Chapter Twenty

The first thing Alec did once Ruby left was check his email account.

There was no sign of a sent email in his name.

What in the fuck was going on? Could Phil O’Brien be making shit up just to fire his own daughter, get back at her, and prove his point that she wasn’t ready to work at his firm? What asshole father would do that? Alec couldn’t imagine himself ever doing such a dick move to his own little girl.

A parent loved, a parent supported, a parent scolded when necessary but never, ever did they sabotage his or her child’s own success. Alec thought of the one woman who’d always had his back despite it all and got in the car to see her.

“What’s going on, baby?” Carolyn asked as soon as she saw him.

“Ruby got fired, Mom. I’m not sure what happened, but she believes her father’s bullshit that I emailed him and told him she was pregnant. I never sent an email. But now, she’s livid, and I can’t do anything about it.”

“Who sent the email?” she asked.

Alec loved his mom. Loved her so much. She immediately believed her son, the way it should be.

“There’s no email, Mom.”

“Not when you check your account. But couldn’t someone have deleted the message? What about on your server? Would it still be there?”

Alec stared at his mom. He hadn’t even though of that option, and his mom had? “I didn’t realize you were so tech savvy.”

She shrugged. “I email you, don’t I? Now who else knows Ruby is pregnant?”

Alec explained how he’d told Heath and Kyle, but they were solid for life. Buddies who would never betray him in a thousand years. Of course, betrayal always came from the people you least expected, but Alec was pretty damn sure there was smeared shit written all over this.

“What about Colleen?” his mother asked.

Alec paused. Colleen would have reason to do it, but Colleen didn’t know about the pregnancy. He hadn’t told her, and neither of his buddies would dare talk to that woman. “Mom, it’s a mystery.”

“Well, you’ll figure it out, I’m sure. But listen, honey. You do what you need to do for yourself, that child, and Ruby. When your father left, I did what I could to make him stay, but he had his mind made up. Your father was a scared man, not ready to tackle fatherhood, whereas you’re my mature, intelligent son who does the right thing.”

“I try, Mom. I don’t always succeed.”

“But you will,” Mom said with a smile that conveyed her utter confidence in him. “Convince her that you love her. Do whatever it takes. Make sure you want to be together for her, as much as it is for you. A woman wants to feel cherished, Alec, and that’s something I never got from your father, but I sure as hell got it from you.”

Alec tried to say something in return, but all he could do was choke back his tears as he hugged his mother tightly.

“Okay, boys, listen up,” Coach Reddick boomed from the front of the room. “We’ve got Pittsburgh coming up this week and they’re going to be a tough challenge, even in our own house. So let’s keep it focused right now, hear me?”

For Alec, focusing on football for the next three hours was a godsend.

His mind needed a break or at least a change of subject from Ruby, Ruby, Ruby… Ruby. After returning from his mom’s house, he had tried a shower to clear his head. He’d tried cooking. He’d gone for a long run, then a long bike ride, then a long swim. No luck. Alec had even given yoga a chance to calm his stormy mind. Nothing.

Masturbation was a mistake. A huge mistake. He needed Ruby to turn him on. The second he touched himself, images of his gorgeous, redheaded beauty flooded his mind and no matter how much porn he watched, the girl was always Ruby.

It’d been days since he’d spoken to her. He missed her terribly.

Coach’s angry rants about running the wrong route or not keeping two hands on the ball or whatever else he’s screwed up on were a great distraction. But with the lights dimmed for the film and his head tucked into his chin, Alec soon found his eyes slipping closed. Sleep had eluded him the last few days. Normally, his coach’s voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard, but this morning, he felt his shoulders staring to sag, as Coach’s drawl sounded more like a soothing lullaby.

Heath had to elbow him a few times, but he either eventually stopped or the overwhelming sensation of tiredness finally took over. He didn’t quite remember fully falling asleep but when loud cheers and cat calls filled the room, Alec jerked awake.

It took him a moment to remember where he was and then a moment after that to figure out why the guys around him were making all that noise that disturbed his nap.

“Wassup, lover boy,” Hewitt called from the front, twisting around to grin at Alec.

“Who you dreaming about, LeBrun?” Plough added.

Martinez poked his head over the other guys. “Hey, Heath, he pitch a tent?”

Alec had no idea what the fuck was going. Beside him, Heath was cracking up and his only response was to point to the screen up at the front of the room.

Ruby.

It was the first game of the season, the game against Sacramento judging by some of the jerseys of the fans around her. His woman—not his woman at the time, and may never be again—sat in the stands with some friends, laughing and watching the game. Her hair was in that tight knot, but a wisp had escaped and fluttered around her face. She looked so beautiful, so happy.

