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He closes my office door behind him and chuckles. He crosses the office, drops down into the chair in front of my desk, crosses one leg over the other, and leans back. “That only applies when other people are around.”
“Oh. Good to know.”
“Why are you so jumpy, anyway? You in here watching porn or something?”
“Ha. Ha,” I reply and roll my eyes. “What do you want, Dad?”
“You’re so grumpy, daughter of mine.”
“I’ve had a rough day.”
He gives me a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry, honey.”
“It’s fine. I’m fine. I’m sorry I’m so grumpy. I don’t mean to take it out on you. Anyway, what’s up?”
“Well, I heard something happened between you and Ryder out on the practice field. I was just curious about what happened.”
“Why? What did you hear?”
He grimaces. “To be honest, I heard you went off on him pretty good.”
“That is what we call a lie. I kept myself from going off on him. I handled myself professionally and simply tried to walk away from him when the situation was escalating.”
I’m not going to lie—I’ve got a temper. You would think that’s something I inherited from my football coach father, but I actually got that from my mother. She was fiery. Like her, I’m a strong, confident, and independent woman. I’m not afraid to stand up for myself or call people out for their bad behavior. I’m not exactly a shrinking violet, especially when somebody is crossing my boundaries and making me uncomfortable.
Out on the field earlier, Ryder Simmons definitely crossed my boundaries and made me uncomfortable. He acted like a disgusting, entitled asshole. Rather than say that though, I held my tongue and tried to remove myself from the situation. He wouldn’t take a hint and kept pushing and prodding me, which only made me even more uncomfortable, and it was getting harder and harder to hold my tongue.
Thank God for Carter Cole. I had almost reached my breaking point with Ryder and was about to go off on him when Carter stepped up and made the rookie back off. If not for him, I would have wailed at Ryder like a banshee and that would have created a lot of problems for me and the organization as a whole. There’s nothing worse than an egomaniacal superstar with a case of bruised feelings.
“What happened, honey?” my father asks.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.”
“Fine,” I reply. “Ryder came up to me when I was packing my bag out there and said something… inappropriate.”
“Inappropriate? What did he say?”
My cheeks get hot and turn an unnatural shade of red. I don’t say anything for a moment and, instead, look away. I know I shouldn’t feel embarrassed because this is not my problem and I didn’t do anything wrong, but I do all the same.
“Cami?”
“He asked me to blow him, Dad. Happy?”
“He did what?”
“Yeah. Asked me to blow him. And when I said no, he kept trying to pressure me. Thank God Carter was there to make him leave me alone.”
“Are you sure he wasn’t just joking around? I mean, he’s kind of an odd duck, honey. He’s got a strange sense of humor?—”
“It wasn’t a joke. He was dead serious. And don’t give me that boys will be boys bullshit. That boy is a sexual predator.”
“He’s young?—”
“Still not an excuse for that kind of behavior. Sexual harassment is not okay.”
A wistful, nostalgic smile touches his lips. “You sound just like your mother.”
