Cade stared at the papers spread out on his desk in disbelief. He had never felt like
hurting a kid, but he sure did now. What were they thinking? Drugs... drugs in
Keeneston. It didn't happen. It just didn't happen. But, the evidence was right there
in front of him. Not one, not two, but three of his players had tested positive for S2.
They had had an alright practice on Tuesday, and besides Bonner being an ass,
practice today went well too, not good, but not as horribly as Monday's. Now,
though, he was going to have to get rid of three of the team's best players. The
starting wide receiver was out, Bonner was out, and the only offensive lineman with
any experience was also out. The team went from a five hundred team to a "we'll
be lucky to win a game or two" team. Worse, he was going to have to tell these kids
that their dreams of college ball were over because he was left with no other choice
but to kick them all off the team.
Cade shoved his long legs out from the desk and paced around his classroom.
What would their parents say? He knew they would all be asking to talk to him. He
paused by one of the large rectangular windows and looked out into the almost
empty parking lot. Corey Bonner and Lee Faust, the starting senior center who also
tested positive for S2, were standing by their cars. Cade watched as Bonner shoved
Faust and started waving his hands around angrily.
Faust calmly looked at Bonner and said something that made Bonner freeze. Faust
was always the one you had to worry about when he was quiet. Cade watched as
Bonner pulled out his cell phone and made a call. As soon as he put it away, Cade
pushed up the window and leaned out.
"Boys, I need to see you a minute. Come on into the room." Cade didn't wait for
them to acknowledge him before closing the window and heading back to his desk.
Cade picked up the drug test reports and put them in his desk drawer as the door
to his room opened. He looked up and into the face of Faust who clearly looked
guilty and ashamed. Bonner, on the other hand, looked cockier than ever.
"What did you want, Coach?" Bonner asked as he leaned his large body against
the wall by the door.
"I wanted to know if you boys had anything to tell me?" Cade folded his arms
behind his head and waited. Faust looked like he was about to confess all.
"Yeah," Bonner pushed himself off the wall and walked over to Cade's desk. He
put his hands on the top of Cade's textbooks and stared right into his eyes. It was
hard for Cade not to break eye contact. He was just so shocked at Bonner's
appearance. His eyes were bloodshot, his face flushed. Beads of sweat dotted his
brow. "You're not letting me blitz the quarterback enough."
"Is that it?" Cade slowly put his arms down and stood up and walked around the
desk to face the boys.
"What kind of question is that? Of course that's it. If there was more, I would
have told you." Bonner folded his arms across his wide chest and glared at Cade
with such anger it rolled off of him and hit Cade in the face.
"Then, I'm sorry to tell you, you both are off the team for testing positive for S2.
Go clean out your lockers immediately." Faust hung his head and nodded once.
Before Cade could say anything more Bonner exploded.
"You can't do that! Football is my life. It's my way out of here. I have scholarship
offers to some of the best schools in country!" Bonner yelled. The sweat on his
brow was now rolling down his cheeks as his face became redder and redder.
"What did you expect, Bonner, you were taking illegal drugs? You knew if you
were caught you'd be off the team. Why risk it?"
"You asshole! The drugs were to get me into LSU. I was so close to a scholarship
offer and you just ruined it for me!" Bonner took a step toward him and glared pure
hatred.
"There is no reason for me to ruin you. You ruined yourself. Now go clean out
your locker." Cade stared him down. The situation was so volatile he knew Bonner
might snap. A flicker of color appeared behind Bonner, and Cade glanced quickly
to see if it was a threat.
That split second was all Bonner needed. He pulled back his right arm, curled his
hand into a fist and planted it right on Cade's cheek.
Annie stepped further into Cade's classroom and sighed. Here we go again. Could
he not see that he was about to get…punched? Ow. Annie didn't wait to see what
happened next. She kicked out her leg and hit Bonner in the back of the knee,
sending him falling to the floor. She was afraid Cade might collapse to the floor in
dramatics, but when she looked up, she saw that he was staring daggers at her
instead.
