Go Deep: A Bad Boy Sports Romance (12 page)

“Better late than never. I didn’t think I’d ever find this. Do you know I still have the necklace it came on? It’s back at my home, but I still have it… Maybe I’ll wear it for Thanksgiving dinner, and I’m definitely telling both our parents what you did!”

I ran my hand through my hair, embarrassed. “Crap. That’s what I was afraid of… Well, I deserve the public shaming. I’ll have to live with that. Anyway, I should get going.”

Cassidy was about to sit at her desk when we heard the key in the door.

“Hey, guys,” Miranda said as she entered. “Slade, how’s it going?”

“Good.”

Miranda shot a suspicious look back and forth between us.

Cassidy looked back from the desk. “We were just running through a few last minute details before we present our project to our business owner.”

I pointed to the door. “And I was just leaving so I can finish that write-up.”

“Right. You guys are so cute, trying to hide this.”

That was as good of a cue to exit as any. “Have a good night, you two,” I said, stepping through the door.

Cassidy didn’t know about the bet, and she wasn’t mad at me anymore either. I had to make sure that whole bet thing got canceled. The sooner everyone forgot about it, the better. Miranda was keeping quiet about the restaurant too.

I was still in the game.

T
hree minutes on the clock
.

We needed a fucking miracle. We’d been driven back almost to our own end zone, and were getting slaughtered. The score wasn’t that bad. Point-wise we were neck and neck with these guys, but they were killing us on the field.

It was time to take a quick huddle before the play. “Listen, I know it didn’t work before, but we’re not looking to score right now,” I told them. “We just need to make sure they don’t get this last three minutes. They’re on fire tonight, so let’s try our best. Be ready. If you’re open, and I’ll get the ball to you. Let’s go.”

In formation, I saw the satisfaction in the eyes on the opposite side of the line of scrimmage. They were already acting like they had us beat. With three minutes and counting, they had our backs literally against the wall. If they got possession now, they could easily make sure we didn’t get the ball back, and that would cost us the game. If we could start moving the ball, we could run the clock and take the game out from under them. It was time to show them how we played football.

We snapped the ball, and I dipped back into the pocket, watching as my receivers ran for open space.

Evan was open.

I launched the ball, shot it straight at him.

He caught it and ran.

The stadium went nuts.

We got a first down, though, long before they caught up to him and tackled him.

First down
.

We were off the goal line and heading in the right direction. We gained thirty yards from our last position. Another one like this and we wouldn’t have to worry about the clock. “Run and gun,” I told them. Our team just needed to rinse and repeat until we made it in. The next play gained us another twenty yards.

One good play could end the game.

One shitty play could cost us the game.

I didn’t do shitty plays.

Time froze. We snapped the ball. Feet moved as my boys shuffled to get me a set of hands to pass to. I stepped back and looked. Coverage was thick. They were getting smart to what we were doing, which left me wide open.

I didn’t want to be wide open. I wanted a receiver to be wide open. I wasn’t a runner, and the last time I ran, it cost us the game. The last time I ran, I had people open, and the coverage was on me. Tonight, it was the opposite. The coverage was on my boys, and I had a straight shot. No one was worried about the quarterback.

Fuck it.

I tucked the ball under my arm and ran.

I heard the collective gasp from my teammates, the coaches on the sidelines, and the fans in the stands. I was doing the last damn thing anybody wanted or expected me to do. Even the cheerleaders stopped mid-cheer. We’d run down the clock enough already trying to get into position, and we didn’t have enough time to draw it out for another two or three plays. The ball needed to reach the end zone. The game needed to be over.

Dammit, I needed the win.

Still no coverage, all the way down. The opposition kept their positions, as though they expected me to throw the ball to someone, but I was already all the way down the field. That ball wasn’t going anywhere except with me. Slowly, the crowd warmed up to what I was doing. They got to their feet and began to cheer when they realized I had it. Damn right I had it. When I wasn’t being stupid, I was damn good. I was the best college quarterback out there, and I was about to take my team all the way to victory.

My foot crossed the goal line, and the place exploded. The defensive linemen who’d been tailing me crossed a moment later, and my teammates were right behind them, patting me on the helmet and head-butting me.

“That’s how you run the ball, son!” Evan shouted, bumping into my shoulder.

“Don’t you forget it.”

I looked at the score. With the touchdown, we didn’t even need an extra point to win. We decided to go with the extra point and kick it in instead of trying to get the two-point conversion. These boys we were up against were liable to intercept a two-point conversion and try to take the game from us. I wasn’t about to let that shit happen. The ball went flying between the goal posts.

Yes.

That was it.

The crowd went crazy.

We’d pulled the carpet out from under our opponents, and we won the game, coming back from behind and pinned up against our own end zone.

It was time to celebrate.

Fans, teammates on the bench and cheerleaders surrounded us, all wanting to give us a pat on the back and congratulate us. I saw Cassidy nearby on my left, smiling and shaking pompom in my direction. I don’t know what got into me, but I took two strides around the people crowding me, put my hand around her waist, and planted a kiss right on her lips. It was a real fucking kiss, right there in front of everybody on the field.

