Crimson Catch (Game Time #1)

by S. M. Donaldson

  He shakes his head. “Yeah, but you shouldn’t have to.”

  CHAPTER 17

  Collin-

  Seeing her practice today completely fucked with my head. She clearly doesn’t want anything to do with me anymore. She didn’t even want to talk to me about the other day. She didn’t give me an opportunity to really apologize for the things that were said. She just blew off my apology. I get that she probably got her feelings hurt, but I thought I had a friend who would listen and let me explain.

  As I drive through town, I see her brother’s car at the Mexican place. I’m happy that they’re getting closer. I guess I can take a little credit for that. My stomach growls letting me know they aren’t the only ones hungry. The JV team is playing out of town tonight so my parents and brother are there. I’m tempted to stop there so I won’t have to eat alone, but I think better and go to the Frosty King.

  It’s packed as usual. Funny how a minute ago I was worried about being alone. As soon as I walk in, I see Ciara. Great. I’ve done a great job of avoiding her since Monday, but here she is. She glares at me from across the room. Seeing some of the guys, I make my way over to their table after I order. I sit down next to Jinks. “Hey, man.”

  “Hey,” he responds.

  I nod to Dallas across the table just as Ciara sashays up and sits in this lap. “Dallas.”

  I see him look like he’s swallowing a baseball. “Yeah?”

  “I need some help with something at my car.” She pouts and then leans up to say something in his ear. Standing up, he follows her out the door.

  Jinks points at the door with a French fry. “That chick is fatal. She’s like a black widow. I’m glad you moved on past her. Jo’s a great girl.”

  I sigh. “Jo and I aren’t seeing each other.” I take a sip from my cup. “She’s just my tutor.” Seems that’s all it’ll ever be. Whatever had started forming in my mind, I might as well push past it. She doesn’t even want to be around me. I need to find somebody else to think about, no one like Ciara though.

  “Oh. Sorry, man. You know how the rumors go in this town. Everyone saw you with her last Friday so they just assumed.” He shakes his head. “I should know better.”

  “It’s okay, Jinks. You ready for tomorrow night?” I ask right before taking a bite from my burger.

  He swallows. “Yeah. Let’s hope fucking Booker is on his game though. Last week could’ve been a mess.”

  I just nod, not wanting to talk about it. “We should have a pretty good crowd with us though. They said the fan bus is sold out.” The fan bus is another school bus that locals and students ride on to follow us to the games. They pay a few dollars, basically covering the driver and fuel, but it makes us have a good size crowd wherever we go.

  “Good. Northern Christian is one of the toughest teams we play. Not because they’re that good either. You remember they were bad enough when we played them in JV, I can only imagine how their Varsity is since it’s mostly juniors and seniors. If Booker is off his game tomorrow night, you could really get hurt,” he rattles out before shoving the rest of his burger in his mouth.

  I like Jinks, he’s always been pretty cool with me. “Yeah, they aren’t very kind, are they?”

  He laughs. “And they really don’t like people of the more mocha persuasion like myself.”

  He’s telling the truth. Their entire team is white and doesn’t like playing teams that have players of any other race. It’s really stupid in my opinion and they don’t seem like very devout Christians in my book with thoughts like that. We’ve all been brought up together, most of us since we were five, so we just don’t see it that way.

  “I like you just fine, Jinks. Even if you were purple like a big ass dinosaur, I’d like you.”

  He laughs, gathering up his trash. “All right, Atwood, I gotta head out. My little brother has a science project and Mom is working tonight so I told him I’d help. Catch you tomorrow.”

  I wave to him. “Good luck with the project.”

  I’m not alone very long before Callie, a girl from Monroe, slips in the seat across from me. “Hey, Collin.” The one thing about all of our small towns only being about ten minutes apart, we know people from the other schools. We work at some of the same stores and hang out at the same parties. This girl Callie and I got into a pretty intense make out session last year.

