Dirty Player_A Football Romance Read online

  “Silly man. I love you, too. Now, I have a very important question for you,” I said.

  “You do?”

  “Yeah . . . does that garage door lock?”

  He grinned at me. “Why yes, yes it does. Why do you ask?”

  I laughed. “Because I’ve been away from you for too long and I’m going to go crazy if I don’t kiss you. Go and close the garage door.”

  He got up and closed the door, and the two of us fell together on the bed. He kissed me and smiled. “Is kissing all you want to do?” he asked.

  “There’s no way I’m stopping at kissing. I might have a lot of restraint in life, but when it comes to you, I have absolutely no control.”

  “That’s exactly what I was hoping you’d say,” he said. “And you’re right; we have some serious making up to do.”

  Dominic slowly took off my clothes and then pushed me down onto the bed. He got up, took off his own clothes, and lay on top of me. He kissed me gently on the mouth and smiled at me.

  “I’ve missed you so much, Candy.”

  “Don’t you dare give up on me,” I said.

  He shook his head. “I won’t.”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Dominic

  Monday rolled around quicker than I thought it would. We still hadn’t heard anything from Lionel and had spent most of the weekend just relaxing at my father’s house. Sometimes it felt as if there was nothing at all going on, but then every now and again we would remember what had happened and both of us would become quiet. We were nervous and unsure, but at the same time, we were happy to be with each other again. I was glad that Candice had been so adamant that the two of us should make things work. I had been worried that I was doing the wrong thing. We’d spent most of Sunday just talking about things, and we felt more like a team than ever before. “Us against the world,” she had said just before we’d gone to sleep the night before.

  “Back to school,” I said to Candice that morning. Her mother had dropped off some clothes for her the night before, but we had been asleep, and she’d left it with my father. It was unfortunate because I knew that Candice was desperate to talk to her mother about everything, but for some reason, Marian was being very quiet. She kept telling Candice not to worry, but we were both concerned about how things were faring back at their house.

  “Yeah, it’s so strange. After everything that happened, it’s just weird to think that we are going back to the normality of school. Think everyone knows about what went down?”

  I shrugged. “Probably. Who knows? You know how news travels around here. I wouldn’t be surprised.”

  “Yeah same here. Are you nervous?” she asked.

  I shook my head. “No, not at all. We’re going to be fine.”

  It wasn’t entirely true. I was actually feeling a little apprehensive about what my teammates were going to say about everything. Although, I was looking forward to putting matters straight again. I wanted to speak to Coach Bane and to tell him that I knew about his dealings with Lionel, and I wanted my team to know that the coach was involved in trying to stop me from having a future in football. I had to be careful, though. I didn’t want more rumors to spread, and I certainly didn’t want to put too much of a spotlight on Candice. I was going to have to be careful about who I told. But I was definitely going to talk to the coach. I had worked so hard to get to where I was today, and it wasn’t fair that he had my future dangling in the air like this. I was tired of letting people tell me what to do.

  “Come on, let’s go,” I said to Candice. “Let’s take the bike. I’m going to drop you off at your dorm first.”

  We hopped on the bike and made our way back to the school. When we arrived, I saw that Lily was waiting outside for Candice. Candice hopped off the bike, planted a big kiss on my mouth, and then ran towards her friend. I watched as the two of them embraced and immediately started yacking away like teenagers. Candice turned around and waved at me, and Lily did the same. I waved back and smiled. It was good to know that she had someone at the school now. It would’ve been worse to know that she was going to be all alone. I reminded myself to thank Lily one day. Candice deserved a good friend right now. As I left, I thought I saw Derek moping around, and my heart began to thump in my chest. The last thing we needed right now was Derek causing more problems for us. The first day back was going to be hard enough without him getting involved. I rode back to where I thought I had seen him, but I couldn’t see him. I waited several minutes longer just in case before finally heading back to my own dorm. Hopefully, it hadn't been Derek at all. Although, I knew we probably couldn’t avoid him forever.

