Chapter 24
VINNIE
I wipe away the sweat from my face as I listen to the voicemail left by the doorman at our building. The team workout went longer than I had anticipated, and I couldn’t wait to get back to the locker room to see if they’d found anything.
“Mr. Gallo, we were able to pull the footage from the garage. It’s not as clear as we’d like, but it should help in finding the person responsible for the damage to Ms. Hernandez’s car. I’m texting it to you now. Please let us know what else we can do to help.”
“That’s some scary shit right there,” Clarence says as he sits on the bench next to me, untying his cleats.
I tap the screen, going to my messages before the voice mail ends. Anger builds inside me as the photo loads. I know the hair and facial profile immediately.
“Fuck,” I hiss, clutching the phone so tightly, I’m surprised the glass doesn’t shatter in my palm.
“You know them?” Clarence asks.
I look down at Clarence, my body shaking with anger as I turn the screen so he can see her too.
“Oh fuck. I told you that bitch was insane.”
Tracie is on an entirely different level from anyone else I know.
It’s one thing to bother me, following me around like a puppy dog, but it takes a truly sick person to do what she did.
Coming after me is bad, but going after my girl or her property is a level of insanity I can’t deal with and won’t accept.
“That’s it. I’m done playing games. I don’t care who she is. I won’t allow this to go without consequences.”
Clarence shakes his head. “I don’t envy you, man. She’s done some fucked-up shit while I’ve been here, but never anything like this.”
I take a deep breath, trying to rein in my anger before I knock someone’s lights out. “Either they handle it, or I want off the team.”
“Don’t do anything you’ll regret.”
I level Clarence with my glare. “Should I just wait around with my thumb up my ass for her to hurt Bianca? What if she’d done this to Marquita?”
“I don’t know, man. I don’t know.”
“Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow, but this shit is stopping now.”
I don’t wait for him to reply before I stalk toward the coach’s office with the photo still on my screen.
“Gallo,” he says before I’m more than two feet inside his office.
“Coach. We have to talk,” I tell him as I clench my fists at my sides, trying to center my almost uncontrollable anger. “I want to be traded.”
His head snaps back. “What?”
“You heard me. Trade me. I’ll go anywhere.”
“Absolutely not.” He shakes his head and walks toward me, waving his hands in the air like I’m off my rocker. “You’re going to be the starter this season. We’re building this entire team around you.”
I shove my phone in his face with the photo of Tracie holding a can of spray paint as she fucks up Bianca’s car.
“Tracie’s gone too far this time. You keep promising me she’s going to be taken care of, but nothing has changed.
She’s worse now than she was before. I can’t work like this.
I won’t work like this. I can’t have Bianca’s life in danger because Tracie’s allowed to do whatever she wants.
” My voice is shaking as my anger over the entire situation builds. “Either trade me, or I’ll quit.”
“Now, son,” he says as he places a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t do anything hasty. We’ll handle this.”
“I’ve heard that bullshit promise before, Coach.”
“Rudy!” he yells and peers over my shoulder.
“What’s up?” Rudy, the defensive line coach, asks from the hallway.
“Tell Mr. Turner I want to see him immediately.”
“I’m on it,” Rudy replies before leaving us alone again.
Coach steps around me and closes the door. “Sit down. He’ll be here in a few minutes. I just saw him down the hallway talking to the press.”
I do as he says, but I’m not relaxed. I run my hands up and down my legs, trying to calm myself before I have a complete and utter meltdown, ruining any chance at a pro career with any team in the league. The coach sits down across from me, not saying anything, but busying himself with some papers.
Moments later, Mr. Turner walks in. “You wanted to see me?”
I close my eyes and take a deep breath, knowing this is a make-it-or-break-it moment.
I’ve worked my entire life to get to this point.
I worked my ass off with two-a-days, endless hours in the gym, and perfecting my skills to make it to the big leagues.
Now I’m here, and I may very well have to throw it all away because they can’t seem to control one woman.
“Close the door, please,” Coach tells Mr. Turner. “We have a situation.”
Mr. Turner closes the door and makes his way across the room with very heavy footsteps. He glances at me and back to the coach. “What happened?”
