I wanted to limit my contact with my female fans whether I was on or off the field. I never wanted to give them or the press anything to talk about, write about, or post about.
“Jack. ” She closed her eyes for a moment before meeting my stare. “You can’t ignore your fans. It’s mean and they’ll end up hating you. ”
I leaned back against the hard chair and shrugged. “If I’m mean to them, they’ll leave me alone. And if they leave me alone, they won’t have anything to say. And if they don’t have anything to say, then you’ll never have anything to worry about. ”
She shook her head. “I don’t want people to hate you. ”
“So what are you saying? You’re OK with me talking to them?”
“Of course I’m OK with you talking to them. I just don’t want you to sleep with them. ” A slight laugh escaped her lips. “Or make out with them or do anything with them. ”
I reached over, taking her hand in mine. “I won’t ever make that mistake again. I’ll prove it to you every day for the rest of our lives. I wanted to ignore them for you, so you could see I’m trustworthy and not be worried. ”
“I don’t want you to go to those extremes for me. It’s not right. And the trust part will just come in time. OK?”
“OK. ” I agreed, bringing her hand to my lips.
When we were done eating, I settled our bill with the waitress and waited for her to bring me back the change. She approached our table, a weird look on her face.
“Is everything alright?” I asked.
“Here’s your change,” she said, handing me the soft leather bill holder. “And I’m really sorry, but there’s a crowd outside waiting for you to leave. ”
I glanced at Cassie as the surprise flashed in her eyes.
“We wouldn’t let them come in, obviously. But they know you’re here. We’re really sorry. ” The waitress stared at her feet.
“It’s fine. It’s not your fault,” I tried to reassure her before looking back at Cass. “You OK?”
Cassie nodded and looked at our waitress. “How’d they know we were here?”
“Someone posted it on that Spotted website. ”
I frowned. “I don’t know what that is. ”
“It’s this website where people can put where they spotted a celebrity or an athlete. Someone posted that you two were eating lunch here. ”
I leaned my head back slowly. “Gotcha. Thanks. ” I pushed my chair back before stretching. Running my fingers through my hair, I grabbed my cap and placed it firmly on my head.
“You ready?” I asked Cass, reaching my hand out for her to grab. She stood slowly, peering outside.
She exhaled. “OK, there’s not that many people outside. There’s like ten. ”
“They’re going to want me to sign stuff. Do you mind or do you want me to blow them off?” I’d do whatever the hell she wanted me to.
“Of course you should sign stuff. ” She smiled.
I gripped her hand, leading her toward the door. I pushed it open, holding it for her to walk through before following behind. The sound of my name filled the air around us as people crowded to get close, shoving their camera phones toward us. Instinctively, I wanted to protect Cassie from the rushing bodies, but I ended up only tightening my grip on her.
“Ow, Jack. ” She winced, pulling her hand from mine and shaking it.
“Shit. Sorry, Kitten. ”
“It’s OK. ” She smiled.
“Jack, how about a picture?” A woman shouted above everyone else. I’d have to have been blind to not notice her good looks.
“Sure,” I said, remembering Cassie’s words.