Blitzed (The Alpha Ballers #3) (5 page)

Lily laughed. “It doesn’t have to be serious to bring a date to an event like this, Hud.”

Lance poked Drake. “Hear that? You could have brought another date if you’d wanted.”

Charlotte shot daggers at Lance. “You’re the worst.”

“I am.” He leaned in and kissed Charlotte. Drake and I looked at each other while Lily watched them. “And you’re stuck with me.”

“A fact I regret every single waking hour.”

Lily broke away from the other lovebirds and focused on me. “You could have brought Ingrid with you.”

“I just didn’t want to give her the wrong idea. It would take something serious for me to bring someone to a party like this.”

Charlotte disengaged from her public groping with Lance long enough to join back in. “Think you’re ready for something like that?”

I stared at my drink, then tilted it back and polished it off in one go. “I’d like to think I am, Charlotte. I’d like to think I am.” I flashed her a smile. “Got anyone in mind for me?”

The truth was I had no idea whether I was ready for anything more serious. Yeah, I met a lot of girls, and not all of them knew I was a pro football player. Some of them just really liked to be with guys who were covered in muscles and tattoos and were more than a foot taller than them. Whatever. I didn’t try too hard to understand women.
 

But I did know that all of my relationships to this point had always been short and sweet. Nothing to tie me down, which was nice, but when I looked at Lance and Charlotte and Drake and Lily, suddenly being tied down didn’t really seem like such a chore after all.

Sure, both couples pretty much argued nonstop, especially when I was in the room, but at the same time, never even for a second did I think there was any animosity between them. Arguing like that was how they expressed their love for each other.

It might seem strange from the outside, but as long as they were all happy, what business was it of mine to judge? I saw the love in their eyes for each other and it was hard to think about wanting anything else.

Lily and Charlotte looked at each other but I couldn’t tell what telepathic thoughts they were exchanging. “I do, in fact.”

“Well, I’m all ears.” I picked up my empty glass. “I’m gonna get another drink. Please still have your clothes on when I get back.”

They all laughed and I headed back toward the bar we’d used at the beginning. The line there was way too long, so I glanced up at the other two and picked the one with what looked like the shortest line.

I made my way there, stopping what felt like every 5 feet to shake someone’s hand and get congratulated for the season till that point and wished good luck for the playoffs. I was as gracious as possible, but by the time I got to the bar I didn’t want to talk to anyone.

Whenever my gaze wandered as I waited in the much shorter line, I found my eyes settling on Mackenzie. Charlotte and Lily were both beautiful women, without question, and I was thrilled for my brothers that each of them had found the right girl for them.

Neither of them could hold a candle to Mackenzie, at least in my mind. When she was in my field of vision, my pulse quickened and my mouth got dry. I just couldn’t explain how someone I barely knew could do this to me.

And it scared the shit out of me.

But right now that wasn’t my problem. Mackenzie had a guy in her life, Steve, and I had more important things to think about, not the least of which was the looming playoffs. 4 games left to become part of history. 4 games left to become a champion, something they could never take away from you.

I’d wanted to be a pro football champion since the days I was playing catch in the backyard with my father. There were very few things more important to me than chasing that dream. And after a career of almost a decade, this was the closest I had ever gotten.

“Hey.” The voice calling out to me was just behind me, and I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and looked down. A blond guy stood in front of me, smiling, recognition in his eyes.

“Yes?”

“You’re Hudson Asher.”
 

“That’s right. And you are?”

“Steve Wood.” He held out his hand and I shook it. “I’m a big fan of your work.”

“I wish I could say the same, Steve, but I don’t know any of your work.”

Steve laughed, a sharp and almost cruel sound that grated on my ears. “I’m in finance.” He reached up and pointed behind him. “You know Mackenzie Mayfield, in your front office?”

I nodded, not saying anything, but I already knew where this was going.

“She’s my date tonight.”

“Ahh, OK. Nice to meet you, Steve.”

“The pleasure’s all mine, big fella.” The line moved and we both stepped forward. A couple people were behind us now, which made me feel like I was boxed in with this guy. “You guys looking good for Sunday?”

