The Playbook

  I could hear the edge in her voice and I wondered if she was a bit jealous. It didn’t matter, though; nothing could ever come of the two of us. But I had to admit, I kind of liked the idea of her being slightly bothered.

  “No, I offered to take her back to my place and fuck her. Then take her home.”

  Aubrey dropped her hands to the table. “Ugh. Why is it every time you talk like that it catches me off guard even though I have a feeling it’s coming?”

  “Trust me when I say you would totally know when it was coming.”

  Snarling her lip, she pointed to me. “See! Like that. The shock factor is there, but deep down, I knew you would say something like that.”

  “Anyway,” I said, trying to get back to the dreaded story. “Emily came back to my place and we had a good time. Normally, I bring the girl home and that’s the end of it. I never see them again.”

  The look of disgust on Aubrey’s face bothered me more than I wanted to admit.

  “I feel like there is a ‘but’ in there somewhere.”

  “Yeah, a big one. I ran into her the next weekend and ended up fucking her in the bathroom of the bar I was at.”

  “Please tell me you practice safe sex, Brett, because honestly you are the biggest manwhore I’ve ever met.”

  “Yes I practice safe sex, and I get tested regularly.”

  “Do you expect points for that?” She asked, tilting her head.

  Fuck this. I didn’t need Aubrey to sit there and judge me or my lifestyle. “Never mind, it’s my problem and I’ll figure it out on my own. I don’t need you sitting here lecturing me after you were all up on the senator.”

  Standing, I took my wallet out and threw money on the table and headed out of the restaurant.

  Before I got to the car, Aubrey grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop. “Wait! Brett, please wait one second. I’m sorry, I was only teasing you.”

  “I’m tired, and ready to get home.”

  Her face fell. “Please let me help you. You said you could figure it out on your own. Figure what out?”

  I looked around, still trying to process the information myself. “Emily showed up tonight to tell me she’s pregnant and she claims the baby is mine.”

  Aubrey’s eyes widened in shock as her mouth slowly dropped open. “Wh-what? She’s … pregnant … but … you said… you said you always use protection?”

  Watching her try to piece it all together in her head was almost amusing. I wondered if I looked as shell-shocked when Emily dropped the news on me.

  “That’s not the worst of it.”

  She shook her head. “What in the hell could be worse than that?”

  “Emily is a student at the University of Austin.”

  Her hands came up to her mouth as she stood there in a stunned state.

  Taking her arm, I pulled her to the car as the driver jumped out and opened the back door.

  “Sir, will you be heading home now or somewhere else?”

  “Home, please,” I said as I slid in after Aubrey.

  The door wasn’t even shut when she punched me in the arm. “How could you be so stupid? Are you insane?”

  “Ouch!” I cried out, rubbing my arm. “Had I known, I would’ve never have slept with her. Damn it!” I shouted as I hit the seat between the two of us. There was no way Emily was pregnant with my kid. I was careful.

  “Did you use a condom?” Aubrey probed in a hushed voice.

  Glancing up at the driver, I sighed. “Can we talk about this once we get back to the condo?”

  She leaned back and looked forward. “Of course. I’m sorry.”

  The rest of the drive was a welcomed silence. Riding up in the elevator, we stopped at Aubrey’s floor. “Do you want to go up and change and come back down to talk?” she proposed.

  My heart raced at the idea of being alone with her in her condo. I needed to keep my shit together, the last thing I needed was more drama.

  “We can talk in the morning,” I said with a slight grin.

  Aubrey’s hands immediately went to her hips. “Oh, hell no. I’m not letting you walk away when you’re in such a chatty mood. Come on, let me get out of this dress and into something more comfortable, and then we can talk.”

  The thought of slowly unzipping her dress and letting it pool at her feet had my dick jumping. Aubrey walked to her condo and quickly opened the door for us to go in. I was positive she was worried about someone seeing me enter her place in the middle of the night. I knew no one could get in, though; the security in this building was top notch and one of the reasons I lived there.

