Fair Catch (Love and Sports Series) (11 page)

“I can imagine.”

“Alright, well, have a good night. Hopefully I’ll see you tomorrow.” He squeezed her shoulder and took off to the weight room. She watched him walk away and right before he was about to put his ear buds back in his ears that were dangling on his well sculpted shoulders, she shouted down the hallway.

“Kick some ass tomorrow.”

He spun around and smiled at her before walking into the weight room and disappearing for the night. He had field passes for her on reserve? Parker was going to pee his pants when he found out. Looks like she needed to bust out her Cal U football jersey she got for Halloween one year because she was going to need to look the part tomorrow night.

Chapter 6

              “Wooo! Go Bears!!”

             
“Parker! Can you please not do that right in my ear?” Lexi asked while holding her hand over her right ear, the one right next to Parker’s megaphone of a mouth.

             
He nudged Lexi, “Oh come on, loosen up a little bit. How could you not let out a good old woot woot right now? We’re killing the Cardinals, all thanks to your boy, Jake.”

             
“He’s not my boy.”

             
Margo lifted her VIP pass and said, “These passes beg to differ.”

             
The marching band started up their victory march again once the kicker made his field go, dragging Lexi’s attention to the field. They really were killing the Cardinals, it was almost kind of sad. Jake was right about the atmosphere, the energy in the stadium was contagious. If she wasn’t trying to play it cool right now in front of her friends, she would be jumping up and down, cheering for her home team.

             
Jake was leading the team down the field with his precise throws to his receivers and quick foot work. Mason and he were really connecting tonight, she thought. Lexi watched the whole night in amazement at how accurately Jake threw the ball down the field while in the midst of angry linebackers trying to get a piece of him. It was actually quite impressive now that she thought about it. When she was in centerfield, all she had to do was hop, skip and jump and hope the ball landed in the catcher’s mitt when she was throwing home. She didn’t have over-juiced men running at her with death glares, threatening her.

             
Last night in the weight room, Lexi saw a change in Jake. It was as if he traded bodies with Parker or something because while Parker normally would have been in the weight room with Lexi he was out partying. She would have bet a million dollars Jake would had been the one partying with women hanging all over him.  

Lexi tried not to think abo
ut how genuine, kind and sexy Jake looked in the weight room. She tried to drive away the image of his green eyes bearing down on hers or the way his backside looked when he walked away. It was all too much for her. The man was infuriating at times but then so kind and caring, it confused her. She didn’t know what to think.

Of course this
would happen her senior year, she would be interested in a guy when she was trying to find herself. Was she really interested in him?

The team obtained possession of th
e ball and Lexi watched Jake put his helmet on as he jogged out to the field. Yup, she was interested. How could she not be? She would be dead if she wasn’t interested. He was drop dead gorgeous, athletic, sexy as hell and at times she could sense that he actually had a heart. Shouldn’t that matter the most to her? That he was kind and caring, not just some hot piece of ass? She cursed herself for letting her libido take over her thoughts.

There was twenty seconds left in the game and instead of absolutely humiliating the other team, Jake let the play clock run out of time. The crowd erupted when the game was over. It was a great start to what looked like another championship season.

“This has been one of the best games I ‘ve ever been to. Thanks Lex for hooking us up with these tickets, even though it pained you.” Parker said with a grin.

“I actually had a lot of fun. Jake was right. It’s much more fun down
here. You get the feeling you’re actually a part of the team.”

“I agree.” Margo said while looping her arm in Lexi and Parker’s arms as if they were about to skip down the yellow brick road. “What’s next? Shall we go get some frozen yogurt?”

Lexi was about to say she wasn’t hungry when Parker stepped in before she could, “Oh yea, that sounds great to me. Shall we ladies?” Parker started striding toward the exit with his ladies in his arms.

There was a lot o
f cheering coming from the crowd and it seemed like the noise was getting louder as they walked away. Lexi thought it was odd until she heard her name being called.

She turned around and saw Jake running up to her
, sweaty but oh so handsome. “Lexi, wait up.” His helmet was off and his hair was wet from sweat but he still looked so good, so damn good. He was significantly taller than her but with his gear donning his body, he seemed like a giant.

“Hey
, good game.” Parker said while giving Jake a high five. “You didn’t even give those fools a chance.”

Jake didn’t even look at Parker when he said thanks, he just kept staring at Lexi. “Are you guys leaving?”

Not wanting to stammer, Lexi gathered her wits before she answered. “Yea, we’re going to get some frozen yogurt.”

Margo pushed Lexi fo
rward making her run right into Jake’s chest. He steadied her with his arms on her shoulders. Margo yawned, “Actually Parker was just going to take me home. We’re so tired.”

“We’
re not…” Margo elbowed Parker in the side causing him to cough. “Oh yea,” He fake yawned. “So tired. See you Lexi, good game Jake.” And just like that they left her alone with Jake. They melted into the crowd that was exiting the stadium, not even turning around to see if she was going to be ok.

