Challenging the Center (Santa Fe Bobcats #6)(78)

“Michael, your mentoring. Your camp…”

“Let me worry about that. This isn’t going to stop anything. Watch me.”

“What would you tell one of your mentees if they were in your place?”

“I’d tell them to fight like hell and don’t lose the girl.”

She sighed, and he could almost picture her closing her eyes in resignation. “You won’t let me save you from this, will you?”

“Nope.” He felt damn near cheerful now. He always felt like that when he sensed a challenge coming on… at least on the field. This time the challenge wasn’t a linebacker but a video and a scandal. And maybe Kat, trying to be selfless by stepping away when what he needed most from her was to cling closer.

He flexed his sore hand, the one he’d used to punch the wall, and relished the feel of pain.

Bring it on.





Chapter 25





Kat’s bags were packed before she heard from the lawyer. He’d been brisk, seemingly undaunted by the whole thing. God only knew what that meant. He’d either seen worse or trained himself to pretend like it. What a career he must have.

He’d asked her to go stay somewhere else for the night, just in case. She decided a hotel was a bad idea—not to mention expensive if she didn’t want to end up in a dump. So she called Gary.

Which was how she ended up on his sofa two hours later, drinking a bottle of water and sitting in silence while the clock ticked. Gary sat in the armchair beside the couch, looking a bit weary.

“So you’re… having sex in this video.”

“No.” Somehow she’d been spared that much humiliation this time. But… “It’s pretty suggestive though.”

“Hmm.” Gary sat back, unusually subdued compared to the festive green and orange hummingbird shirt he wore. “And this is at the tennis center.”

“Yes.” Her face burned with embarrassment. “Gary, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. It never… I never meant… I didn’t…” She scrubbed at her face and swallowed a sob. “Sorry.”

“I assume you didn’t set this up. Did the big guy do it?”

She looked up sharply. “No. Definitely not. He’s pissed for me.”

“Good.” Her coach nodded once, looking pleased. “He didn’t strike me as the type to pull that sort of stunt. Keep him.”

“I shouldn’t,” she muttered, then shrugged when Gary raised a brow. “What? I’m a walking disaster. I should let him go. Give him a chance to escape with his reputation intact. He’s got a name for mentoring. He has these plans for an amazing camp for kids who can’t afford…” Her breath hitched at the thought of all those lovely, beautiful plans that would benefit so many boys. “What if nobody wants to send their kids to his camps because of this?”

“Then there are a lot of stupid mothers in this country.”

Kat snorted before she could catch herself. “I should get out of here. Spare him the embarrassment.”

“I’m disappointed.”

She blinked at that. Gary hadn’t moved a muscle, but frustration radiated off him. “What?”

“When that first tape released—”

“I didn’t release that.”

“Did I ask?” He waited while she shook her head. “When that first tape released, you fought back. You told the truth even if nobody else believed you didn’t do it. And you fought back by letting your behavior swing the opposite direction. I’ll be what they think I am. I’ll show them.”

How… Kat sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. Of course Gary would have known. Would have sensed. “So?”

“So… you could have slinked away. Found some dark hole to lick your wounds in, occasionally poking your head out to see what the weather was like. You stayed active, you stayed out there. Why quit now? Why walk away because things are tough? Too old? Too tired?”

“I’m not too tired,” she bit out.

“Do you love him?”

“Yes, I… yes.” She nodded and clenched her fists in her lap. “I love him. So what if the best thing for him is to distance him from this?”

“He’s going to get pulled in regardless. No way people aren’t already trying to figure out whose head they’re seeing the back of. Add that in to the fact that you’ve been spending time with Lambert thanks to the auction stunt last week… they’ll know before dinner,” was his final prediction.

“Great.”

“So stand with him. It’s a video of two adults, in a private office, your office. Clothes still on… right?” he added hopefully.

“Yes.” At least at that point. The video suspiciously cut out before anything further happened. Thank God for small favors.

“Then this will blow over. It’s not a thing. You give me the date, I’ll check the security footage, we’ll figure out who was in the building and could have done this. That’ll at least clear the part where people assume you released it for attention.”

Kat didn’t know what to say. Her coach—the only coach that mattered—believed her. Her… boyfriend? Whatever Michael was, he believed her. They were the only ones who mattered.