Fair Play

by Mia Ford

  When the plowed into Sean, the ball shot straight up in the air and Sean was knocked hard to the ground. He rolled a few times, then, then clutched his left shoulder and writhed in pain.

  “Holy shit,” Dru said, grabbing my arm.

  I couldn’t speak because my heart was lodged in my throat. I watched in horror as the refs pushed the players back and the trainers rushed onto the field to attend Sean.

  When they took off his helmet, I could see the terrible look of shock and pain on his face. His eyes were squeezed shut. He was gritting his teeth. I could tell that he was hurt badly. And there wasn’t a damn thing I could do but watch.

  Kate

  They rushed Sean to New York Hospital directly from the field. ESPN reported that his shoulder was severely dislocated and his collar bone was broken in two places. He also had three bruised ribs and possibly a concussion. It was too early to tell, of course, but the ESPN commentators predicted that Sean would be out for much, if not all, of the season.

  I felt helpless. I couldn’t call Sean or get in to see him.

  I only knew what the public knew, which wasn’t very much.

  The next day, the surgical team that had put Sean back together held a press conference at the hospital. I draped my Sports Insider credentials around my neck, stuffed my hair into a Kings baseball cap, and went to cover the press conference. It was probably as close to Sean as I was going to get for a long time.

  I stood off to the side during the press conference, holding out my phone to record the doctor’s comments. Sean came through the surgery fine, he was awake and alert, they hoped for a speedy recovery, but they could not predict how long he would be out of the game. That’s all. Thank you for coming.

  I glanced around at the faces of the other reporters there. It was just another story to them. Their faces ranged from apathy to mild interest. I envied them. They were just there gathering fodder for the reports they would later file. They weren’t connected to Sean Donovan in any other way. They weren’t all on the verge of tears, nor had they lain awake all night wishing they were in Sean’s arms.

  I was the only one who knew the real Sean Donovan.

  In a crowded room of a hundred people, I felt totally alone.

  After the press conference, I was forwarding the sound file to the office from my phone when I heard a friendly voice call my name. I looked up to see Leon Lewis smiling down at me.

  “You’re Katie,” he said. His voice was deep and resonant, like a bass drum. He gave me a toothy smile and stuck out a huge hand that engulfed mine when we shook. “I’m Leon.”

  “I know,” I said, forcing a smile. I realized that I was wearing my press credentials on a lanyard around my neck. If he had glanced down, he would have seen the laminated card that had my picture and the words: Kate Asher, Sports Insider Online. I casually unclipped the laminated card and slid it into my back pocket.

  “You here to see Sean?” he asked.

  “Um, I’d love to see him,” I said sincerely. “But I don’t think they’re letting anyone from the press up to his room.”

  “You ain’t press,” he said, giving me a scolding look. He nodded toward the elevators. “Come on, he told me all about you. He’d love to see you.”

  “He would? Are you sure he’s up to it?”

  “Yeah, he’s already awake and bitching about the food,” he said as I followed him to the elevators. He pressed a thick finger into the button and sighed. “Maybe you can get him to behave. He likes you.”

  “He does?”

  He narrowed his eyes at me and bobbed his head. “Oh yeah, he likes you a lot.”

  I let Leon lead the way down the hall to Sean’s room. Following behind him was like driving behind a semi-truck. I couldn’t see anything on the other side of him. I’d never seen a man so tall and wide.

  “Hey, look who I found,” Leon said, walking into Sean’s room with a big grin on his face. He stepped aside to let me pass. When I saw Sean in the bed, all bandages and metal rods and screws, it made me sick to my stomach. He really did look like he’d been mowed over by a train.

  “Hey,” Sean said, his voice a weak whisper. He held out his right hand and wiggled his fingers at me. “I was hoping you’d come.”

  I took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Jesus, you scared the crap out of me,” I said. My eyes welled with tears despite my best efforts to hold them back. “Are you okay? How do you feel?”

  “I am okay and I feel awesome,” he said with a smile.

