Big Jock : Bad Boy Sports Romance

by Vanessa Kinney

  “Thanks for coming,” Melissa whispers in the hallway. “At least, David will be able to concentrate on his studies now.”

  David has several forms to sign so I wait for him outside the station. The cold air nips at my cheeks. The door to the station opens several minutes later and David strides out. I reach out and grab for him, wanting him to get rid of the cold on the tip of my fingers.

  “What happened between the two of you?” David looks at my hand and then up at me with disgust on his face, my stomach drops. This isn’t going to be good. He yanks his arm away and turns away from me. His stride is long and fast. I practically have to run to catch up to him. My heart hurts and my hand shots to my chest. I rush behind him and grab at this shoulder. “David, talk to me.”

  He rolls his shoulder from my grasp, his face burning red. “Don’t touch me!” he shouts. He looks at me and shakes his head. “Don’t you dare touch me,” he mutters.

  “What did I do?” The pang in my heart grows as he puts distance between the two of us. I don’t follow him. He’s several feet away from me when he turns around, runs his hand through his hair, curses under his breath, and stomps back toward me.

  “I know,” he mumbles. “I know about all of it.”

  I tilt my head. I don’t understand what he’s talking about. None of this is making any sense.

  “You know what?” I want to close the distance between us. I want to just apologize for whatever I did. To tell him that we can move passed it. Instead, I hold my ground. I don’t know if my heart can take being rejected again.

  “Dwayne.” His face turns into a scowl. “He told me everything.”

  The tears bite as they start to fall. “I was going to tell you. I really was.” I reach out for his hand. He needs to know how sorry I am. How much he means to me. “There just wasn’t a good time to tell you.” My throat breaks and I’m on the verge of breaking down. I take in a breath and my body shakes.

  I don’t want to lose him over this. I can’t lose him over this. I pull at him and press my head against his chest, letting my tears fall into his shirt.

  He doesn’t move. He doesn’t say anything. When I look up at him, there’s only hurt in his eyes. And something else.

  “I’m sorry. I should have told you. I know that now.” I run toward him and bury my head into his chest. His body is warm and I can smell the light fragrance of his cologne. “It’s all in the past. He means nothing to me now,” I plead.

  David doesn’t wrap my in his arms. He doesn’t say or do anything. Just stands there as my tears fall on his jacket. I shudder and plead with him.

  He makes the first move. He pulls his body away from me and takes a step back. I bring up the sleeve of my coat to wipe away the tears.

  “I don’t believe you. Who else are you sleeping with?” He looks at me with hurtful eyes, unsure of what to believe.

  The words sting at my heart. I grab for him instinctively and my lower lip shudders. “No one. You’re the only one.”

  “Liar! You’re always keeping secrets from me.” He kicks the side of the building, clenching his hand into a fist.

  I take a step forward and reach out for him. David swats my hand away. “David, you have to believe me,” I cry.

  “I don’t have to do anything. I don’t ever want to see you again.”

  And just like that, I fall to my knees. Everything around me starts to spin and I burst into tears.

  “I never want to see you again, Casey Boone. Not now. Not ever.”

  His words penetrate me and hurt me at my core. With my legs trembling, I get up and take off.

  I rush down the street and back to my dorm. I don’t look back once. I can’t bring myself to do it.

  Thoughts of the last couple months stream into my head. None of this makes any sense.

  By the time I make it to my dorm room I’m nothing but a bumbling mess. I slam the door behind me and drop onto my bed.

  Why won’t he believe me? Why won’t he let me explain it to him?

  His words echo inside my head, reaffirming one thought inside my head.

  I never want to see David Cooper again.

  Not now. Not ever.

  14

  David

  I made a mistake. I didn’t see it at the time, but now I know.

  The last couple days, I’ve been beating myself up over how to fix it. Every time I close my eyes, all I can see is Casey crying her eyes out. Those beautiful blue eyes of hers glossed over with tears. Tears that I brought about.

  I shouldn’t have reacted the way that I did. Blaming her for choices she made when she was younger. Blaming her for being with someone else beside me. Telling her that I never wanted to see her again. All of it was a mistake.

  I let my anger consume me. Everything happened all at once. Finding out Dwayne slept with Casey, my chance of getting back on the field taken away, and my team captain title stripped away.

  I couldn’t take it. And I lashed out at the only person who cared about me. The only person who came in the middle of the night to see me.

  Now, I need to show her that I care about her. That I made a mistake. And that I was willing to do anything to fix it.

  I grab my coat off the couch and I’m out the door. I need to make this right. The sooner I do it, the faster I can see that pretty smile of hers.

  It doesn’t take more than a couple of minutes to get there. I take a breath and knock on the door. And I wait.

  The door creaks open a little and I let out a sigh of relief. “What do you want, David?” Dwayne’s eyes are bloodshot and tired. I haven’t talked to him since the night at the police station. This is the first step that I have to take in making things right. Also something told me that, Dwayne can help me out.