“Yeah, they’re a good team, but Coach Armstrong and the rest of the coaches have come up with a good game plan. We’ll be ready for them. It’ll be a fun game.” By now it had pretty much become a memorized answer.

“Yeah, I’ll bet.” Steve looked at me like a shark, like he was sizing me up to see if I was worthy of continuing to talk to him. That didn’t seem very appealing to me. What did Mackenzie see in this guy? Did he treat every other guy like this?

“What kind of finance stuff do you do, Steve?” We were stuck together in this line for at least a few minutes more, might as well make the most of it.

“Mergers and acquisitions, mostly.” He puffed himself up. “The big stuff, maybe you’ve heard of some of the deals I’ve worked on.”

I chuckled. “Not a lot of time to pay too much attention to the money section of the paper when you play pro football, Steve.”

“Right. Still, though, I’ve worked on some huge deals. You might have heard of them.” Steve seemed really eager for me to acknowledge how great he was, which struck me as completely nuts for someone I didn’t know.

Then it hit me - Steve knew me, knew who I was, and wanted to build himself up by impressing me. It wasn’t a good look on anyone, but especially didn’t work for Steve. “I’m sure I have, Steve.”

That got him to quiet down a little. Then we got to the front of the line and I made my order. Another bartender cleared up next to him and Steve slid in and made his order too.

We stood in silence while our drinks were mixed, Steve still looking at me, almost like he wanted to fight me. I knew if that happened I’d be alright, but I wasn’t looking to get my nice suit dirty tonight.

Once our drinks came, Steve nodded at me and I nodded back. I leaned against the bar and sipped my drink as I watched him walk back toward Mackenzie, who looked in our direction and waved.

I waved back, not sure if she meant me or Steve. Steve raised his hands, a drink in each one, and after a second, Mack smiled and nodded.

Fuck. What was a girl like that doing with a guy like him?

CHAPTER 03 - MACKENZIE

When I waved at Hudson at the bar, I didn’t even notice Steve right in our sight line. Steve raised the glasses at me, and I tried to recover as quickly as possible, but there was no way I could let Hud know that I’d meant to wave at him.

What was wrong with me? How come I let Hudson Asher bother me like this? He was a player on the team. What did it matter if I waved at him?

Duh, Mackenzie, because you’re totally nuts about him, and he makes your stomach flutter like your first crush back in middle school did. That’s why, nothing so complicated. Just the rush of waving at him, though, just seeing him dressed up like that took my breath away.

I didn’t know how to deal with all these feelings for Hud that suddenly had come out of the woodworks. More importantly, I didn’t know why they were choosing to show themselves now. It wasn’t like we’d just been introduced to each other; we’d known each other for years. Of course, we were never close, never even social with one another. Before I had come to work for the Patriots I had only met him at functions like this one, and then we’d barely talked. I just couldn’t find the words around him, I just watched him towering above me and couldn’t speak.

There was a nagging voice in the back of my head that said maybe I had finally started to confront my just-under-the-surface feelings for Hudson Asher due to the strange romantic goings-on of our team over the last few months. Two of our players had managed to find romance this season, and both had culminated in very public displays of affection near the end of football games.

I saw Lance Parker and Drake Rollins and their respective girlfriends around the facility - Lance Parker and I had spoken more than once, as a front office person would normally do with a team’s starting quarterback. I saw them together, and I saw how happy they were, and I couldn’t lie to myself - it made me yearn to find something like that, just a little bit.

I couldn’t tell yet what I thought about that being a possibility for this sudden emergence of interest in Hudson Asher. What kind of woman did that make me, succumbing to ‘love is in the air’ like that?

By the time I could breath normally again Steve had arrived with the drinks, and I gratefully accepted mine and took a long sip, eager to get something into my parched throat. Steve smiled and took a drink, and we stood there not speaking to each other for a few moments. I wasn’t exactly the kind of person who searches for silence, and this was starting to get a little awkward, so I decided to make some small talk.

