Hard & Deep: A Football Romance

by Krista Lakes

  “Nikki, what in the hell have you done?” he shouted, cutting off a car on the highway.

  “What do you mean?” Nikki replied. Innocence dripped off every word.

  “The photo,” Ollie stated, abruptly. “The one you took last night when I was asleep. What's wrong with you? Are you insane?”

  “Oh, no, honey,” she said. “I'm not insane.”

  “I'm not your honey,” Oliver snapped back.

  “I just thought I'd get a cute picture of us together,” she said. “I didn't see the harm.”

  “Nikki, your cute picture is all over the Internet and it's telling a lie,” he growled. “I am not your boyfriend. I am your employer and that's all.”

  She was silent for a moment, but then spoke up. “It's not that big of a deal, Ollie. Who cares if people think I'm your girlfriend?”

  “I care.” Ollie was gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles had become white.

  “Well then I'm sorry,” she replied. “I wasn't trying to upset you.”

  This has to end, he thought. I can't let this crap continue. She's ruining everything that's I care about in my life. I don't care how good of a manager she is. She's gone way too far this time.

  “Nikki, it's done,” he said.

  “What? What do you mean?” she asked. Fear trickled into her voice.

  “You're done, Nikki,” Oliver repeated. “You're fired. You no longer work for me. As of today I am not your employer.”

  “Are you joking, Ollie? Really? Come on, you aren't going to do that.”

  “I just did,” he said. “You've pushed and you've pushed and you finally went over the line. You had no right coming into my home last night and doing what you did.”

  “It was just a silly picture. Don't overreact. Besides, we have a contract, Oliver,” she said, her voice getting louder. “You can't fire me.”

  Oliver chucked, shaking his head. “You posted a photo of us online telling everyone that we are a couple. That's a total sham. By doing that, you've broken our contract. I have every right to let you go. If you want to try to fight it, then fine. But I'd recommend reading the fine print first and getting a damn good lawyer.”

  He knew the contract between Nikki and himself quite well. He'd spent the better part of an afternoon going over it with his lawyer before signing. He wanted to be quite sure that having Nikki work for him wouldn't end up biting him in the butt. It turned out that his concerns had not been in vain.

  “You're really firing me?” she asked, sounding more angry than sad. “I thought we were friends, Ollie.”

  “Anyone who would want to deliberately sabotage my love life is no friend of mine,” he said. “I'm going to hang up now, but not before I ask one question.”

  “What?” she growled.

  “Why did you do it?” he asked. “Why would you do something like this? It doesn't make any sense to me.”

  “I was sick and tired of seeing you with that whore physical trainer,” she said angrily. “I should have known when I'd hired her that you'd get starry eyed over the bitch. And look, I was right. Here you are, bowing down to her like some kind of loser. You're a loser, Ollie. That's all you are. You might be able to fool the general public, but you can't fool me. Of all the girls you could get, you choose some hillbilly from a podunk town in Iowa? Good choice, Oliver. You could have had me, but now you've gone and screwed it up.”

  “First off, Elsie is neither a whore nor a bitch,” he said. He was lucky he could see straight enough to drive. Rage rippled through him in waves. “Don't you dare say anything like that ever again. And second off, you're right. I could have had you. But I didn't want you, Nikki. You're manipulative and cruel and I'm beginning to wonder if there's a soul underneath that skin of yours. It doesn't matter now, though. You're gone, Nikki. Forever.”

  He hung up the phone without waiting for her response and then tossed it over to the passenger seat. Immediately, Nikki tried calling back. Over and over again, his phone rang. She must have tried at least ten times before he reached over and muted the ringer. He pressed hard on the gas, urgently driving to Elsie's hotel.

  “I hope she's still there and that she hasn't seen that picture yet,” he whispered to himself. “Please, please, please...”

  Chapter 24

  Elsie

  Elsie had been waiting impatiently all morning. She was excited to see Oliver later that afternoon, once he was through with his meeting with the sponsors. In an effort to kill some time, she'd taken a walk around town, casually seeing the sights. She'd enjoyed a coffee and some breakfast at a little diner near the hotel, then strolled through the neighborhoods, soaking up the warm morning sunshine.

  When she got back to her room at around eleven, she decided to get ready for her lunch date. Since it was just lunch and not a fancy dinner, she dressed in dark jeans and a light blue blouse. It wasn't too dressy, but also not too casual. Plus, she thought the blouse looked super sexy on her and she knew that Ollie would love the way her butt looked in the tight jeans.

  I've got an hour, she thought, crawling onto the bed and picking up her cell phone from the nightstand. What do I do for an hour?

  So she did what anybody would do if they had a little bit of time to kill and they were holding their phone in their hands. She went straight to the Internet to check her news feed on her social media accounts. It would be the same old thing, she knew, but it at least would entertain her for the time being. She read the latest updates from her friends, laughed at a few cat videos, and then sat up straight in the bed when she saw a trending post about The Bandit's star quarterback.

  Elsie didn't even bother reading any more of the headline before clicking on the link. It sent her to a webpage where she was greeted with a picture. Not just any picture, though, but one of Oliver and Nikki. Her heart turned to lead and sunk into her stomach. Her throat went dry and she tried to swallow, but couldn't.

