She was the kind of girl you wrecked your life over. Because as long as she was in it, even the carnage left behind would be better than just about any life without her.
Every date. Every moment I was spending with her, we were building something. She knew it. I knew it.
Even more surprising was how much I liked the time spent putting each block into place. Each date where we did nothing more than kiss, where I simply got to know her better, and she was able to do the same.
When we arrived together, arms laden with bags of sports equipment, Keisha hugged me like I was family.
One of our defensive linemen, Roberts, eyed all the bags in my hands. “Suck-up,” he said with a smile. “Why you gotta show everyone up, Walker?”
His good-natured teasing had something tight easing in my chest. Faith smiled over at me when she heard what he’d said. A secret smile, and I fucking loved that we had things that we could share secret smiles over.
In fact, his teasing wasn’t the only slight smoothing in the path with my teammates. It was the first event I’d been at where the few teammates present had greeted me with cautious smiles and fist bumps.
Press took some pictures. Asked some questions.
Nice questions this time. I was able to talk a little bit about the time I’d spent at the community center in conjunction with Team Sutton, and not a single reporter asked me about flags or penalties or Walker the Wild.
And when the line trickled out, the activity boxes distributed, Faith was meeting with some of the Team Sutton staff, so I found myself wandering over to where Maggie was flipping through one of the activity books that had been in the box.
“There’s good stuff in there,” I said.
She glanced at the coloring books, art supplies, the reading books, and other educational items carefully packed by the foundation’s workers. Then she shrugged. “I guess.”
“You don’t like doing crafts and shit?” I asked.
“You’re not supposed to swear in front of us.”
With a wince, I made sure no one was around us. “Sorry, kid. Sometimes I forget about that.”
“You must not be a dad. Dads usually remember that.”
The thought of me as a parent was terrifying, but the simple way she’d deduced the truth had me laughing. “I’m not. You can get me in trouble with Keisha if it makes you feel better.”
For a moment, Maggie peered thoughtfully over by where Keisha stood next to Faith. Then she shrugged. “Nah. If I tell her you’re a bad influence, she won’t let you around us no more.”
“Any more,” I gently corrected. “And that’s good. She should be protective of you guys.”
Maggie spun the football. “I don’t think a lot of football players would buy a girl a football. They always get us softballs or volleyballs or something. It’s stupid.”
Again, she reminded me of Ivy with that challenging glint in her big eyes, and I had to breathe through a few heavy memories before I could answer her.
Hospital beds.
Tubes.
Holding her hair back while she fought the nausea from her treatments.
My fingers started tingling a little, a sure sign of an anxiety attack, which were only ever tied to thoughts of my sister.
Maggie tossed the ball in the air but misjudged the height, and I was forced out of my head to catch it for her. The pebbled leather brought me back down to earth, and as I handed it to her, she gave me a small smile.
“Girls should be able to play whatever sport they want,” I told her, images of my sister swimming slowly through my brain. “And if any players come here and say you can’t play football, you send me a text, and I’ll beat the shit out of them because they’re assholes.”
For a second, Maggie did nothing but blink up at me, her eyes wide with shock. I winced because my threat was all sorts of inappropriate.
“That’s…” she started.
“Too much?” I asked.
“So. Cool,” she breathed. “I’m gonna go tell my friends!”
As she sprinted off to find them, I swiped a hand over my mouth because that probably wasn’t the smartest thing I could’ve done. Story of my life. I was always doing things I shouldn’t have done. Shouldn’t have said.
Or in today’s case—things I should have said, but just … couldn’t find the right moment. From where I sat on the step, I had a clear line to watch Faith interact with the people who worked with her.
Worked for her, I corrected mentally. The leadership position was something she wore so naturally. Whoever was talking to her at any given moment, she listened attentively and never dominated the conversation.
It was so odd that the physical version of Turbo, standing in front of me, was somewhat of a novelty to me, but still, I was so fucking proud of her. That novelty, though, I had to get my impulses in check because I was one hug away from telling her something insane like I was falling in love with her. But the second she was in front of me, I could hardly help myself.
She wasn’t perfect, that much I knew, but fuck if she wasn’t as close to it as I’d ever met. And if I told her that, I’d sound insane.
She was thinking all of that too, how fast this was, even if it was real.
Those types of thoughts were all I could blame on why I didn’t notice my QB approach and sit next to me on the steps. Because Faith and I had arrived just as the event was starting, and James had been on the opposite end of the tables, it was the first I’d spoken to him all evening.
“Walker,” he said, stretching his long legs in front of him. “Didn’t expect to see you here.”
It made me laugh under my breath. “Trying to make those good choices you talked about.”
Trying was the operative word. Didn’t claim to be perfect.
James nodded, a smile playing around his lips.
“I’m going to invite you somewhere,” he said. “And you’ll probably want to say no, but I want you to think about it.”
“Invite me where?” I asked.
“Small offensive retreat I hold every year at my place in Mendocino. There are seven of us.”
My eyebrows popped up. “You want me to come?”
