Page 57 of Recruited By the Billionaire

RJ walked over to his window and watched as his father escorted Frankie to his Porsche, put her in on the passenger side, and walked around and got in himself. And he was oddly pleased to know that his father just might have found a woman who could handle him.

He still hated his father for the way he gave up on their mother. And the way he was so hard on him, like when he slapped him for no good reason. Or just for telling a nothing joke. But other times, like right now, he loved his father. He loved him dearly.

And that, given what he had agreed to do to him, was his dilemma.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

THREE MONTHS LATER

Opening day at Admiral Stadium and the excitement was electric. After securing everybody he wanted in the draft, including Broadhurst as his number one pick after Aaron Thomas’s death, Robert all but guaranteed the fans a winning season. And the fans were more than happy to hold him to that promise. Royce was back in town and she and Taymar were Robert’s guests in his huge, luxurious skybox high above everybody else at the sold-out stadium. Which was still sending shockwaves to both ladies. They felt like royalty.

But they weren’t the only ones. The grandparents of Bevis Dent and the parents of Aaron Thomas were Robert’s guests in the skybox too. They had been feeling like royalty ever since Robert secured their families’ futures. And today, opening day, was as exciting for them as it was bittersweet.

Jerry and Laine were also in Robert’s box as they usually were, and so were RJ and Everly, but Robert and Frankie had not yet arrived.

“Look,” Taymar said to Royce and Royce looked over at a big jumbotron screen inside the skybox that showed a limousine driving into the private owner’s garage on the ground floor of the stadium, and then the bodyguards opening the door and Robert and Frankie stepping out in their jeans and Admiral jerseys. Frankie had on a white one. Robert had on a baby-blue one.

State and local dignitaries, including the mayor and the governor of Florida, were standing in the garage to greet Robert on his arrival. But Royce saw something else.

“Look at the way he keeps his hand around Frankie’s waist while he talks with those uppity-mucks,” she said. “You think he loves her, Tay, or just loves her right now?”

“It’s hard to say. He stood up for her when she needed him most. He never wavered in his support for her. But like always, Frankie will talk about everything but her man. I didn’t even know they were in a committed relationship until she got arrested that night. I thought they were having booty calls here and there. But you know Frankie. She just won’t discuss her private life like that. She was the same way with Devin.”

“You see where that got her,” said Royce. “But I don’t know, Tay. Why would he be so good to her just for sex? He could get that anytime, anyplace. There must be something awfully wonderful about Frankie that keeps him around.”

Royce looked back at the jumbotron. “He’s so protective of her,” she said as Robert and Frankie got on the private elevator that would take them to the skybox and Robert’s hand remained glued to Frankie’s waist. “There has to be more to it than sex. It has to be,” said Royce.

But what Taymar and Royce loved most about Frankie was that, despite her upgrade as Robert Marris’s girlfriend, she never changed who she was as a person. Because as soon as she got into that luxury skybox, she didn’t stick by Robert as if she was glued to him and ignore everybody else. As soon as she saw her two best friends she broke away from Robert and ran to them. They stood up and all three hugged as if they hadn’t seen each other in years. They were just that happy.

Frankie even sat down beside them as they continued to laugh and talk. It was as if they were the same three musketeers hanging out in New York together. But after Robert spent time greeting the Aaron Thomas’s family and Bevis Dent’s family, he went over and spoke to Royce and Taymar too. But then he reached out his hand to Frankie. It was when he reached out his hand and Frankie gladly took it, that Royce and Taymar realized it wasn’t the same. Frankie didn’t belong to them anymore. She belonged to him. And being Robert Marris’s exclusive lady had a thousand perks, but it also had some serious drawbacks. And gaggling on with the girls in a public space where the cameras would always be on Frankie was not going to happen. It was one of those drawbacks.

But they were far too happy for Frankie to sulk. They smiled and waved as she took her place beside Robert. And Robert, thrilled for them to make their first joint appearance in public together on opening day, walked with her to the very front of the massive skybox, his hand around her waist should there be any doubters, and waved as the adoring crowd gave their beloved team’s owner a standing ovation. Everybody had high hopes.

And when the announcers announced that it was time to play ball and the punter kicked off for the first time of the season, planes flew in formation across the stadium, fireworks exploded, and the crowd cheered even louder.

But just as the punt returner for the opposing team caught the ball at the eleventh yard line and was about to make a dash for more yards, a sudden maniacally loud sonic boom sound was heard even above the cheers, a sound that rocked the stadium, and then the east end of the stadium exploded with an explosion that sent fans flying to their deaths and others running for their lives.

Everybody in the skybox jumped to their feet when they realized what was happening. And then another equally devastating explosion on the west end of the stadium send the skybox into pandemonium too. The announcers were going crazy.

“We’re under attack!” one of them were yelling from the top of his lungs. “We’re under attack! We’re under attack!”

Security ran into the skybox like madmen and immediately started hurrying Robert and Frankie toward the exit, but Frankie was yelling for Royce and Taymar to come with her too. She wanted to go and ensure they would be protected and with her, but Robert was holding onto her and wouldn’t let her move even an inch away from him. Security grabbed his children into the circle and then a blanket of guards surrounded them in such a way that nobody could penetrate that circle. Frankie was trying to look back at her friends, but all she saw were big bodies all around them. They didn’t know if the attack was directed at the stadium, or at Robert, and they weren’t taking any chances. Everybody else, including Royce and Taymar and Jerry and Laine, were left to get out of there the best way they could.

But as the skybox was emptied and the inhabitants were able to escape through still-operable elevators that led to Robert’s private garage, the stadium was in total meltdown panic as nearly eighty-five thousand screaming fans were trampling over each other trying to get out of that stadium should another eruption occur. Bodies were everywhere. Grown men were knocking down children to get out of harm’s way. The NFL’s worst fear, a terrorist attack, was realized on opening day at Admiral stadium and the league, they feared, would never be the same again.

Robert and his entourage got into limousines and SUVs and were carted away, those harrowing screams of fans penetrated even that underground garage and left Robert and Frankie dazed and devastated.

And it left RJ, who was in that limo with them, in total shock.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Total silence. That was how it felt inside Robert’s mansion in direct contrast to the screams that still echoed in their heads. Frankie had just gotten off of the phone with Royce and Taymar. They were at Taymar’s house and were okay. Everly, Laine, and Jerry had already been on the phones with their friends and loved ones too, and they were all okay. But Robert and RJ were pacing the floor like wounded animals. Pacing and looking over at the same TV screen everybody in that room was staring at. Everybody was devastated, but Robert and RJ looked destroyed. Frankie could understand Robert looking that way. He was ultimately the man in charge and all of that carnage happened on his watch. But RJ? He continued to be a bag of tricks and contradictions to Frankie.

The sound on the television had been muted, but the scene was undeniable. Gaping holes in that once-beautiful stadium and bodies and body parts, thousands of them, all over the stands and the open field. Afghanistan could not have looked worst.

Andres, Robert’s chef, had taken over the duties of doorman and came in to announce that NFL Commissioner David Sperling had arrived. Frankie looked up when the man she’d seen on television for so many years walked in. Everybody in the room expected him to offer his condolences to Robert and leave. But he came in with fire in his eyes.

“This is the last straw!” he yelled at Robert, pointing at him. “This is it!”

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