The House of Wolves (House of Wolves #1)(14)

At least for the time being.

Quindlen Moore, the Wolves’ All-Pro left tackle, the guy known as the blind-side tackle, called out to me from where he was standing in front of my ex-husband.

“Tell us why we should trust you.”

We were getting to it now.

“I can’t.”

“Say what?”

“Nothing I say today is ever going to convince you of that. So here’s the deal: I earn your trust, and you earn mine.”

“Talk’s cheap,” Quindlen said.

I smiled at him.

“But you’re not.”

I heard some chuckles from his teammates.

“Never had me a woman boss,” he said.

“Neither did LeBron before he got to the Lakers.”

I waved him up to where I was standing. He slowly made his way through his teammates. When he got to me, so tall and so wide I felt as if he were blocking out the sun, I simply reached up and bumped him some fist.

I knew I hadn’t won them over today. Might never win them over. But I hadn’t expected to. And hoped it hadn’t seemed as if I were trying too hard to sound like one of the boys. It was a start—nothing more. I hadn’t made a fool out of myself or looked weak. Joe Wolf had always taught us that weakness isn’t a condition; it’s a choice. It was one of the things he was right about.

My heart had been pounding like a jackhammer the entire time I was standing in front of them. But it was getting back to normal as I walked toward the tunnel.

That was when I yelled at the Wolves over my shoulder, knowing they were all still watching me.

“One more thing?”

I stopped then and turned to face them.

“You guys want to make a good impression on me? Win on Sunday. That will impress the holy hell out of me.”





Fifteen



DANNY WATCHED FROM HIS window, wanting to punch a fist through it as he saw her fist-bump Quindlen Moore. Then she said something to them before she left the field, and Danny could see them nodding, almost in approval.

She’s going to ruin everything.

He had everything lined up. They had everything lined up. His father was dead, so Danny Wolf no longer had him looking over his shoulder, the way he had been for Danny’s whole life, second-guessing everything he did. Danny didn’t have him constantly in his ear, even after he’d sworn up and down that he was going to be hands-off with the football operation, that it was Danny’s show now.

Same as he told Jack he could run the newspaper any way he wanted to.

Always with this one qualifier: as long as you don’t muck things up. Right before one or both of them would hear for maybe the ten thousandth time from Mr. Hands-Off about everything he’d built with those two hands.

It’s time for you to run things your way, he’d told Danny when he made the announcement that he was stepping back from the Wolves, at a press conference that was supposed to be about Danny and turned out to be all about Joe Wolf.

It had taken hardly any time at all for Danny to be reminded, as if he needed reminding, that there had only ever been one way in the Wolf family.

His father’s.

Only now it was his sister in the way.

She had crushed their father by walking away from him the way she did. From the time he was a kid, Danny had never thought anybody or anything could hurt Joe Wolf. But she had. It almost made Danny jealous—that she mattered that much to him.

Danny clenched his fists, still picturing himself punching a hole through the glass in front of him. Feeling like a grenade with the pin already pulled. But then he’d been feeling that way since the reading of the will.

His sister had spent just about her entire adult life acting as if the family wasn’t worthy of her. Somehow, though, she’d remained the fair-haired child up until she told their father she was leaving and not coming back. The one who’d been the smartest. The one who’d been the best athlete in the family. The one Joe Wolf had loved the most, even though she was the one who told him she didn’t want to end up like the rest of us.

Including him.

Especially him.

How many times had they all heard that one?

A pack of wolves, she’d always called the men in the family.

Only now she was the one he’d rewarded.

He took his phone out of his pocket, walked across the room to make sure the door was closed, and made the call.

His brother answered right away. He was the type. He’d always acted like if he waited until the second ring, the phone might explode in his hand.

“We need to go after her now,” Danny said. “You’re the best one to do it, and we don’t have a lot of time before the league meetings.”

“Understood.”

“I need you on this,” Danny said.

I’ve always needed you when I want something.

“By the time we finish with her, she will be begging us to take it all back, starting with her precious voting shares.”

Danny walked back to the window. How many people in sports had a view like this? Owning everything he saw down there? No wonder guys like Gallo were willing to do anything to get it.

“You know how to do this.”

“I do,” Jack said to his brother. “And I know exactly where to start.”

“Where?”