He released her slowly, surprised by the lack of reprimand, and smiled. Oh, yea, she liked him!

"Be safe going home," she rolled her eyes as he watched her head for her car.

"So, that's what you've been busy doing after practice," Coach Parks chuckled. "What do you think of December? It's a romantic month, isn't it?"

"Ha-ha. Come on, let's go see if we can salvage this team." Cade didn't know if he could or not, but he was going to try.

Cade pulled open the cold steel door to the locker room and walked down the hall to the meeting area where the team met after games. The usual noise of fifty-seven boys talking about the game, girls, and the start to the weekend was absent. Instead only one voice rang out.

Cade stood at the open door and stared into the meeting room where Trey Everett was up by the chalkboard addressing his teammates who were sitting in the blue chairs waiting for the post-game breakdown.

"I don't care what your excuse is Austin. You know that you are not playing as part of the team. You want to go to college on a football scholars.h.i.+p we all do! But you won't get there by yourself. I know what you are up to. h.e.l.l, this whole team knows what you and the others are up to and we're saying we're not putting up with it anymore. Everything we do has consequences and if you all continue down this path, I will turn you in myself. Further, if things don't change right now we will refuse to go on the field with you."

Austin shot up, his long hair wet from sweat sticking to his head, "You can't do that to me. I can't afford to go to college without a scholars.h.i.+p!"

"We know. So, what's it going to be? Quit S2 and rejoin the team, or have Bobby here start for you? He sure did a good job tonight, didn't he?" Trey leveled Austin with a stare and held it. Trey may be one of the nicest guys Cade new, but he was also one of the toughest when pushed, and it looked like Austin had pushed him to his limit tonight.

Austin sat on the chair deflated. "I thought I was helping the team."

"You're tearing it apart," Ryan said as he stood. "I may only be a freshman, but you all know what I want? I want a champions.h.i.+p. I want to see the town plastered with posters announcing the new state champions and our name on the water tower. I know we were given no chance at winning this year, but if we play as a team, we can do it."

Cade waited, not wanting his presence to be known as the boys murmured their approval. "So, Austin, what do you say? Are you with us?" Trey asked. The room quieted down and all eyes turned to his quarterback.

"All the way to State," Austin smiled. The room erupted in a chant of "State! State! State!"

Cade walked into the room after a moment of celebration and waited for the boys to quiet down as they saw him head to the front of the room. "I guess I missed something?"

"Nothing much Coach. We just made a pledge to work together all the way to State," Trey said from his seat.

"Sounds like a good pledge. Before we can make it to State we need to look at what has been working for us and what hasn't. How about a late night tonight gentlemen, and then some hard practices next week so we can show our opponents we're not letting anything get in our way. 'Cause, if we win next weekend, we can finish second in the division and be in a good position to make a play for the champions.h.i.+p."

Cade watched as the same players who last week couldn't wait to leave, leaned forward in their chairs to get a better view of the breakdown. Not a single person complained at staying late, and not a single person looked at the clock as they went over the game.

Chapter Fourteen.

Annie changed out of her jeans and into her black, winter running pants. They were soft, comfortable, and perfect for a crisp night like this. She pulled on her Keeneston High sweats.h.i.+rt and headed for the kitchen. She opened the small microwave and took a sip of the hot chocolate she had made.

It normally took Cade about an hour to finish up after a game, so she expected him any minute. She grabbed her Florida State fleece blanket and headed for the porch. She would just snuggle up in one of the chairs outside and wait for him.

She took a seat on one of the two chairs and took a deep breath of the clean air. The smell of turning leaves and lit fireplaces was so different from that of the sea air, pollution, and fruit that was Miami. The stars were bright in the dark sky and for once she felt at peace.

Headlights turning into the parking lot drew her gaze from the stars to the speeding black Escalade that squealed to a stop in front of her cottage. Seriously? She was finally feeling peace, dammit!

The doors opened and the three men who had attacked Cade on the sidewalk a couple of months ago jumped out.

"Can I help you boys?" She was so not in the mood for this. That just went to show how the slower country lifestyle was affecting her. She had always been in the mood for a fight in Miami.

"You p.i.s.sed off the wrong person, lady," the one with the receding curly hair and the Playboy Bunny tattoo on his forearm said. Of course they weren't wearing coats. They had two hundred and fifty pounds of muscle to keep them warm.

"Me? I don't remember p.i.s.sing anyone off. Hmm, I did cut off old Mr. Lyons the other day, but he was going twenty-five in a fifty-five, and I really didn't want to drive all the way to Lexington behind him. Are you boys his great-grandsons?"

Clearly not knowing what to say, they paused in their approach and looked at each other. "Um, we got a message for your boyfriend." Larry tried again. It was hard to take him seriously. He really needed to cut his hair.