“I don’t care who sees it,” I said when I pulled back.

She grinned. “Maybe you earned that one.”

I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face if I tried. “Hey, I think it’s time you make an exception tonight and come to the after party. For me.”

“Are you sure it won’t disappoint all your little groupies?”

“I don’t care about them,” I told her. “I’m not taking no for an answer.”

She thought about it for a second. “Sure. Get me before you leave.”

“Good.” Some fans pulled me back into the crowd, and after a few minutes I joined the rest of the team heading into the locker room.

The locker room was upbeat—all high-fives and fist bumps when we got back there. The energy was unreal, coming back to show everyone week after week that we still had it. That loss from weeks ago was long forgotten, and even my teammates knew now that when it came down to it, I could run the damn ball.

“Good job, man.” Mo patted my shoulder pads as I walked by.

“Okay, okay, guys. I didn’t get that win by myself. You fuckers played hard as hell tonight.”

Evan shouted out, “They aren’t talking about the win, son. They’re talking about you nailing Cassidy. And you did it before Thanksgiving.”

“Congratulations, bro.”

I raised my arms to get everyone to settle down. “Yeah, we talked about this already. The bet’s off.”

“I didn’t hear about that.”

“Yeah, but your sorry ass should know it’s off now that way too many people took it outside the fraternity.”

There were collective groans, grumbles and profanity.

“Next time remember the code, brothers. Keep that shit tight.”

Evan was the one who wouldn’t let up. “Come on, man. You stand to earn a lot of money off of this bet. You earned it, so you might as well get the cash. Do you have any idea how many people have put money down?”

“Too many, and they were all supposed to have had their money returned by now. Who’s taking care of that? Whoever it is, make sure it gets done. Fast.”

“That’s so many people, bro.”

I nodded. “Yeah. That’s the problem. It should have stayed just between the few of us who were there that night. Now it’s damn near everybody on campus. You’re just damn lucky Cassidy didn’t find out about it, loose lips.”

“Oh yeah, about that. You can’t let your girl around me when I’m drinking, dude. Not a good idea.”

“That was fucked up, man.”

“You mad, bro?”

I took off my pads and started getting ready for the shower, smiling. “Not anymore. Besides, other than out there on the field, I don’t expect much at all from your crazy ass.”

“Yeah, that’s right. Remember that.” He walked over to his locker and started pulling off his gear.

With the bet now off the table, there was less to stress about. The only question left was how long it would take for everyone to forget all about it. Cassidy would be with us tonight. I didn’t want some drunk-ass schmuck running off their mouth to her now of all times. All I could do was hope that everyone would keep their wits about them long enough for me to get her up to my room and away from the crowd.

I caught up with Cassidy as everyone was heading out. “Hey. Are you still coming?”

“Yes. I need to make a stop at the dorm so I’ll come with Miranda.”

“Cool. I’ll see you two later.”

Miranda stepped up beside us. “Hold on.” At first, she stared at us in wide-eyed shock, and then the expression morphed into a wide grin. “I just want to officially tell you two lovebirds…I
knew
it. I fucking knew it!”

Shaking my head, I patted Miranda on the back and ran off to catch up with the rest of the team.

W
e rolled
up to the frat house. It had been over a month since our last party here, so the place was packed. There were people on the porch, in the yard, in the windows of the first floor, hanging out of the windows of the second floor, and on the balcony in the front, just everywhere, and they were all happy to see us.

We got past the crushing swarm of people on the walkway and the porch, all patting out backs and trying to shake our hands. As we walked into the house, Ryan pulled me aside.

“Beer flow is being handled by our guys in the kitchen this time. If they’re not associated with the team or the fraternity, they don’t get a drink,” he told me.

“Good thinking,” I told him.

“And no douchebag unknowns inside the house. Only brothers, team members, and the hot women who can handle them.”

“Smart. So you’ve got people posted at the doors, then?”

“Yeah. We can’t have any bullshit like last time. And you and Evan need to keep it cool. You’re both magnets for trouble and mayhem.”

“It’s cool, man. I won’t be riding anyone’s ass tonight.”

I followed the line into the kitchen to get a beer. It was bottles and cans tonight instead of kegs. Whatever worked. I went back to the door leading to the front porch to wait for Cassidy. She and Miranda came up the walkway arm in arm. They were greeted by whistles and catcalls, which was not a surprising welcome as they’d shown up in their cheerleading uniforms.

“Fuck, who’s that with Cassidy?” Ryan asked.

“The goth chick. Miranda. She’s always here, man. I’m surprised you don’t recognize her.”

He squinted his eyes as though placing her back into her all-black outfits. “Oh yeah. I think I remember her. Damn, that chick’s got a slamming body. She needs to show up in that outfit more often. What’s her name again?”

“Miranda.”

