The Long Game (Seattle Sentinels #1)

Chapter Six

One hour later…

Tucker: I don’t like how we ended things.

Tucker: I’m sorry.

Lexi: I know, me too.

Tucker: There’s no one else. Only you.

Tucker: Have a safe flight. Let me know when you touch down.

Lexi: I already miss you. Maybe I made a mistake .

Lexi: Thank you. I will.

Two days later…

Lexi: Image (a picture of the beach from her cabana)

Lexi: I might never come back.

Tucker: Looks like you need to buy it.

Lexi: I KNOW! I usually get excited about an acquisition…but this place is spectacular.

Lexi: I wish you were here.

Tucker: Wish I was there with you.

Tucker: Don’t have too much fun. You need to ace this one, remember? Back to business young lady.

Lexi: So bossy. In the bedroom and out.

Tucker: Fuck. You're killing me.

Lexi: I’m sorry.

Lexi: Come out. I need to see you.

Tucker: Please let me fly out to see you. I’m dying over here. Fuck it. I’m in love with you, do you hear me? I’m in love with you.

One-Fucking-Year Later…

Tucker

We’re in the playoffs again! I feel blessed to have gotten to stay with the same team that got me to the Super Bowl last time. I wasn’t traded even though there were a lot of teams willing to give Seattle some incredible players to get me.

This is a surreal moment. I’m on my way to my second Super Bowl one year after winning my first, even after our QB retiring. We have three more games to win against some outstanding teams before we’re home free but it’s within sight.

I wasn’t expecting us to win this game tonight; New Orleans was tough. We’ve put in so much work as a team but I can’t deny that the other team could have won just as easily. They had a bad night. Sometimes, that’s just the luck of it.

Luca reached out last week to let me know he was coming out to watch the playoff game.

His franchise had lost their game two weeks ago and were out of the championship running. He was disappointed, but with Brielle finally conceiving after years of trying, he was happy to be able to be by her side now that she was well into her third trimester.

After the win tonight, the guys all shower and head down to the after party set up for us at a bar not far from where we’re staying. Luca had texted earlier to let me know that he and Brielle would meet me at the bar. Tom and Sheila had been in town and waited for me to emerge from the team lockers to give me a hug and congratulate me before getting back on a plane and heading home.

I texted Lexi a few days ago. After only exchanging texts all last year for birthdays and holidays, I had a moment of weakness, which she quickly squashed.

Tucker: I have a day off before our playoff game. I’m booking a ticket to come see you.

Lexi: No, don’t.

Tucker: I miss you, Lex.

Lexi: Just wait okay?

Tucker: How much longer?

No response. Ghosted again…

This love shit is exhausting. My original plan in high school to never have a girlfriend has started making sense. Maybe I was smart beyond my years.

I just walked up the bar to order a beer when a gorgeous blonde who had asked me to sign her shoulder earlier today at a meet and greet walks up.

"Hi again." She smiles.

"Hey." I smile back.

"You played a great game out there."

"Thanks. The team played well."

"Can I buy you a beer?" she asks, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

I laugh. "I don’t think that’s the way this works."

"Oh yeah?" she say as she slowly glides a hand on my thigh and leans in. "How does this work?"

I signal over the bartender and he takes her order. I still had a beer I was nursing.

She’s handsy and beautiful, in the "groupie" sense. The kind of girl perfect for all things above the waist but after the sacks I received today, the only thing I plan to take home with me is a bucket of ice from the bartender to fill my bathtub.

I don’t sleep with groupies. Not anymore. Not since the end of my first year in the NFL when one of our linebackers got a woman pregnant who was looking for a payday.

Most women looking to sleep with a pro sports player are usually only looking for bragging rights. Harmless, but there’s a few gold diggers out there among the pack. And since you can’t tell the difference between the two, it’s better to keep it above the waist if you’re going to play Russian Roulette.

TJ Holloway once told me that he thought Sadie had gotten pregnant on purpose his first year in the NFL.

She was a one-time hook-up that he thought had pulled a fast one on him since he had just turned pro-baller with a hefty signing salary. It’s hard to imagine him almost missing out on a life with Sadie and their three kids.

I keep to the professional types; women in the media, sports therapy, team reps…any beautiful woman not associated with my team logo, of course. This industry is full of them. A player doesn’t have to go bar diving to find one. You do have to work harder to snag one, though. These women are used to being hit on by males with big egos. Best part, they’re usually discreet and not looking to get a reputation for being easy with male athletes. They’re sure as hell not looking to get knocked up on purpose to snag a multi-million-dollar baby-daddy.

I don’t drink much during the season. Neither do most of the guys. Otherwise, we pay for it later. Playoff wins, though, not only deserve a few beers—they demand it. Practices will become much more grueling and the pressure on our shoulders will get heavier, so knowing when to stop is crucial.

After sitting down with Allie, the blonde, for a couple of beers, she’s warming up and her body language is telling me a lot of things.

Before I know it, her hips are positioned in-between my thighs as I sit on the bar stool. Her large breasts are rubbing against me when she intentionally laughs. Both of her hands are rubbing my thighs, barely inches from my cock.

She leans in to whisper some explicit things she wants to do to me back at her hotel, which is conveniently walking distance from the bar. I am not intending on going back with her but the confidence boost doesn’t hurt.

