Touchdown (3 page)

Zoey knew the little girl was frightened she’d leave her again. “I’ll be back, promise,” she said before Bessie released her hand.

She ran out of the store and searched for the woman in a green topper. When she couldn’t see her anymore, she crossed the pedestrian lane and looked around again. It was rush hour, and the sidewalk was busy, but very few of them had green topper. It should be easy to find her.

She spotted Beth at the corner. She just turned left.

She followed the woman until she was close enough.

“Beth?” she called out.

The woman stopped and turned to look at her.

Bullseye. It was indeed her backstabbing ex-bestfriend.

Zoey’s heart raced. She wasn’t quite sure what to feel right now. She still hated her bestfriend for betraying her, and for abandoning Bessie, but they needed to talk.

Unfortunately, Beth suddenly ran away.

“Beth!” she yelled, but Beth kept running.

With her three-inch heels, Zoey could not keep up, but she didn’t give up. She continued to chase Beth along the sidewalk and across the road. She was determined not to let that bitch walk away from her this time without saying a word.

She was crossing the pedestrian lane when she tripped. She tried to get up, when suddenly, something hit her behind her left leg.

She was thrown back into the ground. Her vision darkened, but she was still half-aware of her surroundings.

What happened? Why is she lying sideways on the ground? Why couldn’t she move?

“Shit!” she heard someone say. It was a man’s voice.

Suddenly, she felt a stabbing pain in her leg. Did that man hit her?

She heard her own cry of pain. She’d never felt this much pain her whole life. She was dying. She knew it.

“Miss, are you okay?” the voice asked. She could see his silhouette sitting on his haunches in front of her.

She felt a finger under her chin. He was checking her pulse.

“I need an ambulance right now,” he said, probably speaking on the phone. “There’s a vehicular accident. A woman is in need of urgent care.”

She struggled to reach out and grabbed his shirt. “Bess,” she said in a very faint voice.

The man leaned closer to her. “What?”

“Mc-Donalds. B-blonde.”

She tried to hold on, but the light slowly left her.

Chapter 3

“What the fuck, Myers! What did you do this time?” Logan’s thundering voice echoed inside the room where Troy was detained following the accident.

“It was an accident,” Troy reasoned out. He was expecting to see his uncle in the morning, but the old man drove all the way to New York the moment he heard the news.

“You were on a pedestrian lane, you prick!” Logan yelled, standing in front of Troy, nose to nose. “And you were drunk. It’s reckless imprudence against you, young man, resulting in serious physical injuries. Let’s hope that woman lives or you’re faced with homicide.”

Troy expelled a breath. “Can’t you do something?”

“Do something? What the fuck do you expect me to do? Bribe the officers?”

“Something like that.”

“Why don’t you do it? I’m not about to risk my reputation over you, besides being charged for bribery.”

Troy sat on the chair.

“The game is in three days, Myers, and now you’ve fucked up again. Of all the time for you to fuck up, why now?”

“I could go out on bail.”

“It’s ten o’clock in the evening, dumbass,” Logan grunted, hitting the table with his fists.

“Tomorrow.”

“The courts are closed tomorrow. It’s Saturday. You will have to spend the whole fucking weekend here.”

Troy rubbed his forehead. This was indeed a bad time for him to mess up. He should have done it any other days but Friday night. “If I can get out of here Monday morning, I can make it to the game in the afternoon.”

“Without rest? Without practice? What are you? Hercules?”

“It’s been done. What else can I do?”

“All I asked you to do was to sit still in your fucking house!” Logan yelled. He’d been yelling ever since he arrived. Troy wondered if his anger would ever subside. “Why the hell did you have to come all the way here in New York just to fuck women?”

“I just visited an old friend. I was on my way back home.”

Logan leaned forward and pointed a finger in his face. “I did warn you, son, that if you screwed up one more time, it will be the end of you. Now you’ve done it. You’re finished.”