  “He’s a little doped up,” Leon said. He went to the other side of the bed and rested his big hands on the bedrail. “He’s gonna be okay, but the docs say he’ll be here for at least two weeks, then rehab for a while. God help his physical therapist.”

  “Katie will take care of me,” Sean said, the words slurring past his lips. “We’ll go to the cabin and she’ll take care of me.”

  “Sure,” I said, wiping my nose on the back of my hand. “I’ll take care of you. Whatever you want.”

  I heard a familiar voice in the hallway outside that made me cringe. A harsh, female voice, like a low growl. I didn’t have to turn around to see who it was. It was Madge Sinclair, talking to someone on the phone.

  “I’d better go and let you rest,” I said quietly, hoping I could slip out without being seen by Madge.

  “No, you just got here.” Sean wouldn’t let go of my hand. His fingers were like a vice. “Leon, have you met Katie,”

  “Yeah, man,” Leon said, rolling his eyes at me. “I’ve met Katie.”

  Then, like a storm that I knew was coming but couldn’t avoid, Madge burst into the room. “So, how’s my favorite client…”

  Her mouth snapped shut when she saw me standing beside the bed holding Sean’s hand.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” she asked, giving me a look that nearly made me wet my pants.

  “Madge, hey,” Sean said with a dopey grin on his face. “Do you know Katie Holmes from Playboy Magazine?”

  Madge blinked at him for a moment, then glared at me. “No, but I know Kate Asher from Sports Insider Online.”

  Sean frowned between us. “Who?”

  Leon shook his head. He wagged a thick finger at me. “Now I know why you looked familiar,” he said. “Shit.”

  “Shit is right,” Madge said. Her eyes filled with anger. She curled her lip into a snarl. “What’s going on here? Why does he think you’re someone else?”

  “What’s going on?” Sean asked, confused, still clutching my hand. He gave Madge a hard look. “This is my girlfriend. This is Katie Holmes, like the actress, only hotter. Be nice to her, Madge.”

  “Sean, my dear, this is a low-level reporter named Kate Asher from SIO,” Madge said, folding her arms over her chest and glaring at me. “She’s one of those awful people who is banned from Kings Stadium.”

  “What? Bullshit.” Sean let go of my hand and rolled his head on the pillow to look at me. “Tell her who you are, Katie.”

  I licked my lips and took a deep breath and prepared to lie, but it was no use. The ruse was up. Lying further would have only dug my grave deeper a foot deeper.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, my voice quivering. “I didn’t mean for things to get out of hand. I was just trying to get an interview.”

  “Get out,” Madge said. She nodded at Leon like she was sicking a dog on me. “Get her out of here before I call the police. And tell security she is not allowed back into this room.”

  “Please, let me explain,” I said. Tears were streaming down my cheeks as Leon came around the bed and gently took my arm.

  “Come on,” he said softly. “You don’t want to go to jail.”

  I looked back at Sean, who was glaring at me with tears in his eyes.

  “I let you in,” he said quietly. “I let you in and you lied to me. It was all a lie. You just wanted a fucking story, like all the others.”

  “It wasn’t a lie,” I said desperately. “Sean, please, let me explain.”
>
  “Out!” Madge shouted, coming at me with her finger pointed toward the door. “Now!”

  “Come on,” Leon said again. I let him lead me to the elevator. I dug tissues out of my purse as he pressed the down button and stood waiting with me.

  “I didn’t mean for this to happen,” I said, wiping my eyes.

  “I know,” Leon sighed. “But it did happen. Now you just need to leave him alone and let him recover. He doesn’t need a lot of drama right now.”

  The elevator doors parted and he put a big hand on the door to keep them open. I said, “Please tell him I’m sorry.”

  He gave me a slow nod. He looked back down the hallway toward Sean’s room. Madge was standing in the doorway, glaring g at us.

  He said, “He thinks you are gonna write a story about the real Sean Donovan. Is that true?”

  I wiped the snot from under my nose and gave him a slow nod. I said, “Yes, that’s what this was all about. I wanted the world to see all sides of Sean Donovan, not just the bad boy party side.”

