Sacked (The Alpha Ballers#2) (12 page)

Lily punched him in the arm. “You love it.”

“I do, I totally do.” And then he kissed her, long and hard.

“You know,” I added, “I’m still in the room. In fact, let me confirm, but this is actually my room.” I held my finger to my ear simulating an earpiece feeding me information. “Wait, no, yes, I’m getting reports that this is, in fact, my room. Take it elsewhere, kids.”

They both laughed and turned toward the door. “Remember what I said, Lance.”

“About romance novels?”

“No, silly, about Charlotte. She’ll steal your heart if you let her.”

“Come on, Lily, let the man rest,” Drake butted in. “Don’t fill his head with that stuff. Don’t forget, during the football season, Lance Parker doesn’t have a heart to steal.”

They waved goodbye and were gone.
 

I turned back over to face the window.

‘Didn’t have a heart to steal.’

Was Drake right? Did I not have a heart for Charlotte to steal?

CHAPTER 08 - CHARLOTTE

I was steaming mad. I paced around in the waiting room outside Lance’s room and wondered which celestial beings I had angered to end up in this kind of situation - working for a ridiculously sexy man that I had not only slept with but couldn’t stand being around.

What made it worse was that he needed my help. It was infuriating and I couldn’t see any way around it. Every time I looked at him, I couldn’t decide whether to yell at him or jump into his arms, and it was beginning to tear at me from the inside.

For the hundredth time that week I wondered if I wouldn’t be better off just quitting my job and going back to Wichita. Sure, the work wasn’t so great, and there wasn’t a realistic path for any advancement, but at least back home I didn’t have Lance Parker staring at me with those ridiculously hot and sexy dark brown eyes of his.
 

Every time he looked at me like that I could feel my body respond to him, feel myself get more and more turned on. The amount of control that man had over me, with just a sidelong glance, drove me up the wall, and it made each day at work with him a sweet sweet torture the likes of which I had never experienced before.

More importantly, I didn’t know how long I could stand it. But, at the same time, I didn’t want to leave. I wanted Lance to keep looking at me like that. I wanted him to pull me aside when no one was looking, wrap those giant arms around me, and whisper romantic things to me in between rushed kisses. I wanted him to sweep me away.

But I also wanted him to stop, you know, being all Lance Parker and all. So we couldn’t always get what we wanted out of life, even in the short term.

The door to Lance’s room opened and I ignored it, preferring to keep walking around and thinking about what was going on and what I was going to do about it…if anything.

“You know, Charlotte,” I heard Drake’s voice from the direction of the door as I heard it close, “if you keep pacing like that you’re going to wear a groove into the floor.”

Always with the jokes, that Drake. I wondered how Lily put up with him, but at the same time, whenever I saw those two together I couldn’t help but realizing just how in love they clearly were with each other.

I looked up, suddenly distracted. “Oh, yeah, sorry about that, it’s just that I was…”

Lily stepped toward me. “We know, dear. You were pacing around and wondering about Lance in there.” She looked at me with consolation on her face, like she knew where I was coming from because she had been there before. “It’s not always easy, is it?”

“The work? Yeah, things can get pretty hairy around here, with the schedule and all.”

Drake grimaced, and Lily shook her head. “No, dear, that’s not what I meant. It’s not always easy falling for a man like that.” She punched Drake in the ribs, and he leaned against the wall, feigning all sorts of pain. “Sometimes you have to go out and hit them with a stick until they realize you mean business.”

I was dumbfounded. “So…I should go find a stick somewhere?”

“Oh, honey, I can’t tell you what’s right for you, I just wanted to say that I understand where you’re coming from and I hope it gets better for you soon.”

I looked down. “I’ve been thinking about quitting, you know? Going back to Kansas and trying to find something else.”

This time it was Drake who spoke, though Lily clearly wanted to also. “NO” He looked around sheepishly, like he was ashamed that he’d yelled out of nowhere. “You cannot go anywhere, Charlotte. Not this far into the season.”

“What? This is only week 3, there’s like 14 weeks left in the regular season alone.”

