Author: Jaci Burton

“Yup,” Gavin said. “All cleaned out.”

“Good. Mick, how about you and I go rustle up a turkey sandwich? I’m hungry.”

“Whatever you want, Dad.”

His father got up and followed Mick into the kitchen. Gavin took a seat on the sofa across from where Liz sat.

“He looks good,” she said.

“Yeah, he does.”

“He’s been home for a week and a half, Gavin. Your father is progressing remarkably well.”

“Yes, he is.”

“It’s time for you to get back to the game. You’ve missed enough.”

His smile died and he stood. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

She stood, too. “I’m your agent. It’s my job to tell you what to do. You don’t want to miss too much baseball. Your team is counting on you. You’re paid to play, in case you’ve forgotten.”

“I haven’t forgotten anything. The Rivers said I could take as much time as I needed to. Why are you pushing this?”

“I’m pushing because you don’t need to be here anymore. Mick and Tara are here to watch over your father and help out your mom. Jenna is taking care of the bar. Your father’s health is good. Half of your games are local, and you can check up on your dad when you’re here for home games. Your delay tactics are only hurting your career.”

“I’m not ready yet.”

“You’re not the one who had a heart attack and surgery, Gavin. It’s time for you to get back on the field.”

“And I’ll let you and the team know when I’m ready to get back on the field. Today isn’t the day.”

“Why are you being so stubborn about this?”

“Why are you being so insistent about it?”

“I’ll tell you why. Because she’s manipulating you for her own gain.”

Gavin shifted his focus to Mick, who leaned against the doorway to the living room.

Elizabeth did, too. “You stay the hell out of it. This is none of your business.”

Mick’s lips curled into a sneer. “When it affects my brother, it becomes my business. And I won’t let you do to him what you did to me.”

“Butt out, Mick. This doesn’t concern you. Gavin is my client, and I’m trying to get him to see that he needs to get back to work.”

“Oh, right. Like your only concern is Gavin. Please. I know you too well, Liz. I know you’re scared to death that you’re going to lose another moneymaker, that if he doesn’t get back to the game the Rivers might not pick up his next option, might not pay him so much money next time.”

She whirled on Mick. “You know what? That’s exactly right. And you know who that’s going to hurt? It’s going to hurt Gavin. And you know what else? If you’d pull your head out of your ass and stop thinking of yourself for one goddamn minute, you’d see that your brother is miserable and has been, that every time Stallings gets up to bat it kills him, that he wants to be on that field so bad it physically hurts him. But no, you’re so happy that he’s battling me that you can’t see past your own anger and spite to what’s best for Gavin. You only want to continue to get back at me, and by doing so you’re sabotaging your brother’s career when what you should be doing is kicking his ass right out of this house and encouraging him to get back in the game where he belongs. I’m ashamed of you, Mick. I thought you loved your brother.”

She turned to Gavin. “Look, I don’t know what your hang-up is about all this, but I love you and only want what’s best for you.”

He stared at her. “So do you tell all your clients you love them to get them to do what you want them to do?”

Her jaw dropped. “What?”

“You heard me. Is that your newest form of manipulation? A declaration of love? How many of them did you sleep with to get your own way?”

She went pale, and even as the words fell from his mouth, he couldn’t believe he was saying them.

“Gavin, you should know better. I have never slept with a client before. But you know what, this was a mistake. Everything about us has been a mistake from the very beginning.”

She cut her gaze to Mick. “Is that what you wanted? Well you know what? You got it. You win. I concede. Give Don Davis my regards when he signs Gavin.”

She shifted her gaze back to Gavin. “Gavin, I can no longer represent your interests since it’s obvious you want something other than what I can give you. At your earliest convenience please find other representation. I’ll follow this up in writing immediately.”

She turned and walked out the door before he could form a coherent response.

What the hell had just happened?

She’d told him she loved him, and he’d accused her of sleeping around with all her clients?

And then she’d fired him.

Of course she’d fired him, because he was a dick.

He fell into the chair and listened to the sound of her car pulling out of the driveway.

“What the hell was that all about?” his father asked as he came back into the room and took a seat.

Gavin couldn’t form words to explain to his father what he’d just done.

“Did I hear correctly, or did Elizabeth just fire you?”

“You heard right, Dad,” Mick said.

“And what part did you play in all of this?” his father asked Mick.

“A lot, I think.”

“Michael, I try not to interfere in your life, and I understand that Elizabeth made some mistakes with you and with Tara and Nathan, but don’t you think it’s about time you got the hell over it already? I’ve never known you to hold a grudge.”

Mick sat and put his hands in his hair. “I was mad. Really mad. I love Tara and Nathan like I’ve never loved anyone in my life. And what Elizabeth did, the way she manipulated them, hurt me. Hurt them.”

“And she apologized and made it right, didn’t she?” his father asked.

“Yeah, she did.”

“But you couldn’t let it go.”

“I was afraid when Gavin started seeing her.”

Gavin lifted his head, turned to Mick. “Why?”

“Because I was afraid she’d hurt you.”

Gavin let out a laugh. “You didn’t think I could take care of myself ?”

