Double Coverage (37 page)

No big deal, though, because it was clearly pass interference, but when Mason looked up at the referee, there was no flag on the field and Jax was throwing his clipboard on the ground. Shit.

Mason got up he went over to the referee to argue, but it didn’t help. The referee stated it being a clean play, which was complete bullshit because the little bitch-ass rookie that covered Mason in the play was laughing his way off the field.

Mason got to the bench and ripped his helmet off. “That was bullshit,” Mason shouted at Ryker while pointing at the field.

“Yeah, apparently the ref’s wore their moron goggles to the game today.”

“Fuck!” Mason shouted

“Dashel!” Coach Ryan shouted from the sidelines.

“Shit,” Mason said, while he walked over to his pansy-ass coach. The last thing Mason wanted to deal with right now was a bitch session from Jax, especially since what just happened on the field was not his damn fault.

Mason sidled up next to his coach, the man he despised, the man who was soon going to find out that the woman he thought he was with would no longer be with him. Mason smiled to himself, making sure not to show his glee about Piper leaving the dick wad soon.

“You can sit your ass down for the rest of the game.”

Shock rolled through Mason’s body. “Excuse me?”

Jax turned on Mason and stared him in the eyes. Mason was a few inches taller than Jax, but the man, surprisingly, held his ground. Fury lined Jax’s eyes and Mason knew at that moment the fury was not from what happened on the field, it was from what happened in the bar the night before.

“You heard me. You clearly aren’t fit to play tonight due to your…partying last night.”

“You have got to be shitting me right now. I left before you and barely had anything to drink. I have multiple people who can vouch for me.”

“Save it, Dashel. You’re out, pack it up.”

“Fuck!” Mason shouted, as he walked away. He tossed a sleeve of cups that were next to the water bin onto the ground.

“Mace!” Ryker shouted after him. “Mason, wait. What the fuck is going on?”

Mason spun around and got in Ryker’s face. “That fuck head is what is going on. He says that I partied too much last night and that was why I missed the pass, but really what it comes down to is that he can’t stand the fact that I’m moving in on Piper.” Mason ran his hands through his hair and then shouted. “This is bullshit!”

“Dude, you need to fucking cool it. You know the cameras are on you right now and the media will spin this big time. I suggest you do what you were told and get the hell out of here. Talk to Coach Flarity after the game.”

Ryker was right, he needed to talk to their head coach and clear everything up. Mason had done amazing things for the team in the last couple of years and not only on the field. His jersey was second in sales, just under Jesse the quarterback, of course. He did more volunteer work than any other player on the team and he was a leader. He needed to clear his name with the head coach before Jax had a chance to sully it.

“You’re right. I’m out. Fuck some shit up out there, man.”

“I will.”

Mason walked back to the locker room, trying not to grind his teeth at the absurdity of the situation. There was no way Jax could sit Mason for the entire season, not only would the team rebel, but the owner would have something to say to Jax Ryan, especially when Mason was such good friends with the owner and his family, thanks to when Mason taught his son how to catch a football. Mason would solve this cluster fuck and, hopefully, make Jax look like a complete fool in the end.

***

“Why isn’t he playing?” Piper panicked as she watched the Stallions game at the bar. “I don’t get it; that was clearly pass interference. Do you think he got hurt?”

“I don’t know, Pipe, but if you don’t calm down for one second, we won’t be able to hear the announcers.”

“Turn it up,” Piper said to Hannah, as she paced the bar that was crowded with begging customers, but she didn’t care at the moment. All she cared about was why Mason was not playing. She wished she could go up to the rookie corner back for the Thunder and kick him in the dick for obviously grabbing Mason’s arms so he couldn’t catch the ball. Then she was going to twist the balls off of the ref who missed the blatant move.

Hannah turned the TV up and everyone in the bar quieted so they could hear why their favorite wide receiver for the Stallions was no longer on the field.

“Well Bob, I just got news from the locker room that Mason “Dash” Dashel is not hurt, but he has been taken out of the game.”

“What a move from the new offensive coach, Jax Ryan. I sure hope he knows what he’s doing because Dash has never looked better than he does this year. I had a chance to watch some of their training camp practices and the man is a machine.”

“I agree. Ryker Lewis can only do so much by himself. If Jax Ryan isn’t careful, he could hurt his other wide receiver, leaving Jax with no one but second and third string.”

“We will have to tune into the after show to see what happened with Dash, but from what we saw on the field, he was not happy and neither was Coach Flarity, so Jax has a lot of explaining to do.”

Piper blew out a frustrated breath and took some much-needed orders from customers.

“This is crap!” One of the patrons said. “Jax Ryan is an idiot. We are going to lose the game if Dash is sitting on the sidelines. Ryker is good, but he can’t do everything.”

Piper tried to ignore the shouting fans, but it was hard not to listen when she agreed with them. What the hell was Jax thinking? She just hoped to God it had nothing to do with her because, if that was the case, she didn’t know what she would do. She didn’t want to put Mason in a position where he wouldn’t play because of her inability to choose one man.

The room felt like it was closing in on her from all the shouting fans; she needed to take a second for herself. She turned to Hannah and asked her to handle the bar for a second while she gathered her wits in the back. Piper excused herself and went to the back room to breathe for a second. She sat on an empty crate and rested her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. She shouldn’t overreact right now. She had no clue why Mason was out of the game and it might be something that was completely irrelevant to her current predicament.

Piper shook her head as she felt a tear fall down her face. How did she get here? How did she end up in the middle of two men? Why did she let this happen? Never in her life had she acted like such a…tart. When she had a boyfriend, she was solely with him and no one else. She didn’t even think about another person, so why was she unable to stop thinking about two men at the same time? Why was she telling Jax she loved him, but then giving her heart to Mason? It didn’t make sense. She was disgusted with herself.