“Yeah, but Lance needs you. And not just because of this injury.”

“He’s made it pretty clear he doesn’t even want my help with that, either.”

“Look, Charlotte, I haven’t known Lance Parker all that long, but if there’s one thing about him I can say, it’s that sometimes he misses the forest for the trees.”

I wrinkled my nose. “That doesn’t seem like a good trait for a quarterback. He needs to see both.”

“And on the field he’s better than anyone at it. But off the field, he’s got a major case of blinders going on.”

“What’re you saying?”

Drake didn’t speak, but Lily did. It was weird how having a conversation with one of them basically meant you were having a conversation with both of them. “It means, honey, that you gotta stick with it. We know Lance, he’ll come around, but until he does it’s not gonna be easy for you.”

“I dunno if I can, guys…”

“We do. We haven’t known you all that long, but it’s pretty clear that you’re not the type to give up, even if the thought does cross your mind from time to time. So stick with it, and don’t be afraid to use a stick when Lance needs it.”

“How will I know when that is?”

Drake laughed. “When he’s awake.”

That lightened the mood enough that all of us laughed out loud, and Lily and Drake nodded to each other. “Time for us to make our exit. I think you should go check on your patient, Nurse Charlotte.”

I saluted back. “Will do. And thanks for the advice.”

“Anytime, honey. I wish I’d had someone around like that to help me when I was dealing with this guy.” Lily poked Drake again, who was still rubbing his stomach from the last one. “It might have saved me a lot of headaches.”

“You love it,” Drake said, and ushered her out of the room. Ugh, those two were so obnoxiously happy together I didn’t know whether to congratulate them or feel super jealous.

So I settled for doing both. They were incredibly fortunate to have found each other while each was going through big turmoil, and it showed in how strong their relationship had become in just a short time.

I wanted something like that for me, hopefully without all that turmoil, but this definitely seemed like a case where Charlotte was not getting what she wanted.

Lily and Drake’s advice definitely came from the right place, though. I just didn’t know how I could keep working with Lance when he was like this. Especially now that he wasn’t going to be playing football for at least a few weeks, he was going to be insufferable, and not just because each time he looked at me I wanted to take off all my clothing and rub myself against his hard body.

I really needed to stop thinking like that, but I already knew that I couldn’t help it. It wasn’t fair - all day I got to touch Lance Parker’s body, but never the way I wanted to. Never the way we had touched that one night.

It just wasn’t fair.

I sighed, looking around at the empty waiting room, and then steeled myself to go back inside and deal with Lance. I couldn’t avoid him forever. Even if he didn’t want to talk to me right now, I was still in charge of his physical health and I had a job to do.

I took a deep breath and knocked twice before opening the door to Lance’s room. No response. I went inside and shut the door behind me.

Lance was still lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling. I couldn’t read him from the half of his face that I could see, but I knew right away, just by the way the air seemed to hang in the room, that he wasn’t thrilled to be there, and that his visitors hadn’t really done very much to un-sour his mood.

“I’m just coming back in to check on you,” I said, out loud but not directed at Lance. I just wanted to go about my business while he thought things through - he clearly didn’t want to talk.

I busied myself with checking the readings and instruments at the side of his bed, fluffing up the pillows and making sure that everything was stocked.

Lance was completely silent. One time I thought I saw his eyes following me around the room, but he never spoke.

Finally, and stubbornly, I broke the silence, unable to hold my tongue any longer. “You know, Lance Parker, it could have been much worse.”

His eyes snapped to me, and Lance glared at me. “How could it have been any worse?”

“You can still play this year, if everything goes well. And you should be fine for next season.”

Lance groaned out loud. “I don’t think you understand, Charlotte.”

I crossed my arms under my chest and leaned back against the counter on the opposite wall. “Then explain it to me, Lance, don’t keep me in the dark for no reason.”

Lance sighed and closed his eyes. “Every game I lose is a chance for Oliver Lee to take my job from me permanently. If I don’t get back out on the field quickly, there’ll be no reason for the team to keep me.”

