Stephanie Doyle - Betting On The Rookie

“Stop thinking about him like that,” she mumbled as she turned off the water after a very quick five minutes.

Ten minutes later, she was dressed in pants and a pale pink blouse, her damp hair pulled back into a sleek knot, and her professional demeanor now fully in place.

When she came down the steps he stood.

“Can I get you something to drink? A beer or something?” Actually, Sam had no idea what type of alcohol was in the house. She only drank white wine, but the fridge down in the basement always used to be stacked with a variety of beers.

“No, I’ve got a game tonight. I only have a little less than an hour before I have to head to the field.”

Sam nodded, his point taken. “Then, sit, and I’ll get down to it.”

Sam pulled a small, delicate chair over, so that she was directly across from him.

“The Montreal Robins traded you to the New England Rebels for their closer. The Robins have a shot at the play-offs this season, while the Rebels are iffy at best. So they are probably already looking to next year, and they consider you the best any play-off-bound team had to offer. Your batting average is currently .359, but don’t expect to keep it that high when you face off against major league pitching, although even if it falls off a little, it’s still quite good. Plus, not only do you hit consistently, you also hit for power. A natural three-or four-hitter in the lineup.”

“I get it. You looked up my stats. What I want to know is what happened between you and Richard Stanson?”

Samantha bristled at that but continued. “I spoke to your father, of course. Naturally, he had only glowing things to say about you, but I get the sense there is a deep well of pride when it comes to you. I also spoke with Michelle Lowell.”

“My high school girlfriend?”

“She also had nothing but good things to say about you. Even though you were the star quarterback on the team, she said you were always very humble, which is rare in a stud athlete. Then there was Megan Craig, the teacher you worked with at your former job. She was a little cool with me, of course, having recently been dumped by you, but when pressed about your character, she couldn’t really say anything negative. I’m still trying to get in touch with your college girlfriend, Kelly Lawson. She seems to have moved around the country a bit, but I’m sure I will eventually track her down...”

“Hold up, hold up,” Even said, raising his hand. “You did all this research on me? I’m not the one who did anything wrong.”

“I’m not the one who did anything wrong, either,” Sam said coolly. “The research I did on you, I also did on Richard Stanson. I can only work with what people tell me, and Richard failed to tell me that in recent months he’d grown violent with his fiancée. Had he told me, I would have immediately reported him to the police for assault. I would have counseled Juliette to seek therapy for accepting that assault and still maintaining a relationship with him. When I went before the press I only had the word of a man who I had known for four years who had no previous history of violence, if the women in his past were to be believed. So I trusted him.”

“You were wrong,” Evan said solemnly.

It took everything she had, but Samantha kept her chin up. “I was wrong.”

“I believe you didn’t know.”

“I believe what Michelle and Megan said about you as a person. But I’m still going to speak to Kelly when I find her.”

“She won’t say anything different. I loved Kelly. I would never hurt her.”

He sounded so sincere, Sam thought. Like he absolutely believed what he said. Except Richard had said the same thing about Juliette, and Don had at one point said the same thing to her.

“You’ll have to forgive me,” Sam said. “I find I’m a bit cynical these days.”

“Right. I guess you can’t believe anyone anymore. Makes what that bastard did even worse. Knocked around his girlfriend and then shattered your trust in the process. I don’t know how a person lives with that.”

Sam smiled humorlessly. “Richard was suspended for four games. He’ll be playing again next fall, and last I heard his new agent landed him a deal that will make him the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL. He and Juliette are to be married in August. They seem to be living just fine.”

“And you lost your business.”

“I lost my clients,” Sam corrected him. “I’m the business. I’m still here. Not going anywhere.”

Evan seemed to study her as if he was making his own decisions.

“I’m not going to sell you anything,” Sam told him. “I’m not going to beg you to sign with me. I’m just going to tell you a few simple facts. You’ve got a contract that expires at the end of the season. The Rebels, if they are smart, will wait until they call you up to the Bigs to see how you perform, before they even consider making you an offer. But it’s a risk they take. If they wait too long and you succeed, there will be other bidders. If they move too fast, and you don’t pan out...”

“That’s not going to happen.”

Sam looked at him straight on and saw it in his eyes. Not confidence or arrogance. Instead, she saw determination.

“You wouldn’t be the first stud minor league player not to make the transition to the majors.”

“It’s. Not. Going. To. Happen.”

Sam shrugged. “Either way, you’re going to want to play this to your best advantage. Let’s face it, you’re twenty-nine. This next contract is likely to be your one and only big money deal. If you sign with me, I’ll make sure together we make the most of it.”

Evan huffed. “I’m making almost two hundred thousand dollars right now. That’s more money than I thought I would ever see in my life.”

Sam got up and moved to sit next to him on the couch. It was a staged maneuver meant to infer intimacy between the agent and client. A bonding process. Only with Evan she felt stilted. When he looked at her, looked at how close she was to actually touching him, she could feel him stiffen.

Neither of them were comfortable sitting this close. It was a flag in Sam’s brain, but she refused to acknowledge it.

“You understand what happens next, don’t you? If you get called up this year, when the negotiations start...we’re talking millions. If you’re as good as everyone says you are...we’re talking multiple millions. I know it sounds crazy, but you would be amazed at how many people have a hard time adjusting to that kind of life change. I could help with that, too. With the transition you’ll need to make.”

“All part of the service, huh?”

“Yes,” Sam said simply. “I don’t just handle one contract and we’re done. If you do this thing with me, then I become part of your life, and you become part of mine.”

Even looked at her hard, and for a second, just a second, she might have thought that his gaze lingered on her mouth.

Another flag she was choosing to dismiss.

“Yeah.” He finally nodded. “That’s what I want.”

Sam held her hand out and suppressed the shudder that went through her when he engulfed her in his handshake.

It was going to be fine, she thought. So what if he was handsome? So what if her thoughts strayed into dangerous territory when it came to him? In the end she was a professional and a woman who had complete control over her actions. She simply wouldn’t let whatever this thing between them was get out of hand.

“It’s a deal?” she asked as he was still shaking her hand.

“It’s a deal.”

CHAPTER THREE

CRACK.

Sam knew the moment she heard the sound that Evan had hit the ball out of the park. She watched as it sailed over the left field wall. Duff used to say it was the sweetest sound in the universe, right after the sound of any one of his daughters laughing.