Catching Cameron: A Love and Football Novel (13 page)

“He’s probably still at the hotel,” Cameron said. “What’s with Kacee?”

“She told me earlier it’s not going well between her and the latest Wall Street frat boy she’s been seeing. She’s probably texting with him. He’s mad because she’s not back in New York yet.”

Everyone else on the bus was too busy talking to each other or using the free Wi-Fi to be listening to them. Cameron leaned across the aisle.

“When are you going to ask her out, you big dork?”

He raised an eyebrow and leaned across Kacee’s seat to hiss, “I’ll be happy to do that, right after you have a dinner date with Zach Anderson.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m really not into having her crush me like a bug, Cam. She’s made it clear I’m not her type.” The typically easygoing Logan folded his lips and shook his head. “She goes for guys who couldn’t care less about her, and I seem to gravitate toward women who have no interest in me whatsoever.” He rolled his eyes and tried a grin. “Imagine how it feels to know I’m not irresistible.”

She had to laugh a little, and she heard Logan snort-laugh, too. He was as lonely as she was, but he was a lot more willing to joke around about it. He also was doing his best to find someone and fall in love. She loved spending time with Logan, but he was a friend and always would be. There wasn’t a spark between them. There never would be. Logan was the kind of guy who showed up at your apartment after your latest break-up toting Ben & Jerry’s and a couple of six-packs. She’d showed up at his place before, too. She was fairly sure his single male neighbors were still talking about it, because Logan told her that maybe next time, he should stop by her place instead for her safety.

He lived in a city with millions of single women. It was only a matter of time until he met the right one, but she wondered for the hundredth time now if he’d be interested in her sorority sister, Angela. Cameron was gone four days a week for six months out of the year, and Angela apartment-sat for her on those days. Maybe she should introduce them.

She leaned closer to Logan. Kacee was still gone; she must be having a confidential phone conversation in the bathroom. “I pick the wrong ones, too.”

“He wasn’t the wrong one,” Logan said.

Cameron glanced down the bus aisle. Kacee had taken a seat in the back of the bus, and looked like she was still texting. She got up and plunked herself down next to Logan.

Her voice dropped to a little over a whisper. She didn’t need the entire sports media group to overhear what she had to say. “You don’t know him. He left me, Logan. He walked out of the hotel room, and he didn’t even say goodbye. Do you know how that felt? We were married a grand total of three days. Plus, he took five million dollars from my dad to sign the annulment paperwork.” She wondered if Zach would have taken less money to get away from her after all, and how long he had bargained with her dad. Four million? One million and tech stocks? How about a hundred bucks and a case of beer? She felt the stab of anger and hurt in her chest again.

Logan looked a little shocked. “That can’t be true.”

“Oh, it is.”

“So, why’s he trying to talk to you again?”

“Maybe he wants more money.”

“He’s got plenty of his own,” Logan said.

Zach evidently needed more. She still remembered how mad her dad was, talking about that five million dollar cashier’s check. Her dad didn’t seem to care how much it hurt her every time he brought it up, either.

“Why are you sticking up for him?”

Logan thought for a few seconds. “I saw the look on his face when you asked him why he left you. That wasn’t ‘Wow, I’ll get my hands on more money.’ That was ‘I’m still in love with her and I don’t care who sees it.’”

Cameron shook her head. She didn’t remember that look on Zach’s face at all. She remembered how sick she felt when she realized she’d blurted out a secret she’d kept for ten years in front of a group of colleagues, however.

“Let’s talk about something else, Logan. We had the interview with Zach, now we need to catch up with the head coach. Maybe we can brainstorm some questions for him, huh?” She positioned her iPad to take a few notes but Logan’s comments were still ringing in her ears. If anyone would know if another guy was lovelorn, it was Logan.

Maybe it was time to lay all the cards on the table with a certain Seattle Shark.

Z
ACH HAD SOME
lunch with his teammates, did some lifting, and went to a defensive line meeting. He had a couple of hours before dinner. Cameron and the rest of the press still weren’t back. After a lot of thought and after talking one of his non-football-playing buddies into running an errand for him, he had a plan for later, as long as she arrived back at least an hour before bed check.

