Chapter 22
Levi
My fingers shake as I craft a text to Gridiron Gods. If there’s one thing I can count on, it’s the backing of my buddies. They may poke fun and tease, but they can help with this.
Me: I need to meet. Davis, your restaurant okay? Maybe before opening?
Micah: If this is about what I think it is, I’m there.
Cade: Well, now I’m intrigued.
Davis: Let’s say 3:30. That’s right before rush.
Reid: I’m there.
I head out of the bathroom, but my phone pings again, and I stop in my tracks.
Micah: I’ll let the doorman know no one is allowed up while we’re gone.
Me: You might want to have someone look at the fire escape. That’s how I got in before.
Micah: You dick.
Me: I had motivation.
Micah: Calling someone now. In the meantime, check the window before you leave and make sure it’s locked.
Me: On it.
Tab’s and Raeann’s voices filter in from the living room while I slip into Tab’s room.
The jersey I dropped off earlier is laid out on the bed, the number nineteen on proud display.
I can’t wait to see what she looks like wearing my number and my name.
Before I can dwell on it too much, I check the window, find it locked, and then head out into the living room again.
I only have a few minutes before I need to leave for the meetup. My phone buzzes again, and I’m sure it’s just someone verifying they’ll be there, or Davis telling us he reserved a table. The perks of owning the restaurant and all that.
Tab looks up from a pamphlet the receptionist gave her. “You’re meeting the guys?”
I smirk. Jesus, Micah is fast. I’m in the same apartment as them, and he still managed to tell Raeann before I could say anything. “We’ll only be a little while.”
“Just a friendly dinner?”
“We haven’t seen each other much off the field. It’s good to connect outside of the game. Did you see the jersey I left on your bed?” I ask, trying to reroute her attention.
Her eyes widen, and she stands, runs to her room, and squeals. Raeann laughs. A few moments later, Tab walks out with it already on. It dwarfs her body, making her seem small and helpless.
I can’t stop staring. “It was the smallest size I had available.”
“We’ll make it work,” Raeann pipes up. She claps her hands. “I cannot wait to hang out at games with you. Like we did before, but now you’ll actually be interested in the game, too!”
I clasp my chest like I’m having a heart attack. “You weren’t interested before?”
Tab winks at me. “I was interested in looking at that ass.”
“I’ll make sure to wiggle it for you, babe.” I walk up, placing my hands on her cheeks. “I have to go, but I’ll text you later. Or even see you later.”
“Okay.” She peers up at me through her lashes, and my heart does a double-beat, hard and fast. If McNally did anything to her, he’ll pay for it. I’ll make sure of it.
Davis is already at the table when I walk in. For the moment, the restaurant is lit well. The true ambience of Don Dilelo’s doesn’t start until dinnertime when the lights are dimmed, the candles are lit at every table, and soft music plays in the background.
“What’s up?” Davis asks as I sit in the seat next to him. Immediately, a server comes over, and I grab a water. “How was Tab’s appointment?”
I sigh, sitting back in my chair. “Not all great news. Her body stopped healing, so they want to go in with another surgery next week.”
“Aw man. Tell her I’m thinking about her, and if you guys need anything…”
“I know.”
As I thought, the guys were all shocked when I told them it was Tab I was serious about. They were quick to rally behind us though.
Davis sips his wine. “I’ve been dying to know how Micah reacted to you hanging out with his girl’s best friend.”
The smirk he gives me lets on what I’m pretty sure all of us were thinking. If I fuck it up with Tab, it will cause complications for Micah since Raeann and Tab are so close. “He doesn’t hate me yet.”
“And he’s not going to, right?”
Jeez, when did all these guys get protective over Tab, too?
Then again, family is family. I wouldn’t hesitate to protect Briar or Charley if I had to. Which is exactly what I’m counting on when gathering the guys together tonight.
McNally impacts all of us. If he did take things into his own hands with Micah, there’s no telling what he’s capable of when it comes to everyone else on the team.
Hell, the other players might have their own stories to tell.
It might be something where we have to put the word out again.
Just like when they all stepped up to help Micah by emailing Big Al their concerns.
At this point, he has to be looking into McNally as well.
But you know what happens when people get squeezed. They can do some damaging things.
“No, he has nothing to worry about. Tab and I are it.” I shrug. It still feels a little surreal to say. Especially in front of the guys because they know how I operated. They had a front row seat.
“That’s great, Newb. I’m glad to hear it.”
“Now, when’s your turn?” I ask.
Davis makes an unamused sound. “Not for lack of trying, but no one has been quite the right fit. Or if they are, it just doesn’t work out. I think I’m cursed.”
Reid and Cade walk in, then Micah shortly after. We greet each other with knuckles or handshakes, and when we’ve all ordered a drink, I get down to business before Micah can even open his mouth.
“It’s McNally,” I start.
