Premier Deception (16 page)

They made their way to the bar and
Charlotte turned to Max and said, “Ronnie has got it wrong, nothing
happened between Luke and I and nor will it.” He looked steadily at
her and said. “Did something else happen that you want to tell me
about?” This was her chance to tell him what had occurred but she
couldn’t risk him making a scene or telling Sylvia. “I can’t say I
am afraid because I don’t want to hurt someone else but I will deal
with it myself in my own way.” He looked subdued and she put her
hand on his arm, “I really want to tell you Max more than anything
because I care for you. If I tell you I will be opening up a can of
worms that I am not sure will be the right thing to do. Please
trust me and I will tell you as soon as I can.” Max nodded but she
could see that a little of his spark had left him. Desperate to
change the subject she said looking around, “where are your
parents, I would love to meet them?” His face went blank again and
he answered shortly, “they had to leave,” and offered no further
explanation.

Chantelle suddenly appeared behind the
bar. “Charlotte, Max, great to see you, the game was great and
isn’t this a good turn out?” Charlotte was relieved to see that she
had regained some of her bounce and smiled at her and said, “Yes
it’s been an interesting day, have you met any of the players yet?
Are there any that have caught your attention?” Chantelle blushed
and said, “I do have a slight crush on one, but I am not going to
say anything because I don’t want to make a fool of myself.” Before
Charlotte could answer she heard a voice booming out behind her.
“Here she is the woman in charge.” Turning around she saw Mitchell
standing there with his wife Gloria in tow looking resplendent in a
tight white satin dress with expensive jewellery around her neck
and bracelets adorning both arms. Her rings flashed as did her eyes
as she took in Charlotte with her large gleaming eyes. She half
smiled and said in the low voice that Charlotte remembered, “I am
pleased to meet you again.”

Charlotte blushed and said, “I am
pleased to meet you too and please accept my apologies for our last
meeting, I will try not to spill anything over you this time.” They
both laughed and despite her cool exterior Charlotte thought she
saw a hint of warmth break through but then it was gone and one
again replaced with the blank look that she seemed to prefer.
Charlotte was then lost in introductions to various people and
caught up in conversations with sponsors and team member’s
families. Before long she looked around for Max and realised with a
start that he must have gone. Her family had left long ago and she
felt quite alone. Luke appeared beside her and said, “Come on lets
get out of this circus and get something to eat.” Gratefully she
followed him outside. As they made their way to the car he said,
“Colin and Mark will meet us there, come on it’s not far I expect
you must be hungry.” Charlotte realised that she was actually
ravenous so was grateful to climb into the large car and they made
their way out into the countryside towards a country pub.

As they drove she thought about the
incident with Ronnie and what had happened in the bar afterwards.
She realised that she had to do something but what?

“Luke can I ask you a question?” she
said. “Of course,” he answered.

“
Why is Ronnie so bitter all of
the time?” She could tell that the question had caught him off
guard because he immediately stiffened up. He didn’t answer
immediately as if considering his response but he finally said,
“Ronnie has got to the stage in his career when he has probably got
as far as he is going to go and it is all downhill from now on. The
younger players are coming through and challenging him and he can’t
deal with it. He thinks he knows best and doesn’t handle authority
well. Many players at this stage in their careers are looking to
the future and wondering what they will do after the game. If he is
lucky he will see out his football playing years at the club and
then go on to the coaching team, if he is unlucky he will move to a
lesser club and gradually have less and less games and then be out
of the game with no job. Some go into the media as pundits and
critics but that is a limited avenue. He may have the option to go
abroad and play but really he is probably anxious about what the
future holds and so lets it affect him at the club.”

Charlotte pondered all of this and
replied. “Do you think that Mitchell will give him a job on the
coaching staff? After all they apparently get on really well and he
looks to him as family, or so I have heard,” she said hurriedly,
once again she could tell that Luke measured his response as he
said, “I don’t know why they are so close, but Mitchell is first
and foremost a business man. He will do what is right for Mitchell
and nobody else,” he said somewhat bitterly.

