Saving Maverick (19 page)

“I know why you're calling and it's a fake.” Maverick didn't even give the team owner a chance to speak first.

“It better damn well be, Mav. I'm not sure if your rep can take anymore bad press. I think it's time to bring the police in on this and put it out there that you're dealing with some type of crazed fan. If not an outright stalker.”

“Yeah, Kelsey had already brought that up the other day after the last two text messages, but I told her it was some delusional girl who just wants my attention,” Maverick said.

“So, how many text messages have you received?” T.S. asked.

“Half a dozen. They've all been pretty tame, really. I thought it might even be some teenager who hacked into the cell phone company to get my number or some shit like that, but I guess I was wrong.”

“
You're damn right you're wrong. You should have let me know about this crap sooner. And why aren't you listening to the expert, Maverick? I didn't hire Kelsey just to be your goddamned personal assistant. She knows how to combat crap like this and all I see you two doing is going out to dinner and playing nice in front of the cameras,” T.S. said.

“Now hold on a minute, T.S., that's what you wanted too. You were all fired up about us pretending to be a couple. Hell, it was your idea, remember? Don't worry about this latest picture, I'll handle it. Kelsey and I will handle it.”

“Maverick, I know you've been working hard on the rehab and in your sessions with the counselor. But if you and Kelsey can't figure out what to do with these pictures, I will, and you won't like it,” T.S. shot back. He hung up and Maverick pitched his phone against the wall.

Staring at the shattered screen, he began to laugh. Looked like he needed a new phone.

Later that morning Maverick walked into the clubhouse and looked around for something else he could smash. Destroying his phone had been expensive, and unsatisfying. He needed to let off some major steam.

Someone was tipping this creep off about his every move and the more he thought about it, that someone was probably close to him. The fact that some low-life had taken their treasured moment and sold it to the highest bidder made him ill. He was determined to find out who it was and pin their ass to the wall.

Luke and a few of his other teammates walked into the locker room. Good-natured, off-color ribbing flowed. He didn't hear any indication they'd seen the latest photo online. Fuck, this shit was getting old.

“
Hey, you wish you'd met her first. Man, she's smart.” The third baseman held out his palms in front of his own chest indicating how “smart” his current girlfriend was.

Luke smacked him up the back of his head, knocking the ball cap to the ground, and pushed the third-year player into a locker. “You guys are gonna find out one day, a woman's cup size doesn't matter anymore than the size of your Johnson does. Besides, aren't you tired of basing your dating choices on how big a girl's tits are instead of how she treats you or if you can actually hold a five-minute conversation without wanting to run the other way?”

“Whoa, Luke settle down, man. No need to go all Dr. Phil on us. Besides, you're pissed off because Syndi started hanging out with Jenner instead of you.” Yagasaki, the rookie pitcher, stepped in to add his two cents.

“Man, you don't know the bullet I dodged with that chick. She's out for a ring and has some serious daddy issues. If anything, I should be warning Jenner to find another ball girl to spend his nights with. She's not worth the shiny packaging she comes in.” Luke continued walking deeper into the locker room and raised a hand to Maverick.

“Hey, Mav, you hear the latest about Jenner? Syndi's sunk her two-inch nails into him now and these assholes think I'm jealous,” Luke said.

Maverick nodded his head at Luke but ignored the other players. “Luke, you done for the day?”

“Sure, what's up?”

“I could use a ride. My truck's in for a detail and I didn't think I'd need a loaner. Could you drop me off downtown?” Maverick asked.

“No problem, let me grab a quick shower and I'll meet you in the garage.” Luke turned down the hallway and was halfway there when Maverick called out.

“
Do you think you could skip the shower? I really need to get downtown and I don't want to call a taxi.” Luke looked at him for a moment but didn't question the urgency. Maverick was sure he didn't mask it very well.

