Sacked By the Quarterback (4 page)

“First and down?” he whispered in her ear.

“Touchdown.” The building tension split. “Sonny!”

“I love you, Mandy.” He shuddered, filling her, and sagged onto her.

Something else she’d forgotten. The sound of his heartbeat slowing against hers after sex.

“I must be crushing you,” he said, shifting to one side.

“I didn’t mind.” She turned to face him. “Did you mean that?”

“Mean what?” He brushed her hair off her face. “That I love you? Come on, Mandy, haven’t you been listening?”

“You said you came here because somebody convinced you I put a hex on you.”

“I guess something like that.” He picked up her hand and kissed her palm. “I guess that part wasn’t entirely true, but it made an excellent excuse.”

“You needed an excuse?”

“I guess. Mandy, can’t you just let it go? How many times do I have to apologize?”

“As many times as it takes.”

“I didn’t just say sorry once. I said sorry one, two, three…” He started counting on his fingers and then quit. “I said it several times. You’d think by now you’d believe me.”

“You just showed up today after eleven years. You think one day is enough to forgive you?”

“Eleven years. You’d think it was a lifetime.”

“It felt like a lifetime. Why can’t you give me a little time?” Mandy sat up and wrapped her arms around her knees. “Eight hours of being nice is not going to make up for eleven years.”

“I didn’t lie about you for eleven years. I lied one time, Mandy. I’m sorry. Why can’t you give me a break?”

“Because you’ve had all the breaks.”

“No, I haven’t.” Sonny shook his head and climbed off the bed.

“What are you doing?” Mandy hadn’t felt naked until now.

“Leaving.” He pulled his jeans up and scowled, then he pulled them down again to take off the condom and toss it across the room into the trash inside the bathroom door.

A perfect bull’s-eye. Mandy stared at the trashcan for a moment before turning back to Sonny. “You don’t have to go.”

“I know I hurt you. I know it was bad, but short of going on a speaking tour of high schools telling jocks not to be jerks, I don’t know what you want me to do. And I can’t do that until after the game. I should be at practices right now. I’m getting fined by the team for every day I don’t show up. I miss too many practices and I won’t be starting in the Super Bowl. If I had known you were going to be such a vindictive bitch I never would have come in the first place.”

“I’m not being a vindictive bitch, you just think everyone should forgive you for everything you might do wrong just because you say sorry.” Mandy yanked on her robe. “I didn’t know you were getting in trouble for not being at practice.”

“When I came here I thought it would be worth the sacrifice if I could win you back.” He pulled his shirt on and walked out of the room and down the stairs.

Mandy belted her robe and chased after him. “But you’ll come back won’t you?” Not that she’d given him good reason to. He had put on his coat and was now looking for his shoes. Why did it feel like there had never been another way for this to play out?

“I’m done playing this stupid game with you, Mandy.”

“Because you have another stupid game to go play.”

He yanked open the door, stared at her and then slammed it behind him.

Mandy sat down on the stairs. His underwear was still lying on the floor of her bedroom. The pizza was on the dining table and cold. The sex was amazing, but the détente was shattered.

That went well.

The knock at her office door startled her. Not that she’d been doing anything more than imagining a window to stare out of. It would be a couple more years before she rated a window. The view she was picturing was pretty bleak anyway. Nobody would want that view.

“Dr. Daws, may I have a word?”

Mandy spun away from her desk so fast that she nearly went ass over teakettle into the wall. “Dr. Phipps, President Phipps, Dr. President Phipps.” She jumped out of her chair and staggered into her desk when she landed on half a shoe. “Dear God.”

“My ego is not quite so inflated. Bernard will do.” Dr. Bernard Phipps, president of the university, smiled like a slightly senile great uncle. “May I call you Amanda?”

“Mandy, please. Call me Mandy.”

“Mandy, can I speak to you for a minute?”

What the hell was the university president doing in her office asking to call her by her first name and…and being in her office? Had she run over an important contributor’s dog or something? Was she being fired? If she was being fired, wouldn’t he call her to his office instead of trekking across campus to her little cubby hole? “Yes, sure. Would you like my chair?”

