Playing with Fire - A Sports Romance

by Lydia De Luca

  After a lunch of cold meat sandwiches and potato chips, Vivian and I pile into Mitch’s truck - another ruse for the sake of Lee’s little security business - and we head off to Marco’s house. If you would have told me last week I’d be sleeping in the slums last night and shopping through Vivian’s racks of designer clothes today, I would have laughed in your face. But in light of the concerns for my safety, the time spent here instead of out the mile-long public strip of stores makes us all feel better.

  Corey

  After the game, all I wanted was to get back to Frankie. I wasn’t sure if that would ever happen. Lee’s presence drew attention from the team. I tried to beg off, but Lee had other ideas. He insisted on speaking with Matt about what he’d seen of Madison. My friend was more observant than I could ever hope to be and only too happy to help. Not only was Madison hanging out at the bars here at home, but also in every city we traveled to. It’s no wonder Matt didn’t figure out it was Frankie I was with instead.

  We got another surprise once we left the stadium. It didn’t make any sense until after we reached Lee and Mitch’s house. Of course, in order to get there, we were forced to drive all over the city until we lost the crazies who tried chasing after us with cameras hanging out their car windows.

  Upon walking into the living room, my dreams of falling into Frankie’s arms disappear. I find her on the couch, her fingers steepled at her lips, elbows on her knees, eyes glued to the television. Even Mitch’s arm around her back doesn’t bother me as I take in her obvious distress.

  “What’s going on?” I ask as I walk to Frankie’s side. She grabs my hand and pulls me onto the couch beside her. When Mitch backs off, I slide my own arm around her.

  “You made the news,” Mitch tells me.

  And sure enough, there I am. The crazies with the cameras were like the goddamn paparazzi or something. Lee’s massive chest can’t hide me from view. The flashing lights from the cameras make me look every bit as exhausted as I feel. As I listen to the news report that has Frankie’s attention, I begin to understand her concern.

  “…baseball star Corey Lucas. Sources say the target of the fires may have been Frankie Sarcone, niece of prominent businessman, and owner of the team, Marco Leonetti. Greene is wanted for questioning in connection with the case.”

  Mitch mutes the TV as Lee lets loose. There’s not a curse word in the book that doesn’t pass his lips. When he calms down, Frankie turns to Mitch.

  “What’s this mean?” she asks.

  “It means the police have a fucking leak,” Lee says with a growl. “They were gonna hold off on releasing anything until they had a little more on her.”

  “I showed her pic to Carol,” Mitch says. “She’s not sure, but she said it’s possible it’s the woman who was sitting next to Frankie the night she was drugged.”

  “Lot of fucking good that does us now. She’ll be in the wind now that her picture’s all over the news. It’s not going to make it any easier to find her, that’s for sure.”

  “But won’t it make it harder to hide?” I ask. “If everyone knows she’s wanted?”

  “If she didn’t have so much money at her disposal, maybe,” Mitch says.

  A cell phone starts ringing, and both Mitch and Lee grab for theirs before anyone realizes the noise is coming from behind Frankie. She snags the phone and groans before answering. There’s a barrage of noise coming out of the earpiece before Frankie pulls the phone away from her ear. She stabs the end button and throws the phone on the table.

  “Who was that?” Mitch asks.

  “Marco.” Frankie sinks back into the couch beside me and snuggles into my side. When the phone rings again, she doesn’t move to answer it. After the third ring, Lee grabs the phone and disappears into the kitchen.

  We sit in strained silence with only the grumble of Lee’s deep voice in the other room. After a few minutes, Mitch asks, “What’d he want?”

  “To yell at someone?” Frankie shrugs. “All I heard was something about his name being muddied.” When neither Mitch nor I respond, Frankie says, “He knows better than to yell at me like that. I hung up on him the last time he did it, and every time before that.”

  “You’d think he’d be more worried about you than his name,” I say.

  “Oh, that’s what the second call is for. He’ll apologize for his behavior and promise he’s only worried about me. And then he’ll become an overbearing control freak. He’s probably insisting right now that Lee bring me to his place and keep you two out of my life forever.”