  “Hey.” I sit back. She’s a pretty girl. Blonde hair that reaches her shoulders, nice small but perky tits. A little too skinny, but would be a perfect distraction. She doesn’t go to school with me so I don’t have to listen to everyone’s shit about it. No one in my business…perfect. “What are you doing over here?”

  She smiles softly. “I brought my little sister over to visit her grandma at the nursing home. She wanted ice cream, so here we are.”

  “So your grandma is at the Courtyard? So is my grandpa,” I say before taking a bite from my second burger.

  She smiles. “Small world, but not my grandma, hers. Her dad’s mom.” A younger blonde little girl comes running up. “Anna, this is Collin. He plays football.”

  The little girl puts her fist in the air. “Go Pirates!”

  I laugh and shake my head. “You’re breaking my heart, little bit. I’m a bulldog.”

  She looks to her sister, confusion all over her face. Callie answers, “He goes to school here, Anna, not with me.” The little girl frowns.

  I give a small laugh. “Sorry, Anna, I do.”

  Callie stands up. “Well, I need to get Anna back since she’s finished. I enjoyed talking to you.” She almost sounds like she’s purring.

  I nod up with my chin, “Yeah, me too.”

  She’s about to walk away but stops. “What are you doing later?”

  “No plans. My parents are at an away game with my little brother,” I say with a smirk. I know where she’s going, but I’m going to let her drive this conversation.

  “Maybe we could get together later then? I need to,” she looks at the little girl, “run some errands after my parents get home. Meet me at Wal-Mart.” She scribbles on a napkin. “Here’s my number. I’ll be there by seven-thirty, text me when you get there.” She winks before walking away.

  Around here, everyone meets up at the Wal-Mart parking lot in Monroe before heading off to parties or whatever.

  Sad to say, I’ve texted her and now I’m waiting at Wal-Mart by seven. I know I need to hook up with this girl and get my mind clear before tomorrow night. I’m not doing a bad thing. She’s clearly offering and I don’t think she wants hearts and flowers either. She seems like me, she just needs to get off. Burn through some stuff.

  My phone pings and it’s a text letting me know she’s pulling in. I direct her to my car and she parks beside it.

  Getting out, she locks her door and climbs into my passenger seat, then looks over at me. “I’m pretty sure we have a mutual idea here, so let’s get going. I have to actually come back and pick some shit up before I go home so my mom doesn’t figure out I’m just trying to stay the hell away from them.”

  Wow! Okay. So she’s got some parental anger issues going on. Maybe I should just put a stop to this.

  What the hell am I thinking? A couple of weeks ago I’d have already had my cock in this girl’s mouth by now. I need to be that guy again. I grab her hand and put it on my crotch. “Okay, but you have to get me ready while I drive.”

  She grins and gets to work on my zipper while I drive out of the parking lot.

  I can’t get us to the old factory where everyone goes to hook up fast enough. It’s not long before we are parked and clothes are coming off, pausing only for a condom before we can both find the release we need. It’s quick and dirty. Not one hint of emotion for either one of us…just a release.

  After we’re finished, she grins at me. “Thanks. I needed that.”

  I scoff and laugh as I fix my jeans and shirt. “Glad to be of service to you.”

  After dropping her back off at her car, I make my way home. I go di
rectly in and get a shower. Wiping the fog from the mirror, I growl. “Damn it.” She left a fucking hickey on my damn neck. I can convince my mom that it’s from football, but Jo will see this.

  Wait, why do I care if she sees this? Maybe if she does, she’ll think this awkwardness is over and she can go back to being my friend. That’s what I’m going to tell myself anyway.

  CHAPTER 18

  Joelle-

  Finally. The best words when you’re writing a story. The end. I hope my fans like this one. I can finally send it into edits and give my readers a date. Hopefully Collin will like this one, too. Wait. Why am I even thinking of him? I’ve got more important shit going on.

  Surprisingly, my mother has decided to ride along with my brother to my competition Saturday. Talk about weird. Clem has informed me that it’s not weird, it’s normal. My dad will be at the store supposedly and my sister is going to be helping him.

