Caitlin's Hero (12 page)

“You gotta believe this will all work out, Brodie, mate. The drama will die down as soon as some other story comes along, and especially now that you’ve cleared up any of the contentious issues. It’s got no teeth now—no one will want to run it for too long. You’re a popular bloke, and your fans will stick by you.” Trevor’s endorsement was gratefully received by the still distraught and angry Brodie.

Once he had
ended the call from Trevor,
Brodie found the listing for Caitlin’s number and called it, desperately trying to think of a way to make it up to her for this mess. The phone line was busy and Brodie broke the connection, frustrated. He needed to speak to her now, before the rest of the world got their hooks into her.

After a quick phone call to his parents, apologising for embarrassing them, Brodie felt a little better.
On
hearing the facts, his parents told him he had nothing to apologise for. His mum seemed pleased as punch that Brodie had found Caitlin, and couldn’t wait to meet the young woman who’d coped with such hardship over the last year. Brodie promised to introduce them as soon as possible, adding that perhaps he could take them all to Mia’s Restaurant, where Caitlin sang.

Brodie continually tried to reach Caitlin, but all he could get was a busy tone. He wondered who the hell she could be talking to for so long, and was toying with the idea of getting an operator to break into the line when the painful possibility hit him.

Had the press found her already? Oh, God—they would eat her and Riley alive. He had to get to her, now.

He took stock of the situation. He was in another country, trapped in a locker room with a mob of reporters outside baying for his blood. Brodie, still dressed in his footy gear and dirty from the game, slumped to the floor, defeated. He put his head in his hands and tried to block out the sounds of his now continuously ringing phone. He felt empty to the core.

There was nothing he could do to protect his angel, and it was entirely his fault. What if she never forgave him? What if she left him before they had a chance to begin? The thought was so agonising that Brodie roared in protest and pain.

After a few minutes spent isolated in grim thoughts, Brodie looked up. He saw all his teammates, the Jets training staff and medical crew circled around, as if protecting him. He was surrounded by people who looked concerned but focused.

“What do you need us to do?”
Mitch Harris
calmly asked. “We know that’s not what you’re like, Cap. That reporter is in for one hell of a whoopin’, I’d say, and not just from your mates. Your fans know you. Everyone knows you. We’ve seen you watching that girl for weeks now, and that’s why we gave you such a hard time about her. It took so long for you to man up and talk to her that we took bets on when you would do it. You’ve been like a different bloke these last few days, Cap, and I, for one, like the new soppy you.” The rookie had a determined look on his face.

Brodie couldn’t believe what he was seeing and hearing. Everyone was
nodding
in agreement. So many mates—he was blessed.

A throng of reporters, all shouting his name, broke into the room. Brodie couldn’t help but grin as he watched JT and everyone in the room stand, as one, to hold them back.

Brodie held up both hands and asked everyone to calm down. He instantly had the attention of everyone in the room.

“Ladies and gentlem
e
n, it seems I have some explaining to do, what with nearly being caught with my pants down and all,” Brodie announced with a steady voice. “I believe some of you may be interested to hear all the facts, and I am willing to give them right now—on one condition.”

The idea for the plan had come to him as he’d watched his teammates rally to protect him. He had to at least try to help Caitlin, even if it meant making deals with the devil.

“I have been trying to get in touch with the young lady who has been inadvertently caught up in this mess because of my inability to control my feelings for her. As you would well know,
I have
always been renowned for my calm. At the moment, though, I am far from calm.
I’m
imagining my poor angel surrounded by a pack of hungry wolves—I mean, reporters.”

As a follow-up to that last line he gave one of his best Brodie James grins. He heard the gasps of surprise from everyone in the room, and looked over at JT who just smiled and nodded in approval.

“Do you think you guys could give me a hand here? Can you ring your fellow reporters and urge them to leave my girl alone? Just for long enough for me to actually confirm with her that she
is
my girl, after I’ve managed to embarrass her so publicly.”

Brodie finished his statement by
giving the room a rundown of the facts just as he had explained them a few moments earlier to Trevor Hughes
, holding out his hands to the room as if pleading. It was amazing to watch nearly every journalist, cameraman and photographer in the room take out their phones and start making calls. Brodie sighed with relief. Maybe it would be okay.

Chapter Fourteen

Caitlin had been making it through the weekend quite well. Okay, the very loud heavy metal music, courtesy of her new neighbour, had made sleeping difficult last night, but that hadn’t been the only reason for her restlessness. Caitlin knew that her eagerness to touch and be touched in return by that gorgeous man was the main problem. She smiled again. It seemed to be almost her default expression these days.

She had joined Riley on the sofa to watch Brodie’s game, feeling
excited and a little nervous
at the same time. Riley had grabbed her hand and assured her it was okay, that Brodie and JT were the best props in the game—whatever that meant—and that Auckland didn’t stand a chance. She’d smiled at her brother. She hadn’t cared about the
match
so much as the chance to see Brodie, even if it was only on the television screen.

As the game had concluded, Caitlin had managed to take what felt like her first breath in over eighty long minutes. Apart from a ten-minute break halfway through, it had all been action. Caitlin had cringed every time she’d seen her
sexy
hunk of masculinity get slammed to the ground by up to four other large, rough-looking men.

At one point, Brodie had
passed
the ball on to someone else—though Caitlin didn’t know how, since he’d seemed to be engulfed by the opposition—and that player had run and put the ball down for a try. Caitlin had felt a surge of pride for her wild, strong man, knowing it was because of him the team was winning. It had seemed a bit brutal to her eyes, but Riley hadn’t shared her concerns. He’d jumped up and down and cheered loudly for Brodie every time he’d been involved in the action. JT had looked even bigger and scarier in football gear, and strong as he’d pounded the other team’s players into the ground. It was obvious both of these men enjoyed what they did for a living.

