Chapter 15

“Oh my god, I am so glad you were looking for a job!” Melody Ann exclaimed as she came up behind Carmina and hugged her. “I was going crazy trying to keep up with everyone’s social media accounts. I never even thought to hire an assistant.”

“Me, too,” Carmina said.

Melody Ann walked around the side of Carmina’s desk and propped her butt on the edge, facing Carmina. Today Melody Ann was wearing high-waisted, tight, black pants, Timberland boots, and a fuzzy pink sweater that barely covered her stomach. Her hair was in a messy topknot held together with luck and chopsticks, and she had on cat-eye glasses and bright-red lipstick. Carmina’s eyes hurt just looking at her. But Melody Ann would be gorgeous no matter what she wore, and she was one of the nicest people Carmina had ever met, and she was going to be really easy to work for.

“Also, I’m glad you don’t talk much,” Melody Ann said. “I like to talk. I’m not so much on listening.” She made an embarrassed face. “Can I say that, or am I being insensitive? My boyfriend Gage said sometimes I’m too honest.”

“No such thing,” Carmina told her. “It’s okay. I wasn’t hurt. I know what you meant. I’m quiet.” She honestly didn’t mind Melody Ann’s comment. This was her first day at work and she’d only been there for a couple of hours, but already Melody Ann had treated her better than every single person she’d talked to about a job the day before. When she was explaining what she expected Carmina to do, she didn’t treat Carmina like she was stupid, for one thing, or an invalid. And she liked Buster, which was worth a lot of points in Carmina’s book.

“So, has anyone posted anything alarming or controversial today?” Melody Ann asked. “Do we need to put out any fires?” She looked at her watch. “It’s ten a.m. Usually someone has started a shit storm by now.”

Carmina laughed. Melody Ann had put Carmina in charge of reviewing players’ social media each morning, and she’d been at it for about an hour. “No shit storms. Dominique Reyes cusses too much. Every caption on Instagram.”

“I know.” Melody Ann winced. “But try talking to him. He’s impossible!” Melody Ann reached over to her desk and snagged a piece of paper. “Since we don’t have to do cleanup duty this morning, here’s a list of charitable causes and players who donated time over the last couple of months. Look through the press files for pictures of them at events and post those on the team site. I like to do a few a day.” She grabbed another piece of paper. “And this is the password to the game films. I ask the guys which plays they’d like to highlight from last week’s game, and we post a couple a day. No breakdown or critique. Just something like, ‘Sam Taylor saves the day!’ and a clip of him tackling someone. You can even snag clips from news sites, with permission, of course. And,” she said, with a big buildup, “my favorite stuff is here, in this file.” She leaned over and used Carmina’s mouse to click through to a file labeled Fun Stuff. “These are pictures and videos that the guys send in. Stuff from their everyday lives that they thought we might want to post on the team accounts, too. Some personal, some work. A lot of things from when they were younger that are good for throwback Thursday stuff. I’ve got some wedding photos in here, school photos, film from high school games. Stuff like that. With Christmas coming, I expect to get a lot of new stuff. See if you can find pictures from last Christmas. We can do some lead-ins the next couple of days.”

Carmina glanced through some of the file names. She saw a couple from Tom, but nothing from Danny. “Do all the players have stuff in here?” she asked.

“No,” Melody Ann said, sighing. “The ones who really need the image boost something like this brings usually don’t send me anything. Typical, right? I don’t have anything from Danny Smith, Dominique Reyes, Mal—Malachai Goodman, I mean.” She frowned. “Mal doesn’t have anything to give, though. He was in foster care and then a group home and never had anyone to chronicle his life or keep his mementos.” She got up from the desk suddenly. “Come on. Let’s go do something fun as part of your orientation.” She snagged an iPad off her desk. “The guys hate this, which is why I love it, of course. Did you ever see that video I took of the team doing the stairs in the arena? Absolutely hilarious.” She was halfway out the door before Carmina realized she was supposed to be following her. She jumped up and raced after her.

