by Cross,Lexi
“I just got a call from a potential donor,” I said, still trying to figure out how I was going to tell him what had just happened without implicating myself in any way.
“Okay. I’m sure that happens a lot,” he said, laughing to lighten the mood. “What did they say?”
“He wants me to sleep with him before he donates any money to the charity,” I said with my eyes closed. It felt more like I was thinking the words instead of saying them. When I opened my eyes, I wasn’t sure I had even said anything to Lucky.
It didn’t help that he sat in silence on the other end for a moment before responding.
“What did you tell him?” he asked slowly, all the humor gone from his voice.
“No,” I said loudly, shaking my head like he could see me. “No. I told him no.”
“So everything’s okay, right? You put him in his place, and his offer is off the table,” Lucky said, looking for me to agree and confirm what he was assuming.
“He’s not taking no for an answer, Lucky. He’s threatening to find me and rape me without leaving a donation,” I said shakily. My whole body quaked with fear.
“Not going to happen,” he said. “Who the hell is this guy?”
I pursed my lips and shook my head again. I couldn’t tell him. I didn’t want anything to happen to him. Tommy was a big deal. He made things happen to people who stood in his way.
“Kendra, who is he?” he asked again when I didn’t say anything.
“I can’t, Lucky. I couldn’t forgive myself if you went after him and didn’t come back.”
“Whoa, he’s like that?” Lucky asked.
“He can be.”
“Okay, you’re staying with me, at least until this blows over. If he tries anything here, I’m not worried about how powerful he thinks he is,” Lucky told me.
I felt another chill. His threat was so nonchalant that it felt even more dangerous than anything Tommy could have said. There was no bravado in his voice. His words were just a fact.
“Are you sure?” I asked him. I wasn’t sold on the idea of moving in with him. It felt like things were moving way too fast for us.
“I’m sure. At least if you’re here, I know you’re safe. I have very tight security here, and if this guy needs to be confronted, I’ve got that under control as well. There’s nothing you need to worry about here,” Lucky insisted.
“I’m just not used to having to run from my problems,” I told him hesitantly. That was only part of the reason behind my reluctance to accept his offer, but I didn’t want to admit that I was thinking about us right then.
“Look, I’ll get you set up any way you want me to. You can have your own room, or you can share the room with me. It doesn’t matter to me either way, but I want you here so I can protect you from this asshole.”
“Okay, I’ll do it,” I relented. “But only until all of this blows over.”
“That’s fine. I’ll send a moving crew over to help you get your things,” he said.
“Thanks, Lucky.” I really was grateful, but I also felt like life was putting me in my place. I’d been living on my own for so long that I wasn’t sure if I could handle moving in with Lucky. I certainly wasn’t sure how to handle letting someone else take care of me again.
“No problem, Kendra. You won’t regret this,” he added before hanging up.
I looked around my apartment. Realizing I had to pack up my entire life right then, I already did regret my decision. I knew it was the best plan of action if I wanted to avoid Tommy. I didn’t even have any boxes. I hoped that the moving crew would be prepared to help me pack when they showed up. In the meantime, I started picking up around the apartment. I wanted it to at least be clean and ready to be packed when they showed up. I had no idea when he was going to send them, so I hurried.
Chapter Fourteen
Lucky
“Have you seen the tabloids this morning?” Coach asked on the phone.
“No, I haven’t,” I said with a little laugh. I wondered what I had done to end up in the tabloids, unless they had some pictures of us from our trip to see my parents.
“Then you really need to come up to the practice facility. We need to talk.” His humorless voice told me that something was wrong. Something was very wrong, and I knew immediately that Raven had made a move.
I wanted to protest, to argue that I couldn’t leave the house while I was waiting for Kendra to get there with the moving crew, but I knew it was no use.
“Can you send someone around to get me?” I asked. I wasn’t really feeling up to driving, and having someone pick me up gave me a little extra time to make sure someone would be there to help Kendra and the moving crew.
“Someone is on the way now,” Coach said. “We’ll see you soon.”
Not knowing what she had said to the press was the worst. I couldn’t gauge how much trouble I was in. I wondered how long I was going to have to pay for the mistakes I made with her. I should have taken her up on her offer. I should have slept with her, just once. It wouldn’t have taken long. I could have met her at a hotel. Then again, I knew that giving her what she wanted never worked out either. The best thing was going to be to deal with it directly.
I didn’t keep much house staff on. I wasn’t like my boy Jake back home who had tons of staff for every little thing. I only had a couple of people who worked every day to help me maintain my house. I enjoyed my money, but I didn’t enjoy living quite that lavishly. I handed one of my staff members an extra set of house keys to give Kendra when she arrived with the moving crew. Then I hobbled outside and waited for the car to arrive to take me to the team’s practice facility and headquarters.
