Billionaire's Second Chance

At halftime, I sat down next to Payton and took her hand. She understood that we needed to perform for the audience in the skybox, so she leaned over and kissed me as the rest of the guests watched. I smiled and pushed a piece of hair away from her face as I asked her if she wanted another beer, but to an observer it would look like we were whispering sweet nothings to one another. I chafed under the need to do these things, but I knew it was necessary.

At the start of the third quarter, the Storm scored another touchdown and took the lead. Gram and Payton were cheering loudly and celebrating with the other skybox guests as I stood in the back and thought about whether to shut down beer sales at the end of the quarter. I wasn’t certain that it would make a difference in what would happen after the game, so I decided to let it go and see what would come of it. I hoped there were enough security guards monitoring the parking lots and stadium to handle anything that got out of hand. At the end of the quarter, the Lions scored a touchdown and tied the game.

By the middle of the fourth quarter, the Storm managed to make a field goal from the 30-yard line and that sent the crowd in to a frenzy as they cheered their team on. The Lions seemed deflated as their offense took the field after the kick, and I crossed my fingers hoping that the Storm could hold on to their lead. As the minutes ticked off the clock, the Lions moved closer to the goal line, and I held my breath. If they went for the field goal, they’d tie it up again, but if they pushed harder, they’d score and win.

As I stood stock still watching the Lions offense line up on the 48-yard line, I realized I was crossing my fingers and hoping for a win. As they drove down the field, the Storm defense covered every receiver as closely as possible and when the Lions quarterback threw the ball, it hung in the air for a long time before descending downward in a spiral right into the hands of the waiting…defensive lineman!

“Holy shit!” I shouted.

The crowd went wild as Theo Cook tore up the field as fast as his bulk would allow

and made it to the 35-yard line before he was taken down by the Lions offense. When Cook jumped up from under the pile of players, he was surrounded by his teammates high-fiving him and slapping his back. There was pandemonium in the stadium as the crowd cheered and the Storm set up for what would be one of the final plays. I could see Riggs pumping the team up in the circle as he called the play, they lined up and Riggs began calling out play numbers as the offense tried to hold themselves to the line. Riggs dropped back, searching the field for a receiver. He scrambled to the left as the Lions defense broke through the line and chased him down, and in an instant, he launched the ball and as it spiraled through the air, Jamal Williams popped up out of nowhere and grabbed it. Williams turned and ran for the goal, but was flattened by the Lions defense at the 5-yard line.

I smiled as I realized the clock was down to less than 15 seconds and that this would be the last play of the game. The Storm would win its first league game on its home field in its new stadium, and as Riggs called the play, the clock ticked down and the fans began celebrating. Riggs handed the ball off and the running back made his best attempt to plow through the center, but was held at the second-yard line and the game ended with the Storm beating the Lions 17-14.

Gram and Payton were cheering and hugging as they watched the team leave the field. I smiled and shook the hands of all the guests, anxious to get them out and on their way so I could go home and get away from the noise. Payton turned and smiled at me, and I waved as she and Gram excitedly discussed the most important plays and then evaluated how they could have been better.

I rubbed my forehead as I tried to stave off what I knew would be a whopper of a headache as I thanked the last of the guests, and shut the door behind them.

“Ready to go home?” I asked Payton before turning to Gram. “Did you have fun?”

“Did I ever! You’ve done a wonderful job, David,” she smiled as she patted my cheek. “I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks, Gram,” I said, hugging her and kissing her cheek. “Get ready for the Packers in two weeks!”

“We’re gonna kill ‘em,” Gram growled as she headed out the door and down to the waiting hired car. “Come for dinner this week, you two.”

“We’ll see,” I said, cutting Payton off before she could promise that we would.

In the Navigator, Payton ran through the details of the game again as I sat silently resting my head against the back seat. She threw out statistics and plays that I’d never heard of, nor did I care about, but I nodded my head and acted like I knew what she was talking about.

“What’s wrong? You don’t seem to excited about all of this,” she asked as she squeezed my hand.

“No, I’m excited. Go team,” I said unconvincingly. “Just a lot on my mind.”

“Well, if you don’t want to listen to me talk about your team, then just say so,” she huffed.

I didn’t know how to respond to that without starting an argument, so we spent the rest of the ride home in silence.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Payton

It took a better part of the week to thaw the icy silence between Dax and I, and by Thursday we were once again out on the town, sharing a meal. I’d picked Nando’s Peri Peri Chicken because I knew we needed to enjoy a meal without the hassle of being followed by the paparazzi, and since it was close to the penthouse, we could sneak out the back and walk down the alley to the restaurant.

As we walked, I reached out to take Dax’s hand only to have him quickly stick his hand in his pocket as he searched for his phone. I tried to brush it off, but the rebuff stung. Dax seemed to understand what he’d done and tried to make it up by starting a conversation.

“You ready to head down to Nashville?” he asked after we’d placed our orders and found a booth near the back of the place.

“I’m looking forward to it. The Titans are a formidable team,” I said before voicing my concern. “How’s Johnny doing?”

“Who?”

“Riggs, the quarterback?” I said, noticing the way that Dax was scanning the room as if looking for someone.

“Oh, right,” he nodded, turning his attention back to me. “Fine, I guess. If there was a problem, I’d have heard about it from Nick by now.”

“Why do you dislike the Storm?” I blurted, knowing full well that I was opening a Pandora’s box.