  “I want to make things right. I want to apologize.” Dwayne stares at me, and for a moment I think that he’s going to slam the door shut. And if he did, I wouldn’t blame him one bit. I overreacted at the time and let my emotions get the best of me. Dwayne leave the door open and walks over to his table. There are books scattered on the desktop. He sits down and starts to scribble into his notebook. “I shouldn’t have punched you. I’m sorry, Dwayne.”

  Dwayne looks up at me from his books and nods. “It’s not all your fault. I was drunk off my ass and being an asshole to boot.” He taps the end of his pencil on the table. “I shouldn’t have talked about Casey that way. I don’t know what came over me.”

  I hold out my hand. “How about we put it behind us and start over?” Dwayne looks at my hand and a smile breaks on his face.

  “One little fight ain’t going to break us up, man. We still have a national title to win.” He grips my hand and gives it a firm shake. I sit down and take off my coat. Dwayne looks at me. “So, you really like her?”

  “I really do, Dwayne. I really really like her.” I can feel my heart swelling as thoughts of Casey streams into my head.

  This next part is going to be a little more challenging. In order to make things right with Casey, I’m going to need his help. He might be able to give me some information to repair the damage that I’ve done.

  “Dwayne, I need your help.” I dig my thumb into the middle of my palm. I’m not one to ask for help often. I like to handle things on my own for the most part. Stepping out of my comfort zone and being forward with Dwayne is something I would have never done before. That’s how important Casey is to me right now. I will do anything to patch up things with her. Even if it means asking for help.

  “What can I do?” There’s no hesitation in his words. He sits upright in his chair and turns all of his attention to me.

  I take a couple minutes to explain to Dwayne what happened at the station. To tell him how badly I fucked up. When I finish, I let out a sigh.

  Putting everything out in the open is exhausting. I almost can’t believe how much of an asshole I really was to her. The things I said and how cold I was to her. It’s not the person that I want to be. Not when she means so much to me.
/>
  “I need to make this right, Dwayne. Can you tell me what kind of girl Casey was in high school? Maybe it can help me figure out a way to make it up to her.”

  Dwayne runs his hand through his hair, puts his pencil in the middle of his textbook, and closes it. He gets up from his chair and gets two bottles of water from the fridge. He sits down next to me and takes a big sip before he starts. “You’re not going to like this. Just remember that high school kids can be cruel.” He takes another drink of his water and clears his throat. “After her epilepsy attack, Casey lost all of her friends in one night. Nobody wanted to hang out with her and everyone pretty much avoided her. In the blink of an eye, she became an outcast.”

  I hold my breath and try to place myself in her shoes. Go from being the most popular person in the school to being ignored by everyone. Ignored because of something that is out of my control. I would be so hurt. And feel so alone.

  “It quickly went downhill from there. Casey was valedictorian of her class before the incident. After she became an outcast, she stopped going to class. She stayed home for weeks on end. She got really lonely.” Dwayne squeezes the plastic bottle and twists it. He turns it into a small ball and chucks it across the room. “That is, until her parents got her a dog.” There’s a smile on his face. “That dog made her happy. It pushed away all the feelings of loneliness until they had to give it away.”

  “What do you mean? Why would they give it away if it helped her?”

  “Her mother was allergic to the dog. They ended up giving it to some family friends a couple towns over. Casey could still visit the dog, and it still helped but it wasn’t the same as when the dog was with her. Luckily, by the time that happened, Casey was only a couple weeks from graduating. And that’s all I know. I wasn’t really the best boyfriend back then. I made some mistakes.” Dwayne pats me on the back and gets up, sitting back at the desk.

  An idea pops into my head. A possible solution to fix my relationship with her. It’s a long shot, but at this, point I am willing to try anything to get her back.

  I stand up and throw my jacket on. “Thanks, Dwayne. You’ve been a lot of help.” I give him a hard smack on the back and I’m almost out the door when I see a telephone book on his bedside shelf. I grab it and hold it out. “Do you mind if I borrow this? I’ll give it to you next time I see you.”

  Dwayne nods. “Keep it. I don’t need that old thing anymore.”

  I’m already out of the door, finger flipping through the pages until I get to their name. They’re going to think I’m nuts when I call them, but I’m hoping they’re as understanding as Casey.

  All I want to do is fix what I broke.

  15

  Casey

  I rub at my temples. That had to be the longest hour of my life. Usually, I enjoy tutoring, but not when it comes to Hannah Thomas. She barely pays attention when I’m trying to tutor her. And when I can get her to pay attention, she completely forgets what I taught her less than two minutes later. Agreeing to tutor her was the biggest mistake of my life.

  The wind bites at my face and I pull at my scarf up. I shiver as a gust of wind finds its way down my back. I need to get back to my dorm before I freeze to death. I open my stride and practically run when I hear a bark behind me.

  I turn around and see a white dog rushing towards me from across the quad. I look around for its owner, but there’s no one out here in this cold. I start to get worried when the dog barks and comes into focus.

  “Casper?” I say to myself just as the dog jumps into the air and tackles me to the ground. We both fall to the ground and I wrap my arms around his fluffy neck. A smile spreads on my face as Casper starts to lick at my cheeks, pushing away the scarf and hat that I have on. “Casper, what are you doing here?” I laugh and squeeze him extra tight. Its been so long since I saw him.

