All Star

by KB Winters

  Trey stroked the backs of my hands with his large thumbs. “That’s not going to happen, Josie. If anything positive came out of this clusterfuck of a life, it was that I realized there is more to life than my career and my money and houses and all that shit. I mean, don’t get me wrong—I still want all of it—but I saw that I was missing something.”

  “You mean a family?” I asked, arching a brow at him. Trey confessing to wanting a baby would be quite the one-eighty.

  “No. Well, at least not now. I just realized I need someone to go through life with. You know, I have Mason, my friends, my parents. But they’re all far away and somewhat detached. When I met you, it was like I could tell you anything and you’d get it. You get me.”

  I nodded, suddenly too overcome with emotion to speak.

  Trey kissed me, soft and slow, letting our lips melt together. When we pulled out of it, our eyes locked and a glossy coating over Trey’s eyes made my heart stop. He was mine. Really mine.

  He cleared his throat and got up to take the plate and mug to the sink. “The Warriors want me back tomorrow. If you need to stay behind to finish your story, that’s cool. I’ll book you on any flight you want, and I’ll be there waiting at the airport to pick you up when you land.”

  “With flowers?” I grinned.

  Trey laughed and crossed back to me. He leaned in to kiss me and his smile was like pure sunshine against my lips. “You have to promise to take them this time.”

  “Well, actually, I think I’ll go with you. My boss is antsy for me to get back as well.”

  Trey grinned. “Should I book the jet with the bedroom this time?”

  “Definitely,” I replied, unabashedly grinning at him.

  He chuckled. “All right, baby. I’m gonna go book that flight. Then we should get to those horseback riding lessons. That is, if you’re not too sore from last night to go out riding.” He winked at me.

  I tingled from head to toe but didn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing just how stiff and sore he’d left me after our night together. Instead, I flashed him a devious smile and pushed up from my place at the table. “I’m good if you are. Before we go out, there’s one thing I have to do.”

  I found my daddy in his study. He looked up from his computer screen as I knocked lightly on the door. “Hey, Jo.”

  “Morning, Daddy.” I smiled at his plate with muffin crumbs. He’d obviously loaded up too. “Did you and mama have a good time last night?”

  “Yeah, we sure did. Your mama still holds her own on the dance floor, you know.” He smiled and glanced down at a picture off to the right of his computer monitor. I knew which one it was, a picture of the two of them on their wedding day. Bright eyed, young, and full of excitement at their new life. They’d been married for over thirty years and were one of the few couples I knew that actually liked each other after all that time. “What about you and Trey? He was a big help yesterday.”

  I smiled and took one of the upholstered chairs that sat opposite his desk. He had the room arranged much like a corporate office as he often met business associates at the house. “Yeah. We had a nice night too.”

  “Good. What’s the story with you two?”

  “Daddy…” I rolled my eyes.

  He chuckled. “Aha. Don’t wanna talk to your old man about it, huh? This is just like when you were in high school. But you know what, JoJo? I always knew which boys you liked. And I’d like to still think I’ve got that fatherly instinct even though you’re far away now.”

  “Far away? Daddy, it’s only a few hours on a plane.”

  He shrugged, refusing to retract his statement. “Now, as part of my fatherly duty, I’ll tell you that while I think Trey is a nice guy, you still need to be careful, Jo. His world is very different from yours.”

  I nodded, thinking to the conversations we’d just had at the breakfast table. “I know. I’m not rushing into anything, I promise.”

  “Good to hear.” He glanced over at his screen again and I knew there were probably half a dozen things on his to-do list before he could get back outside, where he’d much prefer to be. He was a businessman first and a rancher second. Though, I had a feeling he’d switch the order of importance around if he could. He thrived in the business world, but as soon as he had enough money, he’d poured it all into building the ranch up from a parcel of land into the gorgeous retreat it was today. “Was there something else, Jo?”

