Out of Bounds: A Sports Romance (Soulmates Series Book 5)

by Hazel Kelly

  O U T O F B O U N D S

  A S P O R T S R O M A N C E

  Hazel Kelly

  © 2017 Hazel Kelly

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, copied, or stored in any form or by any means without permission of the author. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  All characters, events, brands, companies, and locations in this story are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons is purely coincidental.

  Edited by Aquila Editing

  Cover Artwork – © 2017 L.J. Anderson of Mayhem Cover Creations

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  P R O L O G U E

  O N E

  T W O

  F L A S H B A C K

  T H R E E

  F O U R

  F I V E

  S I X

  S E V E N

  E I G H T

  N I N E

  T E N

  E L E V E N

  T W E L V E

  F L A S H B A C K

  T H I R T E E N

  F O U R T E E N

  F I F T E E N

  S I X T E E N

  S E V E N T E E N

  E I G H T E E N

  N I N E T E E N

  T W E N T Y

  T W E N T Y O N E

  T W E N T Y T W O

  T W E N T Y T H R E E

  T W E N T Y F O U R

  T W E N T Y F I V E

  T W E N T Y S I X

  T W E N T Y S E V E N

  F L A S H B A C K

  T W E N T Y E I G H T

  T W E N T Y N I N E

  T H I R T Y

  T H I R T Y O N E

  T H I R T Y T W O

  T H I R T Y T H R E E

  T H I R T Y F O U R

  T H I R T Y F I V E

  T H I R T Y S I X

  F L A S H B A C K

  T H I R T Y S E V E N

  T H I R T Y E I G H T

  T H I R T Y N I N E

  F O R T Y

  F O R T Y O N E

  F O R T Y T W O

  F O R T Y T H R E E

  F O R T Y F O U R

  E P I L O G U E

  N O T E F R O M T H E A U T H O R

  O T H E R B O O K S I N T H E S O U L M A T E S S E R I E S

  O T H E R S E R I E S B Y H A Z E L K E L L Y

  “If you ever looked at me once with what I know is in you, I would be your slave.”

  - Emily Brontë

  P R O L O G U E

  I thought he was joking when he asked me out.

  It was only after I laughed in his face that I realized he was serious.

  But what was I supposed to do? It was my first day of high school and I was already on the brink of shitting myself. The last thing I was prepared for was attention from boys like him…

  Popular boys with wide smiles and sparkly eyes and hair worthy of its own magazine spread.

  I’d always been invisible to guys like that.

  But the moment was fleeting, and as soon as I laughed at him, I went back to being invisible.

  It was both a huge relief and my first bitter taste of regret.

  To say I spent the next four years wishing I hadn’t laughed in that instant would be an understatement. Not only because of the awkward rivalry my reaction set into motion, but because my crush on him only intensified as the years went on.

  But I kept those feelings to myself so I wouldn’t look like a crazy person.

  Still, that split second probably altered the course of my whole life.

  The inappropriate, relentless feelings I had for him gave me insight into the angst and unrequited love that featured time and time again in the books I was assigned in English class.

  From Romeo and Juliet to The Scarlet Letter, from The Great Gatsby to Pride and Prejudice, there was no curse I found more fascinating than having to hide one’s deepest desires.

  I’d always loved stories and words, but the moment Luke Hudson looked at me like I was the only one in the room changed everything. It made me feel like my life was a story, a story worth telling.

  Of course, like all the most interesting passions, mine had to be kept secret, so I distracted myself by studying and sharing the stories of others.

  But I never stopped wondering what would happen if I turned the page on my own.

  I didn’t dare, though.

  Because I knew there were only two ways the most wonderful love stories could end: ecstatic happiness or pitiless tragedy.

  And I wasn’t sure I could handle either of them. So I kept my curious feelings to myself and did my best to keep Luke in the dark.

  But like all athletes, his persistence was hard to compete with, and it seemed no matter where I tried to hide, he’d always come find me…and turn the light on.

  O N E

  - Rosie -

  I couldn’t wait for them to leave.

  My whole body was buzzing with the anticipation of being in my dorm room alone. Just me and my most basic worldly possessions in my first little corner of the world away from home.

  Not that I would really be alone, of course, because I had a roommate I hadn’t yet met. But by the way her side of the room was decorated, I was fairly confident that as long as I could keep the topic of conversation on black, deep purple, and Japanese anime, we would hit it off just fine.

  Then again, it occurred to me that I should probably confirm that the character on her bedspread was, in fact, Japanese, as it would be a shame to get off on the wrong foot over something so easily checked.

  Either way, I hoped the mostly lavender and yellow-colored college gear on my side of the room didn’t offend her darker sensibilities.

  I turned to where my dad was putting the final screws in a desk organizer that had been puzzling him for the last hour. “That looks perfect, Dad,” I said, leaning against the narrow bed he’d spent the morning raising so I could have more storage.

