Line of Scrimmage: A Secret Baby Sports Romance (Pass To Win Book 2) (11 page)

“
W
anna grab
some lunch with us?” My assistant said in front of me.

I was buried in the papers and without even looking at her declined. “As much as I want to I can’t. This business proposal is a real pain in the ass.”

She chuckled and wished me good luck.

“Thanks,” I replied. “I’m gonna need it. Badly.” I stared at the proposal printed on more than a hundred pages and propped my head on the heels of my hands. “Oh my God, what am I going to do? Poor me!”

Procrastinating was definitely not an option. So I turned off my computer and put my cell on silent mode. It was only me and the proposal and a yellow highlighter. Editing and rewriting.

I thought that my head was going to explode. It was insanely warm and I felt like several handfuls of water or a nice shower would feel amazing. However, my wishes were one thing and my possibilities quite the opposite. I was locked in my office until I had crafted the perfect business deal. Perfect was put in bold, italic and underline by my boss. So, yeah. It had to be perfect in every meaning of the word.

It was nearly lunchtime and the office was almost empty. My stomach was grumbling; I hadn’t eaten a single thing since yesterday’s early dinner. And now it was past midday. Famished.

I chased away those thoughts and tried to desperately concentrate on the redraft. It turned out that writing it was hard, but editing it was harder. Redrafting it, however, which was something like rewriting it, was unbelievably tough. I had put all of my original thoughts and ideas into the first draft. That sank. So, I was supposed to come up with something new. What that new was exactly, no one could tell me. Everything was up to me. Thanks, guys. Thanks, boss.

For sure I was going crazy. All morning long, I started to talk to myself.

“Shit, this was left out… Fewer numbers, more facts. Got it… That paragraph is too short… Oh, I didn’t think of that the first time…” I was mumbling to myself as my pen ran across the paper, leaving notes and even lengthy paragraphs in the margins.

A knock on the door.

Startled, I jumped from my seat. I was staring at my boss who had a neutral expression on his face. What the heck did he want now? What was I? A puppet? Kayla, this—Kayla that?

“Sir?” I said, bewildered.

“James is on his way. He wants to give us a second chance.”

That was enough to brighten up my mood a bit. “Really? That’s fantastic news!” I exclaimed.

“Yes, it is. But it won’t be if you mess it up again.”

“I promise I won’t,” I interrupted him.

“Good. He said that he wanted to go through it with you,” my boss told me, staring directly in my eyes. I wasn’t blinking.

Swallowing hard. “Okay. Anything else?”

“Oh, yeah. Almost forgot. He mentioned something strange. He told me that you didn’t exactly want the proposal to go through. I thought that you’d be the one to explain it to me. I mean, what he meant by that.”

“I-I-I don’t know…” I began, but was cut off by his raised hand.

He came closer to me. His huge stomach touched the edge of the desk. “This,” he said and placed his sausage-like fingers on the papers on my desk. “This is the most important proposal in the history of the company. You understand?”

“Mhm.” I nodded.

“We’re making history here. You hold the destiny of the whole law firm. And if something doesn’t work…”

“It will. I assure you,” I said with my teeth clenched.

“If something goes wrong, if you don’t make sure this proposal passes, you can clean out your desk and be gone from here. There won’t be a place for you here. Mark my words,” he said, turned shut the door with a bang. Ouch.

After he was left, the only question in my mind was when had everyone started to go nuts? First, James, then my boss. What was wrong with people? My boss had always saved a smile for me and encouraged me when I was working. He pushed me to be better. And this… This was far from that. I thought to go to his office and tell him everything face to face, but decided not to. I was going to push this damn proposal through once and for all, come hell or high water.

I was putting the final touches on what was hopefully the last redraft when a knock on the door came and my boss’s head popped in. “He’s coming.”

Against my will, I stood up and curved my lips in a fake smile. With steady steps I went out to greet James Clarke. Ugh!

He came with a black Mercedes and left the key at the reception to be parked. He shook hands with my boss first. Then he approached me. He was dressed in an ugly green tuxedo that looked silly on him. Short and horrible that he was.

I extended my hand, but he hugged me instead. I thought that I was going to vomit.

“Hello, Kayla. How are you?” he said.

“Welcome,” I replied coldly. “The conference room is this way.”