When I showed up, I was whisked directly into the boardroom, where the big deals were usually made between the team owners and promoters. It was also where we met with the legal team when things went wrong. And things had gone terribly wrong.
I walked into the room to find Mr. Stevens sitting at the head of the table. Coach Anglin sat to his right, and our team of lawyers sat in the next few seats on both sides of the table. I took the open seat across from the lawyer closest to me. There were four of them, and they were all dressed in dark suits.
“Have you seen this?” Coach asked as they passed one of the tabloids across to me.
“What the hell is this? Is this some kind of joke?” I asked. Raven was on the cover, all bruised up, with the headline Kicker’s Ex Not So Lucky.
“They all look like this today. It’s on every cover,” Mr. Stevens added.
I looked up at my coach and the owner. Surely they didn’t believe I’d done this. They couldn’t have believed it. When would I have had the chance?
“Don’t worry, Cade, we don’t believe the story, but we think it’s time to sit down with you and the lawyers here to decide how we handle Miss Raven,” Mr. Stevens said with an almost reassuring tone in his heavy voice.
I opened the magazine and flipped through. “What’s the story here?” I asked, though I could have guessed it.
“The story is that you two dated for a while before you were traded. She called you the other day, and you showed up at her place to do this to her,” Coach said.
I started to defend myself, but Mr. Stevens held up a hand to silence me.
“Before you say anything, let me tell you that our lawyers are here to help you. They’re going to ask you a few questions to see what we need to do to get you off if or when this goes to court.”
“Thank you,” I said with a heavy sigh.
“Mr. Hendrix, have you had any contact with Raven any time recently?” the first lawyer asked.
“Yes,” I said, closing my eyes. “She called me over the weekend while I was at my parents’ house.” I couldn’t believe it. The truth was already lining up with her story to damn me. That fact wasn’t lost on the lawyers either. They shared a look as I answered the question.
“Can anyone vouch for your whereabouts at the time?” he continued.
“My pare
nts and Kendra Boles,” I told them. We continued talking just like that. One of them would ask a question, and I would answer it. Then all of them would look at each other or down at their notepads. They would take notes, and we would move on to the next question.
“Okay, the plus side is that there aren’t any of these abuse pictures from when you two were seeing each other before, but there are plenty of tabloid photos out there of both you and Raven, documenting a good portion of your relationship. Not a single one of those photos shows any sign of abuse. You’ve got a good, clean record there,” the lawyer assured me.
“The problem is that your behavior has been so erratic over the years that this type of story might not shock everybody. That hurts us,” another lawyer added.
I watched as they bounced ideas off of each other across the table, as if they were playing ping-pong or something. Mr. Stevens and Coach Anglin sat back and listened to them as well. I was innocent, and I was pretty sure everyone at the table knew that beyond a shadow of a doubt.
While they discussed preparations for taking this to trial versus settling to keep me out of court, I sat and considered other ways to handle it, ways to eliminate her for good. My thoughts must have been clearly displayed on my face, because one of the lawyers looked over at me suddenly.
“Whatever you do, Mr. Hendrix, don’t talk to her. Don’t visit her. Don’t answer her calls. At this point, it’s best to avoid her completely.”
I nodded. They were right. Of course they were. This was what they did for a living. They knew the best ways to keep me out of trouble with all of this. I told myself I had to trust them if I wanted to avoid any legal action.
“You do understand what’s at stake here, don’t you?” Mr. Stevens asked me.
“I do. Whatever the lawyers advise is what I’ll do,” I answered.
That was when a knock came at the boardroom door. We all looked up from the table as the door opened. A member of the team staff came in, followed by two police officers in their black uniforms.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said under my breath.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Mr. Stevens shouted, standing up from his chair at the head of the table.
“Cade Hendrix?” the officer in front asked, looking directly at me.
“Yes, sir,” I answered. I knew what was coming next.
“We have a warrant for your arrest,” he said as the other officer walked around behind me.
I stood up as he read me my rights while the other officer cuffed me.
“Is that really necessary?” Coach asked in disgust. “You act like he’s going to try to do something.”
“Coach,” I said, cutting my eyes to him. I shook my head to let him know that right then was not the time to start mouthing off to the police.
“Mr. Stevens, Coach Anglin,” the first lawyer said, rising from his chair. “We’ll handle this properly. Please have a seat and be patient. We don’t want to make this harder on Mr. Hendrix than it has to be.”
I was beginning to think he was the lead attorney for the team. That was when I realized that I didn’t know any of their names. I had just trusted that they were looking out for my best interest because they worked for the team.