Troy shook his head. He knew he was in deep shit, considering the fact that he already had a bad reputation outside the field prior to this accident. “You’re not telling me you’re suspending me from the game, are you?”

“You think you only deserve a suspension? What about termination?”

Troy scoffed. “You can’t do that. The team needs me.”

“You think you’re irreplaceable?”

“Uncle, you’re forgetting that I was the NFL’s number one quarterback for three years now.”

“And you’re forgetting that Haas is only a few points behind you, and his contract with the Broncos will expire this season, and he’s expressed his interest to join the Pats next season.”

Troy chuckled. “The Broncos cannot possibly let him go.”

“They just did. They’re not renewing his contract.”

His grin faded away. “Really?”

“Threatened?” Logan taunted.

He was, but he would not admit it. “So what do we do?”

“Why don’t you ask your smart ass father instead?”

“He doesn’t care. He’d be happy to know I’m out of the team.”

“That’s your problem.”

“I cannot lose my career. Football’s my life.”

“So it is. Without football, you’re not at all any different from your parents. Haven’t you realized that?”

Troy nodded. Although he didn’t gamble and didn’t drink as much as his parents did, he had his own addiction, sex in particular. If he weren’t playing football, he could have searched for other stuff to waste his money with. “I know that.”

“So? What now?”

Troy did not speak.

Logan sighed and sat down in front of him. “You want to hear my suggestion?” he asked. Finally, he had lowered down his voice.

“That’s what I’m waiting from you.”

“How does she look like?”

“Who?”

“That woman you hit on the road.”

Troy drew his brows together. He could hardly remember, except for her long, wavy hair. He couldn’t even tell what color it was. “She looks fine, I guess.”

“Is she someone you might consider dating with?”

Troy laughed. “Why are you asking these questions?”

“I just want to know if she’s your type.”

He laughed again. “I don’t know. I was in too much distress to think about that.”

“Hmm.”

Troy squinted. “What do you have in mind? You want me to take her out for a date.”

“No.” Logan quickly shook his head. “That’s the oldest trick of criminals to cover their shit.”

“So I thought. What’s your suggestion?”

“Why don’t you… marry her?”

His jaw dropped. For a moment or two, he gawked at his coach in disbelief. “You’re kidding, right?”

Logan raised an eyebrow. “Do I look like I’m fucking kidding?”

Troy chuckled. "I am not going to marry her."

“If you want to save your ass, do that.”

“Over my dead ass.”

“Your ass is already dead, son,” Logan raised his voice again. “And it will remain dead unless you follow my advice.”

A knock on the door disturbed them.

“Excuse me, gentlemen.” A lady police entered the room with a little blonde girl. “Here’s the little girl from McDonald’s.”

“Who the hell’s that munchkin?” Logan asked.

Troy quickly hinted his uncle to keep quiet. He rose to his feet and approached the clueless girl holding onto the policewoman’s hand. She was still carrying her school bag.

“Hi,” he said and sat on his haunches in front of the kid. “You must be Bess?”

“It’s Bessie,” the girl replied.

“Oh,” he nodded. He probably heard it wrong, or that woman was too weak to speak.

“Her name’s Bessie Tucker,” the policewoman said. “According to the papers we found in the victim’s bag, Zoey Graham was just appointed by the court as the legal guardian of the child. She left her in McDonald’s when…” She paused and glanced at Bessie.

Troy understood. Bessie didn’t know it yet. “Zoey is that woman’s name?” he asked instead.

The police woman nodded.

“Where is Zoey?” Bessie asked. “Why did she leave me?”

“She didn’t leave you. She just had to go somewhere, that’s why she asked me to go get you in McDonald’s.”

“Are you her boyfriend?”

Troy was stunned.

“Yes, sweetheart,” Logan replied in Troy’s behalf as he bent down before the kid. “He is your mom’s boyfriend. Do you like him to be your father?”

