30. Deep Dark Secrets
DEEP DARK SECRETS
“ I see your girlfriend has some big news out there,” Gus said two weeks later. “Hey, Warren, I’m talking to you.”
He turned his head. He’d been walking into the facility to start his day and knew there were guys behind him, but he tended to just walk ahead unless someone called out to him.
Like now.
“What news is that?” he asked.
Warren knew the press was starting this week about Emma’s series. Not a lot, just teasers. She actually was promoting it herself with their permission.
“That one of her books is going to be a mini-series,” Gus said.
“Seriously?” someone else asked. There was a group around them moving in now and he wasn’t sure who said that. “I thought she wrote smut or something like that.”
He laughed. “Not quite that,” he said. “Romantic suspense. It’s more about thrillers, crime, and mysteries with a small side love story thrown in. And that isn’t all her books either.”
“I don’t know,” Gus said. “My wife has been reading some of her books, the ones with the sexy covers. She all but jumped me after she put it down.”
Warren laughed. “Good for you,” he said. “I’ll make sure I pass that on to Emma.”
“Does your wife really read those books?” DeMarcus asked. “Or are you just saying it?”
“She’s a fan,” Gus said. “She’s been one for years and is hoping to meet Emma at one of the games.”
He smiled. “Emma would like that a lot,” he said. “Where did you see the news about her series?”
“They were teasing it on Netflix last night of shows to look for in January. My wife recognized the name of one of Emma’s books, then went to her social media page and saw the comments building there.”
He didn’t know why Emma hadn’t told him that about the network putting something out. Or maybe she hadn’t realized it herself.
She’d been engrossed in her work for the past few days. Hell, he was surprised that she had managed to watch his game on Sunday.
“I’m glad they are already putting it out there,” he said.
“So is she going to be on TV?” DeMarcus asked. “Like in it or something?”
“No,” he said.
“But she wrote the series for TV?” someone asked.
He didn’t realize there was so much confusion over this.
“No,” he said. “They bought the rights to her book to make a mini-series out of it. Someone else wrote the screenplay based on her novel.”
“So they can change it?” Gus asked. “Lily won’t be so happy if that happens. She insists books are always better than movies or TV.”
“I agree,” Warren said. “But I don’t know if they changed anything. I don’t even know if Emma would know that.”
The guys on offense all moved into the classroom. The defense went into another room.
“That doesn’t seem right,” DeMarcus said. “If it was me, I’d put a clause in there that they can’t change a thing. Being the OG has its perks.”
He laughed. “I will pass that on too, but I’m pretty positive once they buy the rights, it’s in their hands.”
It was not something he and Emma talked much about.
When they had the time to be together, they didn’t spend it on details that didn’t concern him.
“None of it makes sense to me,” DeMarcus said. “But I’m not into reading. Maybe I’ll check out the show if I’ve got time. I’m positive Tiff will. She hasn’t shut up about your girlfriend since she met her.”
He snorted. “Why is that?”
“Because she’s jealous,” someone shouted in the room.
DeMarcus stood up to see who had dissed his fiancée. “Don’t you say that shit around her,” DeMarcus said. “She’ll slap you silly.”
“She couldn’t reach anyone’s skin because her damn nails are in the way,” Landon said. One of DeMarcus’s buddies.
“Those nails leave their marks,” DeMarcus said, smirking.
“Is Emma coming to the game this weekend?” Gus asked. “I know Lily would love to meet her if it’s possible.”
“She is coming,” he said.
Warren got her another suite even though she’d argued over it. She’d be in it with her family. Her mother and father wanted to see a game and decided that it’d be better to do it now before the news of Melissa broke.
“In the suites,” DeMarcus asked.
“This weekend, yes,” he said. “She’s got family with her.”
“Is she too good to sit in the stands with the others?” someone asked.
“It’s her choice,” he said.
“You’ve got all that money to pay for it,” DeMarcus said.
He’d heard from others that his star wide receiver was furious about the size of Warren’s contract.
Not his problem. They had agents for a reason to negotiate those things. DeMarcus had one year left on his contract so he couldn’t do much about it other than play his ass off and hope he got a better offer after.
“I hadn’t realized that my personal life was so interesting to everyone,” Warren said.
“It never was,” Rod, the offensive coordinator, said coming into the room. “Until you brought that sweetheart of yours around. Now everyone wants to know all your deep dark secrets.”
He forced a smile.
He didn’t feel as if he had any secrets in his life other than his father.
The asshole that had texted him twice in the past three weeks.
Every time his name was out there for something, his father would drop him a text and Warren would delete it without replying.
He wasn’t sure why he didn’t just block the guy.
No, he knew. He wanted to know what Sean was up to or his angle so he wasn’t blindsided.
“I’m an open book,” he said. “Just asked Emma.”
“We don’t care about you,” Landon said. “It’s more about your girlfriend. Come on now, you know she’s the talk. Let some of us meet her this weekend.”
Warren wasn’t so sure how he felt about that. “She was on the field a few weeks ago. Anyone could have gone up and talked to her. Ask DeMarcus. Tiff didn’t hesitate to introduce herself.”
Might as well get that in there.
“Mike was too busy guarding her,” Gus said. “We all saw it.”
“Shit,” DeMarcus said. “I heard you picked her up after a helicopter dropped her off here a few times.”
This was getting out of hand.
“Rod, don’t we have a lot to go over?”
“We do,” Rod said. “Because you all played like shit on Sunday even though we won. You can thank special teams for that.”
Field goals and punt returns got them the win.
His completion rate was horrible. DeMarcus dropped more than half his passes, even the ones that hit him between the numbers, then came back and got in his face over it.
He’d never been one to lose his cool, but he and DeMarcus had some serious words on the sidelines.
Something was going on with his top receiver, and he wasn’t sure what.
“I’m not sure how much more I can do,” Warren said. “I put the ball where it needs to go; it’s up to everyone else to hang onto it.”
“Is that a dig against me?” DeMarcus asked.
“Yes,” Rod said. “You dropped more than half. What the hell was wrong with you? Your head wasn’t in the game.”
“Tell them,” Landon said.
“What’s going on?” Rod asked. “Or do we need to talk after this?”
“No,” DeMarcus said. “Tiff told me she’s pregnant again right before the game. I wasn’t expecting it.”
“Congrats,” Rod said.
“Yeah, whatever. I wasn’t ready for another one. Now she’s putting more pressure on getting married. She got her ring after Junior, so that is what I imagine this is about.”
“That’s between you and Tiff,” Rod said. “And you keep it off the field on Sundays.”
He’d seen this happen one too many times.
Players’ significant others causing fights or dropping news before a game and not being considerate enough to wait.
Warren was damn well never going to let that happen to him.