The closer they got to the team area in the arena, the more nervous Carmina got. She’d avoided Tom’s calls and hadn’t answered the door when he came by last night. She just wasn’t ready to deal with the whole mess she’d made by screwing Danny in the shower yesterday. Seriously, what had she been thinking? And the fact that she came with him. She’d been attracted to him for months, it was true. But she didn’t know him that well. And he certainly hadn’t gone out of his way to get to know her or hook up with her. He just walked into his bathroom, took off his clothes, and stepped into the shower with her. Way to play hard to get, Carmina.

Melody Ann stopped outside the team locker room. Voices could be heard shouting and talking through the door, along with some music cranked up loud. She pulled up the video camera on the iPad. “I like to do unscripted little videos of the guys here at work. Fans like to see them behind the scenes, getting ready for games, working out and sometimes just goofing off. Some of the players are better at that last one.” She winked at Carmina. “I hope Tom Kelly’s in here. He loves the camera, and can usually be counted on to do something worth filming. And I don’t mean of the X-rated variety. We’ve already had that talk.” Carmina prayed that Tom and Danny were not in there as Melody Ann knocked on the door and hollered out her name to let them know who it was.

“Come in,” someone shouted, but Carmina heard another voice yelling, “Wait, wait!” Melody Ann ignored the second voice and threw open the door, the camera rolling. “Hi, everyone!” she called out. “We just thought we’d catch a little team action before the Rough Riders game.” Carmina winced at her word choice as several cat calls were heard, along with a couple of lewd suggestions. “Y’all watch your mouths,” Melody Ann called out as she slowly panned around the locker room. “I have video evidence. Also, Carmina isn’t used to your bad language.”

“I’m Army,” Carmina said. “I’m good.”

“Hey, Carmina!” Nigel said. He jogged over and pulled her into a hug. He was still sweaty and wearing his practice clothes. “What are you doing here, love? Sam’s out on the field. Want me to get him?” Carmina shook her head, trying to unobtrusively look around for Tom and Danny.

“Some of you guys have probably seen Carmina around,” Melody Ann called out. “She’s Sam’s friend. From the Army. Anyway, she’s my new assistant. Meet Carmina de la Cruz.” Carmina gave a halfhearted, self-conscious wave.

“No kidding,” Nigel said with a big grin. “Congratulations! I didn’t know you were looking for work. That’s good, right?”

“Hey, Reyes,” Melody Ann called out, walking toward him with the camera. “Carmina says you cuss too much on social media.”

“Yeah?” Dominique Reyes called back. “Fuck Carmina.”

“What did you just say?” Carmina heard Danny say, and her head whipped around to see him belligerently confronting Dominique Reyes. Danny was standing in front of Tom, who was sitting on a bench in the back of the room staring at her accusingly. She looked away, guilt eating her up inside.

“I said fuck Carmina,” Reyes replied, speaking slowly. “You got a hearing problem?” The whole room erupted as Danny launched himself at Reyes and the two slammed into the lockers behind him.

Melody Ann gasped and shut off the camera, shoving Carmina toward the door. “Shit,” she hissed. “I did not mean to start that.”

“What the fuck?” Carmina heard Cass Zielinski bellow across the room. She looked over her shoulder and saw guys peeling Danny off Reyes, who was cursing a blue streak and calling Danny every name in the book.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Tom snapped at Danny, tossing him back against a locker. Half the people in the room stared in shock. Tom just didn’t speak like that.

“You heard him,” Danny said, rubbing his jaw, where Reyes must have gotten in a punch. “He disrespected her.”

“He disrespected her?” Tom asked angrily. “And you didn’t yesterday?” Carmina closed her eyes in horror.

“What happened yesterday?” Melody Ann whispered to her. Carmina shook her head and backed toward the door.

“No, I didn’t,” Danny said angrily. “Get your shit together.”

“You’ve got no right to defend her,” Tom said, shoving Danny back into the lockers.

“Motherfucker’s got anger issues,” Reyes yelled out from behind the players holding him back.

