Love of the Game - The Complete Collection (Box Set)

by Shayne McClendon

  Max’s kiss was gentle before he sat back in his seat. Josie leaned on the console and put her hand on his thigh as he put the car in drive and took them home.

  The media circus waiting for them at his building took them both by surprise. They’d just parked in the garage when the SUV was swarmed with reporters and bright lights.

  Max looked over at Josie. Her eyes were closed and she looked like she was going to throw up.

  “Josie, don’t say anything. I’ll get you past them. Josie!” She looked at him, still hidden behind the dark tint of the windows. “I will get you past them. Don’t talk to them, don’t answer them. It’s going to be fine…you have to trust me, baby. Do you trust me?”

  She nodded and he told her to stay put. He got out and the reporters started screaming questions at him but he pretended they weren’t even there as he walked around his truck to the passenger side.

  “Max, are you being taken advantage of?”

  “Mr. Grant, has Jocelyn Channing tried to extort money from you? Are you being blackmailed?”

  “Max! What are your plans with Jocelyn Channing?”

  He opened the passenger door and lifted Josie to the pavement. Putting his arms completely around her, he guided her to the elevator as the reporters made her their new target.

  “Miss Channing! Is it true you’ve been trying to score a professional athlete for five years and you finally found one with enough money and fame to make you happy?”

  “Is it true, Miss Channing, that you lured William Ulett into that alley in order to extort him?”

  “Miss Channing, will you confirm you staged the entire incident five years ago in order to secure the funds for your new life?”

  Once the elevator doors closed, she collapsed and Max caught her to him easily. She started to babble, and he could tell her nerves were shot. “I can’t believe this is happening. I have sexual fluids on my inner thighs. I’m not even wearing panties…” her voice was barely a whisper.

  At his apartment, he stepped from the elevator with Josie in his arms and barked to Patricia in the kitchen, “Call security and get those leeches thrown out of the parking garage. I better not see them down there again.”

  Patty nodded and picked up the house phone as he carried Josie into his bedroom and laid her down on his bed. He took off her shoes and pulled a soft cashmere blanket over her trembling body.

  Max kissed her forehead. “I love you, Josie. It’s going to be okay. Trust me.” He watched as she dropped hard into sleep. Her mind simply shut down from the stress.

  Then he picked up his cell phone and went to war.

  Chapter Thirteen

  When Josie startled awake a little while later, she was shaking badly. Patty gave her hot tea and a mild sedative. She sat beside the young woman on the bed and held her hand.

  Patricia Panzanno had no sisters or daughters and all her brothers had sons. But if she’d ever had a daughter, she would have liked her to be like Josie.

  Just looking at the little ballerina-baker made her feel happier.

  As a mother, the situation hurt her heart. As a strong Italian from a culture that protected its own, she was infuriated for the young people she’d become so attached to. When Annabelle had told her that Josie’s only family, a sister, had refused to support her when she’d been attacked, Patty had to talk herself down from calling that bitch and giving her a lesson about family.

  Josie’s eyes were huge and red from crying. “What did I do, Patty? They blamed me for before…now they want to make me out to be some femme fatale. I don’t understand.” She closed her eyes and rubbed her palm hard over her heart. “They’re going to drag Max into it now. I shouldn’t have involved him in my bullshit.”

  Patty smoothed a lock of Josie’s pink-streaked hair away from her face. “You listen to me. Listen real close. Max is going to fix this. I can promise you that, Josie. The media is about to get a strong slap from a man who takes protecting the people he loves very seriously.”

  “That won’t stop the root of the problem. Those men who attacked me won’t ever leave me alone. They want to break me, to make me take back everything I said, to let them off the hook.”

  Leaning close, Patty whispered, “If these fuckers don’t back off, I’m calling my cousin in Queens. He’ll get to the bottom of it real quiet like and you’ll never be bothered again.” Sitting up, she patted Josie’s hand. “What you need to realize is you aren’t alone this time, Josie. You have people who will stand beside you, in front of you if necessary, and help you get through it.”

  She pulled the blanket more firmly around her small body. “Now, you sleep and when you wake up, things will look so much better. Sleep now, honey.” A few minutes later, the sedative took Josie under gently and Patty stood.

  Max was in the doorway, his phone to his ear. His jaw was locked in a fury she’d never seen in the five years she’d worked for him.

  They nodded at each other, a silent communication between people on the same side of a fight, and moved to the living room after closing the bedroom door quietly.

  Max wasn’t even slightly surprised when his mother arrived two hours later.

  Annabelle didn’t even say hello as she stepped off the elevator. “Scott couldn’t come and he was so angry he couldn’t. Where is Josie?” They told her she was sleeping and she nodded. “Tell me there is going to be a press conference? That we’re going to blast these fuckers to hell for this?”

  “I’m really glad you’re here, Mom. I love you.” Max hugged Annabelle hard and she kept him against her, making soothing sounds that everything would be alright. “She’ll try to run, Mom. Josie is going to try to take it all with her and run. You have to talk to her. She’ll listen to you, Mom.”

  Annabelle nodded. “You do the PR and I’ll guard our Josie.”