“That’s alright.” He sat in the guest chair so she sunk back into her own chair, nearly missing on the first attempt. “Are you happy in your position here?”

Mandy checked herself before she started babbling like an idiot again. She drew a deep breath and called up her professional speak. “Yes, I am. This is a wonderful, academically focused university and I really enjoy the amount of time I have to devote to research.” Which was pretty much what she had said in her interview only reworded to present perfect tense instead of future hopeful.

“I am so pleased to hear that,” Dr. Phipps, Bernard, coughed. “But as you know most of the money comes from athletics and our program is rather lacking. I understand you have some connection with Harrison Black.”

He said the name like it was Ancient Latin so it took a minute for her to realize he was talking about Sonny. Sonny who stormed out last night and probably took the first flight back to that bimbo who told him to ask forgiveness for past wrongs. The bimbo who was probably enjoying his bed right now. Mandy thought her face should be able to heat the room. Dr. Phipps would notice if she crawled under her desk and started crying. “I do, yes, why do you ask?”

“He has been on campus the last two days practicing with our football team. He is apparently quite well known and has been getting the attention of the local news outlets.” Dr. Phipps cocked his head like none of it quite made sense to him. “I am told there is some kind of cable sports network coming later today.”

“Sonny is still here?” Impossible.

“Yes, didn’t you know? Half the campus has canceled classes this afternoon to go watch the team play. Coach Vlasic tells me there are more people in the stands today than there have been at any of the games in years. We’re charging admission.”

Mandy stood. She could go to him. Take another crack at being not insane. It might not be too late. “But Sonny is still here.”

“Yes, and our dear little university is getting a lot of free publicity from this. Do you think he would be interested in attending a cocktail party in my home next week for the Alumni Association?”

Mandy grabbed her coat. The halls had been suspiciously quiet all day. She hadn’t expected to see Noor, but Kaylin hadn’t stopped to check her temperature or tempt her with citron tea either. “I’ll go talk to him.”

“Good.” Dr. Phipps stood and walked out her office door. “Please let him know that we are happy to have him here as long as he wishes to stay.”

“I’ll let him know. Can you lock my door for me?” She ran down the hall, still pulling her coat on.

The stands at the football field were packed. Four camera crews jostled for position at the fifty-yard line. The team was on the field playing their sub par hearts out. Most of the boys who played on this team hadn’t made their high school teams, but they seemed to love it anyway. The quarterback, taller than the rest of the players, threw a pass that was caught and promptly dropped by a receiver who jumped backward away from the ball when the defenders piled on it. The coach blew his whistle frantically, trotting onto the field. The quarterback took off his helmet and rubbed his hand through his hair.

Mandy stood at the sideline, frozen in place as Sonny turned, surveying the crowd, and caught sight of her. He seemed to stare at her for an eternity before drawing a heavy breath that lifted his shoulder pads. Then he jogged toward her.

“Come to watch?”

“The university president says to tell you that you’re welcome to stay as long as you like.” Mandy frowned. What had she said that for? Every eye in the place had to be trained on them.

Sonny scanned the field like the scrutiny didn’t bother him. “I’m leaving this afternoon. Booked the flight last night.”

Last night when she’d been crying into her cold pizza. “So soon?”

“My coaches aren’t happy that I left in the first place and my business here is finished.”

“Oh.” Mandy swallowed. “You couldn’t give me a couple of days?”

He turned to scowl at her. “To what, Mandy? Fuck me and kick me in the teeth again? I have enough aggravation in my life without you getting revenge for something that happened in high school.”

“I’m not trying to get revenge. I’m just not adapting as fast as you’d like me to. Do we have to have this conversation in full view of the entire world?”

“ESPN is here.”

“Marvelous.” Mandy threw up her hands. “Fine. We don’t have to do this at all. If you’re going to be such a spoiled baby about it.” She spun around to stomp away, but Sonny grabbed her arm and spun her back around to face him. In that second, she’d managed to see Noor and Kaylin arguing in the front row of the stands. The team had gathered just out of hearing range like it had been the plan all along. There seemed to be a zone of non-interference around Sonny and herself and no one would cross it.