What friends they were, they were her ride
home. She looked at Jake who had hopeful eyes. Damn, she couldn’t do this dance much longer. Her resolve was weakening by each passing moment she had with him. She was going to give in soon but she didn’t want to. She didn’t just want to be another girl for him to check off on his list. She didn’t think if she gave into Jake she was going to be able to say bye after one night. She would most likely want more and she knew that was not how he rolled.

“Were they your ride?” He
asked, still holding onto her arms.

“Yea, not a big
deal though. I don’t mind walking.”

“You’re not walkin
g. Who knows what kind of sick fucks are waiting to attack you out there?”

“I’m a big girl
, Jake. I can handle it.”

“Please Lexi. L
et me give you a ride.”

Lexi didn’t really want to walk to her apartment
since it was a good five miles, something she didn’t want to tackle at ten at night but did she want to be trapped in a vehicle with Jake? The more she thought about it, the more she knew Jake was right, there would be creeps out there waiting to take advantage of her. She always heard about those campus rapes that happened around the country and she definitely didn’t want to be a part of that horrifying statistic.

She conceded. “Ok, thank you.”

The smile that lit up Jake’s face when she agreed to a ride from him was unforgettable. It was as if she just told him she got him a new puppy. It was such a charming little boy smile that triggered her legs to start to melt. She needed to get a hold of herself before she did something completely embarrassing like kiss his entire body from head to toe.

“Meet
me outside the locker room. I’ll be really quick, I promise.”

Lexi nodded and watched him jog off toward the other players
. He gave them high fives and pats on the back as they walked through the tunnel together. Even though he was egotistical and a player, she could tell that he truly cared about every single guy on his team and really saw their win as a team effort and not the Jake show. The thought made her shutter with anticipation about what other kind of team player he might be. She rolled her eyes at her thought and proceeded toward the locker rooms, despising herself.

                                          ***

“Great game Jake.” Mason said while slipping on a pair of pants.

Jake took one of the quickest showers of his life after the game and was trying to dress as quickly as possible so he didn’t keep Lexi waiting outside. “Thanks, you had some amazing catches
tonight.”

“Have yo
u realized that ever since we’ve been doing our morning workouts together it seems like we’ve been more in tune with each other?”

Jake agreed. “I thought the same thing,
let’s keep it up.” Jake threw his wallet in his back pocket, tossed a shirt over his head and made sure to apply some deodorant.

“Hey where’s the fire, man? Aren’t you going out to
McGirk’s with us for some drinks?” Mason asked.

“No, Lexi
is waiting for me outside. I’ll see you later.”

Mason stopped Jake by placin
g a hand on his chest. “Lexi? As in the girl who completely hates your guts, Lexi?”

“She doesn’t hate my guts.
At least I don’t think she does but yes that Lexi. I gave her and her friends field passes for tonight. I caught her right before she left. I’m giving her a ride back to her apartment.”

Mason laughed, “Wow you must be crazy about her if you are willing to shower and change like a
maniac to just give her a ride home.”

Jake shrugged, “What if I am?
It would do me some good to settle down.”

Mason faked horror. “As I live in breath
, I never thought I would hear you say those words.”

Jake playfully punc
hed Mason in the shoulder. “Fuck off.” Jake said with a smile. “I’ll see you later. Have fun at the pub.”

Mason took his towel and whipped Jake in the ass as he was on his way out. Normally Jake would turn around and tackle his friend but he had better
things to do. When he exited the locker room he looked around but didn’t spot Lexi. His stomach dropped to a sickening feeling, thinking that she might have tried walking back to her place alone. He was going to kill her if some creep didn’t before him.

He was about to exit the building when he saw her leaning against the wall near
the exit. She looked cute wearing her football jersey that was tight in all the right places and her short jean shorts. She looked up and their eyes met. He watched her fidget while he walked toward her and he relished in the fact that even though she gave off a tough persona, she could be human as well and show that in fact she could be vulnerable as well.

“Were you waiting long?” He asked.

She shook her head and her beautiful blonde locks shifted on and off her shoulders as her head turned. “No, I’m actually surprised at how fast you were.”

“Well I cleaned
all my orifices, if that’s what you were wondering.”

A little smiled peaked on her lips. “For your information Jake, not every girl is thinking about your body
and its orifices all times.”

Jake playfully acted like she hurt him.
“Oh Lexi, how you hurt me with your words.”

She just smiled at him and
they walked to his Jeep. Jake opened the door and helped her in. He desperately wanted to keep talking to her, to not drop her off so suddenly but he just started getting her to talk to him so he didn’t want to scare her away. He had to take what he could get for now.

They drove in silence to her apartment and Jake cursed himself
the entire drive for not being able to come up with one single thing to say to her. What was wrong with him? He never had a problem talking to girls before but whenever Lexi was around him, it was like his mind went completely blank.

They arrived at her apartment way too quic
kly and he listened to the deafening sounds of her unclicking her seatbelt. He begged and pleaded in his mind for her to ask him into her apartment but knew that was not going to happen.

“Thanks for the ride. I appreciate it.” She was getting out when he
placed his hand on her arm to stop her. She looked at him with those bright blue eyes that sent shivers down his spine. He didn’t know what he was going to say but he wanted to prolong their encounter a little bit longer. He wasn’t ready to say goodbye yet.