The Kicker: A New Adult Sports Romance ~ Nico (The Rookies Book 4)

by Zoë Lane

  I’d promised to be the best uncle ever when my sister had kids, but with my life…football, the traveling, the women…I couldn’t have kids either.

  If my father was right and men weren’t monogamous creatures, then I couldn’t put a woman through the pain my mother had gone through. I’d hate myself and lose my mother’s respect.

  After Vero fixed her lipstick and I rubbed hers off my own mouth, we made our way into the restaurant. Cheers and slaps on the back greeted me and I thanked the fans as I steered us toward the bar.

  I ordered us drinks. Vero didn’t bother to pick hers up. She stared off into the distance, her face hard.

  “What?” I followed her line of sight and didn’t see anyone we knew. But then again, I didn’t exactly know any of her friends outside of Siobhan.

  A woman sauntered up to us and laughed. Well, laughed at Vero. I stood beside Vero, eyeing the woman in a dress that barely covered her ass while her fake boobs nearly fell out of the front.

  “Well, look at you, Veronica.” She eyed me with an arched brow and a serpentine smile. “Moved on quick, didn’t you?”

  “Let’s go,” Vero said to me and slid off the stool.

  “We just got here.”

  “Yeah, run along, Veronica.” She waved her fingers in the air. I backed away from her velociraptor claws.

  Veronica grasped my hand, but I tugged her back. “We’re not going anywhere.” I looked at the girl. “I don’t know who you are, but I’m going to ask you to leave.”

  “She doesn’t have to go anywhere.”

  Ah, Diego. The man himself. He looked sloppy in a tight-fitting dark satin shirt with a huge wet stain on the front. He draped an arm over the girl’s shoulder. So this is who he left Veronica for. What an idiot.

  And I was the lucky one.

  Veronica’s eyes pleaded with mine. I shook my head. I wasn’t going to let this guy run me out of the restaurant, not after I had punched him in the face. I’d have to deliver more this time, and I was ready to. Itching to.

  Diego eyed me with fury. “You’re with this punk?” He directed the question to Veronica.

  I laughed and looked him up and down. “Punk? You remember what happened the last time we met, right? You’re the punk.” I stepped closer. “About Veronica’s money… you need to give it back.”

  He got in my face. “Or what?”

  I sniffed hard and wiped my hand down the side of my face where spit had landed. “Or we’re going to take everything you have,” I said simply. “Whatever money you stole from her, it doesn’t compare to the amount I have. I’ll drag your ass into court. Bankrupt you.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Vero’s back straighten. A look of confidence replaced the one of anxiety.

  “And we’ll be sending over a truck for her furniture. Don’t put it out on the lawn.”

  “You come back there and I’ll call security again,” the girl screeched.

  Diego laughed. “You send the furniture truck, guido.” He shoved me.

  I let go of Veronica’s hand. She stepped in front of me, her hands firmly on my chest. “It’s not worth it. Please, Nico.”

  “Yeah, please, Nico,” Diego crooned behind her. “Hide behind your skirt.”

  I helped Vero to a seat and then faced Diego. It didn’t matter that he’d called me a slur. I had nothing to prove compared to him. And the words of affirmation I told myself every morning rang far louder in my ears.

  It mattered that he had put his hands on me. Again. Oh, it made me so happy. I had been waiting to punch this guy out for putting hurting Veronica. I flexed my fingers. “Touch me again,” I said in a tone so low he probably didn’t hear over the loud talking and music in the background. I begged him with my eyes.

  He laughed and flicked my shirt.

  He’d heard me.

  I threw a swift right hook, the same one that had nearly leveled him back at Dr. Kavoska’s house. He stumbled back into his new girlfriend and then lunged.

  People were on us, but not before I landed a blow to his stomach, and he connected with my left temple. Veronica screamed my name. I saw spots but shook my head to clear them, and my left fist landed across his nose. Blood sprayed on the people who pulled him back.

  The more I struggled to be released, the firmer the hands clamped down on my arms and shoulders. Cops arrived within a minute or so and Diego shouted about pressing charges.