  I cleared my throat. It was the moment of truth. Everything hinged on this conversation and the resulting bits of information. I scooted a little closer to the edge of my seat and leaned forward a little further toward my dad. “Yes, actually, Daddy, there is something I need to talk to you about.”

  He took off his glasses and folded them up before slipping them into the front pocket of his long-sleeved flannel shirt. “What’s wrong?”

  “Maybe nothing,” I replied, my tone unsure. “It’s about Mr. Arlington, actually.”

  “Oh?”

  I nodded and wet my lips with the tip of my tongue. “Yes. When I was in Denver, following the Warriors, I saw him with Senator McNary. Which, I suppose, by itself wouldn’t be that weird. But they were meeting in the corner of the fleabag hotel I was staying in. I don’t think either of them were guests there. And while I was watching, I saw Mr. Arlington give the senator an unmarked envelope.”

  My dad arched a bushy brow, putting the pieces together. “That does seem odd. I don’t know why they would meet at a hotel in Denver. As far as I know, Michael doesn’t have ties to Denver, or Colorado in general. I can’t speak for the senator. And you don’t know what was in the envelope?”

  I shook my head. “No. But I just had that gut feeling, you know? I took pictures, undercover sorta, and showed them to my boss. He thinks something is fishy too and wants me to track down the story. So, I wanted to ask if you knew anything about the new business deal Mr. Arlington is bringing to you. Maybe it has something to do with the deal he and the senator have. Maybe it’s the same one.”

  My dad nodded slowly. “Well, there’s not much to tell. He emailed me the details this morning. It’s a land development project. I don’t think the senator would be interested. But maybe he’s an investor as well. Here, come around and take a look at the proposal.”

  I stood and rounded the desk to peer over his shoulder as he pulled up the email that had come in. I scanned through it for a few minutes. At first, nothing looked out of place. Then it hit me. “Wait a minute…this piece of land is in Oklahoma?”

  My dad nodded. “Yeah. He said he thought of me because you live there. I have to admit—it was a draw. I could use it as an excuse to come see you.”

  I pursed my lips. “Very funny, Daddy. You know you don’t need an excuse to come see me. I have a sofa bed ya know.”

  He chuckled and scrolled down on the page. “You’re gonna put your old man on the couch?”

  “Oh, Daddy. Wait—stop right there!” I pointed, tapping my fingernail on the screen. “I know right where this is. It’s part of a protected wildlife refuge—Indian reservation stuff. He does not want to mess with the reservation.”

  My dad leaned in a little closer and slipped his glasses back on. “Are you sure? There must be a mistake. He’s knows better than to mess with sacred lands—we all do.”

  “Well, Daddy, I think something is going on and it’s not on the up and up. This Arlington character might be trying to scam you out of your money.”

  “Well, princess, I haven’t signed any deals with him lately, but I think I’ll give him a call and see what he knows.”

  I nodded and returned to my original chair.

  Minutes later, Mr. Arlington answered the phone. Every one of my muscles tensed and I sat up ramrod straight in my chair.

  “Hey, Michael, this is Jeffery Crawford. Listen, I got your email about the new development and have a few questions.”

  “Sure, Jeff. What’s going on?”

  “Well, it looks like the proposed site is actua
lly sitting on an Indian reservation or a wildlife refuge.”

  Michael laughed. “For now. That’ll be taken care of.”

  My dad arched a brow at me. “But isn’t it legally protected?”

  “Like I said, Jeff, for now, it is. Senator McNary is going to make sure it gets pushed through to get the permits approved.”

  My mouth dropped open.

  “The Indians aren’t going to give up their land, Arlington. Won’t that be a conflict of interest?”

  “No worries, Jeff. The land butts up right next to the reservation so we won’t be on their land per se. Just the refuge and that’s not a problem. Hell, you know how this works.”

  I scoffed. Had my daddy been paying off government people to get his own businesses built?

