“Okay, as soon as you left I started looking up some places and I found these cute cottages on Canyon Lake. We could rent one and no one would see us and we could spend time together .”
I huffed. “This is a fucking first .”
“Excuse me ?”
“Most women want to be photographed and seen with me and you’re the exact opposite .”
“Sam, I tried to explain to you how important it is that I do this on my own. I don’t want a handout. If you can’t respect that I don’t want your money, then maybe this isn’t even worth trying .”
I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to fight with her. I didn’t want to push her away .
“I’m sorry, Natalia. I’m tired and it was a long meeting. I didn’t mean it like that. I’m sorry .”
There was silence on the other end .
“Natalia?”
“Yeah. I was thinking.” Her voice was soft. “I’ll let you go and we can talk after our games tomorrow. Just think about it, Sam. I want to see you again, but if you can’t handle me staying on the dance team, then you need to let me know. I made a commitment to the Goddesses and I’m going to keep it .”
I saw Wes walking toward me. This was the last thing I wanted him to hear .
“Right. Right. Yeah, let’s talk tomorrow.” I hung up to face the quarterback .
“You ran out of there like your ass was on fire.” He eyed me .
“Something back home,” I lied. “What’s up ?”
“I wanted to talk to you about a couple of the plays we have lined up for tomorrow. Howell, as usual, is a dumbass .”
I scratched the back of my head. I wasn’t going to get in the middle of Coach and Wes’s on-going argument about who should decide the game plays. Some teams were dependent on the quarterback and some relied on a team of coordinators to decide. Coach Howell liked to be the one in charge and so did Wes .
“What are you thinking?” I asked .
“What I think is, we use the same shit we did against the Warriors. Start off with an even rotation and then I go to you straight every time .”
My face lit up. “I like how you think.” There was nothing Coach could do if I ran the route that was called to me on the field. At that point I was only doing my job .
“Good. Then expect to make a lot of catches and let’s run that score up .”
I laughed. “Fuck, yeah. Let’s do it all afternoon .”
My argument with Natalia didn’t seem as important. I remembered I was here to win football games and collect a two-million dollar bonus in a few months .
I walked down the hall for the elevator when I heard Cavan calling my name .
“Hey, you didn’t call me about the playbook.” He stopped me at the elevator .
“Right. It’s in my car if you want it .”
“I checked around and no one else has one. I’ll take yours if you’re sure .”
“Yeah. It’s yours. Come on .”
We rode the elevator to the garage level. Cavan followed behind me. He was having a pretty good season. I was impressed another rookie could join the team and do what he had with the pressure weighing down on us to repeat our championship victory .
I pulled the binder out of the trunk and handed it to him .
“Thanks, man. I appreciate it .”