Sidelined (13 page)

“Why are you telling me all this!” Levi slowed down at the city limit sign by instinct. The damned cops would sit behind it with their radar and pull people over. The damned cops in this town were ticket happy from way back.

“Because you seem to have stumbled into something good. And I don’t want you throwing it away because of unfinished business. With Bo. With me. You need to be happy. Coach Wright—“

“Oh, God, we’re just fucking. It’s nothing. We just met two weeks ago. And why is everyone so damned interested in hooking me up? I like being single. I plan to be single. Indefinitely.”

“So then the smoldering looks the two of you were giving each other and the jealous rage I saw brewing in the Viking’s eyes is nothing, and I imagined it? Is that what you’re saying?”

“Yeah? It’s just sex. Oh, I forgot, you and Bo were cock docked since birth. We can’t all have that. Just sex. The only two queers in town just blowing off steam. It happens.”

“You know, I never once looked at any of the guys I blew off steam with while deployed. Most of the time I forgot their names. Or never knew their names. Just sex to keep from losing my fucking mind. We didn’t talk. We fucked. And then pretended we didn’t know each other. He about had a coronary when you went down on your knees. He’s gone on you, Levi. And the way you looked at him. You never ever looked at Bo like that. I’m telling you that because I know you thought you were in love with Bo.”

Levi drove past the courthouse square. Another two miles and this torment would be over. Tracy wasn’t gone on him. No way. “He does look like a Viking, doesn’t he?”

“He’s a big fucker, bigger than Bo.”

“Bigger than Bo in more ways than one. Fucking nose tackle. He used to sack me for the fun of it back in school. I never knew what hit me. Fucking Viking King.” Levi didn’t want to smile. But he did. And Dylan saw it. “Shut up. It’s not like we’re…just shut up.”

“My lips are zipped. He is pretty. All that blond hair and those eyes. I’d do him.”

“Line is closed. Go back to your own ride.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Let me know when to plan the wedding. Because that’s what I’m into lately. Gay wedding planning.”

“Not ever going to happen in Alabama or Louisiana.”

“Or Florida. One day maybe. One day.”

“Yeah, when pigs fly.”

Levi pulled into the stadium parking lot to discover that word had spread that some of the New Orleans offense was in town. Most of the team was on the field. Waiting. And if that wasn’t bad enough, a news truck from Mobile was parked with its satellite up. “And after two weeks of peace and quiet, the world finally found me.”

“I was wondering how you managed to just disappear for two weeks without the media finding you. Reporters and bloggers were all over New Orleans looking for your reaction to the news conference. They set up camp outside your townhouse.” Sunday seemed to be in no hurry to vacate the car, and with a camera shining right at him, neither was Levi.

“I figured that would happen. I didn’t know what to say. So I packed a couple of bags, came here, and laid low for a week. But you know, it’s strange that I’ve been practicing with the local high school all this week and it’s stayed quiet. Maybe I assumed that no one was interested anymore.” He shrugged and leaned back in the seat. “Would it bother you if I floor it and haul ass?”

“Not a bit. I kind of hate cameras. This past year…” he shuddered visibly, the look on his face one of pure hate. “But—“

“No buts, there are no buts about this.” Levi had the car in reverse and was about to peel out in a cloud of dust when someone pounded on the trunk. “Fuck. Fuck.”

“As I was saying, but this is a local reporter, looks like…they probably just want to see why the team is in town and talk a little bit about the season with the boys, you never know. And don’t run over my boyfriend, Brody. I won’t like that.”

Levi put the car in park and turned off the engine. “Fuck, ‘Cephus isn’t the one banging on the trunk. That would be my would-be boyfriend and Slayer… What do you think Slayer will do if I told him? What do you think anyone would think if…” He shook his head, the idea insane.

“He’s your best friend, I take it? And he doesn’t have a clue?” Sunday sighed, nodding when Levi nodded. “I came back from the dead to find out my sexuality was headline news. I don’t remember much about the time I was still in the ‘Stan. The world had a year or more to get past it. Ask Bo. But then you were there. You know what he went through. Firsthand.” Sunday popped the door open. “Is it what you want? Is it what he wants? Those are the better questions.”

