Once Upon A Half-Time: A Sports Romance - Sosie Frost Page 0,69

but admitting it to myself drove the air from my lungs like a hit from a linebacker. She was my everything now. A tease. A friend. A lover.

A wife.

This game wasn’t about me anymore. I’d work my ass off so I could provide for everyone I loved.

Mom. Sebastian.

And the woman I’d love for the rest of my life.

17

Elle

I was out of time.

The interns and videographers running around the office didn’t notice Peter’s fake smile.

He closed my laptop and summoned me with a curled finger.

“Elle, Coach Thompson and I wanted to speak with you. Got a minute?”

I was used to getting queasy now, but this wasn’t because the baby was using my stomach as an in-utero trampoline.

I picked up my camera. Peter shook his head.

“Don’t worry about that.” He stopped me before I reach for my cell phone. “This won’t take long. Leave your phone.”

He didn’t want me recording the conversation.

Damn it. That had been my contingency plan, especially since the only wire I had was the broken bit of my bra, poking me in the side.

I followed Peter to Coach Thompson’s office. The hall was quiet, most of the coaches and staff still working with the players on the field.

The door closed behind me. I sat in the chair opposite Coach Thompson’s desk.

The silence prickled every hair on the back of my neck.

Something was wrong.

Coach Thompson pulled a file from his desk drawer. I stayed silent as he pushed a glossy, 8x10 print towards me.

Just what I expected. The nude was a shade too fuzzy and a lot too nefarious to catch the cover of Sports Illustrated. I’d find it on TMZ instead.

I said nothing. I had no defense. The photos were clear, leaving no doubt that it was my naked tushy posing in the Rivets’ locker room.

“Do you know what this is, Elle?” Coach Thompson asked.

“Twenty-three years of good diet and exercise?”

“Proud of them?” He studied the images. “I would be.”

He wasn’t going to scare me.

“I look good in that particular lighting.”

“You’re right. Maybe you want everyone to see these pictures?”

“I don’t think it’d be much of a surprise anymore. Most of the team has seen the goods.”

“And what about people outside of the organization? Would you like to show the world too?”

“Do I have a choice?"

“Of course 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