City of Champions (45 page)

"Well, we’re short on coddling here, though we do have bourbon. I could use a shot if you’re pouring," Jenna said, never budging from her perch at the window.

"I’ll get the bourbon," Aubrey offered.

"Is she allowed to drink, you know, after…"

"Aubrey told you I didn’t take any pain meds, so yes."

Jenna could see Aubrey look at Trey and roll her eyes.

"I saw that, you know," Jenna sniped.

"I know. That’s because I wasn’t hiding it. Good luck, Trey, she’s the best doctor, so that means she's the worst patient ever. If I didn’t love her so much, I’d strangle her."

"Humph," Jenna grunted out loudly. "I hope you heard
that
."

"I did, my darling. She’s all yours Trey. And you can give me that cheesy noodle goodness. I’ll put it in the kitchen and serve it up for our cranky patient over there. I was worried you’d say you brought a gossip magazine. I’ve been trying to keep this place clear of them. Though I might want to get a copy of the National Enquirer for my own amusement. That one says Jenna and I are lesbians and she was using Wyatt to advance her career," Aubrey informed them.

"I saw that one, too. That was my favorite article for sure," Trey said, with a smirk.

"Oh, brother. We're lesbians, huh?" Jenna asked.

"Hey, you could do worse," Aubrey huffed out defensively.

"Very true, Aubrey. Though you’d love me and leave me. I’ve seen how you are with men. I’ll pass."

"What’s that? Was that a
joke
from your room at the Depressed Days Inn over there? I am shocked."

"Go get me some mac and cheese woman and let me talk to my friend, Trey," Jenna teased.

"Friend, huh? Trey, are you really just being a big brother type here? You aren’t swooping in with your tattoos and piercings, hoping to guard more than just her body, are ya?"

"Jenna, why is it that no one understands us?" Trey asked her, acting deeply wounded.

"Easy, Aubrey. He's just helping me. We’re buds now. Sorry, Trey, Aubrey likes to jump to conclusions."

"It's true, jumping to conclusions is my favorite form of cardio," Aubrey added.

"It’s all right. I can take it. All this ink toughened my skin. Besides, I wouldn’t take advantage of a woman under my care, and I don’t think about Jenna that way."

"Hey!"

"What? I don’t get it," Trey said, honestly confused.

"I don’t think of you that way either, but my ego’s been bruised enough lately. Lie and tell me I’m irresistible, at least until I get my head back on straight."

"So I guess that means Trey still needs to find the right woman. One that's not under his care, but just under him."

"Get in that kitchen, you busybody," Jenna said, finally letting herself feel a twinge of humor. 

"But I can make you feel better, I promise. Do you know Joe Stevenson thinks you’re beautiful?" Aubrey interjected playfully as she headed to the kitchen with the macaroni and cheese. "They had a whole segment about you on
By The Way
and he was all about what a catch you are. You love that show on
ESPN
."

"Oh yeah, a dream come true. Which picture did they use?"

"They said the pictures disappeared from the Internet. Every time they appear anywhere, they're gone again right away. So they had to use your
UPMC
official photo. Man, that one is so bad."

"Thanks, Brey, you really know how to keep things in perspective," Jenna grumbled at her.

"You’re welcome," Aubrey responded, eliciting a withering glance back from Jenna.

"That is so weird about the pictures. Don't you think, Trey? Nice, but weird," Jenna wondered.

"Those things happen," Trey responded quickly. "Um, I think I want mac and cheese, too, Brey. If you don’t mind."

"So polite. Sure."

"What do you expect to see through that window, Jenna?" Trey asked her gently, as he sat on the sofa.

"Nothing, I just like the view of the hills from here. Plus, I don't think the press can get a shot at this angle, and I don’t really have anywhere else to be."

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Come here and sit with me."

"Okay." She hauled herself up and made her way over to the sofa. "I don’t think I do misery very well. I tried it on these last few days but I'm not good at it."

Sitting down, she leaned back on the cushions and let loose a sigh.

"Everyone has the right to wallow once in a while, Jenna. But not right now for you. I’m here, so you have to pretend to be happy to see me."

"Fine," she said, smiling slightly, then looking questioningly at the computer Trey was starting up on his lap. "You brought your laptop with you to be my bodyguard?"

"Yep. I'm working on something."

"Always so secretive. Let me see."

"Now you're feeling frisky again? How about you go back to pining away and give me some privacy?"

"Pining? Me? No way. I’m not pining."

"Sure looks like it to me. Have you been sleeping?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I’m not tired."

"Are you thinking about him?"

"Who?"

Trey simply raised an eyebrow at her skeptically.

"Fine. Maybe I’ve thought about him — a little."

"Dreaming about him?"

"That’s none of your business."

"So the answer is yes."

"For your information, since I haven't been sleeping, I can't dream about him."

"Great comeback," he teased.

"Why do you care? You hate him, right? Besides, how do you know so much about this?"

"I'm just smart, I guess. Fine, if you want me to leave you alone about him, then relax. I'll start doing something boring that I can let you eavesdrop on."

He tapped away quickly on his keyboard, when, just like that, his screen was full of kittens and puppies playing with each other on
YouTube
.

Jenna couldn't help but giggle as she watched them frolic and paw at each other. She curled her legs underneath her and leaned her head on Trey's shoulder to get a better view.

"
You
like kitten and puppy videos?" Jenna asked Trey incredulously.

"They’re good medicine for almost any ailment. Now stop chattering, I like the music on this one."

