Daring the Wild Sparks (36 page)

My heart constricts painfully. Damn. I miss him, even when we’re fighting.

“I wish I could look that good in red. I can’t wear that color for the life of me,” Rod declares as Finn fades from the screen.

“Okay…” I mutter, not wanting to press him about the details of why.

Three women, who had stopped by our table to watch the TV screen, begin making comments about the commercial they just saw.

The first blonde in a short, black skirt says, “Damn. He is so hot.”

The brunette with her asks, “Did you see his dare Friday? He wasn’t wearing a shirt and when he moved, his jeans’ fly pulled away from him. I was hoping for a close-up of that!”

The older woman with them adds, “Yeah, but he wasn’t wearing a shirt so he could get a tattoo of his girlfriend’s name on his chest.”

Rod interrupts. “Wilder’s girlfriend is right here.” All three women spin around. He points his thumb at me and nods in my direction. “Yep. She’s the infamous Becks.” They look at us like we’re more than crazy.

He says, “Total truth. So, you’re ogling the guy she loves, shares a home with, and bangs on a regular basis.”

“Gregory Rodwell!” I screech, vaguely noticing Morgan nod and confirm Rod’s statement. Now the women all stare at me and I awkwardly smile. Err! Rod’s mouth! I thought
I
had a gaping hole of one!

Correcting his earlier statement, Rod turns back to the women and amends, “Sorry. I should’ve said, ‘
intercourses
on a regular basis.’”

I punch his arm. “Just shut your hole.”

In the late afternoon, Brandon Rhodes calls us all into the conference room. Brandon is tall, lean, has wavy gray hair and wears glasses. I don’t see Brandon that often since he’s in and out of his office, in court, or on vacation somewhere exotic. I do know he likes to play tennis and sleeps with his much, much younger assistant. Okay. Maybe I don’t know that last one for sure, but it’s a valid hunch.

“I just wanted to introduce everyone to the two new members of our staff, Sylvie Tucker and Grant Majorca.” Brandon holds his hand out to them and they check us out, smiling. Sylvie is a beautiful brunette with a pretty smile and bright blue eyes. Grant is tall, brown-eyed, and very handsome, having a sharp-looking goatee. They both look to be in their late 20’s or early 30’s. Most likely, they’re younger than me.

After we hear about their prestigious, yet boring, schooling, law backgrounds and courtroom experience, Brandon changes topics. “We also want to update you about our softball team endeavor. We still need a name and how many of you are participating. There’s a sign-up sheet in the kitchen. We need at least nine people, and there are 13 in this office. So, I would like for as many of you as possible joining our team. We can recruit people from another business in the building, but I would really like to have as many of you on our team as possible. It’ll be great fun for all of us and an enjoyable way to get to know the three new members of our office family.”

Amos stands, his hands are in his pockets and he pivots to address us. Amos Vaughn is a husky man with a shaved head that shines under the overhead lights. I think he’s in his 40’s. He has a dark mustache and beard, a gruff voice and a constant scowl, reminding me of a stereotypical pissed off biker or a bouncer with a chip on his shoulder, seemingly lacking a sense of humor along with a neck. He even wears a gold hoop earring and has tattoos up and down both arms, from what I’ve seen at one of our summer picnics. With his bulky muscles, he looks like he could snap your neck like a twig. Maybe he does date men, but Rod is 100 times girlier than Amos, and teasing Rod brings me some joy to my boring day.

Amos nearly growls, “Since we don’t have that many members of our team, we need to find volunteers outside our office for coaches. We need a head coach who can assign us positions on the field and coordinate our practices and games with the other teams. Possibly two or three assistants since not everyone will most likely be available all at once. So, if you know anyone that has baseball/softball experience, let us know.” Period. The end. Thank you so much for your insight, Amos.

Rod elbows me and I lean away from him. Fleetingly, I glance around the room and see Shasta looking at me. I don’t even think she knows I’m dating Finn Wilder. Maybe she doesn’t even know who he is. She’s only been working here for four months and I’ve not brought Finn around for anything or mentioned him to her. I doubt Brandon, or anyone else for that matter, remembers who I’m even dating either, and so far, Val doesn’t volunteer the information since she’s busy writing in a notebook.

As most of us get up to leave, Morgan stays behind, I’m assuming to fill in Brandon about her condition.