Anything not to focus on the hulk in the perfectly tailored suit standing at the bar, whose gaze had a way of wandering in my direction just as mine happened to wander toward him every few minutes. If I’d been watching us in a movie I’d have been yelling at the screen already, trying to get the hero and heroine to move faster.

“Great turnout tonight,” I opened with, trying to get something going.

Steve looked around. “Yeah, not too bad. Listen, I ran into one of your players just now.”

“Oh yeah? That’s not surprising.” I looked around the room quickly. “I think all 53 of them are here tonight, and all the coaches too.” It was actually an impressive turnout. Aside from practice and games, it wasn’t easy to get these guys to do anything all at the same time. “Which one?”

“The Mountain himself, Hudson Asher.”

 
My ears pricked up, and suddenly I was really paying attention. “Oh yeah?” I asked, taking another sip of my drink. “How was that?”

“Dude’s even bigger in person.”

“Yeah,” I smiled, “Hud really is something else when you get close to him. What did you guys talk about?”

“Oh, nothing too big, just business stuff.”

“Yeah?” Like all professional football players who had stuck around this long, Hud definitely had some money, so it made sense that he and Steve would have something to talk about besides football.

Hud had never struck me as a guy who spent too much time focused on the Wall Street Journal, though. I figured him for more of a hunting and fishing kind of guy. All I really knew about his personal life outside of the facility was that he rode a giant motorcycle, and even that part was sexy as hell.

I looked back at Steve. He would never be caught dead on a motorcycle, I could already tell.

Still, though, I might as well make the most of our evening. I had had fun on our earlier dates - Steve might be a little uptight in a room full of athletes, but so far he had been a nice guy, very polite. Each of our dates had ended with a polite and chaste kiss, and after each one I had looked forward to seeing him again.

“Yeah, he’s looking for places to park some of that money you keep paying him.”

I laughed. “You sound as if you think his contract isn’t worth it?”

Steve looked at me. “Asher’s? Where would you get that idea? He’s an old linebacker past his prime. You could draft a replacement in the 5
^th
round and pay him peanuts for a few years, probably get better play out of him too.”

I crossed my arms under my breasts, not really wanting to get into work stuff at a charity event, but unable to resist Steve goading me into it like this. “Have you actually looked up Hudson’s contract? It’s a lot more team friendly than you think.”

“I haven’t. All I’m saying is with the new rookie pay scale, you could save yourself serious money by kicking him to the curb and getting a younger guy in.”

I narrowed my eyes. “These aren’t just entries on a spreadsheet, Steve. These are real people we’re talking about. They have lives and families and it’s more than just his production on the field.” I stared directly at Steve. “Which, by the way, has been great these last few years, even above expectations.”

Steve took a sip of his drink, and I saw the spark in his eyes. He liked to argue, and I liked that about him. I wasn’t exactly the most confrontational person, far from it, but I didn’t have a habit of backing down from a verbal spar if the other person wanted to go. “Oh really? It’s more than just what’s on the field?” He squared up his posture, standing at full height and just barely looking down at me.
 

I didn’t know why, but I looked down really quick to check which heels I’d worn tonight.
 

“What else is there? Football is just a set of rules and statistics. It’s a game you can play with numbers.”

“You can’t possibly believe that.”

“I really do, though. You have contracts that cost a certain amount of money and give you a chance at a certain amount of production. You assemble those contracts and positions and you see what happens, then make adjustments.”

“Football players aren’t robots, Steve.”

“Yeah, but this is business, Mackenzie. Sure, you can be nice to them and all, but don’t forget, they work for you. You’re not their friend. When it’s time to let go of someone, trade them and see what you can get back, or cut them and move on.”

“It’s just not that easy, though.”

Steve dropped his voice down low. “It may not be right now, but trust me, I’ve been in business a while. Not sports, of course, but the parallels are closer than you think. It’s better to get rid of a player a season too early rather than a season too late.”

I didn’t say anything, not sure how to process that. On the one hand, Steve made a good point - having someone on the roster who was just taking up space was bad for the whole team. But at the same time, personalities mattered, people mattered.