"You really need to learn self-defense. I can't always be around to save you."
Annie knew she was being a smartass, but it was fun to see the way his mouth hung
open like that.
"You bitch," Bonner moaned from the ground as he turned towards her. His face
was so red Annie gasped. Sweat was pouring off his face. His shirt was damp. She
watched in horror as he tried to stand up to grab her arm but fell face down onto the
cool, tile floor. She saw a trickle of blood run out of his nose and pool on the floor.
"You, kid... call 9-1-1! He's had a heart attack. Tell them to send the heli." She
didn't wait for the kid to pull out his cell before falling to her knees to help Cade
turn Bonner over.
"You sure it's a heart attack?" Cade asked her as he felt for a pulse.
She focused her attention to finding the pulse. It was there but fading. His heart
was struggling to work. He had stopped breathing, or it was so shallow she couldn't
detect it.
"Yes. It's a side effect of S2. We need to start CPR if he's going to have a chance
to live." She waited for Cade to start the chest compressions before tilting back
Bonner's head, pinching his nose closed and breathing into his mouth.
They continued CPR while Lee stood frozen to the spot, cell phone still in hand.
Annie could feel that Bonner's skin had turned clammy. This was not good. She
felt for his pulse again and felt it flutter. They needed to hold on a little longer. If
they could keep him breathing, the doctors may be able to save him.
Annie was too afraid to check to see if he was breathing on his own or not. But the
white tint to his skin with the shallow blue lines around his lips told her enough.
Sweat rolled down her back as she bent to blow some more air into Bonner's lungs.
"Kid, go out front and meet the EMT's. They should be here any minute."
Lee finally moved from where he was rooted to the floor but still stood staring at
Bonner's unconscious body with a look of shocked disbelief.
"Now, kid!" Annie snapped when he didn't leave right away.
She heard his feet pound down the hall at the same time she heard the first sounds
of the helicopter. They couldn't get here fast enough. Cade had been doing chest
compressions for almost ten minutes. He had to be exhausted, but he hadn't said a
word about it. He had counted and compressed, counted and compressed and had
helped her keep Bonner alive.
"Okay, we got the mask ready." Annie and Cade stepped back as the EMT's
bagged Bonner. "What happened?"
"Heart attack due to an overdose of steroids," she answered.
"Have you been doing CPR the whole time?"
"Yes. He still had a slight pulse but shallow to no breathing."
The EMT's lifted Bonner onto the stretcher and hurried from the room while they
issued orders into their radios. Lee had been standing by the door as the EMT's had
loaded Bonner onto the stretcher and had not moved even though his friend was no
longer here.
"You okay, Lee?" Cade asked as he put a hand on the shaken kid's shoulder. Lee
just nodded but didn't say anything. "I'm going to follow Corey to the hospital. I'll
call his parents on the way. I don't think Lee here should drive. Can you take him
home?"
"No problem. Call if you need anything." She put her arm around Lee and felt the
tiny shivers of shock rippling through him. "Come on, Lee. Let's get you home."
* * *
Cade lay down on his couch and closed his eyes. He was so emotionally drained
that he barely heard SportsCenter on the television. He flung his arm over his eyes
and tried to make his mind go blank. However, that was easier said than done. A
red head was currently running laps up there, making it impossible to think of
anything else.
There was a knocking at the door, and a part of Cade's mind irrationally hoped it
was Annie. It was that small part of his mind that propelled him to his feet and sent
him racing to the door.
"Don't look so disappointed to see me, brother. It makes me think you were
expecting someone else." Miles Davies snapped his fingers and with a smirk said,
"I know, you're expecting that cute guidance counselor you have a thing for."
Miles may be the oldest of the Davies brothers, but that didn't mean he didn't
deserve to have his ass whooped every now and then.
