Chapter 22: Dr. Love

Friday November 6

Someone lied to me. I woke up to find Tracy cuddled up behind me while I held Pam close. I rolled over, and Tracy smiled at me as I pinned her under me.

“Morning,” Tracy said.

Pam absently reached for me, but couldn’t find me.

“Where’d you go?” she asked in a sleep-hazed voice.

Pam raised her head to look around and saw me on top of Tracy.

“Slut. You trying to steal my man?” Pam teased her best friend.

“I think he can handle both of us,” Tracy said, and then squealed when I pushed her t-shirt up and motorboated between her breasts.

Pam slapped my butt and got out of bed.

“She’s been whining about how horny she is. Help her out,” Pam said, as she went to take her shower.

“I don’t have any condoms with me,” I told Tracy.

I had no idea Tracy was so strong. She shoved me off her and went to her overnight bag to find a condom. Seems someone was a little Girl Scout and prepared, or was that the Boy Scouts? She opened the foil packet and put the condom on me. I just grinned at her.

“You lazy little shit. You want me to do all the work?” Tracy complained.

I knew that Tracy liked to be on top, so I didn’t take her protest seriously. She straddled my hips. I’d expected she would straddle my face, but she must have been wet because she just sat down on me and soon our pubic bones ground against each other. I reached up and pulled her t-shirt over her head so I could watch her heavy breasts sway as she rode me.

Tracy was being an evil bitch. She could tell when I would get close, then she would freeze and just smile at me. I think she was in the mood for a marathon session. Pam came out of the bathroom with just a towel on. I reached out my hand.

“Come here,” I told her.

“Didn’t you get enough of me last night?” Pam asked.

“Never. I want to taste you.”

She smiled and dropped her towel. I had her face Tracy as she dropped her smooth pussy over my mouth. The only downside was I could no longer see my hot ex-girlfriend’s breasts. I guess I would just have to suffer and look at Pam’s exquisite ass. I hoped that when she had my baby it didn’t ruin it.

Tracy came hard on my dick and I felt I was close. I reached for her hips so I could hold her in place and fuck her hard, but she slapped my hands away and rolled off me. Pam yelped when I picked her up and lowered her onto my needy rod. She took advantage of Tracy tapping out and began to ride me.

“Come here,” I said to Tracy.

She crawled over to me and we began to kiss. Tracy always knew how to kiss me; I used to joke that she erased my mind when she did it. It was true that when Tracy Dole gave you a serious kiss, your whole world focused on just the two of you. It was her kiss that allowed me to hold out long enough for Pam to reach her orgasm, but once she began to cum I couldn’t hold back any longer.

I looked at the clock and saw I needed to get going. We were supposed to get treatment for any injuries before we rode the bus back home. Instead of going back to my room, I just went downstairs and walked across the street to the stadium. My two favorite trainers, Jill and Becky, were just setting up.

“Strip,” Jill ordered.

I did just that, to the delight of them both. Then Becky crinkled her nose.

“Go take a shower. I can’t believe you sometimes,” she said, and I went to get cleaned up.

I came back out with just a towel around my waist and found Coach Hope talking to the trainers.

“We were just going to recheck him,” Becky said.

My left shoulder was bruised where Todd had hit me on the first play. She began to poke and prod all my other scrapes and contusions and declared nothing serious was injured. While they checked me, several of the other players began to show up. While everyone was getting checked out I took full advantage of one of the whirlpool tubs, soaked, and let the jets work their magic on me. I felt almost human when I walked back to the hotel.

I packed and got ready to check out. While I packed, I turned on the TV for background noise. I watched as Stephen Curry nailed a go-ahead three-pointer with just over a minute remaining, and the Golden State Warriors downed the Los Angeles Clippers 112-108 to improve to 5-0. Then they did their Top Ten plays segment. I was in the bathroom as I packed my shaving kit when I heard mention of King High School. I hurried out to watch.

‘At number 7 we have the number 3 high school team in the nation, King High School, getting schooled by the number 1 quarterback in the land in David Dawson.’

I watched as they showed us lined up on our own 3 yard line and our fake play. I watched myself take off running when they figured out I still had the ball.

