“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Just checking.”
We step into the outer office and the receptionist motions us into a room where my coach, some PR people, the general manager, and the team lawyer are all waiting. I’m suddenly a little intimidated.
“How’s the leg?” Coach asks.
“Getting better,” I say. “I’m anxious to get this thing off and get back to playing.”
He smiles at me and nods. “We want the same thing you do. But we have some things to discuss.” He motions the team lawyer and the PR people forward, and a man shows me all the news clippings and false accusations that have been floating around. There are a lot more than I even knew about.
The lawyer takes out a pen and a piece of paper. “What happened the night you got arrested?”
“I went to meet my brother and one of his friends at Bounce, and two of our good friends happened to be there.” I point to the picture. “The men in question didn’t approve of their relationship, and my friends were being harassed by them. We told the bullies to cool it, and they started swinging. That’s all it was. We were defending ourselves.”
Sky says, “Sam is aware of the consequences of his actions, and since he already has a solid presence in the community, we feel like dealing with this publicly has been punishment enough.”
The lawyer sits back. “We’ll decide what’s punishment enough.”
Sky continues like he didn’t say a word. She lays photos on the desk. I’ve never even seen these. “These are some of the causes Sam’s already involved in.” She points to them one by one. “Raising money for the homeless shelters in the city.” She points to another. “Assisting with the youth program at the juvenile detention center.” She throws about ten more onto the table. “I’ve already leaked these to the media. We should see the outlets start to pick them up in the next day or two.” She sits back and crosses her legs. “So as you can see, gentlemen, Sam is and will continue to be an upstanding member of the community.” She blinks her eyes at me, prompting me to contribute.
“I plan to continue to serve the community, and hopefully we can put this whole mess behind us. I sincerely regret any problems my actions caused for the organization, my teammates, and my coaches.”
Sky smiles at me and winks.
The lawyer looks wolfishly at her. I think he realizes he’s just been bested. “There’s another matter,” he says. He shoves a picture of Amanda toward me. “A child?”
Sky’s eyes jerk to meet mine.
“It’s not mine,” I rush to say.
“Are you certain?” the lawyer asks.
“I believe I’d know if I had sex with her, sir. Recently, I mean. Our relationship has been over for months. That baby is not mine.”
“You’ll be asked to take a paternity test.”
“Gladly.”
The man scribbles in his notebook. “Do you currently have a girlfriend, Sam?” he asks.
“I don’t believe—” Sky starts.
But I cut her off. “Yes, I do.”
“What’s her name?” He taps his pen against his notepad.
I look at Sky. She nods.
“Her name is Peck Vasquez.”
“How long have you been dating?”
Since last night. “A few months.” Well, that’s true if you count the time we spent together before. And there hasn’t been anyone else for me since the day I met her.
“You’ll want to be seen with her in public to mitigate the damage caused by Amanda’s allegations.”
“Not a problem.” I’d go anywhere with Peck.
Suddenly, he stands up and sticks out his hand. I take it and give it a shake. “It was nice meeting you.” He looks at Sky. “Mrs. Reed, I’ll send over a list of suggested actions for your review.”
Sky nods and he leaves the room. The coach claps me on the shoulder. “We’ll need for you to see the team doctor. He’s waiting for you in the training room. We look forward to having you back out on the field as soon as possible.”
He looks down at his watch, curses softly, makes his excuses and leaves with the PR people, all of whom are going to send notes to Sky about further positive actions.
When the room is empty, I look at her and grin. “You totally rocked that,” I tell her.
She shrugs. “All in a day’s work.” But she’s grinning too. “I can’t believe they didn’t even fine you.”
“Well, when you think about it, I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Do you need me to go with you to see the trainer?” she asks as she packs up her things.
“I can handle it,” I tell her. “Thanks for making it all work out.”
“Matt helped me with it,” she says sheepishly.
“You two make one hell of a team.”
She laughs. “I know.” She kisses me on the cheek and leaves. I sit back and scrub a hand down my face. That could have gone so differently.
I go and meet with the trainer. The best part of the day—getting a walking boot so I can ditch the crutches. I step gingerly onto my foot. It’s not completely comfortable, but I’ll get used to it. Anything would be better than the crutches. The trainer gives me a schedule for physical therapy, and I have to start weight training with my arms and upper body right away. Football is a demanding sport. I want to be in shape when I go back onto the field, so I don’t complain a bit.