  “It’s almost ready,” he said. “They never give you the right amount of screws in these damn kits. I should’ve brought my own toolbox in case. I don’t know what I—”

  “Would my toolbox help?” I asked. “The one you gave me for exactly these types of emergencies?”

  “Yeah,” he said, extending one hand in a gimme gesture without looking my way. “Give it here.”

  I slid the small pink toolbox out from its temporary home under the bed and handed it to him. Why he thought I was going to go to school and start doing my own DIY troubleshooting was beyond me. Until this summer—when he’d used the gift as an excuse to spend time with me- I’d never so much as hung a picture…unless you count the use of sticky tack.

  Then again, having the nicest set of Allen wrenches in the building might be handy in the friend-making department.

  Not that I was too worried about it. It wasn’t like freshman year of high school when I was the only student from my junior high and everyone else knew each other. This time around, there were lots of people from my high school class coming here with me, including my best friend, Nikki, who should’ve arrived twenty minutes ago.

  “How’s it going, Mom?” I asked, making my way over to the closet where she was rehanging everything so the hangers and clothes all faced the same direction.

  “Fine,” she said. “I’m almost done.”

  “You really don’t need to do that,” I said, worrying that my roommate would think I had raging OCD.

  “When things are easy to hang, they’re less likely to end up on the floor,” she said, keeping up her pace. “I don’t know if you’ve realized it yet, but no one is going to pick up af
ter you here.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “And you have a roommate to think about now,” she continued. “This room is tiny compared to your room at home—”

  “Which I’ll be turning into a man cave the second we get back,” my dad said, breaking a sweat over my standard-issue desk.

  “Don’t worry, honey,” my mom said, pausing to look at me. “We’ll be doing no such thing. Your room will stay just as it is.”

  “Thanks, Mom,” I said, fearing it might act as a shrine she could visit when she missed me. After all, she’d made no secret of how unenthusiastic she was about being an empty nester, though I hoped her philanthropic hobbies would distract her enough to make the transition bearable.

  My dad, on the other hand, nearly died more than once from the stress of having a high-school-aged daughter, so I could only assume that having me out of sight while I continued growing up would do wonders for his health.

  “Knock knock,” a familiar voice sang at the door. “Anyone know where I might find the baddest bitch on campus?”

  “Hi!” I said, my voice coming out at a ridiculously high pitch. I threw my arms around Nikki, squeezing her too hard so she would know all my thoughts instantly.

  “Hi Nikki,” my parents said in unison, their disappointment obvious as her arrival usually signified that their time with me was coming to an end.

  “Having a hard time letting go?” she said, laying a hand on my mom’s shoulder.

  My mom tilted her head at Nikki and smiled, knowing better than to deny it.

  “She’s in good hands, Mrs. B.,” Nikki said. “I’ve already been on campus for a week. I know everything we need to know.”

  My dad leaned up and wiped his brow with the back of his wrist. “Enlighten us,” he said, folding his arms.

  Nikki rolled her shoulders back, and her high ponytail came to a standstill. “Well, I already found all the main buildings so I can help Rosie figure out where her classes are before Monday. And I already figured out which bookstore is the least crowded, so we can make sure you have everything you need for your first day.”

  My dad stayed still, visibly frustrated at her display of confidence when he knew from experience that he couldn’t believe a word that came out of her mouth.

  “And I already got you one of the special coins you need for the laundry room,” she said, tossing me a shiny object.

  I glanced down at the quarter in my hand and suppressed a smile before looking back at her in awe.

  “And—” She pulled her drawstring backpack off and reached to the bottom of it, which was when I noticed that it had “Cheer Squad” printed across the front. “I got an extra whistle for you at our squad’s safety briefing last night. You should keep it with you at all times, especially if you’re walking home late at night or something.”

  “From the library,” I added, taking the whistle.

  “Exactly,” she said.

  “It was good of you to think of that,” my dad said, nodding at her before looking at me. “Put that on your keychain right now.”

  “There,” my mom said, turning the last hanger around. “My work here is done.”

  “Come on, Debra,” my dad said, closing the toolbox and giving the desk organizer one more wiggle to check its sturdiness. “Let’s not drag this out.”

  My mom burst into tears on cue.

  It bothered me how much I also wanted to cry in that moment, but Nikki’s presence helped me pull it together. In the next five minutes, I lost track of how many “last” hugs happened, but my dad finally dragged my mom out the door, and I resisted the urge to walk them to their car, knowing it would only result in another round of increasingly pathetic goodbyes.

  “So,” I said, closing the door to my room when they disappeared at the end of the hall. “Did you or did you not do those things you mentioned to my parents?”

  “Mostly not,” she said. “But I thought we could do them together.”

  “You were very convincing.”

  “Thanks,” she said, collapsing on my roommate’s bed. “They looked stressed enough to believe anything when I showed up.”

  “Do you want your quarter back?” I asked, pulling it out of my pocket.

  “Yeah, sure.” She held her hand out and caught it. “Keep the whistle though. Just in case.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “So how’s Cheer Camp going?”

