“Oh. Well, she was also apparently a single mother. His dad died when he was really young. I had no idea,” Leona added, still looking at Anna, who gave her an “I’m listening, keep going” smile. “It was fun to get to see a side of him that no one else does. He might be some superstar, but underneath it all, he’s just…normal.”
“So what happened?”
“He had this job offer from a team in Atlanta who wants him to be their new coach since he’s ‘retiring’ and all,” she said, making the air quotes with her fingers. “They wanted an answer by today, and he was on the fence about it, because he wasn't sure it was the route he wanted to go—even though he loved the two weeks with Josef and all the other kids. But then this chick, who, by the way—plot twist—is apparently Dalton's sister! Anyway, this chick from the team in Atlanta flew in to get his answer, and he took the job and left with her. He's off to start the next chapter in his life.”
“Not that I got to know him very well, but the man who approached me about wanting to help coach your brother did not seem the type to just up and leave,” Anna commented.
“He’s not,” she sighed. “It's not like I ever thought he would stay. I always knew that at the end of this week he would leave. And he told me about the job. I knew days ago he was thinking about it. He asked my opinion, and I told him to take it. Both when he told me and earlier today when Felicity showed up.”
“Even though your heart is breaking knowing that he’s gone.”
Leona nodded, fighting back the tears she could feel starting to form. “Yes, because that’s what you do when you love someone. You let them go. You don’t stand in their way.”
“No, baby,” Anna said, reaching out and taking her daughter’s hand. “When you love someone, you tell them. And I don’t mean tell them how to live their life. Unless you are asking that they be a part of yours.”
Leona turned and looked at her mom, unsure how to respond to what she had just said. She thought Leona should tell Cullen she loved him? There was no way that’s what her mother thought. Her mother was the one who taught her how to keep her guard up and not to let her heart rule her actions. And now, after all these years, she was telling her the opposite?
“Lee, you have such a big heart. I know you do a damn good job at hiding it most days. You get that from me, and I’m sorry I passed that along. You were never, ever a selfish child. Everyone warned us about ‘only child syndrome,’ but we never saw any of that. You were always ready and willing to help out and share. Even how you picked Drea, you were taking care of her. I remember when you introduced me to her on that first day of Kindergarten. You dragged that sweet little girl by her hand over to me and said ‘This is Drea. She doesn’t have anyone and I don’t have anyone. So we’re going to belong to each other,’ and that was that. Things didn’t exactly get any easier around here when Josef showed up and we asked you to take on the role of extra caregiver to him. It was wrong of us to ask that of you so young, but we didn’t have much choice if we were going to make it all work.”
“That’s what family does,” Leona retorted. That was something they had instilled in her since forever—family takes care of each other.
“Yes, it is. But I’m worried that you’re hiding behind that. That you’ve gotten so used to putting your wants second because the rest of us needed something that you’re missing out.”
“I’m not missing out, Mama, he doesn’t love me back.” The tears she had been holding back slowly started to trickle down her cheeks, and she looked down at her lap trying to hide them. She didn’t want to cry over Cullen Cruz for a third time today.
“How do you know?”
“Because he never said it,” she said, sniffling, wiping her nose on her wrist. Anna reached over to her nightstand and grabbed a tissue. Leona took it from her and dabbed at her face. She really had no idea how she was still able to cry over all this.
“Did you tell him you love him?” Anna asked.
“Not exactly.”
“Then you don’t know. For all you know he could be sitting on that plane right now wondering if he’s the only one with a broken heart.”
“I highly doubt that’s the case!”
“Maybe it’s not. Men can be stupid. But if he isn't, then it’s his loss. But don’t let this stop you from opening your heart. Maybe let a person or two in.”
“Maybe.”
“Do you have to go back to work, or can you stay for dinner?”
“I should go back. I have reports to file. Plus I need to change over La Isla Bonita now that he’s gone.”
“Maybe assign that to one of your staff members. Unless you want an excuse to wallow.”
Leona got up off the bed and straightened the pillows, placing them back where they were before. “I think I want to wallow,” she said, turning to go.
As she got to the bedroom doorway, she felt her mother’s hand on her shoulder, turning her around. Before she could blink, her mother's arms were around her, holding her close. Leona returned the embrace and relaxed a little, not realizing just how much she needed this comfort.
After a moment of them just holding each other, Anna pulled away and reached up, smoothing her daughter’s hair. “Just make sure you have enough chocolate.”
Chapter Thirty
The flight from St. Thomas to Atlanta went about as smoothly as one could hope and was actually shorter than Cullen had expected. The private charter plane owned by his new bosses looked to be brand-new, and the fittings on the inside seemed to sparkle when the sunlight hit them. All the seats—from the easy chair-esqe bucket seats that sat around small four-person meeting tables on either side of the aisle up front, to the sectional couch that faced a big-screen TV at the rear of the plane—were made out of soft, cream-colored leather. Cullen could only imagine what the bedroom and bathroom that were down a small hallway past the TV were outfitted with. Whomever these people were, they certainly took their comfort to an extreme.
