Whiplash: A Sports Romance

by Tabatha Kiss

  He seems older, more wrinkled, and he hasn’t shaved in days from the look of his scruff.

  “Where have you been?” I finally ask.

  “I went back to New York for a while,” he says, his voice low. “Thought about staying there, but…”

  “But what?”

  He clears his throat. “I wanted to see my daughter again.”

  My tongue twitches, tempted by instinct to issue a snarky reply but I force it down.

  He glances at the house. “Seems like you’ve been taking care of yourself…”

  “The Morgans took me in after you… disappeared.”

  “Good,” he nods. “And Junior? I hear he’s still got that arm—”

  “Dad, what do you want?”

  He goes quiet but looks right at me for several moments. “Eliza, I was never meant to be a dad. Then all of a sudden, I had a little girl and I didn’t know what to do with you. Where I come from, family was just something that held a man back. Love, marriage, kids — it was all a distraction from what really mattered.”

  I cringe away from him. It’s one thing to know it but to hear it so blatantly from the devil himself is something else entirely. “Okay…”

  “I never gave that a second thought…” he continues. “Not until Junior walked away from that game last year. When he did that… I don’t know. For the first time, I changed my mind a little.”

  “Is that why you ran off?”

  “Yeah,” he says. “I couldn’t bring myself to face you again after…” He shakes his head. “Eliza, I don’t know a whole lot about what family means or what it’s supposed to be but I do know that you’re my daughter and you’re the only family I got left. I’m willing to try… if you’ll let me. I’d like to start here with the home you’ve built for yourself and hopefully… you can find a place for me in it.”

  And just like that, I’m a little kid again, staring up at the television screen, screaming, “that’s my dad!” at the top of my lungs. It took years for the truth about who he really was to decay the rosy tint in my vision but I’ve always longed to feel that again. With all of his mistakes, he’s still my dad and always will be.

  Turning my back on him now might feel good for a while. It’s downright tempting, to be honest. It’s what he’s done to me, after all, but it’s not who I am. It’s not how I’d raise my own child.

  “Well, to start…” I shift on my toes. “Would you like to meet your granddaughter?”

  He smiles. “Yeah, I would.”

  I take him back inside and up the stairs. The house is far too silent for the number of people in it but I imagine the voices ceased the second we stepped inside.

  “She’s been napping for a while,” I say just outside of Junior’s room. “Being around people tends to wear her out but I don’t think she’d mind one more.”

  I push the door open and we step softly towards the crib in the corner. Even before I see her, I can feel her turning to look at me — like a magic link constantly pulling us together.

  “Hey, baby…” I whisper, reaching down to pick her up. “Someone here wants to meet you.”

  She twists her head, instantly drawn to the massive man behind my back but she doesn’t make a peep.

  “Wow…” my father says, staring at her. “She looks just like you did.”

  “Yeah?”

  He nods, gently smoothing his palm over the brown tuft on her head. “What’s her name?”

  “Courtney,” I answer, shifting her closer to him.

  There’s a quick panic in his eyes but it passes as soon as he takes her from me. I chuckle at how much smaller she appears in his huge hands.

  “Hello, Courtney…” he says, chuckling. “I’m your grandfather.”

  Still, she doesn’t make a noise. She just stares at him with wide eyes, confused yet comfortable.

  I take a deep breath to swallow the rush of tears down. “Dad, if you want, you can stay for a while. I don’t think Bonnie or Roy would mind setting another place at the table.”

  He furrows his brow. “What about Junior?”

  I raise my voice a little, sensing the near-silent movement in the hallway. “Junior won’t be a problem.”

  Dad finally tears his eyes away from her face to look at me. “Is he taking care of you two?”

  “Yeah,” I say, my heart throbbing. “He’s a good man.”

  He nods, regret filling his eyes. “Yes, he is.”

  Chapter 32

  Junior

  I stay behind on the porch, watching closely as Eliza walks her dad to his car.

