Fair Catch (Love and Sports Series)

  She unlocked her door with precision, slipped inside and shut the door on his face before he was even able to reply to her rant.

  By no means did he bring her to the dinner to humiliate her, in fact he actually wanted to get to know her better. He wanted to spend time with her. Never in his life did he actually want to get to know a woman.

  Shaking his head in disgust, he knew he blew it big time. He banged on her door and called for her to open up. He continued to get louder and louder with his pounding and shouting, knowing that she would open the door just to shut him up.

  Almost exactly on cue, she flew the door open. “Will you please stop that, you’re going to cause a scene.”

  “Let me explain.”

  “What is there to explain, Jake? What you did tonight mortified me, there is no explaining it.”

  He saw the pain in her eyes and his stomach dropped to his shoes. His intention for tonight was to woo her, to make her see him for who he wanted to be. Instead, he gave her the impression that he was still the old Jake, the ladies’ man Jake. Someone who he despised.

  “Lexi, I’m sorry. Please just let me in and we can talk about this.”

  “No Jake, this is over and if you don’t leave I’m going to call the cops and we all know what that would do to your precious little reputation.”

  He was about to open his mouth to protest when she slammed the door on his face.

  Damn.

  Chapter 5

  Jake met up with Mason the next morning at an hour Jake didn’t even know existed but if he wanted to change, he needed to start changing his habits now, which meant no partying at all hours of the night and sleeping till noon. He enjoyed the morning workouts he and Mason did since the weight room didn’t have anyone in it to bother him and the field house was completely empty. It was actually relaxing and peaceful. He wished he woke up early all four years instead of just his last year of college. He wondered if just maybe he had worked even a tad bit harder throughout his college years maybe he would have been even better than he was now. That thought was something he couldn’t focus on. He was never a “what if” kind of guy and he didn’t want to start now.

  Jake and Mason went through a series of sprints in the field house, ladder workouts and footwork exercises. Jake threw a couple of passes to Mason but saved his arm for practice. He could already feel his footwork starting to improve which would help him when he is struggling to find an open receiver in the pocket during the games.

  Jake threw a long ball to Mason who dove and caught it in the end zone. Mason stood up and performed his signature wobbly leg touchdown dance. That was one thing Jake was going to miss, his best friend and go to receiver. He knew the reality of Mason and Jake ending up on the same NFL team was slim to none and their days of hanging out together every day were numbered. He tried not to concentrate too much on saying goodbye to Mason since it was depressing as hell.

  Jake and Mason went through practically everything together, from being scared freshmen their first hell week, to meeting girls, throwing parties and going through hardships that only a true brother would understand. Jake was getting nostalgic and he needed to snap out of it because it was only going to bring him anxiety and depression which was something he didn’t need going into his senior year.

  One thing he couldn’t stop thinking about was once he graduated he was going to be alone, more alone than when his parents died. Mason had been the backbone Jake needed throughout his college career but now that he was graduating, he would be on his own, which scared the hell out of him.

  Mason was moving on too after graduation but he wouldn’t be alone like Jake. Jake was envious of the relationship Mason had with his long term girlfriend, Brooke. Jake knew they were going to get married at some point and he would be Mason’s best man which was an honor Jake could only hope to reciprocate in the future.

  Although, the thought of being able to reciprocate the honor of having Mason as his best man vanished pretty quickly last night in one bad move on Jake’s part. Instead of dancing with Jessica, he should have introduced Lexi and let everyone know she was his date. What was wrong with him? Why didn’t that clue in on him? He was hoping that if he gave the billionaire’s daughter one dance he could brush her off and spend the rest of the night with Lexi in his arms. Instead he was stuck with Daddy’s little princess whispering obscenities in his ear. Old Jake would have been turned on in two seconds and maybe even had taken her to the bathroom to cash in on her promises but all he could think about was Lexi and how he wished it was her whispering into his ear, rather than Jessica.

  “Uh, hello Jake? I asked are we done here?” Mason interrupted.

  Jake grabbed the football from his friend and quickly looked at his watch, he still had time. “Yea, thanks for the workout.”

  “Are you still thinking about what happened with Lexi?”

  Jake told Mason the entire story when they were warming up and all Mason did was shake his head at him. Mason didn’t even have to say anything because Jake knew he messed up, messed up big time.

  “I am. I can’t believe I fucked up so bad.”

  Mason shrugged. “Hey, you’re not used to treating women with respect.” Mason grinned.

  “Fuck off.” Jake said in a teasing tone and pushed his friend. “I have to take a shower real quick and then head to the coffee kiosk before eight.”

  “What are you doing, man?”

  “Trying to get back on Lexi’s good graces.” They headed back to the locker rooms to freshen up for the day.

  “I don’t know if that is a good idea. She made it quite clear yesterday she really wanted nothing to do with you and what if she’s seeing Darren.”

  The mention of Darren’s name made Jake clench his teeth. If the bastard wasn’t such a good guy Jake might knock some teeth out of his pretty little smile. When Jake saw Darren walking arm and arm with Lexi last night, Jake almost lost it. He didn’t even want to think about the jealous instincts he had for Lexi because that would open a box he wasn’t ready to open. Damn it, he just wanted to get to know the girl. Was that too hard to ask?