Piper worked through the rest of the game on auto-pilot, trying to ignore the booing fans in the bar when the Stallions couldn’t pull together a win without Mason. She didn’t want to acknowledge the game because, deep down inside, she knew the reason Mason wasn’t playing was because of her. She couldn’t get rid of that sinking feeling that she had screwed everything up for him.

“Shhh…” a man at the bar shouted to everyone. “They’re about to interview Jax. He has a lot of explaining to do.”

Piper stilled in place and turned to the television; she needed to hear what Jax had to say. She needed to know if she was responsible for today’s loss, or if it was something else that happened on the field.

The bar fell to an eerie silence as one of the regulars turned up the TV. Jax filled the screen, wearing his white Stallions baseball cap and white polo with the Stallions logo right over his heart. He looked good; he looked really good. Piper hated herself for not being able to control her emotions.

Jax spoke up. “It was a tough loss today, but it’s only pre-season so I am glad we can work our kinks out now, rather than later. I have no doubt in my mind that the offense will only go up from here.”

A reporter who was off-camera spoke up with the question that everyone was waiting on pins and needles to hear the answer to. “Why did you take Dash out? Did he hurt himself in a play on the field?”

Jax shifted uncomfortably in his chair and took a swig of water before he answered the question. Piper grew nervous while waiting for his response. Beads of sweat started to form at her brow while she pleaded to Jax silently. She didn’t want Jax taking his anger out on Mason.

“Mason Dashel showed a lack of good judgment last night and came to the field unprepared. After he missed the ball on the first play, I knew his poor decision was only going to affect the team further on today, so instead of putting the team in a tough spot, I decided to ask Mason to leave the field and disrobe in the locker room. It was a tough choice, but I felt it needed to be done in order to show him I mean business this year.”

Piper sank into a seat at the bar. What was Jax talking about? Mason was perfectly fine this morning, more than fine. He was happy, not hung over one bit and then that was when it hit her. Jax wasn’t talking about Mason being at the bar, he was talking about Mason hitting on Piper, that was his poor decision and now Jax was making Mason pay for it. Her stomach fell to the ground as she felt her head start to go heavy with concern. She did this to Mason, this was all her fault.

The interview continued, but Piper was barely able to pay attention with the rapid thoughts running through her mind.

“Jax, have you watched the replay of the pass that was intercepted? It was clearly pass interference; there was nothing Dash could do about it.”

“I have not watched it yet and I can imagine there was some pass interference, but if Mason was on top of his game, he would have outrun that rookie and there would be no discussion.”

“If that’s the case,” one of the reporters said, “Then what was the poor decision Mason made last night that would take him out of the game?”

“That is between me and my player. I would like to move on. If you have any other questions about the game, I’d be happy to answer them.”

That solidified it. Jax was mad at Mason because of Piper. Shit, what was she going to do now? If she broke up with Jax for Mason, then Jax would have no problem making Mason’s life a living hell. So where did that leave her when it came to having a relationship with Mason?

Her heart felt like it was hollowed out because she knew at that moment, any chance she had with Mason was non-existent at least for as long as he was playing for the Stallions and that didn’t seem to be changing anytime soon.

Chapter 18

“Tell me what the fuck happened out there,” Jake said, while sipping on one of the beer bottles Piper had silently brought over to their booth. She was surprisingly quiet when Mason walked in with Ryker and Jake and he didn’t like the silence very much at all. He knew she must have seen the game because she worked at a damn sports bar, but he didn’t understand why she was so standoff-ish with him. It was like he took one step forward with her and wound up taking two giant steps back.

“Jax is a dickhead, that’s what fucking happened.” Mason downed the rest of his beer just so Piper would come over again.

“I get that, but why? Not that I’m too upset that we blistered your asses today,” Jake said with a wry grin.

“Please, that was our second string defense the second half of the game when you scored. Notice how you weren’t moving an inch the first half.”

“At least I played.”

“Fuck off, that dick Jax took me out. What the hell was I supposed to do about it?”

“Maybe stick up for yourself,” Ryker said, while rubbing the top of his legs. “Jesus, I’m sore because your pansy ass was sitting in an ice bath while I ran around like a chicken with its head cut off. Does he realize he could have blown my legs, all because of some kind of vendetta he has against you?”

“Is that it?” Jake asked. “He has a vendetta against you?”

“I think so,” Mason responded. “I think he knows about me and Piper and he’s dicking around with me on the field.”

“Did you get a chance to talk to Flarity?” Ryker asked.

“Fuck yeah. I wasn’t leaving the stadium until I talked to him. I know that Jax is the offensive coordinator, but I don’t need our head coach and the fucking Stallions organization thinking I’m some kind of train wreck. I told him everything that went down from the moment I met Piper to the moment I saw her on the field with Jax. I wanted to be completely honest with Coach because I didn’t want anything to come back and bite me in the ass.”

“What did Flarity say?” Jake asked.

“Just that, if what I said is true, Jax is in the wrong and that he will be having a conversation with him. Flarity had no clue why Jax took me out until after the game and Flarity said decisions like that needed to be brought to him. I told Flarity that I had witnesses that could vouch for me last night. So needless to say, Jax is most likely getting his ass handed to him right now,” Mason said with a grin.

“Thank fuck,” Ryker said. “That guy is a total prick. I don’t know what Piper sees in him.” Ryker swallowed the rest of his beer. “Speaking of Piper, where is she with our refills and where do you two stand?”

“I don’t know. She hasn’t been very chatty tonight. It makes me fucking nervous. I swear, I get close to her and I finally think , hey this is going to work for me, but then something stupid happens like today and she shuts me out completely. A guy can only take so much.”