  Finishing this book was something that had been sitting on my chest like a brick. Tonight we’ve got an away game and I don’t feel guilty about not working on my book. At the game I may actually feel a little breathing room.

  In the self-publishing world, if you aren’t publishing, you’re forgotten. So I can’t have a large amount of time between releases. People need to remember your face. Well, so to speak. In my case, the name P.J. Scott or the book cover.

  The door to the ensemble room opens and Clem sticks her head in. “We gotta get loaded.”

  I nod. “Okay, I just finished and hit save.” I sigh.

  “So it’s done?” she asks, excited. Clem’s always excited. She gets to read before anyone else.

  “Well, not done done, but the story part is done. Now off to edits. Then you’ll get it, I promise.” She claps her hands together like a trained sea animal. I just shake my head and stow my computer in the room. It’s always locked up here so I can get it when I come in tonight.

  After we’re in the bus on the road, she turns to me. “So what’s going on with the whole Collin thing?”

  I shrug. “Nothing. I’ve told you all week. Nothing. I’m his tutor, nothing more. I wish everyone would quit asking me. You, my brother, hell even my mother, who has all of a sudden decided to take an interest in my life.”

  “Okay, you wanna get people to quit talking?” she asks.

  “Yeah. That would be nice,” I reply with a ‘duh’ look.

  “Come with me to a party when we get back tonight,” she says, smiling with mischief.

  “I’m not going to Booker’s.”

  She shakes her head. “No. One of the guys from Monroe that I work out with at the gym invited me.”

  “So you wanna go to a Monroe party? Is Harrison going with us?” I ask.

  “No. Why does everyone think I have to do everything with Harrison?” she says, clearly agitated.

  “Well, I was just wondering what happened last Friday? Everyone saw you guys arguing at the stadium. You were supposed to ride with me to the party and then boom, you were gone,” I say as I slide down in the seat and prop my knees against the back of the one in front of me.

  “He was just being a jackass because I didn’t want to go to his family thing for his grandma,” she lets out a big huff. “It’s not like we’re dating. People seem to get really confused. I’ve never even kissed Harrison, for crying out loud!”

  “Well then, I guess we’re going to a party. Just make sure we don’t look like shit in the morning.”

  She grins. “Deal.”

  ~*~*~

  “Well, at least it was a pretty good game tonight,” Clem says from the driver’s side of the car.

  “Yeah, Booker still played like shit. No one even seems to notice.”

  “Oh, I think your brother noticed. I saw the two of them having words. James looked pissed,” she says as she adjusts the radio.

  “The opposing team was bad enough. We don’t need people on our own team working against us.”

  “Does your mom know where we’re going tonight?”

  “Yeah. Well, I told her we were going to hang out with some of your friends in Monroe. I promised her I would watch my drink better so I didn’t come home in the same shape as last week,” I explain. “I told her we both had to be at the band room at six thirty so we would be on our best behavior.”

  Pulling into the gates to a farm, I ask her, “Who is this friend of yours?”

  She sighs. “Paul Rivera.”

  My eyes bug out. “As in Dr. Rivera’s son?” I shake my head. “Have you lost your mind? You know his parties turn into drunken brawls of kids who think ‘Daddy’s money’ will get them out of anything.”

  She rolls her eyes. “They’re not that bad. Come on, let’s just hang out for a little bit and then we’ll go.”

  Reluctantly I relent. “Fine.”

  We walk into a barn you can tell they don’t actually use. This is a place a doctor calls ‘the farm’ that’s not at all a farm. They have to use it as a tax write off or something, because there are no crops out here and I haven’t seen a single damn animal.

  Grabbing a beer from the keg, we hear, “Well if it isn’t my darling Clementine.” We turn around to see Paul grinning. He reaches over and hugs her. “You made it.” Turning to me, he smiles. “And you brought a friend.”

  She smiles. “Hope that’s okay?”