  “What is this?” she whispered.

  As if the picture itself wasn't enough, she then caught a glimpse of the comment that Nikki had written underneath.

  Why is she calling Oliver her boyfriend? She thought. This has to be an old photo.

  Elsie then scrolled back to the top of page to check the date. It had been posted just twelve hours before. It was as fresh as an open wound. Her chest tightened and she could suddenly hear her heart pumping blood past her eardrums. Pure, raw emotion filled her. It was jealousy, combined with anger and topped off with hurt, confusion and betrayal.

  “This can't be,” she said, out loud.

  Elsie then backed out of the website and began searching the Internet for any information she could find on Oliver. She was welcomed by exactly what she feared; more of the same. She found the original photo and found that Oliver had liked it and even commented on it.

  “You're too good to me, Babe!” Each word was a knife to her heart. It was suddenly impossible to breathe.

  The photo was everywhere and so was the news that Nikki and Oliver Lance were a couple. It was obvious she'd been duped and lied to. She'd never felt so sick or used in her life.

  It didn't take but a few minutes before the damn of dignity that was holding back her emotions finally broke. Tears burst out of her eyes and flowed down her cheeks, ruining the makeup that she'd spent so much time making perfect for Oliver.

  They're all the same, she thought. All guys. Even the ones who you think are something different.

  Heartbroken, the only thing Elsie wanted to do was go home. The thought of facing Oliver made her sick to her stomach. She didn't want to see him again. She didn't want to hear his name or see his face. The only thing she really wanted was to be able to move on with her life and do everything she could not to even think about him.

  “I shouldn't have come out here,” she said, as she hopped onto her computer. “I should have known better. I'm just a notch in Oliver's bedpost, just like I feared.”

  Once her laptop had started up, so went to the website to ord
er a plane ticket back home. The flights were booked, though, at least for the next two days. So she bought the soonest ticket available, which had her leaving the day after next at five in the morning.

  That'll have to do, she thought.

  She wiped the tears from her cheek, but it didn't do any good. It would have been more effective to sweep the ocean back with a broom. They just kept coming and the agony inside of her only got worse with each passing minute. The more she thought about it, the more intense her emotions became.

  How could he do this to me? She thought, as she paced her room. Was he dating Nikki the whole time? I opened myself up and all he did was take advantage of me.

  Even though it was two days until her flight out of San Francisco, she went ahead and began packing her bags anyway. She wanted to be as ready as possible when the time finally came to leave. Her urge to be home was powerful, even more so than when she had left for college. She couldn't wait to see her parents and Uncle Frank. Suddenly, going back to work at her clinic seemed more like a vacation. Or at the very least, it was something familiar and didn't hurt.

  She grabbed her phone and for a fleeting moment, considered calling Oliver and confronting him about the incident, but the idea left her mind as soon as it had come. She decided she wouldn't give him the time of day. He didn't deserve it.

  “Screw this,” she said, tossing the phone onto her bed. “I need to go for a walk or something. Get some air.”

  Elsie stepped into her tennis shoes and opened the door to the room. She'd hardly had a chance to close the door behind her before the sound of footsteps caused her to look down the hallway. There, running toward her at breakneck speed, was Oliver. He was dressed in a black suit and his tie was over his shoulder, flowing back like a cape.

  What the hell is he doing here? She asked herself.

  Ollie ran up and slid to a halt, coming toe-to-toe with Elsie. He was panting and out of breath. A few drops of sweat ran down his forehead.

  “Elsie, thank god you're here,” he said. “We need to talk.”

  Seeing him in person made her even angrier and she felt like slapping him right across the face.

  “We don't need to talk,” she said, swallowing back her tears. “We don't need to do anything. We're done, Ollie. I saw your damn picture with Nikki. You're a disgusting dirt bag of a man and you have no business being in my life.”

  “Elsie, please. You have to let me explain,” Ollie begged. “It's not what it looks like.”

  “Go away, Oliver,” she said, crossing her arms. “I mean it. You've hurt me so badly. The fact that you'd sleep with Nikki and call her your girlfriend while you and I were dating me makes me sick. I've got enough going on in my life and I certainly don't need this. Please, just leave. Go home and don't ever call me again. I'm doing the same.”

  Ollie sighed, looking defeated. “Please. Let me tell you what happened. I wasn't sleeping with Nikki and I wasn't dating her. I haven't been with her for over a year. She snuck into my room last night and...”

  Elsie cut him short. “Oh yeah, Oliver. That makes total sense. She 'snuck' into your room, huh? Did she also accidentally drop her panties and take off her shirt? Did she happen to sneak under your covers while she was at it? I hate when those kind of accidents happen.”

  She placed her hands onto Oliver's chest and pushed him hard. It forced him to take a few steps backwards.

  “You have to trust me, Elsie,” he said, moving back toward her. “Please. Nothing happened last night. Nikki is crazy. She's trying to ruin my life because she's jealous of you.”

  “You want me to trust you, Ollie?” Elsie felt another wave of tears coming on, but she did her best to ignore it. “How am I supposed to do that? You think I don't know your history with women? You're a player, Oliver. I knew that when I first looked you up online after we met.”

