Chapter One-2
1674 Words
When the final whistle was blown, the Kings had won, twenty-eight to twenty-four. Sweaty and smiling, Buddy headed for the locker room, anxious to dip his sore leg muscles in the icy bath waiting there.
“Yeah, you know Emerald. Right,” Tony said, wiping his face with a towel as he walked off the field.
“s**t! Emerald. I almost forgot.” Buddy doubled back to where she was waiting in the stands.
Her jaw set, her eyes hooded, she rested her fists on her hips.
“I’m sorry. So sorry. I got into the game. Can you meet me just under that arch there?”
She nodded.
“I stink. Please wait fifteen minutes until I shower and dress.”
“I can smell you from here,” Stash put in, pinching his nose.
“Fifteen minutes. One minute more, and I’m gone,” she said.
Buddy nodded and took off, running full speed toward the locker room. He showered in record time. After throwing on clothes, he was combing his wet hair with his fingers as he rejoined Emmy and Stash.
She looked good, dressed in a form-hugging dress and spiked heels. She’s lost weight, but not too much. His gaze wandered over her, stopping on her chest and hips to drink in her delicious curves.
“There’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time,” she said, approaching Buddy.
He grinned. Kiss me, baby. Go ahead. He closed his eyes.
The sound preceded the sting of a sharp slap, stunning him. He fell back a step or two, grabbed his cheek, and stared at her. “What the f**k was that for?”
Her eyes became sharp points of emerald green ice. “For leaving me. Dumping me. The little nobody, wannabe singer wasn’t good enough for the pro football star, eh? Well, who’s not good enough now?” She crossed her arms over her chest.
“What are you talking about?” Buddy stepped closer, his knees bent, ready to duck.
“For all the calls you didn’t make. For all the nights I cried myself to sleep because you wouldn’t talk to me.”
“I must have left a hundred messages on your phone. You never called back. Who wouldn’t talk to who?”
“Stash told me you’d say that.”
“It’s not what you think.” Buddy shot a hostile glance at her manager.
“Oh? Then, what is it?”
“I can explain.”
“Sure, sure. And the way you’re whoring around. I see the gossip columns. You’re sleeping with anything in a “D” cup that breathes. You did me a favor.” She turned to walk away.
Buddy grabbed her arm. “It’s not like that. I’d leave ’em all behind in a second for another chance with you.”
“Right. Like I believe that.” But a flush stole into her cheeks. “Now that I’m successful, you want to get back together? That’s the lowest of the low. Never happen.”
Buddy held up his hand, fingers spread. “Five. Five minutes is all I ask.”
Stash took her arm. “Come on, Emerald. You don’t have to take his shit.”
“Oh, I get it. I get it now,” Buddy said, nodding, as he rubbed his cheek. “You traded me in for him. He could do something for your career, and I was just a worthless piece of crap.”
“f**k off, Buddy. You’re history.” Stash pushed by the wide receiver.
Buddy grabbed Stash’s collar, and drew back his fist, but Griff called out from the shadows, “Don’t, Buddy. It’s not worth it.” The quarterback sprinted toward his friend and put his hand on Buddy’s shoulder.
Buddy spat on the ground. “You’re right, Griff. Trash like him isn’t worth it. Drop dead, Stash.”
They stood in heated silence. Emmy and Buddy stared at each other.
“I guess I misjudged you. The girl I knew always wanted the truth. The absolute truth, no matter how painful.”
“I have the absolute truth. You didn’t want to have anything to do with me. That’s the truth.”
“Not exactly.”
Emmy looked at her watch. “Two minutes.”
“Don’t even need that much. Here’s the deal. I didn’t get picked in the draft. Didn’t have a fat football contract.”
“What?” Her eyes widened. “But you’re here?”
“That’s right. I had to become a free agent. Undrafted is what they call it.”
“I didn’t know.” She put her hand on his arm.
“Didn’t you? I figured since I wasn’t worth anything anymore, you weren’t interested. You were too big for me. A star. Not interested in a lowly, undrafted wide receiver who had to work his way up. I called you a hundred times and left messages.”
“That’s a lie. I checked my messages a thousand times a day.”
Buddy turned a cold stare to Stash. “Then someone erased them.”
Emmy also faced her manager. “Tell me you didn’t.”
“I don’t know what he’s talking about.” Stash said, shifting his weight. “We gotta go, Emerald. We’ve got a show tonight.” He pulled on her hand.
She snatched it away. Her angry face reddened. Huge tears leaked from her eyes to her cheeks. “Tell me you didn’t do that,” she whispered.
“Come on, come on. He’d just slow you down, anyway. Hey, who built your career? Him or me?” Stash straightened his shoulders.
Emmy covered her eyes with her hands. Her shoulders trembled. Buddy stepped up and closed his arms around her, drawing her into his chest. He kissed her hair.
Stash grabbed her elbow, yanking her away and shoving Buddy aside. The wide received fisted Stash’s lapels and pulled him up nose-to-nose. With a snarl that was almost inhuman, Buddy responded. “Keep your hands off her. If you ever grab her like that again, I’ll kill you!”
“Buddy,” Griff said, trying to separate the men.
Emmy wiped her cheeks. “We really do have a show. I have to leave.”
