Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Hunter
A crowd of us milled around in the main ballroom of the Parker House Hotel downtown.
I liked the old-world character of the building.
Wyatt introduced me around to some of the players’ wives and a couple of the guys on special teams whom I’d never been formally introduced to.
Three cheerleaders were playing hostess and passing out posters out front.
When I checked in I was told I would be one of the last “items” auctioned, that I was the star of the show.
The St. Jude’s event manager was giddy and I tried not to roll my eyes. It was for a good cause.
We ate and drank and I sat with the team to watch the first half hour of the auction as the audience warmed up. Some of the guys bid on a Hawaiian vacation. I bid on nothing. Whatever money I had was spoken for, already spent.
If I didn’t look across the round table, at about two o’clock from my six, I could ignore the fact that Cat was there, gorgeous in a shimmery dress, shoulders bare, hair swept up and making every other woman at the event look frumpy to her glamorous.
My phone beeped and I checked it. I was being summoned backstage.
Cat rose, looking at her phone and then at me.
She was my handler.
Cat escorted me as if I might get lost along the way. I had to admit I was nervous.
Cat said, “You’re jumpy.” As if she were astonished. Then she smiled, charmed to the melting point. “Don’t worry about it. You’ll be fine. You look gorgeous in that tux. Every woman in the place will want to bid on a night out with you.”
“I think it’s you that’s making me nervous.”
She laughed. Someone handed me a football. The familiar rough feel and heft settled me like coming home. My name was announced and I flashed a glance at Cat.
“Break a leg.” She gave me a shove and as I trotted to center stage where glaring lights made it impossible to see a damn thing, I felt like a criminal under the interrogation light. I wonder if maybe she really wanted me to break a leg.
Then the emcee, who was a real pro, a retired anchor from a local TV news show, took over. Between him, the loud reception of the audience, and the brisk bidding, I only needed to smile and answer a few softball questions here and there.
Cat had prepped me with the questions and had given me the answers, but I had my own.
I wasn’t a halfwit, even if being on stage wasn’t my favorite thing in the universe.
About fifteen minutes and a dozen bids later, some lucky rich woman won a night out with me for a mere ten large. I thought that was the end of it.
When a little girl with a bald head wrapped in a pink bow came out on stage to thank me, I fell in love with her brave smile.
I felt like a small mean prick for not embracing the role and opportunity I was given to help.
Going down on one knee, I opened my arms and she stepped into them for the warmest hug I’d given anyone since I left home for college.
This little girl reminded me of my youngest half sister, of how waiflike she’d been when she first came to live with us.
I let the little girl go and stood and she gave me a gratifying grin that made it harder than I wanted to not tear up, while my chest tightened.
It was then I noticed the crowd applauding in a standing ovation.
I waved as I left the stage, back the way I came, to where Cat stood, unabashedly swiping tears from her cheeks.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said. I walked past her and she followed me through the door and back to the team’s table where I could get a drink. Finally. Not that I was in the habit, but that had been intense and I needed to relax my knotted muscles.
The auction went on, but when I got to the table, with Cat on my heels and me too aware of her, everyone at the table applauded and stood for me. Enough was enough. I put out a hand, gesturing for them to calm down, then turned to Cat.
“Your adoring fans.”
She rolled her eyes. “You were wonderful. Accept the appreciation graciously.”
I took a seat between two cheerleaders and Cat took an empty seat on the other side of the table. There was room, but no way was I sitting next to Cat for even a minute. Especially not the way she looked. Sophisticated and sexy with a warm smile, innocent eyes, and a sassy mouth.
“You’re sitting in Wendy’s seat, Hunter.” Wyatt grinned like the troublemaker he was.
One of Wendy’s friends, the woman to my right, spoke up in my defense. “Wendy can find another seat. Let him sit here with us.”
Cat watched me from across the table while I tried not to be rude in response to the outrageous flirting and teasing and bold come-ons of the women surrounding me. She knew I felt uncomfortable and I knew she enjoyed that fact. Sick.
When the auction was over, a band started and the dance floor filled.
We all left the table and headed to the edge of the dance floor near the bar.