  She holds our daughter in her arms, swaying confidently with her as if she always knew how. I can’t say it came that easy for me. Holding something so fragile has quite the learning curve but luckily, I had just the tutor to guide me through it.

  She lets out a laugh and says goodbye to him and I breathe a thankful sigh. Cary Pierce showing up like this could easily have gone the other way but I’d say it went as well as it could. I’m sure Eliza will spend the next several hours replaying the encounter over and over again in her head but I don’t want that.

  I’m not about to let Cary Pierce ruin tonight.

  Eliza walks up the driveway, speaking softly into the baby’s ear to keep her calm but Courtney is far more interested in looking up at the dimming sky.

  She climbs the porch and inhales deeply. “Well, that was strange and slightly traumatizing...”

  “Which part?” I smirk. “Your dad showing up out of the blue or watching my dad trying to have a conversation with him?”

  “Both,” she laughs.

  “Think he’ll really be sticking around?”

  “I’m…” she tilts her head, “cautiously optimistic.”

  I gesture for the baby and Eliza slowly slides her into my arms. “Hey, baby…” I kiss above her ear and she looks up at me with those tiny, brown eyes. I breathe in that perfect, clean scent of her head and Eliza smiles. “Okay… time to go.”

  “Yes, please,” Eliza says. “I’m so tired.”

  “Oh, I’m not talking to you.”

  She stares at me. “What?”

  I turn towards the door. “Grandma, she’s all yours.”

  My mother grins wide and lunges out onto the porch. “I have been waiting all day for this…”

  I hand Courtney over to her and turn back to Eliza’s horrified face. “I have a surprise for you.”

  “No, Junior…” Her eyes constantly watch the baby over my shoulder. “I really can’t handle another surprise today.”

  I smile. “Just one more.”

  “No.”

  “Ellie, get in the van.”

  She furrows her brow. “The van?”

  I look at my parents. “Mom, Dad… We’ll come pick the baby up in the morning.”

  Her face turns a pale white. “Wait… In the morning—?”

  “Ty…” I hold out my hand as Ty and Grant step out onto the porch. “Keys, please.” Ty takes his keys out of his pocket and tosses them at me. I hand mine off to Grant. “Try not to scratch it, okay?”

  “Try not to get the van dirty,” Grant smiles. “I just replaced the sheets.”

  Eliza’s eyes shift wildly in her skull as Grant and Ty walk straight towards our car. “Okay, hold on—”

  “Maggie…” I shake my head at her in the house. “You don’t get a job. You’re too drunk.”

  She scoffs. “I am not!”

  “Nate, get my sister home.”

  “Already on it,” he says, handing Maggie a large glass of water.

  “And you…” I point at Eliza’s confused face. “Get in the van.”

  “That’s not our van anymore,” she argues.

  “It is tonight.”

  “No, ours has fully-functional safety features and a car seat for our kid who was supposed to be in bed a half hour ago.”

  I grab her shoulders and spin her around. “Get in the van.”

  She digs her heels in. “What about Courtney
?”

  “Courtney will be fine. Get in the van.”

  “Junior—”

  “Van.”

  She grunts with frustration but stomps away towards the van in the driveway.

  I turn back around and place one more kiss on my daughter’s head. “Be good, baby.”

  “Have fun, you two,” my mother says, unable to look away from the tiny life in her arms. “Drive safe.”

  I follow Eliza down the driveway and climb into the van, an experience that actually feels a little more nostalgic than I thought it would. I haven’t driven this thing in months — not since I sold it to Ty in order to upgrade to something a little more baby-friendly.

  We drive off down the street and I glance over into Eliza’s withering stare.

  “She’ll be fine,” I laugh.

  She taps her foot against the floor and I can’t help but trail a line up her bare legs to the hem of her skirt. “Where are we going?”

  “Patience, woman.”

  “Junior, come on—”

  “You don’t remember what today is, do you?”

  She pauses with a creased brow. “No…”

  “I’ll give you a hint…” I say. “One year ago today, you touched my dick.”