  “No, Arlington, I guess I don’t know how this works. Care to elaborate?” My daddy let out a sigh and his face went dark. He didn’t know. Which for a businessman like him was odd, but it sure made me feel ten times better. I didn’t know what I’d do if I found out he was in on this.

  “Jeff, you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. And the Senator owes me. So, it’s not going to be a problem. We’ll probably have a bunch of tree huggers out there and some hate mail, but it’ll blow over and we’ll have our retail space with condos and be raking in so damn much money that we won’t give two shits about those hippies.”

  My blood boiled inside my veins. I felt like I was made of molten lava. Michael Arlington was the epitome of everything wrong with the world. Nature and the environment were just obstacles to be overcome in the pursuit of a dollar.

  Sensing the silent rage pouring off of me, my father raised a hand. “Listen, Michael, I’m far from being a hippie and to be honest, a project like this isn’t up my alley. In fact, I would urge you and the senator to reconsider your plans or at least find a different plot of land.”

  Michael scoffed. “If you’re out, that’s your call, but this deal’s gonna be huge.”

  “Why would the senator even push this through? Won’t that damage his reputation?”

  “It doesn’t matter. Senator McNary does what I say.”

  Chills swept over me, snuffing out the anger. My dad locked eyes with me and I knew we both felt the dangerous shift in the conversation.

  “How’s that?” he ventured.

  I barely took in a breath.

  “McNary and I go way back. We went to college together and let’s just say that while he was there, he wasn’t the polished, shiny, icon of a man that he is today. He got himself in some trouble with a girl. Luckily for him, his family has more money than God and his lawyer got him out of it. They paid off the girl and it was done. However, if that story ever got out, he’d be finished.”

  Damn!

  My dad looked just as stunned as I felt. He flexed his jaws and hands in tandem and then shifted his angry eyes to the phone base. “Michael, let me just say that I don’t appreciate this kind of blackmail and I’m no longer interested in working with you or your associates. Clear?”

  “Jeffery, come on, man—”

  Click. With one sharp jab, my dad disconnected the call.

  “Wow,” I breathed, shaking my head to blink away the stars flashing inside. “That was…”

  “Disgusting,” my dad supplied, grimacing. “To think, I’ve been doing business with that snake all these years.”

  I pushed up from my desk. “Well, once my story goes live, you won’t have to.”

  With that, I stalked from his office. Trey’s horse riding lesson was going to have to wait.

  30

  Trey

  When Josie and I landed back in Oklahoma City, we hit the ground running. On the flight home, she filled me in on what her dad told her about the fuckwad she was investigating. Truthfully, I was a little freaked out at the idea of her using her pen to simultaneously take down both a power hungry businessman and a newly reelected senator—but I also knew it wasn’t my place to tell her not to do it. All I could do was warn her to be careful. As soon as we landed, she gave me a kiss goodbye, and bolted for the car I’d arranged to pick her up and take her straight to the news station.

  I left the airport and went to the practice facility to reunite with the team. I had four days’ worth of rust on me and needed to shake it off if we had a snowball’s chance in hell of kicking ass at the next game. To my surprise, everyone welcomed me with a round of applause and my teammates seemed genuinely happy to have me back. I dove into practice and pushed all other thoughts to the back of my mind.

  The next two weeks flew by as Josie and I both caught up with life after our mini vacation to Texas. Her story made the national news, leaving Senator McNary on the verge of impeachment and Michael Arlington getting indicted by the FBI. Josie was offered a full-time reporting job with half a dozen stations but in the end, she turned them all down and opted to stay with her current station—who promptly gave her a full time slot.

  My girl was kicking ass and taking names.

  I couldn’t have been happier for her, or prouder of her after the story broke.

  The Warriors rallied after I got back in the groove and we went on another road trip, coming home with five more victories to our name. The championship finals were rapidly approaching as the season wound down, and I think we were all a little more than surprised when we slid into the last place on the bracket.

  And when we got past that and made it to the league finals, we went into full-blown shock.