  In thirty minutes, Diego and I were sitting in jail.

  After bailing myself out, I met Veronica in the lobby. No sight of Diego’s girlfriend.

  Veronica rushed to me. “Are you okay? Your eye…”

  She touched the side of my face, but I quickly backed away. Her cool fingers were a balm to my hot skin, but I was too perturbed to appreciate her care. “I’m fine. Let’s just get out of here.”

  “Nico…”

  She followed me, and we got into the car. “Take us home, please.”

  The driver complied with a nod.

  I slid to the far side of the seat and stared out the window. This would be in the papers tomorrow, if not on the news tonight. I fully expected to receive a call to meet the GM first thing in the morning. After all the meetings she had had recently with Landyn, Casper, and Sean, I knew she’d be pissed to see me on the other side of her desk. Kickers never got in trouble. If she wanted to set an example, I had put myself in the perfect position to lose my spot on the team.

  I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. The side of my head ached, and I had the worst headache. Tomorrow I’d sic my lawyer on Diego and make good on my threat to take everything he had away.

  “Nicolas? We need to ice your face when we get back.”

  “It’s fine,” I said curtly. “Not the first time I’ve been punched.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  I looked at her. Her wide eyes were full of moisture. “What do you have to be sorry about? You’re not the one who punched me.”

  “But I’m the cause. You got arrested.”

  I shrugged. “Should’ve left like you said. Next time I’ll follow your advice.”

  “I’m more trouble than I’m worth,” she said quietly.

  I let my head fall back onto the seat and closed my eyes. Part of me believed her, which is why I said nothing.

  Another part of me felt invigorated. I had wanted to punch Diego again for being a pain in Vero’s ass. She didn’t need the guy causing problems for her, even though she’d picked him. What had drawn her to him in the first place? I kept the question inside.

  She sniffed.

  I peeked and saw her wipe her cheek. She stared out of the window. I let out a breath. “I’m sorry I was short with you,” I said quietly. “You only wanted to help.” She shifted in her seat until she faced me. I cupped her cheek and offered her a smile.

  She didn’t smile back. “Guess it’ll be better when we’re not helping each other out.”

  I dropped my hand.

  13

  NICOLAS

  The coach had eyed me all through the postgame-review meeting. Not the “you did great last game and thank you for making all of the field goals” look.

  The other one.

  The “you are in deep shit” look.

  I had it coming. My agent had texted me in the middle of the night to say the gossip blogs had picked it up and that Diego had moved forward in pressing charges.

  Funny, because I recalled being pushed first.

  I had my lawyer up early today to get the police to open an assault investigation on Diego and get any camera footage from the restaurant.

  All over a girl.

  I smirked. Vero was…

  She didn’t have to be my fake fiancée. She could’ve said no and moved on with her life. We wouldn’t have been at the bar, and I wouldn’t be facing assault charges from her ex. But doing each other favors attracted the worst attention.

  I didn’t know her well, but deep down I believed she didn’t deserve what Diego continued to do
to her. I pulled out my phone, keeping it under the table, and sent a text to my lawyer. I would make good on my threat to Diego and take everything he had if he didn’t give Vero her money and belongings.

  When the meeting ended, Coach Hicks called me over and told me to head up to the GM’s office like I was being summoned to the principal’s office for bad behavior. In ten minutes, we were seated in front of Rochelle Hardison.

  Now I knew what Landyn must’ve felt all those times he’d found himself in here.

  Rochelle held up the front page of Virginia’s premier newspaper. Underneath the lead story was a picture of the scene inside the restaurant during the fight. Must’ve been from someone’s phone.

  “All I ask, week after week, is for you guys to keep our name out of the paper. Keep your noses clean. Do some good for the community, yes, but don’t get drunk, get into fights, kill someone… am I asking too much? You tell me, Nico.”

