Fourth Down and Dirty: A Bad Boy Sports Romance (26 page)

The following
morning, Benjamin walked into the office building with his two lawyers. He was
pleasantly surprised when Hayden agreed to the meeting fairly quickly, even
setting it as his first appointment of the day.

“Good morning,”
Hayden said as he stepped out of his office to greet the three men. He was more
subdued than usual. He wasn’t even smiling. Although I didn’t make the reason
for their meeting clear, it wasn’t hard to figure out. After all, the last time
that Hayden and I had spoken I ended up storming out of his office.

“Benjamin
McClane
,” Benjamin said before motioning to the other two
men. “Mr. Gerber and Mr. Wright, my lawyers.” The men shook hands before being
guided to the conference room by Hayden. After offering them a beverage, which
all three declined, Hayden asked what the visit was about given that I hadn’t
divulged any of the details.

 
“I’m sure you know what it is regarding, Mr.
Dunn,” Benjamin said smoothly. He was a tough man and, in his line of work, it
had come in handy multiple times. The two lawyers, seated on either side of
Benjamin, pulled out portfolios and legal pads.

Hayden eyed them
wearily before responding, “Perhaps I should have brought in my lawyer too.” He
held up a finger and excused himself, returning just a few short minutes later
with a woman who looked quite older than him. “This is my attorney, Mrs. Hill.
She’s agreed to join this meeting last minute.”

The three men
across from them looked at each other and nodded before Mr. Gerber started
talking. “Ms. Alice
McClane
, younger sibling to our
client, shall look to file an official petition for the change of Via Mace’s
visual appearance.”

“I already told
her that’s not possible,” Hayden replied firmly, clearly exhausted with the
point. Mrs. Hill looked at him, but said nothing.

“She never
consented to being modeled in your game,” Mr. Wright piped in.

“I’m afraid,” Mrs.
Hill responded, “Mr. Dunn’s right to maintain Via’s appearance despite the
likeness is not to be argued. After all, it is stated any likeness is purely
coincidental. As such, your client has no grounds to make such a demand.”

After her
statement, not much was left to be said. The lawyers tossed a few more legal
remarks back and forth before both sides had reached an impasse. Benjamin was
too smart to voice his contempt aloud in front of Hayden’s lawyer so he settled
on a glare. He walked out with his two lawyers trying his best to hide the fact
that he was fuming.

“There has to be a
way to rid my sister of this trouble,” Benjamin said once they were all in his
car.

After a couple
minutes of thought, Mr. Gerber finally spoke up, “The only way we can have a
case that will change this Via Mace character’s appearance, is if we prove
Hayden knew Ali before creating Via. If we do that, our argument that Via was
made after Ali’s likeness can stand.” Mr. Wright nodded in agreement before
making a note on a small memo pad he stuck right back in the outer pocket of
his briefcase.

Meanwhile, Hayden
was wracking his brain inside his office. Even he found it odd how exact the
appearance was. It seemed impossible even to him that Via Mace could have every
characteristic that belonged to me. So he started to search through the recent
news articles to find pictures of me. He needed to have a starting point. Even
though he had spent time with me on more than one occasion, he hoped that
staring at my photos might drum up a long lost memory that would explain
everything.

He tried to think
of other ways to learn more about me as he sat back in his chair and wracked
his brain for answers. He thought about my name for a moment and looked me up
online after he remembered I was a corporate travel agent.

Sure enough, he
found me on the homepage of the company that I worked for – the sister company
of the one he worked at prior to his long bout of unemployment. Having an
identical person living in the city did seem a little odd, but now knowing
where I worked made it seem absolutely impossible he hadn’t met me before, even
if only briefly. The coincidence was too strong.

Then, it finally
hit him! But his memory of me wasn’t a fond one, unlike the night we went out
together. He logged into his old email account and typed something into the
search bar, his face was stoic when the results turned up.

Without a second
thought, he called Gina into his office. As always, she was far too pleased to
be called by him. “I’ve met her before,” he blurted out as soon as Gina closed
his office door.

She stared at him
blankly. “Who?”

“Ali. I’ve met Ali
before,” he told her impatiently.

Gina furrowed her
brows. “Who is Ali?”

“The woman who was
here the other day!” Hayden shot up from his chair and paced back and forth in
his office. “Ali is the woman who looks like Via.”

“Oh,” Gina said.
It was pretty clear she wasn’t thrilled to be discussing me, but that wasn’t
something she would ever say to Hayden. She watched as he continued to pace up and
down, occasionally ruffling his hair. “What about her?”

Hayden stopped
dead in his tracks, turning to face Gina. “I’ve met her before. This whole time
I thought it was the world’s craziest coincidence, but the truth is that wasn’t
my first time meeting her. That woman has always been something important in my
life, even if it wasn’t for a good reason.”

“What does that
even mean?” Gina was perplexed, albeit still annoyed. Any time Hayden spoke of
another woman it bothered her, whether he was saying something good or bad. She
hated him lending his attention to a woman who wasn’t her.

“Gina,” he
breathed out, “Ali is the one who cost me my first promotion. Inadvertently or
not, she is what caused my long period of unemployment!”

“So she’s
responsible for Via coming into existence in more ways than one,” Gina voiced
her thought out loud. Catching herself, she placed her hand under her chin and
looked at Hayden for a reaction. It was obvious I was now a thorn in Gina’s
side, but Hayden couldn’t be bothered to notice or care. “Well,” Gina said
cautiously, “Are you sure about that?”

“Yes!” He sunk
down onto the couch and stared out the window of his office. He couldn’t
believe it, “I’m sure.”