“Dude, it's your nose. Anderson was a drill sergeant today and I must have tagged fifty runners. Worked up a good sweat.” Luke turned to the players he'd walked in with and said to the third baseman, “Make sure you tell Jenner what I said. She's bad news.”

Maverick grabbed his team bag and they walked out of the locker room toward the player area of the underground parking garage. He grabbed his shattered phone, pulled up the website, and shoved it toward Luke. “My number one fan has struck again.” He kept walking toward Luke's sports car but soon found himself standing next to it all alone.

Luke had stopped a few yards from the car and was staring intently at the screen. He looked up at Maverick. A tight expression on his face.

“Hey, what's the holdup? I really need to see Kelsey and work out what the hell I'm supposed to do,” Maverick said.

“I know who this is,” Luke said.

“What? Seriously, how can you tell? The woman's face is half covered with hair and there's a dark shadow on the rest.”

“Yah, but she didn't do a very good job hiding her tattoo. I know that tattoo. It's a fairy with pink wings. Believe me when I say I know who this is because I've rolled around naked with those boobs,” Luke said.

He swore, looked at the picture again and back up at his best friend. “It's Syndi.”

A flashbulb went off at the same time Luke said her name.

“Maverick, Maverick. Who's the new ball girl?”

“
Was she another stripper?!”

“Did you make Kelsey Sullivan wear a blond wig?!”

“C'mon Mav, your public wants to know. Did you and Kelsey break up?” The last reporter dared to get within a few feet of him.

Maverick didn't want to give the idiots a sound bite that would be played over and over on another trashy website or cable show, so he remained silent. Luke jogged the last few feet toward his car and spoke for Mav.

“Sorry guys, you're gonna have to get back. My car's got a full tank of gas and a need for speed. I suggest you get out of the way if you don't want to be eating exhaust.” Three men weighted down with cameras and sound equipment didn't budge, kept snapping pictures. Pricks. The reporter who'd asked the last question was smart enough to get out of the way.

They climbed into the Camaro and Luke cautiously backed out, but as soon as he saw it was safe, he floored it and provided the fumes he'd promised.

“Fucking vultures,” Maverick said. He leaned back on the headrest and glanced over at Luke. “Syndi?”

“Yeah,” Luke said.

Maverick punched the dashboard.

Kelsey sat staring at the photo. She needed to explain to an information-hungry society why Maverick seemed to have another woman in his life. They'd barely begun playing their parts. Love at first sight. Mad for each other to the point they couldn't control themselves in public and now this.

She
'd written down the words Maverick said had accompanied the photo when he'd received the text a couple of days ago. The one she just found out about a couple of hours ago.

Maybe you just needed a reminder that we should be together. *wink*

Damn, Maverick. Why did you have to hide this from me? It proved that he didn't have as much faith in her ability to help him as she thought. Guess sleeping together had little to do with what he thought of her as a professional.

Kelsey did another search and came up with a dozen more sites that had the altered photo pasted on their home page. Speculation on everything from Maverick having a sex addiction to being in an alcoholic blackout ran rampant. One site went so far as to say the second woman was carrying his baby and had released the picture because he refused to pay her off.

It was ridiculous, but fixable. Lord, she hoped it was still fixable. The hardest part would be erasing what the public had already seen from their memories and replacing it with what she wanted them to see.

A part of her was hurt. She knew the photo wasn't real but it had given her a jolt when she'd first looked at it. She'd gone to a place she didn't want to be, and thought about how her mother must have felt when she'd learned her husband had been running around on her. Her father and Maverick had many things in common besides baseball.

Luke and Maverick pulled up to Kelsey's building, tires squealing. Maverick looked around for signs of the media. But, the street was quiet.

“Thanks, man. I appreciate it. I owe you one.”

“
Maverick, the list is long. You might as well write me a check and call it good.” Luke grinned.

Maverick punched Luke's shoulder before he stepped out of the car. “It's not that long.”