“Lead the way,” he said. “you sexy girl,” he whispered and I shuddered. How long I was going to put up with this was beyond me. As a matter of fact, I could turn to him now and slap him in the face. But I controlled myself. Inhale. Exhale. I imagined the consequences and stopped. Instead I balled my hands into fists.

As I walked towards the conference room I could feel his eyes on my butt. There was something wrong with the son of a bitch. And I was going to send him either to an asylum or to a morgue. A third option didn’t exist.

We entered the spacious room and my boss left me alone with him. Just as Mr. Clarke insisted. Thanks again, boss. I would never forget this.

“Can I have an espresso?” he said to me, licking his lips. I hated it when he was doing that.

My fake smile was still on. I shouted after a secretary and closed the door. May God help me!

After we sat, I immediately began with the proposal. I would never engage in small talk with him. Point after point I explained and broke down every sentence of every segment. Looking into his eyes, I imagined my boss before me with his threats of firing me. It was the only way I could remain talking to this moron.

“It’s not acceptable. No. That’s too many neighborhoods and too many women. We don’t have the manpower,” he said with coldness in his voice.

“What does your party suggest?”

“Lower down the number of victims,” he replied firmly as if he waited all his life to say that.

“Eighty percent of all the victims of domestic violence? Does that work?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.

“Sixty-five,” he answered with a sneer.

“Seventy-five.” I clenched my jaw.

“Nope.”

“Seventy-three percent,” I said. “Final.”

“Done.” he smiled. I sighed in relief. Phew! One down, a million more issues to go!

We continued with the proposal which went on and on for around three hundred pages. I made sure that every teeny-tiny detail was included.

I looked outside. It was pitch black. I hadn’t even noticed when the lights went on in the conference room. I turned to look through the glass walls. We were alone. There was no one in the offices anymore. It was already past quitting time and everyone had left for home. Only James and I remained. I couldn’t help but shudder.

“And the manpower?” He said all of a sudden. His eyes still looked as if they were undressing me. How the hell had I had sex with this stupid ass?

“It-it’s right here. Half from your company and half from ours. That’s even, right?”

“Hmm, I don’t know about that…” He was stroking his chin and pushed his glasses from the bridge of the nose.

“It’s in the deal. I think that we settled that during the dinner.” I raised my voice. I was known for not having an endless supply of patience. My fuse was short, there was nothing I could do about it.

“Well, I’m not so certain about that now. I don’t like it,” he replied, grinning.

I closed the manila folder and pushed it across the table. “Okay. You know what I don’t like. You! I don’t like you. And yet I’m still here negotiating this stupid deal. I’ve had enough of all this.”

“Kayla?”

“Don’t Kayla me. I will push this proposal up your nose if I need to. You will accept this offer. Full stop. I spent the whole day, the whole week on this. We went through the whole of it and you still don’t agree with all of it. You always come up with excuses and reasons your firm won’t accept.” I stood up now, ready to leave. James wasn’t my boss or the president of the world. Just a scumbag and nothing more.

“Okay,” he said all serious and stood up. “Sleep with me.”

Oh my God, here we go again! “No! What the fuck?”

“Sleep with me and the proposal will go through. If you don’t, then you can say goodbye to your career and the business proposal you worked so hard on.” He waved at me sarcastically and laughed like a maniac.

I couldn’t say anything. I remained silent as he approached me. With each step, I could see the encouragement light up on his face. He was obviously thinking that I had made up my mind. We were inches apart. And then he placed his hands around me.

“Let go of me!” I screamed and wiggled out of his grasp. “Dickhead!”

And then I ran. I opened the door and ran as fast as I could, considering my heels. Then I thought what the hell and pulled them off. I was now racing down the floor barefoot. My heart was beating loudly. So loudly that I could hear it in my ears.

Eventually I came to the lobby where I saw the security guy. “Hey,” I yelled after him. “Get me the security tapes from the conference room. Now!”

“Right away, madam,” he replied and clicked on the keyboard.

I exhaled. Relief flowing through all of my body. Had I finally managed to escape that asshole once and for all? I still couldn’t believe it. I guessed that was a result of the adrenaline.

Satisfied with myself, I put on my heels again and went out of the offices. Suddenly I didn’t care about anything anymore. I felt nothing.

