For Three Seconds (Forbidden Sports Romance)

by C. Lymari

  He was right. My head was messed up right now.

  “Who is she to you?” he asked.

  “Leave it,” I told him and walked away.

  “Oh no, my man, you don’t get to say that shit. Look, I get it—you don’t like to talk about your life. I know your parents are cool; they show up to your games. You have friends, and you’re a solid guy. Man, I’ve watched you fuck your way through freshman and sophomore year. Then last year something changed. That girl, you looked at her like you were ready to consume her. I know you tapped Gigi in high school because that jersey chaser will brag to anyone who hears how she had you pussy-whipped and you ignored her.”

  I interrupted him. “Are you done recapping my life?”

  I knew my sins better than anyone. There had been a hole inside me that no amount of pussy had sated, a pain no amount of alcohol could make me forget. Except now. The moment I laid eyes on Scar again. All that pain went away.

  “Look, man, all I’m saying is this is your chance to make it. Don’t blow it.”

  “I won’t,” I vowed.

  Ollie didn’t know it, but things had finally aligned this year, and I wouldn’t fail. Not this time.

  Twelve

  What were the odds that I got a class with Mr. Football God?

  The number had to be slim, but karma was like, “Congrats, you’re the lucky winner. Strap on, bitch, and prepare for a ride.”

  So, karma probably didn’t say that, but she thought it.

  The first week had passed by, and so far, it seemed like sociology was the only class Gavin and I had together. Having no friends didn’t bother me. If I’d learned anything these past years, it was that being alone didn’t bother me; I didn’t fear my own company. My demons were ones I hadn’t conquered yet, but they were familiar and came with enough baggage that suffocated me, keeping me entertained.

  I was sitting outside on one of the benches when I felt someone sit in front of me. I tensed because I knew it wasn’t any of my roommates. We had zero classes together since they had different majors. I slowly brought my head up, praying to God it wasn’t Gav.

  “Fuck, Nick, you scared me.” I jumped in my seat.

  My brother grinned at me and reached to steal one of my fries.

  “How are you?”

  I gave him an “are you for real” look. He had the decency to look sheepish.

  “I’m fine, Nick. I made an appointment.”

  I was diagnosed with depression a little bit after prom. The doctors gave my anger, my sadness, and my loneliness a name other than grieving. Nick put me in a facility where I’d had to stay for a month because he was scared. I’d tried to drown myself. It was something we never spoke of; it was like a dirty secret between us. I didn’t want to bring it up, and I think he was scared of what he would find out.

  “You look good, sis.”

  “Thanks. How do you like your job?”

  “Love it,” he said, then paused as if he was looking for the right words. “You and Dunn looked tense. I know you feel like he ratted you out, but you guys were like best friends.”

  Um, no.

  “He’s Gigi’s. He was never my friend,” I told my brother.

  “They broke up,” Nick said as he took another fry.

  I mean, I knew there was a slim possibility of them still being together, but hearing my brother confirm he that wasn’t hers anymore, well, I felt a flutter.

  “He always came to the house and got you food, and at practice, he got you food too. I mean, I had girlfriends, and I didn’t treat them the way Gavin treated you.”

  What the heck did that mean?

  My brother left shortly after, but his words stayed in my mind. This was too much to handle on my fresh start, wasn’t it? I groaned and banged my head on the table.

  “I’m guessing this is a bad time?” The voice sounded familiar and hesitant.

  When I raised my head, I saw the pledge I’d given my panties to. Shit, I forgot all about that.

  “Hey. What happened to my panties?” I asked.

  He turned red, which would have been funny, but I was freaking out.

  “Um…Gavin took them away. Don’t you remember?” he said as he took a seat across from me.

  “Yeah, I know he took them, but what did you guys do with them?”

  “Well, we were supposed to give them all to Jeff, but yours didn’t make it to that pile.” He scratched behind his ear. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you guys had a thing.”

  “We don’t,” I snapped.

