Dangerously Yours (Titans of Chicago #3)

NOAH

I had made the roster which everyone kept telling me was a lock, so I could finally breathe easier. After the ACL tear for a west coast quarterback, I thought I might be headed to Seattle, but all’s well that ends well, and I was staying here in the city. I hadn’t heard the actual news until I was at Lulu’s place. Her kids were off with their father, so it had been just the two of us.

“You’re our starting quarterback, Capshaw, so we’re keeping you. Practice starts on Monday,” my coach had told me.

The phone had been on speaker, and I could see Lulu smiling from ear to ear. “I told you,” she had mouthed to me.

“Yes, Sir. I’ll see you then.” I disconnected the call, then pulled my woman into my arms.

Things between us were going great. Even those that had once been skeptical were starting to come around. Gabriel couldn’t sing her praises enough since she had signed on as the planner for his wedding to Harper. Callum had also begrudgingly admitted that he might have been a bit too harsh on us in the beginning. Daxon was always the voice of reason, and I had done a lot of thinking after our talk that one day. And Romeo, he didn’t have an opinion either way. He was focused more on this season than my love life which I appreciated.

Well, maybe I had made a little more time for Lulu than he had for other women, but no one wanted to bring another championship home to this city more than me. That desire was one of the reasons I would end up seeing much less of Lulu for the next several months. It would be at least four of them, but just over five if we did what we needed to do and advanced further into the playoffs.

“I’m so happy for you,” Lulu had told me. “Tonight is now a celebration.”

And it had been, even two days later, I was still grinning at the things I had done to her once I had gotten her naked. Despite the age difference between us, I noticed none of that mattered, especially when we were together. Maybe it had been because I was raised by my grandparents so I was introduced to things outside of my own age range all of my life. After my parents died, I had gotten a much different education from a completely different generation of Titans. Manners, and always using them, had been the biggest lesson I had learned.

While the society belles would go to those finishing schools, I was also made to enroll, too. I’d been taught all the basics from table manners, dining etiquette, conversation skills, proper introductions, and so much more. My grandfather had told me these skills would turn me from a boy into a man. I used to scoff at him, but others I knew had also been made to go through the same things, and they had turned out great. Gabriel was a shining example, especially since we went to the same one together. Evidently, not every generation had been made to endure those courses, though.

I would often think about Cade. While he seemed to have chilled out more recently, I knew he still upset Lulu on a regular basis. It made me want to pound his face in. There was a hell of a lot more I could do to him besides just breaking his nose. Men who didn’t treat women respectfully bothered me, and when the woman he was treating badly happened to be my own, the gloves came off. He had not only slandered her name all over the town in the beginning, but he was also rude to her in public, and had even threatened to rip their children from her arms. It was only out of respect for Lulu that I didn’t do more to defend and protect her.

“He isn’t worth it, Noah,” she would tell me, and I’d reluctantly agreed.

There was a possessiveness I felt when it came to her, and I had tried reining it in, but sometimes it was difficult to do. I loved her. I thought I had before, but the more time we spent with one another, the more certain I had become of that. Once this season was over and done with, I even planned to ask her to move in with me. It was a huge step, especially for a bachelor like me, but one I was ready to make with her. The only reason I didn’t plan to do it sooner was because I owed it to my team to be completely focused on a championship. An even better prize than the crystal trophy would be the woman I would get to go home to every night thereafter.

It didn’t mean I couldn’t do things to help make her life easier, and picking up her car from the dealership was just one of those things. She was working on a second wedding, and with the late hours and early starts, she had been unable to pick up the car from the repair shop herself. She’d been having trouble with her brakes, and after dropping it off with her the morning before, coming back to get it for her was the least I could do. They had since been blowing her phone up wanting to know when she would be there.

“I’ll get it after practice, and I’ll deliver it back to your place,” I had told her the night before.

“I can’t thank you enough for doing that for me. I’m so swamped right now with work that I barely have time to do anything.”

She not only was kept busy with event planning, but she had three kids who were all into different things. There had been so many nights where she had called me between pickups or drop-offs around the city. I truly admired her strength and focus, and I wasn’t sure I would be able to do all that she did if I had to on a regular basis. Lulu was a real-life superwoman, and she had no idea how much sexier that made her to me.

The woman had always taken good care of herself, and it showed in her flawless body. She was tall for a woman, even if she was still a few inches shorter than me, but every bit of her was toned to perfection. Her long legs drew me to her, and it didn’t even matter if they were straddling mine, were spread wide open, or even draped over my shoulders. I loved every inch, and even more what I found between them.

Being back at practice again had my adrenaline racing, and it was a high I craved. Football was my entire life, and the start of the season had finally arrived. Our first two opponents were contenders, and not teams I could afford to take lightly. It was as if Coach knew it too because there were no red jerseys today at practice, and the pads were on for the first time in weeks. While my backup had taken nearly all the snaps during the preseason and training camp, I was back now, and it was as if the off season had never happened.