I cringed when I saw I’d run around in my end zone as I carried the ball with just one hand. Coach Mason would rip me a new one when he saw that. He’d shown me video of what happened when you didn’t take care of the ball. Then he showed me video of how it should be done. NFL quarterback Carson Palmer always had two hands on the ball. Defenses knew that turnovers won games. Our goal on offense was to end every possession with a kick, be it an extra point, field goal or punt. You didn’t want to turn the ball over in your own end zone, and there I was running around with only one hand on the ball. I winced when I thought how easy it would have been to punch the ball free from my grip.

I smiled when I saw Roc pick his skinny butt up off the turf and take off down the field. I did do a few things right. I saw that I’d squared my shoulders and gotten my feet pointed towards where I needed to throw the ball. It was little things like that which set me apart. I uncorked a humdinger of a pass. It wasn’t one of those that hung in the air forever and gave the defense a chance to bat it down. It covered over fifty yards in a hurry. I was even more impressed with Roc as he fought off the safety, stuck his big hand up, and caught the ball one-handed, even as the defensive pass interference flag flew. The impressive part was it was his left hand.

‘The receiver, Rockefeller Pearson, is only a freshman. Lincoln High’s Dawson and Pearson hooked up for four scores and won a tight game going away, once they got rolling.’

Roc hated it when someone called him Rockefeller. I turned off the TV, checked out, and put my bags under the bus. I had some time, so I planned to go to the little diner I’d visited the day before for breakfast.

“Hang on,” a female voice called behind me.

I turned around and saw Jan.

“Come on. I’ll buy you breakfast,” I said.

She caught up with me and we walked the four blocks without saying a word. I found an empty booth that looked out over the street. The server brought us menus and took our drink orders.

“You must think I’m crazy for how I acted last night,” Jan said.

“I can tell that you’re not happy. Do you want to talk about it?”

“No, I just wanted to tell you I was sorry for last night. I don’t know what I was thinking,” she said, and then we fell into an uneasy silence as we looked at the menu.

After the server took our order, I decided to break the silence. I decided that our relationship couldn’t get any worse than it already was.

“What happened to you in middle school?” I asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I get the feeling something changed. You were the girl that all the other girls wanted to be. You were popular, funny and smart. Then you suddenly started doing drugs, drinking and having sex with just about everyone. I get the feeling that something significant changed.”

Jan looked out the window.

“I guess I just wanted to have fun,” she said. “If I remember correctly, you used to have fun too.”

“I guess I did,” I admitted. “I’m just concerned you’re starting to get out of hand. I have no problem with most of what you do. What I do have a problem with is the drugs. I really have an issue with you taking them around my teammates. The last thing we need is to have to deal with that as a team.”

“I know you don’t like it, but I don’t really want to stop,” she admitted.

“I’ve put up with you up to this point, but after last night it has to stop. You’d been getting high before you came to my room last night. You threw yourself at me, and then you fell apart when I protected you. I think I need to get involved in your life before you do something you can’t undo.”

“And you’re so perfect that you think you can help me? What makes you think that I have anything wrong with me?” Jan asked.

Then she continued on her rant.

“You sanctimonious prick! I suppose you think you need to add to your little harem and I can be the charity case. Fuck you. I’m just fine and don’t need Mr. Perfect to tell me how to run my life,” she said, and then burst into tears.

I slid out from my side of the booth and sat down next to her. I reached for her, but she pushed me away. I grabbed her and pulled her to my chest. Of course, the server decided to bring us our food at that moment. She gave me a dirty look and left. I just held Jan as she cried it out. As I watched my breakfast get cold, I wondered what I’d gotten myself into. The last thing I needed was to deal with something like this right now. For whatever reason Jan had come to me, so I felt some obligation to help her.

My first thought was she needed to be turned over my knee, and then I needed to take a firm hand with her. It was like when Duke learned something bad and I had to break him of it. I felt I needed to do the same with Jan. Someone had to set limits for her, someone she’d listen to. I wondered if I needed to talk to her parents. I’d already tattled on one brat in the last twenty-four hours. The problem was I didn’t know her parents. Actually, that was kind of weird. I think I’d met almost everyone’s parents on the football team and cheerleading squad. I hadn’t remembered ever seeing her parents at any of the trips to Monical’s, football games or other places.