He laughed, a rich, deep sound. Faith glanced over in our direction, and I gave her a tiny wink.
“Yeah, Walker, I want you to come. It’s a good chance for me to get to know my receivers and running backs, tight ends if they can stop being grouchy enough to let me.”
The reproach was gently handled because somehow, it didn’t raise my hackles. “When is it?”
Another smile. “We leave on Sunday morning. Five days, four nights on the ocean. We work out, cook, toss the ball, just get to know each other before the season really starts.”
I blew out a hard breath. “What time?”
He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and handed me the card of a private airfield. “If you’re there by eight, I’ll know you’re coming. There’s room for you on the plane. But this is a serious opportunity, Walker. I ask the guys to leave their phones in their room during the day, no distractions. This is about forming a unit on that field, and if you can’t set your personal stuff aside in order to do that, then I’d rather have you stay back, and I’ll just pray we click once the season starts.”
Swallowing proved difficult because I had to choke down the way I’d started off here in light of his generous offer. It was a massive opportunity, something that would allow me to forge a bond with the guys who lined up next to me every Sunday once the season started. If this was what happened behind closed doors, it explained why Washington always had some intangible chemistry among their players.
And I thought about what Faith said. They’d never see past the bullshit if I didn’t let them.
He stood, shoving at my shoulder. “Hope to see you there, Walker. I promised my wife I’d be home for dinner.”
Faith waved at him as they passed, but I was gratified to see the way her smile changed once I was the only one looking. The
blue dress she was wearing swished around her thighs, and the fact that she’d paired something so subtly sexy, so feminine with her white sneakers was driving me out of my fucking mind.
When she took a seat on the step next to me, there was a respectable distance between us, and I had to grip my hands together to keep from sliding my palm up the long length of her bare leg.
“Have fun?” she asked, eyes forward.
I glanced at her before doing the same. “Yup. Wasn’t bad.”
“Saw you give the football to Maggie. You know she’s going to idolize you for life now, right?”
“Why do you think I did it? She’s the only one who’s ever managed to nail me in the balls with a football. I want her on my good side.”
Faith laughed, a sunny smile spreading her mouth wide, and a dimple popped on the side of her face.
I leaned back on my hands, and we sat quietly for a few minutes. “You’re really good at your job, sunshine.”
Her face softened in surprise when she looked over at me. “Thank you.”
“Everyone likes you. But more than that, they respect you.” I gave her a quick look. “Takes a special person to be able to pull that off.”
She blinked rapidly, and I realized she was tearing up.
She laughed under her breath. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to burst into tears.”
“I don’t care if you do.”
Faith turned at that. “Most guys panic at the sight of women’s tears, especially if they’re the cause. That’s not you?”
“Hell no.” I turned too, and our knees brushed. Neither one of us seemed to care that there were people around, that someone might see our body language. “If I do something to make you cry, good or bad,” I told her quietly, “you can bet your ass I’ll stay right here until you feel better.”
“Who are you?” she asked incredulously.
I grinned.
“I’m serious.” She shook her head. “Sometimes, I can’t believe you’re the same guy I met that day in Allie’s office.”
Like it had been with James, it was difficult to stick my past actions under the spotlight in the face of her generosity. The words of explanation about Nick and Turbo still crowded my mouth, but I kept them leashed for now. But this honesty was something I could give her. “I misjudged you because of my own past. My own issues.” I held her gaze. “And I’m sorry. It wasn’t fair.”
Faith stared at me with something behind her eyes as she listened. Her reaction wasn’t immediate, and I liked that. There was no disputing how I’d acted, no brushing it off. And when she did speak, it wasn’t what I expected her to say.
“Will you be my date to the Black and White Ball on Saturday?”
It was the second invitation that had my eyebrows popping up. “The big fundraiser?”
She nodded. “You’ll need a tux. I know it’s kind of short notice, but…” She paused, letting out a slow breath. “I’d really like it if you’d come with me.”
I edged closer on the step. “Isn’t it like, a big, public, fancy-ass deal?”
Again, she nodded. Her pinky stretched out on the concrete and brushed against mine. Our hands were blocked from view, and I slid the tip of my finger over hers, dragging it over the soft skin of her hand.
“And you want me to come with you?” I asked. Emotion had my voice coming out a little rougher than I anticipated.
But I couldn’t fight the tidal wave of victory at the realization. It was exactly what I’d wanted when I didn’t tell her who I was. To know that even with all the ways I’d fucked up at first, she was willing to take this giant step with me into the spotlight.
Faith turned her hand and wove her fingers between mine. “I want you to come,” she affirmed.
“I, uh, I’ll have to leave early the next morning.” I leaned into her, dropping my voice slightly. “If it’s a late-night type thing.”
Her eyes sparkled happily at that. “Leave for what?”
“If I go,” I hedged. “I might not. James just asked me to this offensive retreat thing at his place in California.”
She smiled. “He invited you?”
“Crazy, right?”
Faith shook her head. “Not at all.”
