Janus glared at the man, ignoring the pain shooting through his right leg. His ribs still ached, but he could finally move around a little. “I’ve been playing football since I was about six years old,” he said with an outward calm that he definitely didn’t feel. In reality, he was livid. That ass Rockwell had been censured and fined, kicked off of the team, and no other team would touch him. But that wasn’t what was bothering Janus. It was the lack of communication from Stevie. It had been over a week. He’d been in the hospital, flooded with visitors, not to mention doctors and nurses who just wanted to stop by and say hello, congratulate him on the victory, and wish him a fast recovery. He’d been gifted with so many flowers and gifts that he’d ordered the hospital staff to stop delivering them, asking them to deliver them to other people’s rooms instead.
But none of those well-wishers were the person he really wanted to hear from. They weren’t a soft, dark-haired, brown eyed kindergarten teacher who lit up a room with her smile.
Furthermore, he was disgusted with the number of women who wanted to “help his recovery” by offering their services. Women had been stopping by his room so often that he’d demanded the hospital and team put a guard up to keep them away. It was ridiculous how many women tried to sneak into his hospital room, some of them stripping naked as soon as they entered.
“Do you think you might be hasty in your decision?” another reporter called out. “After all, the doctors say that you’ll make a full recovery in a couple of months. That’s enough time to get in shape for next season.”
Janus fought to keep himself from rolling his eyes. “I’ve been very lucky in my career with the NFL,” he responded as diplomatically as possible. “But after last week’s tackle, I’ve reevaluated my priorities. I think it’s time for a career change.”
“What are your plans?” another asked.
He shrugged, smothering the wince when his ribs protested. “I have several businesses that I’ll be focusing on in the future.” He didn’t add that his ultimate goal was to still be involved in the sport, just not on the team. Even now, Roy was negotiating behind the scenes.
After helping get his team to the Super Bowl three times over the past five years, not to mention many other lucrative years in the NFL, Janus was a very wealthy man. He hadn’t ever been the kind of guy who went out and bought ten cars and hit the strip clubs, buying attention from ladies by throwing cash around.
Instead, he’d invested his money, bought restaurants, bars, and other businesses. Those businesses earned him more money than football ever could. What’s more, he wouldn’t be tackled to the ground by an ass with a vendetta.
Nope, he’d done extremely well, both on and off the field. Now it was time to put the next phase of his life into play.
“Is there any chance that you’ll change your mind and come back to the sport once you’ve had a bit of time to recover and re-evaluate?” Another reporter called out.
Janus smiled, but it was one of cold determination. “Anything is possible,” he replied.
There were a series of other questions called out to him and he forced himself to answer as many as he could. He didn’t want to alienate the press. Plus, he might need the publicity in the future.
Over the years, Janus had developed a policy to never close doors. But as he hobbled away from the conference room an hour later, there was one door he was definitely slamming shut! His rage ate at him like acid as the pain burned through his body, coming from different angles depending on how he moved. Rage towards one beautiful, selfish, silent woman.
Never again would he make himself vulnerable, he vowed. Never again.
Chapter 7
Four months later…
Stevie stared at the plastic stick, her heart pounding in her chest. Positive. She was pregnant.
She tried to think. Tried to make sense of the test that…didn’t make any sense! Even now, her heart still ached from the loss of her mother back in September. After arranging her mother’s funeral and shutting down her mother’s life, Stevie had finally looked at her phone, desperately hoping to see a text message or e-mail from Janus. But there’d been only silence.
That had hurt more than she’d thought possible. At a time when she needed him the most, he’d gone on his merry way.
Of course, he didn’t know that her mother had passed away. The first few days after that horrible visit to the hospital had been a blur of confusion and soul-deep grief. And fear! Lots of fear. She’d called her school principal and explained the situation. The principal had been wonderful, arranging for a substitute to take care of her class for the next two weeks. But it still had taken Stevie a while to start functioning again.
Unfortunately, not once did Janus call and ask about her. She’d been in such a haze, barely sleeping or eating during the week following her mother’s death, that she hadn’t known what day it was, much less what was going on in the world. But when she’d finally surfaced, finally had collected herself enough to check her messages, she hadn’t found anything from Janus.
Apparently, he’d been through with her. Sex. A convenient body. That’s all she’d been to him. Stevie had been a good roll in the hay and, after he’d gotten what he wanted, the jerk had moved on.
Breathing in deeply, she closed her eyes and tried to figure out how to get through this next painful revelation in her life. She was pregnant. Pregnant. Alone. Sad and…abandoned. Plus, it was January. This was one of the gloomiest months in Seattle. A lot of people thought of Seattle as a rainy town. And yeah, there was a lot of rain, but not as much as people assumed.
The real issue in Seattle was the cloud cover. There were months when it seemed that they would never see the sunshine again. Never feel the warmth of the sun or have hope that the gloom would dissipate.
Now, she was pregnant. She’d been feeling tired and out of sorts for a while now. But after the holidays had passed and she still couldn’t seem to get out of her funk, Stevie had finally gone to see a doctor.
“You’re pregnant,” her physician had told her gently. “I know this isn’t the news you were expecting, but I hope you might be happy about it.”
Stevie hadn’t believed her doctor, which is why she was sitting in her bathroom, staring at a plastic stick. Not that the pharmacy pregnancy test was better than the blood test she’d taken at the doctor’s office. Still, it was one of those situations that she just…well, needed more confirmation.
Tossing the plastic stick into the trash, she walked out of the bathroom and stood in her kitchen. “I should eat something,” she said to her empty apartment. But the thought of eating just made her ill.
“This is ridiculous!” she snapped and turned on her heel, walking out of the kitchen. It was Saturday and she needed to get away from Seattle. Away from her tiny apartment where she’d been holed up for the past four months. “Fresh air,” she whispered as she got into her car. It was cold in Seattle, but Stevie still rolled the windows down a few inches, turning on the heat.
She wasn’t sure where she was going, but wasn’t surprised when she ended up at her mother’s house. Staring at the small, familiar cottage, Stevie’s eyes teared up. Angrily, she wiped them away, sick of crying. It was as if she’d been doing nothing but crying for the past four months. Over her mother’s death, the loss of Janus-the-Jerk as she now referred to him, and now this. Pregnant.