10. Chapter 10
Dom
"Hey, you two." I give each of them a hug. "I didn't know I'd get to see you today."
We stand right inside the room, grinning. Out of the corner of my eye, I tally Evie, Pen, and Mariana sitting at the meeting table. I ignore them in favor of the friends I caught leaving.
"It's meeting day at the Thunderdome," Ames says. "We were summoned, but ready to go now."
"The Partners' Party," Nat explains. "It's going to be such a cool event. Gatsby-type fundraiser. We'll collect money, food, and books for a few schools."
"Everything a person needs in this world." I nod in approval. "Can un-partnered players attend, or is this only for the partners or…"
"We'll be sending out the information soon," Pen says from the round table behind my friends. "But we'll let you attend."
I smirk her way. "Give me a plus one in case I feel like changing things up for a day or two."
A couple of my friends shake their heads, but we end up focusing on saying goodbye to Ames and Nat. With a small smile still on my lips, I sit with Pen, Evie, and Mariana after the two others leave.
"Thanks for coming, Dom." Evie writes something down in a notebook.
"No problem." I sip from my coffee and leave it on the table. "It was a nice surprise to see Ames and Nat."
I have yet to gaze in Mariana's direction or acknowledge her presence in any way. Every time we're alone together, things devolve too fast to notice. I need to pay attention, or this will become the status quo. Indifference has not worked. Minimizing interactions is my new plan.
Evie nods. "We're catching up on a bunch of tasks. Did you get the email about the gala in December?"
"I sent it last week," Mariana says.
My smile drops somewhat when I glance at her. "I read it."
Evie stares at us with suspicion. Fuck. I need to fake pleasantries harder. But not too hard.
"It's not happening for several months, is it?" I ask Evie. "I thought you'd be focused on other stuff first."
"We're focusing on many things," Pen says. "That's why we ended up needing to catch up."
"I want my year here to be epic," Mariana adds.
I nod but don't look at her.
I direct my question at Pen. "What do you need me for? I assume it's not about the partners' event, for the reasons we were just talking about."
Pen smiles and glances at Evie, who grins. Suspicious. Like they have a plan in which case… shit. Not good.
"You're right, it's not about the spouses' event," Pen says. "Everyone else is so busy with the holiday parties, we thought of you for something else. The Strike is making a donation to a sports research team at the local university. We coordinated everything with them already."
"All you need is to show up." Evie smiles. "Half a day, max."
Scenes from Mariana and I back in a university across the country knock against my skull, but I push them away. We'll be in a completely different place. No familiar library, no random study rooms to hide in, no dorms to run to. No need to worry.
I frown. "I don't remember reading anything about that in Mariana's email."
"I didn't have all the details until an hour ago." Mariana chews on her lip. "I thought maybe we wouldn't need you."
I feel the sting. I make it my focus, when I hear the hint of anxiety in her voice. That's not something I can care about after everything.
Pen searches through her documents and gives me a copy of an email. "When I talked to the university about it yesterday, they said they're hoping for a photo op on campus. You know, they have their own PR agendas."
I skim over it, drinking some of my coffee. They're hoping for another shoot of sorts. Fun.
"I thought you could go there with Mariana," Evie says.
"Me because of the donation the Strike is making." Mariana holds back a sigh. "You, because you're not busy with anything else— foundation-wise."
I glance at her, then Pen, then Evie.
They're definitely meddling. Whatever this photo op thing is supposed to do for the foundation, they chose me on purpose because Mariana would be involved. When they have their pick of athletes, and could have spared me the trip.
Fuck me over twice. I've never said no to this stuff before. If I tried, Evie and Pen would see right through it, and I don't want to prove them right when they argue I'm clearly affected.
I drink half my coffee at once.
"Sure," I tell Evie. "Of course."
"We were thinking of a VO2 Max type shoot," Pen says. "We'll make it look sexy, with you all focused and running fast, while still appearing scientific with all those electrodes on you and stuff. They'll have lab people pretending to take notes too."
"I know this won't surprise you," Evie adds, "but I'd love some content from that as well. We'll send media people, but please, Mariana. Would you record from your phone as well?"
"Are you sure?" Mariana's lips tense. "I didn't get a lot of good material last time."
