Page 6 of Reckless Kiss
“Office. Now.” She turned and stormed back to her corner office. The one opposite mine. Hers was bigger and had a slightly better view of Tampa Bay.
I followed her inside, closed the door, sat in the fine leather chair opposite hers, and waited.
She didn’t say anything. Oh no, she simply twitched and scowled. Whatever this was about, it was bad.
Finally, “The Renegades have been sold.”
My jaw hit the floor. “I didn’t know they were for sale.”
By the look in her eyes, Marie knew it was possible. “There were rumors the Butlers were considering leaving the entire industry behind after Sam died. His wife always hated football and his sons are in completely different industries. Apparently a quiet deal was struck and the commission approved it last night.”
It was quick, unusual, potentially shady, but not necessarily wrong. “Who is the new owner?” Our clients were all over the country but a large percentage were based here in Florida, the sunshine state where sports could be played year round. Our local professional football team was a significant presence in our lives since there were in our backyard.
“Edmund Brown,” she gritted out.
“I have no idea who Edmund Brown is.” Which made this deal even weirder.
The twitching was back. “Edmund was a silent partner in the old Nashville franchise. The one that never should have existed.”
Thirteen years ago Nashville was awarded an expansion team under strange circumstances. The team disbanded three years later under equally strange rumors of corruption, collusion, and doping. It was an ugly time in professional sports that was swept under the rug as a bad mistake. No one ever brought up Nashville.
“Really? How is this even possible?” I’d thought the owners were banned from future ownership. Perhaps my recounting of the Nashville experiment was wrong.
“It was ten year ban, not a lifetime ban.”
And their ten years was up. “Son of a bitch.”
“Son of a bitch. And now that bastard is inourtown.”
She was terribly angry about this. “Do you happen to know Edmund Brown?”
She twitched again. “Yes. He and my father knew each other. I went to school with his son, knew his daughter loosely. She’s younger than me.”
Ah, so there was a personal reason for this anger. “How does this affect our clients?” We had several on the team.
“I haven’t heard anything yet but I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to pull some bullshit. The salary cap was killing them last year. I don’t trust him and I wanted to catch you up as soon as possible. We need to keep a hard line.”
“Done.”
For the first time she relaxed a little. “Good. How’s Dante?”
I smiled. “He wants a yacht. Says it will be good for viral content.”
Marie chuckled. “I like that kid. He’s a handful but he’s fun.”
Only because she wasn’t the one negotiating on his behalf.
“Will there be anything else?”
Her grin became downright playful. “I hear you’ve been off the market recently. Who’s the lady?”
Yep, as I feared,everyoneknew. “Somebody’s been working me too hard to have a social life.”
“Bullshit. You managed to keep up with your dates no matter what until now. I know when a guy’s had his world turned upside down and you, Mr. Hancock, have had yours upended by a Mack truck.”
I made for the door before I got sucked into another delightful conversation about my life. “How would you know?”
A cackle filled the air. “Because I’ve been the woman, Leo.”
