Settling The Score (BBW Romantic Suspense Contemporary Romance)

by Diane Blake

  As soon as she realized what Craig was attempting, Jasinda screamed, "He's got a gun!"

  Chapter 6

  In the commotion caused by Craig's surprise physical attack, the robber's soda cup full of stolen cash dropped to the floor. The plastic lid popped off. Money spilled out all over the tiles.

  Craig's unexpected punch snapped the thief's head back. Still, the criminal didn't lose his grip on the gun. In fact, he managed to aim it right for Craig's chest!

  "Get down!" Craig screamed at the ladies. He lunged for the thief's arm.

  The two men struggled. The thief twisted his arm back and forth in Craig's strong grip trying to pull the trigger.

  From the position on the floor in which she could hear the two men fighting on the other side of the counter, Jasinda's mind raced. She knew that in-shape Trudy could run a lot faster than she could. She had previously hoped the whole incident would end before the cops arrived, now she wished they were already there.

  Jasinda pointed towards the swinging doors. "Trudy, run! Go see if the cops are outside yet. Get them in here so they don't waste time looking for the dumpster and that useless security guard!"

  "What about you?"

  "I'm going to stay here and see if I can help Craig somehow."

  "Oh, God, be careful!"

  "Go!"

  Trudy took off through the swinging doors.

  Jasinda stood up and looked around the counter for something to use as a weapon...something heavy...the blender base! She flicked the lever to release the suction cups. She grabbed it and ran around the counter.

  There was so much movement between the two men, she couldn't get a clear shot at her goal – bashing the thief in the face or over the head.

  Jasinda saw her chance. She held the blender base high above her head and swung it down.

  From their positions, Craig couldn't see Jasinda or the blender, but the thief caught the movement out of the corner of his eye. He swiveled his body to throw Craig into the path of Jasinda's makeshift weapon.

  In that fraction of a second, it was too late to stop the heavy object's inertia by the time Jasinda realized the men had moved. She tried to alter its trajectory as best she could.

  The blender clipped the edge of Craig's shoulder. He cried out in a mixture of pain and surprise.

  The momentary shock caused Craig to loosen his grip on the thief. The criminal took advantage of this temporary reprieve. His leg flew out like a spring-loaded piston. His heavy work boot slammed into Jasinda's side.

  The impact knocked her off her feet. She tumbled backwards, hitting her head against the edge of the ice cream counter as she fell. The blender landed beside her on the ground as she lay there dazed. She watched the two men continue their fight, but was unable to join in again.

  Seeing Jasinda injured sent Craig into a rage. If there was one thing the football player couldn't tolerate, it was a man mistreating a woman.

  "Damn, you're strong," the thief complained through gritted teeth. He felt like Craig was about to break his arm and yet he still wouldn't loosen his grip on the gun. Despite the football player's superior strength and size, the thief had one thing in his favor which he admitted out loud. "But I don't care how tough you are. I'm not letting the cops catch me because I ain't never going back to jail."

  Craig felt the thief pull his arm free. At the same time, Jasinda held the side of her head where it had come into contact with the edge of the counter. She struggled to her feet.

  "Jasinda, look out!" Craig screamed. He threw his entire weight against the thief. The two men crashed into one of the food court tables. They, and it, toppled over. The metal table clanged against the metal chairs, producing an awful racket.

  The thief crawled out of the wreckage. He stood. His finger jerked the trigger.

  Bang!

  Craig's brute force tackle knocked the thief off his feet.

  Jasinda dove for the floor.

  The single bullet whizzed across the customer space in front of the counter. It missed Jasinda's head by an inch. She actually heard the bullet buzz by her ear like an insect bothering her at a picnic.

  The bullet sailed over the ice cream counter. It hit the giant neon triple scoop ice cream cone on the back wall. The glass shattered and rained down on the coolers. The neon cone fizzled and smoked.

  "You bastard!" Craig roared as the two men fought on the floor. Craig pounded the gun out of the thief's hand. The thief stretched towards the fallen weapon. Craig kicked it. The gun slid across the floor and disappeared under the mini-carousel.

  Craig's right fist smashed dead on against the thief's chin. His head jerked sideways. Blood flew out of his mouth along with what appeared to be a tooth.

  Craig's left fist slammed the criminal's cheek, sending it back facing the other way. He was going to pound on him again when he felt Jasinda's arm on his shoulder. "It's over. He's unconscious. You saved us."

  Security guard Eddie stumbled in from the door marked Mall Employees Only in back of the food court. He rubbed his head, oblivious to the dried blood streaks on his face. "Is anything going on here? I think somebody hit me."

  Before any of them could respond, they heard the police officers scramble into the food court. "Jefferson police! Everyone, back away from each other slowly and put your hands up!"