"Don't be such an ass. Where did you hear about Annie?" Cade asked as he
headed back to the couch. His brother always did think he was so important. He
held himself as if he were the President of the United States.
Where Marshall was always dressed in black, and Cade was usually in some form
of athletic gear, Miles was never without a suit and tie. What made it worse was
that when pushed, Miles was the most dangerous. He and Miles were doing a
snatch and grab in the foothills of Afghanistan that turned out to be a trap. He got
caught and had transmitted to Miles to get the hell out of there. Instead of leaving
his brother behind, Miles took out each and every one of them in under twenty
seconds. How? Cade would never know. Miles earned a little extra credit for saving
his life, but that was only going to afford him so much when it came to teasing him
about Annie.
"Where do you think? The biggest gossip of us all – Marshall." Miles laughed as
all six feet, two inches of him sauntered in to the living room.
"Jesus. Marshall needs to learn to keep his mouth shut." Cade fell back onto his
mahogany-colored, leather couch and tossed his feet onto the matching coffee table.
"When, in all of your thirty years of life has he ever been able to keep his mouth
shut?" Being a rhetorical question, since the answer was clearly never, Cade didn't
bother answering. "So, to hear Marshall tell it, you're ready to get married and have
kids. What's the real story? Who is this woman?"
"Marriage, no way! I don't even like her. She's infuriating. She thinks I'm a
helpless idiot." Cade rolled his eyes and picked up the beer he'd been drinking
before Miles knocked at the door.
"Sounds promising." Cade didn't need to look at his brother to know he was
trying not to laugh.
"Ha. She has stepped in front of Corey Bonner who was in a full steroid rage…
twice! Supposedly it was to protect me. She told me I needed self-defense lessons.
Me! Then she helped me save Bonner's life, calm as can be."
"How is he doing?"
"He's stable. His heart has taken a beating though. He's never going to be healthy
again. The walls have thinned after using so much of the drug. His blood pressure
was through the roof, but the doctors think he'll be able to live a normal life after he
detoxes and his system basically reboots. He'll be on heart meds the rest of his live
though."
"That's tough for a kid. How did Annie keep her calm? Most women would be
slightly hysterical coming upon a fight and then a kid collapsing like that."
"That's just it. She's never hysterical. Instead she thinks I'm the hysterical one? I
don't know what the school was like in Miami, but nothing fazes her. It just makes
me crazy to prove myself to her, which is crazy in itself because she's so
infuriating!" Cade leaned his head back on the couch and cursed himself for not
being able to just put Annie out of his mind.
"Come on. Let's go to the Café and have dinner. We can talk it out and develop a
plan of action," Miles said, standing up and buttoning up his sports coat.
"One, you can't develop a plan of action on handling Annie. She doesn't fit into
any plans. Two, Summer Ridell is bound to be working tonight and she had a huge
crush on you."
"I was hoping you'd run interference so I could finally eat something without
being hit on. Ever since she turned eighteen and graduated, she thinks she should be
getting married and having a kid or two. What's worse, she thinks she should be
doing it with me!" Miles said with disgust. Miles did not cook and depended on
Daisy and Violet to feed him when Mom's frozen casseroles ran out.
"You're old enough to be her father!" Cade laughed. He enjoyed goading Miles.
He really did.
"I'm not that old. Damn, Cade, you can make thirty-four seem positively ancient.
However, it's too old for an innocent kid like her."
"Fine, I'll go with you. I haven't eaten at the Café for a while. You can tell me
what corporations you're taking apart for the better good of the little people like
me."
Annie couldn't decide if she hated or loved the fact that a diner was so close.
Hated the fact they didn't deliver. Shoot, no one delivered. It was great when she
wanted real food, but it was strange to have a ten minute conversation with the
person taking your order when you just really wanted a chicken salad sandwich.