Levi’s door came open just as Dylan lifted his knee and set his prosthetic foot on the ground. “No hiding. Come on. This will be fun. Channel ten news came all this way to take pretty pictures. We wouldn’t want to disappoint them, now would we?”

Levi pulled his sunglasses off the visor clip and slid them on. “Oh nooo, we wouldn’t want to disappoint anyone. Especially the media.” He stepped out, letting his hand graze Tracy’s arm on his way past. “Okay, let’s get this over with. I need a nap.”

* * * * *

The camera crew caught him off guard. Tracy had no idea how the news station found out or if it was just dumb luck that they showed up at his field on a Sunday hoping to catch a glimpse of the local football star. The only other people who knew were his family and none of them would rat his friend out. They were too busy being starstruck. But the eight players who’d come to visit Levi were gracious, even going so far as to deflect the questions regarding Levi’s current non-player status.

Tracy watched from the sideline while Levi, still wearing his mirrored wrap sunglasses, stood with his arms crossed over his chest. He balanced on the balls of his feet, swaying a bit as he spoke, always with a smile, always polite. Nothing had changed from his years of after-game interviews. “I’m not at liberty to discuss that…” Tracy heard when the chatter around him died down. “I believe the team has said all that’s relevant. The decision was made, I hold no grudge. I’m just here visiting family while I think about what to do now that I’m retired…..what do I think about the East County team? I was a Pirate, this is my home team, loyalty comes with the territory. And these guys are good. I think they’ve got a shot this year. Coach Wright seems to have a good program going here. The boosters and the communities are pulling together. I’d love to see them in the state playoffs this year… Well, November is a long time off, I don’t know where I’ll be…no, no I haven’t talked with anyone from Miami. No, man, it’s not something that’s going to happen, I wish them luck finding a new QB.”

Tracy kept his attention on the growing crowd in the stands and the potential for disaster. But by the time Levi managed to get away from the reporter, it seemed just families associated with the team were present. The coaches and his team came out in shorts, and autographs were signed. Somehow, Tracy found himself playing defense in a pickup game with his boys against the pros with Levi filling in as center for the new quarterback.

He used his left arm to hike the ball, and never once using the kid’s name, always calling him rook, he would step back, critique his throws, and offer suggestions. Which was what he should be doing in the first place. He had one year left on his contract. The management should have put him on the injured reserve and had him step in as mentor for this new kid instead of kicking him to the curb.

The more he watched Levi, the more he realized how valuable the man was as a coach. He stayed calm. All the time. Even when the kids were screaming obscenities at each other with him in the middle. He’d stayed calm. He worked with them, and at the end of each day, he told Tracy which one was improving and which ones were just there for the glory of being whatever they’d decided being quarterback was. To get girls. Or a full college ride to the NFL. With Levi being living proof of how often that happened. Just once, with all three schools, only Levi had made it into the NFL. They’d all have a better chance of hitting the lottery.

But when it came to shit talk, that’s when Levi stopped being calm. And that’s the Levi he remembered. “Gonna rip your team apart, Coach. Come on, Coach, you and your pussies ain’t got nothing. Gonna rip off your head and spit down your neck, Coach…some lame-ass defense. The girl’s swim team could do better.” On the last play, Tracy had had enough, he just wanted to get his hands on the man and shut him up…mostly just get his hands on him. He crouched in front of him, snarling at him. And Levi looked up and winked at him just before he hiked the ball.

“You better be able to back that shit up,” Tracy tore off the line, forgetting this was tag, tucked his shoulder into Levi’s gut, and laid him on the ground. Hard. Shocked by his own behavior, he fell onto his knees beside him, trying to catch his breath. Levi didn’t move, he didn’t even blink. He just lay on his back on the grass looking up at the sky. For a moment, Tracy thought maybe he’d hurt him, maybe dropped him on his head, or his shoulder. “Say something, Levi.”

Levi still didn’t even breathe it seemed, he just stared fixedly at nothing. Tracy in a moment of panic reached to take his pulse, and that’s when Levi smiled. A slow stretching of his lips that sent more panic shooting through Tracy’s system.

