Frayed: A Small Town Sports Romance (Willow Springs Series Book 1)

by Laura Pavlov

  “No fucking way,” Jax shouted, leaning over me to high five Shaw.

  “What’s happening?” I asked, my adrenaline pumping as people screamed and cheered even louder.

  “Kong tapped out. Our boy did it.”

  I shook my head with confusion. He’d already played in a lengthy football game tonight. He had to be exhausted. “Why does he do this?”

  “To pay the rent, Addy,” Shaw said, and the look in his eyes told me he was telling the truth. There was a mixture of empathy and pride in his gaze, and my chest squeezed. “Even after playing a kickass game earlier, he can show up here and go three rounds with the best of them.”

  “Come on. Let’s meet him at the back door. This crowd is a little crazy. He needs to get his money and get the hell out of here.” Jax placed a hand on the small of my back, and I looked back to see Coco right behind me. She nodded to let me know she was fine.

  We weaved through the packed warehouse, and Jax continued to push me forward. Once we were in the hallway far from the crowd, we all four walked in a line beside one another. In the dim lighting, I saw Kong surrounded by a few men who assisted him out the back door. Jett stepped through a doorway and made his way toward us.

  “Dude. That was badass. Did Clyde pay you?” Jax asked.

  Jett’s eyes settled on me and I didn’t miss the discomfort there. He nodded. “Yeah. Let’s get out of here.”

  Once we were outside, I sucked in a long breath, allowing the fresh air to fill my lungs.

  “Did you make what you needed?” Shaw asked as we all fell in stride and moved across the parking lot.

  “Yes. And then some. I’ll be able to ride it out for a bit. Then I can bank some coin until football season ends. Should be able to help give her a cushion,” Jett said, staring straight ahead.

  I wondered who he was talking about. Did he have a girlfriend? Or he was giving it all to his mom?

  “Okay, well, good job, Jett. Thanks for letting us tag along.” Coco stopped beside her car and I did the same.

  “Sure. I’ll text you this weekend,” Shaw said.

  “See ya.” Jax waved, and Jett’s gaze locked with mine once again and he nodded.

  We slipped into Coco’s car and headed to my house.

  “Who do you think he gives the money to?” I asked as curiosity got the best of me.

  “Shaw said it’s for his mom and grandmother. I guess the diner has been really slow and his grandma has a bunch of medical bills that they’re behind on.”

  “I can’t believe he fights to help his mom. Wow.” I shook my head. We were a bunch of spoiled rich kids. I never had to think about money. We’d always had plenty and I’d never wanted for much. I thought it was honorable that Jett would do whatever he could to help his mother, who I happened to like a lot. Jett’s mom, Mae, worked at the diner in town, where the girls and I ate every weekend. She was the kindest lady, and we’d always chat about school and life. So even though it was probably wrong to keep secrets from Alec, I didn’t feel bad about this one. I knew my boyfriend well enough to know that he’d use it against Jett and that wouldn’t be fair.

  I waved to Coco and climbed through my window, leaving the lights off in my room. I slipped back into my pajama tank and shorts and climbed into bed. I couldn’t stop thinking about that fight. I doubted I’d get much sleep. I reached for my phone beside my bed and pulled up Jett’s number. He’d given it to me today, and after Shaw mentioned Jett’s concern about me telling Alec, I wanted him to know that he didn’t need to worry. It wasn’t my secret to tell. I typed out a quick text.

  Me ~ Hey. I just wanted to let you know that I won’t say a word about tonight to anyone. I didn’t want you to worry about it.

  I hit send and stared at my phone, chewing on my thumbnail when the three little dots popped up.

  Jett ~ Thanks. Why the fuck do I have 23 texts from Sherman?

  I covered my mouth with my hand to muffle my laughter.

  Me ~ Two of those are my responses so technically he only sent 21 messages. I guess he’s a curious guy. LOL.

  Jett ~ Jesus. All right. Get some sleep, Ace. This is a late night for you, huh?

