Touchdown

Chapter 41

Looking Out

Bentley

A buzzing sound drags me from my sleep. Annoyed, I inhale a sharp breath and swipe at my face as if to knock the sleep away. As I begin to wake, I groan.

My phone is ringing, and I know it’s not late enough for me to want to take a call. Aaron turns at my side and snuggles deeper into me. The last thing I remember is tucking him into me to get some more rest when Zah left this morning for a spa appointment.

It’s my first day of truly not having anything to do with football, my team, or my career. No workouts, no meetings, no press, not a single endorsement or fundraiser. I’m officially in the offseason and I planned to sleep in until afternoon.

I’m not in the mood to talk to anyone. Realizing Zahirah isn’t home and in bed with us, I pop up and answer the call. I would never forgive myself if she needed me and I didn’t answer.

“Hello,” I grumble.

“Coswell, it’s Fred.”

I knit my brows and fall back onto my pillow. Pushing a hand into my hair, I try to clear my head. I haven’t spoken to Fred in nearly three years or longer.

“Fred, what’s going on?” I say in confusion.

I haven’t heard from him since I dismissed him and paid the final invoice. Once he told me Zah was engaged, I thought I could let her go. The best way to do that was to stop checking in on her life and having her tracked.

I’ve thought of how I regretted that decision after finding out about my son. If I hadn’t called him off, he would have told me Zah was pregnant. All things of the past now. Nothing I can do about any of it.

We’re moving into our new home, and we’re engaged. I have everything I want. Life is going as it should.

“I know you terminated the job for Zahirah Nickels. I did stop monitoring her, but I had this gut feeling I couldn’t shake. I stayed on that Manning motherfucker because he gave me bad vibes.

“I was right. I’m going to advise you to provide Miss Nickels with a security detail. Manning is extremely dangerous, and he’s been targeting you folks with some type of vendetta.

“The bastard is sick. You should watch your back as well. I just thought you needed to know,” he says.

I’m wide awake now. I sit up and swing my legs over the edge of the bed. I’ll kill Manning if he tries some bullshit with Zah. A broken jaw will be the least of his worries.

Rage runs through me, causing my head to throb. I see red. Just when we’re happy, and everything is going great, here this asshole comes. Not on my fucking watch.

I’ll take Manning’s head off. He hasn’t even seen how bad my temper can get. I close my eyes and take a calming breath.

“Hold on, Fred. I need you to tell me exactly what’s going on. Why do you think Zah isn’t safe? What’s Manning up to?”

I already know I’m not going to like whatever he has to say. I brace myself anyway. Gritting my teeth, I listen and allow him to explain.

He releases a heavy breath. “Like I said, I’ve been keeping an eye on him. He tried to murder his friend and left him for dead in his apartment. He would have died if I hadn’t been on Manning’s ass.

“I got into the apartment after Manning left and found the guy bleeding out. I got him to a buddy of mine in time to save his life.

“The guy asked me not to reveal he’s still alive or his identity, so that’s all I can tell you at the moment about that. However, he was very forthcoming with details of what Manning has been up to.”

“Were you able to verify his story? Can you trust his word?” I quiz.

“I’ve verified every word. It all checks out. I wouldn’t have called you if it didn’t.”

I nod my head as if he can see me. I had to ask and make sure. I know from experience people will bullshit you when they have a motive.

I try to figure out who this friend of Gilbert’s could be. He didn’t have a lot of close friends back in high school, maybe one or two who stuck around during college that I know of. Fred continues as my thoughts race to connect the dots.

“It seems he’s wanted to get back at you for years. He’s also wanted Miss Nickels for himself. He had been scheming to marry her for his inheritance, but he didn’t plan on letting her out of the marriage once he got the money.”

I scoff. “How the hell did he plan to pull that off?”

“The bastard is a lunatic. The feds are already on him, and some other nasty characters are hunting him down as we speak. I just don’t want him to get to you guys before they get to him.”

“Thanks for the heads-up, Fred. Are you available for the job?”

“I could be. I have a few guys I trust who I can bring in. From what I know, this guy has bodies on his hands. No one has heard from Christen Manning in weeks. His uncle, Theo Manning, is also missing. There’s also information linking him to the murder and disappearance of his own father.”

“What the fuck?”

“I’m telling you, this guy is unpredictable and highly dangerous.”

“I’m going to text you Zah’s current location. I want eyes on her as soon as you can,” I bite out.

“I’m on it. Be safe, Coswell. Congrats on the chip.”

With that, he hangs up, leaving me with my head spiraling. Snapping out of it, I quickly shoot off a text with Zah’s location. I can’t believe this shit.

Gilbert is fucking crazier than I thought. However, when it comes to my family, I can be crazy too. I’m not about to allow him to take everything from me.

I look at my sleeping son and my heart squeezes. Zah could be pregnant with our next child. My priority is to keep her safe.

I dial her number just to hear her voice and make sure she’s okay. I don’t want to alarm her, but I need to at least hear her. It only takes two rings before she picks up the line.

“Hey, babe. You guys finally up?” she sings.

“Hey, baby. I’m up. Aaron is still sleeping. I’m about to wake him and get us something to eat.”

“Cool, I should be home soon. One of my services had to be canceled. You want me to pick anything up for you?”

“No, come straight home. Don’t make any stops.” I completely fail at keeping the panic out of my voice.

I glance at Aaron and think of getting dressed to go pick her up myself. However, as I think of the time it will take to get Aaron and me ready, I decide against it. Making her wait around for me could place her in danger.