He closed his eyes
and recalled that fateful day. There was no doubt in his mind I was that woman.
Standing up, he crossed the office to grab a hold of his desktop’s computer
screen. He swiveled the screen around to show Gina the photos he had found of
me – photos that weren’t part of any of the articles or reports on me and Via
Mace. They were old photos from many years ago at a corporate event.

“I looked her up.
Once I figured out where she worked and I pieced things together, it didn’t
take long to dig up old emails from when we worked for the same company years ago.”

Then he clicked
out of the photos to point to a name listed on the email– Alice
McClane
.

Silence had filled
the room after Hayden showed Gina my name on the email. What he didn’t show her
was the life-shattering email he had received, the one that changed everything
the moment he lost his job. He knew now, past his haze of fury, that I had
never done anything intentional to cost him his promotion and subsequently have
him fired. But it took years for him to realize and accept that fact. Despite
that, he still had a deep-seated desire to cause a problem in my life. Now,
with the unintentional creation of Via Mace, he had managed to cause that major
problem.

He smiled. If he
had wanted to giftwrap revenge so beautifully it wouldn’t have been as
perfectly poetic as this.

It wasn’t until
later that night when he sat out on the couch in his backyard that he started
to feel bad about everything. A part of him was frightened that he found joy in
the thought of my suffering. He sat on the couch lost in thought with his eyes
fixated on the untouched wineglass sitting on the coffee table. He thought back
to a few nights ago when I sat next to him in that very same spot. He
remembered the look on my face when our moment had been interrupted. I didn’t
know it at the time, but I had disappointment written all over my face.

He felt somewhat
disgusted with himself that he had spent so many years resenting me; even when
he never knew me. And now that he had gotten to know me, he was even more
confused. He leaned forward and took his glass of wine to drain it in one gulp.
He closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of the gentle evening breeze
settling on his cheeks. In that moment he felt like things could be okay, but
that was just an illusion created from good wine and pleasant weather.

Things were going
to get a lot harder.

When his phone
rang, he knew his moment of calm was over. He opened his eyes and leaned
forward to see Gina’s name on his phone. As much as he wanted to ignore her,
something made him reach out and answer her call anyway.

 
“Hello,” he said, somewhat dryly, now wishing
he had brought the bottle of wine out with him.

“Hayden, I have
some news,” Gina’s voice came in clearly. He wasn’t quite sure why, but
listening to her was grating on his nerves. He almost wanted to shout for her
to shut up and leave him alone.

“Hold on a
moment,” he muttered, setting his phone down on the coffee table and strolling
into his kitchen to grab the bottle of wine. He knew all the stress and
confusing thoughts were coming to a head and it wasn’t Gina’s fault. Sure, she
annoyed him in other moments with her lack of subtlety and tact, but never to
this extent. Besides, she was currently the only person who knew the truth
about his past with me.

 
“What’s the news?” He sat on the edge of the
couch, slowly pouring wine into his glass.

“A location has
been found.”

 
Hayden paused. It took a moment for him to process
what she was talking about. The location she was referring to was the possible
movie deal he could get out of Mind Lash. He set the bottle of wine down on the
coffee table, mouth going dry. It felt like everything was happening at once
and he didn’t have enough time to sort through his thoughts, much less his
business.

 
“I think we should go check it out,” Gina
proposed.

Hayden leaned back
against the couch, rubbing his hand over his face and letting out a long
breath. It wasn’t a bad thing, not by a long shot. It was, however, very
stressful. And in the midst of everything that had happened with me and the
feelings he was starting to develop, the stress was pushing down on him like a
heavy weight.

“I don’t know,” he
finally muttered.

Gina sighed. “Why
not? You don’t have to be here in the next few days. You have plenty of capable
people you can delegate to. And…” Gina paused.

“And what?” Hayden
asked, now a lot more interested in whatever she had to say.

“And I think it
would be really good for you right now to get away from everything,” she told
him. She made a good point. After Hayden had spoken with my brother and his two
stern-faced lawyers, he really didn’t feel like sticking around. But the image
of my face popped into his mind and, for some reason, he felt unsure about just
bolting. He wanted to see me again, even if we weren’t on the best of terms.

“She’s already
sent her brother and his lawyers after you. I know Mrs. Hill told them they
didn’t have a case, but that doesn’t mean she’ll stop harassing you over this
whole Via Mace debacle. I think we should go on the scouting trip now, knock it
out early, and don’t contact Ali. Don’t alert her to your leaving.”

“I’ll have to call
you back,” Hayden said, ending the call without waiting for her response.

He dropped his
phone on the couch and stared up at the sky. Every time he thought about me, a
small bit of guilt welled up inside of him. He wanted to tell me the truth, but
he was also afraid to take that step because he knew what it meant.

Telling me what he
had just discovered, buried deep in old emails, was something I could use to
jeopardize the entire Mind Lash game. He wasn’t willing to give me that chance.
He wasn’t willing to let me jeopardize everything. As soon as he thought about
the possibility of me ruining his career again, the anger and resentment
started to bubble up inside of him again.

He reached forward
to grab the glass of wine and chug it, immediately grabbing the bottle and
taking a long drink straight from it. His head was going to hurt and he was
going to regret drinking so much so fast, but he couldn’t help it. His mind was
already spinning.

He couldn’t decide
what he wanted to do. He wanted to seek revenge for the man he was years ago.
But he also wanted to stay true to the man he was today, the man who had
actually gotten to
know
me—the man
who was starting to fall for me.

To say he hadn’t
taken some sort of liking to me would have been a lie, but that was something he
couldn’t even start to think about when he had so much else to consider. He
grabbed his phone and called Gina back.

“Maybe the
distance and different location can give me some perspective,” he agreed.