  Casper is my childhood dog. Correction, was my childhood dog, before I had to give him up because of my mother’s allergies. I haven’t seen him since last summer. Last time, I did see him was when I was forced to give him away to some family friends that lived across the state.

  Casper jumps out of my arms and runs around me. He barks at me and gets low to the ground, the big, pink tongue of his hanging out to the side. I grab a stick off the ground and throw it. Dirt flies into the air as Casper zooms after it, picks it up, and hustles back to me to place it at my feet.

  This doesn’t make any sense. How is Casper here? He couldn’t have possibly known I was here. And even if he did, I doubt he would walk the hundreds of miles to get here.

  I kneel to pick up the stick and scratch the back of his ear. “How did you get here, Casper?” As if he understands my question, Casper turns his head and looks to the side of the quad. David pokes his head from behind a tree and walks forward.

  Instinctively, I bite down on the side of my lip. He has his quarterback sweater on and his hands are in his pockets. He’s not wearing anything special, but I can’t help but take him in. It’s only been a couple days since the last time I saw him, but the overwhelming feeling of missing him takes over me. Until I remember how we left things off.

  How much he hurt me. How his words stung and made me cry. Casper leans into my palm and licks the side of my face, making me smile.

  “Hi there,” David says as I stand. David looks at the ground and kicks at it with the tip of his boots. “Casey, can we talk?” He holds his gaze for a moment before it falls down my body. He takes me in and smiles to himself, hunger building in his eyes.

  I’m about to say no when Casper nudges his head against my hand. I throw the stick across the quad and he runs after it, buying David some time. “Sure,” I answer.

  Just seeing him is bringing back the memories of that night. The look of disgust on his face. How horrible he made me feel about myself.

  “I deserve that.” He walks a little closer until his body touches mine. He leans toward me and pushes his shoulder into me playfully. I look away from him, trying to stop the smile that’s coming to my lips. David lowers himself until I’m forced to look at him. “I want to apologize for everything I said.” He grabs my hand and plays with my knuckles. “I was mad and confused, but that still doesn’t excuse me for what I said. I know that, but I’ll do anything to make it right.” David pulls at my hand and brings it to his lips, giving me a small kiss. “Will you ever forgive me, Casey?” David gets a little closer and places his forehead on top of mine.

  I want to shout at him. To beat my hands against his chest and tell him that he hurt me. That he broke me down into little pieces with his words. That nobody who cares about me would talk like that to me.

  I want to tell him off until Casper pokes his head between our legs. He drops the stick at our feet and wags his white fluffy tail. His head tilts to the side and he barks at us.

  I need to forgive David. He’s not the only one to blame. I went out of my way to keep the truth from him. It would have just been better if I’d just told David about Dwayne, instead of coming up with excuses.

  Both of us made mistakes. Both of us need to learn from those mistakes and move on.

  Besides, I can’t stay mad at someone who traveled across the state to get my dog. He clearly wants to make it right. And is willing to do whatever it takes. That much is clear.

  “I accept your apology.” I look up into those green globes of his and the heat rushes to my cheeks. “Can you forgive me?” I press my forehead against his chest and feel the warmth of his body surrounding me as he places his arms around me.

  David kisses the top of my forehead. “Of course I will.” His hand lifts my chin and our lips meet. A shiver rolls down my body and the cold evaporates when he pulls away.

  “I can’t be mad at you,” I mumble, “not after you went and got me Casper.” I kneel and grabs Casper’s leash. “How did you manage to get him, anyway?”

  David walks with me, his hand on my shoulder holding me close. “Dwayne told me about him. After that, I called your parents.”

/>   “You called my parents?” I laugh. “How did that go?” I can’t imagine the idea of calling David’s parents when I barely know him. I don’t even know their names. It must have taken a lot of balls to just cold call my parents. I’m sure they were plenty surprised to hear from him.

  “I had to. I wanted to make it right between you and me.” He smiles down at me before he continues. “They were confused at first, but when they found out that I wanted to get Casper for you, they practically offered to drive the dog up here. You have some really good parents who clearly care about you.”

  I nod. “You have no idea.”

  My parents were always there for me. They never left my side during the darkest hours of my life when everyone abandoned me at school. When no one would talk to me or want anything to do with me. All because of a condition that I had no control over.

  Casper’s tail bobs side to side as he walks out in front of us. This dog got me through some of the hardest times in my life. Like my parents, he was always there for me. Always there to cheer me up and make me feel wanted. It’ll be sad that he has to go again.

  “When do you have to take him back?”

  “Never,” David replies.

  I stop in my tracks while David walks past me. Casper and David stop to stare at me. “What do you mean never?”

  “I’m keeping him. Your family friends were about to move and couldn’t take Casper with them, so I took him off their hands.” David kneels and scratches Casper’s ear. “I happened to be at the right place at the right time. Crazy how things work out like that sometimes.” David laughs before I tackle him to the ground. Casper starts to bark, runs around us, and pulls at my scarf.

  I grab hold of David’s cheeks and plant a firm kiss on those sweet lips of his. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” I seal every word with a kiss and David throws his hands around me, laughing the whole time.