He’d told her over text message he had things to discuss with her. He did, but they weren’t what she thought. He’d talk to her a little about the taping. Jason was still fairly convinced that there was no way either of them could avoid the broadcast of their personal struggles, but they had one ace in the hole: They could talk all they wanted when everyone else was absorbed in other things.

The Sharks’ chef showed him how to use one of the ovens in the kitchen. His buddy picked him up a couple of add-water-only brownie mixes, some chocolate sauce, a candle in a jar, and some whipped cream in the can from the grocery store and dropped it off at the dorm. Zach could create a candlelight dessert for two and get a few minutes alone with her.

He’d also checked out his plan with his youngest sister, who didn’t laugh. She said, “Please tell me this isn’t for Cameron.”

“I can’t tell you that, Whitney.”

“She broke your heart, Zach. She hurt you so much, and you know what her dad did to all of us. Why are you talking to her at all? I don’t understand.”

His sisters were staying at his house this summer with their grandma and his dog. He heard his puppy, Butter, barking in the background. Someone must have passed within a one-mile radius of his front door. What Butter lacked in menace, he made up for with gusto. He’d probably lick the potential axe murderer walking through Zach’s neighborhood to death before he actually tried to bite him.

“It’s not what you think. I won’t let her hurt me this time.” It was a good thing his nose didn’t grow like Pinocchio’s when he told a lie. It would stretch across the football field right now. “We’re just talking about the reality show and her coverage of training camp.”

“I really wish you wouldn’t talk to her at all.”

“I know you do. What else is happening there?”

“We’re cleaning up after dinner. Grandma is watching
Jeopardy!
” He could hear her smiling on the other end of the phone. “Remember when I got put on the waitlist at the University of Washington? They sent me an admissions packet yesterday.” She sucked in some air. “I’m in.”

“Congratulations! Are you excited?”

“Yeah,” she said. She let out a breath. “Zach, I applied for a couple of on-campus jobs today. I have to live in the dorm for my freshman year.”

There was an instant lump in his throat. “You don’t have to get a job if you’re taking a heavy class load. There’s plenty of money to pay for your tuition.”

“But Shelby, Ashley, and Courtney are all in school, and you don’t have unlimited money . . .”

“I’ll be fine. There’s more than enough for you, too. You fill out that paperwork and send it back right away. When do you need to be on campus?”

“The end of September. Zach, maybe I should work for a year and then go to—”

“No,” he said. “Money’s not an object, sweetie. How do you feel about living on campus?”

“I’d rather live with all of you. I don’t want to leave home.”

“You’ll have so much fun you won’t even miss us,” he assured her. “The school year will go fast, and you’ll meet lots of great people. We can talk more about this when I’m off for a day or so, but I want you to start filling out that packet tonight.”

“Got it,” she said.

He could hear the excitement in her voice, tinged with the fear they all still carried around. She didn’t want to end up in that trailer park again, either, even if she didn’t remember it well. He couldn’t believe she wasn’t off at the mall already figuring out what she needed to buy to go to school or calling some of her friends to trumpet her good news. She wouldn’t, though. She’d be asking his sisters and his grandma questions about what she should expect. Mostly, she’d be freaking out about money. He had plenty now, but his sisters still worried about it.

The best part of playing in the NFL was the fact he could single-handedly make sure his sisters didn’t end up broke, drug addicted, and staying with a deadbeat because they didn’t have any other options in life. It wasn’t a question as to whether or not they’d graduate from college: They were going if he had to drive them over and sign the paperwork himself. He’d make sure they finished school, too, if it was the last thing he did in life.

His eldest sister, Shelby, was in grad school. She was working toward becoming a psychologist. It was her way of helping others with the same trauma they had dealt with growing up. His middle sisters, Ashley and Courtney, had chosen the medical field—Ashley was in school to be a nurse, and Courtney was studying to be an emergency room doctor. They hoped to work with children, so he was guessing their majors might change before they were done with school. His youngest sister, Whitney, was sensitive and artistic. He had a feeling she wanted a Master of Fine Arts degree but she was talking about majoring in computer science, of all things.

