Chapter 17 #2
I smiled at him, forgetting about Jason and Hunter and everything else and renewed my hug, squeezing my Dad.
He patted my back then pushed me away.
Nodding, he said, “So far you’ve done a good job. PR tells me their latest poll on Quintanna’s popularity with the fans went up another dozen points this week. Still has a way to go to meet the target, since he was in the basement when he started.”
“I can’t believe they’re bothering you with that kind of thing. His popularity poll target is my responsibility, not yours.”
“Oh, believe me. They are super conscious about the fact that I wanted to take the chance on Quintanna, the worst sports villain since Ty Cobb—and he was an alleged murderer.” He shook his head.
“Some people in the front office didn’t agree with me and they’re holding me accountable if anything goes wrong. ”
Fear ripped through me. Would a problem with Hunter jeopardize Dad’s job?
“What could they do to you? You’re the winningest coach in the league right now. They wouldn’t touch you.”
He laughed. “Spoken like a loyal daughter. I have things to do. I’ll be in my den. See you after the game Sunday, before you go off to dinner.”
I looked at Penny and snatched a cookie, then slouched onto a stool at the island.
“So much for my visit with Dad,” I said. Though I wasn’t totally deflated. After all, we’d had a moment of bonding.
Penny didn’t say I told you so, but her face shouted the words at me and I stuck my tongue out at her.
It had been a long two weeks for me before the team played again so I couldn’t imagine how it felt for the players, for Hunter.
At least it gave the bruising on his thigh a chance to heal.
Penny and I huddled under our blanket at the stadium and cheered our asses off. The team gave us plenty to cheer about.
Hunter came through like the Sunday afternoon hero he was. And of course, Gabe Wyatt pulled a few passes out of his hat when he should have been flat on the ground.
“A good win,” Penny said. We walked down the back stairs to the tunnel. “By the way, did you end up inviting Jason to join you and the Wyatts for dinner tonight?”
“Ah, no. You know he’s not really my boyfriend, right? Besides, it’s not my party, not my place to invite another guest.”
She gave me a skeptical look, but I couldn’t focus on her or Jason. My nerves had me skittish like an alley cat jumping at shadows. I wasn’t about to tell her that having Jason there, gay or not, would be like taunting Hunter.
After saying hello and passing Penny off to Dad, I said goodbye.
Then I took off. I didn’t want to run into Hunter in the tunnel.
It was going to be dicey enough to face him at dinner, but there would be a crowd and I wouldn’t be sitting with him.
So with any luck I wouldn’t have to say a word to him all night.
I could nod hello and goodbye and that would be it.
But I was about to see Hunter after not having seen or spoken to him for two weeks, after our scintillating round three of phone sex, so after I pulled up in front of the East Boston restaurant, I wondered if I was bat-shit crazy out of my mind.
Standing outside in the freezing cold, working up my nerve to go inside, I vacillated. Who would care if I didn’t show up?
There’d been no one I could talk to about how I felt, no one I dared tell all the dirty details —except one person.
The one person who already knew the story.
Jason. I’d call him to go out this week.
Somewhere public where we could make a spectacle.
And then I’d take him home and make him listen to my sad tortured story.
All I had to do was get through this night without humiliating myself.
Without melting through my panties and throwing myself at the man who made my heart—and everything else in me—throb wildly.
Anticipating his heat, his maleness, the tense vibrating waves I always felt in his presence, I stood inches from the door.
All I had to do was go inside to see him.
All I had to do was withstand the hostility, the pure fury that he’d hurl at me. My jaw clenched as I tried to smile and hoped I didn’t injure myself or break a tooth. Wishing I had Jason’s acting ability, I pushed the door open and walked inside.
Hunter
Because I loved Italian food, I had jumped at the invitation to have dinner with Wyatt’s family after the game Sunday. He had a big noisy family, but it wasn’t as big as mine. They were always under foot, unlike mine, and I’d met most of them by now.
“You’ll have to have your family down from New York for dinner before the season’s over.
Time’s a-wasting,” Wyatt said as we walked into the East Boston restaurant.
The aromas hit me, making my mouth water, making it easy to ignore his suggestion.
My family couldn’t afford to come down for a Sunday.
They were all in school or working and I wasn’t sure I could even afford to pay for dinner for them all on my league minimum salary after paying for the family’s monthly expenses.
I wasn’t about to tell Wyatt any of that.
It was something I might have shared with Cat, or she might have guessed or figured it out.
Never mind about Cat.
Wyatt greeted the owner and they slapped backs. He introduced me and we shook hands. Then the man pulled me in and slapped my back too.
He showed us to a private room at the rear of the restaurant armed with our own team of wait staff.
After saying hello to his parents, sisters, brothers and their wives, girlfriends, husbands and a couple of cousins, we all filtered into seats around a long rectangular table.
I noticed there was an empty seat and that Wyatt had maneuvered me into the seat next to it.
He handed me a glass of red wine before I could question him, but I knew something was up. He’d been talking about fixing me up with someone for two weeks now. My gut churned at the thought. For no justifiable reason. For a million reasons.
Reason number one, Cat Marini, walked in then. I glared at Wyatt.
“And here’s the star of our party,” Wyatt said, standing, ignoring my glare.
“The lovely Catalina Marini. Let me introduce you to my family. You know Hunter, of course.” He went on to introduce Cat to his clan while he took her coat, gave it to the waiter, and sat her in the chair next to mine.
The bastard had it planned and I had no idea why.
As Cat took her seat, she looked at me funny and mouthed, “You didn’t know?”
Damn Gabriel Wyatt to hell.