  Me ~ It’s senior year. I’m living on the edge. Good job at the fight. Good night.

  The text showed as read, and I dropped my phone on my nightstand and closed my eyes, willing sleep to take me.

  “Where you going, Ladybug?” Daddy had called me by the silly name since I was a little girl.

  “A group of us are going out to the lake. I’ll be home for dinner though.”

  “I thought you and Mama were going dress shopping?” he asked. Homecoming was in two weeks, and I still hadn’t found a dress I liked.

  I chuckled. “That’s tomorrow. But look at you, Daddy. You’re all in the know about what’s going on.” I wrapped one arm around his waist and gave him a half squeeze.

  “Hey, I’ve been told I need to keep up, so this is me keeping up.”

  “Well, I hope you can keep up with me on our run,” Clementine said as she entered the kitchen.

  “You still want to do that?” Daddy moaned.

  “Daddy-kins. I’m on the cross-country team and our coach doesn’t spend any time training the girls and he barely gives me the time of day because I’m a freshman. I want to stand out.”

  My father nodded and I laughed. “You’re right, Clem. Let’s do this.”

  Mama entered the kitchen looking like a Lilly Pulitzer clothing ad. Her dark hair was pulled back in a twist, and she wore a baby blue and pink shift dress and heels. “Alec’s on his way to pick you up. Make sure you wear sunscreen. Tan lines will not look good in your homecoming photos.”

  I rolled my eyes once I knew she couldn’t see me as she buzzed around the kitchen. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Don’t get an attitude with me, Adelaide Charlotte. You’ll thank me for saving your skin when you’re older and for making sure your photos look good.” Mama grabbed the orange juice from Daddy’s hand and reached for a glass. He wiped his mouth to hide the fact that he’d just chugged right from the bottle. She filled the glass and handed it to him, before tucking the juice back in the fridge and kissing his cheek.

  My parents had been together forever. And just like Alec and me, they’d been friends when they were young and then they’d started dating. Mama said it was a fairy tale that all girls wished for.

  “And when you two get home from your run, you head straight for the showers. It’s a humid day out and I won’t have my house smelling like sweat.” Her gaze bounced between my father and sister.

  “Have you ever even broken a sweat?” Clem asked, and Daddy laughed, which caused my mother to frown at both of them.

  “I sweat when I do yoga and when I play tennis. Let me tell you what I don’t do. I don’t come home and sit on the nice sofa until after I’ve showered.”

  The doorbell rang and I was thankful for the reprieve.

  “Sunscreen, Addy. And be safe. Keep tomorrow open for dress shopping. We’re down to the wire.”

  “Okay.” I jogged to the door and pushed Alec back when he started to step inside. “Trust me. She’s on a sweating is bad and no-tan-lines allowed in your homecoming dress kick. You do not want to go in there.”

  Alec chuckled. “Got it.”

  “How was football practice? Only a few more games, huh? Are you ready to be done?” I asked as we slipped into the car.

  “Yeah. I’m tired of my dad riding my ass. He isn’t nearly as involved in basketball. And I’ll have my girl cheering for me again, so I can’t complain.” Alec glanced over at me and smiled. He had the most perfect dimple on his right cheek, and his light blue eyes sparkled when they locked with mine.

  “I’ll always cheer for you. Do you ever think about playing football or basketball in college? I know a lot of the guys on the team are getting recru
ited. I’m sure you could too, if you wanted to.” He pulled up to a stoplight and reached over to place a hand on my thigh.

  “Nah. My dad says I need to make good grades to prepare for law school, and God knows they aren’t good right now, so I’ll need to up my game for sure. Plus, I want to have some fun in college too.” He winked. “I’m glad we’ll be going to school together.”

  “Me too. I just can’t decide if I should live in the dorms and have a little bit of the college experience, or live at home, which is what Mama thinks I should do.” I placed my hand on top of his.

  “I cannot live at home for another minute after we graduate. You know I love my family, but Dad and I are at each other’s throats and I want to have some fun.”