  The petite woman packed a punch. “No, ma’am, you’re not. I apologize. But, ma’am, Coach, I’m not about to let someone put their hands on me. The guy—”

  “I don’t care who he is or what he did,” Rochelle said in a quiet, bored voice. “I only care that you guys are heeding the warnings of management and fulfilling your duties as set forth in the contracts you signed. That’s your job. We aren’t asking you to do anything more.”

  I flexed my fists. “So defending ourselves doesn’t matter? We’re just supposed to stand there and take it?”

  She shrugged. “So what, he shoved you? This isn’t high school. You’re a grown man. You can walk away.”

  “We’re not saying to stand there and take it,” Coach Hicks began, “but we are asking you guys to use even more discretion than what you might’ve used if you were just a normal citizen. A little more deference.”

  “Because you’re not ‘normal,’” Rochelle stated. “You’re celebrities. You’re high-caliber athletes. I can’t afford to have you get into some bar fight where someone takes out your legs or breaks Landyn’s hand, or causes any other serious, potentially career-ending injuries.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “From what I read, this fight was over a woman.”

  “Veronica…the guy is her ex and—”

  Rochelle put up a hand and I went silent. “Again, I don’t care. It’s all unnecessary drama to me. If you two are fighting over her, you need to ask yourself if she’s worth having in your life.”

  I winced and then my spine stiffened. “Yeah, she’s worth it,” I blurted.

  Rochelle smirked. “You’re twenty-two. She’s probably not ‘the one.’”

  I kept silent. Vero definitely wasn’t the one. No one would be.

  “Look at your face. You want to be taking beatings for her? I want you to have that looked at after we’re done.”

  I’d been avoiding the doctor’s office all day so Vero wouldn’t fuss over me. I’d purposely come into the bedroom after she had fallen asleep, and, thankfully my mother had been asleep when we’d arrived home. I couldn’t take the both of them treating me.

  “Get this under control, Nico. We can’t tell you what to do in your personal life—well, not completely—but I am going to counsel you to extricate yourself from this affair. Concentrate on your job.”

  Her words rang in my ears for the next two hours while I lifted weights in the gym.

  “How did it go?” Sean asked, coming in. “Saw you and the coach heading upstairs.” He smirked. “I’ve done that walk.” He grabbed some weights and parked them on the floor next to the bench beside me. He adjusted the bench to a sitting position and began doing bicep curls.

  “Basically told me to dump Veronica. Way too much trouble.”

  Sean’s eyes widened. “The girl whose boyfriend you punched at Dr. Kavoska’s? The nurse?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I didn’t know you two were together.” He shook his head. “Nico…you know how to get ’em. Not surprised. You did kind of ride in on a white horse and all.”

  “Uh…”

  Sean snickered. “Yeah, you did. She’s thanked you, huh?” Sean wagged his brows.

  No, not really. And irritation erupted in my stomach. Damn, I wanted her more than I thought. “I’m not the relationship kind,” I said with a grunt, and the mantra wasn’t as appealing as I had once thought.

  A brow rose. Sean took a seat on a bench next to mine. “Then…it’s not serious?”

  I couldn’t lie to Sean. Not after he’d clued me in on his mess the other week. “It’s not even real.”

  “The relationship?” he whispered. “I heard she had a massive ring.”

  I nodded. “Mamma’s in town. Had to find someone so she’d get off my back about marriage and kids.”

  Sean sucked in his lips, and he trembled from suppressed laughter.

  I rolled my eyes. “Very funny, except you don’t have an Italian mother.”

  “Nah, I don’t. My mom’s sitting in jail and wouldn’t care about who I married or if I ever had grandkids—unless they could give her money,” he ended in a dry tone. “But, man, I feel your pain. Being pressured for commitment isn’t good, no matter who’s pressuring you. Look, if Vero’s doing that for you, then she got the shorter end of the stick.”

  I narrowed my eyes.

  “Putting up with your reputation?”

  “Um, did I not punch Diego out? Twice now.”

  “Yeah, you did, you did. You get points for that.”

  I put my head in my hands. “This is getting complicated. I should just tell Mamma the truth.”

  “What about Vero?”