Troy remained frozen as Bessie took a good look at his face, and then she smiled.

“I like him,” she said and grinned.

Troy couldn’t say a word. The girl looked very happy. He didn’t want to spoil her fun.

“He looks like that football player Zoey hates,” Bessie continued.

Everyone was startled.

“Is his name Troy Myers?” Logan asked.

“Yes. Zoey said he’s a conceited…”

“What?” Troy was intrigued.

“I don’t want to speak bad words.”

Logan leaned closer to her. “You whisper it to me,” he demanded, to which Bessie obliged. Afterwards, he snickered. “Prick,” he said and laughed again.

Troy rose to his feet and returned to his seat. At least Logan was having fun. It was better that he laughed at him than hear him yelling like crazy.

So he just hit one of his haters.

“Listen.” The policewoman interrupted. “It’s the weekend. The offices are closed. We have no one to take care of this little girl. We checked Miss Graham’s apartment but nobody else lives there, and there’s an eviction notice on her door.”

“She’s homeless?” Logan asked.

“I’m not sure, but in the meantime, would you like to take care of her just for the night? We’ll try to find a place for her to stay in the morning.”

Troy turned to look at the officer. “I’m staying here for the weekend, am I not, officer?”

“So it seems.”

He looked at Logan, smiling. “Well, coach. It seems you’ll have to babysit the kid for a while.”

“W-what?” Logan bristled up. “No no. No way.”

“Just for tonight, Sir,” the policewoman pleaded. “This girl has no place to sleep.”

“No.”

“Come on, coach,” Troy taunted. “She’s an angel.”

Logan paced towards Troy. “This is your fault. You take care of that kid.”

“I would if I could, but you couldn’t possibly lock that kid with me in a cell, could you?”

Logan grunted and clasped his skull. “Fine. But I’m taking her back right here first thing in the morning.”

*****

Zoey blinked her eyes. Everything was white.
Is this heaven?

She blinked again. Eventually, a woman’s face appeared before her.

The doctor, a middle-aged woman, was staring down at her. “Welcome back, Zoey. I’m your physician, Madison Jenkins. Can you hear me?”

Thank God, she was alive. “B-bessie?” was the first word she uttered. That little girl could be crying in McDonald’s. If the social worker found out she had left Bessie alone, she might lose the guardianship that she had fought for in months.

“The girl is safe with the police. Don’t worry,” the doctor replied.

She sighed in relief, and then she noticed her plastered left leg hanging by a white fabric. “What the fuck happened to my leg?” she asked. She could not feel anything, not even as she tried to move her toes.

“Just relax, darling,” Madison said. “You’ve sustained a major fracture on your upper thigh. You shouldn’t move it until it’s healed.”

“Fracture?” she wanted to exclaim, but she was too weak to do so. “But I can still walk, can I?”

“After some therapy, you might.”

“Might?”

The doctor nodded sadly. “But there’s a chance. Have faith.”

Zoey suddenly wept. She couldn’t help it. Why did this have to happen to her? Why her? “Who did this to me?”

Madison opened her mouth, but she couldn’t bring out the words.

“Please, Doctor. Tell me who is it? It’s a man, I’m sure. I saw him.”

The doctor cleared her throat. “It’s Troy Myers. The football star.”

Her jaw dropped. For a long moment, she remained gawking at the doctor.

“That son of a bitch!” she found herself screaming, driven by the rush of adrenaline.

“Hey, hey,” Madison tried to hold her down. “Calm down or I’ll put you back to sleep.”

Instantly, she obliged. “He really did this to me?,” she asked, gasping.

“He did, and don’t worry about him, he was arrested by the police.”

Zoey forced air out of her lungs and lay back down. Of all football stars, why Myers? Why not Mason Wayne instead?

Oh, what was she thinking? Mason would never hit a woman on the road. It just wasn’t like him. Only Troy Myers could do such terrible thing.