  “All right, gentlemen, let’s hustle up,” Coach Robinson called, his commanding voice booming through the locker room. It was a home game, and if we cinched a win, we’d go to the finals and compete for the title.

  Cody and Robby flanked me in the circle around our proud coach. He raised his hands to get us all to shut the fuck up for a minute and then started his pregame speech. “As you all know, the Warriors haven’t been in this position for nearly a decade. In fact, I was damn near ready to give up hope that I’d make it to this level again in my coaching career. Damn, I’m glad I didn’t retire last year,” he paused, grinning at us as a chorus of chuckles washed through. “In all seriousness, this team, you all, have reminded me what it’s like to be one of the greats again and for that I will always be thankful. You have all pulled together and reframed the meaning of words we throw around every day. Words like teamwork, integrity, sportsmanship. You’ve taken this team to the next level and you should all be immensely proud of how far you’ve come.”

  “Aww, c’mon, Coach,” Robby called. “We’re all just a bunch of assholes. You’re giving us way too much credit.”

  Coach laughed and then nodded at Robby’s assessment. “Y’all might be a bunch of assholes, but at least you’re classy assholes.”

  “Preach it, Coach,” someone from the back cheered out and we all laughed again.

  He smiled at each of us in turn and stopped when he got to Cody, who was standing on my left. “Thank you. To each and every one of you. Now, let’s go kick some ass!”

  Yeah, Coach was kinda a legend like that.

  I grinned at Cody and then Robby. “All right boys, let’s go fuckin’ rock this show!”

  31

  Josie

  “Wow, it has been way, way too long since we’ve done this.”

  Claire smiled at me from her place, lounged on the sleek leather loveseat across from me. “Seconded.” Her eyes roamed the box and a grin tugged at her pouty lips. “This is really happening, huh?”

  I laughed. “I guess so.”

  Trey had set me up with one of the executive boxes for the big playoff game. I’d invited a handful of people from work and my parents and two of my brothers had flown up to join in the fun. The box had a bar and an array of catered food laid out for everyone. Claire and I hadn’t seen each other in a few weeks and were taking the opportunity to catch up a little on the couches near the front of the box. A line of flat screens was placed throughout, but the game hadn’t started yet.

  Claire’s eyes spark
led with mischief over the rim of her glass of white wine. “Totally crazy. Last time I saw you, you were telling me that guys like Trey were no good and that you wouldn’t be caught dead with a pro baseball player.”

  “I don’t think I said I wouldn’t be caught dead…” I paused, searching the archives of my mind for confirmation. Maybe I had said that.

  Claire giggled. “Well, either way, I didn’t expect you to end up with Trey for more than a night or two.”

  I lifted my own glass to my lips and drank deeply. “You and me both.”

  “So, fill me in, what happened?”

  I laughed. “I don’t think we have enough time.”

  “Try,” she prompted.

  I sighed, contentedly. “Claire, I’m telling you, it just kind of…happened. One day I was totally sticking to my guns, staying away, but life had other plans. I couldn’t get away from him, and somewhere along the way, I realized that I didn’t want to get away. I couldn’t stop thinking about him. He’s great!”

  Claire grinned. “Aww. That’s so romantic!”

  “It was all pretty left field, excuse the pun.”

  She laughed and then glanced up as my oldest brother, Jay, came around the edge of the couch and plopped down next to me. “What are you two ladies chatting about?” he asked, leaning forward to snag a handful of chips from the large bowl on the table between us.

  “How JoJo fell head over heels in love with a bad boy.”

  Jay glanced at me, an indiscernible look on his classically handsome face. He was six years older than me, and as he was my oldest brother, had always played into the protector role. “Oh, yeah? I think Mom’s got a little crush too.” He grinned at me. “She hasn’t stopped talking about how polite and sweet he was when y’all went down to visit.”

  I giggled. “Great. I’ll let Daddy know she’s trying to go cougar.”