Mick shrugged. “You’ll always be my little brother, no matter how old we are. I was trying to protect you. I guess I overprotected. Shit. I fucked this up bad, man. I’m sorry. I have to fix this.”

Gavin shook his head. “No, I think you’ve done enough. I’m the one who has to fix this. But I’m not sure I can. The things I said to her. She said she loved me, and I stabbed her in the heart.”

“You realize she was only looking out for your love of the game.”

Gavin looked at his dad.

“She knows you love the game. We talked about it on our walk. She sees what I see, how much you love baseball. It’s never been about the money with you, ever since you first started playing. You would have played for nothing. Fortunately, you had Elizabeth in your corner to negotiate a good contract, because you would have signed for nothing. She told me she’d never known anyone else who would have played for the pure love of the game. And watching you the past couple of weeks has killed her, just as it’s killing me, because the light has gone out of your eyes. She wanted you back in the game because your joy is gone. I told her to do whatever it took to convince you to get back to work.”

Gavin stood and dragged his fingers through his hair, the burn in the pit of his stomach so intense he didn’t think he’d survive it.

God, he’d hurt her. He was so afraid of leaving his dad, so afraid of losing him. What if he wasn’t here and something happened?

And yet his dad and Elizabeth had pegged the loss he’d been feeling.

He missed the game.

He had to go back.

He turned to his dad. “I have to go back.”

His dad smiled up at him. “I know you do. I want you to. It’s what you do. It’s what you love. I’d be disappointed in you if you stayed here because of me.”

He went to his father and kneeled down in front of him. “I was afraid something would happen to you again if I left.”

His dad leaned forward and touched his shoulder. “I’m gonna be fine, kid. I’m not made of iron, but I’m not made of Jell-O, either. I had my wake-up call. I’ll take care of myself, and I promise not to fall. But you can’t watch me every second of every day. You have to let go.”

Gavin shuddered in a breath and stood. So did his dad. They fell into a hug, Gavin careful not to squeeze his dad because of the incision.

“I’m not gonna break, kid.”

Gavin fought back the sting of tears, then pulled back and nodded. “Okay, time for me to go back to work.”

“Gavin.”

He turned to Mick.

His brother looked miserable. “I’m sorry. I fucked this up, made it worse.”

“You did. But that’s on you, and between you and Elizabeth. And I have to take the blame for not stopping it when I should have. I let it go on too long.”

Mick quirked a grin. “You can’t stop me when I’m being a bullheaded ass.”

Gavin smiled. “True.”

“I’ll fix it. At least my part of it. So you love her?”

Gavin had thought he’d hesitate when it came time to say it out loud, but the words fell from his lips. “I do love her. So you’re going to have to live with that.”

Mick grasped Gavin’s shoulders. “I can live with it if she can put up with me. Now go get your girl. And get your ass back to work.”

Gavin left his dad’s and went back to his house. He’d called the Rivers and told them he was ready to play. They’d be back in town from their road trip by the weekend, so Coach told him to be ready to suit up then. In the meantime, he was going to Elizabeth to fix things between them.

He called her. She didn’t answer. He called again, left a voice mail, and waited. She didn’t call him back. He called her again. And again. She wouldn’t pick up.

Dammit.

He drove to her house, knocked, but got no answer. Maybe she’d gone to her office, so he tried there, but the receptionist said she wasn’t in, which meant she either really wasn’t in or she was refusing to see him.

He checked the parking lot and didn’t see her car.

Well, hell, she wasn’t going to make it easy for him, was she? Then again, after what he’d said to her, he didn’t deserve easy. And he damn well wasn’t going to apologize via cell phone or text message. This had to be done in person.

He drove back to her condo that night and didn’t see her car parked in the parking lot, and there were no lights on inside. He waited like a damn stalker in her parking lot for three hours, calling her cell several times, but she still didn’t answer.

And she never came home. He waited until one in the morning before giving up and going home.

It was going to be hard to apologize to her if he couldn’t find her. Her office was no help, refusing to tell him where she was, and the next day she wasn’t at work, either.

He had one more day before he had to report back to the team, and he couldn’t find Elizabeth.

But he knew someone who could help.

GRATEFUL FOR THE TRIP OUT OF TOWN, ELIZABETH stared out the window of her New York hotel room. Contracts and negotiations for a potential new client had kept her busy for the past two days, and she was so damn glad for that, too, because the last thing she needed was surplus time to think.

Time to think meant time to dwell on Gavin, and she’d already wasted too much time on that man.

She crawled onto the bed and picked up her laptop, putting the finishing touches on the contract language for her new client, an up-and-coming NBA player for New York. Not quite as high profile as Gavin, but a couple of more players added to her roster would make up for what she lost by dumping Gavin. She’d put some feelers out and gotten the line on a few guys unhappy with their current representation, and she was well on the way to evening out the loss with some stellar gains. First the basketball player, next up was a running back for Baltimore she intended to meet with the first part of next week. And that guy was a moneymaker. If she could sign him, she’d not only have a coup, but a laugh at Don Davis, his current agent.