First and ten.
Just like that.
Spiking the ball, Walsh and Kelly jumped on him, banging him up.
God this felt good.
He would never, ever get tired of this.
“Alright idiots hush up,” Head Coach Griffin bellowed over the team inside the locker room. “This is the kind of chemistry and precision I want to see at every game from now on,” he yelled scanning the room. “This is what we do.”
Players half stripped to just pads with their jerseys off, the mood in the locker room was electric. The Mavs had scored another two touchdowns, one more from him and another from Trevor Perry. The Titans had only managed a field goal after that, bringing the Mavs up to take the win.
“Game ball,” Griffin announced holding up the football. Scanning the room, he threw it over to him. Catching it, his muscles ached even with the slight catch as coach eyed him seriously. “Keep it up.”
His coach was intense among his other charming qualities, but he knew what he was referring to. And he would keep it up. He was on a hot streak and he had no intentions of slowing down now.
“Now shower up, y’all smell like wet dogs,” Griffin barked rubbing his bald head under his ball cap. Tossing the ball into the locker cubby, Shay smirked. Just another ball to add to his ever-growing collection. He really should do something with all of them. The hamper he stored them in wasn’t cutting it any longer. And he liked his achievements right where he could see them.
“Some pretty impressive hooks today, Nova,” Liam Walsh slapped him on the arm getting his attention. Sitting down beside him, the running back looked wrung out. Walsh was persistent and fast as hell, almost as fast as him, but the title of fastest motherfucker on the field, still belonged to Shay.
“Child’s play,” Shay smirked grabbing his towel as Myles started another chant. “Speaking of play. Want to head out tonight?”
“Yeah man, hit me up later,” Liam nodded heading for the showers. “It’s been awhile.”
Good. At least someone was up for going out and celebrating a stellar game. There were only a few guys he liked to hang with and ones he considered close friends. But most of them were married with kids and some of them may as well be with how much time they spent with their women.
“Cunningham out to endorse his ridiculous nickname,” Trevor griped, taking his jersey off, throwing it on the floor.
“Don’t be sour because you’re a married man now and your sex life has been cut by more than half, Perry,” Shay ragged, earning him the flip of the bird. Trevor had finally persuaded his longtime girlfriend to marry his ass. Chelsea was a great girl. Super cool and a great mom to their even cooler son, Asher.
“Too bad his balls haven’t dropped yet,” Jax razzed, ripping his undershirt off with one arm. The man was a beast. The build of a defensive player with a talent to throw a ball like a missile, all the while smart enough to work down the clock.
An enigma.
He would never say it out loud, but he respected Jax. And his career. Working with him had sharpened his skills on the field and forced him to raise his game. He had always relied on his God-given talents when playing ball, but he owed a lot of his new cognitive skills of the game to his captain. But he wouldn’t say anything. It would only ruin their love-hate relationship that they had worked so hard on for over four seasons.
“And one day your wife will come to her senses and be calling for the younger, sexier and more talented version,” he smirked holding his arms out. “All roads lead to Casanova.”
Scowling, Jax clenched his jaw. He loved getting the dude wound up, especially when it came to his gorgeous wife. Jax loved that woman something fierce and wouldn’t flinch to break Shay’s arm off in regards to anything that had to do with Liv or his family. He had learned that the hard way when he had stirred up his captain to get his head out of his ass when he had tried to protect his family against the former owner’s unhinged daughter. He had hit the jackpot in the wife pool with Liv and he was happy for Jax, but that didn’t mean he didn’t like to get under his skin. He liked keeping his captain on his toes. It kept the big guy young.
Showering up quickly, Shay got dressed throwing on a pair of jeans and a Mavs shirt. He needed to get out and answer questions from the media, although responding to their prying and sometimes ridiculous questions had never bothered him after a win. Sliding on his beanie he grabbed his bag, heading for the door. He wasn’t allowed to say what he really wanted to say, management always on his jock to stay PC and not get tangled up in rivalry crap with other teams. Couldn’t say that the Titans’ offense was slow as shit today and Myles played them like a drum all afternoon.