  I dropped some things off back at my dorm, and grabbed my timetable and a few other things I needed for the day, and immediately made my way to Coach Bane’s office. He had no idea I was coming to see him. I didn’t want him to know that I would be there because I didn’t want to give him the time to prepare for this conversation with me. The moment I arrived I saw that he was already in a meeting with Tim. The two of them were having a lengthy discussion about the upcoming matches. The way he was talking to Tim was the way that he used to talk to me, and just hearing that only fueled my desire to straighten things out. I walked right into the room without knocking, and both Coach Bane and Tim looked at me with surprise.

  “Dominic? Uh, we’re in a meeting right now. Do you want to wait outside? I don’t think we’ll be long.”

  I shook my head. “No, I want to talk to you now, and I’m more than happy for Tim to stay.”

  “I can go,” Tim said and frowned at me. “You okay?” he asked when he saw the stern look on my face.

  “I’m fine. But stay. Actually, I want you to hear this,” I said.

  “Dominic, I think it’s best if we talked, just the two of us. Tim, we can resume this conversation later. Dominic, please, take a seat.”

  I looked at Tim and shook my head. “Don’t go. Stay,” I said. Thankfully, Tim was close enough to me to know that I needed him to stay. He didn’t move, and I took a seat beside him. “But I will take a seat. Thank you. Now, the reason I wanted to talk to you today so urgently is because I know that you have been trying to get me off the team. Most importantly, I know you have been trying to make sure that I don’t play for the NFL even though you know that I’m the best player for the job.”

  “I . . .” the coach began, but I put up a hand to stop him.

  I turned to Tim. “So basically what’s been happening is Coach Bane here has been listening to Candice’s father, Lionel. Lionel has been trying to split the two of us apart because apparently I’m not the kind of guy he wants his daughter to date. My family isn't good enough for his. We’re not rich enough, and our political views aren’t the same. And so, in order to do this, he’s been messing with my career. He’s been bribing our wonderful coach here, and despite all the hard work and effort I have put in over the years, my career is being decided by these two men. One man who thinks he’s above everyone, and another who I honestly thought was my mentor and friend.”

  “Dominic, I can explain,” the coach said.

  I looked at him and raised my eyebrows. “Are you refuting this? Are you telling me that none of this is true?”

  “Well, no. I’m not, but . . .”

  I laughed. “Well, it’s good to hear you finally telling the truth. I overheard you talking to Lionel, so it’s good that you’re not going to try and deny this. Also, I’ve been through the wars over spring break because of her father, and I’m not putting up with it anymore. I’m sick to death of just letting you all walk all over me like this. I’m a damn good player, and I deserve to at least try out for the NFL. Why should you take my dream away from me? How could you even let a man like that get away with this? How?”

  He shook his head. “I’m sorry. Dominic, you have to believe me. I’m sorry.”

  “Oh, I know you’re sorry. But if I didn’t come in here, then what? Were you really going to let him do that to me? I can understand him doing this,
but how could you do it? How could you do this to me, Coach Bane?” I said while looking him in the eye.

  He looked away nervously.

  “And the thing is, Coach Bane, I now have Tim here as proof. You said it yourself. You did this. And only you can do something about it.”

  “You don’t understand, Dominic. It wasn’t my fault. It was out of my hands.”

  “I don’t understand? Okay, then, well, make me understand.”

  The coach gulped. “Lionel is a very powerful man. You know that. He said he would stop all the funding for the program if I didn’t try and get you away from Candice. And I’m sorry, Dominic, but his money has really helped the college. I didn’t know what else to do.”

  “So you decided to mess with my life. Is that right? Who cares about my career then? Who cares about the fact that I’m in love with Candice? Who cares, right? Because you only care about yourself. That’s why.”

  “Of course I care about you, Dominic. That’s why I’ve been feeling so bad about everything. I’ve been having sleepless nights about this whole thing. I didn’t know what to do. Don’t think that this didn’t affect me. Because it did. It has affected me more than you realize.”