“I have an early morning tomorrow too,” I told her. “I’m not used to updating someone on my trips. Sorry.”
“It’s okay. What’s on the calendar?”
“Some Gatorade thing in Chicago. I’ll just be gone for one night. They’re gonna strap me up to machines and do those tests to make sure I don’t die while I’m working out and drinking all the stuff they pay me a lot of money for.”
Her laughter was loud. A few people looked over at us, but Faith didn’t pull away.
All around me, walls were crumbling at an alarming rate. “I should pack a bag or something tonight, I guess,” I murmured.
Her eyes glowed when she spoke. “Do you want some help?”
My breath caught at her offer, at the look in her eyes. As Nick, I’d practically dared her to do this, to make it obvious that she wanted me. The devil on one shoulder crowed obnoxiously in victory. Even the angel was silent because I think even that self-righteous asshole wanted me to take her home too.
“You don’t have any other plans tonight?” I asked.
Faith dipped her head, her hair falling over her shoulder in a way that made me want to fist my hands in it and tug it tight while I sucked at her skin. When she lifted her gaze, she was thinking the exact same thing.
“Just you,” she answered simply.
“I really want to kiss you right now,” I spoke low and fast.
She breathed out a laugh. “I can tell.”
“I live about fifteen minutes from here. I’ll text you the address.” I stood and held out my hand to help her up.
“Do you want me to pick up something to eat?” she asked.
“I have food at my place.” It wasn’t an outright lie. I had milk, three beers, a package of cheese, and bananas that were too green. But in my pantry was probably six boxes of cereal.
Faith nodded, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. Did she have any idea what she was doing to me? She couldn’t possibly.
We stood just a bit too close as I pulled out my phone and sent the address to her. And because I couldn’t stop myself, I crowded into her for just a moment so I could lean down and whisper in her ear.
“Drive fast, sunshine,” I growled.
Dominic
My lead foot was pointless. I arrived at the entrance to my building a solid five minutes before Faith was able to find parking at the hotel lot across the street. Times like that, where all I wanted to do was be inside and not dealing with parking or downtown or people getting in the way of finding parking downtown, I started making plans to sell the ugly apartment that I didn’t really like and move somewhere … else.
With my own parking. And no people. So I didn’t have to wait for her.
Oh, how the mighty fall, I thought. A handful of dates and I was ready to uproot where I lived to make it easier for her to come over.
A group of tourists passed, a few of them tilting their heads together and gesturing in my direction. But because they didn’t stop, I didn’t smile.
When I was waiting out front like this, something that didn’t happen often, I kept a hat tucked low on my head, combined with my sunglasses, and I only got a few curious stares as people passed. The people in my building left me alone for the most part, and for that, I was grateful, especially now.
Faith emerged from the hotel parking garage, a wide smile on her face as she jogged across the street during a break in the traffic.
“Jaywalking is illegal you know,” I told her.
She hopped nimbly up the curb and joined me on the sidewalk. “Is that a deal breaker?”
With a quick scan of my key card, I opened the shining glass door to hold it open for Faith. “Might be, sunshine. Can’t have you bringing down my reputation with your lawless ways.”
&n
bsp; Her laughter was light and happy, echoing through the space in a way that I’d probably remember every time I came back to my apartment.
As we walked through the impressive entryway, I nodded at the doorman and pushed the button for the elevator. She glanced around at all the shining marble, the water feature in the two-story entryway with floor-to-ceiling windows. My building was just down the street from Pike’s Market, and I could tell by the way she was looking at everything, she was trying to figure something out.
“What is it?” I asked her.
The elevator doors slid open, and she walked in first, tucking her hands behind her back as she leaned against the wall. “It doesn’t fit you.”
“No?” I punched the button for my floor. Instead of crowding against her and taking her mouth like I wanted, I matched her pose and stood opposite of her in the elevator. “What makes you say that?”
Her brain fascinated me.
“It’s so shiny,” she said. Faith trailed a delicate finger along the bright chrome railing, and it was impossible not to imagine her doing that on my stomach, teasing me like that where I was so hard that it was painful. “And you,” she continued, a warm smile on her face, “are not.”
“I’m not shiny,” I mused, pushing from the wall to brace my hands on either side of her hips on that railing that she was touching like it was a personal test to my restraint. “I’m not sure how I feel about this assessment.”
Faith tilted her head up. “You need exposed brick, big beams of wood,” she whispered. “Not shiny rocks that gleam perfectly.”
I dipped my head and caught the edge of her jaw with a soft, sucking kiss. She pulled in a quick breath. “Brick, huh?”
“Some-something with character,” she whispered, trying to turn her head so her mouth would snag mine.
Lifting my head, I locked gazes with her just as the doors opened. “Something hard.”
Her grin was wide and pleased, her eyes lit with scandalized pleasure. “That too.”
Side by side, we walked down the elegant, dimly lit hallway, and her astute observation about the building triggered a strange reaction somewhere in the pit of my stomach. How was it, after such a short amount of time, that she somehow knew me so well?
The Lie : a bad boy sports romance Page 17