The Lie : a bad boy sports romance

by Karla Sorensen

  “You okay? You don’t look so good.”

  I shook my head, snatching my wallet and keys from the top of my locker. The pants were staying, as was the sleeveless T-shirt I wore under my pads and jersey. “I don’t know, Max.”

  Sounds from the field filtered into the locker room, and he watched me curiously as I ripped off my cleats and shoved my feet into my Nikes.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be out there?” He hooked a thumb out to the field.

  Knowing it probably wouldn’t do anything, I pulled up Faith’s phone number and hit the button to call her. It rang and rang and rang. With a frustrated groan, I threw the phone into my backpack, along with my wallet.

  Because I knew I should, I took a second to steady myself before I ran to the parking lot and got behind the wheel. The last thing I needed was to get into a car accident on the way.

  “Walker?” he said.

  I hadn’t answered his question.

  “No,” I said slowly. “Not right now.”

  He nodded. “Then you better go wherever it is you’re needed, don’t you think?”

  My heart was still lodged in my throat as I rushed toward the door, but I paused to set a hand on Max’s shoulder. “Yeah, I think I should.”

  Faith

  “And you don’t remember anything else?” the officer asked.

  Allie smoothed her hand up and down my back. My hands were shaking so hard, and no matter what I did, I couldn’t stop them. I shook my head. We were sitting in a small waiting room at the hospital. My dad was in with Lydia while the doctors X-rayed her arm, which was most likely broken in a couple of places. My eyes welled up again because driving behind her car and having to witness the accident unfold was one of the most terrifying moments of my entire life.

  The sound of metal on metal, the shriek of her brakes, the sound of glass breaking, and my voice screaming her name before I’d even made the decision to … I wanted to park myself in Allie’s embrace and never, ever move.

  I shook my head. “No, I’m sorry. I hardly noticed the car itself because I was so concerned about my sister.”

  The officer, sitting on a chair in front of us, gave me a sympathetic smile. “You’re very fortunate you weren’t in the passenger seat of that vehicle, miss.”

  It was the side that bore the brunt of the impact.

  “I know,” I whispered.

  Allie sniffed loudly, curling her arm around me. “You don’t have to talk about it anymore if you don’t want to.”

  The officer nodded, her eyes softening when she noticed me gripping my hands together so tightly that the skin went translucent. “She’s right. Here’s my card. I want you to call me any time if you think of something else. Anything else.”

  “I will.”

  “Fucking paparazzi,” Allie whispered fiercely. “A girl can’t drive herself down the road without them risking life and limb just to get a picture.”

  The police officer set her hand on my back before she walked away. “It’s hard to witness something like that. Might not be a bad idea to talk to someone if you find it hard to sleep, okay?”

  Dumbly, I nodded.

  Allie’s arm around me was a solid anchor, but in my trembling, adrenaline overload, I just wanted Dominic. Thinking about him was enough to start the tears for the first time since I watched my baby sister swerve off the road and into a massive tree because a psycho with a camera swerved at her.

  “Oh, Faith,” Allie whispered. “Lydia will be okay. She’ll be in a cast for a while, but you know that won’t stop her.”

  “I know.” I swiped at my face. “It’s not even that…” My voice trailed off. “I just want …”

  Allie sighed, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “I know, sweetheart. Big moments like this do a really good job of erasing all the bullshit reasons, don’t they?”

  I glanced up at her. “You think us being separated is bullshit?”

  She shook her head. “Not exactly. I think you were right in asking for some space, and he listened to you, which shows how much you mean to him.”

  “I miss him,” I said. “I wish he was here. I wish … I wish that none of this had happened. And I just met him like a normal girl meets a normal boy.”

  Her smile was soft. “We all have wishes like that. But Faith, the way you met him was exactly right. And I think you’ll find your way back to each other.”

  “Was it wrong to ask him when he thinks he’s going to be ready?”

  Allie smoothed my hair down. “Dominic has impressed me.” She spoke carefully. “I don’t think it would hurt to let him know that you’re still in this.”