  He holds his arms out to the sides. “Sure, the more the merrier. You ladies mingle and have a good time. I need to go make sure the keys are out of the ATVs. I don’t need any drunk jackasses on them getting me in trouble.”

  Making our way around the barn, we talk to people we know. They ask about our game and we talk about their game. A guy named Spencer from their team asks me about my brother and his plans after this year. I guess they did some training camps together a few times. “So I have to say, Prescott never told me his sister was so hot.”

  I almost snort the beer out of my nose. “Well, I would really hope he wouldn’t refer to me as hot, that’s kinda creepy.”

  He laughs. “Well, I guess so. Anyway. I was wondering if I could get your number? I think I’d like to hang out with you more.” I stare at him and he laughs. “Really, I’ve had a decent conversation with you, one that didn’t involve talking about spray tans, makeup or purses.”

  I laugh and nod. “Sure. Hand me your phone.” I enter my number into his contacts. “Okay, there you go.” As I hand him his phone, I see the time on it. “Shit. I gotta go. I have to be up at like five-thirty.”

  “I just sent you a text. Make sure you get up with me. I’ll be calling you soon to set up our date.” He grins.

  “I thought you said ‘hang out’,” I say, using air quotes.

  “Well, I didn’t want to give you the opportunity to turn me down,” he says, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

  I laugh, “Okay.”

  I find Clem and she finally tears her lips away from Paul so we can go. Just as we’re about to reach her car, I hear a noise. As I turn to see what it is, I immediately regret it and wish with everything that I have to take back that one look. The one that caused this searing lightning bolt of fire going through my chest.

  As I bolt to climb in Clem’s car, she calls my name, not seeing what I saw. This only makes matters worse as I look up to motion for Clem and my eyes make contact with his.

  CHAPTER 19

  Collin-

  Slamming into Callie one last time against the trunk of my car, I hear movement around me but that doesn’t stop me.

  “Jo, wait up!” That stops me.

  I glance in the direction of the voice and see the eyes. The eyes of disappointment. Her eyes. Joelle’s eyes. Within seconds, it seems they are gone and I’m frozen.

  Callie wiggles her way from in front of me and starts to clean up. Finally snapping out of my haze, I dispose of the condom and get dressed.

  “Girlfriend?” she questions.

  I shake my head. “No, just a friend.”

  “Well, the look between the two of you
said more than friends,” she replies with a casualness about it.

  After I tuck my shirt in, I look to her. “Um, I need to get home. Are you okay for a ride or do I need to take you?”

  She smiles. “I’m good. Go after her.”

  I shake my head, knowing that going after her is the wrong idea.

  Tonight was a really shitty night. We won the game, but just barely. That Christian school is hell. Once again, Booker wasn’t covering me for shit. He and James got into it after the game. Everyone was going back to Booker’s but I wasn’t in the mood. I texted Callie for a hookup to blow off some steam, never dreaming I’d run into Jo there.

  I can’t go home like this. One thing’s for sure - this is my last hook up with Callie. Sad part is she didn’t even seem to care. I mean I know we were both using each other for sex, but the fact that another girl affected me that much while I was banging her didn’t even bother her.

  I stop at a gas station to grab a coke and wash my hands. I even try to clean up my dick and wash my face. I need to get the scent of Callie off of me. I start driving, but my aimless driving ends up with me right in front of the Prescott’s house. No lights are on, but it’s a little after one in the morning. What was she doing at a party tonight anyway? She’s got competition tomorrow.

  I know which window should be hers. Gathering what’s left of my balls, I quietly exit the car and sneak around to her window. Taking out my phone, I text her.

  ME: Open your window.

  JO: What?

  ME: Look out here

  ME: Please.

  I hear some shuffling before she opens the curtain.

  JO: Just go away. I’m busy tomorrow. I need sleep.

  ME: No. Now Jo. We’ve gotta talk.

  JO: About what?

  JO: It isn’t like this is the first time I’ve seen you in a compromising position.