During the game the phone rang a few times, but Caitlin hadn’t been able to tear herself away from the TV so she’d let it ring out, thinking it was likely to be someone selling something she couldn’t afford anyway. Her eyes had been glued to the action taking place on the little television screen.

Caitlin was brimming with energy after the game had ended. She could hardly believe that she had a date just the next evening with such a talented and obviously famous man. The voices that had
commentated on the game
had just kept raving on about James this and James that. She didn’t know what they’d meant when they’d said he would be excused for his one blemish because he was such an inspiration to so many. She really hadn’t understood much of what the voices had said throughout the whole game. Riley hadn’t known
what they meant about a blemish
either and that had surprised her, as her brother seemed to be a wealth of information about Brodie James
.

Trying to come back down from the clouds, Caitlin focused on some housework. Noticing the garbage bin was full, she asked Riley to tie up the bag and put it in one of the wheelie bins outside. As usual, Riley grumbled, but to his credit headed off to attend to the task. Caitlin had just turned on the vacuum cleaner when the phone started ringing again. Remembering that she had ignored a few calls during the game, she was starting to get a little worried that it could be important.

“Hello, Caitlin speaking.”

A male voice replied but she couldn’t quite make out the words he was saying
.

“Just hold on a sec, I didn’t quite catch what you said. Just let me stop this noise,” she shouted as she stomped on the button to shut the machine off. As silence filled the room, Caitlin returned her attention to the phone and asked the caller to repeat what he had said.

“This is Jack Edwards. I’m a reporter from the
Sydney Age
. I was hoping to get a quote from you in regards to today’s story on Brodie James. Were you aware of his marital status before you had relations with him, before he started fondling you in public?”

Caitlin’s blood turned to ice. Her heart clenched painfully and tears rolled down her cheeks as she listened to the caller. His questions and tone were so rude—disgusting. She couldn’t find her voice to answer that no, she hadn’t realised Brodie James was married.

She remembered well the beautiful, blonde woman who had sat next to Brodie at the fundraising night, but had never asked him who she was.
Caitlin had just assumed that the woman was with someone else after the way Brodie had kissed her out in the car park.
She felt very guilty for kissing and dining with another woman’s husband, making dates with him in the future and so much more.

Suddenly, it was clear to her how foolish she had been. As if a man like Brodie James would ever think she was anything more than a bit on the side. Realising she still held the phone to her ear, she slammed the
handset
back into its cradle. Almost as it hit the disconnect button, the phone came to life again. Caitlin reached down and pulled the phone socket from its connection in the wall, silencing the horrible bringer of such devastating news.

“My God,” she cried. “How am I going to tell Riley what I’ve done, and why we can never see Brodie James again?”

Caitlin heard the door open and turned to see Riley standing there, just staring at her from the doorway. There was something terribly wrong with her brother. He was as white as a ghost. Slowly he lifted his arm and she realised that, in his trembling hand, he was holding some sort of newspaper.

“Sis, I hate him! I really hate him! Why did he do this to you? I thought he was a good guy, but I hate him now and I wish he would just die,” Riley shouted, then broke down sobbing as tears began streaming down his face. The hand that was not holding the paper was clenched, knuckles white, by his side.

Caitlin reached for the paper Riley was still holding out to her. As she did so, she noticed June and a girl with spiky, dark hair had also entered the small flat.

As if in slow motion, Caitlin brought the paper up to read. The photo hit her first. It was a shock seeing herself in such a provocative pose. All sense of reason and reality deserted her, and she even caught herself registering how gorgeous Brodie looked—as always—in the candid shot. Caitlin remembered how being in his arms had made her feel after she had thrown herself at him for the second time. And it had been the same again the other night. Her last thought as she finished reading the article was,
I’m a slut.
Caitlin sank to the floor, sobbing as emotion and grief overwhelmed her, and covered her eyes with her hands as she tried to block out the reality that had descended on her.

When Caitlin opened her swollen eyes, she found June kneeling in front of her. June
reached out and took
her hand
, encouraging her up from the floor and suggesting she should
have a
lie down on the
sofa
for a few moments, to recover from the shock.

“I didn’t know he was married. He didn’t tell me.” Caitlin whimpered. “We really only kissed and stuff. I didn’t make love to him all the way,
” she whispered, so that Riley wouldn’t hear,
“
although I wanted to.” She started crying again as the older woman hugged her.

“Don’t cry, darling. It’s okay. It’s all going to be okay. Maybe there is an explanation for all of this,” June said soothingly. “Why would anyone hurt you in this way? You’re such a beautiful girl.”

The dark-haired stranger was speaking, but Caitlin could not hear her clearly.

She saw Riley go over to the window and look out.

“What’s going on, June?” Caitlin managed to croak. She felt sick and so tired all of a sudden.

Riley came and patted her reassuringly on the shoulder. “It’s okay, sis. The reporters seem to be leaving.”

This new piece of information was just too much for Caitlin to deal with.

“What reporters?” she wailed, burying her face into the back of the
sofa.

* * * *

It was nice of June to stay with them
in their hour of need.
It seemed like hours since Caitlin’s world had crashed down around her. As she sipped a cup of strong, sweet tea, Caitlin tried to pull herself together.

Life was going to go on. She still had Riley to think about. The poor kid had
been cruelly delivered another
harsh taste of reality. Her family appeared to be cursed by life.