  After I nodded, she kissed the top of my head. “If you’re okay, I’m going to go see if they brought your sister back to her room.”

  “Go ahead,” I told her. “I might try to leave him a message while he’s at the game.”

  She smiled. “Good idea.”

  Alone in the alcove, I let my head rest against the wall for a second. Even though I hadn’t physically been in the car when it slammed into the trunk of a hundreds-year-old tree, every muscle ached as if I had. All day, I’d counted down the minutes until the game—seeing him again—and the reality was exactly the kind of discomfort I’d told Dominic he needed to be okay with.

  Before I dug through my purse to find my phone, I made sure that my reasons for reaching out weren’t just to make things easier, make things simpler. I was ready for whatever version of Dominic waited on the other end of the phone call. This wasn’t an action caused by desperation or fear. It was knowing that even if things were uncomfortable for a while, it was still right in the end.

  He was it for me.

  The truth was so, so sweet to admit, to swallow down and let it fill my tired body. Like a lungful of fresh air or a sip of cold water after stumbling through smoke.

  I sat up and tugged my purse onto my lap, but when I sifted my hands through it, my phone wasn’t there. I glanced under the seat and frowned. Rubbing my head, I stood, trying to remember if I’d been on it since arriving at the hospital with Lydia in the ambulance.

  No, because I’d used her phone to call nine-one-one, as I tried to keep her calm and still in the driver’s seat. There was a bag of Lydia’s things in her room, and I turned the corner to see if my cell had been tossed in along with her clothes.

  At the end of the long hallway, the sun glared painfully off the doors when they swung open. I could hardly see from the flare of bright light, but it was his height that had me stopping.

  Then the glimpse of bright white football pants, the black shirt hanging off his muscular shoulders. He sprinted to the nurses’ desk, and even from down the hallway, I heard him bark my name.

  The nurse gave him a stern look but started speaking.

  He tilted his head back, and the look of pure frustration was so clear.

  Dominic had left his first game because he thought I was hurt.

  “Dominic,” I called out.

  He went still for a beat before pivoting in my direction.

  And that big man, with his wonderfully big heart, positively deflated with visible relief. His hand rubbed at his chest, and when he lifted his head, his dark eyes locking on mine, I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to breathe properly again.

  Then he strode toward me. I was moving before I could take another breath.

  A moment later, an eternity since the last time, I was swept into his arms, his face buried into my hair, his arms shaking from how tightly he held me.

  “Oh thank God,” he breathed into the side of my hair. “I thought it was you.”

  I pulled back and cupped his face with my hands. His face was blurry from the tears. “You left the game?”

  “Fuck yes, I did. Are you serious?” Dominic stamped a hard, hot kiss over my mouth, and I sighed happily. He broke away almost as quickly as it began, his forehead pressed against mine. “You’re okay?”

  I nodded, smoothing my hands over his face. “I’m okay. I wa
sn’t in the car with Lydia. She … she broke her arm, but she’ll be okay too.”

  His eyes traced over every inch of my face. We stood like that, my feet dangling in the air while he held me to him as nurses and doctors breezed past us.

  “Faith,” he said, “I am still so fucking impatient. And I don’t always do the right thing. I’ll probably drive you insane sometimes.”

  I breathed out a laugh.

  “But I love you,” he proclaimed with such fervency, I felt it in my bones. “And I will never hurt you like that again. I know you may not be ready yet—”

  I set my hand over his lips. “Hotshot?”

  “Wha?” He spoke against my fingers.

  “You’re exactly who I need you to be,” I whispered. “I don’t need you to be perfect, or be something you’re not. Whatever this version of you is, I want to be right next to you for all of it. Because I’m not perfect either.”

  “The fuck you’re not,” he argued.

  With a laugh, I kissed him again. Dominic moved us back into the quiet alcove and settled himself on a small loveseat. My legs split over his thighs and with my arms wrapped tight around his neck, we sat like that for a few minutes.

