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The only thing she and I were terrible at was calling each other and connecting after the rough patches. I waited for her to call; she waited for me, and by the time we came back together, there was more trouble staring back at us.
Two days after I re-signed my contract, and with the head of IMG, Sophia Copeland, standing by my side, I announced in a press conference that I had been a victim of being drugged. It served as a warning and a movement, and IMG was heading up the initiative. More importantly, Tatum O'Neil was, but Sophia showed up in her place, letting us know Tatum was taking a few days off.
The buzz around the league was quick, and when I thought I would end up with a bunch of guys hating me for being weak, it turned out that there were more stories like mine. That being in the public eye made us targets, and even though my case was different because it was never really about me, there were a ton of guys who had gone through the stress of not remembering what happened to them the night they went out. Some were caught with the drugs in their systems, and some never even spoke up until I did, but I felt a little more validated, speaking out and knowing I wasn't alone.
My team was glad to see me back in the locker room and had secretly conducted their own investigation, learning that Luca had let a kid who claimed to be a super fan into the locker room that morning that he found the picture on the bulletin board. Luca was no longer around to confirm, but I was willing to bet that "kid" was Colton, so he could pin the picture to the board.
When things felt like they were starting to settle down, I pulled Sophia aside after one of our meetings. She was all business and exuded power and poise. You could tell she had been successful in her endeavors and never took shit from anyone.
But I needed her to let her guard down for a minute because I needed to know if Tatum was okay.
"Is she coming back at all?" I asked her, without even telling her who I was talking about.
"I honestly don't know," Sophia sighed. "I'm letting her work from home on some backend paperwork until she's ready to make a decision."
"Thank you," I nodded. "For giving her time to process everything."
"Oh," Sophia laughed, which came across as a little more annoyed. "She's doing grunt work. Trust me, this isn't a favor I'm providing, it's what she chose to do."
"Still…"
Sophia gave me a straight smile, then turned around and walked from the conference room. She wasn't the warm and fuzzy type, so I took her candor as a win.
Since there was no more camp or practices, I headed out to my Bronco, thinking of taking a drive around North Beach for a change of scenery. Climbing in, I cranked her up as something dangling from my rearview mirror caught my eye.
"What the—?" I mumbled, seeing the necklace made of driftwood beads and little S's carved into them. It was similar to the one I told Tatum about that my dad had around the mirror when I was young. She was the only one I had told, and I knew she had been the one to put it there.
Throwing my old Bronco into reverse, I left the field and drove straight to South Beach. North Beach was no longer an option. It was time to find my girl, to reassure her I was okay, and to make sure she was okay. Maybe I would never be able to look at her brother without disdain, but I knew I could spend forever looking at her with love.
* * *
If I was right, Tatum would be at Nikki's Beach Club. In fact, I didn't even try her apartment first. Grabbing the necklace from the mirror, I put it on and sprinted across the parking lot to head inside.
It was late in the afternoon but not quite dinner time, so the beach emptied out, but the dinner crowd had yet to make their way in. It was my favorite time of day to be at the beach, and it would make it easier to track Tatum down if she was there.
"Can I get you set up, Mr. Maddox?" The concierge asked as I sprinted by.
"No thanks," I yelled, knowing I wouldn't sit anywhere until I found her.
After looking around for a few minutes, I pulled out my phone and thought that I would break down and call her first. Maybe she wasn't even there, and thinking that our twisted tale turning into a fairy tale was stupid.
Then I glanced up toward the water and dropped my phone in the sand. She was there, strolling along the water's edge with her head down. She had on the same bathing suit cover that she'd worn the day we fucked in the cabana, and just the memory had my dick wanting to harden.
Moving my feet toward her, I remembered how she had run to me when her tires were sliced, scared and unsure where else to go or who to turn to.Me, I thought to myself,always come to me.
When I got near her, it was like she could sense that I was there because the waves made it too loud to hear my approach on the sand, yet she paused and turned around. My unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt and bathing suit were what I usually wore, but her eyes went straight to the necklace I had around my neck.
"It was a peace offering," she mumbled without context. "I found it at the old thrift shop on 75th street, and it felt like it was meant to be yours."
"It's just like my dad's," I assured her.
"Whether you ever forgive me or not, I hope you keep it and think of him."
"I'm going to think of you. I'll always be thinking of you."
She gave me a weak smile, and even though she was wearing sunglasses, I could see how tired she looked. Colton and Hunter made a mess of her life, and it took me too long to find her. Now that I had, I wasn't leaving until she knew the entire truth about Tripp Maddux.
Right there, where we met when I first told her I wanted to fuck her and sincerely thought that would be all I ever wanted. Where I first heard her laugh and felt my heart twinge with the sound. Hunter didn't exist that day. She was celebrating being strong enough to let him go, but he wasn't an issue. We were just two people that met, connected, and were never the same again.