  He put his hands up in mock surrender. “I thought he was going to beat me up.”

  For a second, I’d thought so too. Gavin used to be very protective of me. He made sure no one messed with me because of Gigi.

  “He wouldn’t have,” I said. “Gavin doesn’t care about me.”

  “We’ll agree to disagree. Will you be coming to the party on Friday?”

  Fuck that. I shook my head, and Isaac chuckled.

  “I have to go. I think my next class is all the other way across campus,” I sighed.

  “You don’t know?” Isaac asked.

  “I’m new here. Just transferred.”

  Isaac smiled at me. “I’m going across campus. I’ll walk you.”

  My smile dropped, not because I was horrified at someone walking me to class, but it just hit me that for the last three years, it had just been me and my demons.

  “So, you’ll give me your panties but get horrified by me walking you to class,” Isaac said before he got up and started to walk away.

  I missed having friends. I didn’t think; I grabbed my shit and ran after him.

  “Isaac, wait,” I shouted.

  He stopped and turned around, giving me a hesitant look.

  “I’m sorry. I’m not good with the whole friendship thing,” I mumbled.

  He smiled and leaned into me. “Me neither.”

  We walked in silence to the other side of the school. I watched people pass us, smiling, and running, throwing a ball, and for the life of me, I couldn’t remember what that felt like. To be carefree and not let anything bring you down. I mean, I remembered being happy with no worries up until sophomore year. There was happiness, but it was filled with unease whenever Gavin was near. There was pain, but at least I had my parents then, so it was manageable. Isaac waved goodbye to me before I could walk into my next class.

  Nick’s words still played in my head. I had girlfriends, and I didn’t treat them the way Gavin treated you.

  I shook my head, not wanting to think about that.

  My human behavioral science class was smaller, more intimate. I was somewhat fascinated to know what made all us do and/or act a certain way.

  After my last class ended, I walked out feeling better about my week. More than I had since I came to college. It was a whole new world, and Gavin might be in it, but I could easily get lost here.

  My weekend was spent finishing making my room mine, as in adding some decor and doing laundry. Audrey, Kenia, and Delia had to go to practice and whatever the hell they did after that. When I started to feel like I was coming out of my skin, I changed into jogging capris and a sports bra, then grabbed my iPod and walked out the door. I needed to clear my head; it felt like there was too much clutter.

  I was sweaty and out of breath. My feet were killing me, and I was also lost. I ran and took turns, and by the looks of things, I was a lot closer to campus. Shit, how was I getting home? I’d left my phone at home and only brought my iPod.

  Removing my iPod from the sleeve on the side of my arm, I tried to see if I could find some Wi-Fi. This was a fucking school for crying out loud; someone had to have their Wi-Fi open. This street seemed to be a little busier, walking around.

  I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going until I heard someone scream, “Watch out.”

  When I looked up, I screamed and dropped my iPod. I held my hand out, trying to catch the ball that was headed my way. My hands stung from where I caught the
football. Fuck, that hurt. As soon as I stopped the ball from hitting my face, I threw it to the side and bent to pick up my iPod.

  Well, just my luck. The screen cracked.

  “Damn, baby, that was hot.”

  My skin itched with uneasiness. I had to bite my lip to prevent a groan from leaving my lips. Jeff was looking at me like he wanted to see me naked, and that made me feel really uncomfortable.

  “Come on, baby, don’t be shy,” he said as he took a step toward me, and I took one back—only to collide with a body.

  My breathing started to labor. Oh fuck me, I was having a panic attack in front of the frat house.

  It was like I was in my body, but I wasn’t. My brain was focusing all the energy on keeping me breathing that I forgot about my other four senses.

  “Mamas, you need to calm down.” I heard a raspy voice say, but I couldn’t concentrate.

  Next thing I knew, I had a wall of muscle hugging me tightly. Not in any sexual way, nor even soothing, but more clinical.

  “Breathe,” he said soothingly.