  Not kissing.

  Not talking.

  Just breathing each other in.

  After another moment, I pulled back and smiled at him. “I love you too,” I said.

  His eyes warmed. “Took you long enough to admit it.”

  “Someone has to keep you on your toes, you know.”

  Dominic slid his hand along the side of my face until his fingers wove through my hair. “I always want it to be you, sunshine.”

  Slowly, so slowly, he leaned in, sipping sweetly from my bottom lip, until I curled my hands tight around the back of his neck. His tongue was cool and slick against mine when I deepened the kiss. Soon, he was directing my head to the side, the angle of our mouths hot and wet and exactly what I needed after so many days and weeks without him.

  It was enough, the feel of him against me, after the afternoon I’d had, that tears pricked my eyes again. I broke away and took a deep breath, my forehead against his.

  He tucked my hair behind my ear. “Talk to me,” he said, brushing his lips against my cheek as he spoke.

  “Just glad you’re here.” I turned my face to catch his lips again. “I was trying to find my phone to call you, you know?”

  His face softened into a devastating smile. “Were you now?”

  I nodded. “Thirty-four days was my limit, I guess.”

  “Mine too,” he murmured. “It was what I needed, but … still too fucking long.”

  I couldn’t help but smile. “So impatient.”

  “You have no idea.” He stamped a kiss over my mouth. “Do you want to check on your sister before we go?”

  Leaning back, I settled my hands over his broad chest. “Where are we going?”

  “My new apartment.”

  My eyebrows popped up. “Really?”

  Dominic hummed. The way he was staring at me made me squirm on his lap. “It’s got brick. And wood.”

  “Does it?” I giggled.

  “Very, very hard over at my apartment,” he said against my lips. “Can I show you?”

  He stood with me in his arms, and we went down the hallway like that, garnering stares and whispers and giggles as we did.

  “I’ll go anywhere with you, Dominic Walker,” I told him.

  Faith

  Eighteen months later

  I was so nervous I could’ve puked. I’d never been like this for a single game I’d watched in my entire life. Regular season, postseason, not any of the Super Bowls I’d watched Washington play in. And judging by the way Dominic was gripping my hand as I sat next to him in the massive theater, packed with every single elite player in the league, the greats that came before him, he might have been feeling the same way.

  His leg bounced up and down as the next set of announcers strode onto the brightly lit stage. Next to me, Dominic’s mom smoothed a hand down her pretty pink dress, which I’d helped her pick out.

  “You okay?” I whispered.

  She nodded, patting my arm. “Just fine, sweetie. Do you think anyone will notice if I pass out?”

  I laughed quietly. “Nope. Not at all.”

  Dominic’s eyes warmed, watching me talk to his mom. I loved his parents. Like, loved them. And they had been so firmly adopted by the Sutton-Pierson clan that they could never ever leave, no matter what happened with Dominic and me.

  Not that I was letting him go anywhere either. My fingers squeezed his back as the two veteran players bantered on stage, using the teleprompter to introduce the next award.

  Dominic’s chest expanded on a huge inhale. I leaned closer. “I’m so proud of you,” I whispered.

  He turned, catching my mouth in a light kiss. While they moved to the small intro for Dominic’s nomination, he could hardly look at the screen. His mom and I both sniffled quietly, and he wrapped his arm around my shoulders while I did.

  “There’s no crying in football, sunshine.”

  I emitted a watery laugh. “Wrong sport, hotshot.”

  At the mention of Ivy’s favorite movie, he closed his eyes while the presenters opened a huge envelope.

  “And this year’s Walter Payton Man of the Year award goes to…” He paused, eyes scanning the audience. “Dominic Walker.”

  He turned into me while I cried, his arms tight around me. His whole frame shook. Behind me, I heard his mom weeping audibly.

  “I love you so much,” I said into his ear. “And she would be so proud of you.”