  Her eyes go wide. “Oh, my god. You’re right…”

  I nod. “So… in honor of that wonderful occasion, you and I are going out.”

  “Holy shit…” Her jaw sags. “Has it really been a year?”

  “Yes.”

  “It feels longer than that.”

  “The year or my dick?” She slaps my arm. “Also, I forgot to ask... Do you like pizza?”

  She smiles. “I’m quite fond of pizza.”

  “How about skeeball?”

  “I might have a decent memory or two of skeeball.”

  “Good.” I turn onto the highway to take us out of town. “Let’s go have some fun.”

  ***

  Eliza throws her head back to laugh and my heart beats a little faster.

  “I think that’s two wins for me,” she says, “and zero for you.”

  “Who knew you had such a hidden talent for busting balls, Ellie?” I joke, shaking my head at the scoreboard as more tickets spit out the bottom of the machine.

  “It’s my specialty.”

  I laugh and gather the tickets. “One more game?” I ask, glancing around the nearly abandoned arcade. My nerves skip around, torn between delaying the inevitable a bit longer or ripping that bandage off.

  She holds back a yawn. “Sure, if you want.”

  I smile. “Or would you like to go home and get some rest?”

  “Do you mind?” she asks, her face scrunching up.

  “Not at all.” I feel a rush of panic but it quickly goes away while I look into her eyes. “Come on.”

  I take the tickets to the counter and Frank grins at us both.

  “Nice haul tonight, Junior…” He pulls the tickets towards his counting machine. The numbers tick up and I stare at Eliza’s gorgeous face as my pulse skips faster towards the next moment.

  “Looks like…” Frank turns to the prize wall and points towards a line of teddy bears. He fires a wink at me. “One of those.”

  “She’ll take it.”

  Eliza laughs. “The last one is mostly covered in drool now, so I can definitely use a new one…”

  Frank pulls the bear off the wall and hands it to Eliza. “For the lucky girl.”

  I instantly flash back to that night. She’s absolutely right — it’s hard to believe it’s been a whole year since I first brought her here. Back then, it was just a fun night out with a pretty girl that hopefully ended in copious amounts of casual sex. Back then, that’s as far forward into the future as I was capable of thinking. But now…

  Eliza squeezes the bear in her hands, grinning just like she did before. It’s the exact same bear with light brown fur and extra soft padding, but it doesn’t take her long to notice the one difference between this one and the one tucked inside our daughter’s crib.

  Her finger slides along the red ribbon around its neck until it touches the diamond ring hanging there waiting for her.

  She pauses, her face blank as fresh snow until it finally sets in. “Junior…”

  I lower down to one knee and her jaw drops.

  “Ellie… I know we talked about this…”

  “Junior, what are you doing?”

  I take the bear and slide the ring free of its ribbon. “But I want to talk about it again.”

  “Oh, my god…”

  I hold her left hand and it shakes in my fingers. “I love you, Eliza Pierce. I’ve said that to you every day since November but I still don’t think you believe me.”

  Her eyes twitch with sadness. “That’s not true.”

  “It’s okay, Ellie. I don’t blame you. Life hasn’t always been fair to you and trust doesn’t come easy.” I squeeze her hand as her eyes start to water. “I’ve always said I’d wait for you and I still mean that but I want you to hear this.”

  She nods. “Okay…”

  “You told me once that you always wanted a normal, boring family and I want to give you that.” She chuckles and tears fall. “You deserve that more than anybody I’ve ever met. You’ve already given me the most perfect, gorgeous daughter and… I owe you the world. I will spend the rest of my life making sure that happens.”

  “Birthday cards and Christmas cookies?” she asks, a light sniffle passing through her nose.

  “All of it.” I slide the ring onto her finger and breathe a silent sigh of relief as it fits her perfectly. “You’ll never feel lonely or ignored ever again, Eliza Pierce.”