But there was one last thing I had to do. I fished my cell from my bag.

“Hey, boss. It’s Kayla,” I said, colder than I intended in the first place.

“Oh, hi, Kayla. How are you? Is everything okay? What happened with the proposal? He accepted?”

I sighed. Did I really want to do this? Did I have to? Yes and yes. It was just the right thing to do. What Sean would do. What the real me would do.

“I quit, boss.”

“What? Are you crazy?” he shouted over the phone.

“Perhaps I am crazy, yeah. But I also have evidence of James Clarke, the man you so kindly welcomed today, trying to rape me,” I said resolutely.

I pressed the red button, before my boss could continue to shower me with questions. He was already panicking and screaming on the phone.

It was done. Finally. I had no idea that all this had been weighing down on me so hard for so long. Now I was liberated. Reborn. Like a totally new me. I felt free as a bird. Spreading my arms wide in the air, I felt like I could fly.

I
woke
up with the idea of taking Mia to the zoo. I didn’t know why or how that idea had come to me. It just did. With each passing moment, the idea grew on me more and more. While I was taking a shower, I started to imagine us going from animal to animal, Mia feeding them as I explained to her what it was and some of the basic facts I knew about it. Spectacular!

I quickly dried myself. In no time at all, my cell was in my hand.

Before going to sleep I had put a selfie of me, Kayla and Mia as my background and I had completely forgotten about it. When I unlocked the phone I was again aware of how good they made me feel. I felt as if they were close to me right now.

Kayla was smiling the big toothy smile that she hated; however, I loved it and asked her to do it for me. She felt that her teeth weren’t even or shit like that. The situation was far from that. She had the most perfect teeth I had ever seen in my life. Mia was between us; her curly hair covering a bit of my face and her hands were open as if she wanted to pinch my cheeks through the phone’s screen. My heart warmed at the sight.

Sighing, I clicked the nanny’s number. Luckily, I had remembered to save her number with her name. Otherwise I wouldn’t have thought of it.

“Hello, Mr. Coleman,” a creaky feminine voice came from the other side.

“Danielle, I want to take Mia to the zoo. Just called in to inform you.” I drummed my fingers against the table in anticipation.

“Very nice to hear from you, sir. Miss Kayla didn’t say anything, but I guess she’ll say yes to it,” she replied. Her voice was unimaginably squeaky on the phone and it seemed to me that she was making the words last for ages. Totally unnecessary.

“She will, yeah. I’m sure. Okay, then. I’ll come shortly to pick the both of you up.”

“Works for me, sir. I’ll be waiting for you,” she breathed out. After each sentence she made a long pause, which drove me up the wall. Something was wrong with this woman. I had known that since she had decided to blow me a kiss at Kayla’s. I should tell Kayla.

I threw my cell on the table and went to get dressed. I smiled and didn’t let the actions of the nanny darken my mood. I was going to see Mia. We were going to the zoo! Yay! I was a ten-year-old again. And it felt unexpectedly good.

When I went outside, the sky was a bit overcast. I hoped that the wind would chase all the clouds away and finally the sun would come up. In no time, I found myself before Kayla’s apartment.

However, it started to rain. I quickly took the umbrella from the trunk of my car and headed for the building. I kept stepping in small puddles. Hopefully it would pass soon.

But it didn’t pass. With each minute that passed, it rained harder and harder. And just when I wanted to take Mia to the zoo.

I fixed my hair and rang the doorbell. Danielle opened the door and I entered.

Mia ran to me and gave me a big hug

“How’s my favorite girl in the world?” I asked her, kissing her cheeks.

“Great. I wanted to go to the zoo, but it is raining too hard,” she said a bit sadly.

I turned to look at the windows which were covered with droplets. The sky was completely gray. Ugh!

“Yeah. We have to make a rain check on the trip, okay?” I shifted my gaze from Mia to Danielle and back.

“That would be for the best, sir,” Danielle said and smiled.

I didn’t reply. Instead, Mia started to tell me a funny anecdote that had happened in school during her Science class when a boy had accidentally let out a frog and it had been hopping all around the classroom.

“Wow, that truly is something you don’t see every day,” I said.

“Yes. And it was hilarious, too. Now I’m going to my bedroom to watch my favorite cartoon,” she said and went off.