  “Do you ever think about going anywhere else? Farther from home? We could apply other places.”

  “My father would lose his shit if I didn’t go where he went. You know how he gets. And I don’t really have the grades at this point to go anywhere better than State. And we’ll be together, so it’s a perfect fit. It’s a decent school, close to Willow Springs, so you can live at home if you don’t want to live on campus, and we’ll both be there. I heard the teaching program is really good.”

  I nodded. I don’t know who decided I wanted to be a teacher or when that happened, but everyone talked about it like I’d had this lifelong dream of being an educator. I hadn’t. My mother suggested it, and everyone just took that as the truth.

  “Sometimes I don’t know if I want to be a teacher. I mean, I love writing. I wouldn’t mind doing something with that.” I glanced over and he smiled.

  “If you want to write, Addy, you should do it. You don’t have to teach if that’s not your dream. You know I’ll support whatever you want to do.”

  I nodded. “Yeah. I know you will.”

  “But teaching would be a great job when we start a family. Although once I’m an attorney, I think I’d prefer you to stay home with the kids anyway, so it doesn’t really matter what you decide to do for now. I never went to daycare and I don’t think I’d like our kids being raised by strangers.”

  I nodded. His words rubbed me wrong. I was a seventeen-year-old virgin who’d lived in one place her entire life. I wasn’t ready to think about daycare. Between Mama and Alec, they had the rest of my life figured out, and it didn’t sound all that exciting to me at the moment.

  “Are all the girls meeting us at the lake?” he asked.

  “Yep. And Hayden and Ty are coming, right?”

  “Yeah. I think Hayden’s going to throw the after-party for homecoming. His parents are going out of town.”

  Coco had been working on the after-party for weeks. It was our senior year, and she did not want us to end up out at a bonfire on the lake in our homecoming gowns the way we had every year before now.

  “That sounds good. And Karina can’t hang on you if I’m there, right?”

  We’d argued over the fact that I’d heard she’d been all over him several weeks ago, and he’d apologized profusely and swore nothing happened. I believed Alec. He wasn’t a liar or a cheat. We’d been broken up when he’d been with Karina, and I couldn’t fault him that, though I hadn’t been happy about the breakup in the first place.

  “I’ve made it very clear to her that you and I are together. You have nothing to worry about there.”

  I nodded. I wasn’t the jealous type, but it bothered me that I had so many insecurities when it came to Alec and Karina. That wasn’t me, and I didn’t like how it made me feel. Was I just being jealous, or were these warning bells?

  “She loves to get under my skin at cheer. She brings your name up at practice in conversation, knowing it bothers me. It shouldn’t really. What you had with her was nothing. I just hate that she’s shared something with you that I haven’t.”

  He parked the car down by the water where we were meeting everyone. I could see a group of people already down there when I glanced through the windshield.

  “One time, Addy. That’s the only time it ever happened. I regret it so much. I lost my mind when we were apart. And I want our first time to be special, because you deserve that. What Karina and I had was nothing. Honestly. I try not to think about it. Because I love you. Only you.” He leaned forward, pulling me over the console and settling me on his lap, shifting me so one leg fell on each side of him.

  He placed a hand on my cheek and he studied me. “You believe me, don’t you?”

  “Of course. I just think, I don’t know. Maybe you strayed because you wanted something that I wasn’t giving you. Maybe it’s time. I think I’m ready.”

  He smiled and tangled his hands in my hair. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to rush it because of what happened with Karina. I’m not in a hurry, baby. I love you. We have forever together.”

  I could feel his desire grow beneath me, and I ground up against him. Alec and I had made out more times than I could count. But we’d never taken things further. I’d never felt the need to rush it. I wondered if something was wrong with me, that I didn’t feel that physical need to take the next step.

  “I love you.”

  “Love you more, baby.” His mouth crashed into mine and we sat there kissing in the parking lot down by the water for a few minutes before Hayden pounded on the window. I jumped off his lap as heat crept up the back of my neck with embarrassment.