Thankfully, Felicity didn’t say much to him, having taken the hint early on that he was not a talker. Or maybe she realized just how pissed off he still was about her showing up unannounced. Either way, it allowed him to remain lost in his thoughts of Leona and what the hell had actually gone down on the beach just a few hours ago. His thoughts were still too jumbled to make any sense of it all. One minute he was convinced it was fear and insecurity that caused her to push him away. The next, he was doubting if she’d ever felt the same way he had and thinking she must have just been in it for the fun, after all. He was halfway convinced he should have fought her, told her he loved her, and made her see that she was wrong to want to move on. But the other half assumed he should write her off as just another casualty in dating.
Except, she wasn’t just another casualty. She’d been so much more. No matter her end game, he had fallen. Fallen hard too. At the end of the day, he still felt like his heart had been ripped out.
They landed at a private airstrip just outside the city and got into a limo that was waiting for them. It was surprisingly hot and humid outside, although Cullen did have to admit he didn’t know a whole lot about the weather in this part of the States. For all he knew, this stuffiness was normal and just one of a long list of things he was sure he would have to get used to. Thankfully, someone had the smarts to leave the limo running with the air conditioning on so that it was comfortable to get into.
“Welcome to Atlanta!” Felicity said when the car pulled away from the airport. He could tell she was forcing an upbeat, happy attitude. It was something that obviously did not come naturally to the blonde and was something she really had to make an effort at.
“Is it always this sweltering?” he asked, barely glancing over at her. His focus was on the city lights as they drove toward downtown. It was fairly late in the evening, but it was still light enough out that lights were just starting to come on and he could see some sunlight over the horizon.
“In July, absolutely,” she answered, her accent fully o
n display as she drawled out the word ‘juu-lie’. “Just wait ‘til August! But don’t worry, every place ‘round here is air conditioned.”
“Bloody well better be,” he muttered under his breath.
“We’re headed toward the Southland Holdings offices, but we will drive by the pit so you can see how construction is coming along.”
“The pit?”
“Sorry,” she laughed lightly. “That’s what some of the folks in the office started calling it since they had to dig so deep for the foundation, it just looked like this huge pit in the middle of downtown for quite a while. But it’s the construction site for the new Rising arena. This place is going to be state-of-the-art—all the bells and whistles you can imagine.”
Cullen simply nodded, keeping his focus on the buildings as they passed. He knew the polite thing would be to make small talk and ask questions about the team, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. Not that he didn’t have questions—he had plenty. He just didn’t want to engage this woman in any more conversation than he had to.
When they finally reached Southland Holdings, Cullen wasn’t in the least bit surprised to find the building to be opulent as well. While the outside was modest looking, with a plain, but clean, red brick exterior, the lobby alone sparkled and shined as if it had been waxed and polished to within an inch of its life. The marble tile floor and rich mahogany wood on the walls and furniture screamed old money, and he couldn’t help but feel slightly out of place. For everything he was worth now, he still wasn’t fully comfortable in places that showed off wealth so exuberantly.
“Mr. Cruz, welcome. We are ecstatic to have you here,” a dark-haired, slender man in a custom suit greeted them as they walked inside and escorted them to the elevator. “I’m Jonah Davenport, Mr. Sutherland’s right hand. If you need anything, please just let me know.”
Cullen saw Felicity roll her eyes out of the corner of his eye, and part of him wondered what that was about. They both seemed arrogant enough to push anyone’s buttons, especially each other's. There was obviously some saga there, but he’d had enough of his own drama today and didn’t have the patience for their little cat fight. He was here about a job, and fuck if that wasn’t where he was going to keep his focus.
The elevator dinged and the doors opened into a large open area with more plush leather couches and a single, albeit large, desk where an older woman sat typing away furiously at her keyboard. She glanced up briefly, taking in the group over the rim of her glasses, but her fingers never stopped moving.
“Head on in, he’s expecting you,” she said, turning her focus back to her work.
They walked past her, through a set of French doors, and entered an even larger space that might have screamed “old money” even louder than the lobby, if that was possible. The dark purple carpet was host to more mahogany furniture, all of which was just as spotless as everything else. The cleaning staff must never stop, Cullen thought as he took it all in.
“Mr. Cruz! Welcome to Atlanta!” a booming voice, with a deep southern accent, greeted him. He turned to his right to find a tall, burly man standing up from a long conference table. He was older than Cullen by quite a bit, and had gotten a little soft around the middle, but Cullen could tell that in his younger years, this man had been quite the physical force to reckon with. Although, based on the way the older gentleman carried himself, it seemed that the money and power he’d amassed over the years still afforded him plenty of influence. “I’m Dalton Sutherland, Jr. It’s nice to finally meet you. Please sit.”
“Dalton Sutherland…” Cullen wondered out loud as he sat down at the table with the others. “I could have sworn I just met someone with that name.”
The older man laughed. “You must have met Tripp while you were at the Indigo Royal. He’s been working down there the last couple of years.”
“Tripp?”
“My son, Dalton Royce Sutherland the third, or triple, which got shortened to Tripp when he was a kid.”
