Page 63 of The Session

“How about one of you carrying me?” Diane suggested.

“I only do that in special circumstances,” Mark told her, straight-faced.

“I’m just kidding,” Diane added, glancing down at her phone. “This is a great photo. Can I send it to you?”

“Uh, okay,” Mark allowed.

“Let’s try bumping,” she said, holding her phone toward Mark. He pulled his out, and they exchanged contact information.

“I’m about to meet a girlfriend of mine for a drink. Do you want to come with?” Diane asked.

“That sounds fun, but it’s been a long day.”

The encounter was one of many moments he was still trying to process. He’d been around enough pro athletes to see this kind of thing happen; he just never expected it to happen to him.

Mark found it hard to sleep in the condo and decided to go for a walk on the beach in the moonlight. After they’d left Kevin’s cottage, Tru regained her composure and became the strong boss/mentor he’d come to know. He didn’t know where to begin, or what to do about her suspicions surrounding his half brother’s death. He’d watched enough celebrity true-crime documentaries to understand that these things happened all the time to the rich and reckless.

While Tru’s suspicions were directed at potential enemies outside or within, Mark had been to enough crime scenes as a first responder to know that not all deaths involving other people were planned homicides.

Given his conversation with Blaise Cutler, and the kind of crew Mark imagined many of the Summit legacy children ran with, he couldn’t rule out the possibility that Kevin had been partying with other people and drowned. The real cover-up would be hiding the fact that they’d been there.

Not exactly murder, but not nearly as sinister as what Tru feared.

Mark’s phone rang. He’d been screening calls over the last two days, but they were piling up. He didn’t recognize this number but answered anyway.

“Hello?”

“Mark Greenley? This is Frank Cox, the coach over at Florida Atlantic College.”

“Hey, Coach. How are you doing?” Mark asked.

“Sorry to bother you. I spoke to Stevenson again, and he gave me your mom’s number. She mentioned you were down in Florida. I was hoping we might have a chance to talk while you’re here,” Cox explained.

“Yeah. Yeah,” Mark replied absently. “I might have some time in a few days. I’m in the middle of something right now.”

“Don’t tell me it’s a job offer with the Hurricanes,” Cox teased.

“Not quite.”

“Goddamn it, then it’s the Dolphins,” Cox pressed.

Mark realized Cox wasn’t joking.

“It’s not a coaching job. Not exactly,” he clarified.

“Listen, I know you’ve blown up a bit with the video and all. Our players have even brought it up, and let me tell you, I caught hell when they found out you’d talked to us about a position here and we sent you away. But I want you to know that before any of that came out, I talked to Stevenson and we reached out to you. I don’t have an assistant coaching job open yet, but we could probably figure something out. Of course, I imagine you’re getting other offers right now . . .”

Mark had never considered that he could parlay his viral fame into a coaching job. Obviously not something as dramatic as an assistant coach position on an NFL team, but possibly a role on staff that put him on a coaching track.

His head began to swim with possibilities. If Cox was reaching out, who else might? A staff position on a major team wasn’t out of the question. He knew owners would make “stunt hires” if it drew enough attention to the team and filled seats. Mark also recognized his viral fame would be fleeting, and the smart move would be to find a place where he could put his real skills—beyond blindly running into hazardous situations—to good use.

“Can you give me a couple days to set something up?” Mark asked.

“I’d like to get something on the calendar, Mark, before somebody else swoops you up.”

“I wouldn’t worry about another team right now,” he replied.

“Just understand,” said Cox, “I read that paper you and your girlfriend wrote and had a really good conversation with Stevenson, and I’d be making some kind of offer regardless of what happened. I think there could be a really good long-term role for you here. I know you might be getting some pretty flashy offers elsewhere, but it’s the same thing I tell my players: You’ve got to be thinking five and ten years ahead.”