Jenna made a gesture of zipping her lips shut and went back to watching the fuzzy cuteness, until her eyelids started to feel incredibly heavy and she let everything go dark. Her dreams were scattered images of Wyatt's half-smile and his arms around her on a shimmering Mexican beach. They were healthy and together. It was perfect and Jenna dreaded the time when she would wake up again.

Okay, I hesitated too long before passing toward the wide receiver. Jenna was right. I do drop my shoulder before throwing. That hesitation and tic made me a sitting duck. I got the ball off, but the pass was rushed and inaccurate. Incomplete.

Wyatt paused the digital playback from week four's game against Carolina to jot down some notes on the mistakes he'd just noticed. He leaned back heavily in his desk chair and rubbed around his eyes, which were dry and painful after watching hours of his game films from that season. 

The last two weeks had been a blur. He'd divided his time between meetings with his team, attempting to improve his future performance, and trying to find some way to eliminate the media's interest in Jenna. Trey chasing after the pictures and taking them down as fast as they went up had just been a
Band-Aid
. It was also impossible to catch all of them — like trying to bail out a sinking cruise ship with a
Dixie
cup.

The story about his attempt to take advantage of Jenna's position was sexy and scandalous, but he'd really believed interest in it would eventually wane — especially with the
NFL
playoffs there to distract the media. Yet, every time their story left the news, Olivia produced some other juicy tidbit about locker room strife, or another new feature of his relationship with Jenna. That would then stir up a whole new round of interest in them.

He and Trey needed something to discredit Olivia and make her leave the story alone, so it could die the quiet, eventual death of every other pop culture phenomenon. Thus far, they'd hit one dead end after another. Olivia was ruthless in the pursuit of bettering her career, and they'd found nothing that would silence her.

With each new buzz of attention, Wyatt lost more hope he'd ever show Jenna he could protect her and make things right. These follow-up stories also consistently derailed any progress he'd made with the Roughnecks to negotiate a compromise contract extension.

He ran his fingers through his hair, tugging a bit before letting go. Wyatt was worried he was possibly only making things worse. His mere existence was too enticing for the press. Now that Jenna was in his orbit, he worried the press would never let her out of their telescopic lenses.

His fingers itched to call her and see how she was — to tell her how much he missed her. He fought back the urge. Part of his plan was to show her he could actually listen to her wishes. If she wanted him to stay away, then that's what he would try to do. But it was starting to get almost impossible, especially after Trey begrudgingly admitted to him she was sad.

Having Trey take the ice skates to her apartment had been a bit of a low blow. His own sneaky attempt to get her to think about him. He was attempting to be mature enough to honor her wishes and give her space, but he couldn't bear the idea she might have evicted him from all her thoughts. Maybe he was still a stubborn, selfish son of a bitch after all.

Wyatt sighed deeply and sat back up, leaning his elbows on his desk. Sick of watching himself on video, he brought up one of Chase's games as a starter. The Roughnecks GM was still hot to acquire that piece of shit. This left him no choice but to watch film of Chase, too — see what he was up against.

He hadn't made it through five minutes of the video before he slammed a fist down on his desk. His heart was racing in his chest, but he tried to think clearly.

"What in the hell?"
he said out loud, grabbing his phone to call Trey.

"Hello."

"Hi, it's Wyatt. Remember how I told you about that asshole Chase?"

"Yeah."

"I've got a video of Olivia at his game in Atlanta during Pittsburgh's bye week. She's on the sidelines talking to him. I can't tell for sure, but I think he handed her something. She doesn't cover Atlanta. She's spent the last three years kissing ass to be assigned to Pittsburgh's division. What the hell was she doing in Atlanta?"

"That might explain some of her emails. She has a lot of message exchanges with someone she only referred to as 'C.' I've tried to get his emails, but he's not as careless as she is."

"How do you have Olivia's emails?"

"When will people learn not to ask me questions they shouldn't know the answers to?"

"Message received." 

"You should know that Olivia's in Pittsburgh now."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm outside of her hotel now. She checked in yesterday and is staying in the East End of the city, really close to Aubrey and Jenna."

"Fuck. That devious little bitch."

"She emailed her boss that she's got a juicy story about Jenna being sick and you knowing about it — that you victimized her specifically because she was vulnerable right now."

"That story can't happen! The other stuff was bad enough, but this would destroy Jenna. What is Olivia's obsession with this story? The team is fed up with her, she's simply burning her bridges. It's like she has a vendetta against Jenna. This can't be about wanting to be with me. She never liked me that much to begin with, and I certainly hate the fuck out of her now after what she did."

"I don't know if Jenna was the real target here," Trey mused.

"What do you mean?"

"You're the one who looks the worst. That article was released before your planned big meeting with the team. If Jenna had changed her opinion like you wanted, no one would have taken her seriously after your relationship came out."

"You mean, maybe they wanted her opinion to stand?" Wyatt asked.

"Yes, and make the team view you as undesirable, and too much of a risk. That's kind of what happened, isn't it?"

"It is. And it's really helped Chase. We know he's a piece of shit, but he's made himself look squeaky clean for the rest of the world. What did they talk about in their emails?"

"Some are about meeting up. She went to Atlanta a few times, but she had more trips to Vegas. This all occurred over the last few years, only during the football season. They also have the names of Atlanta players and their injuries. For the few weeks he started, there’s a series of numbers. They could be scores, but I’m not sure."