  Ten minutes later, I was sitting on the sofa with Aubrey positioned directly across from me dressed in a T-shirt and sweatpants. She looked so damn cute. I wanted to pull her onto my lap and bury my face in her hair. I wouldn’t even care if it didn’t lead anywhere. Just to have her up against me was all I wanted.

  I shook my head to get rid of my wondering thoughts.

  “Okay, so Emily is a student. When did you find out?”

  Exhaling, I answered, “Tonight.”

  Her head drew back. “Tonight? Why in the world would she go to all that trouble to tell you tonight?”

  “Well, fuck, Aubrey, if I knew that, I’d be one step closer to figuring this shit all out.” My voice was tight and I knew I was being a dick toward her and she didn’t deserve that. “I’m sorry. This is fucked up. I could very well lose my job over this.”

  She leaned over and put her forearms on her legs. “You’re not going to lose your job because something doesn’t smell right here.”

  “Ya think?” I replied with a gruff laugh.

  Her head tilted in the most adorable way while a frustrated look appeared on her face.

  “So a college girl goes out and gets a formal gown, buys a ticket into a pricey benefit dinner, and it’s all to tell you that you’re going to be a dad? Why not just show up at your place or at work? No, she wanted to make sure your evening was ruined with this news.”

  Dropping back against the sofa, I laughed. “Well, she succeeded. I don’t even think I heard anything that was said after I told her to leave.”

  She stood and paced. “I’m going to have to start digging up some information on this girl.”

  Lifting my head, I stared at her like she was crazy. “What? Aubrey, I appreciate you wanting to figure this whole mess out, but this is my problem. Not yours.”

  She spun around and inspected me for a moment. “It is my problem because I really don’t want my piece on you spoiled by some girl who is clearly looking for money.”

  “Money?” I asked, lifting my brows.

  Aubrey shook her head and sat next to me. “Brett, it wasn’t hard to find information out about you. Before I got here, I started to research you. There are some things buried deep, like why you left the NFL, which by the way I fully intend on getting out of you.”

  With a sigh, I stood and walked toward the window while she continued talking.

  “But what I did find out was you come from a rather wealthy family. Your father owns cattle ranches not only here in Texas, but up in Wyoming as well. My guess is this girl looked you up and saw a chance to get money out of you.”

  Pushing out a deep breath, I turned back to her. “She didn’t mention anything about money.”

  “Tell me exactly what she said.”

  With a shrug, I closed my eyes and thought back to the short conversation I had with Emily. “She said she came to tell me she found out she was pregnant and she was keeping the baby.”

  “Then?”

  With a grunt, I asked, “Then what?”

  “What was your response to that?”

  “I told her there was no way the kid was mine.”

  Aubrey waited for me to go on.

  Kicking at nothing on the floor, I kept talking. “She said she hadn’t been with anyone other than me, and that she wanted to meet with me tomorrow to talk things over.”

  With a quick nod of her head, she j
umped up and grabbed a notebook. “I’m going to need everything on this girl. Her name, full name if you can get it, her age, where she is from, and when she started at the University of Austin.”

  “I could probably look her up in the system,” I said. “I don’t even know her last name, though.”

  Aubrey lifted her gaze to mine. They were filled with disappointment and it about killed me.

  Her attention fell back onto the paper. “I think what you need to do tomorrow is the exact opposite of what she thinks you’re going to do.”

  “And that is?” I inquired as I sat back on the sofa. “Because what I really want to do is get drunk and forget this night ever happened.”

  She jotted some notes as she spoke. “Well, by your behavior toward her this evening, she thinks you’re going to freak out on her, probably tell her to get rid of the baby.”

  “I would never do that.”

  Her eyes quickly looked up to mine and she smiled. “I know you wouldn’t, but she doesn’t know that.”

  My chest tightened knowing Aubrey saw more of me than most people.

  “You’re going to tell her you will stand by her and support her through this. But that the moment the baby is born, a DNA test needs to be done. Tell her she can move into your condo, and you’ll make sure she is completely taken care of during the pregnancy.”