  “You know your uncle well,” Lee says as he walks back in the room. “I told him you’re a big girl, you can make your own decisions.”

  “Did he threaten not to pay you for your services?” Frankie asks.

  “And I politely reminded him he is not our client and he was never asked to pay us in the first place.”

  A wide smile splits her face in two. “I knew I liked you.”

  Lee dips his head in acknowledgment. Then he’s back to business. He informs us all of what he’s learned throughout the day, both while working with the police and on his own. Madison’s father is one of the richest men in the country, and his daughter will undoubtedly have his considerable wealth at her disposal. Now with her name out there, it’s even worse. She could be anywhere. There’s no telling what she’s thinking, since, from what Lee can tell, she’s always been fairly quiet. Her social media pages top out at selfies of her doing duck lips and sticking her tongue out like a member of an ’80s hair band. There’s no indication of where she could be going, because there’s very little of where she’s been. Lee promises us he’ll keep searching, that he won’t stop until she’s found.

  It’s well past midnight before Frankie and I trudge up the stairs to go to bed. She peels me out of my clothes and pulls me down onto the bed beside her. When she curls up against my side with her head on my chest, I pull her chin up so I can see her face.

  “You okay?” I ask.

  “I’m worried.”

  “You’ll be alright, doll. Mitch and Lee will take good care of you tomorrow, and I’ll see you at the hotel after the game.”

  “It’s not that,” she says. “I know I’ll be okay. I’m worried about you.”

  I chuckle and kiss her forehead. “You’re the one with the psycho after you, not me. I’ll be fine.”

  “The psycho is after me because she wants you, Corey. I don’t want anything to happen to you. I thought I only needed to worry about Marco ruining my chance at happiness. Now she’s after you, too. I want to keep you safe.”

  “I won’t let anything happen to me.”

  “You better not, or you’ll have to answer to me.” She chuckles and kisses my nose.

  “Will you punish me?” I ask, chucking her under the chin.

  “That depends,” she says. She grins at me, then lays her head back down. She falls silent, and soon her breathing slows.

  This is the first night we’ve been together that we haven’t made love before falling asleep. But I find this, holding Frankie here in bed, is more than I’ll ever need.

  Chapter 17

  Frankie

  You’d think, with all the stress, Corey’s game would have suffered. The fires. Losing all his belongings. His fear for our lives. But none of it seemed to matter. Corey played better than ever. And the sex, the love making, every single night, kept getting better. It was as if he channeled all his worries into making me come harder than I ever had before. I couldn’t get enough. I never wanted him to stop. Every touch from his hands, lips, and tongue was enough to unravel everything inside of me until I was nothing but an empty shell for him to fill.

  While I spent my nights and mornings with Corey, I spent my days with Mitch and Lee. Although I love Mitch, he’s a different person when Lee’s around. He was always so relaxed back at the bar. Now, he’s always on guard, even on the planes. But they both indulge me by answering my questions about Lee’s little security business.

 
“So when did you start this?” I ask Lee as we eat hotdogs and peanuts while waiting for the first game against Philly to begin. It took three days in Arizona for him to relax enough to look at me like a person instead of an asset.

  “Couple years ago,” he says before taking a drink from his large plastic cup. He peers out at the patchwork of green laid out in front of us before his eyes graze over the crowd seated around us in the blue plastic stadium seats. “Got outta the Marines and was looking for something to pay the bills. Started work in the clubs as a bouncer. One owner’s daughter had a crazy-ass ex who couldn’t take no for an answer.”

  I look up at him and raise an eyebrow. “You don’t say.”

  Lee nods and speaks around a bite of his dog. “Fucker beat her up once before, so her daddy hired me to look out for her. Thought maybe my size would deter the ex.”

  “How’d it end?” I ask.

  “Badly.” Lee and Mitch both laugh. “Fucker got drunk and ran his car up a light pole in front of her house. She wasn’t even there. Was shacking up with her new guy in the next state. Police found a fucking arsenal in the car with him. Figure he was gonna go postal on her and anyone else he could take out.”

  “Well, it’s good it ended without anyone getting hurt,” I say. But Lee grimaces.