“Cunningham,” Griffin’s voice sounded across the locker room. “A word.”
Shaking hands with a few players drifting out of the locker room, he followed Griffin inside the office sitting down in the hard leather seat across from him. He had always been good at reading people. A skill that came in handy when reacting to another player blocking him or throwing him off. But Griffin, well he was a tough one. Never knowing if the man was going to congratulate him or rip his head off. Most of the time, it was the latter.
“Impressive today,” he nodded sitting back in his chair crossing one leg over the other. “But don’t get comfortable. You need to be performing like this, if not better, every single game, you got that?”
He was in his contract year. His last season before he was up for free agency, a thought that kept him up at night. He loved Charleston. He loved his team. He fit here. Belonged. Not that management gave a rat’s ass about where he belonged. It was all a numbers game, he knew that, but despite his notions that he would do whatever needed to be done to stay in Charleston, it hadn’t seemed to be mattering much to Bill Mathis, the general manager. Taking into account the new team owner whom wanted to shift a few things around, he needed to prove himself. Every day. Every practice. Every game.
“I didn’t want this in your head going into the game today,” Griffin squinted, leaning into the desk. “I talked to Mathis on Friday. It’s dicey.”
Shit.
“But I want you to listen to me. You just focus on doing more of what you did today and I’ll keep on Mathis,” Griffin promised standing up and throwing his hat down on the desk. The madman would never admit it, but Shay knew that coach, just like everyone else on the team, was worried about losing a critical member of the perfectly constructed team. He could tell. But he was smarter than to bring that up. “Now go do your interviews.”
Agreeing, Shay walked out of the office. He needed a strategy. He’d be damned if he was going to be traded to a team in a rebuilding season or the lowest in their division because of a numbers game. He just needed to focus. And relax. And relaxing between the sheets with a few more than willing females sounded like the best laid plan he had thought of all day.
“If Mrs. Banks changes her party theme one more time…” Whitney trailed off plopping into the large chair across from Ross. Smirking, he typed away while simultaneously checking his phone that chirped. The man was a managing genius and she just loved watching him. He was fascinating.
“What does she want now?” he asked not taking his eyes from the computer screen. “Let me guess, something trite like, aged to perfection wine theme?”
Chuckling, she shook her head browsing aimlessly through the latest details and specifics. Ones she had forced her pen to write down. She had just spent the greater part of the last hour on the phone with Mrs. Banks constructing designs and offering her professional opinion, only to be turned down. “More along the lines of ‘I want to be twenty-one again,’” she laughed quietly. She couldn’t help it. This was the fourth theme Mrs. Banks had requested in the past three weeks. Which was a shame because she was really looking forward to pulling off their original idea of The Great Gatsby. “Redneck chic, I believe is what she is calling it.”
Lifting his brow over his laptop, Ross shook his head.
“Good af
ternoon,” Liv’s voice filled the office, placing down a cup carrier on Ross’s desk. “Here’s a little mid-day pick me up.”
Her boss’s big smile was like a breath of fresh air in the middle of the afternoon. She adored Liv. And she owed a lot to her as well. Not only was she an amazing woman to work with and train under, but she was an exceptional friend. One she had depended on more than she wanted to confess since having Quinn. She was a saint and she had always admired her sixth sense of knowing exactly what everyone needed before they even had a chance to ask. Her belly a bit swollen under her long sleeved dress, she looked so happy and refreshed. Not at all like the walking fit of nerves she’d been the past year.
“Thank you,” Whitney grinned picking up the small cup of tea with her name written on it. Mumbling in acknowledgement, Ross looked up quickly and then back down to his computer.
