Page 46 of The Devil In Denim
Tom gave a heavy shuddering sigh, the wrinkles around his eyes and mouth suddenly stark against his skin. “I didn’t forget you, Maggie. I just didn’t think you could do it.”
She felt like he’d punched her, the wind knocked out of her, making her bend forward, hand on her stomach to catch her breath. Tom had never told her that she couldn’t do something, that he didn’t believe that she couldn’t achieve anything she wanted. “You didn’t think I could do it?”
“No. I’m sorry, Maggie, but the situation is too bad. You just don’t have the experience.”
“I—”
He held up a hand. “School isn’t experience, not the sort you need to ride this kind of thing out.”
“I’ve grown up with the Saints. I’ve helped you.”
“It’s not the same.”
“So, what, I was really just the team mascot all this time? Saint Maggie? Isn’t she cute, let’s wheel her out to look pretty when it’s helpful?”
“Sometimes. Not always. But sometimes. Sometimes that’s what’s needed. But not this time.”
“Why couldn’t you just trust me? God, Dad. You’ve just taken everything I ever wanted away from me.”
He shook his head. “No I haven’t. I did this for you.”
“For me?” The laugh that bubbled up in her throat tasted bitter. “How is this about anything but saving your ass?”
“Because it gives you a chance,” Tom said. “I can be the bad guy with the team but you can start to build something with Alex. You can still be involved.”
“I don’t want to do it with him. I wanted to do it with you.”
“And if I’d let you try and you’d failed? If we’d lost the Saints anyway? What do you think would have happened?”
“That wouldn’t have happened.”
“It might have. Probably would have. And what then? You think any other team is going to give you a chance after you screwed up a franchise? You’d be poison to them. It’s bad enough to most of them that you’re a woman but a woman and a failure? You’d be done, love. You know that. I couldn’t do that to you.”
She didn’t know what to say to that. Didn’t want to think about what he had said. Couldn’t think past the hurt and anger making her vision cloud and her throat tighten.
“So I’m supposed to believe this was all for me?”
“Ever since the day you were born, baby.”
“Don’t,” she said. “Don’t try and sweet-talk me, Dad. It won’t work.”
“Then you need to believe what I say. If you’d lost the Saints, no one would give you another chance. This way you still get a chance at your dream.”
Only it wasn’t her dream. Not exactly. She’d wanted to work with him at the Saints. Help run the team that was her family with her father. Not be some sort of glorified social chaperone for three relative strangers who wanted to trade off her name and her goodwill to get the jump start they needed.
To save the Saints.
Once upon a time, she’d been Saint Maggie. She would’ve done anything for the team and for her father. But now … now she wasn’t so sure who she was. Or what she wanted.
Chapter Nine
Thwock.
Alex grinned as his bat connected with the ball and sent it rocketing out of the batting cage. He’d never be the slugger that Mal was, but damn, he loved the sound of a sweet hit. He set his stance again, waited for the ball machine to send the next ball his way. It was cold as the proverbial balls on a brass monkey, but the outdoor batting cages at the Saints’ training complex next to the field were somehow far more satisfying than the slick indoor one he’d had built on the lower levels of his Manhattan office building or the Saints’ indoor set of five. He liked the feel of the wind on his face and the smell of metal and netting and the oil of the machine.
Sure, batting in a ski jacket did little for his swing but it still beat being cooped up in the office. This week, the real work would start. Last week they’d had surprise on their side. Novelty. Now, they had to get to work and actually save the Saints. Deal with whatever achieving that goal might throw at them. So he’d woken up early and come down here to work off some of the anticipatory nerves. Not to mention to try to stop himself thinking about Maggie. And that kiss. Or when he’d get to kiss her again.
And how he was going to stop thinking about things like that so he could keep control of the situation.
