Line of Scrimmage (21 page)

Jake wondered if he’d ever be able to be so offhanded about his own injury.

He managed to haul himself to his feet, despite Joe’s insistence he didn’t need to, and balance himself on his crutches.

“The least I can do is see you to the door,” he joked.

Erin must have heard him clumping down the hall because she came out from her room to say good-bye. “We haven’t been watching much in the way of sports,” she told Joe, “but I think we need to start watching your show.” She looked at Jake. “Right?”

“Oh, sure.” He nodded. “Absolutely.”

What he really wanted to say was not in a hot minute, but that would sound surly and ungrateful, and probably earn him a few snarky remarks from Erin.

“Okay, then.” Joe shifted his briefcase to the other hand so he could shake hands with both of them. “Jake, I’ll be getting back in touch with you as we get closer to fill you in on more details.” He looked from one of them to the other. “Maybe when you get a little more mobile you could join Shay and me for dinner. We’re back and forth to San Antonio a lot and Austin’s just ninety minutes away. An easy drive for us.”

Erin smiled. “I think that would be nice.” She looked at Jake. “Right?”

“Yeah, sure. Of course.”
Not in this lifetime.
“When I get rid of this damn cast.” He turned to Erin as soon as Joe left and she reset the alarm. “Why did you do that? I don’t want to parade the cripple around in public.”

She stood there, glaring, hands on hips. “Will you please get over yourself? You aren’t the first athlete to be injured and sadly you won’t be the last. What makes you think everyone will be staring at you?”

He glared back at her. “What makes you think they won’t?” He was
not
going to make a spectacle of himself for anyone.

“Fine,” she said at last. “Maybe we can work up to it.”

“Like how?”

“Let’s get you sitting down again and we’ll talk about it. I could—”

But whatever she was going to say was abruptly cut off by the ringing of the doorbell.

Shit.

“Are you expecting anyone else?” Erin asked.

“I’m not. Definitely. Are you, by any chance?”

“Please.” She flapped a hand at him. “Give me a break. Who would I be expecting, especially without checking with you first? Let me check the monitor.”

“We’ll both check it. It can’t be anyone I want to see; I’m not in the mood for anyone else.”

Silently cursing, he made his clumsy way to the kitchen to see what the security monitor showed. No one from the team had called today to say they were stopping by and he’d avoided everyone else. With Erin’s reluctant help, of course. So who the fuck could possibly be at the door?

* * * *

Erin watched Jake as they caught the images on the screen. The concealed camera on the porch was positioned to catch anyone in front of the door. Although, how the hell anyone could get in over the high stone wall or through the electronically controlled gate without the alarm sounding was a mystery.

Standing there were two busty redheads who could have stepped off the pages of Groupies R Us. Their hair was teased into a ridiculous bouffant style, cascading down past their shoulders. Both sported heavy eye makeup and bright red lipstick that clashed with their hair. They wore the shortest shorts and tightest tee shirts she’d seen in a long time, emphasizing toned legs and breasts that could in no way be considered natural. They were obviously identical twins.

Great. Just great.

The doorbell rang insistently three more times.

“Get rid of them.” Jake clumped out of the kitchen. If it was possible to make the sound of crutches sound angry, that was exactly what he was doing.

“You weren’t expecting them?” Erin asked.

“Fuck, no. Chase them away.”

Could she believe Jake? He’d spent enough time working to convince her women like these weren’t his style. First she’d get rid of them, and then she’d get to the bottom of things.

Irritated, she headed back to the foyer and pushed the Talk button on the intercom.

“Yes? Who’s there?”

In a moment a sexy feminine voice said, “Can we come in, please? We have something for Jake.”

I’ll just bet you do
, Erin thought, and counted to ten. “I’m sorry, but Jake is not expecting visitors. If you give me your names, I’ll tell him you came by.”

“Oh, we can tell him ourselves, if you just let us in.” This was followed by the squeal of giggles.

Okay, she wasn’t going to stand here playing games with a couple of idiot groupies. She was pretty sure they wouldn’t rush her if she opened the door, but nevertheless she’d be prepared. After shutting off the alarm for the moment, she eased open the front door, pushed the button to unlock it, slid out through the narrow space she created, and shut the door behind her.

