Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
Cat
After a wild night of celebratory lovemaking, Hunter left before the crack of dawn to report to practice before anyone else in his relentless drive to earn his payday. I turned over and contemplated the one thing that still stood between him and a sure bet to success.
The LA coach-punching incident and the scared-quiet Danielle the cheerleader.
I couldn’t help feeling frustrated with her, for all the trouble she’d caused Hunter with her silence.
But today, I would take my first step toward remedying the silence that held Hunter back from full redemption.
Rainey would be making a call to Danielle, would offer her services to represent her for free—or rather at my expense—if she would tell the whole story.
At Rainey’s office, later that day, the call was made. I watched and listened on speaker phone as Rainey laid out the deal for Danielle. More than once the young woman threatened to hang up, saying she didn’t want to dredge the whole thing up again, that she’d put it behind her.
“It’ll never really be behind you as long as you hold the secret,” Rainey said in a gentler voice than I’d ever have managed, considering my frustration with the woman at not standing up for herself no matter how sorry I felt for her.
Too much resentment against her had built up in me for the injustice she’d caused Hunter, forcing him to be defenseless against the destructive claims made by Nutter and letting Nutter get away with his reprehensible actions.
I knew Hunter was concerned about the LA organization having him blackballed if the story came out.
They’d made threats and I had no doubt they’d try to carry them through.
But once the real story, the whole story, was out in the open, I knew we could force the team to do the right thing.
Nutter had a reputation. My father had hinted at it and so I’d researched it and found he was a nasty little bully whose only friends were just like him.
Nasty enough to turn on him if it was the convenient thing to do, if being his friend got too hot.
Most people weren’t his friends; they were more likely his victims. I had a couple lined up as backups for support, who’d promised to participate in the social media campaign on Hunter and Danielle’s side of the argument.
Rainey hung up the phone. “That went well.”
“Really? She didn’t agree to anything.”
“She didn’t hang up on me. I’ll call her again tomorrow, send her some information in the meantime, lay out the plan in writing, cite my law and cases to give her some confidence.”
“She did seem impressed by the video clip of our press conference yesterday. Like she wouldn’t mind doing something like that herself,” I said. “But she’d have to grow a sturdy set of steel ones before she’d be ready for that.”
“I agree. She’s not the most courageous woman I’ve met, but we’ll work on supporting her. At least she got over the initial shock that we know her secret.”
“Do you think she’ll hold that against Hunter?
” I was worried she’d call him in spite of our insistence that he knew nothing.
The only reason that I felt any confidence was that Hunter had changed his number to a super private one so almost no one could get to him.
Me, Coach, his mom and his agent. That’s it.
He hadn’t even told his siblings his number for fear they’d inadvertently share it.
“You sure you don’t want Coach in on this?” Rainey asked.
“I’ll tell him. Let him know we’re throwing a Hail Mary pass and hoping to win instead of tie the game. He’ll get it.”
“If you say so.” She laughed.
Two days later, Rainey called me with good news.
It was the Sunday before the Monday Night Football game where Hunter would start his first game for the Militia.
I was in my office. The team was on the practice field.
There was a lot riding on this game besides Hunter’s career.
They could lock in home field advantage in the playoff with a win.
“You’ll never guess where I am,” she said. “At the airport.”
“You’re on your way to LA?” Excitement rose my voice up an octave.
“No, I’m in LA. I’m meeting with Danielle in an hour. We’re filing criminal charges against Nutter tonight. We’re holding a press conference with the DA in time for the seven o’clock news West Coast time. How’s that for a déjà vu moment?”
“Rainey, I love you. What do you need me to do here on my end?”
“Hold Hunter’s hand. He’s going to be barraged again by media. Maybe receive a threat from the LA organization. I contacted their attorney as a courtesy to let them know. He was more resigned than upset, although he postured for the team.”
Hunter was not going to like this. The shit would hit the fan on the biggest game day of his life up until now. F—ck.
I had to talk to Coach.
First, I called Penny to come in for backup.
I knew Coach wasn’t stupid, that he would know there was more than professional motivation on my part behind this move, that he might infer something about my relationship with Hunter.
Especially since he found out that I wasn’t seeing Jason.