  “They’re not seeing each other.” Jake said through gritted teeth.

  Mason threw his hands up in mock defense. “Don’t bite my head off. I’m not the one who ditched my date for a billionaire’s daughter, fuck stick.”

  When they entered the locker room, Jake threw the football into the corner and spun around to face Mason who looked a little shocked at Jake’s erratic movements.

  “I didn’t have a choice. I had to dance with her. The guy could easily fuck me over in more ways than one.”

  “He’s a billionaire, he doesn’t own the NFL. What could he possibly do?”

  “He practically owns the internet. He could destroy any image I have before I ever go public. I have to watch my back.”

  “Well then how come you’re trying to pursue Lexi when you should probably be kissing his daughter’s ass?”

  Jake thought about the phone number Jessica gave him last night that burned a whole through his pants pocket. He wanted nothing to do with her. Yes, she was pretty but she was no Lexi and she was a little too wild for his liking, especially since he was trying to change his image.

  “She’ll be fine. I’m not concerned about her. I did what I had to do and danced with her, which was all her dad asked of me. He can’t force me into a relationship with her.”

  Mason just shrugged his shoulders and peeled his sweaty shirt off, showing off his many tattoos.

  “I don’t know why you’re so concerned with my life when you should really be concerned about those love handles you got going on there.”

  Mason snapped his face at Jake and flashed him the middle finger. “You wish I had love handles because then you wouldn’t have to compete with my awesome body.” Mason said while caressing his sides.

  “Keep dreaming, you know I’m more ripped than you will ever be.”

  Mason stepped in front of one of the mirrors and s
tarted flexing. “This, my friend, is what they call a bicep, something you might not be familiar with.” Then Mason turned to the side and stuck his belly out and placed his hands on his lower back. “And this is a gut, something I know you are quite familiar with.”

  Jake whipped him in the back with a towel causing Mason to yelp and tackle Jake to the ground.

  ***

  Lexi dried off from her shower and slipped on a pair of yoga pants and a tight fitting tank top. She threw her hair up in a massive messy bun and applied some mascara. She never went anywhere without a little bit of mascara, she felt naked without it.

  Their workout this morning was awful, Lexi already felt sore from the conditioning workout they went through. Their coach was in a bitch of a mood, it must be her time of the month because she made them do pyramids but at a fifty yard distance. Whenever they did pyramids, they always did them on the basketball court but her coach thought she would turn into the devil this morning and torture the hell out of them. Most of the freshmen threw up, something Lexi remembered doing her first year but since then she worked out like crazy so she would never be the girl puking on the side again.

  Looking back at the morning, she felt bad for her teammates because if Lexi was having a hard time functioning after their workout then the other girls must be hurting in a bad way. Still, she couldn’t figure out why she felt so slow this morning. Her coach even called her out on it so then Lexi had to work even harder to prove that she was her normal self, even though she felt a million miles away from herself.

  Avoiding the real reason why she was tired and lethargic, she blamed it on the workout, or maybe not eating breakfast but she would not blame it on the fact that it felt like Jake sucked the life out of her. She talked to Margo about the incident and she didn’t have much to say, she couldn’t explain the odd behavior and then apologized for encouraging Lexi to go out with him when clearly Lexi wanted nothing to do with him.

  She didn’t blame Margo, there was only one person to blame and that was the guy with the green eyes. Lexi shook her head in disgust, never in her life had she ever been so mortified. The people at her table gave her the “I’m sorry for your life” look which Lexi had a hard time tolerating. She couldn’t stand getting pitied, especially when it was coming from pompous society folk.

  “Are you coming?” Margo asked.

  “I’ll catch up with you later.” Lexi replied.

  Margo sat next to her on a bench while Lexi tied up her shoes. “Lex, you can’t let him get to you. That’s letting him win.”

  “I’m not letting him get to me, I’m not even thinking about him.” She lied, “I’m just really worn out. I think I’ve been working too hard. Maybe I need to cut back on the workouts. I didn’t appreciate coach riding my ass this morning.”

  “No one enjoys coach riding their ass, especially when the bitch is eating donuts while we sweat our asses off and puke on the sidelines.”

  Lexi thought about how their coach sat in a cushioned chair and blew her whistle while she munched down on her sugar infested breakfast. If her coach wasn’t so damn good at her job, Lexi would report the dumb bitch to the athletic director.

  Completely annoyed with the morning, she was about to respond when one of the freshman came into the locker room and said, “Uh, Lexi, someone is waiting outside for you.”

  Lexi looked at the freshmen with confusion but all she did was point her thumb to the door and then head into the bathroom that connected to all the girls’ locker rooms. Maybe Parker was outside waiting for her, most likely he wanted to get all the juicy details about what happened last night. Lexi didn’t feel like repeating all the gory details but she knew Parker wasn’t going to let her get away with being silent. Maybe she would blow Parker off for class and leave Margo to telling him the story. That way she didn’t have to relive it.

