Happily Ever All-Star: A Secret Baby Romance - Sosie Frost Page 0,354

you do. And we hope you make the right one.”

So did I, but the right choice was starting to look like the wrong one.

I had been prepared to refuse whatever orders they gave me…then I got pregnant. Everything changed within the two-minute wait for the test to read positive.

Before the baby, I could stand by my principles, but good intentions and strong morals didn’t feed a family. Even though the baby was Lachlan’s, I wouldn’t depend on him. No matter my feelings, our relationship was built on an adrenaline rush. I’d do everything I could to prevent a crash, but my priority had to be taking care of my child.

Which made refusing the coach’s order just as foolish as obeying it.

Peter played the good guy, but I didn’t believe it. “We know you were the one who tampered with the office. You took the SD card from my computer.”

I shrugged. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“We have the security footage. It’s grainy, but the video shows a black woman with red streaks in her hair saving our first-round draft choice from a speeding car. You were at the practice facility. You called off sick after you’d stolen the card. You ran away, thinking you wouldn’t get caught.”

“That’s some imagination you have there, Peter.”

“This is very simple, Elle.” He had the decency not to glance at the nudes. “We’re asking for you to be a team player. We wouldn’t want these to fall into the wrong hands.”

The photos didn’t intimidate me. “Do what you have to do. Nine months from now it’ll be nice to see how I used to look.”

Peter hesitated. “You’re pregnant?”

“Yep.” It was the first time I said it aloud. “And you’re blackmailing an expectant mother. Pretty sure you’ll go straight to hell for that. They’ll save you a seat next to the puppy-kickers and the jerks who steal coworkers’ lunches from the break room.”

Coach Thompson sighed. “Think of your reputation. The scandal. Knocked-up by a member of the team? How unprofessional.”

“I’m having a baby with my husband. We’re as conventional as it gets.”

“You got married drunk in Vegas. This won’t look good for you or him.”

“I think it makes me look very good. In fact, I bet both of you have your own personal copies of these pictures at home.”

Peter refused to admit it. “Elle, you’re going to travel to the Atwood Monarch’s practice fields and provide us with pictures that will assist the team for the season opener. You will take as many photographs as you can, and you’ll capture as much of their game plan as possible. Bring the information back, keep quiet, and we’ll enter the regular season as one big happy family.”

I shook my head. “Just release the nudes. I won’t do it. I won’t endanger this team by doing something so damn reckless.”

Coach Thompson didn’t blink. “Refuse and you’re fired.”

“That will suck.”

“Yes. It will.”

“But not as much as compromising my integrity,” I said. “Don’t you see what you’re doing? Once the league finds out, the team will be ruined. This mistake will cost us future draft choices, hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, and probably suspensions, if not expulsions, from the league. President Bennett flips shit when a player is caught partying. He was going to expel Jack Carson for being a trouble-maker. What do you think will happen when he learns the entire Rivets’ organization has been cheating for years?”

“He’s not going to find out,” Coach Thompson said.

“You think I won’t go directly to Frank Bennett?”

“You won’t.”

“Try to stop me.”

“You will do as we ask, without complaint.”

I held my ground. “I refuse.”

He stared at me, his voice hard. “You will take the pictures…or we cut Lachlan Reed.”

I heaved, but nothing came out. Damn it. The one time I might have wielded morning sickness as a weapon. Even Lachlan’s baby tried to defend his father.

“You’d cut Lachlan?” I whispered.

“And for good reasons. He’s not performing. He can’t adjust to the demands of the league. He’s overwhelmed. Probably over-rated as well.”

“That’s not true.”

“But these pictures will help him,” Peter said. “Do this, and the coaches can guide Lachlan. They’ll better prepare him for the season opener. If we know the Monarch’s defensive schemes, we can create a game plan which will let Lachlan exploit weaknesses in their secondary. He’ll be a damn hero.”

“But—”

“Every team does this,” he said. “Football is played half on the field, and half in the espionage between clubhouses. Don’t you want Lachlan to be prepared for