The Baller: A Down and Dirty Football Novel(31)

The sedative the nurse gave Marlene finally kicked in and she calmed down, eventually falling asleep.

“You got one of those injections for me?” I joked when Shannon came in to check on us.

“You have practice today?”

“I do.”

She smiled ruefully. “Then no. But if you’d like to speak to Dr. Pallen, she’s making rounds. I can page her to come in and talk to you.”

“Thanks, Shannon. But I’m good. How long will that thing knock her out for?”

“She’ll probably be out for most of the day.” She put her hand on my shoulder as I sat watching Marlene sleep. “Don’t worry, Brody. We’ll keep a good eye on her. We’ll call you if anything happens or if she wakes up upset again.”

“I’ll stop back after practice tonight.”

“I’ll make sure the night nurses know she can have a visitor after hours.”

“Thanks.”

***

To say I got my ass kicked during practice would be putting it too mildly. Between the physical toll of staying up all night and my head being a f*cking mess from the shit that had gone down with Marlene, it was no surprise that I found myself tossed around like a sack of hay. At one point, the practice squad actually started to go easy on me. Which just pissed off Coach even more than my slacking.

After practice, my knee was blown up like a balloon from all the twisting it did every time I got my ass knocked down. The team physical therapist ordered me a fifteen-minute soak in the ice bathtub. As if the morning’s stroll down memory lane hadn’t f*cked with me enough, a soak in freezing water was just what I needed to remind me all over again of Willow’s ice-cold body being pulled from the Hudson.





Chapter 14


Delilah

Brody texted every day after our night together. And we’d spoken on the phone twice. I’d grown up only catching glimpses of my dad during football season, so I wasn’t surprised he was busy. But that didn’t stop me from feeling disappointed. The sex had been nothing short of spectacular. Yet it was the hours we’d spent in bed talking that had me feeling something that I hadn’t felt in years. Hope. That’s what our night together gave me. I’d almost forgotten what it felt like. As I boarded the plane to Texas for the Steel’s away game, I was reminded why I’d given up hope after Drew. Because getting your hopes crushed sucked.

I headed to my assigned seat in row twenty-six as the captain came over the loudspeaker and asked everyone to take their seats quickly. We’d been cleared for departure early, and with a storm front moving in he didn’t want to lose our place in the takeoff queue. Great. A freaking storm. Just what I want to hear. The traffic on the way to the airport had been so heavy, I hadn’t had time to grab a drink and get my Xanax down until five minutes ago. I was going to be a disaster for takeoff.

As I arrived at my row, Brody looked up and caught my eye from his seat a few rows back. Feeling awkward, I smiled and rushed to stow my bag. I was checking my seatbelt for the third time when Brody’s voice startled me.

“Connors,” he addressed the reporter sitting next to me. “Row thirty-one.” He thumbed toward the back of the plane.

The reporter looked up at Brody, then at me. “We’re about to take off.”

“Yeah, that’s why you should hurry up.”

“All my stuff is in the overhead.”

“I’ll bring it to you once we’re in the air. There’s a bottle of Merlot waiting and an empty seat next to you.”

He huffed, but Connors made the switch. Brody settled in beside me.

“Guess you didn’t notice the empty seat next to me.”

I actually hadn’t. “I was preoccupied with getting seated. And trying not to focus on the fact that we’re going to be in the air, and my Xanax has another twenty minutes before it kicks in.”

Just then, the plane began to taxi away from the gate. It was barely a bump, and we were moving at a snail’s pace, yet my hands gripped the arms of the seat.

Brody peeled back my white-knuckled fingers and laced them with his. “I got you.”

“When we’re careening from the sky five hundred miles an hour toward the Earth, will you have me then?”

His eyebrows shot up. My insides were starting to freak out, and I couldn’t control it. I felt my heart racing inside my chest. Brody turned around in his chair and spoke to the reporter behind us. “Five rows back. Thirty-one A. Pass that bottle of Merlot up.”

I downed a glass before we took off. It wasn’t really helping. Especially not when the captain came on again to give us an update, letting us all know we were third in line for takeoff, and we should be on our way in five minutes.

“You know, I earn a good living with that hand.” Brody’s eyes narrowed on our joined hands. Mine was squeezing all the color from his, except where my nails were nearly piercing his skin.

“Sorry.”

“I’m teasing. Squeeze away.” He leaned toward me. “I like the feel of your nails digging into me. I miss the way they scratch at my back when you’re close and I slow down.”

“Really? You’re going to go there when I’m busy trying to have a panic attack?”

He chuckled. “You need a distraction.”