  “She’s staying with me because Diego kicked her out. She’s supposed to be apartment hunting tomorrow with Siobhan. She’ll be out soon anyway.”

  Sean shrugged. “Then I don’t see why you need to say anything, if she’s moving out soon. And your mom isn’t staying forever, right?” He started laughing. “She doesn’t expect you to get married now, does she?”

  With my Mamma? “Probably. She took Vero dress shopping yesterday.”

  Sean’s mouth dropped open.

  I chuckled. “Bought her a dress and everything. I’ll pay her back.”

  “Whoa. How much money are you in for this…fake engagement?”

  I pursed my lips, thinking. “Over two hundred and ten.”

  “Two hundred and ten thousand dollars?” Sean screeched. “Nico, are you serious?”

  I shrugged. “Nothing’s too good for my mamma.”

  Sean let out a long whistle. “I’m deathly afraid of your mother, and I haven’t met her.” He shuddered. “My grandmother…” His blinked his eyes a few times to clear the moisture that was building. She had been killed the other week. “My grandmother could make me wet my pants, but…two hundred and ten thousand? Did your mother threaten you with death if you didn’t marry?”

  “Not exactly, but settling down with a nice girl is important to her.”

  “Well, Vero is nice, from what I know. You could do a lot worse.”

  I silently contemplated. I’d met a number of women I’d been attracted to over the years. Most of them a few years older than me, like Vero. Yet, I couldn’t think why Vero was any different; why I was willing to do more for her than the others.

  “Hey, man, sorry again about your grandmother,” I said, changing the subject so I could think about anything other than Vero. “How are you doing?”

  Sean’s expression turned wistful. “I’m all right. Management said I could take some time off, but I haven’t found the time.” He chuckled. “She’d want me to play anyway. But thanks, man, I appreciate it. And thank you for coming to the funeral.”

  “Of course, no worries. Anything more on the good doctor?”

  Sean shook his head. “FBI has been keeping everything close hold. Carter’s out, though.”

  Carter Gallagher was out of prison? He’d been arrested for ordering the murder of Sean’s grandmother. “What the hell? How are you handling it?”

  S
ean blasted a breath out of closed lips. He rubbed his head. “I don’t know. I mean, I understand that…honestly, I do not understand. He’s out roaming free, and I haven’t been told why—at least, not to my satisfaction. I thought the point of giving Malik—the shooter—immunity was to get the ringleader or whatever. But now nobody’s facing charges.”

  “Dude, I’m sorry.”

  He shook his head and then punched his right fist into his left palm. “I’m not going to stop trying to get justice for my grandmother.”

  “You shouldn’t. Is Carter still causing you and Lacey trouble?”

  “Not since the other week, but he’s probably biding his time. We’re not going to shake the hornet’s nest.”

  “Good idea.” I eyed Sean, who kept his gaze on his shoes. “You and Lacey are good?”

  He smiled and met my gaze. “Yeah. She and I are…really good,” he said with a goofy chuckle. “She’s doing a lot better with her therapy. They thought she might have some personality issues, but a lot of what she had experienced growing up, she had suppressed. She’s getting through it and it’s getting better.”

  I slapped him on the back. I wouldn’t know what to do if my girlfriend was clinically crazy, but Diego was a crazy ex, so I guess that was close enough. “Glad to hear it. She’s not a bad kid.”

  “No, she isn’t. I’m going to be there for her. She’s been great ever since my grandmother’s been gone. Hasn’t perfected my grandma’s butter roll recipe”—he laughed—“but she’s getting close.”

  “Oh, man, don’t mention rolls. My Mamma’s been stuffing Vero and I with sweet rolls and I’ve gained about five pounds.”

  “How long until Mommie Dearest leaves?”

  “Two, three days.”

  Sean lightly punched me in the shoulder. “Seventy-two hours at the most. You can make it.”

  He was right. Seventy-two hours would fly by. Vero would find a new apartment, and be out the same day Mamma left. Then I could go back to chasing girls for meaningless, one-night stands, which I hadn’t had in a long time.