“You’re not supposed to tackle the center before the ball leaves his hand. You’re not supposed to tackle anyone in touch football. You are a lousy cheating coach with questionable football skills. And fuck, Fifty-Eight, again? A-fuckin-gain? Fucking sack me, and I’m not even the QB.” Tracy just rolled onto the ground beside him, deciding that looking up at the sky was the best idea while Levi ranted at him. “God, I feel so damned old. I’m thirty-two, man, and that kid is maybe twenty-one. Twenty if he did what I did and opted into the draft early. And so fucking out of shape it isn’t even funny….so what’s your excuse for lying on the ground in the middle of a game?”

“You’re an asshole, Brody. I thought I’d killed you. And fucker, I’m the same age as you. And all of the rest of them are teens or pro athletes. So shut up.” Tracy laughed when Dale Shannon jogged out onto the field and stood over them.

Which made Levi laugh. “Hey, Coach, sorry about the lowball hit on your boy. He’s not dead.”

Shannon looked down at them as if they’d lost their minds. “The local police are here, they have a warrant to arrest Levi.”

“What the fuck?” Levi scrambled onto his feet and stood staring at the four uniformed officers on the sideline. “What the hell for? Cussing on the football field? Then they better have more than four pairs of handcuffs.”

Tracy was on his feet by the time two of the cops made their way onto the field. “What’s this about, Jimmy?” he asked his cousin, the one who held the cuffs while his partner patted Levi down.

“I’m just doing my job, Tracy, don’t make this into something.” Jimmy clamped the cuffs on Levi and started reciting his rights.

“For fuck sake, tell the man why he’s being arrested? Since when do y’all just come in and cuff people for no reason?” Tracy didn’t like the look on Levi’s face, how pale he’d gone when his arms were pulled behind his back. He hated how quiet he’d gotten.

“Mr. Brody, you are under arrest for suspicion of rape and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Your car is being impounded as evidence, and your residence is being searched. Anything you say now can and will be used against you. Do you understand your rights?” Jimmy finished without looking at Tracy. Levi nodded, his lips a blood red slash in stark contrast to his now-white face.

“Call my brother on his cell; tell him to get his ass home now.” Levi shouted to Tracy as they walked him toward the sideline and out the gate to the waiting patrol car. All the while the local news camera was filming everything that happened, and in a few minutes, the entire country would know all about this shit.

“Rape, who the fuck would Levi rape?” Shannon pulled out his phone and started dialing. The sinking feeling in the pit of Tracy’s gut turned to sick when he connected with the home office. Fucker on the phone betraying Levi right in front of him. He walked off, leaving the questions behind until he was locked in his office in the field house. Levi’s phone and sunglasses sat on top of his desk. He picked up the phone and pulled up Jude Brody’s private number. And then he sat in his chair and tried to pull himself together.

Chapter Ten

By the time the ten o’clock news aired, downtown Summerville looked like a refugee camp for communication majors. Even one international news team had set up a satellite in front of the courthouse. But even with the circus-like media, there was very little information leaking from that courthouse. Tracy sat at the bar watching ESPN on mute. They were tearing Levi’s good name to shreds. Judging him without a jury to stop them. Just another thug turned loose on the world. That’s how they painted him. Trailer trash that never escaped the trailerhood. Assholes.

His so-called teammates had abandoned him the second the cops left. Tracy sat alone wishing…he had no idea what he wished. He drained his beer and held up the bottle for another just as the seat beside him became less empty.

“Gimme one of those. Fuck, better yet, make it whiskey.” Tracy looked into a pair of golden eyes, his heart did a flip-flop in his chest, and he almost grabbed the man to plant a kiss on him. Except the hair was wrong, and the glasses were wrong, and the clothes. Wrong Brody. This one the younger version with the stick up his ass. “You’re Coach Wright?”

“Yeah,” Tracy growled into the fresh beer, his attention back on the television.

“Levi told me you’d probably be here.”

“I don’t know how he’d know. But you found me, so what can I do for you?”

Jude loosened his tie and leaned on the bar, his hands shook, there were fatigue rings below his eyes, five o’clock shadow that really was more like a couple days growth darkened his jaw. He didn’t sip the whiskey, he tossed it back, and didn’t even flinch. But after that his hands grew steady.

“He wanted you to know he’s okay and not to worry.”

“That’s nice. I’m glad he’s okay. Did they let him go?” He was about two seconds from driving out to the trailer, but something told him that Jude being here wasn’t a good sign. “What the hell is going on? Who the hell was he supposed to have raped? And when?”