  “Promise?” She peeks down at me with expectation, her lips curling as she waits for me to say it.

  I drop a hand to my chest and I draw an X. “Cross my heart.”

  Gravity pulls the tears down her cheeks but she still laughs, barely holding herself together. I stand to wrap my arms around her, embracing her as close to me as possible.

  “I love you. Marry me. I’m nothing without you.”

  She raises her head and wipes her eyes. “Well, when you put it like that…”

  I laugh. “It’s the truth. Do you really think I would have won all those games if you weren’t withholding sex from me?” She buries her face in my chest again, shaking hard with laughter. “I swear, Ellie… there is not a single thing I wouldn’t do for you.”

  “Oh, really?” she teases. “Sounds like you’ll need similar incentive this season if we expect to keep your stats up.”

  I point a finger at her, realizing the mistake I’ve made. “Now, hold on… I didn’t mean—”

  She steps out of my arms and grins. “Too late now, Junior.”

  I wince. “I hate it when you say it like that…”

  “Win the game next week and I’ll stop.”

  “Ellie…”

  She spins around with her teddy bear and walks towards the exit. “Keep up, Junior.”

  I growl and step forward, struggling to catch up with her lightning fast gait. She plows through to the parking lot and I follow her back to the van.

  “Can we maybe talk about this first?”

  “I think we’ve talked enough,” she says, sliding the back door open. “Words won’t get us anywhere… moans and grunts, however…”

  I bite my lip, casting a quick glance inside at the mattress as she smiles back at me. “Does this mean I still qualify for admission?”

  “Well, you’re not a loser… yet.” She lowers herself inside and lies back against the pillows. “Might as well take what you can get while you can.”

  I raise an eyebrow. “Anything I want?”

  She refuses to answer but her eyes tell me everything.

  I’m not about to argue with that willing, seductive smirk, so I hop inside the van and slide the door closed behind me.

  Her hands instantly fly to my belt and my cock springs to life, pressing hard against my zipper. She licks her lips and her lit
tle, blue eyes flick up at me; playful and beautiful as ever. Her left hand slides into my pants and the diamond on her finger shimmers in the soft lighting.

  “Wait…” I pause, grabbing her hand. “You never said yes.”

  Eliza smiles and her eyes fall to the ring. “Oh, yeah. Sure. I guess.”

  “You guess?”

  “I’ll think about it.”

  “Excuse me,” I chuckle, “but I nailed that proposal.”

  She wrinkles her nose. “It was all right.”

  “All right?! You cried.”

  “I sniffled a little.”

  “Say yes,” I demand.

  Her lips curl. “Maybe.”

  “Okay, that’s it…” I grab her and push her onto her back while she squeals with laughter.

  “What are you doing?!” she cries, not lifting a single hand to stop me while I travel down her body.

  I hook my fingers into her panties beneath her skirt and pull them down to her ankles. “I’m going to make you say yes,” I growl. “And then I’m going to do it again.”

  She laughs loudly and I spread her knees wide, positioning myself between them while I kiss her again. Her hands tug at my belt and I taste that sexy, primal urge on her tongue.

  It’s been months since we’ve been alone this way; just two kids getting it on in the back of a van without a care in the world. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss it but I wouldn’t trade what I have for anything else in the world.

  I slide inside of her, filling her as far as I can and she gasps in pleasure. My lips curl as I watch it flash all over her face; that heated bliss of satisfaction. She holds onto me and wraps her legs around my waist, urging me to the take her the way she likes it and there’s no way in hell I’ll ever deny her that.

  I get to work, angling my hips to intensify our grind and she purrs in my ear. My entire body surges with hers, blending passions until we feel nothing else.

  I sit up, pulling her along with me to straddle my waist and she cries out before settling against me again.

  She crushes her lips on mine, each of us moaning and fucking until we can hardly breathe. Her nails dig into me and her body goes tense, just moments away from wreckage.

  I gaze into her perfect eyes and fall in love with the way they twitch with passion as she moans my name.