  Patty’s oldest son came by after work. Phillip was a reporter for the New York Times, still at the bottom of the pecking order.

  If Max had his way, the man was about to get a big jump in his career.

  Since the beginning of his career, Max had guarded his privacy – and his family’s – fiercely. As a result, he never gave interviews about his personal life. He didn’t talk to the press at all, unless it was as a member of his team.

  Phillip Panzanno was getting an exclusive.

  They talked for a long time and Phillip took notes. There was a small recorder on the table between them. Patty took pictures of them, sitting in front of a gorgeous view of Pittsburgh.

  Max gave the interview in three distinct parts. First, as a football player linked to the incident five years ago merely by being on the same team as Josie’s attacker.

  He gave his impressions as a teammate who’d just been traded to the Steelers when it happened. Remembering how most of the team had known the cocky young rookie was volatile but he’d never been caught.

  They were briefed on the police report and photos so they would know what was happening if approached by the press. He recalled how the entire room of tough athletes had gasped at the photos taken of Jocelyn Channing the night of her assault.

  Second, as Josie’s friend. He told Phillip how he’d met Josie, only finding out later who she was.

  Phillip raised a brow, “You tried to steal doughnuts, Max?”

  Max nodded and went on to explain how she’d become his best friend, how she’d coped with everything alone. “She can never dance professionally again but she started over, changed her looks, what people called her, her profession, and cut off contact with anyone who’d known her before.”

  Last, as the man in love with Jocelyn Channing…his Josie.

  “She feared athletes, understandably. Since her attack, she’s received threatening phone calls. Her apartment has been broken into and trashed three times. The last time just last week. She reports it to the DA but nothing happens.”

  Phillip asked him about the media’s accusations about her being a gold-digger.

  “If you spent a few hours w
ith Josie, you’d realize how ridiculous that is. She doesn’t want anything from anyone. She gets up at four o’clock in the morning to bake and works until she closes the place at four in the afternoon. She’s been doing that since she recovered from her attack at the hands of the men who were convicted by a jury of sexually assaulting her and brutally beating her.”

  “Why do you think people are so willing to overlook what those men did to her, Max?”

  “We all saw the photos of what was done to her. There was no question she was outnumbered. That anyone could imagine she had any chance of defending herself against those men is an idiot. If that had been their daughter, their sister, their friend…would they have been so forgiving?”

  Max sat forward with his hands clasped between his knees. “Is a woman’s life worth less than some points on a scoreboard? Is that the society we live in now? Is that how the people of Pittsburgh want the world to see them? Despite rabid fans who send her hate mail, an assistant DA who refuses to do his job, and being alone…she testified, overcame, and adapted to a new life.”

  “Powerful words, Max.”

  “Anyone who’s ever known me or worked with me knows I’m a thinker. I make good decisions on and off the field because it’s how I was raised. Jocelyn Channing is the best decision I’ve ever made.”

  “She sounds incredible…your Josie.”

  The grin Max gave him was sincere. “I’ve got enough sense to know when I’ve found the one woman who can make me happy. Josie is the woman I’m going to spend the rest of my life with. Raise my own family with.”

  His expression turned cold. “From now on, she is not alone. She has me and my family and friends. We love her and we’re very protective of her. Anyone who messes with Josie better be prepared to go through me and mine because we’re not going to put up with it. The harassment, the terrorist tactics…that stops now.”

  “What are you prepared to do, Max?”

  “I’m not opposed to leaving Pittsburgh…to leaving the Steelers…and moving to another team in another city that doesn’t bash the victim when the crime committed interferes with their fucking football season.” He crossed his hands over his stomach and gave Phillip a half-smile. “I don’t think I’d have trouble finding another team willing to take me. Do you?”

  Phillip laughed. “With your record? I know every team in New York would be scrambling to get you, Max. You just give me a heads up if that step becomes necessary.”

  He turned off the tape recorder and put down his pen. “Max, you’re a good man. I’ll write it just like you want it and send a copy to your publicist. I’ll have it on our website after it goes to press tomorrow. Thank you for trusting me with this. I won’t let you, or my very scary mom, down.”

  The men stood and shook hands. “When you’re ready for the follow-up story, let me know. I’d love to get some pictures of you and your Josie together.”

  Max walked Phillip to the elevator. The doors closed behind him and he looked up to see Josie standing in the doorway of the bedroom. Annabelle was standing behind her. Her hair was still damp from her shower and she wore bright pink yoga pants and a soft white t-shirt. The socks on her feet were fuzzy white with pink polka dots on them.

  She is just fucking adorable.

  “Come here, baby.”

  He held out his arms and she ran to him, jumped, and let him catch her. He would always catch her. She wrapped her body around him and laid her head on his shoulder. Max held her tight and smoothed one hand over her hair and down her back.

  “I know you’re upset, but everything is going to be fine.” He walked over to the windows. “The reporters made you afraid, didn’t they? It was like before?” She nodded against him. “They aren’t going to fuck with you this time, Josie. I’m not going to let them hurt you.”

  He sat in one of the huge, padded chairs and Josie curled against him. Max talked to her and snuggled her until she drifted back to sleep. He took a little nap himself.

