“Dean’s supposed to pick me up. I don’t know why Amie came instead.”
“Listen to me very carefully. If that woman has feelings for you…you’d better figure that out right now. If we have a shot at anything here, you have to draw some lines.”
“She doesn’t have feelings for me.” He leaned in. “There’s only one line, and it’s already been drawn. There’s you, and there’s the rest of the world. Period.”
She searched his eyes before looking away. “We should go. Before someone takes a picture of us.”
“I’ll see you tonight.” He watched her hustle toward a black Land Rover with tinted windows. The passenger side window rolled down, revealing her sister, a world-famous chocolatier. Coco gave him a hard look. I’m watching you.
Yeah, well, watch me all you want. He’d make no mistakes with Gigi.
Pissed, he headed toward Amie.
As he approached, she raised an eyebrow. “Did I nail that one or what?”
“What’re you doing here? Dean’s supposed to pick me up.” Even in a tiny air strip in Calamity, there was no privacy. It was impossible to control the images that got uploaded onto social media.
“I know, but we’ve got a problem, and he’s handling it. So, I get to fill you in on everything you’ve missed in the last twelve hours.” She started around to the driver’s side of his gleaming Porsche Panamera Turbo—which he only got to drive a couple months out of the year, since he lived in Boston and Calamity, two places with some of the worst weather in the country.
“You drove my Porsche?”
“Well, I wasn’t about to pick up Cassian Ellis in my Kia.”
“Keys.” He held up a hand, and she tossed them to him. Before lowering into the seat, he glanced over to find the Land Rover pulling away from the curb. His heart ached in that familiar way—of wanting her but not being able to have her. Not completely.
He got into the car and turned the ignition. “I told you this in Kansas, and I’ll tell you again. I don’t want us to be seen together. If Dean can’t pick me up, I’ll take a cab or rent a car. But I’m not risking another shot of us going viral.” As he headed out of the parking lot, Amie watched him.
“What?” He wanted to check in with Gigi, but he’d have to wait.
“I just knew it.”
“Knew what?”
“You and Gigi.”
“There’s nothing going on. She’s here to visit her family.” He was absolutely not talking to anyone about Gigi. Especially someone who wanted to be on a reality TV show.
“Oh, come on. I just saw the two of you together. You’re into her, and you did something to piss her off.”
“I piss everyone off.”
“Uh, no. Just the opposite, actually. You make people happy. You make the guys feel proud of themselves, and you make women feel like everything they say is important—you make them feel special. It’s just what you do. One week with the Lollipop…you worked your magic on her.”
He wanted to slam the brakes and make things very clear, but he needed to get to camp. “We knew each other in high school. Her dad coached me. End of story. Now, what’s the problem? Is it the Walker kid?”
“Bingo.”
Apparently, fourteen-year-old Walker Lovett had brought a bad attitude to camp. Worse, he had strong leadership abilities—only, he used them for evil. In this first week, he’d snuck out of the dorm in the middle of the night, broke into the kitchen while the other campers were in their afternoon elective, and got his table to boycott dinner two nights ago by streaking around the fire road, before climbing the fence and jumping into the pool.
In the three years of running this camp, they’d never had a problem. The kids were grateful to have been chosen and worked their asses off. Sure, there were personality conflicts. That, they could handle. But this kid? They had no clue how to deal with him. “What’s the latest?”
“Andre caught him in the main office at one in the morning with three other guys watching porn on my computer.”
“Jesus.”
“I know, right? But Dean’s talking to him right now.”
“What am I missing here—why is Dean talking to him and not you?” He kept a very clear division between his coaches and the staff. Amie and his security team handled all off-field matters—including discipline—so the lines with coaches didn’t blur.
“I’ve dealt with everything so far, just like you wanted. But…he said some offensive things.”
“Offensive? How?”
She let out a sigh. “During lunch today, I leaned over to set the water pitcher on his table. After I moved on, I heard him say something about my ‘knockers’ and how he’d like to do me ‘doggy-style.’”
Anger rose like a vicious beast. “He’s going home.”
She patted his arm. “I get where you’re coming from, but the thing is, I’m pretty sure home is really bad.”
Right. Which was the point of hosting the camp. “Everything else he’s done, I get. He’s rebellious.” I was, too. “But I can’t allow him to talk to you like that. If I don’t kick him out, it’ll set a precedent with the other kids.”
“That’s why Dean’s talking to him. We’re giving him a hard consequence, something the other kids will see.”
“What’s the consequence?”
“He’s going to serve meals and clear tables for the next three days.” She played with the hem of her shorts. “The thing that really sucks is that he’s an amazing player. Andre’s been working with him and said he’s never seen a kid with better instincts. Football could be his ticket to a better life.”
It was moments like this that he appreciated Amie. She was a cheerleader and had been a cast member on NFL Cheerleader, so she got a lot of bad press for being shallow or vain. But they didn’t see the way she ran his camp or treated the kids. She had a good heart and worked her ass off. “It sounds like you’ve already handled it, but if it happens under my watch, I won’t be nearly as understanding. I have zero tolerance for that kind of disrespect.” He cut a glance at her. “I’m sorry he treated you like that.”
She smiled softly. “I almost didn’t want to tell you.” She patted his thigh. “You’re a good guy, Cassian.”
Funny, he’d had thousands of hands on him over the course of his life. Slaps on the back, handshakes, seductive and sexual touches…but he only realized in this moment how much he didn’t like it. People seemed to think they had access to him—all of him.
I do that, though.
He’d never thought of it that way before. He invited that access by being so friendly and flirty. He shifted his leg away, and she withdrew her hand.
He needed to be aware of that.
And he needed to be honest. He might be the quarterback of the Mavericks but that didn’t mean he was public property. It was up to him to draw those lines.
Even if it meant pissing people off.
Cassian pocketed his keys and headed across the lawn. “I’ll catch up with you later.”