“But you’re better than Oliver Lee.”

“Don’t you think I know that?”

“So the team will welcome you back when you’re healthy.”

“Lee’s contract is even cheaper than mine, Charlotte, and he’s got a couple more years on his deal.” He looked exasperated. “Most people think professional football is all about winning championships. It is, of course, but there’s a business underneath it all. And business is about finding the most efficient way to do well.”

“I get all that. So you need to get back on the field quick?”

“Yes, exactly. And in a few weeks if Oliver wins a few games, they won’t think twice about keeping him on as the starter even if I come back better than ever.”

I stepped closer, closing the distance between us, I stopped at the foot of his bed, resting my hands on the cold railing and wrapping my fingers around it. “What’re you going to do next, then?”

Lance looked down and dropped his hand on his right thigh, grimacing as pain clearly shot up his leg. “Whatever it takes to come back from this as quickly as I can, what other choice do I have?”

I didn’t even make an attempt to hide the hope in my voice. “Can I help?” My voice was soft, a plaintive question that hung in the air of the room.
 

Lance closed his eyes again, then opened them. “No, Charlotte, you can’t.”

“But…”

He cut me off. “I got into this mess by not listening to you. Or maybe listening to you too much, and now I’m gonna have to get myself out of it.”

I had no idea how to take that. I wanted to just leave the room and leave Lance alone for a little while, let him collect himself.

Without another word, I went to the door and opened it, but turned back toward the bed just before I went through.

“Are you…are you firing me?”

Lance still stared at the ceiling. “No, I’m not. Not yet.”

I left the room, unable to say another word.

‘Not yet.’ What the hell did that mean?

CHAPTER 09 - LANCE

A couple weeks passed and I didn’t see much of Charlotte. She came in the room a couple times a day to make sure everything was alright, but we didn’t speak much, and I liked it that way.

Let’s be a little more clear - I hated it that way. Every time I saw her my heart broke into smaller and smaller pieces and I wanted to jump out of bed and take her into my arms.

But I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t do anything to help her, to make this easier. Mainly because I couldn’t do anything for myself and it frustrated me to no end.

To Charlotte’s credit she took it like a champ, never complaining or getting mad at me. I knew I was being a bastard but I didn’t know any other way to act. The most important thing for me was to get better and get back on the field, and I didn’t have the space for anything else.

Most days I just lay in bed or did a little bit of physical therapy. I kept up with the team, and saw a bunch of teammates as they came to visit me.

The next three weeks went rough for the Patriots. Oliver Lee showed the same growing pains as most rookie quarterbacks when they get their first taste of the bright lights and roaring crowds, and while he showed a little bit of promise in his first three starts, the Patriots lost all three games, putting them at 3-3 for the season so far.

There were 10 games left, and with the pressure coming on from the Jets and Dolphins, we’d have to have at least 10, probably 11+ wins if we wanted to guarantee ourselves a playoff spot. We needed that playoff spot.

So either Oliver needed to turn things around or I needed to get back on the field and play up to my previous level. A tall order, even for a guy as tall as I was.

I watched the week 6 loss to the Bills on the TV in my recovery room, hitting my head back against the pillow each time Oliver Lee missed an open read or threw a dangerous pass into double or even triple coverage, just begging for an interception.

By the time the game was over there were tears in my eyes and I wanted to throw things, but luckily at that moment I didn’t have anything nearby and I didn’t want to hobble over and get something.

Charlotte came in as I howled in frustration and to her eternal credit, she said nothing. Of course she had seen the game too - inside the facility it was nearly impossible to not have a TV within view. We didn’t say a word to each other, Charlotte just pulled up a chair and sat down next to me and we stared at the opposite wall, watching the post-game breakdown on the news.

It felt terrible, seeing my brothers out there losing another game but being unable to help them. Even if we hadn’t won with me there, at least I’d get to share in their pain, help them through it while they helped me through mine. Now, though, we were going through separate trials, and our connection, though not severed, was getting weaker by the day.