  “Would have been better if I coulda stopped him. Dear old daddy wouldn’t give me a recommendation ’cause I didn’t stop the bastard. Nevermind I kept his princess safe for a couple months. I was guarding her, not stopping the ex. Barely got paid my due on that one.”

  “What, he expected you to be in two places at once?”

  “Something like that.”

  “Lee and I used to serve together,” Mitch says. “I got out and was looking for a job and a place to stay.”

  “Fucking week earlier, I coulda used his help.” Lee looks up and grins, then returns his eyes to the crowd. He never rests, this one. He’s always working, always searching. I couldn’t have asked for a better bodyguard. “Wouldn’t have been on my own and might’ve caught the guy and got a break. Instead, I’m working my ass off for every job I get and being a fucking bouncer to pay the bills.”

  The crowd starts going crazy as Corey and the team take the field. Lee shoves the rest of his hot dog in his mouth and takes another good look around. We’re fairly certain we’re safe here at the stadium. Security at the entrance is high. Even if Madison made it in, she couldn’t bring any weapons with. And there’s not enough flammable material for a fire. But that doesn’t stop Lee from scrutinizing every person who gets close.

  As the seventh inning stretch is wrapping up, when I have my eyes glued to my man in blue and grey, Lee straightens beside me. Within seconds, Mitch tenses on my other side and my attention is no longer on Corey.

  “Got something?”

  Without glancing at us, Lee says, “Ten o’clock. Red shirt and jeans, blue ball cap.”

  “Go take a look.”

  Mitch snakes his arm behind me and pulls me into his side as Lee stands and stalks off in the direction of the pretty brunette who caught his eye. This has happened so many times since we started this trip, and I’m still not used to it. I miss play after play as I watch Lee close in on the girl. It’s not until he gets about five feet away from her, and stops and shakes his head, that I relax. My body slumps against Mitch and he pulls me even closer. I don’t mind the jab of the armrest as it digs into my side. I don’t think about the feel of his lips on my neck as he gives me a kiss and tries to calm me. I’m so high strung I feel like I might explode.

  “You wanna go back to the hotel, darlin’?” Mitch asks.

  I nod and let him help me out of my seat. I want Corey to be there with me. I hate that he’ll be at the stadium while we’re across town at the hotel. I hate that it’s Mitch holding me and not him. I want this crazy bitch caught so I can go back to my life without fear of every skinny brunette who walks by.

  “Well, if it isn’t Miss Frankie Sarcone.” Matt Cromwell smiles as I approach the table. His eyes widen. “And her entourage,” he says as he sees Mitch and Lee coming up behind me.

  “Hey, Matt,” I say as I give him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. I make my rounds - to Ellen, Ramon, and Emily - while I introduce my new friends and security team. The guys recognize Lee from the previous week when he questioned them about Madison. And it’s clear the ladies recognize Mitch, though they don’t seem clear on why. We’ve gone out to Riverside a couple times as a group, but Mitch was stuck behind the bar most of the time. Either that, or he purposely didn’t approach, with Corey standing by. Here in Atlanta, he’s out of his element. The lighting here is dim, but not dark. The colors are calm, relaxing even, not the dark wood and sexy, club-like atmosphere of Riverside. At the bar, Mitch’s tattoos fade into the scenery. Here, they stand out against the clean white table cloths, black cloth napkins, and candlelit centerpieces that sit in front of us.

  Before we can take our seats, Corey shows up. I don’t even see him. All at once I’m captured in his embrace, and my body starts humming when he pulls me tight against him and buries his face in the crook of my neck. I spin out of his grip and wrap my arms around him. His kiss makes it hard for me to breathe, and I regret accepting the invitation to go out with our friends tonight.

  Behind me, the silence from our group is palpable. I forget they didn’t know about me and Corey until earlier this week. I forget they thought we only tolerated each other’s presence. I forget they’re even behind me until Mitch clears his throat and I’m torn out of my little Corey-filled fantasy and thrust back into reality. Dinner. Friends. Restaurant.

  I turn back to my friends as my face warms as much as the rest of me, but I press my body back against Corey’s chest. He wraps an arm around my chest and clutches my hip with his other hand, his fingers caressing the smooth fabric of my dress.