“
Does Maurice have much say about
it all?” pressed on Charlotte. “Not really, he has always been a
bit overshadowed and intimidated by his brother and leaves him to
do much of the day to day running, as long as his beloved club is
doing well and the fans are happy that’s all that bothers him.” He
looked at her but she couldn’t see his expression in the darkness.
“Why all the questions, what is on your mind?” he said. “Oh nothing
really, I am just trying to make sense of a few things that’s all.”
She brushed it all off and then they turned into the pub car park.
“The Crazy Horse,” she said reading the board outside, “that just
about sums up life at the moment,” she laughed and Luke replied,
“that’s for sure let’s just hope its smooth sailing from now on.”
They parked and made their way inside where Colin and Mark were
waiting. They had secured a table in the corner away from the
crowds and Charlotte and Luke made their way over to them.
Charlotte noticed that several people were looking at them and
nudging each other, the women were looking at Luke in open
admiration as he cut quite a dashing figure as he moved through the
bar. “Hi guys,” he said and pulled a chair out for Charlotte to sit
down.”

They spent the next hour discussing the
game and what they could have improved on. They analysed everything
and talked tactics going forward. They spoke in low voices so that
they weren’t overheard and Charlotte felt really comfortable and at
home sitting in the warm cosy pub with people that she had grown to
like and admire. After another hour when the food had been consumed
and they had put the world to rights Colin said, “sorry guys I must
make a move, Rose’s sister is over from Jersey so I had better make
an appearance. Mark do you want me to give you a lift?” “Great,
thanks mate,” said Mark and they both headed off. Luke looked at
Charlotte and said, “Do you want another drink Charlotte or do you
want to get off too?” Charlotte was feeling so comfortable and
enjoying the evening but she sensed that Luke had something on his
mind and probably wanted to get off. “I am sure that you have
better things to do than baby sit me,” she said playfully. He
smiled, “not really, it’s just me at home and all I do is work out
or watch Match of the Day.” She looked at him curiously. “There is
nobody to share it all with?” she said more as a statement than a
question. He shook his head somewhat sadly. “No, I don’t appear to
be very good at relationships and always seem to choose the wrong
person.” She fixed him with her steady gaze and said, “you can’t
help who you fall in love with, I am sure that things will work out
in the end, at least that’s what my mother is always telling me so
it must be true.” She laughed and he joined in. Then he said, “why
don’t I pay the bill and then take you for that coffee? I know a
great place.” “Ok that sounds great,” she said and they gathered
their things and headed off.

They drove back down the country lanes
and onto the dual carriageway. After about ten minutes Luke pulled
off and they found themselves in a lay-by next to a food van. “Come
on,” said Luke grinning. “Bert makes the best tea and bacon rolls
in the world here.” Charlotte grinned, “I can’t think why you are
single Luke if this is your idea of a night out,” they laughed and
ordered their drinks. They sat at a little plastic table and chairs
and took in the sights around them. “I often come here,” Luke said.
“Nobody bothers you and you just mingle in with the truckers and
watch the busy world race by.” “Yes your Range Rover really blends
in; nobody could possibly see you here,” she retorted and raised
her eyes up. The temperature had dropped and she shivered. Luke got
up and went to the car. He came back with a blanket that he kept on
the back seat and wrapped it around her. “Here you go, can’t have
you coming down with anything,” he said gallantly. She was grateful
for the warmth both in the blanket and his demeanour. They spent a
pleasant half an hour talking about their lives. She learned that
he used to play football but never really made the grade so he went
into coaching. He had got the job at United two years ago and when
he had first started they were doing well and challenging for all
the trophies. Then last year the team just suddenly seemed to fall
apart and subsequently the manager was sacked and here they were
languishing at the bottom of the Premier League, manager- less and
playing more than one game, that of football and more besides.

