Page 7 of Here Be Dragons
The players had been sitting with Mark for hours waiting for any sign that the owners were interested in negotiating. In the meantime, they had worked on some other issues they thought would need to be addressed in the new collective bargaining agreement as well as coming up with a strategy to counteract any deal that would come over from the owners.
Not like that would ever happen. They had been here for three weeks sending over proposals to the owners and getting nothing in return. They rejected everything with no notes on what they were willing to negotiate on or any guidance at all. It was just a lot of rejections.
The players were getting restless after spending so much time away from home and their families. Shane wasn't one of them though. He didn't want to go back to Cleveland yet. It would mean being confronted by fans asking when the season was going to start. And unlike some of those guys, Shane had no family to go back to. It was just him, alone in his apartment. Or if he felt up for it, him at some bar picking up some woman to bring to his apartment. Thankfully, they rarely stayed over so he could be alone again when he woke up.
Like he was alone when he woke up this morning after his night with Ava. Things were going well today for the most part, but then every once in a while, he would have a flash of her blonde hair, her soft skin, and that would just piss him off again.
How could she not tell him who she was? And really, could he blame her? He brought home plenty of women and rarely knew what any of them did for a living -- if any of them even did anything for a living. He wasn't sure. He didn't care.
But Ava was something else. She was interesting to talk to. She was determined and strong and different than any woman he had picked up at a bar before. He simply chalked that up to the fact that this was a bar in the Hamptons, not the Warehouse District in Cleveland. Women at resorts in the Hamptons were different, right? And yet, Ava just wanted him for sex like all the others.
Maybe that's why he was so frustrated. She was like those other women in the sense that she just wanted one thing from him. But she wasn't some mindless puck bunny. He liked mindless puck bunnies. They might brag online about sleeping with THE Shane Taylor, but so what? He didn't have to see them again.
He was going to have to see Ava again. She was the new lawyer for the owners and he knew from experience that she was a force to be reckoned with. He had no choice but to find a way to make this work and get a deal done.
"Well, this was another useless day, boys," one of the players said as he stood up and stretched. "I have to call home and check in with my wife. Make sure the kids haven't driven her insane."
"Let's call it a day then," Jordan lamented.
The players stood up and started to collect their things to head out for the night. Shane's plan was to hit the gym for a bit, watch some basketball, and go to bed. So much excitement. At least the basketball season had started, which is more than could be said for his sport.
Shane was the first to the door of the conference room and opened it quickly to find Ava standing on the other side, fist in midair as if she was about to knock on the door. Instead, she professionally lowered her hand and looked at him.
"Mr. Taylor."
His eyes narrowed as he stared as her. "Ms. Foster."
He hoped his greeting was heavy and serious and made her think twice about the fact that she had slept with him knowing she was the enemy. But Ava seemed unfazed, giving him a polite but professional smile.
"I wanted to stop by and drop off the owners' response to your concussion protocol proposal."
"The what?" Dylan asked.
Ava looked over Shane's shoulder and gave Dylan a tight smile. "The owners have a response to the concussion protocol proposal you presented them last week."
She held out a document in front of her for Shane to take, but he just stared at her in shock. Instead, Mark pushed his way in front of the group, almost tripping over a few of the players to stand next to Shane.
"Um, great. Thank you, Ms. Foster," he stammered as he took the papers from her hand "We'll look this over and have a response for you tomorrow if that's OK."
She nodded politely. "I think that will work."
Then Ava put on a warm smile and looked at the players standing around staring at her. Shane realized he was probably the worst offender, but he wasn't sure how to fix that problem. Hell, he wasn't sure he wanted to.
"Well, I appreciate your work so far," Ava told the group. "I hope we get a few more pieces of this contract agreed on in the next few days."
And with that, she gave them one last look, then turned on her red-bottomed Louboutins and walked away.
The room was quiet for several moments as the players tried to process what was going on, but the lingering silence made Shane think they were just as shocked as he was.
"What the hell just happened?" Dylan finally muttered.
Shane could hear some papers shuffling and turned to see Mark glancing at the document in his hands.
"I think the owners have finally started to negotiate." He looked up to see the players all staring at him. "It looks like we may actually be on the road to getting a deal."
"So does that mean Ava could work out for us?" Jordan asked.
"Maybe?" Mark said apprehensively. "Let me look this over tonight, but I think your lawyer from Detroit might actually be a good thing."