The twins grinned widely.

“Hi,” one of them said. “I’m Lisa.”

“And I’m Lucy,” the other one told her.

“We want to see Jake,” they chorused, then looked at each other and giggled.

Swell. Just swell.

Erin looked past them to the high stone wall that fronted Jake’s house and ran all around the perimeter, and the tall iron gates controlled by a box with a code.

“How did you even get up to the door?” she asked. “That wall is pretty high.”

Again they looked at each other and snickered. “That’s our secret. But we promise if you let us in, we’ll make him feel better.”

“What part of ‘you aren’t getting in’ didn’t you understand?” Erin was rapidly losing patience. Looking at these two females reminded her of the scene with Trace where—

Nope, not going there again. Not now, not ever.

“I told you.” Lisa stamped her foot. “He wants to see us. He’ll be mad at you if you send us away.”

“Then he’ll just have to be mad. I can handle it. And the answer is still no.”

Lucy cocked her head and studied Erin. “Aren’t you a little, um, old for him?”

Okay, enough was enough.

“And aren’t you a little young for him? He’s graduated from kindergarten.” She looked from one to the other. “One more time. Jake is not receiving visitors. I’ll open the gate for you to leave. Otherwise I’m calling the police and I’ll have you arrested as trespassers.”

She would, too. These women were exactly like the ones Trace McKay hung out with when he was supposed to be exclusive with her. Just the sight of them made her hackles rise and a bitter taste flood her mouth.

The twins stared at her.

“The police?” Lisa’s mouth formed a round O. “Are you for real?”

“You have no right do that.” Lucy stamped her foot again. “Jake will be glad we’re here. You’ll see.”

“No, I don’t think so. I’ll give you until the count of three to get going or your ass is grass.”

“Jake will be mad at you.” Lisa tossed her head and her hair cascaded down her back in a red waterfall.

“Jake will give me a raise,” Erin snapped. “I promise you.”

“He might fire you,” Lucy added. “
I
promise
you
.”

“Okay, enough.” Erin glared at them. “Now scram.”

“We’ll make sure he knows how mean you were to us,” Lisa told her.

“Good. Be my guest. Just leave. Now. I’m going inside, and if you aren’t at the gate by the time I close the door, the cops will definitely be here.”

Lucy tugged at Lisa’s arm. “Come on, let’s go. She’s just a bitch. We’ll figure something out.”

“Not likely,” Erin told them.

She stood on the porch, watching, and when she saw they’d reached the end of the driveway she slipped inside and hit the remote. They stomped out onto the street, anger in every move. Erin closed the gate as soon as they were clear, locked the door, and reset the alarm.

Crap,
she thought. Obviously someone had contacted those two idiots, given them Jake’s address, and probably even driven them here. Maybe even got them over the wall onto the grounds. Was it that asshole Santos, mad because Jake wouldn’t talk to him? Or someone else who thought it would either be a good joke or a little gift to cheer him up?

Jake was still in the kitchen, leaning against the counter.

I won’t be mad at him. He didn’t know the bimbos were coming. I will talk to him like an adult.

“Your cheering section was determined not to leave.” She said it in an even-toned, casual voice. “They wanted to make you feel better.”

“My cheering section? Not damn likely.”

“Are you sure you didn’t call them when you weren’t having any success getting me to hit the sheets with you again?” She studied his face. “I think they said they were Lucy and Lisa? Ring any bells?”

“Lucy and Lisa?” He shook his head. “I have no idea who the hell you are talking about.”

“They said you’d want to see them. You’d be mad if I didn’t let them in.” She paused and watched him carefully. “Very mad, as a matter of fact.”

Jake made a rude sound. “I’d be mad if you did. I don’t know who the hell they are except part of the ditzy fluff balls who hang around the team every chance they get.” He made a face. “I’ll bet it was Santos’s idea of a joke. That’s just his style. He has the maturity of an adolescent teenager, and he’s probably pissed I won’t talk to him.”

Erin blew out a breath. So she was probably right about that.

“Would he really do something like that?”