“I’m so proud of you, Whitney.”

“I’m proud of you, too, Zach.”

She might tease him a little, but when he got home for a day off, he knew she’d be the first one at the door to wrap her arms around his waist and tell him she missed him while he was gone.

He knew if he played hard for the Sharks and stayed out of trouble off the field, his family’s lives would all be better. It was the thing that drove him. His little sis would never know how much it meant for him that they were all okay.

“Tell everyone I love them. I’ll call you tomorrow. But you text me if you need help with the paperwork,” he said.

They hung up, and he dropped his phone into the blankets on his bed. He picked it up again, and hit “redial” on Jason’s number. It was almost ten on the East Coast. He knew Jason was probably catching up on work he didn’t get done while he was chasing his three-year-olds.

Zach’s call went to voicemail.

“Hey, Jason, Whitney’s starting at the UW in a month. Didn’t you tell me there was another endorsement you were going after? Call me.”

C
AMERON DRAGGED HERSELF
up three flights of stairs to her dorm room after eating a shocking amount of seafood and drinking a few mojitos, thanks to the Sharks PR department. She couldn’t believe the ship they saw the sights of Puget Sound from didn’t capsize from all the food and alcohol, either. She wasn’t hungry for dinner at all. Maybe that was a good thing.

She could take a shower, answer some more e-mail, and go to bed. She still hadn’t figured out what she was going to say to her father besides “Please don’t fly anyone out here to get me.” She yanked open the heavy fire door that opened onto the third floor, and stopped in the doorway.

Zach’s room was twenty feet ahead, and his door was open. There was no way she could walk by his room without him seeing her. She wasn’t exactly in the mood for a heart-to-heart at the moment. Maybe she could tiptoe past.

She turned to let the door close slowly against her back. If she could keep the door from latching—

CLICK.

Zach poked his head out of his room. “There you are.”

Damn.
She resisted the impulse to run to her room and slam the door.

“How was your afternoon on the high seas?” he asked.

She wondered if he’d asked someone where she was, or figured it out on his own. This, of course, made her remember Logan’s comments, too. Why would Zach care where she was at all?

“It was fine. I’m pretty tired. I think I’ll go to bed.” She pivoted on one foot and tried to move past him. He reached out and caught her elbow in his fingertips. His grip was gentle, but it was there.

“I have a surprise for you.”

“Maybe tomorrow,” she said. “I really need to get some sleep.”

“If we go now, you won’t have to share with the rest of the guys. C’mon.”

“Share what?”

He patted his warm-ups pocket with his other hand, most likely checking to see that he had his room key. He closed the door to his room as well. He moved her back toward the door to the stairs, pushed it open for them, and walked her down the stairs.

“I think you’ll like this,” he said.

“Where are you taking me? Don’t you have bed check pretty soon?”

“Not for another couple of hours.”

He opened the door on the second floor for her, and they moved down the dim hallway toward the open cafeteria. The Sharks front office staff was gone for the evening. The players didn’t spend a lot of time in this part of the building, but Zach seemed to know how to use it for a shortcut to wherever it was he was taking her. The only noise they heard was some distant laughter and talking from the game room upstairs.

Zach’s fingertips brushed the small of her back. “Let’s go in here for a minute.” He gestured toward the commercial kitchen. She angled her body so he couldn’t touch her again, but she felt it all the same.
Zzzap
. It had nothing to do with static electricity, and everything to do with the fact they were alone in a darkened building.

“What are you doing?”

“Making a little dessert. Want to help?” he said.

She shook her head. “I ate so much food on that cruise . . .”

He broke out in a grin. “I’ve been told there isn’t a woman on the planet that can resist freshly baked brownies with chocolate sauce and whipped cream.” He pulled a couple of add-water-and-bake brownie mixes, a jar of chocolate sauce, and a candle out of a grocery bag. He must have refrigerated the whipped cream—at least, she hoped he did.

“You’re going to make me some brownies?”

“I’m making myself some brownies. I’m asking you to share them with me.”