Catching Cameron: A Love and Football Novel (16 page)

Drew’s smile turned a touch calculating. He put down his fork for a moment. “So, Ms. Ondine, out with it. I’m all about being cooperative with you and your network, but you must want something in return. Am I right?”

She nodded a little and tried to look penitent. “Okay, you’ve got me. Would you like to be an unnamed, occasional ‘source’?”

He took a swig of orange juice. “One condition. Actually, two.”

“What are they?”

“If I tell you no, you have to accept that. In other words, if I know something that would put me in some hot water with my teammates, my first loyalty is to them.” His eyes bored into hers, cornflower blue and intent. He didn’t look away or avoid her gaze. “My second condition: Don’t wake me up at 5:30
AM
with your shower running.”

“I’m guessing I messed up this morning.”

He pointed his fork at her. “If I didn’t have a little time this afternoon already scheduled for a nap, Cameron, I’d be pretty pissed at you.” She thought he was mad, but his smile was playful.

“Got it. I will stop with the crack of dawn shower taking. What time do you guys get up, anyway?”

“It depends on when practice is, or whether there’s something special going on, like picture day or a preseason game. Derrick gets up at the last minute every day. He’s going to kill Anderson for waking his ass up.”

Zach sauntered into the cafeteria with an enraged-looking Derrick on his heels. Drew watched them vanish around the corner into the kitchen area. “This ought to be fun,” he said. “Hopefully, we won’t have to clean up any blood. When did you want to start the filming?”

“After practice. Maybe you could talk a little about your daily schedule and how you all feel when fans come to watch your practices.”

“May I invite special guests?”

“Guests?”

“My teammates.” He took another bite of cookie. “I’ll make sure you’ll get some good footage.”

She was a little concerned about what he might think “good footage” was, but Logan would be there. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be
nude
footage.

“That would be great, Drew.” She tried to appear casual as she geared up to ask the big one. “So, what was the meeting about yesterday?”

“Which one?”

“Your teammates and the new coach.”

His mouth quirked into a grin. “You’re going for the gusto, aren’t you, Cam? May I call you Cam?”

She wasn’t especially enamored of the nickname, but every time one of these guys gave her a nickname, it meant they accepted her. She’d work on their trust, but right now, she’d take his acceptance.

He leaned forward in his chair, and lowered his voice. “Here’s the deal. The new coach wanted to make sure we were on the same page going forward. There was a lot of stuff said, but mostly the Sharks are letting the past be the past and moving on. We want to win. We think Coach Stewart can get us there.” He reached over, broke her cookie in half, and jammed the other half into his mouth. He chewed, swallowed, and said, “There isn’t a guy on this team that’s busted up about the fact that the former head coach probably won’t be back. Again: You never heard this from me. We never even discussed it.”

She made the zipping motion across her mouth and nodded. “Got it. By the way, that’s the last time you’re stealing most of my cookie.”

Drew laughed and got to his feet as he scooped his tray and empty orange juice glass off the table. He loped away.

Z
ACH HEADED STRAIGHT
for the table Cameron sat alone at. Derrick was still on his heels, and still fuming. Maybe some food would calm him down. Zach had encountered people who were grouchy when awakened suddenly before, but this was a whole new level of pissed off. He’d played with Derrick since they were rookies, but he hadn’t seen this before.

“Maybe you should just calm down, guy. You had to get up anyway.”

“Not for another hour.”

With no warning at all, Derrick slammed his tray down on the table, sending a small river of apple juice over the table top and spraying droplets on everyone sitting there. Cameron threw her hands up in self-protection, but she was seconds too late.

“Excuse me?” Cameron said. She grabbed the napkin dispenser in the middle of the table and pulled a few out, dabbing at her face and her hair with them. Zach knew from the look on her face—a little panicked and definitely angry—she was going to have to change before she went outside for her first stand-up interview this morning.

Derrick reached out one big paw toward her. “Give me that goddamn thing.”

He could see her knuckles show white as she gripped the edges of her tray. She stood up from her seat, assembled her empty juice glass and apple juice-soaked napkins on her tray, and said, “It’s all yours.”