  When the man I loved pulled out of my embrace, he wasn’t even trying to hide how overwhelmed he was. He wiped his face and stood while the entire theater got to their feet in a standing ovation. He made his way to the stage, and I clasped his mom’s hand so tightly. From where they sat in the row in front of us, my parents were just as overcome.

  When Dominic accepted handshakes and hugs from the two presenters, I could see how huge his eyes were. He couldn’t believe it.

  While they handed him the award, film played across the massive screen. Pictures of Ivy, footage from her last soccer game, then pictures from the Ivy’s League recipients who’d benefited from the tremendous amount of work he’d done for the past year and a half. The crowd finally quieted as he stepped up to the microphone, the iconic statue in his other hand.

  He blew out a hard breath, eyes finding me in the crowd.

  “I love you,” I mouthed.

  Briefly, Dominic looked down at the floor and then looked back up. “Thank you,” he said in a choked voice. “I, uh, I’m just as shocked as anyone else that they’re actually letting me have a microphone.”

  Laughter rippled through the auditorium. My dad looked back, then slid a handkerchief in my direction with a wink. I wiped under my eyes.

  Dominic cleared his throat, and I knew he was getting his emotions under control. “When I started Ivy’s League, I knew a few things to be true. First, it’s really hard for kids with a rough start to get a leg up. Maybe I’m not the best guy to start something like this, to help young girls with a dream to play, but I’ve met so many incredible female athletes who helped me find the right places to look for kids just like them. Who had a passion and a fire inside them. Some of them have come on board with Ivy’s League, and to them, I’ll be forever grateful for letting me step into the space that they’ve worked in for so long. Together, we’ve been able to put scholarship and mentorship programs in place in middle and high schools across six states, and next year, we’re going to triple that. And second, I know how hard it is to see someone’s dream not come true.” He stopped, his eyes going red. “My sister didn’t live long enough to achieve her dream of becoming a professional soccer player, but if she’d beaten cancer, I can guarantee that she would’ve kicked so much ass doing it.”

  I laughed through my tears.

  “I started Ivy’s League because of her. Because
she couldn’t do the thing she wanted, and if she were here, she’d have bugged me like only a little sister could until I helped as many kids as possible reach their full potential, no matter what financial barriers they face. But I also started it because of one other woman.” His eyes locked onto mine. “Faith, I never would’ve taken this step without you. It scared the hell out of me to try something like this when I was probably the last person anyone expected to take on a project of this magnitude. Your belief in me has never wavered, and because of you, I might come close to being the best man that I can be.”

  There was nothing I could do to stem the flow of tears going down my face. My hand was lying flat against my chest because my heart was so impossibly full I had to make sure it was still beating properly.

  He stuck a hand in his pocket and took a deep breath. “In fact, I was going to do this later, but what the hell.” He turned to the presenters and held out the statue. “Can you hold this for me? I’ll be right back.”

  With my mouth hanging open, I registered the ripple of excited murmurs sweeping through the auditorium as Dominic jogged down the steps off stage and strode back in my direction.

  Then he was in front of me, eyes bright, hands gripping mine. Cameras ran after him because of course they were.

  “What are you doing?” I whispered, just before he gave me a sweet, lingering kiss.

  “Something a little crazy,” he whispered back. Then he got down on one knee and pulled a small black box out of his pants. “You are the only woman I will ever love, Faith Pierson. I don’t know how I got so lucky to find you in this life, but you are it for me.” He opened the box, and under the lights, a simple cushion-cut diamond sparkled beautifully against the black velvet. When he slid it on my finger, it was a perfect fit. His eyes glowed. “Marry me, sunshine?”

  I tugged him up because I needed him against me, needed his arms around me. “Yes,” I breathed against his mouth as he folded me into his strong embrace. “Yes.”

  The place went crazy. As the room filled with raucous applause, yells and cheers and celebration, I curled myself into his arms.

  Dominic kissed me again, and when we finally broke apart, he was grinning widely. “I meant to do that later when we were alone.”