  “Write your story,” he said. “Then leave him alone. He’s got enough shit to deal with now. He doesn’t need to deal with you.”

  He took his hand away and the doors closed.

  It was the last time I ever expected to see him or Sean again.

  Sean

  “Can I get you anything before I leave, Mr. Donovan?”

  I looked up from the spot on the couch where I’d been spending most of my days and nights since getting released from the hospital and shook my head at the housekeeper.

  “No, Maria, thanks,” I said with a smile. “Have a good night.”

  “She’s hot, man,” Leon said after the front door closed. He sat next to me on the couch, rubbing his hands together. “I could tap that fine Latino ass.”

  “She’s old enough to be your mother,” I said, picking up the TV remote and switching the channel to ESPN. “Let me guess, Monique has cut you off again.”

  He grunted and rubbed his eyes. “That damn woman uses her pussy like a… fuck, I don’t know what. But every time she gets pissed at me about something, she cuts me off.”

  “What’s she pissed about now?”

  “She’s pissed because I told her not to spend a fucking arm and a leg on the fucking flowers for her fucking wedding.”

  I turned my head slowly to look at him. With my shoulder still healing, I did everything slowly these days. I asked, “Were those your exact words?”

  He shrugged. “Yeah, why?”

  “I might understand why she’s a little pissed.”

  “Fuck that, man,” he said with a heavy sigh. A brother’s gotta fuck something. Might as well be your fine Latino housekeeper.”

  “You keep that monster away from my housekeeper,” I said, glancing toward his crotch. I’d seen Leon naked in the locker room plenty of times. The word “monster” didn’t really start to describe what he was packing down there.

  “Hey, look, it’s you,” he said, nodding at the screen.

  I glanced up at the TV to see my smiling face superimposed next to the ESPN anchor’s head. I turned up the sound.

  “Still no word on when New York Kings star running back Sean Donovan will be back in the game,” the anchor said, his handsome brow furrowed, almost like he gave a shit. I knew the guy well. He hated my guts and was probably reveling in the fact that I was out for the season.

  He continued, “But a new post on the Sports Insider Online website today is giving fresh insight into Sean Donovan, offering up a side of the football great that you might not have known even existed. Lou Walls is here to tell us more. Lou...”

  “What the fuck…” I said, leaning in toward the screen.

  The reporter spoke on-camera as stock footage of me on the field and on TMZ rolled in the background.

  “That’s right, Ed. We all know the legendary exploits of bad boy Sean Donovan, from the drunken bar brawls to the viral sex videos, but did you also know that he visits children with cancer every week? Or that he donates millions of dollars to charities very year? And that he does it all anonymously? No one knew that side of Sean Donovan until today when Kate Asher’s profile of Donovan hit the web.”

  Kate Asher’s beautiful face appeared in a bubble next to the reporter’s head.

  “What makes this story even more interesting, Ed, is that Kate Asher actually disguised herself as a reporter from Playboy Magazine to get close to Sean Donovan, which tells me that some habits are harder to break than others. Ed, back to you.”

  I switched off the TV and looked around frantically for my computer. It was on the table next to Leon. I waved at it. “Hey, hand me my laptop. I want to read what she wrote.”

  “What do you care?” Leon asked, handing over the laptop. “Have you even spoken to her since Madge threw her out of the hospital.”

  “No, not a word,” I said, tapping the keys to bring up the Sports Insider Online website. The story was the first thing on the screen.

  I tapped the link and a new page opened with the bold headline “The Many Sides of Sean Donovan”.

  The byline read Kate Asher, Sports Insider Online.

  Her picture was next to the byline. It was the same one they’d just shown on ESPN. I clicked on the image to enlarge it to full screen. I felt a little twinge go through my body when I gazed into her blue eyes.

  She was looking directly into the camera with a modest smile. Her red hair was loose on her shoulders. Her lips were turned up at the corners. I could see freckles across the bridge of her perfect nose.

