“My girlfriend said someone let her have it at the doctor’s office the other day,” Derrick said. “They were bitching to her about how they didn’t spend five thousand dollars for Sharks season tickets to watch a six-and-ten team. I don’t like coming home to a woman who’s grilling me, too.”
“I had a couple of fans follow me home from OTAs last month,” Drew McCoy said. The big blond linebacker passed one hand over his face in frustration. “They came up to the door and wanted to know why I thought I was worth ten million dollars last season when we’re playing like shit.”
“You answered the door? What the hell? Call the cops,” Tom Reed, the Sharks’ All-Pro QB, advised.
“I called them. I called NFL security, too. I’m thinking I might have to move. My parents were visiting. It scared the hell out of my mom.”
The room fell silent again for a few minutes. Zach had had a few encounters with drunken or belligerent fans over the years, but he’d installed the best security system money could buy when he bought the house he and his family lived in. It kept out anyone who wasn’t invited.
One by one, team leaders stood up from their chairs and spoke: They wanted more than a taste of the postseason, and they really wanted another Super Bowl ring. The suspicion and defensiveness on the faces of guys he’d played with for years morphed into excitement.
Zach was quiet until Clay Morrison turned to look at him. “So, Anderson, that includes you, too. If you’re not in, you’re out, and you’d better spend a lot more time busting ass on the field than looking at hers.” He continued to be pretty mouthy for a rookie.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“You know what I’m talking about. You were staring at her yesterday, too.” The entire room erupted into gales of laughter at his words. Zach glared at him.
The whistles and stamping feet of grown men taunting Zach echoed off the walls.
“Did she turn you down, brah?” A running back who’d just announced to the entire team he was in pursuit of Adrian Peterson’s league-best rushing title grinned at Zach. The gold tooth in the front of his mouth sparkled.
“She wants me. Did you know that?” the kicker joked.
“Cameron Online isn’t dating anyone as big and ugly as you, dawg.” Derrick said.
The new coach held up his hands to quiet the players. “Guys. Settle down.” He glanced over at Zach. “I understand Ms. Ondine is quite a distraction, Anderson, but you’re going to have to keep your head in the game while we’re here.” He gave Zach a nod. “Speaking of Ms. Ondine, she’s a member of the media, and an influential one. I’m sure you’ll agree it’s important she has a good impression of the Sharks organization. She will be treated with respect. If she asks to interview one or more of you, you will cooperate, and you will behave as you would with any other media professional toward her at all times. Is that clear?” Eighty guys nodded. “Okay. We’ll meet again later, but right now let’s grab some lunch. Anderson, please see me before you leave.”
“You’ve been with this team eleven years,” the coach said when everyone but Zach had filed out of the room. “I need to know that you are stepping it up this season. You didn’t bring your best last year.”
Zach was nodding before he even stopped speaking. “I am giving it a hundred percent every day. I plan on staying with the Sharks for the rest of my career.”
“Great. We’d like to have you here. Don’t slack off. If I see you ignoring what’s going on in front of you again because you’re staring at Ms. Ondine, I’ll bench you.” The coach got to his feet. Zach rose from his seat, too. “I understand the two of you have previous history, but we are here to work. I also heard about PSN’s turning Third and Long into a romantic comedy. Mr. Levine has been told as of this morning there will not be significant disruptions or distractions to the team, or he’ll be dealing with me.” The coach extended his hand to Zach. “You’re a leader, Anderson. I’m counting on you to be an example for the other knuckleheads.”
Zach shook his hand. “I’ll do my best.”
CAMERON WAS WHISKED away from the Sharks’ training camp on a tour bus with the fifty other media members in attendance that afternoon. There was more than a little grumbling when the press was told training camp was closed to them until further notice, but the fact it was sunny and eighty-five degrees in Seattle went a long way toward smoothing things over. Kacee sat across the aisle from her, playing a game on her phone. Logan was responding to e-mail on his iPad and attempting to talk with Kacee, who ignored him.
