Page 32 of Reckless Love

“You want him to earn a big fat contract in a couple of years,” Greg laughed. “You too.” He kissed his wife.

She shook her headand sighed. “I seem to remember you enjoying our week in Tuscany thanks to a few of those big fat contracts.”

“Oh I do.” Greg grinned. “So keep the talent coming, boys. Keep it coming.”

“Don’t worry, you won’t get used to him.” Jake shook his head and smiled at me. “He’s just...like this. All the time.”

“And youloveme.” Greg patted his leg.

“I do. I really do.”

Greg grinned even wider. “You know what I’ll really love? If the Mantas win by two.”

Marie gasped. “You bet on the game!” Then she buried her face in her hands. “You know I don’t want you doing that.”

He shrugged. “It’s all this insider bull crap that she doesn’t want on her plate. But you know what? I’m a red blooded American and I like to bet on sports.”

“I’m goingto kill you. I’m going to murder you in your sleep.”

“No she’s not.”

“I think she might,” Jake quipped. “I don’t think I’d blame her. I won’t tell the cops it was premeditated.”

“Look,” Greg pointed at the scoreboard. “They’re up by four right now. I’m golden. Those bozos from Atlanta can score two more runs and I’ll still win. At least I didn’t betagainstthe Mantas. I shouldhave. The underdog payout is way better tonight.”

Greg stopped talking mid-sentence as one of those Atlanta bozos smacked a grand slam home run right out of the park. That four run lead dissolved. To add insult to injury, our golden boy made his error. It was a strange one too. The third baseman made a perfectly good throw across the field, but Charley hopped off the base when he caughtthe ball. That runner was driven in by the end of the inning, helping Atlanta win by two.

“Son of a bitch,” Greg whined as we all filed out of the suite.

“I hope you didn’t bet too much.” Leo slapped him on the shoulder.

We made our way back down to the locker room. It was pretty quiet. Everyone seemed to take the loss pretty hard.

“I was thinking about taking Charleyhome,” Leo said. “Maybe I can buy him a cheeseburger or something. He’s got to be starving.”

“I can get myself home.”

“I know you can. But I want to be sure you’re okay with it first.”

I kissed his soft cheek then nibbled his earlobe. “I’ll be just fine.”

We were mid-make-out when Charley came clumping out of the showers looking completely miserable.

“It wasa good game, kid. Really. One mistake,” Leo said.

“Stupid mistake.” He shoved open in his locker and began pulling out his street clothes. “Stupid fucking mistake. For a stupid fucking reason. What’s the point of calling it a sport, huh?”

Leo blinked. “Charley...what’s going on?”

I studied him because his anger confused me. He was vibrating with it. His face turned redderthe longer he fumed. “The money. You know what. Never mind. I didn’t say that.”

“Charley.” Leo grabbed his arm and gave it a slight jerk. “What money?”

He sniffed and looked away. “Is this the way it is in professional sports? It’s all just a show? All these guys I’ve looked up to my whole fucking life? Were they just playing parts?”

Leo stepped right into Charley’s face.“What. Money?”

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