"Oh, should I get you a piece of paper to leave a note on?" she asked sweetly. She took a sip of hot chocolate to hide her smile. She watched over the edge of her mug as the one she called Moe tripped over the Virgin Mary statue and fell face first into the bald one she called Curly.

Annie stood and s.h.i.+fted toward the railing and the small garden gnome dressed as a priest that stood in front of a large fern. Larry had turned and glared at Moe and Curly who were stumbling their way up the stairs towards her.

"Oh dear. I would take that as a sign."

"A sign?" Moe asked "Sure. I mean, you were tripped by the Virgin Mary. You may want to go to church or something." Annie went ahead and crossed herself for good measure. The action caused the men to pause and stare at the statue. She pulled her cell phone out and hit the record function. She set it on the rail and reached out to grab the gnome priest. She had him hiding behind her back before the men turned around.

"As I was saying, we got a message for your boyfriend that we need to give him." Larry tried again. This time he was doing a pretty good job at his intimidating scowl, but the clear lack of intelligence in his eyes just made her think of a bad off-off-Broadway actor.

"And that message would be?" she asked politely.

"That he needs to remember the agreement he made and keep his mouth shut. Now, this will only hurt a minute. Sorry about this. You seem like a nice enough lady," Larry told her as he advanced toward her.

"It's okay. I guess you're just doing your job for...." She arched her eyebrow questionably at Larry.

"Mr. Gaylen."

"Shut up!" Moe hissed as he hit Larry.

"What? How is she supposed to know who the message is from if we don't tell her?" That caused Moe to pause, and he looked to Curly who nodded as if it made all the sense in the world.

"Is Cade going to remember this agreement? I mean, he does all this work at school and then with the team and on his farm. He makes agreements all time. Maybe you should tell me what the agreement is so I can remind him. I'm sure he didn't mean to forget it, but he just has so much going on." She watched the guys look at each other again and shrugged. This was going to be easier than she thought.

"Tell him to keep his mouth shut about the drugs or his mother's next. Now, come here and don't scream. We'll just make it worse if you scream." Larry took another step toward her.

"I'm afraid I am rather frozen in place by fear. You are very scary men, and I fear I can't come to you."

"Thank you, we'll come to you then." Larry gave Moe and Curly a nod and waited for them all to get on the small porch. They had to walk single file to where she was standing at the railing.

She tightened her hand around the priest gnome's head and waited for Larry to reach her. One more step. Now! She tossed her hot chocolate mug at Larry's face.

"Ow!" The mug hit him square in his large nose. Using her left hand, she swung the priest gnome in a large arc and connected with Larry's receding hairline.

Larry dropped instantly to the ground. Using the momentum of her swing, she brought the little gnome back up with an arcing backhand, hitting Curly under the chin and dropping him unconscious to the ground on top of Larry.

"Amen," she said to the little priest. "I told you. You should have taken the fact that you tripped over the Virgin Mary as a sign."

Moe looked a little hesitant, but was tougher than she gave him credit for. He launched himself over his downed comrades and hit her square in the stomach. The impact sent her flying backwards onto the wood porch floor as the priest gnome sailed through the air and into the bushes.

"Umph." The wind was knocked out of her as all two hundred and fifty pounds of dumba.s.s landed on her. She opened her mouth to suck in some air as Moe got to his feet. With one booted foot, he pulled back and struck out at her midsection.

She curled into a ball and the hit reverberated up to her arms. He brought his leg up, intending to stomp on her side. She waiting until his leg was high in the air, making him the most unstable. She kicked out with her upper leg and made contact with his knee. Not having both feet on the ground, he teetered and fell backwards.

Annie didn't waste any time. She scrambled to her feet and leapt over the pile of dumba.s.s, trying to grab the chair to swing at him. Before she could reach it, he dove and caught one ankle, sending her cras.h.i.+ng to the ground just short of the chair. She kicked out, making contact with his face, but he didn't let go. He got to his knees as she continued to kick as hard as she could at the arm holding her in place.

He may be stupid, but he was strong. She couldn't pull free. He leaned over her, and she made contact with his gut only to have him punch her. She had been able to throw up a block that deflected the punch from shattering her nose, but she'd have one heck of a bruise on her cheek. Her teeth even hurt after that punch.

Thinking he had brought her into submission, Moe stood and reached down to pick her up. She brought her knees to her chest and quickly kicked out with them. She hit him hard, square in the chest. The force sent him stumbling backwards and into the railing. Arms pinwheeling, Moe lost the fight with his balance and fell backwards off the porch.

She went to stand, but everything swam in front of her. She prepared for another attack from Moe, but it never came. She grabbed the chair to steady herself as she slowly stood. When the swimming stopped, she made it to the rail and looked over.

The Virgin Mary stood resolute over the immobile Moe. A smudge of red blood on top of her head was the only evidence of what had happened. She had told him it was a sign. Annie found herself crossing herself again. Living in a priest's home was starting to affect her, she decided, as she reached for her phone. She narrated what she had seen and then stopped the recording.