It was only ten p.m. The downside of getting a ride with Wyatt was that he was enjoying himself and not likely to want to leave anytime soon.
He enjoyed the spotlight more than anyone I’d ever met.
I stood nursing the same drink I’d ordered an hour ago at the table.
Glenlivet on the rocks. I was told I didn’t need to pay for my drinks tonight and was offered refills by at least a dozen people while I stood there.
Watching Cat. She wasn’t far. No more than twenty feet away, but out of reach. She may as well be on the moon.
Nudging Wyatt, I said, “Let’s get out of here.”
“No way. We’re just getting started. This is our big chance to dance with world-class professional dancers.” Wyatt winked at the cheerleaders. I didn’t remember their names. One of the three was Wendy. “Stay and dance, Quintanna. It’ll be good for you.”
One of the ladies took Wyatt by the elbow and into the middle of the dance floor. He was probably right. I needed to loosen up. I shouldn’t feel reluctant or guilty or think about Cat, but I did. Sliding my eyes back to her, I took another micro sip of my drink and watched her.
A man, too old for her, approached. It looked like he asked her to dance.
I could tell he was drunk. Even from where I was, I could see that Cat turned him down.
Good girl. I continued watching, trying not to react.
She walked away from the guy, toward the door, and I breathed in relief.
Until I saw the guy follow her as I tracked her heading for the ladies’ room.
“Excuse me.” I left the small group of us who hadn’t taken to the dance floor. Angling my trajectory and pacing my quick steps exactly, I cut the guy off like a linebacker defending an inside route.
Coming up on her fast, I took her elbow a beat before the drunk SOB got to her. She spun around, looking stunned to see me there, holding her arm. My hand sizzled—everything in me sizzled. She looked up and saw the man with the mean scowl eyeing me.
“Cat, I’ve been looking for you.” I swept her away before the guy had a chance to do anything but mutter an oath.
“Hunter.” Her voice sounded breathy as we escaped the ballroom into the hallway. It was deserted. “Thank you,” she said. My gut clenched, heat spread, and I couldn’t stop my reaction, couldn’t keep my cock from stiffening any more than I could stop my heart from beating.
“Rescuing damsels in distress must be your specialty,” she said.
Boom. My heart almost stopped.
“What?” Everything in me went cold. What the hell did she mean by that? She couldn’t possibly know. But as I watched her face pink up like a fast-motion sunburn, I knew she knew. Somehow.
“I—” She stopped trying to search for an explanation as I leveled a totally unfair look of accusation at her. It was none of her business to go digging up my secrets, and I knew she had.
“Don’t bother.” I realized I was still holding her arm, that my hand had tightened, and I released her.
She clamped her mouth shut. I needed to walk away. Desire—and something else—subdued my outrage when I could not afford to let it slip. Walk away, Hunter.
“I haven’t said a word,” she said. “I won’t say a word. It’s your secret to tell.” She left and I fisted my hand, barely stopping myself from reaching out to grab her arm.
What the hell did it mean that she knew?
She knew about me coming to the rescue, as she’d put it, of Danielle?
How could that be? She’d poked into my life and somehow got Danielle to talk?
I was pissed, but at the same time I couldn’t help being impressed that she’d pried the information from the woman who’d seemed so afraid to talk, so determined to keep things secret.
It had to be Danielle herself, because it sure as hell wasn’t Coach Nutter, and as far as I knew those were the only two other people who knew exactly what went down, why I punched Nutter. That I’d rescued a damsel in distress.
Looking back at the circle of people, teammates and cheerleaders from the Militia that I’d left, I had no desire to go back for small talk, let alone flirting and competing in the alpha games.
I didn’t need to prove it here and now and certainly not so I could impress a few cheerleaders, none of whom could touch Cat for the sexy award.
I went in search of Cat and didn’t find her.
We needed to clear the air. I had to find out exactly what she knew, to make sure it was the truth.
And I had to know how she’d found out. If there was some kind of leak, I wanted to know about it.
Not that it mattered anymore if the truth came out.
I had put that incident behind me, burned my bridge down to the ground with the LA team and everyone on their coaching staff and anyone else who was influenced by them.