Junior Year Box Set

Alabama took the ensuing kickoff and put together an eight-play drive that resulted in a touchdown. Georgia had disaster strike on the next series. Georgia found they had to punt out of the end zone. The punt was blocked, and an Alabama player picked it up at the 1 and scored. Shortly after that, Alabama forced a Georgia turnover and found themselves on the Georgia 45 yard line. On the first play, they went for it and hit a long touchdown pass to go up 24–3. They had scored three times in under four minutes.

At halftime, the crowd convinced themselves that they could get back into the game. But in the second half, Alabama’s defense picked off a pass and ran it in from fifty yards out. Then another turnover gave them the football at the Georgia 38 yard line. It took four plays to score again, making it 38–3. Georgia did manage one touchdown, making the final score 38–10. The Crimson Tide was very much a force in the national race again. All they had to do was take care of their remaining schedule, which wasn’t a gimme in the loaded SEC.

◊◊◊

After the game ended, it was already 11:30. We had a chaperone who offered to take us to a party. I admitted I wasn’t in the mood to hang out with drunken football players after they’d just lost a game. I wished my teammates good luck and walked back to the hotel.

When I reached the lobby, I was surprised to see the woman from last night waiting for me with her mountain of a bodyguard. I didn’t expect I would have to kick his butt in such a public place, but I was on guard. He saw me first and pointed me out. She motioned me over. It was clear I wasn’t her favorite person right now. I decided to get this over with.

“Let’s go somewhere more private to talk,” the woman said.

“I don’t think so.”

I made a significant glance toward the mountain.

“Terry, go wait for me in the car. David and I need to conduct some business,” she said, and her bodyguard just nodded and walked out the front door. “Can we go to your room?”

“Give me your driver’s license,” I said.

“Don’t trust me?” the woman asked.

“Nope.”

She handed it to me, and I took a picture of it and then a picture of her. I sent myself an email with the subject line ‘If I Go Missing.’ I smiled when her name was Natasha. Once I felt a little more secure, I escorted her to my room. We didn’t say anything until the door closed. I, of course, being a Dawson, waited for her to talk first.

“I think I made a serious mistake last night. It would have been cheaper to give all your money back. At first, I wanted to break every bone in your body for what you’ll cost me over the next month, but cooler heads prevailed. Terry pointed out you only got us a one-month ban. What I want is for you to get that lifted,” Natasha said.

“Your customer service leaves a lot to be desired. This might help you rethink how you deal with clients in the future. I can’t imagine the Ritz-Carlton wants you threatening their guests with your muscle.”

“I admit that last night was not my finest moment. Candy’s fairly new, and when she called, crying, I might have overreacted. She’s calmed down and understands why you had to tell her boyfriend. She knew going in that him finding out was a possibility. We tried to take precautions by flying her up from Miami to work the football weekend. While what Candy does on her own time is her business, the male ego won’t get over something like this. She’d like to talk to you, if that’s okay, so she can apologize.”

My confusion as to why Candy would need to apologize must have shown. Natasha helped me out.

“She knows you’re good friends with her ex-boyfriend. She understands it wasn’t easy to tell him.”

“I would hope he’d do the same for me,” I said.

“We need to work out something so I can get back into the Ritz-Carlton. They told me only you can fix this for me. Will you make the call?” she asked.

“No. I don’t see any upside to this.”

“I have to answer to people. They’re not as understanding as I am,” she threatened.

“I think you should leave,” I said.

Natasha smiled and made no move to depart.

“How would you like to spend the night with Candy? She tells me you always admired her but were a perfect gentleman. She admitted that she always wondered what you were like in bed. Candy said if half the stories were true, she’d enjoy it,” Natasha offered.

“What do you net out of the Ritz each month?” I countered.

“Why do you ask?”

“I can always get sex, and while Candy’s good-looking, I’m not sure I’d be interested. It must be a healthy amount of money if you made the trip to negotiate with me. I have two charities that could use the cash to do good work.”

“If I were to find someone who looked like Candy, and threw in some cash for your charities, would you help me out?” she asked.

I wasn’t opposed to getting laid, and Candy was hot. As long as it wasn’t her, I would be fine. I just didn’t want to ever hurt Flee’s feelings. I knew I would have a problem if he had slept with Tami the day after we broke up. I would never do that to him.