  She made a face like she was sorry I mentioned it. “I’ve never cheered so hard in my life. I didn’t think it would be half this demanding.”

  “Really?” I asked, climbing up to sit on my bed and letting my legs dangle off the side.

  She nodded. “Maybe it’ll settle down once tryouts are over, but it’s so intense. I’m climbing pyramids in my dreams.”

  “Wow. Have you run into anyone from school?”

  “Not as many people as I thought I would,” she said. “But most people probably aren’t coming down until this weekend.”

  “True.”

  “I’ve really only seen the guys on the football team.”

  I swallowed. “Like who?”

  “Troy and Austin,” she said. “And Luke, of course.”

  I looked down at my feet.

  “It would be impossible to miss him, though,” she said, pulling her legs to her chest one at a time to stretch who knows what. “The other cheerleaders clocked him as soon as he walked on the field.”

  No surprise there.

  “Did you know he’s here on a scholarship?” she asked. “There are already rumors going around that he might even get the chance to start as a freshman.”

  “Cool.”

  “It’ll be handy for us anyway.”

  “Why handy?” I asked, knowing my crush on him had never felt convenient for even one solitary second.

  “Because he’s the next big man on campus,” she said. “He’ll be able to get us into all the best parties.”

  “I always thought that was your job.”

  She laughed. “Trust me. Knowing him already can only be a good thing.”

  I shrugged, my mind flashing back to what he wrote in my yearbook last spring. “If you say so.”

  T W O

  - Luke -

  “What the heck is going on here?” Jordan asked as we approached the quad.

  “Not sure,” I said, pulling a tortilla chip from the bag that held my jumbo burrito. “I guess everyone decided to show up today.” As I crunched my chip, I noticed a large poster on a patch of freshly mowed lawn. “Oh—it’s a fair. For the different clubs.”

  “Damn,” he said, turning towards the crowd. “There must be more clubs than I thought.”

  The field outside the student union was lined with small booths, each colorfully decorated and manned by individuals of varying enthusiasm.

  The Horseback Riding Club was dressed as if they’d just come from a ranch. Beside them, the Archery Club was showing off their good posture. I didn’t know what to make of the Harry Potter Club, but my little brother would’ve been first in line for it. Meanwhile, the Hip Hop Club members were sitting on their table like they were the only ones that didn’t think the recruitment process was a competition.

  “There are no free benches, man,” I said, shaking my head at the throngs of people. “We’re going to have to sit in the grass.”

  “Fine,” he said. “Whatever. I just have to get this food into me or I’m going to make a scene at the Baking Club Table.”

  I grabbed Jordan’s elbow and led him into a free space on the grass, relieved at how much breathing room we gained just from leaving the sidewalk.

  “You okay?” I asked, noticing that his head was spinning as I unpacked my lunch.

  “I’ve just never seen this many people,” he said, looking at the hordes milling by. “And by people, I mean women.”

  “Oh yeah,” I said, tearing the tinfoil off the top of my burrito. “I keep forgetting you went to an all-boys school.”

  “That makes one of us,” he
said, his eyes nearly hanging out of his head.

  I pulled my half-drunk protein shake from my backpack, knowing I had to choke it down if I wanted my muscles to recover by tomorrow’s practice. “If you have any questions about how to talk to them or anything, just ask.”

  “Don’t be a dick,” he said. “I know how to talk to them. I’m just not sure I know how to pick which one to talk to when faced with such an overwhelming selection.”

  “How about her?” I asked, nodding towards a girl with frizzy red pigtails and a backpack shaped like a teddy bear.

  “Surely she’s more your type.”

  I looked around to see if there was a club for people who ate their burritos too fast. No such luck. Guess I’d have to stick with the team.

  “Should I be looking for clubs to join?” he asked. “Is that the normal thing to do?”

  “I think it is if you’re not on the football team,” I said, smiling at some girls who took a seat near us. “But I don’t think we’re going to have time for clubs if our training schedule to date is any indication of what we can expect going forward.”

  “Please tell me you think it’s as mental as I do,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for pushing myself, but I’ve been falling asleep by seven o’clock all week.”

  “I know. Me too.”

  “You think Coach is going to let up?”

  “Maybe a little,” I said. “But right now he’s trying to weed out the guys who can’t take it.”

  “He’s doing a fucking fantastic job,” Jordan said. “The lockers on both sides of mine are already cleared out.”

  “Oh shit, really? I kinda liked that Chuck guy.”

  Jordan shrugged. “He hasn’t been back for two days. I think he walked.”

  I felt confident about earning a spot, but the fact that I couldn’t even keep up with how frequently guys were getting booted had me worried. I stayed quiet for a second, chewing my burrito as I renewed my focus. If I wanted a shot at actually getting off the bench, I needed to keep my mind free from distractions, keep my grades up, and make sure I kept outworking not only the other new guys, but the veterans, too.