“I had no idea that he was connected to this company and team,” Cullen said.
“He tends to not mention it to people. But enough about him. Congratulations on being the first coach of the Atlanta Rising Football Club!”
“So you are calling it football? Not soccer? I am pleased to hear that.”
“Well, the sport as a whole will undoubtedly still be referred to as soccer. But we felt it was more authentic to refer to the team as a ‘football club.’ Try and align ourselves with the global sport, despite what it’s referred to locally.”
“You Americans can’t be right about everything,” Cullen commented.
“Touché,” the older man laughed. His accent was strong, and it dripped off his every word, unlike his son’s more subtle drawl or his daughter’s outright attempt to disguise it. “This meeting was mostly so you and I could have some facetime before the press conference tomorrow. We don’t have to go into any of the boring particulars right now, unless there are any specific questions you have for me and my team.”
A slew of questions ran through Cullen’s mind in this moment as he realized just how little he knew about this team and who was running it. He’d been so focused on getting in all the time he could with Leona these last couple of days that he had only skimmed the information that Oliver sent over. His mind wandered for a moment to her, wondering what she was doing right now. Was she holed up some place with Drea, heartbroken and miserable, or were they out having a drink to celebrate that she’d been able to bed a superstar? He blinked rapidly, trying to rein in his thoughts and focus back on the man to his right.
“Who exactly is running the team from an organizational perspective? You?”
“No, no. I’m just the money. My son will act as President, and we have brought on American Hall of Famer Britt Callahan as Technical Director. He’s actually the one who brought your name up when your retirement was announced.”
Cullen let a small smile spread across his face at the sound of Britt Callahan’s name. They had referred to the American as ‘Cowboy’ during his three seasons as a defender at Liverpool. Thankfully he’d taken it in stride and learned to embrace the nickname. But for all the heckling they’d given the kid for showing up in England and using the term soccer, the kid could play. It suddenly made a little more sense how a brand-new team in America had gotten it in their heads to hire a former player with no coaching experience. Callahan had been one of the rookies that Cullen had taken under his wing when he first showed up.
“He’s a good guy. Knows talent when he sees it, and should be a good asset for recruiting,” Cullen said.
“We’re hoping so,” Jonah said, inserting himself into the conversation. “We believe you and he will make a great team.”
“He’s already in talks with a couple of very promising young players,” Felicity threw out there, sitting up straighter in her seat. She was not going to be outdone by Jonah.
The mention of “promising young players” sent Cullen’s mind racing to one very specific player. Those were almost the exact words he’d used when talking about Josef to pretty much anyone in the football world who would listen these last couple of weeks. The kid was something else, especially considering his size and age. In some ways, Josef actually reminded him of Callahan, with some of his cheeky fakes and the way he ran. If Josef just had someone to take the time to invest in him, Cullen had no doubt that he’d be one of the kids a team like this would be looking into.
A rustling of plastic derailed his thoughts of Josef, and he turned to see a short, dark-skinned, heavy-set woman emptying the trash can that was under the large desk on the other side of the room. She must have felt his gaze on her, because she suddenly stopped moving, freezing as she tied off the full bag of trash. An embarrassed look crossed her face as she finally snapped back into action, hunching her shoulders as if she could somehow make herself invisible. Cullen knew the look well—he’d seen his mother make it a number of times when she had accidentally disturbed w
homever had been home when she was cleaning. It made him think of Leona—how she took amazing pride in her job and how defensive she’d gotten ten years ago when he tried to make it seem like she was less.
His mind jumped back to that moment. To just how shitty he felt handing her that cash, knowing that he was doing exactly what he had sworn he would never do after the way he’d seen his mum treated. To the feel of her hand making contact with his face, and how he knew he deserved it. It was something he’d always admired about her, that she knew herself and knew her own value. It was part of why she kept her walls up so high—because she wasn’t going to allow anyone who didn’t see that value to see anything else about her either. So why had she acted this morning as if she wasn’t proud of herself and her accomplishments? Why had she been so quick to dismiss what they had? That wasn’t the woman he’d fallen for. It was almost like someone had told her…
“Mr. Cruz, pay her no mind,” Felicity said, interrupting his thought process. “She's just the cleaning lady.”
Her words made something snap inside Cullen. Just the cleaning lady. Was that really what she thought about the people who kept this place up to the obviously very high standards which her family had set? Had that been what she said to Leona?
“What did you say to Leona this morning?”
“Who?”
“The blonde who came to my rooms, after you had broken in and made yourself comfortable. Even after I asked you to leave.”
Felicity’s face flushed slightly at the reminder of her behavior earlier in the day. It obviously was not something that would have been approved by her father, who was now looking at her with an expression that demanded an answer.
“I simply told her that I was there to pick you up. Escort you to Atlanta to start the next chapter of your life,” she responded, her voice calm and sweet-sounding.
“And that she’s just a cleaning lady?”
“She is just a cleaning lady,” Felicity retorted.
Caught Up In You (Indigo Royal Resort Book 2) Page 27