Coach dips his head in my direction. “Show him.”
I lift my phone, and Turner takes it from my hand, studying the photo. “What’s she doing?”
“She’s spray-painting the word ‘whore’ on my girlfriend’s car in our parking garage.”
He opens his mouth to say something but closes it again.
Coach motions toward me as he leans back in his chair. “Gallo wants to be traded.”
“Absolutely not,” Turner says, suddenly finding his words. “I won’t allow it.”
“Then I quit,” I say and stand quickly. “I can’t allow Tracie to threaten my girl. As of this moment, I’m no longer with the team and will be pressing charges against her immediately.”
“She’s gone too far this time.” Turner rubs his forehead and grimaces.
“I’ll send her away. She needs medical help, son.
It’s hard to love someone so much when they’re this self-destructive, but she’s my blood.
I’ll send her out of the country for treatment at a clinic in Switzerland.
Don’t quit. I beg you. You’re the future of this organization. ”
“Sir, with all due respect, you’ve promised me she’d be taken care of before.”
“She’ll be on my private jet tomorrow. It’s a one-year treatment program. She won’t be a problem since she’ll be halfway around the world. Just please don’t leave the team.”
I have to admit, but only to myself, I like that he’s almost begging me to stay. The starting quarterback position is mine, which is a nice feeling, but only if Tracie is completely out of the picture.
“May I speak with Bianca first?”
Mr. Turner lets out a heavy sigh and nods. “Either way, Tracie will be gone immediately.”
Knowing she’ll be out of the country for at least a year lifts an invisible burden off my shoulders I didn’t entirely realize was there.
She’s been making surprise appearances wherever I’ve been for so long now, I just learned to ignore her.
But what happened today, to Bianca’s car, has gone too far.
It’s one thing to mess with my life, but Tracie bringing her craziness to my home, Bianca’s home, is too much for me to deal with.
Bianca’s on the couch next to me with her mouth hanging open. “You did what?”
“I told them I quit.” I run my thumb across the soft skin on the back of her arm.
She shakes her head. “Why would you do that?”
“I had to. I told them if they weren’t going to deal with Tracie, I was done playing for their team.”
She rocks backward after hearing me say the words a second time. “What did they say?”
“Mr. Turner said he’d have her on a plane tomorrow and out of the country for at least a year in some swanky treatment center in Switzerland.”
She scoots closer until our knees are touching. “Did you tell them you still want your job, then?”
“I told them I’d have to talk it over with you first.”
Her lips form a little O before she blows out a loud breath. “You’d quit for me?”
I nod.
It’s insanity, I know, but it was the only thing that seemed to make sense. I can’t have Bianca feeling threatened, and I need her to be okay with everything and how Tracie is going to be handled for me to move forward. For us to continue.
“You can’t quit.” She intertwines our fingers. “I love that you would for me, but I can’t allow you to do that.”
“So, you’re okay with me staying as long as she’s gone?”
“Vinnie, a little spray paint isn’t enough to scare me away—or for you to quit the team.”
I spend the next twenty minutes explaining all the messed-up things Tracie has done in a little less than twelve months.
From her showing up at my family’s hotel suite in Vegas with no clothing, right up until she spray-painted Bianca’s car.
Bianca sits there in stunned silence the entire time, soaking in the insanity that’s been my life since the day Tracie decided I was her next target.
“Do you understand why I had to give them an ultimatum?”
Bianca climbs into my lap, and I grab on to her hips.
“I do. It’s kind of sexy that you’d give it all up for me, but it’s not what I want.
” She places her hands on my chest, and her pussy presses against my cock in just the right way to give me an instant hard-on.
“This is your dream. You’ve worked your entire life for this opportunity.
You need to call them and tell them you’re not leaving. ”
I dig my fingers into her hips as I move her lower half forward and back, rubbing our bodies together like the first time we were together. “I’ll call them in the morning. I have more important things to attend to.” I smirk and lean forward to kiss my girl. “They can wait. This can’t.”
Before she can argue with me, I cover her mouth with mine, sealing away her words and the entire day. Nothing else matters but the girl in my lap and the way she moans deep in the back of her throat as I sweep my tongue between her luscious lips.