Before I committed to anything, I needed advice. I’d call Uncle John. I was sure he’d dealt with crazy girls in his past. My phone rang and it was Coach Hope wanting to know where I was because they were almost ready to leave. I paid our check and we hurried to the bus.

I was the last one on the bus. I saw Wolf had saved me a seat, but I needed to deal with my half-brother. I saw him seated with another freshman. I pointed at Phil’s seatmate.

“Go sit with Wolf.”

“You don’t have to listen to him. Leave me alone, David,” Phil said.

Phil’s friend didn’t move, so I reached over and pulled him out of the seat.

“Dawson!” Moose boomed.

“I got this, Coach,” I said.

Phil’s friend decided he would rather sit with Wolf than deal with me. I sat down next to Phil and saw the look of pure hatred on his face. It brought a smile to my face because I had a feeling that when my son grew up I would see that very same look at some point. I was sure he was mad because I’d told on him. What he didn’t know was he was lucky I had.

“How’s your mom?” I goaded him.

I watched as his face got bright red and he began to shake. I was about ready to defend myself when the tears began to stream down his face. I instinctively reached for him and pulled him to my chest like I had done with Jan earlier. I saw someone peek over the seat and I gave them a look that promised death if they made a comment. Phil suddenly became aware of where he was and pushed me away. I just let him gather himself.

Everyone around us was nervous as to what would happen next. The team captain didn’t sit with the freshmen. They all knew that Phil and I were related and we had roomed together. I started to think it had been a bad idea to confront him on the bus with all his friends within hearing distance.

“We’ll talk when we get home,” I said as I got up and went to sit with Wolf.

The freshman saw me and almost fell out of his seat to go back and sit with Phil.

“What was that all about?” Wolf asked.

“Family drama,” I said.

Wolf just grunted. Thank God he wasn’t a girl, or I would have had to explain all the details.

A few minutes later, Coach Mason called me to the front of the bus so he could break down the game with me while Coaches Diamond and Hope listened in. Alan must have been busy last night to get all the plays loaded into our software. If I’d had an inflated opinion of myself after the game, Coach Mason pointed out all my flaws and brought me back down to being a mere mortal. He did it with practiced ease that had me focused on what mattered, not my ego. For as long as I played the game there would always be more things for me to work on. Actually, the better I got, the more I realized I didn’t know.

One of the smartest things I’d ever done was realize that I needed coaching. Over the last year I’d been exposed to a lot of very good quarterbacks. While I could be as cocky as any of them, I was smart enough not to believe all the hype. I think one of the things that set me apart was I was confident enough in myself to realize I didn’t know everything. Most adults would laugh at that, because it normally took life experience to make that connection. I’d seen other quarterbacks with all the swagger and self-confidence think that they knew everything. My uncle had cured me of that misconception. If it weren’t for first, Bo Harrington and now, Coach Mason, I wouldn’t be nearly as good.

Therefore, when my coach wanted to work with me, I made time for him instead of goofing around with my teammates. I knew that it would pay off on game day.

When we got back to the high school, I got my gear and found Phil.

“Tell your mom that you’re going home with me.”

“Why?” he asked.

“We need to clear the air and come to an understanding we can both live with.”

I don’t think he wanted to, but he went and told his mom and came back. While he did that, I saw Jan look at me as Halle came up to me.

“Mom wants you to come over for dinner tonight.”

“Why, that brazen hussy. Sending her own daughter to ask me out,” I teased Halle.

“You are such a ‘stupid boy’ sometimes. If you’re not careful, I’ll tell my mom that you have a crush on her,” Halle threatened.

“I hate to break it to you, but your mom knows that every boy has a crush on her.”

“So, are you coming to dinner or not?” she asked.

“Should I bring something? What should I wear? Would it be better if I made reservations somewhere?” I asked, as if I were completely infatuated with her mom.

Of course, I was, but Halle didn’t need to know that. She kissed me to get me to shut up. She was used to everyone fawning over the great Rita James. Right now, I was more interested in Halle James.