She put the dispenser down and walked away without saying another word. Great. There went his best chance to have a little more conversation with her. She didn’t seem like herself this morning, in his opinion. Women could cover up the dark circles and bloodshot eyes of a sleepless night a lot better than men could, and she looked like she’d slept like a baby as a result. When he wasn’t a bit uncomfortable over the fact he’d spilled his guts to her last night, he wondered how he could talk to her again without seventy-nine teammates listening to every word.

He was also pretty irritated over the fact she’d had a cozy little conversation with McCoy. That guy would make any woman run for the hills. All he wanted to talk about was some freaking 750-page biography of Lincoln he was reading right now. Or some documentary he’d just seen. The guy was boring.

Zach slapped his palms down on the damp and sticky table. “What the fuck is your problem?”

“I got NO sleep.”

“Maybe you should stop watching so much porn, then—”

Derrick’s eyes practically bulged out of his head.

“The fuck? I was dealing with my now ex-girlfriend for most of the night. She’s pissed off that I don’t spend more time with her. How the hell did she think I was going to fix anything when I’m not going to be home for at least another two weeks?” Derrick’s big hands formed into fists. “THEN she’s all over me about why I haven’t asked her to marry me yet. Marry her? Sweet baby Jesus. She bitches at me because she doesn’t see me, I’m not making her happy, but she thinks I’m going to marry her?” He took a bite of his food and made a face. “This has apple juice all over it. Goddammit.”

It was one of those times when silence was better. Zach handed his relatively-unscathed plate across the table. Hopefully the angry and frustrated Derrick liked a freshly-made Denver omelet and some fresh fruit. He’d go get some more for himself.

Derrick waved a big paw in the air. “Thanks, A, but you eat it. It’s my fault the table’s a mess.” He took another bite of his scrambled eggs. “Actually, this isn’t terrible. Apple juice is probably good on the bacon.” He consumed the contents of his plate in less than five minutes and looked up from the rest of the food on his tray. He let out a sigh.

“I shouldn’t have dragged your ass out of bed,” Zach said. “I thought we could get an early start on the lifting today.”

Derrick crammed half a banana into his mouth. “I acted like a little bitch.”

Zach bumped his fist with Derrick’s. “Friends?”

“If you start talking about your feelings, I’ll throw up,” Derrick said.

Chapter Thirteen

A
FTER HER SECOND
shower and wardrobe change of the morning, Cameron strolled along the sideline of the Sharks practice field in bright sunshine. She was still annoyed with Derrick’s behavior at the breakfast table, but she knew she’d laugh about it later. She’d be quiet while she passed his room tomorrow morning on her way to the stairs for sure.

Practice was forty-five minutes away, and she wanted to take a few still photos and make some notes on her iPad beforehand. Sharks fans were already staking out seats on the grassy hillside overlooking the field to watch the first public practice of the season. Logan wasn’t out here yet, either. Maybe she could use her tablet to record a few comments from the fans.

Speaking of people who hadn’t made an appearance, she’d also texted Kacee three times this morning, and Kacee hadn’t acknowledged any of them. Cameron hadn’t seen her in over twenty-four hours, either. Mostly, she wanted to know Kacee was safe. Cameron would rather handle the absence privately than drag their boss into it, too. She clicked on her text app once more and tapped in PLEASE LET ME KNOW YOU ARE SAFE AND FINE, ASAP.

If Cameron didn’t hear from her by the time practice was over, she’d see if Logan had any ideas on how to track down her assistant.

When she wasn’t fretting over Kacee and her unexplained absence, she was still musing on last night’s conversation with Zach. Getting sprayed with apple juice was a great excuse to leave the breakfast table, but it wasn’t the real reason she beat feet out of there.

After a mostly sleepless night, she wasn’t sure what to say to him. She used to think he was the one who owed her an apology. She couldn’t have been more wrong. She needed to apologize to him, but she couldn’t imagine what she might say that would have any impact at all after what he and his family went through as a result of their brush with her father.

