Hard & Deep: A Football Romance

“Why did you do it?” he asked. “Why would you do something like this? It doesn't make any sense to me.”

“I was sick and tired of seeing you with that whore physical trainer,” she said angrily. “I should have known when I'd hired her that you'd get starry eyed over the bitch. And look, I was right. Here you are, bowing down to her like some kind of loser. You're a loser, Ollie. That's all you are. You might be able to fool the general public, but you can't fool me. Of all the girls you could get, you choose some hillbilly from a podunk town in Iowa? Good choice, Oliver. You could have had me, but now you've gone and screwed it up.”

“First off, Elsie is neither a whore nor a bitch,” he said. He was lucky he could see straight enough to drive. Rage rippled through him in waves. “Don't you dare say anything like that ever again. And second off, you're right. I could have had you. But I didn't want you, Nikki. You're manipulative and cruel and I'm beginning to wonder if there's a soul underneath that skin of yours. It doesn't matter now, though. You're gone, Nikki. Forever.”

He hung up the phone without waiting for her response and then tossed it over to the passenger seat. Immediately, Nikki tried calling back. Over and over again, his phone rang. She must have tried at least ten times before he reached over and muted the ringer. He pressed hard on the gas, urgently driving to Elsie's hotel.

“I hope she's still there and that she hasn't seen that picture yet,” he whispered to himself. “Please, please, please...”

Chapter 24

Elsie

Elsie had been waiting impatiently all morning. She was excited to see Oliver later that afternoon, once he was through with his meeting with the sponsors. In an effort to kill some time, she'd taken a walk around town, casually seeing the sights. She'd enjoyed a coffee and some breakfast at a little diner near the hotel, then strolled through the neighborhoods, soaking up the warm morning sunshine.

When she got back to her room at around eleven, she decided to get ready for her lunch date. Since it was just lunch and not a fancy dinner, she dressed in dark jeans and a light blue blouse. It wasn't too dressy, but also not too casual. Plus, she thought the blouse looked super sexy on her and she knew that Ollie would love the way her butt looked in the tight jeans.

I've got an hour, she thought, crawling onto the bed and picking up her cell phone from the nightstand. What do I do for an hour?

So she did what anybody would do if they had a little bit of time to kill and they were holding their phone in their hands. She went straight to the Internet to check her news feed on her social media accounts. It would be the same old thing, she knew, but it at least would entertain her for the time being. She read the latest updates from her friends, laughed at a few cat videos, and then sat up straight in the bed when she saw a trending post about The Bandit's star quarterback.

Elsie didn't even bother reading any more of the headline before clicking on the link. It sent her to a webpage where she was greeted with a picture. Not just any picture, though, but one of Oliver and Nikki. Her heart turned to lead and sunk into her stomach. Her throat went dry and she tried to swallow, but couldn't.

“What is this?” she whispered.

As if the picture itself wasn't enough, she then caught a glimpse of the comment that Nikki had written underneath.

Why is she calling Oliver her boyfriend? She thought. This has to be an old photo.

Elsie then scrolled back to the top of page to check the date. It had been posted just twelve hours before. It was as fresh as an open wound. Her chest tightened and she could suddenly hear her heart pumping blood past her eardrums. Pure, raw emotion filled her. It was jealousy, combined with anger and topped off with hurt, confusion and betrayal.

“This can't be,” she said, out loud.

Elsie then backed out of the website and began searching the Internet for any information she could find on Oliver. She was welcomed by exactly what she feared; more of the same. She found the original photo and found that Oliver had liked it and even commented on it.

“You're too good to me, Babe!” Each word was a knife to her heart. It was suddenly impossible to breathe.

The photo was everywhere and so was the news that Nikki and Oliver Lance were a couple. It was obvious she'd been duped and lied to. She'd never felt so sick or used in her life.

It didn't take but a few minutes before the damn of dignity that was holding back her emotions finally broke. Tears burst out of her eyes and flowed down her cheeks, ruining the makeup that she'd spent so much time making perfect for Oliver.

They're all the same, she thought. All guys. Even the ones who you think are something different.

Heartbroken, the only thing Elsie wanted to do was go home. The thought of facing Oliver made her sick to her stomach. She didn't want to see him again. She didn't want to hear his name or see his face. The only thing she really wanted was to be able to move on with her life and do everything she could not to even think about him.

“I shouldn't have come out here,” she said, as she hopped onto her computer. “I should have known better. I'm just a notch in Oliver's bedpost, just like I feared.”

Once her laptop had started up, so went to the website to ord

er a plane ticket back home. The flights were booked, though, at least for the next two days. So she bought the soonest ticket available, which had her leaving the day after next at five in the morning.

That'll have to do, she thought.

She wiped the tears from her cheek, but it didn't do any good. It would have been more effective to sweep the ocean back with a broom. They just kept coming and the agony inside of her only got worse with each passing minute. The more she thought about it, the more intense her emotions became.

How could he do this to me? She thought, as she paced her room. Was he dating Nikki the whole time? I opened myself up and all he did was take advantage of me.

Even though it was two days until her flight out of San Francisco, she went ahead and began packing her bags anyway. She wanted to be as ready as possible when the time finally came to leave. Her urge to be home was powerful, even more so than when she had left for college. She couldn't wait to see her parents and Uncle Frank. Suddenly, going back to work at her clinic seemed more like a vacation. Or at the very least, it was something familiar and didn't hurt.