  I was sure my jaw was on the ground. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  Without so much as looking at me, Aubrey opened her laptop and started typing. “Nope. I’m not kidding at all.”

  “I don’t want her living in my condo! I mean, if the kid truly turns out to be mine, I’ll step up to the plate. But I know it’s not mine. What if she agrees to it?”

  Lifting her eyes, she winked. “Then you’ll have yourself a new roommate.”

  “Bullshit. No one is moving in with me. Hell no.”

  “Fine. Then tell her you’ll lease out a condo unit in the building. You want her close by. After all, she’s having your baby.”

  Balling my fists, I went to talk when Aubrey shook her head and stood up in front of me. “Wait. Before you get angry, I’m kidding. She’s not pregnant with your baby. Matter of fact, I’d bet my salary she isn’t even pregnant.”

  With a long drawn out moan, I stood. “I’m going home.”

  “Don’t forget to get all the information on her,” Aubrey called out.

  Before I got to the door, I glanced back at Aubrey. “How can you be so sure she isn’t pregnant?”

  Standing, she crossed her arms over her chest and smirked. “Because I have a hunch.”

  My heart jumped to my throat. “You have a hunch?”

  With a nod, she answered, “Yep.”

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

  MY PEN TAPPED against the notebook as I waited to hear from Brett. I wasn’t sure why or how, but I knew this girl was a fraud. MaryJo Longing did an article a few years back about women who tried to scam teachers and coaches out of thousands of dollars by making similar claims. My gut was telling me this was the same thing.

  The light knock on the door caused my stomach to plunge. “Come in,” I said calmly, even though my heart was racing.

  Pat walked in and flashed me a big ol’ smile. “So how’s it going, Aubrey? Owens behaving for you?”

  Plastering on a fake smile, I nodded my head. “He has been very helpful I must say. I haven’t had to hog tie him to a chair and force him to talk to me … yet.”

  He tossed his head back and let out a roar of laughter. I couldn’t help but chuckle as well.

  “Well, I have hit somewhat of a wall in one respect to Brett’s NFL career.”

  Pat’s face fell and he moved about in his seat.

  Oh, oh he knew something. Reaching over, I grabbed my small digital recorder and hit the red button. “What made you hire, Brett Owens?”

  “This is an official question I’m assuming?”

  With a grin, I replied. “Yes.”

  “He knows football. He excelled here when he was a player, and I knew bringing him in as the head football coach would only improve our program.”

  “And it did.”

  With a huge smile, he agreed. “It sure did.”

  “But why the secrecy in the reason Brett left the NFL. He got hurt, but from what I’ve read, it wasn’t a career-ending injury.”

  Pat nodded his head and looked at the recorder. “May we go off the record here, Aubrey?”

  Reaching for the device, I stopped recording. “I’d never betray your trust, that I can promise you.”

  He smiled. “Aubrey something very deeply personal happened to Brett during that time. So much so, he chose to walk away from a very promising career in the NFL.”

  “What? What happened?” I asked with baited breath.

  Pat held up his hands. “That you’re going to have to get out of Brett. I won’t betray his trust on it. Brett is more than the head football coach here. He’s like a son to me. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for him.”

  I let out a frustrated sigh, even though I respected him for not going behind Brett’s back. A thought occurred to me. If this pregnancy thing turned out to be true, would Pat hide it to keep Brett’s job safe? Chewing on my lip, I focused back on the conversation.

  “Is it something he’ll tell me?”

  His face looked so sad. Whatever it was, it not only hurt Brett, but it hurt Pat in some way as well. “I hope he does because I think it would be good for him to talk about it.”

  My cell phone rang with an unknown number. Quickly standing, Pat excused himself and headed out of my office. I guess that was his escape from any more questions.

  “Saved by the phone!” I called as he chuckled and waved goodbye. “We need to set up a time for your interview!”

  Pat lifted his hand and waved as he stepped out of my office.

  “This is Aubrey Cain.”

