Traded by Lisa Suzanne
CHAPTER 7
It’s a Saturday in the off-season, but I guess that doesn’t mean the team owner ever stops working. You don’t earn enough money to buy a football team without putting in the hours. It takes me all of five seconds to learn that Mr. Bennett started his career as a tax attorney, transitioned to real estate, and then sold his incredibly successful company only to buy the Aces a few years ago.
Shannon and Kevin prep me during and after breakfast. Kevin tells me everything I could possibly ever want to know about every player he knows on the Aces, not that I’ll remember most of it. I’m a casual fan, and I know enough about the sport to make light conversation, so I feel okay with that end of it. I shower and head to the address Lily emailed me.
My curiosity burns as I pull into the parking lot. What sort of job could this man possibly have for me that involves psychology and looking after children?
Maybe one of his players needs a nanny.
Or maybe he needs someone to watch players’ kids during practice.
But Lily said it was a unique position. Neither of those things would be unique.
Once I get to the parking lot and shut off my GPS, I take a deep breath. I read Lily’s email once more then text her to let her know I’m here as per her directions.
Lily: I’ll meet you in the lobby.
Sure enough, a woman a few years older than me waits for me in the lobby. Her chin-length black hair is cut in a perfect bob that swings as she approaches me.
“Kathryn?” she asks.
“Call me Kate, please. I assume you’re Lily?”
She nods and reaches out her hand to shake mine. “Follow me.”
We wind through a series of hallways and I see why she had me meet her in the lobby rather than give me directions to the owner’s office. Once we arrive, though, I find Calvin Bennett sitting behind a formidable wooden desk, and he stands with a smile to greet me. He wears a black Aces polo shirt with khaki pants, and he looks more like a friendly uncle than the cutthroat businessman I’ve learned he is.
“Kathryn, thank you for coming today,” he says, and I shake his hand across the desk.
“Thank you for inviting me, Mr. Bennett.”
“Have a seat,” he says, nodding toward a chair opposite him.
I do, and I perch awkwardly in it while I wait for him to explain what this is all about.
“Charles has been both my lawyer and my confidante for many years,” he begins, and how did I not know that this man was one of Charles’s clients? Maybe that whole client-attorney privilege thing. “When I spoke to him yesterday about a small issue I’m having, he couldn’t recommend you highly enough.”
“Me?” I ask, my hand flying to my chest in surprise.
He nods. “Tell me you’re still in the market for a new job.”
I chuckle. “Well, yes.” I decide to go for honesty. “I don’t have a new position yet. My plan was to find another nannying position, preferably live-in, to work for the next eighteen months or so while I finish my degree in interior design. Eventually, I’d like to open up my own firm.”
“And the live-in position allows you to save money to do that?”
I nod.
“Smart girl,” he says. He leans back in his chair casually and steeples his fingers in front of his mouth as he thinks for a few beats. Then he blows out a breath and leans forward. “Kathryn, let me be frank. I don’t know you from anybody else, but Charles told me how he admired your determination and your strong will in dealing with his children. With your background in both psychology and caring for children, he gave me an idea. It’s unconventional, but I’ll compensate you well for it and if you can stick it out until February, I’ll front you the money to open your design firm. Whatever you need.”
My brows dip. “February?” I repeat stupidly. “That’s ten months.”
He nods. “Less than one year for a hundred grand plus whatever your startup costs are, no strings attached. In fact, rather than estimate what startups might cost you, I’ll just call your salary two hundred thousand. We’ll prorate it every two weeks for the next ten months, and you use it how you see fit, whether it’s to create your new company or go back to school full time.”
My jaw drops. “Two...two hund...hundred...two hundred th-thousand?” I stutter the words.
I have a decent amount of money saved after working for the Van Astors, and I was pretty damn proud of that number until I heard this one.
He’s handing my company to me and all I have to do is agree to whatever he’s about to ask me.
Um...duh. I don’t even care what it is. Where do I sign? “What’s the job?” I ask, forcing my logic into the front seat for a second.
“I have a player joining my team who needs some...how should I put this?” He wrestles with his words for a few beats, and it makes me nervous as to what, exactly, he’s about to ask me. He clears this throat. “He’s made some headlines. He’s a star player, but he’s been making some poor choices. He’s not dangerous or anything. He’s a good man. A great man. But he’s been going through some things, and I want to help him straighten out again. Turn his life around, his image around, you know? Since he’s new to this organization, I need him to know how we do things around here. I need someone to keep a close eye on him. And I’ll kick in a fifty-K bonus if you keep him out of handcuffs for the next ten months.”