  Chapter 7

  The next day, Jasinda sat in the crowded mall food court during lunch time. The employees of the Chinese food restaurant tempted passersby with free samples. Mothers carefully placed their children on the mini-carousel horses. Obnoxious teenagers talked too loudly by the donut place.

  All that activity represented a typical day in the food court except for the fact that other people kept looking over and whispering. She wasn't used to that. Well, at least not for the same reason as today.

  Men usually didn't give her a second look in public. But women were a different matter. Jasinda knew they looked at her with what she called the "eyes of judgment." They never had to say a word out loud. Their mere glances told the story. Even when there were two or more women together, they didn't have to speak to get their points across. They would simply look at Jasinda and then each other. That's all it took for each to instinctively understand the message...

  What is that big girl doing eating fast food? No wonder she's heavy. Maybe she should try a salad sometime.

  I know, right? I think she was the same one we saw shopping in the clothes store earlier. Like any of that stuff would look good on her or even fit her! She needs to shop across the mall in the plus sized specialty store.

  Yeah, the exercise getting there would do her some good, too.

  Then they'd go back to eating their meals and poor Jasinda would have a terrible time finishing hers.

  On this particular day, Jasinda tried to concentrate on her tray of food, but she really felt like half the food court studied her every time she picked up a French fry or took a sip of her drink. She tried to ignore them by focusing on what had happened the night before. "We didn't really get a chance to talk last night after the police arrested the criminal and took our statements. That Marty guy kind of swooped in out of nowhere and then you were gone."

  "Sorry about that," Craig told her as he put down his double hamburger. "Marty is pretty good at whisking any of us players away whenever there's a hint of trouble. He says that's the team lawyer's job. I guess that's why the owner pays Marty as much as he pays some of my teammates."

  "I never got to find out from you what the deal was with you asking me about a phantom text."

  "Oh, that...it was just a test. I had a weird feeling that guy wasn't really your co-worker's boyfriend. Something was just off about the situation. You were acting so weird like you wanted to get rid of me, yet you seemed so afraid of something. I figured if it was just my imagination and everything was fine, you would have acted confused and questioned what I was talking about. Instead, when you lied and said you got a text which there was no way I could have sent you...since I d
idn't know your phone number... I knew for sure you were in trouble."

  "Clever."

  Craig continued, "Also, that whole thing about him saying he had been so thirsty and how his soda really hit the spot. I noticed he didn't have a straw in the cup and that it was full. Although at the time, I didn't know yet it was full of stolen cash!"

  "Maybe you should have been a cop or a detective. If the football thing doesn't work out..." Jasinda teased.

  "Seems to be working out just fine so far. But I may have taken a criminal justice class or two in college just in case."

  Jasinda got distracted again. It figured, here she was having lunch with the most attractive and interesting guy she ever met and it seemed like everyone around her was equally interested in him. "Does this happen every time you go out in public?" Jasinda asked.

  "Pretty much," pro football star Craig responded.

  "It's kind of creepy," Jasinda said as she turned to look out the window in order to avoid the guy a few tables away who was obviously snapping a picture with his phone.

  "No fans, no career," Craig shrugged. "I've gotten used to it over the past few years. It's just become my normal. Most fans are actually pretty respectful of my space. But I apologize for not warning you and asking you if you were OK with meeting in such a public place."

  "I admit that I didn't even think you would show up."

  Craig tilted his head in surprise. "Why not? I said I would."

  Jasinda met his gaze. "I'm not really into believing what men say."

  "Tough break up in the past?"

  "Something like that."

  "Then you just weren't with the right guy," Craig responded with a confident smile.

  Jasinda sipped her chocolate shake to fortify her own confidence. "Let's cut to it. Why are we really here?"

  Craig looked out the window which overlooked the parking lot and the hills surrounding the mall as well as the clear sky beyond them. With an impish grin, "Ah, yes, the eternal question. What is the human race's purpose and place in the universe? Not a question that comes up too often in the Tigers locker room, but a worthy topic of conversation anyway."

  Jasinda smiled in spite of herself. She found it quite difficult to be upset with someone as cute as Craig Wilder. Still, he had skillfully avoided her question.

  Before she had a chance to press him on it, they were rudely interrupted.

  A teenager with a plaid shirt tied around his waist and baseball cap on backwards carried his full tray away from the Chinese food counter. As he walked by the table, the young man suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. "Oh, my God, man, you're in the mall. You're Wilder. Craig Wilder!"

  "I know," Craig smiled. Clearly he'd been through this many times before.

  "I'm like your biggest fan." The teen called out to his friends who were still waiting for their food in line. "Guys, look! It's Craig Wilder over here. Come and take my picture with him!"

