by Claire Adams
Even though I was dazed, I managed to duck his wild swing and counter with a sharp right cross that caught him in his right eye.
He howled in pain and jumped back, but the damage his two punches had done to me was significant, and I couldn't maintain my balance any longer. I crashed to the ground, and the last thing I saw was his foot rocketing toward my face. Next, there was a blinding flash of light behind my eyes, and then...nothing.
I didn’t know how long I was out, but when I woke up, there were a few students around me.
“He's waking up!” called a concerned-looking young guy with glasses and shoulder-length, brown hair.
“Just hang in there, Coach Vinson,” said a pretty girl with dreadlocks. “The nurse is on her way.”
“Wh-what the hell happened?” I asked, mumbling and confused.
The girl with dreads spoke. “You got mugged or something,” she said. “I was sitting by that tree over there and I saw the whole thing. Some guy in a white hoodie came running up behind you and sucker punched you from the back. He smacked you right in the side of the jaw, and then he hit you again on the side of your head.
“I saw that you tried to fight back, but I think that first sucker punch must’ve hit you hard. You went down pretty quick, and then he kicked you in the head and took your phone and wallet.
“My friends tried to chase him down, but he was too fast, and he got away. And we couldn't see who he was ‘cause he had this bandana around his face. He was a young, white guy, though, real jacked, about six foot or so. His hood came off as he was sprinting away and we saw that he had short, blond hair, real stylish.
“I dunno if it'll help identify him, but we're willing to testify if the guy gets caught somehow,” the chatty girl finally finished.
“Thanks, I appreciate that,” I said as I got up slowly.
My head ached, and I was feeling groggy from being knocked out. The nurse arrived shortly after, and she asked me some questions and checked my eyes, looking for dilation of the pupils. Luckily, it seemed I didn't have a concussion or anything serious.
“You just give me a call if you need me, Coach. Got it?” she insisted.
“Yes, ma’am,” I replied. I thanked her for her help and continued on my way to the administration building.
CHAPTER 17
Eryn
It was weird having the afternoon off and being out in the shopping mall with the sun still out. I was so used to being on the indoor volleyball court every afternoon, and only getting out when the sun was going down. This injured ankle had thrown everything out of whack.
I'd only had three classes to attend for the day and had gotten all of my reading and assignments done by lunchtime, so it was either sit in the apartment all afternoon waiting for Leena to come back, or get out and get some fresh air.
I'd decided to go down to the mall to get an ice cream. After all, I was injured and feeling kinda miserable, so I needed a little treat to pick me up a bit.
I ordered a double cone — dark chocolate and caramel. I figured if I was gonna do this, I may as well go all-out and seriously treat myself.
I sat down at one of the tables directly in the warmth of the sun shining down from the glass ceiling and waited for the girl who took my order to bring it over to me. She had been kind enough to offer since she noticed the crutches.
Just as I sat down, my phone rang. Perfect timing. I took it out of my bag and saw that it was my mom. I wondered if I should tell her about my injured ankle, but quickly decided against it. I didn't want her to worry, as she already had enough things on her plate to worry herself about.
“Hey, Mom,” I answered as cheerfully as I could manage.
“Hello, my sweet girl! How are you?” she asked.
“I'm good, I'm good. How are you feeling?”
“I'm definitely on the up and up. Feeling like I'm getting better. I really am feeling a lot better than I was.”
“That's great to hear, Mom. So, what's up?”
“Oh, I was just wondering if you wanted to come over for dinner tonight?”
I wanted to, really, I did. But if I went over there, she'd see the crutches and the bandaged ankle and make a big fuss over me when she needed to be concentrating on getting better, and of course, I didn't want that.
“Uh, sorry, Mom, I can't. Not for the rest of the week, in fact. It's just a super heavy week for assignments. I have so many due this week, and so much to do, I just have to buckle down and get them done.” I hated not being honest with her, but it was for a good reason…at least, that’s what I told myself.
“All right, dear, I understand. I’m so proud of you for being so studious,” she crooned.
“Thanks, Mom. We’ll have dinner this weekend, for sure, all right? We'll get together and make your favorite meal.”
“I'd like that.”
“Me, too,” I told her. We talked for a few more minutes about Annie and a few other things before Mom got another call and we had to hang up.
I cut the call off and sighed. This whole ankle thing was messing with my life. I was just about to get all mopey when the ice cream arrived, and the sight of it immediately made me feel better.
I dug the spoon in and savored the cold, sweet creaminess of it in my mouth. It immediately made me forget the sulky mood I was fighting. For someone who was very strict with her diet, it felt damn good to “cheat” once in a while.
While I was enjoying the delectable ice cream, I did a little people watching. The top level of the mall was the perfect perch for it. I could see down to both levels below me.
Three spoons’ full of ice cream in, I noticed a very familiar figure walking toward the courtyard of a coffee shop just below me. A commanding, masculine figure, dressed in a tight t-shirt that revealed his perfectly-sculpted muscles, while his equally perfect hair gleamed in the light above his handsome face – a face that seemed to have been temporarily marred by a swollen black eye.