“Dude,” Cade says. “What is this fucker’s problem?”
Reid’s face is complete stone. “Tell us what’s up.”
It means a lot to have him behind me because he’s one of McNally’s golden boys. I was once, too, but then the whole dating show happened, and I’ve proven to him I can think for myself, I suppose.
“Is this about the show?”
Micah chuckles, but it’s dark, like he stepped right out of a horror movie.
“It’s about the fire.”
I look to Micah, and he gives the quick rundown of what he found out from the fire investigator.
“You’re shitting me,” Reid seethes.
“What the fuck?” Davis barks. “I almost don’t believe it.”
“Freeman’s getting a second opinion.”
“That might be the worst of it, but that’s not all.” Micah peers over at me.
I straighten my shoulders a little. I don’t know why, but it means a lot to me that he’s letting me run this show. It’s as if he might have a whole new level of respect for me.
“McNally threatened my spot on the team. I was in breach of the contract for the show, which he threatened to deal with legally, but he also warned my spot on the team might be up.” The guys start to respond to that, but I shut them down.
“That’s not the part that makes me mad. It’s the fact that he slept with one of the two remaining girls, telling her that if she did so, he’d guarantee I’d pick her in the finale. ”
“Is that rape?” Cade asks, his face hardening.
“It feels like it,” Davis says. “If he did that to someone I love, I’d be…” He trails off, but we all understand. Whatever it is, it’s not fucking right. Maybe Andrea was right, we can’t actually call it rape, but we can call it something else. A power imbalance. Using sex for leverage.
“Whatever it is officially, the woman feels violated, and that’s all that matters. I have her number, so I can keep in contact with her.”
“I can contact a lawyer,” Davis offers. “Gain some insight on if she has a case.”
“That would be good. We need to remove this guy from our team. If he did this to Micah and this woman, he’ll do anything. The next time one of our contracts comes up, who’s to say he wouldn’t ask Briar to suck his dick to keep you on the team? Or—”
“I’d fucking kill him.”
The quarterback bunches up, and Cade puts a hand on Reid’s arm.
Micah finishes. “Or set fire to one of our houses.”
“First thing we need to do is find out if he actually did that,” Cade states.
“Another fire specialist is taking a look through everything, but obviously, he wouldn’t have been at the scene.
I’ll probably hire a private eye to check into McNally some more, and…
” He pauses a moment while looking at us.
“Wait, his secretary might be a good person to ask for some information. She was willing to help us last year. I gave her my number and told her to call it if she found out McNally was treating another player like he treated me.”
“But if he’s as bad as we think he might be, she might be too scared to say something.”
Micah points at me. “Bingo.”
“We should still talk to her,” Reid says. “She’s probably seen and heard a lot.”
“She might even have access to his emails,” Davis supplies. “My sister is a secretary, and she basically runs her boss’s entire life. She does his calendar, including date nights with his wife and doctors’ appointments. Emails, passwords, you name it, she has it.”
“Now that’s interesting,” I say, sitting back. “We’d have to make sure he doesn’t do anything to her if she does have something that would help us.”
“But what’s the end game?” Reid asks. “Do we just want him fired? Are we accumulating proof to show Al? Or are we going for criminal charges?”
“Both,” Micah and I say at the same time.
“Good,” Cade says. “Assholes like this don’t deserve to walk around freely. Even if we can’t pin him with any sort of sexual charges for this woman on your dating show, it might help her to know that we nailed his balls to the ground on other charges.”
“The thing about that is I highly doubt he gets his own hands dirty.”
“Then he might be easier to catch,” Davis responds. “There would be phone records or a paper trail.”
Reid sips his water, then sets it down. “His secretary is looking more and more like our next step. What’s her name again?”
“Nala,” Davis supplies.
“Right.”
“I’ll go with you,” he offers, looking over at me.
I nod at him. “We’ll do that. Micah will handle the fire investigation.”
Before I can peer toward Reid and Cade, Reid says, “We’ll put the word out to the team asking if they had any shady dealings with McNally. We’ll keep it on the down-low.”
“Perfect.”
I take a deep breath. I don’t know what I would do without my teammates. It’s like a built-in family. We’re brothers, and we would do anything for one another.
I lift my water. “To the Gods.”
“Shut the fuck up with that,” Reid laughs. “You’re a fucking nut. Is Tab well enough to make informed decisions on who she wants as her boyfriend?”
I laugh. Hard. “Come on, Seven. Clink my glass.”
“I’m good.”
Cade lightly taps his glass with mine. “To the Gods.”
Micah rolls his eyes. “Ah hell.”
“We’ll get there.”
“No,” Reid, Davis, and Micah say at the same time.
“Whatever, assholes. Thanks for coming.”
“Now that I’ll toast to,” Reid says.
We all clink glasses, and before they can pull away, I really quickly yell out, “To the Gods,” then down my drink.
They love me.