  “I guess it is true,” Matt says as he looks us over. “Couldn’t believe it until I saw for myself. Who would have thought the two of you would end up together?”

  “Ay, I knew it!” Ramon’s happy face is split in two with a bigger-than-life grin. “I knew you’d find love, hermano!”

  Corey pulls me backwards as he sits in his chair, settling me on his lap even though my chair is right next to him. “Can you blame me?” he says with a grin. “Once I saw her, I knew I had to make this beautiful woman mine.”

  Matt shakes his head as Ellen, Emily, and Ramon swoon at Corey’s words. Mitch grins and winks at me as he watches the two of us.

  “So what’s this about a crazy woman out to get you?” My eyes snap up to Emily in time to see her shrivel under Lee’s glare. She looks like a child next to his bulk, like she could climb up on his knee and tell him what she wants for Christmas.

  “It’s okay, Lee,” I tell him. “None of them knew about us. This whole thing is new to all of them.” Once he’s relaxed again, I address Emily. “What you’ve heard in the news is mostly true. Some jealous woman set fire to Corey’s apartment, then the hotel we were staying at.” I don’t tell them about the Porsche in New York or my spiked drink.

  “That’s crazy,” Ellen says. “Why would she do something like that?”

  “She wants me all to herself,” Corey says as he pulls me closer. “Some people can’t resist me.”

  Matt and Ramon chuckle as poor Ellen and Emily look like they’ll die of discomfort. I elbow Corey in the gut.

  “Behave,” I tell him.

  I slide off his lap and into my chair when the waitress comes to take our drink orders. I try to get Mitch and Lee to relax for the night and order themselves a drink, but both insist on having water. Once the drinks are delivered and our dinner orders taken, we fall into our easy banter. Corey teases my thigh with his fingers while we talk, and at one point I have to whisper in his ear the answer to his unspoken question.

  “Yes, I’m wearing underwear,” I tell him. His fingers halt their trek up my leg, but he doesn’t remove his hand from my thigh until our food arrives.
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  I’ve missed this - the easy conversation with our friends. But it’s better now. There’s no more hiding what’s going on between me and Corey. Both of us are more relaxed, more carefree, even with the curious stares from our friends.

  As the waitress is clearing our dinner plates but before the dessert menus have made their rounds, Vivian and Vinny show up. Fashionably late, as usual. There are warm hugs and introductions as my cousins join our party - Vivian between me and Mitch, Vinny on the other side of Corey. Mitch has the girls eating out of his hand. His normal attire of t-shirt and jeans has been upgraded tonight to a dark blue button-up and chinos. The dressier clothes clash with his tattoos, but it only makes him sexier. I notice Vivian touching his shoulder more than necessary, and on the other side of him, Emily is doing the same.

  Corey’s hands are never gone from my body for more than a couple minutes, even as we eat our tiramisu and continue our separate conversations. Holding hands, a caress on my cheek, a stolen kiss, whispered I love yous. Each touch makes me realize again how much he gives me and how I’m the luckiest woman in the world.

  It’s not until Lee excuses himself to go to the bathroom that it happens. Everyone is listening to Corey tell one of my favorite stories from his college ball years. I’m only half paying attention as I glance around the room at my friends. My eyes graze over the pretty brunette, wearing a lacy black cocktail dress, standing on the other side of the arched doorway, before snapping back. All the stress that left my body comes barreling back, and I gasp as I grab for Mitch and Corey’s arms.

  “Corey, down!” Mitch is out of his seat in seconds, his arm wrenched from my grasp as he pushes my head below the table.

  “Shit!” Corey dives on top of me, knocking me to the floor. Mitch’s feet disappear from beside me. There are screams and shouts coming through the restaurant, but I don’t know what’s happening. I only know what I can see and hear under the table. Tiny food and drink stains on the thin, tan carpet beneath my head. Ancient clumps of gum stuck to the bottom of our tables, hidden by the long, white tablecloths. Lee’s deep bass is yelling over Mitch’s shouts, and customers scream from the front of the restaurant. Vivian is next to me, clutching my hand, yelling at Vinny to get down. Corey is on top of me, his body crushing mine. My world is contained inside of this darkened space below the tables.