Milton Patton.

The injured quarterback I had replaced in the team. The one who’d pretended to give me helpful advice, but instead had messed up my game completely.

He’d been the one to leak the information to Kristi’s boss.

I should have guessed. Doug was a tool, but he didn’t have any motivation to go running his mouth off the the press. All he wanted was to be popular with his teammates; he wouldn’t jeopardize that to mess things up with Kristi and I. Hell, he wasn’t clever enough to think of it.

I should have apologized to Kristi the second I put all the pieces together. It was my fault. I’d blabbed in front of a teammate I should never have trusted and Kristi had paid the price. I should have apologized, but I didn’t.

Instead I took the easy way out and went to solve the problem with Milton the only way I knew how; with my fists.

Kristi shouted after me, but I did my best to block out her voice. Once I’d dealt with Milton, I could go right back to Kristi and tell her I was sorry. We could both put this shit behind us and move on with our lives. Assuming she forgave me. We’d both made mistakes, so they should cancel out. That was how it worked, right?

I got in touch with the players I knew who were close to Milton, and found out he was in a bar downtown. Milton wouldn’t have been seen dead in a bar this close to the start of the season, but because of his injury, he didn’t have much to lose at the moment.

I’d been in the bar a few times before; there were three floors, and all of them would be packed at this time of night. There had to be a VIP room somewhere though; Milton wouldn’t mingle with the masses.

The city was buzzing with that early evening vibe that you got when people had had a few drinks, but weren’t yet drunk and aggressive. Most people were happy; I was just angry. Men and women recognized me, but by the time they yelled out my name I was already long gone. There would be no autographs or selfies tonight.

The doorman recognized me immediately, so I told him I was with Milton’s crew.

“Wait right there, Mr. Fenner. I’ll have someone escort you up.”

A few minutes later, a woman in a suit showed up and introduced herself.

“We weren’t expecting you, Mr. Fenner, but I’m sure Mr. Patton will be delighted to see you.”

The woman escorted me up to the top floor, and then through a door at the back. The “VIP room” looked more like the changing room at the back of a strip club. Topless women wandered around casually, stopping only to sit on the laps of Milton’s friends. Milton was already occupied with a woman on his lap, making the most of no longer having his leg in plaster.

Milton had been holding out on me; the guy was a player and he wasn’t being all that subtle about it either. How had he cultivated a “do no wrong” image, while people thought of me as a playboy idiot?

Women approached me immediately, but I brushed them off. I grazed a few boobs in the process, but wasn’t even remotely fazed by it. Boobs belonging to anyone other than Kristi were just flabby bits of flesh now.

Milton didn’t notice me until my body cast a shadow over the half-naked woman planted on his lap.

“Barton? What are you doing here?”

Milton quickly pushed the woman off his lap. He was embarrassed; I had him off guard. Now it was time to take advantage.

“I’m here to talk to you,” I replied calmly.

“Uh, maybe this can wait until training, Barton. I’m just here for a friend’s bachelor party. You know how it is. I didn’t want to be a spoilsport, even if it means getting involved in all this seedy nonsense.”

I kept my eyes trained on Milton, but yelled “everyone out” at the top of my voice. Milton’s friends and the ladies looked to him and he nodded. Slowly, everyone piled out of the room—the women covering themselves up first—and left the two of us alone.

“Alright, Barton, what the hell is this all about? You can’t just come in here and destroy the evening. The world doesn’t revolve around you; you’re not a star quarterback yet.”

“And I’m not likely to be if I keep listening to you, am I? I know you gave me that shitty advice on purpose. You want me to fail.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I want the team to do well. Besides, I’ll be back in time for the playoffs.”

“Bullshit. If we make the playoffs, the team will stick with me and you know it. You’re done. You’ve played your last game.”

“Fuck, you’re full of yourself. You haven’t even played a professional game yet.”

“And yet you’re already scared of me.”

“Scared of you?” Milton asked incredulously. “Are you kidding me?”

I smiled at Milton and it set him on edge immediately. “Why else would you be trying to mess up my career before it’s even begun?”

“I’ve told you I’m not trying to mess you your career. I gave you good advice. If you’d listened to it—”

“I don’t give a shit about the advice. You can play mind games with me all you like, but I don’t care. What I do care about is you using my girlfriend to get at me.”

The instant look of understanding on Milton’s face was enough to wash away any minor doubts I might have had. Milton stared at me for a few seconds, and then relaxed back in his seat and smiled.

“Yeah, all right, you got me. I use the same PR agency as you, so I have contacts there. The second I told Leona that you and Kristi were fucking, she jumped at the chance to fire the dead waste.”

“Why?” I asked. “You’ve never even met her.”

“You looked a little too… content. You were in the zone and playing well. I couldn’t have that.”

I’d wanted to hear a decent excuse. Anything that would justify his actions. The lack of any remorse on his part brought my anger back to the surface. It never did take much, and where Kristi was concerned… well, it was best not to provoke me on that topic.

“Are you going to leave?” Milton asked. “Or do I need to have you thrown out?”

“I’m going,” I replied. “Training’s going to be a lot of fun on Monday.”

I turned and started walking back towards the entrance to the VIP room. Milton came after me as I knew he would. The second his hand touched my shoulder, I swung my elbow back into his face.

Milton staggered back, but I twisted around, grabbed hold of his shirt, and pulled him back towards me. I couldn’t leave here without landing one good punch on the guy. I lifted my right hand, but then thought better of it. Don’t want to hurt my throwing arm. I swung my left hand back and connected with his face. It hurt like hell, but whatever pain I was in, he was in a hell of a lot more.

I had more anger left to vent, but Kristi’s voice in my head told me to walk away before I did any real damage. Milton and I had fought in private, and it would stay that way. Or at least, it would have if Milton hadn’t lunged for me.

Milton landed on my back just as I was about to step out the door. We went flying through and landed on a heap on the floor in front of everyone. He got me with two punches while I was dazed. I landed a punch of my own, but stopped when I noticed the flashing of lights from smartphones surrounding us.

This was not going to help my image.