"Okay. Make sure Irwin draws up the paperwork. I want my lawyer doing the drafting," he said to Lola.
“Then I suggest you talk to one of the girls and have them arrange it. I don't work for you anymore, remember? And I didn't hear I love you, Lola, or I'm sorry, Lola, come out of your mouth, so I don't really feel compelled to help you out." She reached for her purse, which had been lying on the moveable tray. "Besides, I'm still working for Spence and until the merger's complete, that would be a conflict of interest".
Yank punched his covers with his hand. "Of all the-"
"Good morning," Micki said in a too-cheerful voice as she walked into the room.
The little peacemaker had probably heard the arguing from the hall and decided to come fix things.
"What's going on?" she asked.
Lola smiled and kissed her on the cheek. "Nothing you need to worry about I was just leaving, so he's all yours."
"Oh joy," Micki said, laughing.
"When are you coming back?" Yank asked Lola.
She turned. Her eyes held a fierce determination he'd seen only once before, when she'd given him her ultimatum and then walked out.
His stomach churned in anticipation.
"I'll be back when you have something to say that I want to hear" She waved goodbye and walked out the door. Out of his room and out of his life.
"Pardon my French but I suggest you shit or get off the pot, Uncle Yank. The woman may have the patience of a saint but even saints have their limits and she's obviously reached hers," Micki said.
He leaned back in his bed, everything in his aging body aching. "I need a nap."
"You need to get out of that bed," the chipper physical therapist they'd met yesterday said as she strode into the room.
And with that, Yank entered a hell that was second only to watching Lola leave him again.
THE RENEGADES SPLIT the two-game series with Los Angeles. Tomorrow was a travel day, which gave the team some freedom tonight although Coach Donovan insisted they remain in the hotel and hit their rooms by midnight. Damian sat at the hotel bar, nursing a beer with his teammates, participating in jokes and wondering how Yank and Micki were holding up.
He didn't plan on calling Micki, thus proving to himself that while he was on the road, only his career mattered. But that hadn't stopped him from tossing and turning in his cold, lonely hotel bed, wondering what she was doing, what she was wearing to bed and most of all whether or not she was missing him.
He rose and walked over to the bar to order a fresh drink.
"Hey." A drunken Carter sauntered up beside him.
Although Damian had watched him down drink after drink tonight, Carter had been unusually quiet and subdued this road trip, making Damian wonder what trouble the rookie had up his sleeve.
"How's it going?" Damian asked.
The other man shrugged. "It's going."
Damian waited for Carter to leave, but he lingered, then grabbed a stool and sat down.
As team captain, Damian had listened to the guys when they'd had problems that might interfere with their game and he'd given advice based on his years in the league, but in the short time Carter had been with the Renegades, he'd never come to Damian for a damn thing. As far as Damian could tell, Carter needed no one except his ego.
As Micki had once said, he was young. He'd learn.
The way the kid lingered now, apparently he wanted something.
"Two Guinnesses," Damian said to the bartender, ordering Carter's drink of choice tonight. Damian waited for them to be served and turned to the rookie. "Okay, what gives?"
The younger man tipped his head to one side, then raised his glass. "To peace."
His words took Damian off guard. "As I recall, you rejected the same offer a few weeks back "
"A lot's happened in a few weeks. Enough to make me respect my elders."
With Carter's irreverence, the tension eased from Daiman's neck and shoulders. "That's the smart-ass rookie I know."
"Tell me something." Carter wasn't slurring his words but his tone definitely indicated he was drunk and Damian knew me other man wouldn't be talking to him now if he were cold sober.
"What's that?" Damian asked.
"How the hell do you do it?"
Damian raised an eyebrow. "Do what?"
"Always come out on top, smelling like a rose." Carter nudged his elbow against Damian's. "Come on, share your secrets."
Damian glanced at the other man's glassy eyes and rolled his own. "You really are trashed. How the hell can you think I come out smelling like a rose when my life's for shit right now?"
Carter glanced away. "Well yeah, but you'll come out of it. You always do."
Damian groaned. "If anything it comes down to how you live your life. I may be a selfish SOB at times but I never deliberately intend to screw with anyone else. Maybe it's good karma. Then again, good karma wouldn't have me with a pregnant ex-lover.”
Carter shook his head. "I hear you, man. I haven't exactly been living my life in a way that has much to do with goodwill towards men, if you know what I mean." He took a long pull of his beer.
"You've been a prick," Damian agreed.
"Yeah. And it isn't working for me too well. I'm thinking I've got to figure out your angle, since you seem to be doing something right" He slung an arm over Damian's shoulder in a brotherly gesture Damian didn't trust for a minute.
Damian wrapped his hands around the beer glass. "So what's with the change in attitude? Coach giving you shit?"
Carter raised his head, meeting Damian's gaze. "I'm giving me shit. Actually, a woman's giving me shit. Do you know what it's like to fall for someone who won't give you the time of day?" He let out a sarcastic laugh. "No of course you don't. All woman fall at your feet."
"Tell me something, Carter, because this jealousy of yours is getting old. Would you really want to be in my shoes? Thirty-five, one year left on your contract and a pregnant woman claiming you're having a kid you never wanted or planned?"
The rookie burst out laughing, taking Damian by surprise.
"What the hell's so funny?"
Carter rested an arm on the bar and leaned toward Damian. "Well here's the thing. My woman is your woman and as long as you're in the picture, she won't have anything to do with me. Won't return my calls. So would I want to be in your shoes? Hell yeah." With that astonishing proclamation, he downed the rest of his beer and gestured for yet another.
"I think you've had enough. We're playing tomorrow" Damian reminded him. He sifted through Carter's words in his mind. "My woman's your woman? Micki Jordan?" Even as Damian said her name, he knew that the notion was an impossible one.
Carter's belly laugh caused more than one person at the bar to turn and glance their way. "Don't you see the irony? You don't even want Carole and she's slobbering for whatever you'll give her. I'm willing to take full responsibility for the kid and she's discounted me like I’m dirt."
Nothing the guy said made sense but if Damian had to guess, he figured Carole and Carter had slept together and Carter had fallen hard. Problem was, Damian had hooked them up just a few weeks ago so unfortunately there was no reason for Carter to "take responsibility." "Listen, buddy. You sober up and we'll talk more tomorrow."
"You're dismissing me the same way she did."
Damian rose to his feet. "Do I need to remind you about the facts of life? Even if you slept with Carole, she says she's almost three months pregnant. That makes you an impossible candidate."
"Not if I slept with her for the first time back in April, which I did. To get back at you. I just didn't expect to develop feelings for the woman."
Hot damn, Damian thought, he'd been right all along. Carole had been sleeping around while they were together. He hadn't figured Carter in her travels, but what the hell. Anyone she'd been with gave him that much more hope that he wouldn't be tied to her for eternity.