Tim, my ex.
And there, waiting for him at a table, was a young woman dressed in an excessively revealing outfit – a young woman whom I recognized instantly despite the large sunglasses she was wearing to hide her face. She got up and not only hugged Tim, but also gave him a long, passionate kiss as he placed his hands firmly on her ass and squeezed.
Tammy.
CHAPTER 18
Wade
I couldn’t believe that I'd just been mugged, right here on campus. It wasn't that I was feeling bad about the fact that my phone and wallet were gone. They were replaceable, as annoying as it would be to get all the cards replaced and having to get a new phone, but rather how brazenly this attack had taken place, just out in the open like this.
It took a little longer than planned, but I made it to my destination and sat down with the athletic director Jack Strauss and explained what had happened with Tammy and Kelly during the meeting.
Jack looked over my report and nodded. “All right, well let's just have that audio recording, and we'll begin proceedings against these two students.”
Then it hit me: my phone was gone. “Damnit,” I murmured.
“What's the problem, Wade?”
I explained what had just happened to me with the attack. “Hmm,” he said. “Well, that's awful. You okay?”
I nodded. “Good, glad to hear it. But, as much as I hate to say it, without that evidence, we don't have a case. Did you make a backup of the recording?”
I shook my head. “No. Didn’t really cross my mind that I needed to. I guess that's the only copy – the one that was on my phone.”
He sighed and shook his head. “Without that recording, we have no case, and there’s no way we can take action without it.”
“Seriously? There's nothing you can do?” I asked.
“I wish there were. Kinda ticks me off that they’d do something like that and be able to get by with it. But, there is the consideration we have to take about Tammy's father. He is a prominent lawyer and without a watertight case, he could
make life very...difficult for you and this whole department. He could drag us into a legal battle that would last not only months, but potentially years. And we both know the university wouldn’t allow that.” Jack’s expression showed remorse.
I put my head in my hands. “So, there really is nothing we can do?”
“Not without that recording.”
I stood up, feeling a horrible mixture of anger, disappointment and helplessness. “Well, I guess we're done then,” I said, my voice dripping with disappointment.
“I am truly sorry, Wade, but this is a battle we cannot afford to get into without something to back it up.”
“I understand, Jack. Thanks for your help.”
“Let me know if you get your phone back,” he said as I left his office. I nodded an acknowledgement.
Once I was out of the building, I sat down on a bench under a tree to think. I knew I'd need to call Eryn to tell her about what had happened and out of instinct, I reached into my pocket and then cussed violently as I remembered that I no longer had my phone.
I got up, walked slowly back to my office, and sent her an email from my computer, asking if she could come in and see me. It was late that afternoon before I got a reply from her. She’d sent it during practice which, thankfully, Kelly and Tammy had not come to. She explained that she'd come in right after practice, so I sat and waited for her in the office. Soon enough, there was a knock on the door.
“Come in; it's open,” I called.
The door was pushed open and Eryn came in, walking with the aid of the crutches. I immediately jumped up to help her, a stab of guilt shooting through me at the sight of her injured like that, knowing how close we'd come to justice – and how it had now escaped us.
“Hey, Wade,” she said as I made it to her side to help her take a seat.
“Sorry. I should have gotten the door for you,” I apologized.
“No big deal,” she smiled back that breathtaking smile that made my heart hitch a little. “Have a seat, there's something we need to talk about,” I told her.
“All right.”
She settled into the chair, and I couldn't help but stare for a moment at how stunning she looked with her long hair down around her shoulders. I was so used to seeing it in a ponytail. She didn’t even have to try to look beautiful; she just did it totally without effort.
I shook the thought from my mind. I couldn't allow myself to be distracted. I needed to deliver the bad news to Eryn, not daydream about pulling her to me. I decided to cut straight to the chase.
“Eryn, there's a problem with the whole Tammy and Kelly incident.”
“There is? What's wrong?”
I sighed and explained what had happened earlier in the day with the attack. “Oh my God, are you all right? Are you injured?” she immediately began.
“No, no, I'm fine,” I assured her.
“Wade, concussions don’t always show up in an obvious manner. You should know that. We need to get you to a hospital to get checked out by a proper physician. You could have injuries you don’t know about if you were knocked out. I don't know if the nurse was nearly thorough enough in her examination.”
She didn’t say a word about the fact that our case against Tammy and Kelly was lost. Her concern was solely on me and my health. It was flattering and, frankly, made me feel a little warm inside.
“You don't need to worry about that, Eryn. I'm fine, I really am.”
“You might think you are now, Wade, but seriously, head injuries can be dangerous if not checked out properly.”
“All right, all right. I'll go to the hospital right after this and get it checked out properly if it will make you feel better. But aren't you at all worried about the fact that we now don't have a solid case against Tammy and Kelly?”
“I just care about you,” she blurted out and then immediately looked like she shouldn't have said it.