  Jasinda noticed that the young man didn't even bother to ask if Craig was interested in posing for the picture. Apparently, this detail didn't escape Craig's notice either.

  "Dude, do you mind? I'm on a date here."

  The teen glanced over at Jasinda, seemingly noticing her for the first time. "Oh, I guess I just thought she was your agent or your sister or whatever." He turned back to Craig all excited with the usual self-centeredness of a teenager, not at all conscious of how dismissive he had been to Jasinda.

  By this time, his two male friends and two female friends surrounded the table too.

  "Let's get a shot with all of us," the teen announced to loud cheers of agreement from his friends.

  Craig looked across the table at Jasinda. "Do you mind?" he mouthed silently.

  Jasinda didn't want to make the situation any more awkward. "It's fine," she said, meaning it at about a ninety percent level of sincerity. "I'll just throw some of my trash away." She got up to leave the table and the teen guy who first noticed Craig acknowledged Jasinda's existence for the second time.

  "Can you hold the phone to make sure we all get in the picture OK? I don't trust a selfie with this many people and someone as important as Craig Wilder."

  Jasinda plastered a fake smile on her face and took the phone. She snapped several pictures for them. The teens did at least remember to thank both her and Craig before they went away happy.

  "Where were we?" Craig asked as Jasinda settled back into her seat.

  Chapter 8

  "You were avoiding my question which that kid illustrated rather nicely by assuming I was 'your agent or your sister or whatever.'"

  "Actually, I thought I fully answered your question of why we were here when I informed the fan that you and I are on a date."

  "You know what I meant. So about this date, why are the two of us here, together. Specifically."

  "Oh, is there an 'us' already?" Craig responded. "I was hoping, but didn't know it would happen so soon."

  "There you go again. Last night, the flirting was fun and flattering-"

  "That's kind of the point of flirting, Jasinda. Well, part of it anyway."

  His mischievous grin almost derailed Jasinda's train of thought, but she kept herself focused. "Look, I'm just going to call it like it is. Guys don't pursue girls like me."

  "Like you?"

  She looked him straight in the eye. "Again, you know what I mean. But I'll say it if that's what you want. Girls like me that are overweight. Big-boned, large-framed. Not the skinny supermodel type. Not the kind of girl who dances around half-naked in music videos. And that goes double for a guy like you."

  "Like me?"

  "Rich. Handsome. Jocks. The kind that can go home with any girl they want at the party. Even if he went home with her sister or best friend the night before."

  "I think you should get to know me before you decide what kind of guy I am."

  "Give me a break, I've seen a dozen versions of this movie. The jock's friends put him up to it somehow. Maybe a bet for money. Or a dare. Or just a challenge. See if he can get the geeky girl/goth girl/fat girl to fall in love with him. Then embarrass her in public when she admits her feelings for him. Then all the popular kids stand back and laugh at the pathetic girl who actually thought the cool guy liked her."

  Jasinda sat back and folded her arms, her demeanor daring him to contradict her.

  Craig met her stare head on. "If you really saw that story play out a dozen times, you'd know what happens in every single one. The jock guy ditches all his jerky friends and really does fall in love with the girl – who actually turns out to be more of an outcast in her own mind than in his. In fact, the qualities she dislikes in herself are the very things that make him fall in love with her."

  Craig stunned Jasinda. She didn't know what to say. Nobody ever challenged Jasinda when she was on one of her indignant righteous rants. Rather than lose by remaining silent, Jasinda blurted out "Funny, I wouldn't have pegged you for a chick flick fan."

  "I always let my dates choose the movie."

  "You just have an answer for everything, don't you?"

  Craig smiled. "When I'm right."

  She studied him across the table. Still not convinced, she threw out another theory. "Then you must be gay."

  "What?"

  "Sure, it makes perfect sense. You've had these flings with all the girls who are perfect for you, but it never works out long term. They can never figure out why you always seem to be holding something back. Some of them even figure out your secret and vow to keep it. But they won't be pawns or beards for you to hide behind. You got away with it for a while, but now you've been in the public spotlight for too long. People are starting to talk. Rumors are going around the locker room."

  Craig leaned forward with a bemused expression. "You seem to know so much about my life. Go on..."

  Jasinda took a breath and continued, "So team lawyer Marty sits you down one day and says he doesn't care what you do behind closed doors, but, damn, this is pro football. There are hundreds of million
s of dollars at stake, product tie-ins, lucrative endorsements...it's time to find a girl. Any girl will do as long as she plays the dutiful girlfriend for your adoring fans. Smarter to pick a big girl. Why? She won't expose your double life. She'll be grateful because she can't get anyone else."

  Craig got up from the table. He tossed his napkin onto the plate.

  The relief showed on Jasinda's face. She was happy to get to the bottom of this whole charade before she really fell for him and got her feelings hurt.