Ross had taken on more of the business end of things when Liv decided to take a step back from Save the Date to focus on her family. Her perfect, beautiful little family. Which left more time to dedicate herself to managing all events for the Mavericks football organization. Her plate was filled just enough, a more even balance than it had been a few short months ago when she watched her boss run herself into the ground. But Liv taking a step back and relinquishing more control meant leaving the bulk of the strategic planning, timelines, meetings and setup to both Whitney and Ross. But she didn’t mind. Not only did she need the extra money and all the hours she could handle, but she loved what she did. The times when exhaustion would take over, she often reminded herself what she could be doing. What she would have been doing if she hadn’t left Louisiana when she had.
“I placed the order for the candelabras and all the glassware for the champagne tower for Mrs. Banks’ party,” Liv said fishing a folder out of her bag, her long blonde hair running down her back.
“Negative,” Ross shook his head still tapping away on the computer. Wincing, Whitney looked over at Liv. She wasn’t going to like this one.
“Mrs. Banks changed her mind,” she said holding out the file she had spent most of the day building. “Again.”
“What?!” Liv’s head jerked up, her eyes widening. “I just spent the last week hiding inside my closet so that Jax wouldn’t see all the time I was spending finding exactly what she requested.”
Shaking her head slowly, Whitney mouthed that she was sorry. All that work, just gone now. Plopping into the chair beside her, Liv groaned resting her hands on her small belly. “Well, what does she want now? And if you tell me a wine theme I’m going to scream.”
Cringing again, she shook her head. “Redneck chic?”
“How in the world,” Liv stuttered, her brows snapping together. “That,” she spat. “Well, that doesn’t even make any sense,” Liv said shaking her head. “That’s an oxymoron!”
Curling her lips under, Whitney bit down trying not to laugh. Looking between Liv and Ross, she was grateful that she didn’t have the final call on this one. Nope, she’d leave this one to the bosses. She had handled plenty of indecisive clients in her time, but unfortunately with Mrs. Banks, time wasn’t on their side.
“She really does need to make up her mind,” Whitney offered looking at the calendar on her phone. “We need to cancel these orders and go back to the drawing board and we’re running out of time.”
“You’re right,” Liv agreed concentrating way too hard on the pen holder on Ross’s desk, picking at her nail. Whitney could almost see her mind drawing up a way to actually bring redneck and chic together.
“And somebody needs to tell her that this is it,” Whitney stressed, holding up her hands. “She can’t change her mind anymore.”
Agreeing, she and Liv looked at each other across the chairs. “You’re right. Somebody does need to do that.”
Grinning back at her, she knew Liv didn’t want to deal with Mrs. Banks any more than she did. Neither of them any good at being forcefully direct and avoiding confrontation like the plague. And a confrontation it would be because Mrs. Banks wanted what she wanted, when she wanted it, whether or not she even knew what it was that she actually wanted.
“I wish I could think of someone who could stress all of that to her,” Whitney smiled for the first time all day.
“You two are as subtle as a pack of bulls,” Ross deadpanned behind the computer, his eyes never wavering. “I’ll handle it.”
Giggling she took another sip of her tea. Poor man was surrounded by estrogen all day. Every day.
“How do you feel?” Liv asked grabbing her own small tea sipping it slowly. “How is Quinn adjusting to Magda?”
Another thing she owed to Liv. As the days inched closer to returning back to work full-time, she had been a mess. She couldn’t afford to send Quinn to daycare and the thought of asking her mama to come and help out made her sick. And it more than likely would never have happened. Finally breaking down, she had mustered the nerve to ask Liv if she could bring Quinn to work until she found an alternative, still unsure where her baby girl would go when she started pulling fourteen hour days setting up and coordinating events again. Charlotte and Myles had been a huge help, but she felt guilty depending on them so much. Charlotte was working more than usual and Myles was neck deep in the football season. When Liv had offered Magda, her girls’ baby nurse to stay with Quinn since the twins were in school full-time and Liv was home more, she could have fallen to her knees.
“I love that woman,” Whitney sighed thinking about Quinn’s face lighting up at the sight of Magda just this morning. “Quinn just adores her.” Magda hadn’t wasted a minute getting acclimated with Quinn’s routine and her sweet personality. New feeding schedules had been instilled to help Whitney get more sleep during the night and she had even managed to get rid of Quinn’s reflux in the first two days, making her guilt-ridden for not figuring out how to do that on her own.
