Page 17 of Recruited By the Billionaire

“But Collins is primarily a drop-back pocket quarterback only, sir,” said Frankie. “He’s pretty fast in the open field, but he’s got to get in the open field first. He’s not fast off the gun. These smothering defenses nowadays will swallow him up before he’ll ever get up to speed.”

Jerry and the assistants looked at Frankie, surprised by her grasp of facts not in front of her.

“Broadhurst is a better runner than a passer,” said Robert.

“Collins is a very good passer, but a terrible runner because of his lack of speed to get himself out of the pocket,” said Frankie. “Broadhurst is a good passer, and a great runner. He has no downside.”

“My quarterback has to be better than a good passer,” Robert said firmly.

Frankie realized just who she was talking to, and she did feel the intimidation, but she kept going. “Yes, sir, I understand that he needs to be better than good. But the point is that it’s different now. Defenses rush the QB thirty-nine percent more now than they have ever done before. If your quarterback can’t run and I mean off the gun, he will be sacked. Dozens of times. That’s the difference between winning a game and losing one. That was the problem last season. That’s why you’re making a quarterback switch for the upcoming season. With some training, we can move Broadhurst from good to great in the throwing department too.”

Robert stared at her. “So you’re advocating for Broadhurst?”

“No, sir. I’m not advocating for anybody. I’m just telling you the facts.”

Robert continued to stare at her for a noticeably long time, as if he was sizing her up. But what Frankie couldn’t tell was if he was sizing her up to cut her down to size, or because he was impressed that she didn’t take her job lightly.

“Allendale,” he finally said.

“Allendale isn’t a quarterback, sir.”

“Did I say he was?” asked Robert.

The assistants grinned. Robert watched to see how she handled their insulting grins. He could see her nervousness as she batted her large eyes, but she sat upright. She wasn’t going to let his tone, or anybody else, stop her. He liked that.

“Allendale is an excellent tailback,” she said.

“What if we teach him to throw during Spring training?” Robert asked.

“Now that’s a good idea, Rob,” said Jerry with a grin.

Frankie felt as if she was being toyed with.

“Francesca?” asked Robert.

“Sir?”

“I asked you a question. What if we train him to be a topnotch quarterback in training camp?”

“That’s ridiculous and you know it,” Frankie said with bite in her voice and everybody in that limo looked at her. You couldn’t just say anything that popped in your head to Robert Marris!

“Watch your tone,” Jerry warned her.

But Frankie didn’t back down. “You can’t teach a tailback to become a good quarterback in a matter of weeks,” she said with a frown on her face. “That’s absurd.”

“But it’s not absurd to teach a good passer to become a great one in a matter of weeks?” Robert took it back to her suggestion that a little training and Broadhurst would be great.

Frankie didn’t respond to him. She didn’t know what to say. She was too caught up in knowing the stats that she failed to realize the error in her logic.

Silence ensued as they made their way to the airport. And what Frankie realized, and everybody else in that limo realized, was that Robert did not take his eyes off of Frankie the entire ride.

Frankie felt old and outdated compared to his young, obviously Ivy League-educated assistants. And when they arrived at the airport, and the door to the limo was opened by Robert’s bodyguard, she felt as if she had failed his test. Because Robert didn’t give her another look.

But then he said, “Let’s go, Francesca,” as he began getting out of the limo. His aides nearly stopped all movement they were so shocked.

But not as shocked as Frankie. “Go where, sir?” she asked, confused, but Robert was already out of the car.

Jerry, who sat on the other side of Frankie, nudged her. “You heard the man,” he said. “Let’s go!”

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