Page 34 of 40-Yard Line

“I’m sorry.” The big man moved so fast that Ghost and Nine couldn’t reach him. He gripped the throat of Glen Pinken, dragging him like a rag doll from the booth.

“Not as sorry as you’re going to be.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

“Trevon? Trevon, son, put the man down. Let him go, or you’re going to kill him,” said Nine.

“Should I call Team Big?” whispered Ghost.

“He’ll be dead by the time they get here,” said Nine.

“Trevon! You put that boy down!” yelled Jackie. He turned and stared at the older woman, then looked back at the purple face of Glen Pinken. “Now!”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, releasing his hold. Glen fell to the ground, coughing and spitting, gasping for air. He crawled backwards, trying to make his escape, but Ghost stopped him.

“I prevented him from killing you once. Don’t test your luck with me. You’re going to explain to us about all this bullshit. What was she trying to do?”

“Fuck with your lives! That’s all she ever does,” he said, looking at Trevon. “She just wanted to fuck with your lives and your minds. She screwed with Petey and Debra. Told her that she loved the little birthmark on Petey’s ass cheek.”

“They were having an affair?” frowned Trevon.

“No! She filmed it while we had cameras in the locker rooms. She filmed all of you. It was a sick, twisted obsession of hers to look at your bodies, see the size of you,” he said in air quotes. “If she could fuck with your life, she did.”

“How much did she give Lara?” he asked.

“The equivalent of Butch’s payout on his contract. One-point-eight million.”

“Son-of-a-bitch,” muttered Trevon. “I trusted her. I thought she actually cared about me.”

“I think she did. I mean, for what it’s worth, I think she did,” said Glen. “I know that she didn’t want to do it initially, but my sister can be very convincing in a horrible, malicious, vicious way.”

“You know that the league is going under, right?” asked Nine.

“I know. Everyone knows, but my sister won’t listen to reason. She’s offered to buy me out.”

“You should take that offer,” said Ghost. “If you’re there when all this goes down, you’re going down with her, and we’ll make sure you serve time right beside her. Maybe y’all can get bunk beds or something.”

Glen swallowed hard, rubbing his neck as he stared at the men. He looked up at Trevon and, for the first time, understood why defenders feared him.

“She’ll buy out my shares if I ask. I’ll do that today.”

“Where does she keep the rest of the files?” asked Nine.

“I’m going to guess in her home,” said Glen.

“What about Butch? Did she kill him?” asked Trevon.

“I guess she did indirectly. I mean, she paid players in the league to take cheap shots on him, paid the refs to look the other way, and paid some of the o-line guys to miss their tackles.”

“Her contracts are illegal,” said Nine. The truth was, he wasn’t sure that they were illegal yet, but he damn sure thought they could be.

“It doesn’t surprise me. She never allowed Gwen or me to review them. Look, I’ll sell my shares and get out, but she wants the championship. She thinks that it will prove that she’s capable of running an NFL team.”

“Wait, this isn’t about our league merging with the NFL?” asked Trevon.

“No. Not even close. She knows there isn’t the talent to do that, and the NFL doesn’t respect our league. What she hopes is that she will have enough money to buy a team, and they’ll let her. That’s her dream.”

“Why? She doesn’t respect the game,” frowned Trevon. “She damn sure doesn’t give a shit about her players. Is this so she can play her sick games with us? See us naked?”

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