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He flashed bright teeth at me. “I do something special every Sunday night. You wanna find out what?”
“You fall asleep like a baby and sleep until the next day’s team meeting. I hear Keith and Garza slap each other’s faces. ”
He snorted. “Laugh themselves silly. ”
“And is it true they do this?”
I must have worn him down, because he paused. “Yeah. ”
“And you?”
“I listen to ‘We Are the Champions. ’” He pointed his finger in my face. “Don’t laugh. ”
“I’m not laughing. What else?”
He shrugged and rattled off a few other funny traditions, but only one made me stop taking notes. “And Krasner gets written up by the uniform police. ”
I tilted my head. “Hm?”
He shrugged. “You know, the officials who patrol the sideline making sure we’re all dressed the same. Fuckin’ Nazis. ” He looked embarrassed. “Sorry. ”
I knew who the uniform police were. Players could get fined for having the wrong socks or any brand advertised that wasn’t the NFL’s official sponsor. If players wore a college cap instead of an NFL-approved one, they were out the equivalent of a semester’s tuition. “Why’s he get written up?”
TJ shrugged again. “He wears a bracelet. ”
Funny sparks lit up the back of my neck. “Where from?”
“Dunno. ”
He’d mentioned that before. A bracelet. He said he kissed it before the game.
That was so unlike him.
I cleared my mind and smiled at TJ. “Cool. Hey, so I noticed you wear a Loft 2530 helmet. Why’s that?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know, been wearing one since college. ”
“Yeah? You remember who started you on it?”
“I think my coach?”
From behind me, a voice like polished wood sounded. “You’re not still going on about helmets, are you?”
Tingles shot straight through me, and my stomach clenched in anticipation. I was both absolutely terrified and absolutely delighted to see Abe again, and I held my breath as I turned to include him in my view. “Hi. ”
But instead of smiling, he wore a slight frown on his face and a crease between his brows. “TJ, beat it. ”
TJ, for whatever reason, bought it and left.
My mouth actually fell open as I watched him go, and then I swung around to face Abraham. “Abraham! I was talking to him. ”
He rubbed his jaw. “I don’t suppose you’ll just drop the Loft stuff?”
“And you realize you just made me fifty times more interested by saying that?”
He shrugged. “I just don’t think that’s a story. ”
“Abe—you haven’t forgotten I’m a reporter, right? You can’t keep interrupting me. ”
“Maybe I’m trying to keep you safe. ”
“Maybe that’s not your job. ”
“For God’s sake, Tammy, don’t be so stubborn. Can’t you trust that I know what I’m talking about?”
I didn’t actually have a clue what he was talking about, only that I didn’t like his overbearing tone and that he seemed to think that feeling me up gave him the right to order me around and mess with my job. “Don’t call me a fool. ”
“Then don’t act like one!”
My face scrunched up and I had to tighten the muscles around my eyes to keep the hurt in. “You’re being a jerk. ”
“And you’re being pushy. ”
Part of me wanted to back down, but a larger part didn’t want Abe to get the right of it. “I told you. Sports Today is doing real news, not just fluff lists and flattering managers and coaches. So I report. And that means being a little bit pushy. You have a problem with that?”
A hand landed on my arm and gave a quick squeeze; I glanced over to see Mduduzi had pushed through the crowd of press and players to my side, and Jin had followed in his wake. Apparently just in time to hear my defensive tone. Now he countered it with a soothing one. “Of course, Sports Today is also extremely interested in keeping our relationship with the team healthy. ”
Abe looked at the hand on my arm, and despite feeling like he was trying to impose on my career, I also felt a strange satisfaction at the displeasure on Abe’s face. He fought it off and looked back and forth between the guys. “Jin and Mduduzi, right?”
They looked slightly impressed that he remembered their names. “Right. ”
He looked over the three of us. “You all work together?”
I hooked my arm through Mduduzi’s. “Sure do. ”
“Tamar,” Jin said in a low, warning voice, and it clicked that they didn’t realize why I was being so familiar with Abe.
Abe, of course, waved it off, which bugged me even more—it made him look like he was being gracious, when of course he was really acting overbearing. “It’s no big deal. ”
Mduduzi smiled. “We appreciate it. ”
For God’s sake, were they going to act as though he could run us over, and after everything Tanya always said about serious journalism? I scowled at Abe and couldn’t control the denial from bursting past my lips. “It is not okay. ”
Mduduzi delivered an elbow to my ribs and a look that said to stop being a nuisance.
Right. Because good journalists acted like adults.
“Tamar—” Abe raked his hand through his hair. “Calm down. ”
I crossed my arms. “No. ”
“Can we talk about it over dinner?”
I hesitated as I realized that Jin and Mduduzi were staring at me. “I’m busy. ”
He didn’t like that answer. “With what?”
I lifted my chin. “Maybe I have a hot date. ” Or dinner with my cousin Shoshi. One or the other.
Jensen, the backup quarterback, popped over. Energy burst out of him to such a degree he practically bounced on his toes, and no wonder. All dressed up, but no chance to play. “Tamar, right?”
I switched my attention to him, because he was easier than Abe or my coworkers. “That’s right. ”
Jensen grinned, and glanced back and forth between Abe and me. He was a troublemaker, all right. He focused the full force of his jaunty smile on me. “You coming out with us tomorrow?”
My eyes instinctively went back to Abe’s, who didn’t look quite as excited. I raised a brow. “What’s tomorrow?”
“Not really your scene. ”
I raised my brow. “How do you know what my scene is, Abraham Krasner?”
He just narrowed his eyes and smiled slightly, as though to say, Oh, I know. Intimately.
I blushed, but rallied my nerves. “Well, then. I’ll see you there. ”
Abe’s eyes were bright with amusement. “We never told you where. ”
Oops.
“Turquoise, in Meatpacking,” Jensen said promptly. “You need my number to find us?”
Abe cut in. “She doesn’t want your number. ”
That was too much. “Wow, you know all about me all of a sudden. Whose number I need, what stories I should be telling, where I’d like to go. ”
“Tamar. . . ” Mduduzi said nervously.
But I didn’t get a chance to retort, because open locker room was closing, and the staff started ushering all of the media away. Abraham didn’t lose eye contact. “The two of us could just get dinner tomorrow. ”