  My heart started to come back to normal, and it was like I could see and feel again. I saw a chest covered in a tight black shirt, and I smelled cologne. I slowly craned my neck to see a guy holding me. He was dark-skinned and tall, very muscular.

  “I’m okay,” I whispered.

  He stopped holding me immediately, and God, was he gorgeous. His face was smooth and lashes curly and long, fanning light green eyes that made a striking combination with his dark skin.

  “Guess the whole Oxytocin shit isn’t bullshit,” he mumbled.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Oxytocin causes a reduction in blood pressure and hormones that stress you; therefore, it calms you down enough for the panic attack to subside.”

  Well, I didn’t know if that was true, but that was really sweet of him.

  “Thank you,” I told him as I wiped my sweaty hands on my leggings. “I’m Scarlett.”

  “I know.” He grinned at me.

  My mouth pulled into an O, and I wondered how he knew me.

  “I’m Quincy.”

  That’s when I took a step back and really looked at him, and felt stupid for not knowing that. He was only the number one recruit. He was my brother’s wet dream. Professionally, that is.

  “Well, thank you, Quincy. Do you always come to a helpless girl’s defense?”

  His smile dropped, and he got a faraway look in his face. “Not when it counted.”

  Before I could say more, he got pushed to the side.

  “What the fuck are you doing here, Scarlett?” Gavin was there all up in my face wearing shorts with no shirt on.

  He had tattoos.

  Oh my God.

  He. Had. Tatts.

  He had a roaring lion on his left pectoral, and it curved to his shoulder. Under his pec, he had some scripted words that I couldn’t make out.

  “Hey, man, chill.” Quincy stood protectively in front of me.

  Seriously, what a sweet guy, but I didn’t need him to protect me from Gavin. He would never hurt me physically. Unless you counted him de-hymenating me, then yes.

  “Move,” Gavin said through gritted teeth.

  I noticed people were starting to look at us, and I hated causing attention. I sidestepped Quincy as I put a hand to his arm.

  “I’m fine.” I gave him a smile and an encouraging nod.

  Gavin’s eyes turned stormy as he looked from me to Quincy. As soon as Quincy gave me a nod and left, Gavin was there in my space. His eyes bored into mine, looking at my messy hair and sweaty skin.

  “Why are you here?”

  “I—I was jogging.”

  He let out a humorless chuckle. “Only jersey chasers or girls who want dick run through this street looking like that.”

  I opened my mouth and closed it again, gaping at him.

  “Which one is it?”

  “You’re such a fucking asshole,” I screeched. “I was bored at home, I have no friends, I’m supposed to have a hobby, and I’m not particularly good at anything, so I thought fuck it, I’ll jog. I brought my iPod and left my phone at home.” I was rambling, but I was so angry I didn’t care. “I noticed I was lost, so I was trying to find Wi-Fi, but before that could happen, someone threw a football at my face.”

  Gavin’s face lost some of its anger, and he took a step toward me. “Are you okay?”

  I didn’t care.

  “I managed to catch the ball, but that shit hurt.”

  I brought my hands up so he could see. Then I put my broken iPod in his face.

  “And my iPod broke,” I whined. “Then, your buddy Jeff comes, and I had a panic attack.”

  “What did he say?” Gavin’s body became still, but I ignored him.

  “I was freaking out. You of all people should know that when I get into panic attack mode I check out, and I was doing that, but your friend Quincy was there, and he helped me through it. So no, Gavin, I’m not here to get dicked.”

  When I was done, I was breathing hard, and Gavin still stood there motionless.

  “You fuck with my head, Scarlett,” he said with a sad smile, and I held my breath.

  We were in a vicious cycle, and neither of us seemed to know how to stop. While I fucked with his head, he put mine at peace. Oil and water; we could never mix.

  Thirteen

  I was an asshole. This was not news to anyone, but damn if Scarlett’s disappointed look didn’t fuck with me. I had a weird feeling of déjà vu right now. Here she was, sweaty, in an outfit I wanted to peel off of her, and in my front yard.