“So, where are we off to?” the guy from CBS Sports called out.
“The Sharks would like to treat our media partners to lunch and a sail around Puget Sound. We’ll be back in plenty of time for bed check, Ms. Ondine,” the tour guide joked. Cameron resisted the impulse to grind her teeth. The guys thought it was hilarious she was stuck in a dorm, while they enjoyed the hospitality (and much better amenities) of a local hotel.
She’d heard the team was having a meeting all afternoon and the press was not invited, but taking them off campus while the meeting happened was a little extreme. Her colleague, Kevin, tried to wheedle his way into the meeting room and had been escorted onto the bus by two of the Sharks’ coaching staff. In other words, whoever found out what was said in their absence was going to have one hell of a scoop. She was on a dorm floor with twenty Sharks veterans. If there was one thing she’d learned from being in this business for the past ten years, it was the fact there was always one guy who couldn’t wait to be an uncredited “source” for stories about any team in the league. She had to find him before Kevin or her other colleagues did, and she’d better come up with a strategy to do so before she arrived back at the dorm.
She pulled out her iPad. Maybe she could review production notes for the next episode of NFL Confidential for a little while as the bus traveled to wherever it was they were having lunch. She saw new e-mails, so she clicked over there.
The first e-mail was from Zach: I HAVE NEWS FOR YOU. PLEASE SEE ME ASAP.
She shook her head, and realized that Kacee was staring at her.
“What’s wrong, Cameron?”
“Nothing. Everything is fine.”
She clicked onto the next e-mail, which was from her father. YOUR MOTHER AND I ARE SENDING THE JET FOR YOU THIS WEEKEND. YOU NEED SOME TIME OFF. THE PILOT WILL BE AT BOEING FIELD IN SEATTLE AT 8 AM ON SATURDAY MORNING TO FLY YOU HOME. DON’T DISAPPOINT US, CAMERON.
She resisted the impulse to groan aloud. If she wasn’t on the plane and wheels-up by 8:15, her father would most likely either show up himself sometime next week or send one of his Pacific Northwest-based golf buddies over to make sure she was “okay.” She realized there were many people whose parents didn’t care what they did, and they would welcome having parents who interfered in their lives to this degree, but she was tired of it.
Her phone chirped with an incoming text. She pulled it out of her pocket. Of course it was Ben. WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU, KACEE, AND LOGAN? WE HAVE FILMING TO DO. He must have somehow escaped the all-media dragnet at the Sharks’ headquarters, and now he was pissed because he had nothing else to do besides go to the pub and let that waitress harass him some more.
She resisted the impulse to bang her head on the nearest hard surface until she lost consciousness. She heard Kacee and Logan’s phones going off, too. She glanced over at them. “Ben, right?”
“Of course,” Logan said. “How did he get away from the Sharks PR folks?”
Kacee’s fingers flew across the keys as she responded. A few seconds later, she got up and headed toward the bus’ bathroom.
“He’s probably still at the hotel,” Cameron said. “What’s with Kacee?”
“She told me earlier it’s not going well between her and the latest Wall Street frat boy she’s been seeing. She’s probably texting with him. He’s mad because she’s not back in New York yet.”
Everyone else on the bus was too busy talking to each other or using the free Wi-F
i to be listening to them. Cameron leaned across the aisle.
“When are you going to ask her out, you big dork?”
He raised an eyebrow and leaned across Kacee’s seat to hiss, “I’ll be happy to do that, right after you have a dinner date with Zach Anderson.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’m really not into having her crush me like a bug, Cam. She’s made it clear I’m not her type.” The typically easygoing Logan folded his lips and shook his head. “She goes for guys who couldn’t care less about her, and I seem to gravitate toward women who have no interest in me whatsoever.” He rolled his eyes and tried a grin. “Imagine how it feels to know I’m not irresistible.”