Last night she’d opened the blinds in her dorm room and gazed out into the darkness. The field was silent and partially lit. Lake Washington looked like an ink stain at three
AM
—dark and impenetrable. She saw a few boats moving out there; maybe there were other people who couldn’t sleep, either. She wondered what they might be thinking about as they bobbed around in an endless night. She’d climbed back into her bed as the first rays of dawn streaked over a purplish-pink sky.

Cameron would have to deal with her personal problems later; work came first. She approached a couple of female fans leaning against the three-foot-high movable steel fence that gave the illusion of separating Sharks fans from their idols. It wouldn’t be hard to hurdle the thing and run out onto the field, but nobody did. The Sharks organization provided security during these practices, but most fans would be more afraid of inviting the wrath of a six-foot-six, three-hundred pound tackle. She smiled at the two women, who appeared to be in their late twenties, and extended her hand.

“Hi. I’m Cameron Ondine from PSN. How’s your day going?”

“Oh, wow! I watch
NFL Confidential
every week. I can’t believe you’re here,” the shorter, petite brunette told her.

“Are you really living in the dorms with the guys?” her bleached-blonde friend asked. “Have you met Drew McCoy yet? Is he still single?”

Cameron resisted the impulse to laugh at the question about Drew. The guys in the league were used to women making their interest clear, but she’d never get used to being asked about specific players and their love lives.

She side-stepped the question about Drew.

“Yes, I’m living in the dorm, and I’ll be there until training camp is over. I was wondering if you would let me video a short interview with you. I’d like to put it up on the PSN blog, or we might use it on
Third and Long
.”

“We’d be on TV?” The blonde let out a squeal. “
Oh, my God
!”

“I should have worn more makeup today.” The brunette whipped a mirror out of her handbag and inspected her lipstick. “Do you have someone that does your hair every day? It’s always perfect.”

“Thank you so much. The hair person slept in this morning, so I was on my own.” Both women laughed as Cameron indicated her high ponytail. “So, what are your names, and how long have you been Sharks fans?”

“I’m Serena,” the blonde said, “and this is Marcella.” Her voice dropped. “We like football, but we like the single guys more. Maybe you could hook us up.”

Marcella leaned closer to Cameron. Her voice dropped to a murmur. “Were you really married to Zach Anderson for three days? He’s gorgeous.”

One of her colleagues from another sports network was close enough to hear the conversation. “Of course it’s true,” she sang out. “Cameron won’t discuss it with any of us, though. I wonder why.”

The sick feeling in Cameron’s stomach was immediate. She wasn’t going to turn to acknowledge the comment. Even more, she wasn’t giving the reporter in question the satisfaction of reacting to it.

She knew she was going to be asked questions about her life, but her job was to get the story. She also realized she’d been living in a bubble for the past three days. She’d seen some of the reporting on her and Zach’s short-lived marriage on sports websites and Twitter, but this was the first time she’d faced questions or comments from anyone outside of her insular little world. She forced herself to smile. Other fans had noticed the commotion, and were advancing on them. She’d better make this quick.

“Serena and Marcella, I’m going to ask you a few questions and video your responses. Just be yourselves. Don’t worry, there are no wrong answers.” She held the iPad screen up in front of the women, making sure she had them centered in frame, and said, “It’s the first public practice of training camp for the Seattle Sharks this morning. Let’s welcome Serena and Marcella to our show.” Some of the fans that had clustered around the two women broke into applause, and there were a few more chants of “Go Sharks!”

She held up one hand for silence and said, “How long have you been Sharks fans, ladies?”

Serena moved closer to Cameron’s iPad camera and struck a pose. “I’ve been watching the team since I was little. My mom told me my dad put my bouncy chair in front of the TV every Sunday—”

Marcella interrupted her. “My dad has been bringing me to the games since I was a month old.”

“How do you feel about their chances this year? Do you think the coaching staff can fix some of the problems they had last season with the offensive line?”

Serena half-turned toward Marcella. “I remember my dad talking about the fact the OL needs some serious help, but I haven’t been focusing much on it.” Cameron heard some groans behind the two women. Serena gave the camera a dazzling smile. “Of course we’re going to the Super Bowl again.”

Cameron had better ask another general question.