“Do you think that we can pull this
off?” she said, “I mean I hate lying to everyone and am trying to
do the best that I can but I am not sure if any good will come of
it in the end.” Luke look thoughtful and then replied, “It’s not
the best situation to be in and yes possibly it will all backfire,
but then again it may just work out, you just never know. You’re
doing well, much better than I would have thought,” he said so
kindly that Charlotte’s eyes filled up. He really was very nice
when you got to know him, she thought. Suddenly feeling tired,
Charlotte yawned prompting Luke to jump up and say, “come on it’s
late. I’ll get you home.” She stood up and the blanket slipped so
he pulled it back around her shoulders. She looked up at him and
said, “Luke you will find a way of being with that special someone
you know. You deserve it as you really are quite the gentleman.” He
looked at her with sadness in his eyes. “I hope that you are
right,” he said and they walked to the car both lost in their own
thoughts.

The
next day Charlotte was woken by Jake bursting through her bedroom
door waving the Sunday papers at her. “Lottie you are all over the
papers and the news, when did you start going out with Luke
Sandor!” he shouted incredulously. “What!!!” Charlotte sat bolt
upright and looked at him confused, “I’m not; what are you talking
about?”

“It’s all in here with pictures about
how you two are going out, there are newspaper reporters outside
with cameras wanting your comments. Mum’s going mad down there
worrying about the state of the front garden and how it will look
on camera.” Charlotte jumped out of bed and grabbed the paper.
There was a picture of her and Luke obviously taken last night at
the tea van, it looked like he had his arm around her and they were
looking at each other and laughing, Love’s young Dream, the caption
said and Charlotte felt sick. Inside were more pictures of them in
the car outside the pub laughing and sitting inside the pub with
their heads together. Conveniently Colin and Mark were not featured
even though they had all been at the table together. The most
damaging however was a grainy CCTV photo of them in an embrace
inside the club, which she knew was when he was comforting her
after her encounter with Ronnie. She read,

“It appears that United’s new gorgeous
manager Charlotte Dawson and its charismatic coach Luke Sandor,
have struck up more than just a working relationship. Word is at
the club that they have been getting closer every day and it has
now grown into a full on relationship. Our source at the club said
that morale is low as the two appear to be more wrapped up in each
other than dealing with the job in hand. The owner of the club
Mitchell Maloney will no doubt have something to say about his two
head coaching staff as this further illustrates why women should
not be mixing with men at this level. Charlotte has certainly not
done herself, or any other woman wanting to break into football any
favours by allowing herself to become involved with one of her
team”

There were more comments from various
pundits and commentators none of which were good and a feeling of
fear and a sense of an impending crisis were forming in the pit of
Charlotte’s stomach. Her phone was buzzing and she saw a text from
Mitchell demanding that she get to his house ASAP.

Her mother came into the room at that
point and Charlotte said, “None of it is true, we are just
colleagues, those pictures don’t tell the true story.” “Typical
gutter press”, said her mother. “Kitty Bunny warned me that they
build you up and then tear you down. You get yourself dressed and
ready and I will deal with those reporters.”

Quickly Charlotte got ready; she had no
time for make up and merely threw on her jeans and a sweater and
pulled her hair in a ponytail and grabbed her large sunglasses from
the table. Shouting to her mum that she was going out and was
borrowing her car she grabbed the keys from the hall table and
headed out of the back door away from the reporters. She jumped
into her mother’s BMW and drove purposefully out of the drive
ignoring the waiting reporters who chased her, their cameras
clicking all the time and shouting questions after her. Shaken she
headed off in the direction of Mitchell’s house worrying about what
she might find. Suddenly she thought of Max and her stomach
lurched. He had looked so disappointed yesterday when he thought
that she had got together with Luke and now it looked as if it was
true. She wanted to stop the car and phone him immediately but she
was too scared in case the press were following her. If only she
had hands free in the car. Max was the only one whose opinion
mattered to her at this moment which was bizarre because they were
just friends, she wanted so much more than that though. Suddenly
she made up her mind; once this was sorted out today she would tell
him everything first thing tomorrow morning when he picked her up.
She didn’t care if it meant breaking her promise, some things were
worth more and all she could see in her mind was his face when he
had thought that she was with Luke.