“What do you mean you’re not adapting as fast as I’d like?” Sonny said.

“Exactly what it sounds like. You waltz into my life again after eleven years and bring up all this old shit and then expect me to say ‘it’s okay, Sonny. We all make mistakes. Let’s fuck.’”

“We did fuck.”

“I know and that probably didn’t help, but I wanted you and I missed you like crazy all this time. When you did what you did and we stopped seeing each other I didn’t just lose a boyfriend. I lost a best friend. And now…” Mandy bunched her hands into fists at her sides and stared at the grass. “I don’t know what I need now, Sonny.”

“Do you think you need me?”

The sob bubbled out of Mandy before she could control it. “I always did. Don’t you understand?”

Sonny wrapped his arms around her and the laces up the front of his shoulder pads dug into her cheek. The mesh fabric did nothing to dry her tears. “I lost my best friend too. The minute I said it, I knew I was an idiot, but I didn’t know how to take it back because I was a dumb kid.”

“I love you, Sonny.” Mandy wiped her face with the heel of her hand. Cheering erupted behind them. The players started giving each other fist bumps like they’d all scored.

“I love you too and I don’t care who knows it.”

“Good thing because this is going on television.” Mandy turned her head just enough to see the camera crew. Yup, television camera aimed right at them. Probably zoomed in.

“Speaking of television, you want to go to the Super Bowl?”

“I thought I had met all his girlfriends.” Mrs. Black said again. It had to be the fourth or fifth time.

Coach Sims scooted forward on his seat so he didn’t have to listen to them talk. The game was a rout so it wasn’t like he was going to miss anything. Even the commentators had been talking about how Sonny hadn’t had any of the bad luck that had been the hallmark of his career today.

“You met me.” Mandy smiled. Sonny had had to fly back for practice two weeks ago, but he’d returned for the weekend and by then Dr. Phipps had been more than happy to have Kaylin and Noor cover her classes for a week so she could stay with him the week before the Super Bowl. The university was already seeing rising application numbers and interest from donors.

“But you were just his science tutor. I didn’t realize you were dating.” Mrs. Black studied Mandy for another moment then turned to the game.

All week, Sonny had been parading her around, introducing her to his friends and bragging about the fact that she had a doctorate in a hard science. Nobody seemed all that impressed, but the fact that he wanted to tell them made her happy. Everything made her happy right now.

Except maybe spending most of the game being questioned by Sonny’s mother who could not seem to believe what she was hearing.

Coach Sims and nearly every other person in the room started shouting. Mandy hadn’t even heard the final whistle. Her first in-person Super Bowl and she’d missed it. The way things were going though, it wouldn’t be her last.

“And what do you teach?” Mrs. Black asked when the shouting subsided.

“I teach two sections of Introduction to Chemistry and two sections of Bio Chem.”

“Which is what?”

“Shh.” Coach Sims waved his hand at them. “They’re interviewing Sonny.”

Mandy looked up at the big screen TV on the wall. Also strange that she could look out a window to see the game, but to really know what was going on, she had to watch a television. Sonny looked sweaty and exhausted, but he was grinning.

“Sonny, you have been dogged with bad luck most of your career, but today everything went like clockwork. What’s changed?” the commentator asked.

“I did something really stupid when I was in high school and I hurt somebody I love. I’m working on making it up to her now.”

“So what are you plans now?”

Mandy cringed, waiting for him to say he was going to Disney World because he’d been threatening to all week. His agent had called Friday to say that if Sonny’s team won, he had a pizza deal on the hook and a solid opening with an insurance company so either one of those was a definite possibility too. They’d also talked about running away to a beach over Spring Break. The mood Sonny had been in all week, he could say anything.

“The first thing I’m going to do is ask my girlfriend, Dr. Amanda Daws, if she’ll marry me.”

Mandy frowned at the screen. He could not have said what she thought he said. She considered asking Mrs. Black to repeat it, but the older woman was staring at Mandy like she’d never seen her before.

“Wow, congratulations!” the commentator said. “I can’t imagine any woman saying no to you, Sonny.”