  Looking over at Margo, Lexi said, “I have to go. I’ll catch you later. Let me know about dinner tonight, I’m thinking tacos.”

  Margo agreed as Lexi grabbed her backpack and headed out the opposite door. Lexi stopped in her tracks when she saw Jake leaning against the wall wearing jeans and a “Property of Cal U Football” shirt. His hair was wet and tussled around and he was holding a drink carrier and a bag.

  Lexi’s mood went from annoyed to icy in the matter of seconds. “What the hell do you want?”

  “Good morning to you to. How was your workout?”

  “Like you care.” She said as she turned and started walking toward the door so she could walk up the hill to her class.

  “I do care.” He caught up to her. They were outside starting to walk up the hill when he talked again, this time getting ahead of her and stepping in front of her so she couldn’t walk any further. “Can you please stop for one second and talk to me.”

  She put her hands on her hips. “And why would I want to do that. You had all night to talk to me last night but instead you decided to dance with someone else.”

  Jake blew out an aggravated breath and said as quickly as possible, “I had to, her Dad asked me to dance with her a while back and I couldn’t say no. I should have handled the situation better, I know that now but honestly I was trying to get rid of her as quickly as possible so I could spend the rest of the night with you.”

  She put her hands to her heart. “Oh how caring of you. I could tell that after two dances you were really trying to get rid of her on my behalf, thank you.” Lexi said in a sarcastic tone.

  “You can believe me or not but what I’m telling you is the truth.”

  “Ok Jake.” She tried to walk again but he stopped her. She looked up at him and knew it was a mistake. She looked directly into his eyes and saw the slight insecurity clouding his sight, as if he was actually putting himself out in the world to be vulnerable. No, no, she was not going to melt before him. She needed to stay strong. “Is there a reason for this little morning meeting or can I get to my class?”

  He held out a warm cup to her, reached in the bag he was holding and handed her a yogurt parfait, damn him for knowing what she liked.

  “A peace offering. I know it doesn’t make up for what I did to you last night but I just wanted to say how sorry I really am. My intentions were not to ruin your night and fill it with embarrassment. I actually wanted nothing more than for you to be the one I held in my arms all night.”

  She looked away because if she looked in his eyes she was going to falter. His voice was sincere and sweet. A part of him she never experienced. It was as if he actually cared. She had seen him operate on many different occasions while talking to women and this was the first time she ever saw this side of him.

  Instead of being a grown up and looking him in the eyes to thank him, she tilted her cup at him and said, “Thanks, I better get to class.”

  He let her walk by, thankfully, because she was through with playing his little sidewalk tango. On her way up the hill, she thought about the words he said to her as she tried to block them out of her memory. He was an ass. People didn’t change in the matter of a night. He treated her like crap once and he would do it again.

  When she got to her classroom she pulled her phone out to turn it on silent when she noticed she had a text message and of course it was from Jake.

  Jake: By the way, I don’t think I got the chance to thank you for being my date last night, even though I blew it, but thank you. It was a pleasure to have you on my arm. P.S. You look beautiful this morning.

  Damn it all to hell…

  ***

  “Taco time!” Margo sang out as she sat down at the table with Lexi and Parker. Parker was looking sexy as usual Margo thought. Not even going out for a late night date with a guy on the football team could cure her need for Parker.

  “These look awesome ladies, thanks for having me over.” Parker said with a devilish grin. Margo felt her entire body sigh with content. Just being able to hang out with him was amazing.

  Lexi had her elbow on the table and her hand holding her head up as she
stared down at her food, not eating it, just pushing it around on her plate.

  “You actually going to eat that Lex?” Margo asked. Lexi just looked up and nodded. This was very unlike her friend, she loved tacos. She loved all meals. “What’s wrong girl? Is Jake really getting to you?”

  “Oh yea, you never gave me the details of what exactly went down. I just got the abridged version from Margo.” Parker said while biting into the crunchy shell of his taco.

  “I don’t want to talk about it. I just want to forget Jake ever stepped in my life.”

  Throw off by the snappy tone Lexi just used, Margo and Parker exchanged looks of concern. They shrugged at each other and dug into their tacos and forgot about the topic of Jake Taylor.

  All three of them just sat there in silence. Lexi still didn’t touch her food which caused Margo to worry. Lexi worked out every day, sometimes more than twice a day, if anything the girl needed more food to keep up with her burning metabolism.

  Margo knew Lexi didn’t want to talk about Jake but she also didn’t want her friend to go anorexic either because of some jackass. Margo stepped into the mother role. “Lexi, can you please eat? Don’t let Jake bother you that much.”

  Lexi snapped her face up and stared down Margo. Margo actually felt fear creep across her body. Never since the three years Margo had known Lexi had she seen her friend so distraught and just flat out angry about something…or someone for that matter. Lexi pushed her food to the side and went to her room, slamming the door shut.

  Margo blew out am agitated breath and stared down at her food. Parker reached across the table and squeezed her hand, sending chills all the way up her arm.

  “Don’t worry about her.” He said, “Just keep being a friend like you are and she’ll realize what a bitch she’s being.” He winked at her as he shoved a tortilla chip in his mouth.