"Oh, it was great material. Haven't you checked the team's account? The video panning on his tattoos went mega viral."
Mariana glances at me, but she seems to be trying the same strategy I chose, and looks away in less than a second.
"I have not checked, no," she says.
"Well, you did great," Evie insists. "Do you mind doing it again?"
The pause isn't long enough for most people to think she's hesitating, but I do.
"Sure," Mariana replies. "Of course. I can do that."
I rub my lips together. Having her pay close attention to me had me on the edge.
Of what? I refuse to answer that question.
But she called me out on it. Worse, I liked it.
When she stared at me like she wanted to break me with a simple look, not caring if we'd get caught or I ended up embarrassing myself in front of everyone, just to prove she could…
I almost lost it. I had to think back to the pain I felt saying goodbye to her, or when she hung up on me a year later and my texts went unanswered, to keep myself under control.
My compression underwear wouldn't have been good enough to hide things otherwise.
"The PR shoot is scheduled for next week," Evie says. "We'll get the info to you asap."
"I think we're done?" Pen asks. "I need to call a couple non-profits for the Partners' Party. I want some school kids to make garlands for the event."
They stand and exchange some small talk. I linger. Mariana is about to run out of the room when I hold her wrist.
"Can we talk?" I ask her. "It's about the university visit."
Her eyes drop to where we touch and I immediately let go of her.
The parts of my unconscious that don't understand time or logic, keep pushing me to say things I regret immediately.
Do things I should have thought twice of.
Like touching her again, when I know what it used to do to me.
Even now, after all this time, my fingertips tingle from the simple contact.
She gives me suspicious eyes. "Okay. We can go to my office."
I don't look at Evie or Pen. I don't want them to see the truth in my eyes, if I'm too slow to hide it.
Mariana bids a quick goodbye to my friends, and marches down the hall.
I follow her until we enter her office. It's a standard room, painted in a creamy white with abstract sketches on the wall.
The door opens to the desk, while a sofa waits tucked by the side wall.
It's very much like every office I've been in at the Thunderdome, but Mariana's lacks the personal touches I've seen in Evie's.
"Must be different," I say, "working for the Strike, after everything you did in England."
I always imagined her in old European buildings, renovated from centuries past to accommodate her family's charity and the work she did with her in-laws.
Or in old manors like one might see in period dramas, that she got to stay in by virtue of the family she married into.
She went from fancy people in her parents' and ex-husband's circles to… us.
Except that, in a way, pro athletes are part of this country's upper echelon. It's only we don't have the history to back it up.
"I haven't decided yet," she replies. "You wanted to talk about the university visit?"
She closes the door and goes around me to lean on her desk, in a casual, makeshift sitting position that broadcasts her intentions. She expects this to be a quick conversation. To prove it, she doesn't invite me to take one of the chairs in front of her either.
I cross my arms and stand in the middle of the room. "My friends are meddling."
"You don't say?" She crosses her arms too.
"You edited out our bickering when you recorded me for the calendar shoot, right?"
"Of course I did."
But she frowns like she's not sure she didn't miss anything.
I shake my head. "If Evie heard anything—"
"She would have heard bickering, that's all. I made sure to cut everything else."
"She could get it in her head that bickering is unresolved sexual tension, or worse."
"Worse than that?"
"Yeah. Unresolved romantic tension."
"There's nothing unresolved between us." She waves her hand in a dismissive gesture. "Maybe some annoyance, like you said, though I can't say I fully understand why you're so angry."
"Not going there, honeycakes." I clench my jaw. "All I care about is making sure my friends don't interfere or get any ideas. I don't want to have to deal with that, when I have much better things to do this year."
She rolls her eyes at the name but doesn't otherwise acknowledge it. "Then tell them not to make a big deal out of it. I see how different you are with them. You're friendly and full of charisma. So warm. Hugs for everyone. Smiles ready to go."
Mmmh. She bristles at the idea of me being cold toward her.
"It's clear you have a close friendship with them," she adds. "I bet they'll believe you if you say there's nothing but some… unresolved animosity."
I scoff. Take a step forward. Raise an eyebrow at her.
"You think they'll believe me?" I tsk. "These are wonderful people. They're my family outside of my mom and mi abuela— the best people I have ever known."