She leans in and kisses me. Greedy, desperate, and uninhibited lips are pulling and pushing on me. It feels good to have a sexy little thing in my lap for a few hours. Helps you to forget about the woman who doesn’t want you anymore.

Instead of heading back to Allie’s, I’ll be headed to my hotel for that ice bath I’m not looking forward to.

I don’t care how many ice baths I’ve taken in my career; they never get easier. With undoubtedly a massive bone bruise on my rib cage and bruises on both hips from the beating I got today, I’m going to need the soak if I am going to have any chance of not looking like a broken-down pussy for reels on Monday morning.

My tongue is tucked deep in Allie’s giving mouth, but I can’t help but notice something in the corner of my eye. Luca has walked in. His wife Brielle and…fuck! Lexi Benson.

My heart ticks up a notch at the sight of her, but disappointment hits when she spots me in my current predicament.

Why the fuck didn’t she tell me she was planning to come? Had she planned this before or after my text.

I pull my mouth off Allie’s, which is no easy feat. She isn’t letting go without a fight. I position my hands to slowly push her hips out from between my legs. It’s too little too late based on the look already on Lexi’s face. She's already seen the display and is less than pleased. Probably thinking, "I was right about you, asshole".

"Where are you going?" Allie asks in confusion.

"I gotta go, sorry."

I don’t give her a second glance as I move away from the barstool and into the crowd.

I attempt to wipe my face of the lip gloss and saliva still lingering from Allie’s kiss. But Lexi has already turned back around and is out the door of the bar. My stride picks up to try and catch her before she gets in a cab.

Luca grabs my arm. "Let her go."

"Don’t fucking start with me right now."

Brielle is seven months pregnant and has had a couple small scares; I know Luca won’t make a scene that could cause her any panic. He lets go and I’m back on my mission.

I make it out the door to see Lexi trying to hail a cab. She spots me coming out of the bar and changes course realizing she isn’t going to make it into a cab before I can get to her.

"Lexi, wait!"

She starts walking as fast as her sexy-as-shit four inch black strappy stilettos will take her in her tiny mini dress. That dress has me thinking of skipping the ice bath now. Her body under me is the only R I want Lexi to run to me. Maybe I also want her to hurt her like she has hurt me. I let her think Allie is more than a bar hook-up only long enough for Lexi to turn and walk away, but not long enough to let Allie ride to the hospital with me. Hell no. That isn’t happening.

She’ll find another baller to end up with tonight, but it won’t be me. I wonder how many followers she thought she’d get from a post from inside an ambulance with Tucker Evans. I’m not in the mood to boost her social media presence.

As they lock the gurney in place, I notice something on Lexi’s left hand, wrapped around her thumb – my Super Bowl ring. She’s wearing it.

"Whoa! Whoa! Hold on," I beg the first responders to stop but it’s too late, the doors are closing, and we are set in motion headed for the hospital.

I feel my pockets for my phone. It must have slipped out of my pocket when I slid over the top of the car.

Goddamn it!

Lexi had showed up to the bar dressed for sex and wearing my ring. She had come to celebrate my win and possibly to stand beside me when I won another Super Bowl. But now with this injury, I’m out of the game and my team will likely suffer. The idea that Lexi would want anything to do with me after seeing me warming up with a groupie…it confirms everything she thought about me.

My phone turns out not to be lost, but it was smashed in the collision with the car. Luca brings its sad remains to the hospital for me. I’ll have to wait to get out of the hospital to get a new one to contact Lexi.

She doesn’t come to see me in the hospital that night, either.

She sends flowers to the hotel I’m staying in after my emergency knee surgery. Luca finally delivers my favorite cookies, made by Lexi, with a short note.

Sorry I almost got you killed. Maybe you should stop trying to save my life. It’s bad for your health. Hope she’s taking good care of you.

P.S. She probably deserves this ring more than I do.

Wrapped in the note is the Super Bowl ring I put on her finger. She’s given it back. She’s done.

When I get a new phone a week later, I try to call and text. She doesn’t respond back to either.

I’ve lost it all.

Lexi

Lilly: How did it go? Are you Mrs. Evans yet?

Lexi: He’s with someone. I lost him. I can’t believe I thought he’d wait for me.

I feel the tears I had just stopped start rolling down my cheeks again.

Lilly: Oh my God, Lexi…I’m so sorry! Are you sure? Did you talk to him?

Lilly Liotta calling…

I ignore it.

My heart is ripped in shreds, but I don’t even think I’m allowed to feel bad for myself. I had set this into motion, hadn’t I? Pushing him towards someone else. And then, if that wasn’t enough…I might’ve ended his career.

I tried to text him that night and the next morning to apologize but he didn’t answer any of them. And when Luca told me that Tucker was in surgery, the guilt was overwhelming. I had taken away the one thing he truly loved…football. How could he forgive me after that?

He finally had enough. I got the message loud and clear.

Lilly: You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. Just know I’m here, honey, if you want. Anytime, day or night.

Lexi: You might hear about an accident involving Tucker. He’ll be ok, but I really screwed everything up. He might not play professional football ever again.

Lilly: Are you sure you don’t want to talk?

Lexi: Yeah, I’m going to bed. Love you.

Lilly: Our guest room is always open to you. Come anytime. Love you too.