“Good,” Liv smiled, patting her hand gently. “Alright, well I’m headed over to the Mavericks stadium to discuss a military appreciation BBQ,” she informed, reaching for her bag and taking a few items from Ross’s desk. “Call me if you need anything.”
“Don’t get too invested in that BBQ lovey,” Ross chimed finally, reaching for his coffee. “You need to find a way to pull redneck and chic together in only nine days.”
Cringing, Liv left the office, the sounds of her heels following her out the front door. Flipping through some papers in her lap, Whitney sipped her tea. She missed Quinn. It was her first full week back to work and even though she knew her baby girl was in more than capable hands at home, she missed her gummy smile. Missed her peacefulness after a full bottle and the sweet rise and fall of her chest while she napped. She felt like she was missing so much. Already.
“You alright?” Ross asked, his eyes warm behind his black rimmed glasses.
“Yes, sir,” she lied, looking down at the papers in her lap again. As much as it pained her not to be able to spend all day and night with her sweet baby girl, she needed to get used to it. She was all Quinn had and she was solely responsible for not only their daily lives, but their futures as well. The enormity of that still lodging itself inside her stomach.
“Why don’t you cut out early today,” Ross suggested checking his phone as another email sounded off. “Take whatever you have left home with you. Spend some time with baby girl.”
Her head snapping up, she blinked back at him. “Really?”
Nodding simply, his fingers powered across his phone again. Oh, she wanted to kiss her boss. She didn’t have much left to do, some phone calls and to check in with a bridal salon for a fitting for one of her brides, but that was it. Getting up from her seat, she placed her papers and tea on the desk wrapping her arms around his neck. “You’re the best, you know that?” she gushed, deciding that yes. Yes, she was going to give her boss a big smack on the cheek.
“Don’t forget dreamy as hell,” Ross grinned getting up and stretching his back. Walking into her office she packed up a few folders, ti
dying up real quick. Shutting off the light she slipped on her small sweater. Maybe she would take Quinn for a walk. It was an absolutely beautiful fall day, the kind that Charleston postcards were made of and she was giddy at the thought of being able to take advantage of it. Walking down the short hallway she stopped beside Charlotte’s desk at the all too memorable voice filling the office entry.
“I think I just lost a nut by walking inside this place.”
Poking a six tiered cake, Shay swiped his finger against the frosting, but nothing came off. It was fake. Who the hell displayed a fake cake?
“That’s assuming you actually had a pair,” Myles quipped, walking further into the upscale office with a bag of food from Butcher and Bee. They had just finished devouring the biggest bacon burger he had ever seen and it felt damn good. It was their day off and he was glad to spend time with the big lug. Myles had been spending so much time with Charlotte lately, he almost forgot how much he missed him.
Almost.
“I don’t think I have ever seen anything more gorgeous than you holding that bag,” Charlotte shot up from behind a long glass desk making her way towards them. “I’m starving.”
Chuckling, Myles handed her the bag before giving her a kiss. Glancing away he stuck his hands inside his pockets looking across the room decorated in tables set with large candles and flowers seeing Whitney shuffling papers across the desk. He hadn’t seen her since he slipped out of the hospital the night Quinn had been born.
Quinn.
He often wondered how she was getting along. Myles had mentioned a few times that Quinn was an awesome baby and Whitney had been adjusting to motherhood like a pro, which he didn’t doubt. The little that he did know about her, he knew she was warm and sweet and everything a mother should be. She looked good too. Great actually, and certainly not as wrung out as she had been the last time he had seen her. Leaving Myles and Charlotte to their stomach-turning teenage make out session that made his lunch want to come up he walked across the office. He wasn’t exactly sure what to say. He should have reached out sooner. Should have followed up with her, but then again, what was he supposed to say to her? And why did it really matter? She looked fine. Really fine.
Hail Mary (The Mavericks Series) Page 3