“Do you think your mom would be upset if we skipped dinner with her?” I asked.

“Normally I’d say we could just go out, but she has someone she wants you to meet. As a matter of fact, your parents will be there too.”

“I thought you were trying to talk me into coming to dinner.”

“You can survive a dinner with our parents. I think Trip is getting a weekend pass from rehab. He seems to like you,” she teased.

“It’ll be your own fault when he steals me away.”

I heard a cough behind us that let me know that Phil was eavesdropping. I promised Halle I’d come to dinner, and then took Phil home with me.

When we got home, I was starved since I didn’t eat my breakfast. Mom had some Italian beef in the freezer so I pulled it out and put it in the microwave. While it heated up, my parents went to unpack and left Phil and me alone.

“You know you’re a bastard for what you did to me last night,” Phil started in.

“I can still kick your ass,” I threatened.

Poor Duke picked up on the hostilities and wanted me to love him. He definitely came from the lover-not-a-fighter school of thought.

“Mom! Call Duke,” I called out.

“Duke, come!” Dad called, and I watched him run to the stairs and disappear.

“You had no right to call in reinforcements. You scared of me?” Phil asked.

“Come on,” I said, and led him to the backyard.

Phil suddenly wasn’t as tough-acting.

“I’ll even give you the first punch,” I offered.

Greg had used to do that to me until I dick-punched him one day. That took the fun right out of being a big brother. I think we were like six and nine at the time. The sad part was I learned it from Tami when she got pissed at Alan, Jeff and me one day. I think we told her that boys were superior or some such nonsense. She did a little happy dance as we rolled around on Alan’s basement floor. The funny part was Alan wasn’t afraid to punch girls, and we had to hold him down until he calmed down.

I underestimated how mad Phil was. He unleashed a haymaker at the side of my head. I stepped back and I could feel the air as his fist whistled by my nose. This of course caused him to be overbalanced, so I simply used my palm to help him fall down. I let out a long sigh as he got back up and got a determined look on his face. This time he came at me like a tank and began to throw lefts and rights to my body. I blocked his punches with my arms.

I was content to let him punch himself out. I knew how tired you could get when you tried to pummel a heavy bag. Phil hadn’t landed anything that could cause any real damage. I planned to let him keep swinging until he was done and then put him on his ass again. Frankly, Cassidy hit me harder in practice, but that was because she knew what she was doing.

All was good until Phil tried to play dirty and head-butt me. The one thing that I knew when I went at it with Greg was that neither one of us would try something that could seriously injure the other. Nut-shots were never done with full force, because you knew that at some point there would be retribution. I think that Phil growing up as an only child didn’t know the rules of brother-on-brother combat. What the attempted head-butt told me was that this was no longer a game.

Phil’s eyes got big when I slapped him four times before he could get off his next punch, and then I used an open-hand strike to his stomach. My half-brother suddenly found he couldn’t breathe and collapsed on the ground. I knew that his body would figure out how to breathe before he died. Again, Cassidy had done it to me a number of times. My mom, on the other hand, had watched the whole thing out of her bedroom window.

I swear Phil acted like Precious when I left her in my apartment and Brit saved her. Here I thought I was the actor in the family.

“David Allen Dawson!” Mom yelled as she barreled into the backyard.

I was impressed: Phil had almost turned purple when I heard a huge intake of air.

“He fell down.” I offered the usual excuse Greg and I used when Mom caught us roughhousing.

“I think he had a little help. You’re bigger than he is and much stronger. What made you think this was a good idea?” she demanded.

“He needed to get it out of his system. If he hadn’t tried to head-butt me, I wouldn’t have knocked him down.”

Phil shakily got to his feet and still looked pissed.

“You ready to go again?” I asked him.

He looked at my mom.

“She won’t help you,” I told him.

She actually laughed at that.

“If he’s dumb enough to take a swing at you, then let him,” she said, and walked back into the house.

“What the fuck?” Phil asked.

“What, you thought my mom would save you?” I asked as I danced around. “I can do this all day.”

