givin’ this Becky a little bit of urban strange for a price. Tell
me, is her pension as good as the NFL’s? I don’t see any other
reason to fuck this bitch.”

Rome smiled angrily at Adrian. “Crack whores
are more your style, right? At least that’s what that website
shows. You getting a blowjob on the side of a club by someone
they’d never let in. Didn’t they have that story last year? Led to
a few months of random drug tests, right?”

Adrian’s jaw tightened. That gossip site had
destroyed him for almost a year. Adrian had been leaning his
forearm on the side of an alley while one of his baby momma’s was
on her knees next to him puking. But the angle of the picture
didn’t show that. It did look like he was getting head and since
she’d puked on her skirt she’d slid that off because her blouse was
long enough to cover her ass.

“Now who stuck up for you back then? I know
someone in this organization did.” Rome clucked his tongue then
turned to his locker. “It’ll come to me.”

“Rome man,” Adrian called.

“Don’t tell me,” Rome replied, not turning
around. He was all for locker room jock talk, but Adrian had been
here three years less than him and still had the college
mentality.

When Rome got to his locker, he sat in his
towel for a half hour reviewing the last set of pictures and
reaching out to Randall, who gave him Dani’s address. It wasn’t
that far from the practice facility. Quite a few Grizzlies past and
present lived out there. With sprawling estates and the proximity
to the team’s office and facilities it made sense. Rome had looked
at a few places, but he liked the simplicity of living in a
brownstone and the convenience of downtown. And on game day,
playing at Veteran’s Field, he didn’t have to slog through game day
traffic for hours after the game.

Pulling up outside the mansion, to say the
least, Rome was intimidated. The long cobblestoned driveway curved
as he approached the house. A set of six off white garage doors
with a contrasting brown X in the middle and box trim were off to
the left. He parked at the front door, correction, doors. The
massive oak double doors had intricately cut glass, not so one
could look out to see who was there, but esthetically beautiful.
Rarely had Jerome felt small, even standing behind a set of linemen
when he only came up to their mid chest at times.

Acid ate at the back of his throat while his
stomach knotted. Letting out a long breath he pressed the doorbell,
stood back, and put on his best game face.

“Danika is not back from her social
engagements, Mr. Speed,” a woman dressed in khaki’s, a polo, and
with her hair in a tight bun explained as she answered the
door.

“Okay.” Rome swallowed hard, a bit put off.
Could this woman be Dani’s mother?

“Ilsa,” a woman called from inside. “Who’s at
the door?”

“Mr. Speed,” Ilsa replied.

“A bit early for the dinner party,” the other
woman said as she approached. “Birdie hasn’t even finished her
finals, let alone graduate.”

“Birdie?” Rome asked as he took in the older
version of Dani from the first time he saw her, with a short
haircut and wearing a turquoise sheath dress with a contrasting
amber infinity scarf. Damn, he’d been around Dani too much.

“Come in, I’m sure Dani and her father will
be home soon.” Rome followed Dani’s mother, expecting to be brought
to a sitting area, instead both she and Ilsa headed to the kitchen.
“We know it’s a few weeks off, but Ilsa is attempting the
impossible. She’s trying to teach me how to bake a cake. I’m
Bonnie, by the way, in case you didn’t already know. Most people
know William, but the wife, not so much.”

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Albright.”

“Bonnie, please. If I wanted you to call me
Mrs. Albright, I would have introduced myself that way. Bill on the
other hand, I’d lead with Mr. Albright. He’s not your biggest fan.
Strange, since you’re usually on his fantasy league, but this whole
tabloid thing...” She waved her hand in front of her face then
settled back to the task at hand. “Something tells me you’ll be
running for Tredmont’s team this year.”

“Tredmont?”

“Have you met Esme or has Dani kept you away
from everyone including us?”

“Esme, tall blonde?” Rome asked, unsure how
nerves that had him thinking a trip or five to the bathroom would
be necessary, had evaporated. Just like Dani, Bonnie had a way of
setting people at ease. She looked the part of a woman who should
be in a mansion like this with her heels and jeweled broach helping
hold the scarf in place.

“That would be her. Isn’t she gorgeous?”

“Classically so,” Rome replied and then
passed the eggs that were sitting out on the counter to Bonnie.

“And Birdie?” she challenged.

“Why is Dani’s nickname Birdie?”

“What about my daughter did you notice
first?” Bonnie asked.

“Her quick wit.”

“I’m not sure about that answer, young man.
When asked about Esme you described her physically. My daughter, it
was about her smart mouth.”

“I had my back to her. If you’re worried I’m
not physically attracted to your daughter trust me, I am, but I’m
not about to be vulgar.”