  My eyes followed the gentle slope of her neck down to her collar bone. I remembered trailing my tongue down her neck. I remembered how her breasts felt in my hands. I remembered her sighing into my mouth as I squeezed her long nipples.

  “She’s smoking hot,” Leon said, bumping me with his elbow, interrupting my memories of her. “I’d tap that ass.”

  “I know,” I said quietly.

  “You should tap ass that again.”

  “Will you shut up and let me read?”

  His cellphone buzzed on the coffee table. He picked it up and winced when he saw the call was from Monique, his soon-to-be bride.

  “Fuck. I gotta go home, man,” he said.

  “Okay,” I said, giving him a distracted wave. “Have fun.”

  “Three words for you, man,” he said, backing out of the room. “Tap that ass!”

  “Okay, thank you,” I said. After the door closed, I forced my eyes away from the photo of Katie – Kate – and read the story of my life.

  Kate

  I’d never seen Walter this giddy. When he came into my office with a big grin on his face and his hands in the air, I thought that he had lost his mind. When he pulled me out of the chair and put me into a bear hug, I was convinced that he had gone completely over the edge.

  “What’s going on?” I asked, trying to wiggle from his grasp.

  “You don’t know?”

  “Know what?”

  He held me at arm’s length with his clammy hands on my shoulders. He gave me a shake. “Young lady, come with me!”

  “What the…”

  He grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the office, down the hall, and into the large conference room, where every other staffer had already gathered, including Dru, who was standing near the door with a big smile on her face.

  “What’s going on?” I asked again, this time directing the question to Dru, who just made a silly face and let her thin eyebrows go up and down.

  “Okay, people, listen up,” Walter said, rubbing his hands together like two blocks of sandpaper. “Two big announcements today.”

  He took out his reading glasses and set them on the tip of his nose, then tugged a piece of paper from his back pocket and took his time unfolding it.

  He cleared his throat and read from the paper. “According to our server administrator – that’s the guy in charge of keeping the website up and running—our website crashed twice yesterday.”

>   He looked at the group from over the top of his glasses, as if he was waiting for them to groan at the news.

  “Ordinarily, that would not be good news, but the reason the server crashed this time was the amount of traffic going to Kate’s article about Sean Donovan!”

  Everyone clapped and cheered. Dru came forward to give me a big hug. I blinked at them.

  “Wait, I don’t understand,” I said.

  “You melted down the fucking server, Katie Holmes,” Dru said, pounding her fists in the air as if she were at a Springsteen concert. “Tell her, Walter. Tell her how many hits the story got.”

  “I’m trying,” Walter huffed. He looked at the paper again. “In the last three days since the story was posted to the site, it has gotten almost two million hits. Two million fucking hits, people! We haven’t had a story this hot since Ray Rice punched his girlfriend in an elevator! Well done, Asher! Well done.”

  “Speech, speech,” Dru said, then everyone chimed in.

  I had to take a moment to catch my breath. I had no idea the article I’d written on the private side of Sean Donovan would cause such a stir.

  I knew ESPN had picked up the story and mentioned my name several times. I appreciated the notoriety, but in my heart, I felt like a total shit for deceiving Sean.

  I hadn’t spoken to him since that day in the hospital and never expected to speak to him again.

  Still, I never intended to hurt him or cause him any kind of grief. If I had it to do over again, I would have left Katie Holmes in the box and figured out another way. Then again, if it wasn’t for Katie Holmes, I would have never had the most amazing night of my life.

  “Um, well, thanks, I guess,” I muttered with a smile. “I’m glad the article was so well-received.”

  “Have you talked to Sean Donovan since the article came out?” someone asked.

  I blinked at the question. “No, I haven’t.”

  “Did he really take you to a secluded cabin in the woods and tell you about his father?” asked someone else.

  I glanced at Dru, who was the only person I’d told about going to the cabin with Sean. I hadn’t written anything about personally visiting the cabin at the lake because I knew what the connotations would be. I’d only mentioned the cabin as part of Sean’s memories of his father and the times they’d spent there.