I playfully touched his nose a couple of times. He seemed to calm down enough to realize that I could have kicked the crap out of him. I was still starved, so I took him inside and we ate Italian beef sandwiches. While we did, I explained the facts of life to him and how he should treat women with more respect. I told him that was the first thing Greg had taught me. He still thought that my call to my dad was extreme, but he understood that I would have punched him if I hadn’t.

We talked it out and I felt better about us as potential friends. I had zero intention of teaching him to pick up girls. I wouldn’t do that until I thought he could be trusted with the knowledge. I didn’t need a little douche-bag mini-me set loose on Lincoln High. Greg would kick my ass if he found out I’d done that. I figured I would spend more time with him, though.

I took him home, and his mom took one look at him and his dirty clothes and gave me a look.

“I fell down,” Phil said, as he dared me to say otherwise.

I was positive his mom didn’t buy it. I told him I’d see him Monday in school and left.

Mom and Dad made me ride with them. This must be some kind of punishment for knocking my half-brother down. It also meant that Halle and I would have almost no chance to have any sexual fun together.

I winced when Fritz answered the door and he had a big, bruised knot in the center of his forehead. That looked like it hurt.

“Sorry,” I said.

“Did you do that to him?” Mom asked.

Crud! Me and my big mouth.

“I forgot to duck,” Fritz explained.

I received a look that told me I would be talked to when I got home. I think two physical altercations in one week might be two too many, in my mom’s opinion.

We were taken to the solarium and I could hear a loud male voice and then laughter before we entered. I looked at Fritz and he rolled his eyes. We walked in and I saw a good-looking guy who was in his late thirties or early forties. He had a short haircut and was obvious as he checked out Rita. When we walked in, he looked my mom over and gave her an appraising look. My mom is very good-looking, but I’d never seen anyone put eyes on her like that, especially with my dad in the room.

He tore his eyes away from my mom and looked at me and smiled.

“You’re better-looking in person,” he said as he stood up and crossed the room to shake my hand. “I’m Ari Gould. Rita asked me to fly out and meet with you and introduce you to Gould Agency.”

“Ari is one of the top five agents in Hollywood,” Rita said, and she listed off who some of his clients were.

Many of his clients were action stars. Rita had mentioned that she would have her agent find someone for me. I didn’t expect he would fly out, but then again this was for Rita James. Then Halle and Trip came in, and I watched Ari eye Halle. Halle noticed and plastered herself next to me, and when his eyes finally found hers, he flinched. I don’t think he expected anyone would object to him ogling them. I saw that both my mom and Rita noticed and were not happy.

We had dinner with Ari and I found him loud, arrogant and foul-mouthed, but I quickly realized he was very good at what he did. He had taken the time to call Frank Ingram, my PR agent; they had worked together for years. I was sure that was why Frank was also Rita’s PR agent.

Ari had a way of making you feel like you were the most important person in the room. I watched as he won over first my mom, and then my dad, before he even began to talk to me. I watched him in action and took in everything he did. I wasn’t totally sure whether my first impression was correct or not. There were times when I thought the arrogant foul-mouthed agent might just be performing an act that people expected. Then again, he could be just the way he was acting.

When dinner was over, he stood up and shook my hand again.

“I’ll get with Rita and find out what your shoot schedule will be when you’re in LA. I’ll messenger over a contract to your lawyer on Monday. Good luck with football,” he said, and was gone.

“That was impressive. He just assumed the sale,” Mom said. “I’ll have to try that sometime.”

“I was surprised when Ari insisted on being David’s agent. I thought he’d hand him off to one of his other agents. Having Ari as David’s agent will open doors for him. It’ll give David a lot of credibility,” Rita told my mom and dad.

I was sold, but my mom and dad wanted to know if he’d be appropriate for someone as new to the business as I was. I think my mom had visions of Ari’s office being in the back of a strip club or something just as sketchy.

Halle and I took a stroll and ended up in the library. It had a big leather couch. We were able to get a good make-out session going before I received a text from Fritz. I wondered if he enjoyed the show, but I appreciated the heads-up as we barely had time to part before Rita stuck her head in the door.

“Your parents are ready to go,” she announced.