He’d been disappointed about that and I’d barely been able to explain that without giving myself away.
Now I knew that he’d see the truth in my face about my relationship with Hunter no matter how much I tried to hide it. All he had to do was look, and he’d see how I felt. If he asked me point blank, I wouldn’t be able to lie.
The only thing that had saved me from discovery up until now had been his lack of scrutiny. He’d been too wrapped up in his team to pay attention to his daughter.
And that had been A-OK with me. Up until now.
I knew Dad would be in his office the Sunday before a Monday night game. I could see the assistant coaches running a walk-through practice down on the field from my office. I got up from behind my desk and made the long silent walk to Coach’s office.
“Cat, what are you doing here? I’m busy.”
“I know you’re busy, Dad, but this is important.” I took a seat without being invited to. He frowned and turned away from his computer screen, undoubtedly showing film of tomorrow’s opponent.
“What is it? Make it fast, will you?”
“I sent Rainey out to LA to talk to one of their cheerleaders, Danielle Roper, to assist her with filing charges against Coach Nutter for sexual assault.”
He was about to ask what this had to do with him, but then light dawned and he knew.
“Hunter’s coach-punching incident?”
I nodded.
“I knew Nutter was an ass,” he muttered and looked at me sharply. “When is this all happening? Why didn’t Quintanna say something to me? I can’t afford to have him traipsing to California.”
This was the hard part. “Hunter doesn’t know a thing about it. He kept silent about it all this time to protect Danielle. It was my idea to convince her to come clean. We—me and Rainey—at my expense—promised to help her.”
“You? Without Quintanna’s knowledge? Without the team’s resources or approval?”
I nodded, wanted to bite my lip, but I didn’t. I sat rigid and waited for his mind to churn around to my motivation.
“What the hell are you thinking, Cat? Why would you do such a thing, take such a risk? This could all blow up. Nutter could retaliate with criminal charges and we’d be without—”
“Don’t worry, Dad. Rainey and I have it covered. We’re talking with the LA organization’s attorney. It was the only way to really redeem Hunter’s career.”
“Since when are you in charge of his career? All you’re paid to do is handle this season. All he had to do was get through the season, then we could cut him loose and he could go to the dogs.”
“Don’t say that.” I knew I was out of bounds, my voice too emotional, too betraying.
“Wait a minute. Don’t tell me you—” He stopped and stared at me, giving me that long neglected scrutiny I’d dreaded.
“Goddamn it, Cat, what the hell are you thinking getting involved with the likes of him?” He picked up the phone then and barked at Coach Parker to send Hunter to his office immediately.
I blanched. I hadn’t anticipated this. I don’t know why I hadn’t. Except I’d been such a fool, a blind fool in love.
Dad paced while I tried to simmer him down and he lectured me.
“He’s trouble. He’s a damn football player. He’d make a terrible boyfriend or, heaven forbid, husband. I want better for you. Better than I was for your mother.”
“Stop worrying, Dad, I’m an adult.”
He swung around. “You’re a damn baby.”
He was out of control now.
“Exactly how far has this thing gone between you two?” He stared, standing with his hands on his hips a few feet from where I stood in front of his desk, staring back, unable to answer him.
He turned pale, and then his color rose and I worried for him.
Hunter walked into the office then and my heart wanted to explode in horror. It was the exact worst possible time for him to be here, for my father to see him like a red cape waving in front of his mad-bull eyes.
He snarled at Hunter. “I forbid you to see my daughter. She’s off-limits to you forever.
I don’t trust you. You’re off the team. I’ll see to it.
I don’t care how well you’re playing. Some things are more important than football.
It took me too goddamn long to figure that out and I’ll not have a daughter of mine dragged into a relationship with a damn player. ”
Hunter had walked into a maelstrom, but it only took him a second, looking from my face to my Dad’s, to size the situation up. He came to my side, put his arm around me. Said nothing.
Penny rushed into the room and went directly to Coach, somehow calming him down so that I wasn’t worried about him having a stroke anymore.
But he was still enraged, angrier than I’d ever seen him in my life, even though the whole ugly year of his divorce from Mom.
“I’ll ruin you,” he said to Hunter. “You leave her alone.”