Buddy dropped his hands. “When can I see you again?”
“I don’t know. We’re going on tour for nine months.”
“That’s too long.”
“It’s been five years. Why now?”
“I need you.” Buddy closed his fingers around the back of her neck and drew her to him. He planted a gentle kiss, then, when she didn’t pull away, he deepened it. Emmy put her hands on his shoulders. When he stood back, applause and war-whoops from his teammates who were looking on startled him.
“Come on, Emerald,” Stash said, taking her hand.
“Wait!” Buddy whipped out his phone. “Your number.”
She waited for him to enter it. “And if I don’t hear from him, Stash, I’ll know why.” She glared at her manager.
Stash held up his hands, palms out. “I’m innocent.”
“Bullshit,” Buddy growled. “Got it. Be safe.”
She nodded then threaded through the crowd, stopping to sign a few autographs on her way. Buddy let out a breath and thrust his hands in his pockets.
“You really do know her,” Tony remarked.
“Yep.” Buddy blinked rapidly for a moment then moved toward the door, his gaze trained on the ground in front of him. Griff put his hand on his friend’s shoulder and squeezed once as he accompanied him to the parking lot. “What am I going to do, Griff? It took me five years to find her. I can’t lose her again.”
“You’ll figure out something, Buddy. You always do.”
“Hell, this isn’t some Goliath defenseman in my way, it’s thousands of miles between us all the time. How am I going to fix that?”
A limousine waited by the team entrance. Emerald stood by the door, signing autographs and chatting with the team. Buddy stopped in the shadows, waiting for the men to dissipate. Gradually, they moseyed on to their own cars. Stash got in the backseat, leaving the door open.
Emerald raised her gaze and turned her head, as if she was looking for something. The wide receiver headed toward the vehicle. She spotted him and moved to meet him. Taking his arm, she steered him out of earshot of the car.
“Emmy, hey, can I still call you ‘Emmy’? Or do you want me to call you ‘Emerald’?”
“Emmy’s fine.”
Buddy shifted his weight from foot to foot, his glance skipped around from the ground to the limo, everywhere but her eyes.
“What is it? I have to leave.”
Sweat broke out on his forehead. Buddy swiped his sleeve across his face. Now or never, asshole. Don’t waste any more time. “I still love you,” he blurted, moving his weight to the balls of his feet.
“What?”
“I still love you. That hasn’t changed. I got why you’d dump a guy who couldn’t even get drafted. Your career took off, and you didn’t need me dragging you down. But things are different now. I’ve led the league in receptions for the past three years. I’ve got a solid contract. I make a shitload of money, Emmy. But it doesn’t mean crap if I can’t be with you.”
“I’m booked solid for months. I’ve signed contracts I can’t get out of. And do what? Quit? Follow you around like a damn groupie? No.” She shook her head.
“But do you still care for me?”
Now, it was her turn to lower her head. “What difference does it make what I feel?”
He raised her chin with a finger. “Makes a difference to me.”
There was silence.
“Okay. I get it. You don’t feel the same.” Humiliation flooded through him, and he sensed color rising to his cheeks. Great, dumbass, you declare yourself, and she could give a s**t. Smooth move.
Emmy looked up. “That’s not it.” She cupped his cheek and moved closer, until their bodies were touching.
“Then, what is it?”
She pulled him down and kissed him. He rested his hands lightly on her waist, resisting the urge to crush her to him.
“Of course I still care about you. But with Stash around. Well…it’s complicated.”
Buddy stepped back. “You bangin’ him?”
“Do you really want to know?”
The wide receiver shook his head.
“He’s been with me for five years. Promoting me. Taking care of everything. I need him.”
“You can hire someone else to do that.”
“Can’t hire someone to believe in you, love you, in his own stupid way.”
“Do you love him?”
“What does it matter? I need him.”
Buddy ran his fingers through his hair. He hadn’t expected this. “Can’t he still be your manager, without sleeping with you?”
“Of course.”
“You still didn’t answer my question.” Buddy grabbed her upper arms, pulling her up to face him. “Do you love him?”
“Ow! You’re hurting me. No, I don’t love him.”
Buddy released her, rubbing his palms up and down her arms. “Sorry.”
Emmy rested hers against his chest while they stared at each other.
“Okay, he’s your manager. I get that. But you gotta stop sleepin’ with him.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m back. And it’s you and me now.”
“Really? A thousand miles away?” She slid her hands down and away from him.
“Two thousand miles away. I don’t care. You’re my girl again.”
“Am I?”
“Don’t play games with me. We’re back. If you want it. And if you don’t, say so now. This is your last chance. If you tell me ‘no,’ I’m gone forever.”
“So, I have to decide this minute? After five years? I don’t even know who you are now.”
“I’m the same crazy guy you used to love.”
“Nobody’s the same after five years. Life changes people.”
“You’re the same beautiful, sweet girl I fell for.”
“Not really. Life’s changed me. I’m not so sweet anymore.”
“There’s a difference between sweet and stupid. You were never stupid.”
She laughed. “Some compliment.”
He colored. “You know what I mean.” Time to go for the touchdown.
“Yeah, I do.” She smiled up at him.
Buddy leaned down to kiss her. “If you don’t want me, I promise not to bother you again.”
- Writer