Over the past couple of days since her arrival in Keeneston she had been eating
the most amazing home cooked meals. But tonight she thought she'd try the local
cuisine. She grabbed some cash and took off down the street to the Café. It was a
nice night. The stars were shining overhead, a slight breeze brought the smell of
oats to her, and the full moon bathed the small downtown in a soft glow.
Bright light poured out of the large old windows of the Café onto the sidewalk,
highlighting the mums that were planted in large barrels under the windows. Small
bistro tables were set up outside on the nice warm night and filled with people who
all smiled and said hello to her as she walked past them and into the Café.
Annie froze with one foot over the threshold when the packed restaurant fell
silent. A breeze from all the heads turning at once caused her hair to flutter.
Movement drew her eyes to go to a back table. Her eyes narrowed as a waitress,
who was maybe just out of high school, was leaning her perky breasts in Cade's
face as she picked up his plate.
A man in a gorgeous pin striped suit who was slightly taller than Cade with dark
brown hair and a handsome square jaw stood and walked over to her. She noticed
Cade's unhappy expression at the same time the waitress placed her hand on his
shoulder and gave it a little rub.
"You must be Annie. Be easy on my brother, will you?" Tall, dark and handsome
flashed a killer grin at her that almost had her forgetting about whoever this other
brother was.
"Wait, who are you? Who's your brother and why should I go easy on him?" Tall,
dark and handsome grinned again."I'm Miles Davies. The brother to whom I am
referring is Cade, and you should go easy on him because he's a good guy. Have a
nice night, Annie."
"How many brothers are there in that family?" she mumbled as she made her way
to the cash register.
"Five brothers and one sister." Annie looked down at the stranger who had clearly
been eavesdropping.
"Um, thanks." Wow. No wonder she kept tripping over them.
"Hey."
Annie pulled up short and checked out the man who had stepped in front of her.
He was tallish, almost black hair slicked back, and did his suit sparkle? No, it must
just have shine to it. "What are you doing walking into a place like this?" he asked.
"Is that a trick question?" Well, the town did have a lot of handsome men. Too
bad they weren't all that bright.
"You can sit with me if you'd like." He gestured towards a small table in the back.
"I'm just here to pick up my to-go dinner."
"Well, here I am. You can take a bite out of me anytime." He raised a perfect
eyebrow and gazed at her.
Annie couldn't decide whether to laugh or to kick him in the balls. He reminded
her of an old man who used to live near her apartment. He yelled obscenities at her
that were in a way complimentary and made her day.
"Okay. Let's get out of here. I want you…now." Annie deadpanned. She watched
as his sleazy exterior cracked and he stared at her as if she had two heads. "Just
kidding, hot shot, put your tongue back in your mouth." She smiled at him and
when he broke out into laughter, she joined him.
"Henry Rooney at your service."
"No servicing of me tonight. I thought we covered that, Henry." Henry laughed
again and she had a feeling she had made a friend. "Annie Hill. It's nice to meet
you, Henry. I'm sure we'll run into each other again soon." Henry smiled and
walked out the door.
Annie turned her attention to the table near the cash register where the waitress
was still servicing Cade. Rolling her eyes, she walked over to them, "I hope I'm not
interrupting," she tapped her foot impatiently.
"Oh! You must be Miss Hill. I'll be out here in a jiffy with your dinner ma'am." If
she needed another reason to dislike the waitress, there it was.
"Ma'am?"
"Anyone over the age of twenty is a ma'am to her. Would you care to join me
while you wait?" Cade stood up and walked around the table. He pulled out a chair
and waited for her to take a seat.
"Won't your girlfriend get mad?"
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I like women, not girls. You really don't like me, do
you?" Cade asked, his smile faltering slightly.
Feeling a little guilty about her snap judgment, she sat down and looked up at him.
His eyes seemed green tonight. Sometimes they were brown.
"I'm sorry. If it makes you feel better, you're not the only one."
"Military brat tired of all the macho men?" he joked.
"No, foster care brat." Not wanting to get into it, she asked about Corey.