  Except this time she didn’t come up to kiss me. There was a rage inside me that I was trying to cage in.

  I’d never had to deal with her and other men. She was just…

  Off-limits.

  Unreachable.

  My girlfriend’s best friend.

  So walking out the door and seeing her in Quincy’s arms made my stomach sink and burn. The stark reminder that I had no claim to anything she did stared me in the face as she was in another’s man arms.

  I reached behind and grabbed my T-shirt that was tucked into the waistband of my shorts. This time, when I took a step toward her, she didn’t move back. I brought the shirt to the top of her head and slid it down.

  “Put this on,” I told her. “It’ll stop the guys from staring.”

  It was a lie because she had beauty that was hard to come by nowadays. But at least it gave me peace of mind and stopped me from wanting to beat up my teammates. Once the shirt was on her, my mind took me to another time—her naked beneath my shirt.

  “Come on. I’ll take you home.”

  “I’m fine. I can walk,” she huffed and started to walk past me.

  I didn’t think and held out my hand, wrapping it around her waist, and pressed her against my side. I seemed to stop breathing, and so did she. Our nervous system remembers things that cause us pain, and Scarlett had caused me the most pain. Just one simple touch, and a part of my body was telling me to reject her and pull her away before that pain came back. But my heart, my strongest muscle, yet the weakest when it came to emotion, that beating pulse was telling me to kiss her.

  In the end, I didn’t do either. I didn’t kiss her, but I couldn’t seem to make myself let her go. I dragged her in front of me, holding on to her hips, careful to not press her up against me or she would feel my growing erection.

  With my fingers digging into her hips, I brought my head down to her ear.

  “You’re going the wrong way,” I whispered. “You can’t come here looking like my next meal, so before you cause a fight, you’ll get in my car and let me take you the fuck away from here.”

  I took a moment to smell her hair, and she still smelled amazing. Once I got myself together, I let her go, knowing she would follow me.

  My car was parked in front of the curb closer to where Scarlett was walking. I opened the door for her and waited for her to get in.

  “Get in, Scarlet
t.”

  She glared at me before she slid into my car. My parents got me a white Camaro as a graduation present. The only condition was to get good grades and graduate college before enlisting in the draft, and they would pay for it. When I got my first check, I planned to pay them back a good chunk of it. They’d sacrificed a lot to get me to this point, so I planned on doing right by them.

  “What happened to Bertha?” Scarlett asked, breaking the tension.

  “She was a piece of shit,” I said, referring to the old Cavalier I had.

  From the corner of my eye, I noticed her small grin.

  “You loved that car.”

  Yeah, I did.

  “Gigi used to say you loved that car more than her.” She finished the sentence in a much lower tone.

  There it was—the reason neither of us could ever seem to get it together.

  After a minute of being quiet, Scarlett sat up and turned to me, eyes wide. “I never told you where I lived.”

  Shit. She hadn’t.

  “I’ve been to Nick’s a couple of times, and he never said anything about you living there.” The lie came effortlessly. I took a wrong turn on purpose. “I assumed you lived on campus.”

  She fidgeted in the seat, and I gripped the steering wheel to stop myself from holding on to her leg and steadying her. Scarlett wasn’t reckless, but she felt too deep, and those big emotions caused her to react—and her reactions, they triggered me into jumping headfirst into her.

  “I live with Audrey on—”

  I cut off her. “I know where Audrey lives.”

  The “oh” she gave me was barely audible.

  When I pulled up to her driveway, we both let out relieved breaths. One more second in her presence, and I would snap. She reached for the door handle, and it was like I couldn’t control myself around her.

  “There’s a party tonight,” I said.

  She looked at me all wide-eyed, and I had to look away because I always saw her laid before me as she begged me to make her forget.

  “I don’t want you there.”

  No sooner were the words out of my mouth than she was slamming the door in my face.