For a moment Alec forgot all his confusion about what was going on and blocked out the jeering and teasing from his teammates. All he wanted to do was watch her, lose himself in Ruby O’Brien’s smile. It was everything joyous and right and worth fighting for in this world. All right there on the screen. But how was Ruby’s photo up there during the team’s film review…

“LeBrun!”

The snarl of Coach’s voice pulled him right back to the present, and he wiggled in the chair to sit up straight. “Yes, Coach?”

“While you’ve been having yourself some little beauty sleep back there, the boys and I have been trying to solve a mystery that’s been bugging me.”

Alec scratched the back of his neck and looked sheepishly at everyone’s eyes on him. “Sorry, Coach. Been getting little sleep, but I’m on now. Fully awake.”

“You better be. Know what mystery that is, LeBrun?”

“Um, no, Coach, I don’t think I do.”

He’d been embarrassed by his coach before. They all had. The best thing to do was say as little as possible and let it run its course. Coach was like a boulder rolling down a hill when anyone messed up. Best not to stand in the way.

Coach sucked in a deep breath for his tirade and began, “Well, Cinderella—”

“Sleeping Beauty,” Martinez corrected.

“What’s that?” Coach asked.

“You mean Sleeping Beauty. Cinderella was the one with the pumpkin and the talking rats,” Martinez explained. “Our boy back there’s got drool all over his chest.”

“I think they were mice.” Plough laughed.

Coach exhaled loudly and ran his hands over his face. “I’m too old for this shit.” He sighed. “You boys done comparing pretty princess notes?” Coach shook his head at Plough, who shrunk down in his own chair. “Like I was saying, Sleeping Beauty”—the coach turned his glare back on Alec—“I was wondering why you were always late getting off the line. And you know what I discovered?”

Alec tried to stay humble and listen. “No, Coach?”

“I looked at the tape and discovered something. The whole pre-season, you were never looking at the ball on the line of scrimmage before it was hiked.”

“Coach?”

“LeBrun, you’ve been looking in the complete opposite direction the entire time. Right up into the stands. And so I had a mystery on my hands, a mystery to solve. So, do you know what the boys and I did just now?”

“I’m scared to find out, Coach.”

The room tittered with quiet laughter.

“We tried to figure out what kept drawing your attention away from the fucking ball that you were supposed to be fucking catching.” The other players in the room made ‘ooohh’ sounds like in middle school when a kid got sent to the principal’s office. Coach put his hands on his hips and walked toward Alec. “And do you know what we found?”

Alec felt his cheeks grow red. He smiled sheepishly. He knew where this was going. “Sorry, Coach.”

“Sorry?” Coach threw his hands up in frustration and clocked Alec behind the head. “LeBrun, you’re out there to win football games. What the fuck are you doing searching the stands for your publicist? Every goddamn time a snap was taken of you, you’re looking off to the left, off to the right, your neck always swiveled in the fucking direction of Red O’Brien.”

It was true that he’d been crazy about her since even before Colleen. Every practice, he’d been showing off, trying to capture her attention, disappointed when she wouldn’t look at him. He just didn’t know there’d been photographic evidence captured of his enrapture.

“Ruby,” Alec said.

“What?”

“Her name, Coach,” Alec muttered, still staring at Ruby up on the large screen. “Her name is Ruby.”

Coach gripped both sides of his hair and growled. “That’s not the point, loverboy! The point is you’re risking your fucking career staring at some lady. Don’t you guys have porn or something? Martinez, I know you do. Can’t you just show him some good porn to get it out of his system?”

There was laughter and joking, but Alec’s eyes moved back to the frozen image of Ruby laughing at the game. It took another whack on the back of his head for Alec to realize Coach was still yelling at him.

“You need to get your head in the game, all right? I want you to stop doing this…this…bullshit. And play ball!”

But Alec’s wheels had begun turning, and when Alec’s wheels turned, there wasn’t much anybody could do about it. Ideas sprouted and became action, and action made them into reality.

“LeBrun, you hear me?”

He’d always known exactly who he wanted—Ruby O’Brien in the stands, watching him. Now he just needed to go after it.

“Coach?” Alec asked.

“What?”

“How many more tapes do you have? Photos of me looking at Ruby?”

His coach frowned and crossed his arms in a huff. “A whole fucking lot, unfortunately.”

Alec grinned.

“What in shit’s name are you grinning about, LeBrun?”

“Coach? Can I borrow them?”