Rome settled into a bar stool and watched as
Bonnie attempted to cook with Ilsa biting her bottom lip while
watching in horror. The sad part was the cake mix was from a box.
She wasn’t following directions and making it from scratch. The
story of how Dani got her nickname of Birdie distracted Bonnie like
an ADHD kid trying to do algebra when squirrels are building a
nest.

“Can I ask you something?” Rome said when the
cake had been put into the oven. Ilsa was rubbing her belly and it
didn’t appear to be from thoughts of how delicious dessert would
be.

“Shoot,” Bonnie said then settled down with a
cup of coffee across from Rome.

“You’re acting like you’ve known me for
years.”

“Oh, yeah, I don’t do the scare the
boyfriend—I’m sorry, Dani didn’t say you were her boyfriend or
anything really, but you get my point, right?”

“It’s fine.”

“That I called you her boyfriend?” Bonnie
inquired then held a hand up. “Not my business, well it is, but
well, I leave the grilling of male suitors to Bill. Besides, I’ve
already heard everything I need to know about you from him.”

Rome wasn’t sure what that could be. Stats,
had he run a background check on him? Sent out a secret set of
agents from the federal government? As he looked around the massive
kitchen he saw how Dani learned about the finer things in life.
Then when he interacted with her mother, he saw the other laidback
side to her personality.

“Mr. Speed,” a male voice echoed in the room
and Rome jumped off the barstool to see a man in a three-piece
pinstriped suit standing in the doorway with Dani, who’s eyes were
bloodshot. “Come with me.”

He didn’t want to go with him. Not with Dani
looking like she’d either cried for hours or drank to excess. She
wasn’t wobbling and that made Rome’s gut ache thinking she’d been
crying.

William Albright had the master of the
universe attitude as he turned and walked, not waiting to see if
Rome would follow. Of course he’d follow, he’d been ordered to and
William Albright’s orders weren’t ignored. When Rome passed Dani,
he let his fingers glide and tangle with hers lightly enough to not
pull her, but enough she knew he missed her. Looking over his
shoulder, he saw she had turned her head to the side and gave him a
small smile.

The den where Mr. Albright had his office had
a wall of books behind a large oak desk. The computer screen was
set to the side and stood out in a room decorated like a movie set
with rich brown leather chairs and couch set to the side.

“Sit,” Mr. Albright ordered and Rome took a
chair on the opposite side of the desk where he stood. Taking off
his suit coat, Mr. Albright folded it then laid it over the back of
his office chair, but didn’t sit. “Mr. Speed, I don’t like
attention. I understand for you to succeed in the world you require
your talent and a fan base. I live in a world where I only need
talent. That doesn’t make me better or worse than you. I personally
don’t believe in those scales.”

Rome swallowed back the hard lump stuck in
his throat. The one thing Bonnie had advised him was quiet. Let her
husband lecture, vent, explode, whatever, then approach him with
whatever solution you came up with during the soliloquy.

“I have three children and only one has been
able to avoid the tabloids because she made good choices. Learned
from her oldest sister and I guess there is a bit of the middle
child, missing child, overlooked child when it comes to Danika. Now
that has been disturbed.” Mr. Albright removed his cufflinks and
rolled up his shirt sleeve. “Partially, it’s her fault. The choices
she makes, the friends she chooses, but when I get a phone call
from her after I’d already warned her about these vultures from the
tabloids, I know I need to intervene.”

Rome shifted to his right side. Stress had
his body feeling every hit from the day. Being bundled up and not
stretched out didn’t help either.

“You’ve dealt with this for a while now. I’ve
noticed you were able to stay out of the headlines for quite some
time. Yet, and still, here we are. Your choices have been as poor
as my daughter’s. That being said, when I investigated I learned
there was a third party pulling strings. Luckily for you I think we
can deal with this person.”

“Third party?”

“Your child’s mother, we believe she’s been
feeding the website with the where and when’s. I thankfully have
never had to deal with custody issues, but again that doesn’t make
me better or worse than you.”

“As you said before.”

“My daughter has strong feelings for you. I’m
giving you an option right now.”

“If you think you can pay me—”

“I know I could, but I never would. One, it’s
an insulting and petulant action Hollywood exploits for a good or
bad romantic turn in a story.” Mr. Albright finally sat in the desk
and powered up his computer. “Also, I’m a cheap ass bastard. Don’t
let the house fool you. That’s my wife’s doing and much like her
etiquette lessons I fought her most of the way. I grew up in South
Shore and liked statistics. Part of me wondered if I should have
just played the ponies instead of the stock market. We do what
we’re good at though. Here we go.”