Andrew. The guard at the gate.
He quit after letting Hunter in.
“Are you serious?”
“Security has video of him waving the SUV through, but there was no audio, so we don’t know what was said.”
“Oh, what the fuck?” I said, my heart settling into my feet. “So what does that mean?”
“Well, we have the license plate, so we can go to the police and?—”
“No!”
Ben went dead silent, and I didn’t really blame him. But also, he couldn’t go to the police.
“I mean…no. I mean…” Fuck. How did I explain this without explaining this?
“Micah,” he said very slowly, “I need you to tell me what the hell is going on because none of this is normal. One of my star players, one of my good friends, is being stalked by a strange man. We have proof. On video. And you don’t want me to go to the police about it?”
I took a deep breath. “What I say is between you and me right now, okay? As friends,” I told him. “Not coach and player. Not boss and employee or whatever makes you think you need to handle it.”
Ben cleared his throat, then sighed, and I heard the squeaking of his chair as he sat back. “Fine. As friends.”
I wasn’t feeling very optimistic that I was going to convince him that this was the right thing. Mostly because I wasn’t sure this was the right thing. I felt lost. And pretty fucking scared. “I went on a couple of dates with this guy, and it didn’t go well. I cut himoff, and he turned up a few months later, threatening me. He says he has a video of me that he’ll release to the public if I do anything to expose him.”
Ben blew out a heavy puff of air. “You have proof of him saying this?”
“Yeah. He texted it to me. I don’t think he’s a professional stalker or anything because as far as I know, he’s not using a burner. I think he’s just trying to hurt me.”
“Why?”
My brows flew up. “How the fuck should I know? Or are you asking what I did to deserve it?”
“No, Micah,” Ben said, sounding a little tired. “I don’t think this is your fault. I’m just trying to understand how this started. And how it got so out of hand. I can tell you’re scared, and that makes me want to track this guy down and beat him until no one recognizes his face.”
“Sorry.”
I pressed my hands over my face and scrubbed them down. His words did make me feel a little better. Sometimes it was easy to forget that people did care about me, no matter what kind of person they thought I was.
“It was just a Grindr date. We tried to fuck. I failed at it like I fail at most things. He started talking shit about my ability to get it up, and I kind of broke down and told him things I hadn’t told anyone else before. Now he says he has a video of the whole ordeal. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but Ben, I need you to understand I cannot handle having to talkabout a fucking sex tape to the press. I can barely talk to them about my game. I…I can’t. I’ll die.”
“I’m not going to let that happen,” Ben said softly. “Does he know where you live?”
“Unfortunately, yes. We had two dates before everything went to shit, and he dropped me off both times.”
“Okay.” He was quiet again. “And Vanya…?”
Fuck. I’d almost let myself forget he was on the tape. “He was trying to protect me.”
“By kissing you,” Ben said.
“We weren’t…it wasn’t like that.” Not in that moment anyway. But Ben didn’t need to know that. “Vanya was with me the night before. And when we were in New York, the guy found me at a club after the game, and Vanya was there to intercept him too.”
He stood. His pacing footsteps were heavy. “Okay. So I can ask him to come by and verify this is the same dude?”
I really, really didn’t want that. “Do you have to?”
“No, but if things get any worse, we will have to involve the authorities. We can’t let some rando from Grindr sexually harass and threaten my fucking star goalie.”