  The growling of his stomach woke them both up.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Max and Josie didn’t leave the apartment. They stayed inside, ordered food, watched movies, and made love. The phone rang constantly but Max turned off the volume.

  Phillip’s exclusive interview with one of pro-football’s hottest commodities hit newsstands – front page, just below the fold. It was well-written and included tidbits of information Phil had researched on his own.

  An additional interview followed the next day with officers Salvadore Sanchez and Daniel Sullivan. They confirmed the repeated harassment of Jocelyn Channing and the fact that their reports had been ignored by the District Attorney’s office.

  A third story about the assistant DA assigned to the case followed. The man refused to give an interview but Phil had pulled up many inconsistencies during the trial. He’d also turned up documented evidence that the man had acted in the best interests of the criminals he was supposed to be prosecuting.

  The fourth and final article was about his firing and a bar investigation into the attorneys who represented Josie’s assailants. There were hints about criminal charges for tampering with a witness.

  Max and Josie agreed to think about everything after a week. They needed space and quiet first. He needed to hold and kiss her constantly, to have her beside him. Josie needed to be touched and reassured and he was thrilled to be the one to do it.

  She’d tried to leave after the first day, as he’d known she would. She told him it would be better for him if he distanced himself from her for a while. Max shot down every argument and fucked her furiously until she was too wrung out with pleasure to fight him.

  Patty and Annabelle ran the bakery, throwing together their own recipes just to have enough goods to sell. Both were shocked when Annabelle’s key lime tarts were outsold only by Patty’s wine balls. Trish was a lifesaver, showing them how to use the coffee machines and the cash register.

  They were wonderful with the customers and enjoyed one another’s company. Even when Josie started venturing out, escorted to and from the shop by Max, she loved that they stayed to help and keep her company. Other than the bakery, she refused to leave the apartment for a long time.

  The reporters dwindled daily and by the time Max returned to work for pre-season practice, she was more confident.

  The Steelers’ management released a formal statement standing behind Max and Josie. They urged the city to exhibit understanding about the terrible ordeal Jocelyn Channing had experienced. The head coach reminded fans that the convicted player would never be eligible to play again – but Max Grant still had many good years in him. “Let’s bet on the bird in hand, people.”

  The older women loved and pampered Josie shamelessly. Since neither of them had daughters, they exercised their right to spoil her rotten. They kept her busy one afternoon in the shop making wedding plans while Max had a contractor transform half his gym into a ballet studio.

  Later the same night, he asked if she wanted to work out with him. She was glad to have the exercise and followed. When she saw the bar, mirrors, and mats he’d had installed, she leapt into his arms and kissed him until he had to sit or fall.

  When the bakery was closed on the weekends, Max woke to the sound of classical music drifting through the apartment. He would pad in his bare feet to the gym and watch as she moved hypnotically around the room. She could still go up on pointe and was trying to train her stronger leg to take the stress of smaller jumps.

  Josie was beautiful to watch as she danced and he tried to keep from disturbing her. In her leotard, tiny skirt, and taped feet she moved like water. If she saw him watching from the doorway, she stopped dancing and ran to him.

  He loved how her face lit up when she looked at him. Most days, he felt like his heart wasn’t big enough to contain his feelings for her.

  Max came home from practice two weeks into pre-season and searched for Josie. He found her on the bathroom floor getting sick in the toilet. She was dressed in dance
gear and tears tracked her cheeks.

  He dropped his bag and grabbed a washcloth to wipe her face. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

  “I can’t spin anymore. It makes me sick, Max.”

  “We’ll go to the doctor. You probably have an inner ear infection. Don’t worry.” He pushed a stray strand of hair back from her face. “Better for now?” She nodded. “Up you go.”

  Max lifted her to her feet and rubbed her back as she washed her face and brushed her teeth. When she was finished, he picked her up and left the bathroom.

  “You know what, Max?”

  “What, baby?”

  “I love how you carry me all the time. It makes me feel girly.” She snuggled into his chest and stroked his shoulders with a sigh.

  He laughed. “I feel very manly with you, Josie. I love carrying you because you fit so snug against me.” He kissed the top of her head. “I also love that as girly as you are, you can…and have…flipped me and definitely shoot better than I do. You’re like a ballerina assassin. Very hot.”

  Max dropped onto the couch in the living room and they chatted until his mother and Patty came in from the bakery.

  “Hey there, lovebirds. We picked up tons of magazines and stuff for the wedding. Patty and I think we can make it happen in three months.”

  Annabelle came to stand in front of Max and Josie. She had a small frown between her eyes. “Honey, you look a little peaked. What’s the matter?”

  “I got sick spinning. Max thinks it’s an inner-ear infection.”

  The older woman stared at her then reached for Josie’s hand and tugged her to stand up. Annabelle called Patty over. They seemed to share a silent communication.

  “Honey, have either of you noticed anything…unusual lately?” Josie shook her head. “How long have you been feeling sick when you dance?”

  Josie shrugged her shoulders. “After Max went back to work so…maybe two weeks.”

  The women shook their heads and Patty grinned. “Your boobs are bigger and you have the tiniest rounding in your normally flat stomach.”