“Ms. Lasky is here as my guest,” I said looking back at the coach whose face was growing redder by the minute. “And as my guest, I’d ask you to extend her every courtesy that you’d extend any other guest of the Storm.”
“But Dax, we can’t—” he sputtered.
“Enough!” I roared. “I’m the owner of this team and Ms. Lasky is my guest. She is welcome on the field and at practice for as long as she likes. Got it?”
“Son of a,” Nick muttered as he kicked the turf and slammed his clipboard down on the bench. “This is ridiculous, Connor!”
“Not up for debate,” I said sternly. Nick shot me a look that told me everything he was thinking. I sympathized with his reasoning, but I also knew that Payton wasn’t going to go running back to the Bears with our playbook. She wasn’t a spy.
Nick walked up and down the sidelines for a few minutes and calmed down before he walked back out on the field and resumed training camp drills. I looked over at Payton, who had pulled her hat down low and was watching the opposite end of the field where our kicker was warming up for field goal practice.
“You okay?” I asked, resting a hand on her arm in an attempt to comfort her.
“Yeah, fine,” she nodded without looking at me.
Payton watched intently as the team moved through their practice drills, but she didn’t say a word to me for the rest of the afternoon.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Payton
That afternoon, it was scorching hot on the field and I wanted nothing more than to call it quits and go back to the suite and enjoy a cool, refreshing drink and the comfort of air conditioning, but I knew if I left before the practice was over, Nick Wilcox would think he’d won. There was no way I was going to let that man get the best of me, so I suffered in silence as I counted down the minutes until practice ended and I could escape.
Dax spent the afternoon wandering up and down the sidelines, watching the players run through their drills, and occasionally asking questions about the benefits of each drill. As I watched him out of the corner of my eye, I realized he reminded me a lot of my father. Tall, dark, and handsome with an underlying fierceness that they only showed when absolutely necessary. I smiled as I recalled the afternoons my father spent striding up and down the sidelines alongside m
y grandfather, listening to the old man tell him how things ought to be. Daddy had loved and respected my grandfather deeply, but he’d never let Granddaddy take advantage of him. It was a fine line, and he walked it well.
Having come from the Bears family, I knew that Nick’s outburst was not only understandable, but also expected. If someone like me had suddenly shown up on the sidelines of the Bears training camp, Granddaddy would have been equally suspicious. I didn’t take it personally, but something told me that Nick Wilcox wasn’t just suspicious of me. I didn’t have any evidence of anything beyond what had happened, so I tucked the memory away in the back of my mind for future reference.
As soon as practice was over, I headed straight for the Navigator idling in the drive. I could feel the effects of the sun’s rays on my skin and I was eager to get back to the hotel and take a dip in the enormous rooftop pool. As we waited for Dax to appear, I thought about how I was going to explain all of this to my mother. I knew she’d be furious with me, but I also know that I’d take a bit of pleasure in telling her. She’d put me in an untenable position and I’d done what I’d needed to do. She was going to have to deal with it.
“Hey, aren’t we waiting for Dax?” I leaned forward and asked Geo as the SUV pulled away from the training facility.
“I’ll come back for him, ma’am,” the man responded without looking at me.
“I see,” I said, leaning back against the cool leather seat and wondering what business Dax had to take care of before he returned to the hotel. I didn’t like the fact that we didn’t talk much about football or the team, but I knew that given the situation, it was unlikely that Dax would suddenly trust me with insider information about the team.
I sighed and looked out the window as the vehicle moved through the small city. Champagne-Urbana was a beautiful, little college town, and without the students it felt almost pastoral. I wondered where we’d go for dinner and whether there was a bookstore nearby. I made a mental note to do a search for one after my swim.
It wasn’t long before we were pulling into the hotel drive, and by the time I got up to the room, I wondered if maybe a nap might be a better choice than a swim. Deciding my first choice was the best option, I slipped out of my clothes, pulled my bikini out of my suitcase, and put it on. I had just grabbed a towel from the luxuriously large bathroom when my phone rang. The ringtone let me know it was my mother. Now was as good a time as any.
“Hello, Mother,” I said warily.
“Goddamn it, Payton Grace!” my mother exploded into the speaker. “What in the hell do you think you are doing?”
“What are you talking about, Mother?” I asked, trying to keep my voice calm and give nothing away.
“Do not play games with me, young lady!” she yelled. “I’ve seen the papers and the pictures. What the hell do you think you are doing?”
“Oh, you mean Dax?” I asked innocently.
“You know goddamn good and well what I mean,” she growled. “How do you think this looks for me? For the Bears?”
“Well, since you were the one who issued the ultimatum…” I said trailing off.
“Don’t get smart with me, young lady,” she spat. “You cannot do this. Your grandfather is rolling over in his grave as you humiliate this family!”
“Don’t be so dramatic, Mother,” I said in bored tone. “After all, you’re the one who demanded that I find a man and get married, or have you forgotten that?”