She had to laugh a little, and she heard Logan snort-laugh, too. He was as lonely as she was, but he was a lot more willing to joke around about it. He also was doing his best to find someone and fall in love. She loved spending time with Logan, but he was a friend and always would be. There wasn’t a spark between them. There never would be. Logan was the kind of guy who showed up at your apartment after your latest break-up toting Ben & Jerry’s and a couple of six-packs. She’d showed up at his place before, too. She was fairly sure his single male neighbors were still talking about it, because Logan told her that maybe next time, he should stop by her place instead for her safety.
He lived in a city with millions of single women. It was only a matter of time until he met the right one, but she wondered for the hundredth time now if he’d be interested in her sorority sister, Angela. Cameron was gone four days a week for six months out of the year, and Angela apartment-sat for her on those days. Maybe she should introduce them.
She leaned closer to Logan. Kacee was still gone; she must be having a confidential phone conversation in the bathroom. “I pick the wrong ones, too.”
“He wasn’t the wrong one,” Logan said.
Cameron glanced down the bus aisle. Kacee had taken a seat in the back of the bus, and looked like she was still texting. She got up and plunked herself down next to Logan.
Her voice dropped to a little over a whisper. She didn’t need the entire sports media group to overhear what she had to say. “You don’t know him. He left me, Logan. He walked out of the hotel room, and he didn’t even say goodbye. Do you know how that felt? We were married a grand total of three days. Plus, he took five million dollars from my dad to sign the annulment paperwork.” She wondered if Zach would have taken less money to get away from her after all, and how long he had bargained with her dad. Four million? One million and tech stocks? How about a hundred bucks and a case of beer? She felt the stab of anger and hurt in her chest again.
Logan looked a little shocked. “That can’t be true.”
“Oh, it is.”
“So, why’s he trying to talk to you again?”
“Maybe he wants more money.”
“He’s got plenty of his own,” Logan said.
Zach evidently needed more. She still remembered how mad her dad was, talking about that five million dollar cashier’s check. Her dad didn’t seem to care how much it hurt her every time he brought it up, either.
“Why are you sticking up for him?”
Logan thought for a few seconds. “I saw the look on his face when you asked him why he left you. That wasn’t ‘Wow, I’ll get my hands on more money.’ That was ‘I’m still in love with her and I don’t care who sees it.’”
Cameron shook her head. She didn’t remember that look on Zach’s face at all. She remembered how sick she felt when she realized she’d blurted out a secret she’d kept for ten years in front of a group of colleagues, however.
“Let’s talk about something else, Logan. We had the interview with Zach, now we need to catch up with the head coach. Maybe we can brainstorm some questions for him, huh?” She positioned her iPad to take a few notes but Logan’s comments were still ringing in her ears. If anyone would know if another guy was lovelorn, it was Logan.
Maybe it was time to lay all the cards on the table with a certain Seattle Shark.
ZACH HAD SOME lunch with his teammates, did some lifting, and went to a defensive line meeting. He had a couple of hours before dinner. Cameron and the rest of the press still weren’t back. After a lot of thought and after talking one of his non-football-playing buddies into running an errand for him, he had a plan for later, as long as she arrived back at least an hour before bed check.
He’d told her over text message he had things to discuss with her. He did, but they weren’t what she thought. He’d talk to her a little about the taping. Jason was still fairly convinced that there was no way either of them could avoid the broadcast of their personal struggles, but they had one ace in the hole: They could talk all they wanted when everyone else was absorbed in other things.
The Sharks’ chef showed him how to use one of the ovens in the kitchen. His buddy picked him up a couple of add-water-only brownie mixes, some chocolate sauce, a candle in a jar, and some whipped cream in the can from the grocery store and dropped it off at the dorm. Zach could create a candlelight dessert for two and get a few minutes alone with her.