“In a hot minute. I guess I’m surprised some idiot on the team hasn’t done something like this before now. Half of them can’t seem to control either their hormones or their brains.”

“You’re kidding. They think you’d enjoy this?”

“Apparently.” He gave her a penetrating stare. “I keep trying to tell you I’m not the insensitive playboy you think I am. I avoid females like those two, the—what did you call her?—the Eye Candy Mandys. It’s not my style. I wish you’d believe me.”

“I’m surprised you don’t have a better security system, one with sensors on the perimeter at strategic locations.”

“Didn’t think I’d need it,” he told her. “I have a reputation for being pretty inhospitable when it comes to partying and shit like that, despite today’s little disaster.”

“But you have such a beautiful house,” she remarked. “I guess I’m surprised you don’t entertain a lot.”

“Not my style,” he repeated.

Okay, discussion ended. She could take a hint.

“Well, then, we need to call people and let them know what happened.” She was surprised he’d agreed to that.

“Damn straight,” he agreed.

“Really?” she persisted, just to make sure he meant it.

“Absolutely. Get hold of Jim DiMarco. He’ll take care of this. Probably read everyone the riot act.”

“I thought by the time guys got to the NFL they were too old for fraternity pranks.”

“Some people never grow up.” He turned around. “I’m going to sit out on the back patio. How about joining me with a cold beer? After this you deserve it. And we’ll talk.”

“Talk?”

He nodded. “Talk.”

Okay, then!

“Go on,” she told him, fishing her cell out of her pocket. “I’ll make my call, then meet you out there.”

DiMarco was furious. Erin could hear it in his voice. But he was controlled with her. Businesslike. “Some of my players think this is a big frat party. Tell Jake I’ll fix it. And I’ll come by sometime tomorrow. Let me know if there are any more problems in the meantime. And you can bet I’ll pass the word to all the team members to keep their playmates in line.”

He told her she’d have nothing more to worry about. She decided she wouldn’t want to be whoever was responsible for this. She thanked him very much and hung up.

After snagging two cold bottles of brew, she carried them out to the patio. Jake was waiting for her at the table, leg propped as usual on an ottoman from one of the outdoor lounge chairs, curiosity evident in his gaze.

“I called DiMarco, and he’ll take care of it on his end. He also recommended, however, getting your security system beefed up.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. The security company tried to talk me into it when they put in the system, but honestly, it’s been a while since I’ve had stalkers so I didn’t think I needed it when I moved in here.”

“Well, it seems you need it now. Can I take care of it for you? Call them? Set something up?”

“Call Scott Manchin, my agent, about what happened today and tell him you notified the team office. He’ll call the security company, and he’ll also make sure Jim puts the hammer down with the team. He’ll tell the guys to have their bimbos lay off or we’ll have them arrested for trespassing.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk to him yourself?”

“Nope. I have every confidence you can handle this.”

“All right, then. I’ll take care of it.”

“Sit down,” he told her and nodded at the chair opposite him. “And please listen to what I have to say.”

She sat, still irritated by the twins but determined to hear him out. She didn’t want to break both legs jumping to the obvious conclusion but old impressions died hard. She folded her hands around her beer and waited, back straight, feet planted together.

One corner of his mouth kicked up in a tiny grin. “Could you manage to not look so much like a school teacher about to send me to the corner? Especially since I’m pretty damn sure none of this is my fault. Although you’d make a cute teacher with that beer.”

She couldn’t help smiling back. “Okay. I’ll do my best.” She forced herself to relax and take another sip of the cold brew. Then she sat up straight again. “Would you like something to go with? Maybe crackers and cheese?”

He held up a hand. “I’m all set. I don’t need any more cookies or anything else. I want to get this straightened out, so just sit. Please.”

“Fine.” She sat back again, holding the bottle in her lap. “Go on. I’m all ears.”

Jake actually laughed. “With a healthy dose of temper.” Then his smile disappeared. “I don’t know where you got your strange perception of me, but I’d like to put it to rest once and for all. Listen carefully. Please.” He took a swallow of beer. “Unlike a lot of the guys in professional sports, I never thought it was great to have half-naked women hanging all over me, ready to fulfill my every need. That was never my style, for…for a lot of reasons.”