I was staring after her when Danielle said, “They grow up so fast, don’t they?”

I remained silent and went to the sofa and sat. “So, Danielle… I may call you that, right?”

“Certainly, sir. You can call me anything you want,” she replied.

I couldn’t help it but roll my eyes. “Tell me a little about yourself? Where do you work? What did you study? You understand, I have to know Mia’s nanny very well. After all, she spends a great deal of time with you every week.”

“Yes, I completely understand,” she said and sat next to me on the couch. “Well, there is nothing really important around me, you know. I live in this town and am quite fit for the job as Ms. Kayla hired me. But you, sir, when you came somehow the whole apartment became lighter.”

Silence. I didn’t know how to reply to that. As far as I was concerned she didn’t even deserve a reply at all. A strange thought came to my mind. If the old me was sitting here on the couch and this woman said that to my face… My old self would have started screwing her ten minutes ago. It was in these moments that I realized I had changed. And for the better. Mia and Kayla had changed me completely. I was sure that I wouldn’t buddies wouldn’t know what to say about this new me when I returned home.

“You know, sir… Can I ask you something?” Danielle said and hauled me back from my train of thoughts.

“Err… Yeah, sure. Bring it on.”

“Are you… seeing Kayla? I mean, Ms. Vaughn. Do you date?” Her hand was perched on a cushion as the tip of her forefinger came close to her lips.

I was taken aback. Truly. I didn’t even expect that this woman would go to such lengths. What was wrong with everyone around me?

“That… That… That shouldn’t concern you, Danielle. The relationship we have is entirely up to us. If you understand me,” I said a bit diplomatically.

“So you date?”

I sighed. “Anyway, what are Mia’s favorite hobbies? I’m still getting to know her. She likes reading, yes?” I desperately tried to change the subject, because it was getting unbelievably awkward. Of course I already knew all of Mia’s hobbies by heart now. I just wanted a change of topic.

“I like to do oral things,” she said. My face was blank, not showing any emotion. What the heck was this woman talking about? “I like to tell her stories, not read them. You know, with my lips and my mouth.” She chuckled as if she had just said the best joke in the entire world. Ha-ha. Very funny. Hilarious!

It was more like rolling on the floor dying instead of laughing. My lips curved into a polite smile that quickly vanished from my face. I thought that I had heard everything, but this… this was something I had never heard anyone say. Horrible.

“And seriously, sir. What types of women do you prefer?” she said, playing with a curl of her hair. “Blondes or brunettes? Experienced or newbies? Or you like every beautiful woman, huh?” She came closer to me and even snuggled up to me. What the fuck?

I stood up immediately. That seemed to satisfy her for her mouth turned into a wicked grin.

“I’m discussing business with you, Danielle. Nothing more. Now… How do you help Mia with her studies?” I asked, so that I could shift the conversation and her mind off me. I didn’t know if I was going to last more than five minutes with this… awful creature.

“Hmm…” Danielle stood up as well and started towards the kitchen. Then she turned abruptly and took a bottle of wine from the liquor cabinet. Kayla would never allow that. She kept those only for herself and me. What was this nanny doing anyway? How could she hire her? Danielle was a fiasco of a person.

“Danielle, behave and put that back in the cabinet.” I increased my voice and was now shouting at her. I didn’t care if Mia could hear us. This nonsense had to be stopped.

She clicked her tongue. “Why so serious, sir?” She opened the bottle and drank from it. Like it was hers.

“Give that to me!” I yelled and headed towards her. In that moment she sprayed the ruby liquid on me, laughing hysterically.

“We’re going to have some fun,” she said and bit her lips.

“What did you do?” I yelled and looked down at my shirt which was soaked with huge red patches. “Go away!”

“I don’t want to,” she replied and started to take her clothes off. My eyes popped up in surprise as I began to cover her. She was mental. She needed a doctor.

A thud. Bang!

Shit!

I turned to see Kayla. She was standing in the doorway with all she had been carrying splattered on the ground. Fruits and vegetables rolled out of the paper bags and a glass bottle broke when it hit the ground.

And Kayla started to scream. “OUT! The both of you! How dare you? You assholes! You shit!” Her tongue was working way faster than her mind. She thought that I was having an affair with Danielle. From outside, it must have looked that way.

