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Excerpt
“Patrick Conway,
defensive end and captain, is in top form, physically and mentally.
He sounds ready to help lead the team to the ultimate game in
February. First, they need to
make it through their first match against last year’s winners.
It isn’t going to be easy, but then again, there’s nothing
effortless or painless about football.
Next week, we’ll be in Denver, where we’ll see how the hunt for
a quarterback is going.”
Sarah mentioned a few
more items they’d be looking into and then formally signed off.
When they made the final edits, the latter portion could either be
kept with the final interview, or separated.
There were specific time lengths she needed to adhere to and she
would.
“Excellent work,
everyone. Thank you, Pat, for
sticking around to do the interview. We
know you’re busy getting ready and really appreciate your taking the
time out to do the interview.”
The producer passed on
his thanks and then started to talk with Pat and the trainer directly.
After stepping off the box, she walked over to the sound man, and
returned the microphone before gathering up her papers.
There was a bustle of activity and people talking as everyone took
care of packing up their equipment. Kneeling
before the bench, she worked on gathering her notes up, and putting them
in some semblance of order before she put them back into the folder.
She was so intent on what she was doing that she jumped with a gasp
when she felt a hand touching her shoulder.
“Sorry, didn’t mean
to startle you, I just wanted, um, can we talk?”
Pat towered over her and when her eyes rose to meet his, she had to
pass a part of his anatomy that she had fond memories of, and from the
look of things, it seemed as if his cock remembered her as well.
It wasn’t that he had a hard-on, but he was delightfully firm,
and the stiffness tempted her to reach out and test its strength.
Looking around the
locker room, she noticed everyone else appeared to be busy, and wasn’t
paying them any attention.
“I don’t want to do
this, Pat. These guys are the
ones I’m working with for the next four weeks and don’t need to give
them any ideas about us being connected in anyway, because we aren’t.”
“You have it wrong.
I didn’t tell Charles to call you.”
“It doesn’t matter.
Our jobs draw a line between us that shouldn’t have been
crossed.”
“That’s not true.
Have dinner with me tonight and I’ll prove it to you.
We were good together.”
“No, we can’t be anything.
I have a deadline. We
need to work on the segment and send it off to the station.”
“Dinner, Sarah,
that’s all. I promise
nothing else will happen unless you want it to.”
“Ah, now I get it.
You’ve been so intent on getting your leg ready for play, that
now you want sex, and here I am. A
guarantee lay. Well, no thank.
I can get that anywhere and so can you.”
“You aren’t—”
“Not like that?
I know I’m not and I won’t be treated like I am either.”
She stood up with her folder in hand.
“Goodbye, Pat, and thank you for the interview.”
Sarah wanted to cry, but
wouldn’t, not until she was alone. As
she passed by the producer’s side, calmly, she let him know she had some
calls to make and would meet him back at the truck, then left the locker
room without looking back. Stadiums
were all fairly similar, which meant she knew if she followed the hallway
in the opposition she’d arrived in, it would lead her to a place she
could be alone. The field.
Once she made it to the
end and walked out beneath the bright blue sky, she realized it wasn’t
the most comfortable place to gather herself back together.
It was hot, so she retreated back into the cool opening, and took
her sweater off. Looking over
the empty field and seats circling it, she had a new view of the massive
structure. When full, the
stadium was a hive of noise, with an air of excitement rushing through it
and yet it somehow managed to feel intimate.
As far as she was concerned, on game day, it was the place to be.
Only there was no game being played and she wasn’t excited to be
there, far from it, and tears silently slipped down her cheeks.
No matter how hard she
tried to think otherwise, Sarah knew she loved him as much now as she had
before his accident. Of course
she couldn’t be happier to see he made it back to a place where he could
physically play the game he loved. Unfortunately,
it was at the cost of their budding relationship.
By no means was what they’d had perfect, but they had been
content to wait until things were easier.
Or so she thought. Obviously
he hadn’t been.
When the tears slowed
down, she started to think about what he’d said about his agent, and
accepted it could very well be true. Maybe
he hadn’t asked the other man to make the call telling her to stay away
from him, but he hadn’t sought her out either.
She had to accept the fact that there’d been a part of him that
hadn’t wanted her around when he was vulnerable.
“Sarah?”
She’d been so intent on trying to stop her tears that she
hadn’t heard anyone coming up behind her.
Pat placed hands on her shoulders and pulled her back to rest
against him. The tears
gathered again and freely fell. She
didn’t want him to know how much he’d hurt her.
“Shhh, please, don’t
cry.” He turned her around,
held her head between his big hands, and she was lost in his beautiful
grey eyes. There was so much
she wanted to say to him, only anger and love were mixing around inside
her head, robbing her of coherently threading them into a cohesive
sentence. Maybe it was wishful
thinking on her part, but she thought there was something he also wanted
to tell her, only couldn’t put what he was thinking into words.
Instead, they reverted to what had worked for them in the past.
They made what was most like going to be a very stupid mistake, on
many different levels, but that wasn’t what they were thinking about.
Not when they were once again in each other’s arms.
Pat leaned down, placed
his lips over hers so neither of them had to speak out loud what they
wanted or needed to say, and kissed her.
They were connected in a basic way and she couldn’t think of
anything other than seeking the satisfaction only he could offer.
In mere seconds, their passion took control of them both, and talk
became useless. She’d much
rather take his kiss full of desire for her and hold it close to her
heart, than hash out the problems that rested between them.
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