  Alec laughed. “Come on. Let’s go join the party.”

  “What were you two doing in there?” Hayden’s voice was all tease when we stepped out of the car.

  I rolled my eyes and laughed. “Why are you being a creeper?”

  He tilted his head and chuckled. “Oh, I’m a creeper now? I was actually looking for you. What’s the deal with Coco and Shaw? Is she going to homecoming with him? I was planning to ask her, but I see she’s always hanging out with him at school lately.”

  My chest squeezed. Coco was definitely into Shaw these days, and I knew Hayden liked her as more than friends. Shaw hadn’t asked her yet, but she wanted him to.

  “I think she is planning to go with him. But don’t you worry, I will find you a date.” I smiled up at him and Alec squeezed my hand as we made our way down to the water.

  “Thanks, Addy,” he said with a shrug. Hayden was gorgeous and there was a slew of girls who would die to go to homecoming with him.

  Alec wrapped an arm around me and pulled me close. “You’re the bomb, Adelaide Edington.”

  I looked up to see him staring down at me with so much adoration, and I couldn’t hide the smile on my face.

  It was a perfect day with my perfect guy.

  Chapter Four

  Jett

  It was homecoming week, which meant a lot of extra shit to add to the list of things I didn’t feel like doing. I sat out on the hammock at my favorite spot on the lake after practice and just chilled. I liked to come out here when I needed to think and clear my head of all the noise. Tomorrow was a big game. We’d be playing our toughest competition in the state for homecoming, and everyone and their mother would be at the game. There were several recruiters coming, and the coach from TU had messaged to let me know he’d be there.

  I’d asked Jessica Hall to homecoming—scratch that, Jessica had asked me about going together three times before Shaw and Jax convinced me to say yes. It wasn’t that I didn’t like the girl. She was fine. I wasn’t looking for a girlfriend, because attachments made you weak. And Jessica was a hookup for me, nothing more. Taking her to a dance made it feel like it was more than it was, and I didn’t want to give her the wrong idea. I’d never attended a school dance before now, but my two best friends claimed it was something that we should at least do once in our lives.

  My guess was that Shaw just wanted to go with Coco, and he’d convinced Jax to take some chick he’d been hooking up with since school started, and then he’d gone to work on me.

 
; I moved toward the water, skipping a rock across the lake. The sun was just going down and I took in all the old cypress trees surrounding me. The most vibrant reds and yellows and oranges decorated the trees, letting us know that fall was here. It was my favorite time of year. A peacefulness existed out here on the lake, that I’d never found anywhere else. Coach had called practice early so we could rest up for the game, and I was grateful to get a few minutes out here alone before it was too dark.

  I was ready for tomorrow. Hell, I’d been preparing for this my entire life. This was my ticket out of here, and nothing was going to get in the way of that. I walked back to my bike and drove around the corner to my house. My mom was at the stove cooking and I could see Gram asleep on the couch in the next room. This was a typical night at my house.

  “Hey, Ma.” I kissed her cheek.

  “How was practice?” she asked. “Wash up. Dinner’s almost ready.”

  I stopped at the kitchen sink, my hip bumping hers in the small space. We lived in a little shack just a few blocks from the lake. Our home resided on the side of Willow Springs that was not touristy, which I actually preferred. I had a spot that was just mine, which would never happen on the busy part of the lake where the larger homes in town stood.

  My mom and my grandmother did what they could to make this dump presentable. But since Gram had been off work since her breathing issues had worsened these past few years, money was tight. What started as a mild condition had turned into a shitty case of COPD, and Gram had suffered from pneumonia the past two years as well, which had put her in the hospital.

  We had rent covered for the next two months, so I could focus on football. After that, I’d start picking up a few fights once the season ended.

  “It was good. We went over the plan and it sounds like Coach is going to let me pass to Jax and Shaw as much as I pass to Alec.” I rolled my eyes and filled our glasses with water as Mom scooped pasta onto our plates. “Ty has been playing really good too, so we’re going to try to pass him the ball tomorrow.”