After I finish up a few brief reports, I notice I have a new email. Is it Finn? Finally? I open it, and I’m disappointed when I see it’s from Rod.

Read this em
ail I sent this morning and the

following respo
nse I just got two minutes ago.

You might be interested in it.

P.S. Don’t hate me! ;p

Greg Rodwell

Rhodes, Dryden, Charleton & Associates

___________________________________________

Dear Finn,

I have a proposition for you. My office is

organizing a softball team and we will be
playing

other local businesses. We need at least one head

coach and a couple assistants. Since our office is

small, we need people from the outside to guide

and coach us in our games. We have about a

month befor
e our first game, so we need to

practice as much
as we can. Sadly, we don’t know

how to do this without missing something or

looking like gigantic fools.

Therefore, I am wri
ting to dare you to be our head

coach. Yep. I’m daring you, Finn Wilder.

I’ve already cleared it with the lords of the manner

here. If you can’t do this or aren’t interested in girly

softball, can you point us in the right direction of

someone else for a head coach, or some assistant

coaches? Possibly a magician? Because believe me,

we need a
lot
of help.

Thanks.

Greg Rodwell

Rhodes, Dryden, Charleton & Associates

P.S. There is a chick in my
office who I think

would be right up your alley. She’s a close friend

of mine and a huge Finnatic. She has an

embarrassing crus
h on you and would love to meet

you in person.
Maybe I could hook you two up?

Make a love connec
tion? She’s not much to look

at,

but she’ll probably do until you can trade up.

_______________________________________
____

Rod,

Well, this is unexpected. You really would want me

as a head coach? Whose idea was this? I wouldn’t

be able to make it
to all the practices or games,

though, but I think we can work that out with some

assistants helping out.

I do have a proposition for you in return. If I agree to

this, I’d like to include this as part of
The Wild Side

every week, j
ust a small glimpse of the team

progressing throughout their season and of me

coaching, since this is officially a dare.

That all being said, I’d love to do it. Challenge

accepted.

If my counter-p
roposition is a go after you’ve

received permissi
on from your supervisors, there

will be a release for
everyone to sign so that I can

bring my camera crew with me to sh
oot some

footage every practi
ce and game. Even if I can’t be

there, I’ll send a c
rew to at least get some shots.

At that point, I’
ll need to get the other teams’

permission as well,
but will try to keep the camera

on our team only.

We will have to arrange
a meet-and-greet of sorts

with your offic
e soon. How long is the season?

What’s the tea
m’s name? Do you have uniforms?

Have you discussed
possible positions you all are

able to play? How of
ten you would like to practice?

Where? How long? Can you send me t
he email

addresses of your s
upervisors so I can

communicate
this with them and to have these

questions answered?
I’d appreciate it.

Thanks for daring me.

Finn Wilder

P.S. About your frie
nd and coworker, thanks for

the
offer, but I’m already seeing someone. If you

haven’t
watched my latest dare, you should check

it out. I’ll be
happy to give your friend an autograph

or take a picture
with her, though! We’ll set it up

when we meet.

P.P.S. Really, do
all of your coworkers know that

you dared me to do this
? I’m afraid that if not,

someone might be taken by surprise and have an

issue with me being your coach. Please give her a

heads up (pun intended)
about this before you drop

the ball (another one) and
upset her. That’s the one

stipulation. I won’t do this if it’s
going to affect my

relationship with a certain someone we
both know.

I’ll talk to her, but at least mention it to her first.

I also have a favor to as
k you, but I’ll send you a text

if you give me your number. Thanks, Rod.

___________________________________________

What the hell
?

How could Rod do this to me?

I pick up my desk phone to call him and before he can even offer a greeting, I snap, “Get in here.” I slam the receiver down and agitatedly stand to pace over to the large window behind my desk, watching cars drive past the building and the caretakers of the cemetery mowing the grass on giant mowers.

After a few minutes, I hear, “You beckoned, madam?”

I don’t bother to look away from the window. “Come in and shut the door.”

“Yeah… No, I’m good out here. If this is about your Aunt Blow, I—”

Whirling around, I cut him off with a steely glare and a crook of my finger, beckoning him. Only his head pokes through the opened door. “Come closer, Rod.”

He gives me a regretful half-smile. “I can’t, Hadders. I have exploding diarrhea. I’m
really
contagious.”