“Babe, please… You don’t understand… I…”

“I don’t want to see you again! Out of my apartment and out of my life! I hate you!” Her ramblings didn’t seem to stop.

“It’s not what it looks like. Babe, believe me.” I approached her and she just chased me away, hitting me with her fists.

“I understand everything. The playboy Sean came out to play, huh? Your body couldn’t resist this whore! Get away from me!” Kayla yelled.

“No, babe. Please…”

She pushed me out of the apartment and banged the door in my face. Wow! My life had changed in only one minute. I hit the wall with my fist, anger welling up in me. I needed to kick and fight someone really bad.

Danielle had already slipped out of the apartment and was staring at me.

“What are you looking at, huh? You slut! How could you do that? You’re the kid’s nanny, for God’s sake.”

“I didn’t do anything,” she replied in a soft voice.

That was it. She was going to get all of my fury. “You did everything, you whore! Everything! You ruined everything.” I raised my hand to hit her, but stopped. She ran away, obviously not interested in me anymore. What an imbecile of a woman!

I knew she was trouble.

With all of the veins pronounced on my neck and red in the face, I got into my car. What had started out as an amazing day this morning, had turned into my biggest nightmare. There was no going back now.

I started the engine and furiously pressed the gas pedal, speeding down the road. Everything I had worked so hard to achieve crumbled before my own eyes. But that wasn’t the worst thing. What infuriated me was that it wasn’t even my fault. Damn it!

As I waited at the red light, I hit the wheel and put my head in my hands. This wasn’t happening!

After a few minutes my anger subsided and I called my agent. I had to go home for a game in a few weeks anyway. The news that I was returning early would surely be like winning the Super Bowl for him.

“Hey, Brent. I’m returning home early. Thought you should know,” I said coldly.

He was quick to reply, “Great. Everything’s settled here. After you land, we have a quick photo shoot and some meet and greet with lucky fans.”

That made me silent. Gears started turning in my head. I furrowed my eyebrows in suspicion. “Wait a bit. How did you know that I was coming?”

“W-W-Well… It… Err… It’s on the news.”

“What’s on the news? My coming home? Don’t be ridiculous!” There was an undertone of rage and wrath in my voice. I was done living for others.

“You’re on the news, yeah. A report of some encounter with another woman. A nanny, to be more precise.”

And in that moment everything fit into my brain. Like a Rubik’s cube, I understood everything. The dark games and schemes for money and power.

“Brent, how could you?” I screamed. I was unrecognizable even to me.

“Sean, you’re out of your mind. What did I do? I just booked you for…”

“That’s the problem.” I exhaled. I thought that I had wasted all my energy, but I was surprised to find out that I had still that ferocity in me. “You weren’t surprised at all when I told you I was coming home early. You even booked me for events. Before I called you. You hired that bitch Danielle, right? You paid her to act like that! Admit it!”

Silence.

“Speak, you moron!” I yelled.

“Fine. I did, yeah. I did some research and found that some Danielle Rowen was working as Mia’s nanny. The power of cash beats everything, Sean. I contacted her and paid her to make a scene in Kayla’s apartment. I staged it all. You happy now?”

“Why did you do that? I… I thought that you were my friend and colleague. We’ve been through so much…” I was still in disbelief. However
,
the fault here was mine. I trusted him. I trusted a man driven only by money. Nothing more. Where there was money, there was Brent. I shouldn’t have trusted him.

Brent chuckled. “Simple. Because you had to continue your lifestyle. You still have to be that playboy football player that the girls love. That’s the only way I’m doing business.”

“You backstabbed me because of money, you bastard!” I shouted, spit flying all around me.

“You’ll thank me. Once you realize the good I’ve done to you. The fame and glory I brought to you. You’re still unaware of that.”

I had had enough of that. “Fuck you, Brent! Fuck you and your money and your playboy! You’re fired! Forget me and forget that you’ve ever worked for me.”

I hung up and breathed in and out. In and out. In and out.

This man ruined my relationship with Kayla. He distanced me from Mia. What I did to him was too merciful. He would get what he deserved. Eventually.

I resumed driving, inhaling and exhaling to calm myself. My heart was about to burst. I could feel it.

In and out. In and out.