  “Elsie, it wasn't me-”

  “But I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt. So for three months, I ignored what everybody already knew about you. Do you know why I did that, Ollie? I ignored it because I thought I had gotten to know you. The real you. I thought I had gotten to know the Oliver Lance that the public didn't have a clue about. For the last couple of weeks, I was absolutely certain that you weren't the womanizing player that everybody had made you out to be.” She was shouting now, but she didn't care. “But I had been duped. I guess I should only blame myself, though. I should have realized that guys like you never change.”

  Oliver stayed silent the entire time. His shoulders were slumped forward and he looked sadder than Elsie had ever seen him. She didn't care. There was no way that he was more upset than she was.

  She pointed down the hallway. “You need to leave.”

  “What about you?” he asked, not moving a step. “Are you leaving?”

  “Am I leaving?” she snapped back. “What do you care?”

  “I don't want you to go home before you at least let me tell you the whole story of what happened,” he begged. “Please.”

  “I don't need or want the story,” she said, shaking her head. “I saw the story this morning on the web. Trust me, that was enough.”

  Two heads popped out of doors along the hallway.

  “Please, just leave so I can get on with my life as you so obviously have with yours.” Her hands were shaking she was so angry. “Good luck with your season. I hope your knee stays healthy.”

  After saying that, she turned and went back inside of her hotel room. She closed and locked the door, then leaned against it. The tears she'd been holding back exploded out of her. Oliver knocked on the door, but she ignored it and ran to her bed. With her face buried in her pillow, she just cried. She cried until her eyes were dry and the pillow case was soaked. By the time the waves of emotion had passed, Ollie had stopped knocking on the door and the room was silent.

  Elsie rolled over and sighed. The word “heartbroken” wouldn't have done any justice to the way she was feeling now. The man that she was beginning to love had shattered her trust and stomped on her heart. Now, she was forced to wait for two miserable days until she could catch her flight back home.

  I can't believe Oliver did this to me, she thought. When I get back home, I'm throwing away everything that reminds me of him. That's all I can do, is just pretend this fling with him never happened.

  Chapter 25

  Elsie

  Two days later...

  It was early in the morning. Elsie had hardly left her hotel room since the run in with Oliver in the hallway. She practically locked herself in there and only opened the door to allow room service in. It wasn't because she was suddenly afraid of the outside world, it was just that she didn't want to deal with it right then. She didn't want to have to fake a smile when ordering at a cafe, or really even talk to anyone.

  Most of her time had been spent in bed, eating junk food and crying. She had tried watching an old movie, but it only depressed her. Everything seemed to remind her of Ollie. It didn't help that he had continually tried to call her and had left a bunch of messages, all of which she had ignored.

  Why is this eating me up so bad? It's not like I've known Oliver for that long. She thought, as she packed the rest of her belongings into her suitcase. But this hurts. This hurts a lot.

  There was only about ten minutes before she needed to leave for her flight. It was time. It was time to move on and forget about everything to do with Oliver Lance. Elsie got out her cell phone and ordered up a ride from Uber. Then she gathered her bags, threw her purse over her shoulder and stepped out of her room. She went straight down to the lobby and then outside to wait for her ride.

  The sun was shining and the birds were chirping, but she didn't feel like she could relate to their excitement. All that sounded good was curling up into a ball on the floor of her apartment and sleeping for a full day. She figured that would be all she'd need, or at least all that she'd allow herself to have in order to get over this.

  I can't let this take any more time away from
my life than it already has, she thought.

  As the minutes ticked by, Elsie noticed many people walking in and out of the hotel. Most of them were wearing Bandit's jerseys and hats, or at the very least they were sporting the team colors. It was the beginning of football season. Oliver would be playing his first game today.

  Dammit, Elsie, she told herself. Don't even think about him.

  Within a few minutes, her ride pulled up in a large black SUV. She got into the back seat with her luggage and was greeted by a young man with dark hair and a wide smile.

  “Good morning!” he said, sounding way too cheery for how early it was. “Looks like you're headed to the airport. Elizabeth? Is that right?”

  “Yes, please,” she replied, looking out the window.

  “You got it,” the driver said, pulling away from the curb.

  Elsie watched as the hotel panned out of view. A single tear fell down her cheek, but she quickly wiped it away. She'd had break ups before and she knew it would hurt for a while, but eventually it would be okay. It would only be a matter of time before the pain that was currently in her heart would be nothing more than a memory. She just needed to get through the worst of it.

  “Do you mind if I turn on the radio?” The man behind the steering wheel looked up into the rear view mirror as he spoke.

  “No, of course not,” Elsie said. “Go for it.”

  Talk radio filled the interior of the car and it only took a second for Elsie to realize they were talking about sports. And of course, since it was the first day of the season, the announcers were talking about football. She tried not to listen, but it was impossible not to.

  My only concern this year, John, is about the Bandit's new receiver, Demitri Jameson. The kid is fast, there's no doubt. But does he have the ability to break tackles and simply run the football? We saw him make some major mistakes in pre-season and that concerns me.