He’d also checked out his plan with his youngest sister, who didn’t laugh. She said, “Please tell me this isn’t for Cameron.”
“I can’t tell you that, Whitney.”
“She broke your heart, Zach. She hurt you so much, and you know what her dad did to all of us. Why are you talking to her at all? I don’t understand.”
His sisters were staying at his house this summer with their grandma and his dog. He heard his puppy, Butter, barking in the background. Someone must have passed within a one-mile radius of his front door. What Butter lacked in menace, he made up for with gusto. He’d probably lick the potential axe murderer walking through Zach’s neighborhood to death before he actually tried to bite him.
“It’s not what you think. I won’t let her hurt me this time.” It was a good thing his nose didn’t grow like Pinocchio’s when he told a lie. It would stretch across the football field right now. “We’re just talking about the reality show and her coverage of training camp.”
“I really wish you wouldn’t talk to her at all.”
“I know you do. What else is happening there?”
“We’re cleaning up after dinner. Grandma is watching Jeopardy!” He could hear her smiling on the other end of the phone. “Remember when I got put on the waitlist at the University of Washington? They sent me an admissions packet yesterday.” She sucked in some air. “I’m in.”
“Congratulations! Are you excited?”
“Yeah,” she said. She let out a breath. “Zach, I applied for a couple of on-campus jobs today. I have to live in the dorm for my freshman year.”
There was an instant lump in his throat. “You don’t have to get a job if you’re taking a heavy class load. There’s plenty of money to pay for your tuition.”
“But Shelby, Ashley, and Courtney are all in school, and you don’t have unlimited money . . .”
“I’ll be fine. There’s more than enough for you, too. You fill out that paperwork and send it back right away. When do you need to be on campus?”
“The end of September. Zach, maybe I should work for a year and then go to—”
“No,” he said. “Money’s not an object, sweetie. How do you feel about living on campus?”
“I’d rather live with all of you. I don’t want to leave home.”
“You’ll have so much fun you won’t even miss us,” he assured her. “The school year will go fast, and you’ll meet lots of great people. We can talk more about this when I’m off for a day or so, but I want you to start filling out that packet tonight.”
“Got it,” she said.
He could hear the excitement in her voice, tinged with the fear they all still carried around. She didn’t want to end up in that trailer park again, either, even if she didn’t remember it well. He couldn’t believe she wasn’t off at the mall already figuring out what she needed to buy to go to school or calling some of
her friends to trumpet her good news. She wouldn’t, though. She’d be asking his sisters and his grandma questions about what she should expect. Mostly, she’d be freaking out about money. He had plenty now, but his sisters still worried about it.
The best part of playing in the NFL was the fact he could single-handedly make sure his sisters didn’t end up broke, drug addicted, and staying with a deadbeat because they didn’t have any other options in life. It wasn’t a question as to whether or not they’d graduate from college: They were going if he had to drive them over and sign the paperwork himself. He’d make sure they finished school, too, if it was the last thing he did in life.
His eldest sister, Shelby, was in grad school. She was working toward becoming a psychologist. It was her way of helping others with the same trauma they had dealt with growing up. His middle sisters, Ashley and Courtney, had chosen the medical field—Ashley was in school to be a nurse, and Courtney was studying to be an emergency room doctor. They hoped to work with children, so he was guessing their majors might change before they were done with school. His youngest sister, Whitney, was sensitive and artistic. He had a feeling she wanted a Master of Fine Arts degree but she was talking about majoring in computer science, of all things.
“I’m so proud of you, Whitney.”
“I’m proud of you, too, Zach.”
She might tease him a little, but when he got home for a day off, he knew she’d be the first one at the door to wrap her arms around his waist and tell him she missed him while he was gone.
He knew if he played hard for the Sharks and stayed out of trouble off the field, his family’s lives would all be better. It was the thing that drove him. His little sis would never know how much it meant for him that they were all okay.
Catching Cameron: A Love and Football Novel Page 10