I tried hard not to grin from ear to ear. “I... I appreciate that, Eryn, I do. And, that's how I felt when I saw you get hurt. That's why I wanted to get Tammy and Kelly so badly.”
“What's important is that you're okay,” she said softly.
“And, what's important to me is that you're okay.”
We both sat in silence for a while, just staring at each other, the heat between us simmering quietly. Suddenly, I watched her expression change and she tilted her head.
“Did you get a look at the guy who attacked you?” she asked.
“Not much of a look. He was wearing a hoodie and a bandana to cover his face.”
“What color hoodie?”
“White,” I replied.
Her eyebrows went up. “And let me guess: black jeans and red sneakers?”
“Yeah...yeah!” I said, remembering.
“You didn't happen to see what color his hair was, did you?” Eryn asked me.
“I didn't, but a witness said it was short and blond. Stylish, was how she described it,” I told her.
“And, did you manage to hit him during the attack?”
“I got in one good shot, popped him near his eye. Why?”
She bit her lower lip. “I think I know who did this, Wade. In fact, I'm almost certain about it.”
CHAPTER 19
Eryn
As soon as Wade began describing his attacker, my mind flashed right back to an hour before at the mall when I'd seen my ex Tim meeting up with Tammy at the coffee shop. The fact that Tim was sporting a freshly swollen black eye had seemed like a total mystery to me at the time, but after hearing that Wade was attacked by someone who was wearing the exact same outfit that I'd seen Tim in – minus the bandana, of course – it all made sense.
I had no doubt, once the shock of my ex dating that skank Tammy wore off, that Tim had mugged Wade for the sole reason of getting his phone so his new girlfriend could have the evidence against her. The pieces just fit together way too perfectly according to the circumstances for it to be a mere coincidence.
“How on Earth do you know who mugged me?” Wade asked, uncertainty painted over his face.
“I think it was my ex-boyfriend, a guy named Tim Miller.”
“Why the hell would your ex attack me?”
“Did you talk to Kelly and Tammy about the recording on your phone?”
“Yeah, earlier today. About an hour or so before I was attacked, I think.”
“And what did you tell them? What did Tammy say?” I asked him.
“Well, when I expelled them from the team permanently, Kelly just cried, but Tammy got angry. She said her father, the lawyer, was going to make me wish this and that.”
I nodded. “Yeah, everyone knows that her dad is some big-shot lawyer around here. But with that recording, he wouldn’t have even had a leg to stand on against you, I'm sure. That was hard, irrefutable evidence right there, and I think she knew it.”
“So how does your ex come into all of this?”
“I was at the mall having an ice cream earlier, and I saw him meet up with Tammy at a coffee shop. He handed her a package and kissed her. I guess they're dating now or something.
“But the thing is…he had a black eye and was wearing the exact same outfit your attacker was wearing. He's built, jacked on God knows what, and has short, blond hair that he spends, like, an hour styling every morning. So, he totally fits the description of your attacker.”
A light of realization began to shine in Wade's eyes.
“Oh, man. It totally makes sense now. Tammy tried to bluff that her dad would be able to take care of this, but no lawyer in the world would go against a university in a situation with verbal proof of wrongdoing. It makes sense that someone as spiteful as her would try to shut this down by making the evidence disappear before it got into official hands. She got her boyfriend to jump me and steal my phone.” He stared straight ahead in disbelief.
“I'm so sorry, Wade.”
He shook his head, anger reddening his face. “No, you don't need to be sorry for anything, Eryn. I just can't believe
I was so stupid that I didn't make a backup of that file. Dammit! There has to be something we can do.”
We both sat in silence for a while, thinking about what options we might have now that the evidence was gone and Tammy held the upper hand. Then an idea dawned on me, and a smile started to spread across my face.
“You know, Wade, Leena's older brother Pete is an amateur actor. He does a lot of plays, and he's really good.”
Wade raised an eyebrow, looking somewhat confused. “Um, okay, but I’m not following. What does that have to do with our situation?”
“We need to find a costume store where we could rent a really authentic-looking police uniform.”
Wade realized what I was getting at and smiled. “There was a great place downtown where my buddies and I always used to go for Halloween costumes,” he said with a grin. “I think it's still there. You give Leena's brother a call, find out if he's up for this and what size clothes he wears, and I'll drive down there if he is.”
“Tammy thinks she can bluff us? Well, we're about to bluff her. I can only hope that this works,” I said, and pulled my phone from my pocket to give Pete a call.
*****
“I always knew this GoPro camera would come in handy one day,” Wade said as he mounted the camera on Pete's shoulder. “Good thing cops are required to wear body cameras these days, too, so Tammy and Tim won't question why this is on you.”
Pete, who was tall, broad-shouldered, and had a naturally stern-looking face, suited the role of a cop perfectly – even though by nature he was very gentle and reserved. Still, he was one hell of an actor, and he could turn on his bad cop performance in an instant and be absolutely convincing about it. And, the uniform we'd rented was nearly identical to the uniforms the local police department wore. I was a little surprised it was even legal to rent them out.
“So, you know exactly what to say?” Wade asked Pete.