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“Yeah, definitely,” I replied numbly. “Whatever you say, Dallas.”
He nodded, then went into the locker room. It wasn’t exactly a lecture, but it was close to it. A wake-up call for the rookie who wasn’t living up to his reputation as a star wide receiver.
Rather than follow him into the locker room, I went around the corner and walked down the hall until I reached a cluster of supply closets. Stadium employees were moving carts of equipment back and forth, but none of my teammates were here. I leaned my back against the wall and closed my eyes.
Deep breaths,I told myself, letting the cool air calm me. Even though there was a lot of activity from the stadium employees, it was a much more relaxed environment down here without the constant roar of the fans.Deep breaths. Everything is fine.
I had been on a football team since the age of six. I was always surrounded by people who had my back, and who cared about me. I had the most supportive, loving family a guy could ask for. But right then, in the quiet bowels of the Raiders stadium, I felt alone. I had felt that way since moving to Salt Lake City, and I didn’t know why.I wish my moms were here. Hell, I’d even settle for my sisters.
A stadium employee pushing a cart slowed down as he passed me. I waited for him to ask if I was okay, or if I needed anything. I waited for him to move on so I could be alone again.
Instead, he reached into his pocket. I saw the glint of light reflecting off a cell phone.
Not a phone, I realized as he pulled it back, preparing to strike.A knife!
Somehow, I turned the thrusting blade aside before it could plunge into my thigh. The knife scraped against the wall behind me. The man let out a curse as he rounded on me and prepared to stab again. Rather than defend myself, I was suddenly paralyzed with terror. I couldn’t make my arms move.
And then Cazzie was there, slamming into the man and twisting his wrist. The attacker cried out, and the blade clattered to the floor. Cazzie swept her foot, kicking the blade far away.
“SECURITY!” she roared, and then a fist crashed into the side of her face. She stumbled, and it was all the time the man needed to turn and sprint away. He knocked aside two carts of equipment in his flight, sending practice footballs and helmets rolling through the hall.
He rounded a corner, and was gone.
8
Cazzie
The best part about training was that it forced you to act without thought. The moment I rounded the corner and saw the knife, muscle memory took over and I lunged into action. A body blow knocked the attacker off balance, and then it was simple to twist his wrist until the knife fell away. I kicked it out of reach and shouted for security, and then a fist smashed into my cheek.
I saw stars for a moment, but I kept my footing and put my body between Luke and the attacker. But then the man was sprinting away, knocking over carts of equipment before disappearing around a corner. I gave pursuit, stepping nimbly to avoid the footballs and helmets that now covered the floor. But when I rounded the corner, there was nothing to see.
He was gone.
Annoyed at myself for failing to catch the asshole, I returned to the original hallway. Luke was leaning against the wall, his massive, muscular chest heaving as he caught his breath.
“I thought I told you to leave me alone,” he said faintly.
“Like I said,” I replied with a smirk, “it’s not your call.” I winced and put a hand to my cheek. It was already hot to the touch. “This is going to look great later. What shade of red is it? Hey, Luke? Did you hear me?”
Luke had a strange look in his eyes. He was staring past me at nothing.He’s in shock. I’d seen it plenty of times before. Even the toughest men and women had their brains shut off sometimes during trauma.
I took him by the arm and led him around the corner and into the visiting locker room. There were football players in various states of nudity in every direction. A few of them shouted when they saw me. One of the wide receivers with a towel around his waist gave me a wink.
The closest man to me was a blond guy wearing nothing but a jock strap and a cowboy hat. I grabbed him by the arm and said, “Someone just tried to stab Luke with a knife. Can you help him while I get security?”
“Shit. No problem.” He put his arm around Luke, who still seemed catatonic. “Howdy, partner. Let’s get you in the shower. Come on, follow me. We’ll get you all cleaned up. But you’ve got to wash your naughty bits. We’re teammates, but we aren’tthatclose.”
I grabbed a hand towel from the locker room and used it to wrap up the attacker’s knife. Then I notified the Allegiant Stadium security team, who did a quick search of the area and came back with nothing.
“We should lock down the building,” I insisted. “The attacker might still be here. If we interview everyone…”
The head of security laughed in my face. “Do you know how many employees we have here on game day? It would takeweeksto interview everyone. And that’s assuming it even is an employee, and not some rando who grabbed a uniform from the staff changing room.”
The police treated the incident more seriously, and took statements from me, Luke, and one of the other employees whose cart the attacker had knocked over. But I was still furious that I had let the guy get away. He was right there,right in front of me. I had the element of surprise. And somehow I had failed.
Luke was quiet on the flight back to Salt Lake City. His teammates came over and chatted him up, trying to joke about the incident and keep him in good spirits. When we landed, we took an Uber back to his apartment. He was still very obviously in shock, so I led him into the bedroom and helped him get ready for bed.
“After you brush your teeth, you need to change,” I told him while rummaging through his dresser. I came to his underwear drawer and quickly shut it. “What do you wear to bed?”
