Chapter 2 Vinnie
VINNIE
“Well, you done fucked up.” Clarence runs a towel over his wet hair, giving me that judgmental look only he can pull off. “For a city kid, you sure are a dumb mothafucka.”
“Dude, I didn’t do anything.” I lean over, resting my elbows on my knees, and stare at the puddle of water near my feet. “Why can’t she like someone else?”
For the first time in my life, I don’t want the attention of a woman. Tracie Turner is the team owner’s granddaughter—and very much batshit crazy.
Before I signed with Chicago, she followed me around and would show up at campus parties, even though she wasn’t a student, and did everything she could to get my attention and my cock.
Nothing worked.
I have very few limits, but crazy-as-shit is on top of my “Do Not Fuck” list.
I was at least that smart. I could do mildly wacky, but Tracie was way beyond that point. She was one step away from a padded cell and a straightjacket, but her family’s money sheltered her, keeping her safe and walking the streets.
I thought she’d leave me alone once I started training for the start of the season. I had hoped someone in her family or the front office would tell her to back off, but no one did. Or if they had, she didn’t listen.
Clarence shakes his head as he drops his towel to the tile floor of the locker room. “You’re too nice to that insane bitch.”
“I try to be nice to everyone. Hello,” I say, pointing at my chest with my thumbs. “I’m the new kid, dumbass. I can’t be a total dick.”
I haven’t proven myself on the field or earned a starting spot, something I’ve dreamed of since I was a little boy. With the retirement of the previous quarterback, the spot is open, but there are three of us fighting for the position.
I won’t do anything to ruin my chances, including being mean to Tracie.
“To her, you can.”
I scrub my hand across my face, wishing I could find a way to pass Tracie on to someone else. “There has to be a way to get rid of her.”
“You just have to wait her out. She’ll eventually find someone else to harass, but that won’t be until winter when the new meat hits the scene.
” He laughs, finding joy in my agony. “For now, you’re stuck with her following you around, trying to get in your pants.
” He yanks his shirt over his head before leveling me with his dark-brown eyes.
“Do not, under any circumstances, sleep with her.”
My mouth gapes open. “Come on. Give me some credit, Clarence.”
He raises an eyebrow. “I’ve seen better men than you fall victim to her brand of insanity. They were immediately traded and eventually faded out of existence.”
“Fuck,” I hiss, standing quickly to finish dressing and get the hell out of the locker room.
“Tracie,” someone calls out from the other side of the lockers, alerting the entire room that the nutty bitch has arrived. “You’re not supposed to be in here.”
Clarence looks at me and winces. “You better hustle your ass right out of here.” He pauses for a minute and looks around the locker room. “Better yet, don’t leave until she does. Stay in a public place surrounded by lots of people. Don’t let her get you alone.”
“Will you stay with me?” I ask him, hoping he’ll at least be by my side as I try to stop Tracie from touching me.
He shakes his head. “I got a hot date with my lady, and if I’m late, there will be hell to pay.”
“Way to have my back, bro.”
“Sweetheart, there you are,” Tracie says as she comes around the lockers and finds us staring at each other, not moving.
Clarence doesn’t even try to hide his laughter as Tracie’s high heels click on the tile behind me. He doesn’t bother with a hello or a goodbye before he walks away, leaving me alone with her. Well, as alone as one can be in a locker room filled with people, including the press.
“Hey.” I don’t look in her direction as I reach into my locker for my shirt.
The last thing I want to do is be half dressed around her.
She’s always trying to touch me, and the way she looks at my bare chest always gives me the creeps.
I’m not sure if she wants to lick me or peel off my skin with a small Swiss Army knife and wear it around like the insane fucker in Silence of the Lambs.
She leans against the lockers, raking her eyes across my skin before I can pull the shirt over my head. “There’s a hot party tonight.”
“You have fun.” I tuck the hem of the shirt into my pants, making it impossible for her to reach underneath and scrape her pointy fingernails across my abs.
“I need a date,” she says like I should care. “And guess who’s taking me?”
“Marty?” I shrug and play stupid. There’s no way in hell I’m being her date for anything.
“You, silly.” She giggles and my skin crawls.
“I can’t. I have to work at the bar tonight.”
“Oh.” She raises her eyebrows, and a smile spreads across her face. “I can hang out there instead.”
I immediately regret letting that information slip and have to backtrack. “Go to the party. You deserve a fun night.”
She reaches out to touch my forearm, but I back away. “I gotta run. I’m late.”
Tracie’s eyes narrow as she pulls her arm back against her chest like she’s been burned. “Maybe I’ll see you tonight.”
“Sure. Sure.” I nod, but I already want to call some buddies to work the door at the bar, banning her from walking inside and causing a scene again.
The last time Tracie showed up at Hook & Hustle, I almost had to carry her out of the place.
She scared away practically every female customer in the place, stating they were being a little too flirtatious with me.
She went as far as to announce to the room that I was her man and strictly off-limits.
I’m still catching shit for her little stunt, and it was two months ago.