“Hot. She’s sure to get laid tonight…maybe by yours truly, if she’s lucky.”

“Okay well, good luck with that.”

Cassidy and Miranda got the evil eye from a few of the regular groupies we let in here. Those chicks looked like they were ready to fight. I told Ryan to keep an eye out for that too tonight. We couldn’t take any risks. I headed out to Cassidy. She grabbed my beer, taking a long, slow drink from it before handing it back to me and kissing me in front of everyone on the porch, which led to another round of cheers and hollers.

“I think I need a drink,” Cassidy said when we pulled apart.

I took her hand. “Let’s get inside.”

“You’re surprised to see me here, aren’t you?”

I finished my beer and tossed the bottle into the trashcan at the front door. “A little.”

She stepped inside with me, hanging on to my arm as we walked down the hall. Heads turned all the way to the kitchen. The groupies seemed disappointed that I actually had a girl with me, not just a piece for the night. The guys were shocked that there was more going on than just sex between us. I wasn’t going to question it or fight the facts, that Cassidy and I had something long before we started sleeping together. What we had was a past, years of connection, a history just waiting for us to make something out of it, and now we were at the brink of doing just that.

One of the brothers on kitchen duty passed us a couple of bottles. She took one and tapped it together with mine

“Now that I’m not chasing after you for my laptop bag, are you going to show me around the place?”

“Nah.”

“What? Why not?”

“Well because, just look around. Every room turns into the
shit-faced guy dry-humping the drunken chick doing the table-dance
room on party night.” Several girls were drunk and dancing on the large dining hall table that took up most of the adjoining room. And yes, a small crowd of frat boys were standing around adjusting their groins, hoping one or more of the women would land on their dick.

“You weren’t kidding, huh?”

“Nope. Give it an hour and it’ll be Miranda up there. Trust me. We don’t need to see that…Come on, let’s relax in my room. I need some serious R & R after this week.”

She followed me upstairs and I pointed out the three shared bathrooms on the way to my room. Pushing the door open, I let her go in first and closed the door behind me, relieved that I’d averted a crisis in those last ten minutes. Not a soul had mentioned the bet. Which meant I could find a way to tell her myself, apologize like hell, and hope for the best.

She took a seat in the armchair on one side of my bed. I sat on the bed and she leaned forward, tapped her bottle to mine again and drank from it.

“
Y
ou know
, I’m glad we came up here, Cassidy. I want to talk to you,” I said after taking a big gulp from my bottle.

“I’ve got something to tell you too.”

“Yeah? You go first.”

“I was wrong about you, Slade.”

“What do you mean?”

“I expected you to be the stereotypical jock, you know? A self-centered, superficial, shallow jerk who didn’t care about anything but football and chasing tail.”

I raised an eyebrow. “And you think I’m not?”

That made her giggle. “Stop it. I’m trying to be serious over here.”

“Okay. Go on.”

“I didn’t expect you to be hardworking, sweet, or even funny.”

“Yup…that’s me. Chock full of giggles and surprises.” That was not exactly the best segue to tell her about the bet.

“I was so wrong about you.”

“No, Cassidy, I don’t think you were wrong at all. I’m pretty damned sure you were right.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

I took a deep breath to ready myself for the confession, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it. I decided to say something else. “I’m all about winning, Cassidy. In sports, in school…with the chicks…and for my career. I only do well at my courses so I can look better to the NFL agents.”

“So what you’re trying to say, where you and I are concerned, is you’re working hard with me because…”

“Exactly…because I’m all about winning.”

“And I was just another tail to chase.”

“Yeah…” She looked at me like she was ready to sign my death warrant. “No, that’s not what I mean. I mean that’s what you were before…” Nope, still not a good time to mention that there bet. “Before I took the time to know you and see you were more than just a piece of ass.”

I sucked at this confession crap. It was time to move on, so I got up, pulled her out of the armchair and into my lap, kissing her hard on the lips. As our faces slowly parted, she rested her head on my shoulder.

“Are you staying on campus for Thanksgiving?”

“Nah. I’ll be home.”

“Me too. What are your plans?”

“To spend as much time with you as possible without pissing anyone off…And by
anyone
, I mean Shawn, but you know that.”

“Same here,” she said with dread in her voice. “He won’t be happy to see me this year.” This was a sad admission. All throughout their childhood, those two had been joined at the hip. I was the third wheel getting in between them now.

“You and me both.”

“He’s so mad at me it’s been weeks since we spoke or texted. I don’t think it’ll get any better when he sees us.”

“Yep. The kid’s got a mean streak when he’s angry. But don’t worry. I’ll make sure things don’t get ugly. He won’t get to ruin Thanksgiving for everyone just because you and I are fucking amazing together in bed.”

She smiled, then shook her head. “God…this can’t go well.”

This was another first with her. Enjoying a woman’s company without fucking her brains out. I kinda liked it. We stretched out on the bed, staring up at the ceiling while we talked about holiday plans and whatever came up.