"He'll live, but they don't know how much damage has been done yet. We should
know more tomorrow."
"Here's your dinner, Miss Hill." With a smile, the perky waitress handed her a
plastic bag.
"Thanks." She pushed back her chair and froze when Cade did the same. She
raised her eyebrow at him in silent question.
"I thought I could walk you home and show you the sights," Cade said in response
to her silent query.
"Thanks, but Mrs. Lopez already did that."
"Well, then just allow me to walk you home to fulfill my daily gentlemanly
requirement." Cade smiled at her then and her heart pounded in her chest like it did
when she was going on a bust. If she thought Miles' smile was something, Cade's
eclipsed it.
"Fine." She turned to go, but Cade slipped his hand onto her elbow to guide her
around the table. All conversation stopped until he guided her out of the Café.
Before the door closed, the noise level escalated to near deafening, and people
didn't even try to hide the fact that they were staring at them leaving together.
"Is it always like this?" she asked Cade.
"No. It's usually worse." She laughed then and didn't even mind when he slipped
his hand from her elbow to the small of her back. "See over there. The store with
the yellow and white awning? That's my sister's store."
"That's Paige's store?"
"You know Paige?"
"I met her, along with most of the town already."
"Ah, the welcoming committee." His smile was so genuine and happy when
talking about his sister and the town that Annie became lost in it.
A loud thumping started to vibrate her body and draw her out of her reverie. It
drew louder and seemed so completely out of place in Keeneston. A week ago she
wouldn't have even noticed it in Miami, but Keeneston wasn't a place people
cruised around with their windows down and rap music pumping. It was more of a
windows down and country music drifting on the breeze type place.
She looked down the street and saw a large black Escalade roaring towards them.
Cade had already stopped to watch it. She wouldn't be completely surprised if some
old man came running out shaking a cane at the Escalade and yelling at them to
turn it down. The thought brought a smile to her face, a smile that quickly
disappeared when the doors to the Escalade were thrown open as the SUV slid to a
stop next to them, and three massively muscled men leapt out of the car. They were
all dressed in those tear-away athletic pants and white tank tops. One man had his
head shaved, one had crazy curly hair with a receding hairline and the third had
black hair with bangs.
Damn, her dinner was sure to be destroyed saving Cade again. She shifted the
handle, getting ready to smash it in the first person's face to reach her when Cade
wrapped his arm around her waist and flung her behind him as if she weighed
nothing. She stumbled backwards and fell on her bottom, landing against the old
brick building. She cringed when the man with curly hair brought up a tire iron
from his side. The moonlight, which had just moments ago cast a romantic glow on
the street, now cast a menacing reflection off the tire iron. He raised the tire iron
and swung it at Cade. She had to save him! She watched in horror as the tire iron
came swinging down in an arc towards his head. He blocked it with his forearm and
followed up with an uppercut that snapped the guy's head back before the man
knew what hit him. She would never have guessed he had so much speed.
As the other two closed in at once on Cade, she watched the injured man stumble
back to the car. She tried to get her feet under her to help, but it was already over as
she stood up. With a swift kick to the knee, Cade brought the one with dark hair
and girly bangs to the ground. Annie watched in awe as he crumpled to the ground,
holding his injured knee. He had to drag himself to the safety of the car. With a
quick strike of his hand, Cade shattered the nose of the third man. Blood flowed
freely down the white shirt as the man with the shaved head scrambled into the car
and tucked tail out of there.
Cade dusted off his khaki pants and turned to her. There wasn't a speck of dirt on
him. The only evidence that he had just been in a fight was his hazel eyes shone
bright with excitement. When he held out his hand for her, she stared at him for a
moment in disbelief that he had disabled three attackers in less than twenty seconds.
She looked at his large hand for a second and then placed hers in it. His hand was
warm, strong, and she had to admit, she didn't want to let it go.
"Well, it's nice to see you took my advice and learned some self-defense."