  I shook my head. “And yet you still did it. You still let him tell you what to do.”

  The coach looked down. He seemed unable to meet my eye anymore. “I’m sorry,” he said. His voice had come out in a whisper, but I still understood.

  “Yeah, me too,” I said sadly. “I’m very upset by all of this. I’m sad you didn’t have my back when I needed it the most. I have always looked up to you, but I’m not so sure anymore. I swear, if you do anything to stand in the way of my career now, I’m going to go public with this whole thing, and your own career will be the one at stake. Remember, I have a witness now.”

  I stood up, and Tim quickly did the same. I looked at the coach one more time and shook my head, but I had no more words to say to him. I walked out with Tim and closed the door behind me.

  Tim looked at me. His eyes were still wide in surprise. “Well, that was unexpected.”

  “I’m sorry about all of that. I hadn’t planned to do that with anyone there. But it actually worked out in my favor. Having you there was probably the best thing that could’ve happened to me.”

  “Yeah, I’m just glad I was there to be a witness for you. I can’t believe that all this has been going on. You should’ve told me.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, it’s been a crazy time. I just hope everything is going to be okay now.”

  “So does that mean the rumor about you going to jail was true?” he asked.

  I groaned. I knew that word would’ve gotten out even though I had still hoped it hadn’t. I nodded.

  “Yep. All that is true. Like I said, it’s been a crazy time.”

  “I’ll back you up, Dom. No matter what happens, I’ll back you up. Trust me, if there’s one thing I’m certain of is that you deserve a shot at playing in the NFL. More than anyone on the team. And I’m not the only one that knows that. The whole team knows it. Hell, even Coach Bane knows it. Don’t give up on this.”

  “I won’t,” I said. I felt happy to have him on my side. “Thank you.”

  “So,” he said and grinned at me. “Since when are you in love?”

  I laughed. “I think I’ve been in love for a lot longer than I even realized.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Candice

  “It’s so good to see you again,” I said to Lily as we made our way back to my dorm room. I still had some time before my first class, and I wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. We had linked arms and walked like giggling girls back to my room. Despite being nervous about the day ahead, it felt so good to be with her again.

  “Your boyfriend is so cute,” she said as we walked inside. “Sitting there, on his bike, waving to you. No wonder you want to fight for him.”

  I laughed. “He’s amazing. I’m very lucky.”

  “And he’s lucky to have you.”

  “Thank you, Lily. It’s so good to have you back. How was Japan? I feel like all I’ve done is talk about me lately.”

  “Well, my life hasn’t exactly been very interesting compared to yours, let’s be honest. Japan . . . well, it was fine. It was nice to go back actually. My mom was happy. And it made her realize that she was happy here, so that was a good thing. She kept comparing things to America. My dad was busy with work stuff most of the time, so I didn’t spend much time with him. My mom and I had fun. I made them promise I could bring you along with me next time.”

  “Really? That would be amazing. So, you didn’t meet any cute boys did you?”

  She laughed. “No. Although they did like my new weird accent. I don’t even know what I sound like anymore. Half American. Half Japanese. It’s all messed up. But no, I’m hoping to meet a nice boy here thank you very much.”

  I laughed. “Good. I don’t want you falling in love and going back there. I need you here.”

  “I’m staying! So, how’s your father, by the way?”

  I shrugged. “I have no idea. He’s been awfully quiet. I’m very worried that he’s going to stop paying for my classes. What am I going to do then? I don’t want to leave college. I need to get an education. And I like it here.”

  “Maybe there’s something you can do. Like work on the side or something. Have you thought of talking to the counselor about it?”

  “The counselor?”

  “Oh yeah, Mrs. Richardson. You should go and talk to her. She’d be the best person to help you with this. Her room is next to Mr. Angel’s room. Know it?”

  I nodded. “Oh yeah. I think I know who you’re talking about too. Small, pretty woman?”

  “That’s the one. And she’s very nice too. She’s the best person for the job. If you’re really worried then you should go and talk to her later.”

