“Settle down. We both know that your comment to Jan was uncalled for. Until you show me that you can treat a girl like she’s a person, instead of a plaything, I can never recommend you.”
I guess I wasn’t surprised that he walked out of the party. He lived about eight blocks away, so I wasn’t worried about him getting home. I then found Yuri.
“I need you to do something for me, and I’m not sure how you’ll feel about it,” I said.
“Whatever you need,” he said.
I grinned because, in some ways, he would be okay with what I proposed, but in others, he might not be happy with me in the end.
“You know Jan Duke?” I asked, and he nodded. “I need you to take her on and get her straightened out. She needs to stop sleeping around and taking drugs.”
Yuri was a serious young man at times. He was also fearless. I remembered when Yuri had tried to fight me when he considered himself a tough guy. That was until I introduced him to Cassidy, who’d shown him that he wasn’t as tough as he thought. Yuri also had my back. The latest example was how he stood up for me with Pam. I could tell he would take his responsibility with Jan seriously.
“How am I supposed to get her to agree to all this?” Yuri asked.
That was a reasonable question, and I had thought about this. I gave Yuri a half smile as I reached into my pocket and handed him a three-strip of condoms. He looked at them and then smiled at the implication. I had a sneaking suspicion that Yuri was a virgin.
“Do you think she’ll go for this?” he asked.
I caught Jan’s eye across the room and motioned her over. She seemed nervous. I figured the direct approach was the best.
“Could you help Yuri out with a problem?” I asked.
She looked at him and then back at me, a little confused.
“Could you help him lose his V card?” I asked.
Jan made a big production out of checking him out. Yuri, being my Alpha Male-in-training, just grabbed her hand, and they ran upstairs. I was nervous about what might happen, but I was sure that Yuri would do his level best to screw the shit out of her. I thought that was precisely what Jan needed; that, and someone to help set some boundaries.
After I’d played Dr. Love and hooked my friends up with each other, I just sat back to see if what I considered obvious connections would actually work out. Several potential couples did make it to the dance floor. I noticed Tracy tapping her foot, so I asked her to dance.
I had a great time. A little sex, a lot of flirting, and by the end of the night, it looked like everyone had a good time. Well, not everything had been a success. Phil was still mad at me, but both Ed and Yuri disappeared and came back with huge grins on their faces. Jan and Kylie both had that after-sex glow to them as well. Roc and Piper didn’t look disheveled, but each of them looked like they’d found a friend, and they were holding hands when they left the party. I felt Dr. Love’s work here was done.
◊◊◊ Sunday November 8
While on my morning jog, I reflected on the last two weeks. I was glad that Cal had finally been pushed into a corner and backed off. Ms. Dixon had been a serendipitous choice to help me get through the mess. What amazed me was that if Cal had just backed off to begin with, his life would be very different. He wouldn’t be facing a divorce, losing a great job, or having to pony up for my defense expenses. Something I learned from this was that if you needed to get lawyers involved, don’t back down.
The other problem I had pushed into the background, because of football and the death of Jeff, was Devin Range. To this point, I’d played nice since New Orleans. I couldn’t care less that he and Cora ended up together. At the time, he’d fired me, but Sandy had worked with their Board of Directors to get me back under contract. Our agreement was that I wouldn’t have to work with Devin. At the time, I knew that would never be the case because Devin couldn’t step away from his business and let Sandy handle a photo shoot alone.
What irked me was that he hadn’t changed. I couldn’t trust him, and once that trust was broken, it was hard for me to forgive and forget. The sad part was that I liked Devin. Hell, Devin had some cool toys and let me play with them. Okay, the wingboard was a bad idea. I still got a little queasy when I remembered the death-roll I’d experienced. I should be dead after that one. But in the back of my mind, I could imagine more toys, and I would want to be the one to test them.
The way I viewed it was that Devin hadn’t suffered any consequences for his actions. If it had been Pam instead of Cora, I wouldn’t have an issue with stealing her back from Devin. The problem was Cora would end up being his first divorce. I just hoped he had a hell of a prenup, or she’d take him to the cleaners. I needed some way to balance the scales. If I could, I’d feel a whole lot better about being the face of Range Sports.
Two other tasks on my to-do list were to make calls to Todd Davis and Tami Glade. Todd was someone that I’d started to get to know, and he and I were going through a lot of the same stuff. It was also possible that we could end up at Alabama with Jim. I’d received a text from Bo that confirmed that Jim had accepted their offer. Jim wanted to wait until practice on Monday to announce it.
Tami was a completely different ball of wax. I worried that we were on the verge of losing our friendship. While I would never forget what she and Alan had done, I felt it was still possible to be friends. Alan, on the other hand, might not have a chance with me. He had changed over the last six months, and I didn’t like the person he was becoming.
Then I thought about my half brother Phil. If I ever wanted to be part of his life, I needed to make more of an effort. The only problem was, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to make that effort right now. Maybe when I returned from LA after the first of the year.
Finally, I wondered why I bothered to help Jan with her issues. I guess the best answer was that she was part of the team, so to speak. I might not be friends with everyone, but if they were in need, I’d help them. The big question was, did Jan really want my help? The way she broke down and cried in my room Thursday night seemed to indicate that she was hurting. I grudgingly decided I needed to follow through on this. I think a good first step was putting Yuri on the case. He seemed to be okay with how everything had gone last night if the grin on his face was any indication.
Then there was the coming week. We would find out how we were seeded in the State Football Tournament and who our opponent would be on Wednesday. The All-Conference Team would also be announced. After the way they’d treated underclassmen, I really didn’t care about those awards.
I smiled when I realized I was almost home. When my mind was traveling a million miles an hour, I completely forgot about my run. I would need to break out the weighted vest Bo had given me after the season so I could get serious about improving. If I wanted to get better, I needed to push myself.
◊◊◊
When I got back from church, I sent a text to Tami, and we jumped onto video chat.
“We all watched your game. You did well. Damion was jealous of the new kid who caught all the passes,” she said.
“You must mean Roc. You remember him. He played little league with us and was homeschooled. We went to his farm for his birthday.”
“You mean little Rockefeller? He’s grown up.”
“Zoe’s his sister,” I said because she knew Zoe and it would confirm who Roc was.
In the back of my mind, I was concerned that Tami was anywhere near Damion. I’d warned Teddy Wesleyan about him after his two instances of trouble with women at the Elite Football Camp in Houston, Texas. He was not the kind of person I wanted anywhere near Tami.
“You mean the Zoe you go out with?”
“Yes, that Zoe. I took Kyle and Mac to their farm yesterday, and we rode horses. Kyle almost came home with a kitten, but I was afraid of what Greg would do to me if I let him have it.”