I stood up and Halle quickly stood up and stepped in front of me. I saw Rita blush and quickly leave the room. Halle broke into fits of giggles as I looked down and spied my problem. In my defense, any straight guy would have the same reaction if Halle thoroughly kissed them.

“You might have to help me with that,” I suggested.

Where do girls come up with those exasperated looks? It wasn’t as if I could magically make my boner go away. I readjusted things so it wasn’t as obvious, and Halle led me out so I could leave.

On the ride home Mom and Dad told me they were happy with Ari Gould as my new agent.

Saturday November 7

When I got up, I realized I didn’t have anything planned for today. I’d thought about another campus visit, but Mom had made it clear that I had to take them along if I did. Since I had a day to myself, I decided I would be a complete bum and lounge around in my sweats and watch football on TV. I took Duke outside and let him do his thing and have some time to harass Precious.

When I finally called him to go inside, I accidently let the damned cat in with us. Of course they both made a beeline for my parents’ bed. I thought I should just turn around, get in my car, and make myself scarce for the day.

“David!” Dad called.

I went to the kitchen drawer and put on oven mitts. While Precious seemed to take to me better now, there was always the chance she’d decide to take my hand off. I found Duke lying next to Mom as she rubbed his ears. Dad was standing next to the bed with Precious eyeing him as her tail twitched. I reached for her and she let out a yowl and popped the glove.

“Settle down,” I admonished her as I scooped her up.

She twisted in my grip and I now had the claws and teeth facing me. I did the only sensible thing: I tossed her to Dad. You know how when you drop a cat it will land on its feet. Well, Precious twisted around and had her claws out as she flew at Dad. I think I found where I got my quick reactions, because Dad did this Matrix-like move where Neo dodges the bullets, and somehow Precious missed him. What Precious didn’t miss was the wall. I felt bad when she hit and fell to the floor. It seemed to daze her for a second, which gave me time to snatch her back up. I was not playing ‘find the kitty’ on my day off. This time I wasn’t as gentle since I didn’t want to have to toss her to Dad again. I don’t think he would catch her anyways.

When I got to the back door I figured out I had a problem. I had both hands full.

“Dad! I need someone to open the back door!” I called up the stairs.

“Help him get that damned cat out of my house,” Mom ordered him.

Dad came down and glared at me. I decided I’d better not threaten him with the kitty. When he opened the back door Precious began to struggle and I actually dropped her. Instead of running, she turned and hissed at us. I think my dad might actually have peed a little. I introduced the bottom of my shoe to her chest and edged her out the door so I could slam it. Great plan, but she sunk her claw into my ankle as a parting gift.

“For fuck sake!” I cried as I jerked my foot back.

“Serves you right,” Dad said. He turned to go take his shower, saying, “You’re taking us to Granny’s for breakfast.”

I could do that. I opened the back door and Precious was sitting in the drive. She eyed me as I quickly skirted her and made my way to my apartment to take my own shower.

Granny took care of us as usual. She had a special of country grits. I’d been told about this when I went to Georgia and was eager to try it. It had spicy sausage pieces in it and was topped with two over-easy eggs. You mixed the whole thing together. It sounded a little sketchy, but it tasted great.

While we ate, Greg called Mom. He needed someone to watch Kyle, Mac and Nate. He and Angie needed a day away from kids to work on their marriage. Somehow I volunteered to be the good uncle and watch them.

When we got to Greg’s, Nate was crying and I saw Mac was in a timeout. Greg handed Nate to me.

“She knocked him down. He can now stand up if he gets a grip on the coffee table,” Greg explained.

“Unca David,” Kyle said as he reached his arms up.

I picked him up and he began to tell me an involved story. I looked at Greg to figure out what he was talking about.

“They went to the petting zoo.”

By now Nate had stopped crying, so I handed him to his grandmother. Mac had served her time and wanted to be held also. Kyle and Mac both wanted to tell me all about what they had seen. I thought they might like to see horses. I handed them to Dad and called Zoe to see if I could bring them out. Mom said Nate was too young, but she thought that Kyle and Mac would love it. So we went home, I transferred their car seats to my jeep, and I took them to the Pearson farm.