“When can we come down and post bail?” Mr. Stevens asked, refusing to sit for the lawyers.
“Once we have him down there and booked, you can post bail or send his lawyer to meet with him,” one of the officers replied.
“I’m assuming this is related to what’s in the papers today,” the lead attorney said.
“Mr. Hendrix is being charged with assault and battery,” the officer confirmed.
“So, I’m also going to assume he’s going to be held until a judge can set bail,” the lawyer continued.
“You can verify that down at the station,” the officer said, and they led me out of the boardroom.
My stomach sank at the thought that I wasn’t going to be able to get out right away. The longer I spent in jail, the worse the whole scandal would become. I knew that by the time I was able to even see a judge, if they made me wait to post bail, Kendra would have seen the papers with Raven’s bruises plastered all over the covers.
The paparazzi were outside waiting for me when they pulled me from the facility. Cameras started going off as soon as we walked outside. They were getting quite a show as the police led me to the car. I kept my head down in the typical manner to avoid letting them get direct shots of me. And I was still hobbling from my injury.
“Are you okay?” one of the officers asked at one point. “Should we run them off?”
“I hate to say it, but no. Let them take pictures. And I’m fine. I was injured during training, but I should be back on the field soon. It’s just uncomfortable at this point.” I was thankful that they were at least considerate and polite. They could have been complete jerks about it. They had a big star athlete in their custody for a violent offense. They didn’t have to play nice.
“If you want to give them a show, I can be a little rougher,” he said back to me under his breath.
“Thanks, but don’t make me laugh. I don’t want them to see me smiling,” I told him.
“Fair enough.” He opened the door and pushed me into the car with force. I sat back, leaning against my cuffed hands. The two officers climbed into the front, ignoring the questions from reporters, who kept asking if my arrest had anything to do with the allegations that I had beaten Raven.
They closed the car doors, locking the reporters outside, and we left.
“So, if I have to wait for the judge to set bail, how long is that going to be?” I asked as we rode down to the station.
“Your lawyer can get all of that information when he comes down to see you,” the officer driving replied.
I sighed and sat back in the seat again. There was no use in trying to continue the conversation. I wasn’t going to get any information until my lawyer came down to the station to see me. I was pretty sure I was going to spend at least one night in jail, possibly a couple of nights.
“Do I at least get a phone call?” I asked eventually. I needed to call Kendra to let her know what was going on. I was sure she’d already heard the news. Then again, if she was busy trying to get moved in, she probably wouldn’t know right away.
“Once you’re booked, they should let you make a call,” the other officer answered.
I was impressed with how helpful they were despite not having all of the information I needed. I wondered how long it was going to take me to get out, how Kendra was going to react when she finally saw or heard the news, and how she was going to react when I explained to her why it was all happening.
I dreaded talking to her. I dreaded having to wait to talk to her in person even more.
Chapter Fifteen
Kendra
Lucky wasn’t at the house when I arrived with the moving crew. I was greeted at the door by a member of the house staff, a young man named Aaron, who told me that Lucky had been called away to a meeting at his team’s headquarters. He said Lucky had told him to help me get everything in if he still wasn’t back before I showed up.
Aaron was a tall, thin young man formally dressed in black. He told me he would supervise the move inside since he knew where my things were supposed to go. He showed me to the kitchen and poured me a glass of champagne to enjoy while I waited.
I’d been in Lucky’s house before, but it had only been for dinner, maybe a few hours at the most. I hadn’t really taken time to explore the three-story stucco mansion. I sat on one of the barstools in his kitchen and looked outside where we’d sat the last time I was there. I drank my champagne and listened as the moving crew worked with Aaron to get all of my things inside.
It seemed to take as long to get everything in as it had taken to pack everything up and put it in the moving van. I noticed a few magazines sitting on the bar, obviously there to entertain staff or guests. They didn’t seem to have been disturbed, leading me to believe no one h
ad read them yet.
I reached over and slid the issue on top across the bar to where I could see it. The cover showed a beautiful brunette with bruises on her face, neck, and shoulder. The headline read Kicker’s Ex Not So Lucky. I opened the magazine and thumbed to the article.
I sat and read in disbelief. The brunette’s name was Raven Cox. According to the story, she was trying to say that Lucky had visited her home after a recent phone call. While there, he assaulted her. She said she wasn’t sure if he had raped her or not because she blacked out from the trauma.
I couldn’t believe it. Lucky wasn’t the type to hit a woman. There was no way he could have done what I was reading. The timeline she established in the article would have put us at his parents’ house when she said he was over at her residence beating and possibly raping her. The article didn’t mention a rape kit or any possibility that she was going to press charges against him for raping her.