“What? Not long? Let's see there was that sweet little brunette in Atlanta, the pissed-off bouncer in St. Louis, and who could forget the crazy cat chick in Philly?” Luke was ticking off each one on his fingers and grinning like a fool.

Leaning on the door frame, Maverick rolled his eyes at his buddy. “Whatever, dude. I'll give you a call later. Thanks again.”

He turned and ran up to Kelsey's front porch and pressed the doorbell. The neighborhood was quiet and on the older side of town, but well kept. He liked the Craftsman style and wondered how she was able to rent it on such short notice.

She answered, cell phone to ear, and waved him in.

“That's right, we have an expert who has confirmed the photo has been heavily doctored using the original picture of Maverick and myself. I have several live phone interviews set up for tonight so Mav can tell his side of things. And in regard to the suspected stalker, the local authorities asked that Maverick come in for another interview and turn his phone over to them for further analysis.”

Great. The phone in question was shattered and not working. He still needed to pick up the replacement. They'd have to get his records from the cell company.

Maverick sat on the back of her sofa and watched his woman work the situation. The frustration he'd felt with her at the casino washed away as he realized she had his best interests at heart. Maybe he needed to back off a bit on the relationship thing.

Kelsey
disconnected from her call. She offered Maverick a small smile. She looked cautious. He couldn't blame her. The way they had left things last night was totally his fault.

“Hi,” Maverick said.

“Hi back.”

“Sounds like you have something up your super media consultant sleeve, and I can't wait to hear it, but first I wanted to apologize for being such an asshole last night. I really don't know where all that came from.” He took a step closer to her. Her back straightened so he stopped. Damn, the ice princess was back. Might as well tell her about Syndi since she was giving him the cold shoulder anyway.

“Um, before we get into everything, I need to tell you I figured out, well, actually, Luke recognized the tattoo on the women's chest in the photo.”

“But how . . . ah, wait a minute. There was a woman at the party that night we met. I can't believe I forgot to ask about her. She was with Luke that night, right?”

“Yeah, her name's Syndi and, well, she kind a offered herself to me that first day I moved into my condo.”

Kelsey's eyebrows went up.

“Nothing happened. And I had forgotten about it. Afterward Luke cut her loose and she's been dating another player. I never thought it was her. But now it kind of makes sense.”

“Well, it doesn't matter, Maverick, who it is. Just that we now have a name. You need to get this information to the police—”

“That can wait. I'm more worried about us. About you. I've got to be honest with you, Kelsey. The feelings I have for you, well, they scare the living daylights out of me. I've never been in this position before. Then you add in that we're pretending to be a couple in public,
sleeping
together, but not really together in private. It's a lot for me to work through along with all the other shit in my life. I came on too hard last night and I'm sorry. Forgive me?”

She ignored his question. “That was T.S. I got him cooled down, but he's still mad. The fact that it looks like you're now dealing with an unstable stalker has him no longer placing the blame for the bad publicity on you, or me.”

“Good to know.”

“Tonight there will be a short press conference with local law enforcement, you, T.S., and Blake Anderson. I'll type up a statement for everyone to read and we can go over it and discuss any questions you may have,” Kelsey said.

Right now he didn't want Kelsey Sullivan, Public Relations Consultant. He wanted, needed, the Kelsey who'd given herself to him. The right to touch her, give her pleasure. He wanted to see the banked desire in her eyes whenever she looked at him. Dammit, he didn't want her viewing him through the lens of a consultant.

“Kelsey, please. Can we discuss last night before we deal with everything else?”

“Sure. Where do you want to start?”

She walked away from him and headed for her kitchen. “On second thought, first, I need a drink. All I have is chardonnay; you want a glass?”

“Yeah, sure. Why not.” He followed her in and stood right behind her while she got the wine glasses down. She placed them on the counter and turned toward the wine rack. He placed both arms on the counter, blocking her in.

“I said I was sorry,” Maverick said.

“Those are just words, Maverick. They're nice and I accept your apology . . .”