My brows dip. “You want to pay me a quarter of a million dollars to babysit one of your players?”
“I was thinking the official title would be something more along the lines of behavior coach, but...yes. That’s essentially what I’m looking for. I’d need you by his side pretty much twenty-four-seven. You’d be a live-in nanny to a thirty-something-year-old man. With your psychology background, you have the tools to help him. I’d be relying on you to help put his ego in the backseat so he can contribute to a winning team without all these other distractions getting in the way.”
So he wants to pay the girl who is actually part of a viral cat meme to be the model of good behavior as a coach? Makes a whole lot of sense.
Thank God I had that mask on in that stupid meme.
I feel like I’m the punchline to some joke here, but Cal is dead serious across the desk. “I’ve only ever used my knowledge in the field when it comes to children,” I admit, and wait just one hot minute...why the hell am I debating this point when he’s offering me the kind of money he is?
Because of honesty, Kate.
Give it to him straight.
“Surely there’s someone more qualified than I am,” I say.
He presses his lips together. “That may well be, but I need someone immediately, and I need someone I trust. If Charles recommended you as someone who has cared for the two people most precious to him, that’s all I need to know.”
“Will there be anyone else around?” I ask. “Or would it just be me and this stranger?”
“He’s engaged, and they have a baby. They’re getting married this summer, so you’ll have some time off around their honeymoon. A small staff will come and go from the house, and they have a nanny. So, yes, there will always be people around, and you’ll have access to me as well as the entire coaching staff should any issues arise.”
I stare at him and twist my lips as I try to decide what to do, but I already know the answer. I need a job. I want to save money. Those are my only two current goals, and this man is giving me both.
“Let me level with you, Kathryn,” he says. “You’ll be perfectly safe. While he did recently punch a teammate, he’s not generally a violent guy, and certainly never against women.”
“He...punched someone?”
“The guy had it coming, if I’m being honest.” He folds his hands in front of him and looks at me in earnest. “I think it’s part of why he wanted a trade deal. Look, he’s lost a few things over the last few months that have taken a toll on him. He’s emotionally fragile but won’t admit it, and he’s filling those voids with vices. I need you. I need someone to keep an eye on him and remind him everything he has to lose while coaching him to take accountability to see that what he’s doing affects more than just himself. You’ll be the angel on his shoulder fighting against the devils who seem to keep making his decisions for him.”
I suck my top lip into my mouth and capture it between my teeth as I take all of three seconds to decide. What’s the worst that can happen? So I keep a hot football player out of trouble for less than a year.
Okay, okay, he didn’t say hot, but still. I can totally do that. “That’s it? You don’t need to interview me or anything?”
He chuckles. “What do you think this is?”
“An interview?” I guess.
“I haven’t gotten to where I am without having a strong intuition about people. And you seem like the trustworthy type.” He presses a few keys on his keyboard and clicks the mouse, and a document starts printing a few seconds later. He grabs it from his printer and passes it over. “Read it over, sign it, and leave it with Lily,” he says.
“And just like that, I have a job that’ll pay two hundred thousand dollars over ten months?”
He nods. “Plus that bonus if you keep my boy out of trouble. But you’ll be working constantly, following him pretty much everywhere, and this won’t be an easy task. He’ll push back against you, surely. You’ll start Monday pending your signature on that contract, and once you’re in, you’re in. There’s no backing out. I have a meeting scheduled with the man you’ll be coaching Monday morning at eight. He’ll be staying at one of my houses for now, so come at nine to meet him and pick up your house key.”
“Yes sir,” I say.
I’m desperate.
I need a job where I don’t have to pay rent, where I’m not sleeping on Shannon’s couch, and where I can still take classes and save money.
I have no other options. It’s already been a month, my savings is dwindling, my dreams are moving further and further away, and if I don’t snatch up this position, someone else will.
I read over the contract that has a few more details about this new position, and I sign my life away for the next ten months with a flourish without really thinking things over.
Just like that, I have a job—one that’ll pay me enough over the next ten months to launch my dreams as soon as I finish my degree.
And then some.