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything is fine. I miss you and I want you home with me. You know what? I am concerned about you going out without security.

“With the podcast and all, I should be thinking about your safety more. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner. Just come straight home, baby. We’ll talk more then.”

I’m becoming angry with myself. I really should have thought of giving Zah security sooner. She had been my own personal secret from the public until the podcast.

Now the world knows she’s everything to me. I proposed before them all. I’m feeling like such an idiot.

“Okay, I’ll call Erica and tell her not to meet me at the house. I had planned to go and pick a few things up.”

“No, baby. Leave it for the movers. Anything you don’t have, I’ll replace it. Come home.”

“I will … Bent, did something happen?”

“We’ll talk when you get home. I promise. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

She hangs up and I sit staring at my phone. I text Fred to let him know she’s on the move. I don’t think I’m going to be able to relax until she gets home.

“Dada, water,” Aaron says sleepily beside me.

I look at him and run a hand over his hair. He gives me a sleepy smile as he blinks up at me. I love his little face.

Being a father has become one of my greatest accomplishments. Seeing his smile and the trust in his eyes brings me so much happiness. God, I can’t lose either of them.

Zahirah

My stomach has been in knots since I ended that call with Bentley. The spa I went to isn’t that far from the new house, so I raced all the way home.

By the time I got home, Bentley had been coming out of the house still in his basketball shorts and tank top he slept in, looking as if he were about to jump in his car. He had Aaron in his arms, still in his pajamas.

A guy pulled up in a black sedan, not too long after me. He’s a big guy with dark hair. Fred, that's who Bentley introduced him as.

“You have to be freaking kidding me,” I breathe as I sit here listening to the story Fred just relayed to me.

“I wish I were. I got the call before I pulled up. If the authorities don’t get to him first, he’s going to meet up with some not-so-nice guys.

“However, he’s in the wind. We know he’s back in the country, but he gave everyone the slip moments after his arrival. As I told Coswell, it would be better to have you safe, so he doesn’t get to you before someone gets to him,” Fred says.

“Hold on, slow this crazy train down. Grandma Christen is dead? He killed his own grandmother?”

“And his uncle. He promised to pay a guy he got to help him with the bodies, but that backfired as the feds froze his family’s assets after they dug into the information I tipped them off with.

“The guy didn’t get the money, so he turned himself in and coughed up the details in exchange for a deal. He’s escalating and leaving a trail in his wake,” he says.

“It’s Hamilton Deluca. That’s who he tried to kill. That’s who’s feeding you information,” Bentley says as realization lights his eyes.

“For the safety of everyone in this room, I won’t confirm or deny that statement,” Fred replies.

A knot forms in my throat. I try to swallow it down, but it doesn’t work. I feel like I’m going to lose it any second now.

What does all of this mean? How could he have killed his grandmother? Why is he so hell-bent on destroying our lives?

A chill runs through me, causing me to feel ice cold. I allowed that man to manipulate me into being his fiancée. If Bentley didn’t show up when he did, there’s no telling what Gilbert would have done to me or my son.

I feel so stupid and violated. I thought he was my friend. I was trying to be a good friend to him.

I did care about his grandmother. She was always so nice to me. She loved Aaron.

I always felt so guilty for lying to her. I never did get to say sorry. Anger begins to boil up inside.

So many red flags are going off in my head now. Spain was never a coincidence. Gilbert knew I was there.

He had people watching me. Yes, Bentley had a PI looking for me too, but that was totally different. Gilbert had been doing some next-level stalker shit.

Erica and I were in danger from the time he conveniently ran into her in Spain. What kind of person comes up with an elaborate scheme like this? All because his jaw was broken in a high school fight.

“So I’m just supposed to live in fear while he’s out there somewhere lurking like some psycho. All because Bent kicked his ass. Well, I have next.

“He was around my son with his crazy ass. I’m not about to allow him to hurt Aaron with his craziness,” I growl.

“Baby, you don’t have to live in fear. He’s never going to get near you.”

“After that call I received, I don’t think either of you has anything to worry about. The feds are closing in, and his other problem knows that. They need to find him before he’s in custody.

“I doubt they’re going to fail. They happened to be highly motivated. Manning will be lucky to make it past the next forty-eight hours,” Fred says.

“Then what do we do now?” I ask.

“We’re staying in for the rest of the day. I want to give all the new security time to get in place and secure the property. Once they all coordinate, I’ll feel better about you leaving the house, although I don’t want you going anywhere without me,” Bentley says.

“My head hurts. I’m going upstairs to lie down,” I murmur.

Bentley pulls me into his arms and hugs me tightly. I try not to break down into tears. This is all so crazy and unsettling.

This morning, I was out getting a massage and relaxing, thinking about how great my life is and how happy I am. Now to come home to all of this.

I was being watched while in different countries. No telling if he was having me watched while I was in other states. I’m so creeped out right now.

Bentley gives me a squeeze and kisses the top of my head. I melt into him and take from the strength he’s giving to me. I’m not going to allow Gilbert to take everything we’ve worked so hard for.

This isn’t going to be the straw that breaks us. I get so mad as I think of someone trying to undo all the work we’ve done to get to this place of trust and love.

“It’s going to be all right, Zah. I’ve got you and Aaron. Don’t worry about that asshole.

“I’m here. I’m going to keep you safe. I love you,” Bent says into my hair.

“I love you too.”

“Go on upstairs. I’ll be up in a minute. You want me to bring you something to eat?”

“No, I don’t think I can stomach anything yet,” I say as I shake my head.