  “Ms. Cain, how are you this afternoon?”

  Ryan Dryer. What in the world is he doing calling me?

  Spinning around in my chair, I looked out the giant window to the clear blue sky.

  “Mr. Dryer, I’m doing fine. You?”

  He chortled and replied, “How did you know it was me?”

  With a grin, I answered, “That smooth southern drawl of yours is hard to miss.”

  “I like a woman who is not only beautiful, but clearly smart, and pays attention to the details.”

  Digging deep down, I tried my best to pull off a Scarlet O’Hara accent. “I do declare, Mr. Dryer, are you trying to woo me with your sweet talk?”

  “That all depends. Is it working?” I could hear the smile in his voice, and I had to admit the silly flirting felt good.

  “It might be working, but then again, that depends on why you called me.”

  “Dinner this evening.”

  Chewing on my lip, I thought about it. What harm would come from an innocent dinner? If my mother knew Senator Ryan Dryer was asking me to dinner she would tell me to go if anything for her sake. Plus, a night out would be nice.

  Brett popped into my mind. It was clear he did not get along with, nor even like, Ryan. I had no idea why since Ryan said they were good friends before. I made a note to press both of them for more information.

  “I probably need to make sure I don’t need to be anywhere tonight with Brett.”

  Ryan let out a rough sounding laugh. “Owens wouldn’t mind a night off from you constantly following him around, although, I’m sure he likes the attention.”

  Ouch. That was a jab. “Brett doesn’t strike me as an attention-seeker.”

  I was slightly put off by Ryan insulting Brett. The few weeks I’d been here and got to know Brett better, he was actually a very sincere and humble person. “How about an early dinner? I have plans tomorrow morning and don’t want to be out to late.”

  “With Brett?”

  Narrowing my brows, I shook my head. Well now, this is getting interesting. “It’s my birthday tomorrow and
I have plans.”

  “Fair enough. Then I’m taking you out for an early birthday dinner.”

  Smiling, I stood and walked to the window. “Sounds like a plan. Should I meet you somewhere?”

  “No, I’ll have my car pick you up at say, six?”

  “Six sounds great. Looking forward to it, Ryan.”

  “So am I, Aubrey. So am I.”

  The way he said my name caused a chill to rush over my body. My instincts told me I needed to be guarded around him.

  Pulling the phone back from my ear, I hit “End”.

  Spinning on my heels, I let out a scream when I saw Brett standing there.

  “Jesus!” My hands came up to my chest as I tried to settle my racing heart. “You scared me, Brett.”

  He didn’t say a word at first, he just stood there staring at me.

  Clearing my throat, I asked, “How did everything go? What did Emily say?”

  Nothing. He simply stood there looking at me. There was something in his eyes, but I couldn’t pinpoint it.

  “Brett? Is everything okay?”

  Shaking his head, he seemed to snap out of it. “Um … yeah.”

  “What happened with Emily?”

  He rubbed his hand over the scruff on his face and my lower stomach tightened with desire. God, I love it when he does that.

  “She seemed to get a little flustered when I mentioned her moving into the building here and me taking care of her until the baby was born. I also told her I’d be getting a DNA test done.”

  I lifted my brows in a questioning look. “Flustered? Like how?”

  Brett looked away from me as he continued to talk. “I don’t know. She stumbled on her words. Then she said she didn’t want me to be in the baby’s life, and that if I wanted this to go away without the school finding out, I could give her two hundred thousand dollars and she’d leave. I hold her I wanted to go to a doctor first to make sure she was really pregnant.”

  I knew it. I knew something about this whole situation didn’t smell right.

  “Let me guess, she said no.”

  “She handed me a positive pregnancy test and said that should be good enough.”

  I sat at my desk and laughed. “Does she think you’re stupid?”

  Brett’s face was white as a ghost. “I told her it wasn’t good enough so she excused herself to make a phone call. When she came back, she told me she had a doctor’s appointment in thirty minutes so we jumped in a cab and headed there.”