  “Do I need to make an appointment?” I asked.

  “No. She lives by an open-door policy. If you see her door open, you can go in. If it’s closed, then she’s busy with someone else. So just go and take a look.”

  “Good idea. Thanks, Lily.”

  “No problem. So, listen, I better get going; I still have to rush and get my notebooks before class. I just had to come and say hello to you. It’s good to have you back. Meet you at lunchtime? Usual table? Oh, sorry, obviously you’ll want to see Dominic. I forgot!” she said.

  I laughed. “No, I want to see you. Anyway, I want you to get to know him. He’ll probably be busy anyway. I’m not sure what’s going on with him and his football coach, but I have a feeling they are going to have a few words with one another. I’ll definitely see you at lunchtime. Same table,” I said and grinned at her.

  Lily walked out, and I got ready for the day ahead. My mother had dropped some clothes off for me the night before, but they weren’t really things I would want to wear for college. Most of my clothes were at my dorm anyway, so I changed into something else and got my books ready for the day. I looked around at my dorm room. The room was smaller than the one I had at home, much smaller, and yet it felt more like home to me than my actual home did.

  I was sad that so many things had gone wrong over the past few months, but I was also glad that I was finally standing on my own two feet. I had stood up to Derek and to my father, and I felt good because of it. I smiled around the room, glad to be back and ready to face any challenges ahead of me. Of course, the moment I closed the door, Derek appeared at my side. I got such a fright when I saw him because he seemed to come out of nowhere. I jumped. His eyes were big and wild, and he was looking at me with a sense of entitlement I hadn’t seen before.

  “Derek! What the hell! You gave me such a fright,” I said.

  “You’re back,” he said.

  “Uh, yeah. Well, school has been on a break, remember? So, everyone is back,” I said warily and stepped back from him. I wasn’t sure why he was making me so uncomfortable. I think it had something to do with the way that he
was looking at me. The look in his eyes made me feel nervous.

  Suddenly, before I even knew what was happening, he reached out and grabbed my hand with force. I got such a fright, and my immediate reaction was not to run away or cry. Instead, I reached out and hit him square in the nose. I didn’t even know I had it in me to punch someone like that and I was surprised at how good it made me feel. I watched him stumble back in shock.

  “Don’t you ever touch me again. I swear, Derek, don’t you ever lay a hand on me again,” I screamed. “I will make sure that you are arrested, do you hear me?” I was not putting up with this any longer. He did not have a right to me; he didn’t before, and he certainly didn’t any longer.

  Thankfully, Derek didn’t get a chance to retaliate because before either of us had a chance to say anything else to each other a crowd had formed around us to see what was happening. Suddenly a security guard came running up to us to see if everything was okay. They saw Derek holding his face, and they looked at me.

  “What’s going on? Are you okay? Did this man hurt you?”

  “I’m fine. I’m fine. Thank you,” I said.

  “Come on, I’ll walk you to class,” the man said, and I followed him away from the crowd. As we walked off, he looked at me again. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  I nodded. “I’m fine. Thanks for coming and for walking me to class. I appreciate it. Sorry to have you running around like that on our first day back.”

  He chuckled. “Looks like you did the job for me anyway. Between you and me, I’ve never liked that guy.”

  I smiled at him. “It felt pretty good, I must admit.”

  “I’m sure. But, do me a favor, just keep safe. Guys like that aren’t really worth the effort.”

  I nodded. “You’re absolutely right.”

  But, despite this, I couldn’t deny how good it had felt to have shown Derek that he wasn’t as big and mighty as he thought he was. And I was glad that other people had been around to witness it all.

  My first class went by without a hitch. Thankfully, it was still early for anyone to have discovered what happened with Derek, although I knew it wouldn’t take long for the whole school to talk about it. Between that and Dominic going to jail, I was going to be the topic of conversation for a long time. For someone that had just wanted to blend in, I was sure doing a terrible job at it. But I didn’t mind too much. Blending in meant that I was just accepting my fate, whether I agreed with it or not.