She punched in the number to Romero's cell and waited for her boss to pick up. "This better be important," was his gruff answer.

"I just had a visit from three of Gaylen's men."

"And?"

"And they are unconscious on my porch. What do you want me to do with them?"

"Depends. Did you get anything good out of them?"

"Yeah. I recorded it all. Even their saying what the deal was between Davies and Gaylen."

"Good. Email it to me then call local authorities. Have them arrested for trespa.s.sing only. They'll get bailed out with little fuss. I doubt they'll tell what really happened and that will help keep Gaylen in the dark. If the police say anything about a.s.sault, tell them you found them like this and just a.s.sumed they were drunk. a.s.saulting a lady will make too much noise, and Gaylen will most likely lie low for a while."

Annie paused for a second and listened to the background noise. It sounded like he was watching a British film. "Hurry up Vin. this is the best part," she heard a woman shout.

"Sir, are you watching Pride and Prejudice?"

"No!"

"Really? 'Cause it sounds like Lady Catherin de Bourgh just arrived at the Bennett house and that really is the best part, well, besides the whole Colin Firth in the pond scene."

"Shut up, Blake. It's date night. Call the police, email me the recording, and don't mention this again." Before she could tease him more the line went dead.

Just three minutes later a Keeneston County Sheriff's cruiser pulled to a stop in front of the cottage where she sat on the steps waiting. Two men emerged from the cruiser. One was tall and lanky, probably early forties. The other was younger but much shorter and had the beginnings of a mustache.

"Hiya, ma'am. What happened here?"

"Hi, I don't really know. I think the men were drunk and came here for some reason. Maybe they expected Father James and wanted to confess. Well, two are pa.s.sed out up there, and this one looks like he tripped, and when he fell, hit the Virgin Mary."

They looked at her strangely, and she was worried for a minute they were going to question her further or ask why her cheek was swollen and starting to turn color.

"You're Annie Hill aren't you? Cade's girlfriend?" the short one asked. "Well, we're right pleased to finally meet you! I'm d.i.n.ky, and this is my partner Noodle. We've heard so much about you."

"You have?" They wanted to talk to her about Cade and not about the three unconscious men? Maybe she had gotten hit harder than she thought and was hallucinating.

"Can I ask you a serious question, ma'am?" Noodle asked in a slow voice full of tw.a.n.g.

"Um, sure." Okay, here was the interrogation she was expecting.

"What do you think of March? It's such a beautiful month to get married. Just the start of spring, new beginnings and all that stuff." Annie stared at Noodle and could hardly blink. Apparently wedding pools were big business in Keeneston.

"Um. What about these guys?" She gestured to the men who were starting to stir, their moans reaching their ears.

"Oh, don't worry about them, ma'am. d.i.n.ky, can you take care of them?"

"Sure, just talk loud so I can hear ya'." She watched d.i.n.ky head off to the men and start to cuff them as he read them their Miranda warning.

"So, March is a nice month, isn't it?"

"Seriously? Why does anyone care who Cade's dating?" This really was very puzzling to her.

"Well, geez ma'am...."

"For the love of G.o.d, stop calling me ma'am. It makes me feel old."

"Yes, ma'am. I mean, yes Miss Hill. Anyway, Cade has been chased after by ever girl in the county from the ages of sixteen to eighty. Probably half the ladies over in Lexington too."

"He's what they call a catch," d.i.n.ky yelled over. Annie rolled her eyes and sat back down on the step as d.i.n.ky started to load the barely conscious men into the cruiser.

"See, he never dates seriously. In fact, he and his brothers usually run in the opposite direction of any single lady." Noodle became serious, or at least she thought he did. He leaned closer to her and in a hushed tone asked, "So, how did you do it? How did you catch him?"

"I don't know. But, maybe it had to do with the fact that I was never chasing him to begin with."

"What she say?" d.i.n.ky yelled from placing a slightly b.l.o.o.d.y Moe into the cruiser.

"She said it was because she wasn't chasing him," Noodle shouted.

"That's deep," d.i.n.ky mumbled as he closed the fully loaded cruiser.

"You know, that makes sense, ma'am. I mean Miss Hill. It's just like noodling a catfish. You wiggle your finger, but it's the fish that has to come to you."

"Dang, Noodle. That's very philosophical." d.i.n.ky came to stand next to Noodle, his hands resting on the big, black utility belt around his waist.

"Excuse me? Noodle, fish, finger?" What the h.e.l.l were these guys talking about? Whatever it was, they apparently thought it made perfect sense.

"You know, noodling." Noodle looked at her as if she were speaking a foreign language.

"Yeah, noodling," d.i.n.ky chimed in ever so helpfully.

"I'm sorry, boys. It's been a long night. Maybe you could tell me what noodling is."

"She is from Miami. It's not like it's really the South," d.i.n.ky told Noodle, who readily agreed.