“You didn’t defend her,” Danny said accusingly, ignoring Reyes. “Were you just going to sit there and let him say that shit? He disrespects the woman you’re sleeping with and you don’t call him out?”

Carmina felt every eye in the room turn to look at her. She was staring at Tom and Danny in horror. Not only had she screwed up her life, she’d screwed up theirs. They’d been best friends until she came along. She turned and ran out of the locker room.

Carmina grabbed her purse from her desk as soon as she got back to the office. Buster immediately got up and came to stand by her side. She grabbed his leash and was heading for the door when Melody Ann stepped inside and closed it behind her.

“Hold it right there, buster,” she said. Then she looked down at Buster. “You, too,” she told the dog. She looked back up at Carmina. “Was there something you forgot to tell me?” Carmina shook her head.

“Okay,” Melody Ann said, nodding. “I get that. Your personal life is none of my business. But it seems to have had a teeny, tiny impact at work today. So maybe we should talk about it. If you want.” She looked at her watch. “Because we have maybe fifteen minutes before Sam arrives. Maybe ten, depending on how fast someone can get out there and tell him what just happened.”

“Am I fired?” Carmina asked tiredly.

“Fired? Are you kidding? No,” Melody Ann said. “You didn’t do anything. If those jerks can’t keep it together, that’s not your fault. Sit.” She pointed to Carmina’s desk chair. “Pet Buster. And tell me what’s going on. Quick.” She checked her watch. “Eight minutes if my estimate’s correct.”

“I have sex issues,” Carmina admitted, blushing. “Tom is trying to help. We are sleeping together, but we’re not together.”

“Sex issues?” Melody Ann asked, pulling up a chair. “Treat me like a doctor. I’m kind of freaky in bed. Maybe I can help you.”

“I’m not into girls,” Carmina said. “Sorry.”

Melody Ann laughed. “Me, neither,” she said. “I just meant advice.”

“Oh. Okay.” Carmina took a deep breath. “I can’t come. Couldn’t come. Not with Tom, either.”

“Wow,” Melody Ann said. “I think everybody comes with Tom. That’s hardcore. And Danny? How does he fit into all this? How did he disrespect you?”

“He didn’t. We had sex. It was…” Carmina searched for the word. “Unexpected? Not planned?”

“Spur of the moment,” Melody Ann said. “Got it. And Tom found out?” Carmina nodded. “So Tom clearly thinks you’re together, but you don’t.”

“What?” Carmina asked, shocked. “No.”

“Yes,” Melody Ann said firmly. “That was jealousy, plain and simple.”

“I came with Danny.” Carmina bit her lip after blurting out the confession.

“Whoa,” Melody Ann said, leaning back in her chair. “And Tom knows. Shit.”

“Yeah,” Carmina agreed.

“First, respect for nailing two of the hottest guys on the team,” Melody Ann said. “From one woman to another, not as your boss.”

“Gee, thanks,” Carmina said sarcastically.

“Don’t knock it. There are girls out there dreaming about it.” Melody Ann took a deep breath. “So, do you want to be with Danny? Since he apparently has a magic dick?” Carmina laughed and then covered her face with her hand.

“It wasn’t that,” she said. “It was…he treated me like a woman. Not someone with brain damage, or someone who might break. You know? He wanted me. Me. It wasn’t about helping me, or pitying me, or therapy, or any of that. It was a fuck. You know?”

“Oh, I know,” Melody Ann agreed with a knowing smile. “Caveman, me want stuff, huh? And that did it for you?” Carmina shook her head. She wasn’t getting it.

“No. Not how he did it. Why. See?”

“But Tom clearly likes you,” Melody Ann said. “I don’t think it’s just about helping you or therapy or whatever for him, either. And Danny seems pretty confused, too. What are you going to do?”

“Hide,” Carmina said, nodding. “Yep. Hide.”

“Carmina!” she heard Sam bellow down the hallway. She hunched her shoulders and closed her eyes, wishing she could start hiding right then.