I start to walk away when she says, “Don’t forget who you belong to.”
I feel my entire body stiffen at her words, and I spin around to face her with no amusement on my face. “Tracie…” I lower my voice and deepen my tone. I don’t want the other people in the locker room to hear what I’m about to say to this woman. “Let’s get something straight.”
She crosses her arms and smirks as I stride in her direction. “What’s that?”
I stop a few feet away, just out of touching distance. “I am not now, nor will I ever be, yours.”
She pushes off the lockers, walking in my direction, looking at me like I’m prey. “You’d refuse me? You know who my granddaddy is, right?”
I stand my ground, crossing my arms over my chest and puffing out my body as big as possible like a wild animal.
“I know exactly who your granddaddy is, Tracie, but that doesn’t give you the right to lord that shit over my head.
We are nothing. We always will be nothing.
If you want to run off to your granddaddy with some lie about me—” I glance toward the locker room door “—then go right ahead and get it over with already.”
She places a hand on my chest and pouts. “I thought we had something special, Vinnie.”
“We don’t,” I say, driving the point home again because Tracie can’t seem to fathom that I don’t want anything she’s offering.
“We had a moment.”
“We had nothing, and anyway, I have a girlfriend. Imagine the scandal that would cause your family. Your granddaddy wouldn’t be too happy.”
She raises an eyebrow, digging her fingernails into my chest through my T-shirt. “Who?”
Like a dumbass, I blurt out the only chick who’s been on my mind. “Bianca.”
We passed each other in the lobby this morning, her coming back from her workout, all sweaty and hot, and me heading to the team’s training facility. I said hello, but she just stared at the ground and grunted as she ran by me without so much as an upward glance.
“Bianca,” Tracie repeats as if the name is acidic in her mouth.
“Yo, Gallo. Coach needs to see you,” Tre, our best tight end, says as he walks around the corner, seeing Tracie and me a little too close for anyone’s comfort.
I give him a chin lift, wishing I could thank him for saving me in this moment.
“On it,” I call out without moving my eyes away from Tracie.
“I have to go. We’re done here. Either talk to your granddaddy, or get off my case.
You’re not going to blackmail me into sleeping with you, Tracie. Maybe it’s time you find a new victim.”
If looks could kill, I’d be a dead man.
“Gallo,” the coach says as he rocks back in his high-back office chair, staring at me across his desk. “We’re impressed with your ability on the field, and the guys on the team seem to like you, which isn’t always the case.”
I can feel a but coming somewhere in this conversation. I brace myself for the “But you don’t have a hope or prayer to start this season,” or “But we think you can do better.”
“But we have an issue with you and Tracie.”
The one thing I hadn’t prepared myself for was for that to come out of the coach’s mouth.
I furrow my eyebrows. “Me and Tracie? There’s no me and Tracie. You know she’s crazy, right?”
Normally, I wouldn’t go around throwing out those kinds of terms, but there is no other way to describe her.
Coach rubs the back of his neck and sighs. “She’s different.”
If different is code for delusional, then he’s pretty damn close.
“I have a girlfriend, Coach, and her name isn’t Tracie.” I keep piling on the lies, digging my grave deeper. “I keep telling Tracie to leave me alone, but she hasn’t listened.”
He leans forward and places his weathered hands on the desk. “I was afraid of this.”
How could her grandfather possibly let her anywhere near the players on this team? Her behavior isn’t normal. Her inability to face the truth, no matter how many times I tell her, makes her nuttier than a Snickers bar.
“I’ll talk to Old Man Turner about his granddaughter and see if I can get her barred for the season.”
“He’d do that?”
“Listen.” He rubs his hands together slowly, staring at me as he pauses for a moment. “The man has a lot of faith in you. He thinks you could be the one who brings the city back to the team and gets us to the play-offs in a few years. If he knows Tracie is bothering you, I’m sure he’ll handle her.”
I forget about Tracie for a minute and think about the other words he said. Play-offs. You could be the one. I like the sound of those words, and I know my spot is solid as long as I don’t mess shit up with Tracie and her granddaddy.
“Steer clear of her until I can talk to him.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose as I lean forward, resting my elbow on my knees. “I have been. The woman comes into the locker room and accosts me on the daily.”
“Shower and prep at home until further notice. You live nearby, right?”
“Just down the street.”
“Take no chances for a few days. Bring your girlfriend to the team party this weekend so people can see you with someone else in public. It’ll help in putting distance between any whispers about you and Tracie.”
“Shit,” I mumble and take a deep breath before I relax back into the chair and try to think of a way to get Bianca to accompany me to the party. “I’ll see if she’s free.”
“Make her free, Gallo. This is too important to fuck up. You hear me?”
“I hear you, Coach.” I nod, but I know this isn’t an easy task. I can’t even get Bianca to look at me, let alone be my date for a night.
I have a feeling I’m going to have to grovel and pray she’ll at least take enough pity on me to accompany me for a few hours to save face with Mr. Turner.