“So how was practice?” Gabriel asked when it finally ended.

“It was great, Gabe. Thanks so much for everything you did to keep me here. I’d heard the rumors, and where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”

“I’ll always have your back, Noah. On and off the field. You know that.”

“I do, and likewise. Hey, I’m at the Porsche dealership now and I have to pick up Lulu’s car for her. Let me call you back tonight.”

“Absolutely, and tell her that Harper and I said hello.”

“Will do,” I told him, then went inside to pick up the vehicle.

Now, as I was pulling into her parking garage, I paused near the entrance to recheck the space number she had given me. Parking in Chicago, especially downtown, was atrocious, and the last thing I wanted to do was take someone else’s parking space. Hers was space twenty four, so I pulled in further, then followed the signs for the second level. A few minutes later, I parked the car, then pulled up her last message so I could let her know that I had delivered it home safe and sound. I then planned to walk downstairs to the guest spaces where I had parked earlier to retrieve my own vehicle.

I made sure everything was turned off, and despite the discomfort, I even set her mirrors and seat back into her preset position before opening the door. I had no time to even swing my longs legs out before I saw a silver sports car coming down the row. I didn’t think anything of it because residents would come and go throughout the day. I ignored the oncoming car, only acknowledging its location enough so that I could stay out of its way. Within seconds, the car sped up, then everything happened in a blur.

A loud shot rang out, followed by another. Then two more in rapid succession, and it had taken a few seconds to even realize I had been hit. I only realized it upon the sudden eruption of pain in my upper chest and shoulder area. I staggered on my feet as another shot rang out, but I didn’t feel anything this time. Still, my cell phone dropped from my hand, and I followed it to the ground. There was a squealing of tires right afterward, then nothing. I placed my hand where the pain was radiating, and when I pulled it back, the entire thing was sticky and wet.

I choked a time or two, and realized I had been shot. I could very well die right here on the pavement. I smacked the ground around me for the phone, then tried my best to stay calm as I called for help.

“9-1-1. What’s your emergency?”

“I-I’ve been shot.”

“What’s your name?”

“Noah Capshaw.”

I heard the gasp of recognition on her end.

“Stay calm, Mr. Capshaw. Where are you? And can you give us any more information?”

I gave her a brief rundown of my address, which level of the parking garage I was on, as well as what I could remember about the car. All I knew was that it was silver, and foreign, possibly a Maserati or Aston Martin of some sort. Ordinarily, I would be able to tell someone what almost any car was, but having just been shot and only catching a small glimpse, I couldn’t this time.

All I could think about was that this could have been Lulu. It was her car, and her building. If she had picked up the vehicle herself and gone straight home, she would be the one lying here on the concrete in a pool of blood.

“Help is on the way, Mr. Capshaw. The police and paramedics will be arriving shortly. In the meantime, I need you to stay on the line with me.”

It was getting increasingly harder to breathe, and the more questions thrown at me, the less I was able to even formulate an answer. The dispatcher asked me multiple times if I was still there, and I tried to assure her that I was, but I knew it wouldn’t be for long. “Please hurry,” I managed to say as the crushing weight seemed to be getting heavier as it sat on my chest.

“Mr. Capshaw. Mr. Capshaw,” was the last thing, outside of the approaching sirens, that I heard before I closed my eyes.

In that moment, I was sure I was a goner. Everything went black, and it was only much later when I reopened my eyes to learn that I had made it to the hospital in time. I was going to live, which I suppose was the important thing, only it wasn’t. Gabriel, Callum, Daxon, and Romeo were all there, as were my head and quarterback coaches. The only one I didn’t see right away was Lulu. I wanted to ask about her, but the police arrived, and everyone else was shooed out of the room. I was still a bit foggy from the medicine administered through the IV, but I tried to tell them what I could remember.

After, I ended up dozing back off. That pattern seemed to repeat itself over the course of the next day or two. Thankfully, Lulu was there one of the times when I had awakened, and her tear-streaked cheeks made the pain in my chest hurt even worse. I wanted to comfort her, and had tried, but physically, I had limitations. My mind wandered a few times to football. I had considered myself almost invincible when it came to the injuries others experienced. No one ever thought it would be them, until it was. My own mortality even off the field was also a concern. I wouldn’t worry Lulu, or my friends, with any of those fears, though.

“You’re very lucky to have survived, Noah,” the doctor had told me once the full scope of the damage was determined. “The bullet went through your right lung, shattered a few ribs, and pierced your scapula.”

“What does that all mean?” I had asked.

“You’re unfortunately going to be in pain for quite some time, but depending on how you respond to therapy, the recovery time could be longer or shorter than expected.”

“Football,” I had asked.

“That’s likely over for good, but at least you’re going to live.”

What kind of life would it be, though?