Page 16 of Quarterback Keeper

She grumbled then threw the covers off, somehow flinging them onto me. I tracked her slender form as she went toward the kitchen. I needed to get her—and how we hadn’t agreed on anything other than that we would both stick with the deal until the tragic end—out of my mind.

I showered and got dressed before joining her in the kitchen. She had on one of my practice shirts, which fell to midthigh. Her long, dark hair had that just-fucked look, and it took everything in me not to drag her back to bed. I regretted not negotiating more into our contract.

She lifted a mug to her lips, eyes at half-mast and sexy as hell. “Coffee?”

Fuck my life.“No time.” I needed to keep my head on straight. I had class then practice. Nothing else in the world mattered more than football and my mom’s health. I couldn’t let this girl, or how I wanted to do so many things to her, get in the way of my goals. But we did need to practice touching, since Mom was already suspicious and the whole act was about her happiness. Same with going pro early.

After that last round of bills from her treatment and my dad’s refusal to chip in any more unless I agreed to his demands, I’d finally decided to put off graduating. Once I went pro, wewould be free from relying on Dad’s blackmail to pay for her treatments. “Need a ride?”

“No. I’ll take the bus or, um, maybe call an Uber.”

I kissed the top of her head on the way to the door, inhaling her vanilla and honey scent, then hightailed it out of there, an unsettling feeling chasing me the entire way. How natural kissing her felt was weird as fuck.

School and football were what I needed. Better than thinking about the ridiculousness of my life. I had three classes, and I plowed through them after grabbing a to-go coffee. Practice was next. I entered the spacious locker room to the familiar sounds of guys talking and laughing. I nodded to a few teammates then took my place next to Ares and Liam, who were already inside. I sat on the bench and tied my cleats as Ares tugged his practice jersey over his pads.

Liam took a seat next to me, already dressed. “What’s up with the girl? I saw her early this morning. Is she gonna be a regular thing?”

I glared, irrationally angry that he might have seen her barely dressed. I should have thought about that before I left. His morning class started later than mine. “Yeah, she is.”

“What’s up with that, man? You don’t usually hit a jersey chaser twice.”

“Shut up about her. Not a jersey chaser.” I scrubbed my hands over my face, not liking the complication, but I needed to let them in on the agreement between Gia and me. “I’ll explain later.”

“She took off before we left for class.” Ares leaned against the lockers, his gaze boring into mine.

“Get on the field now!” Coach crossed the locker room on the way to the field, clipboard in hand.

“Thanks, Ares.” I pushed off the bench to my feet and headed out with Ares and Liam.

As soon as we hit the field, my problems faded. It was always like that with football. I warmed up with Liam and Ares. Liam, my go-to wide receiver, ran the new routes, while Ares worked the kinks out of a few trick plays.

I’d met with Coach last week to develop three new plays for our arsenal. Our plays had crazy, varied names that required a lot of memorizing for all of us. On top of homework and watching film to prepare for upcoming games, it took a massive amount of time. I gladly invested everything I had into it, except what I reserved for Mom. Dinners and occasions when she needed help with doctor visits or care after treatments were nonnegotiable and something I’d worked out with Coach—to a degree. He would pull me if I started throwing interceptions or missed connections on the field.

Calvin, the second-string quarterback, fell into step with me. “Don’t listen to what the fans are saying about the Michigan game. You’re a good quarterback.”

Fuck off.I wanted to say it, but that wasn’t how I should lead my team. “I don’t let random comments get to me.”

“That’s good. Especially the ones about your mom. That would get to anyone, but you’re a rock. And that sweet piece the blog sites have a picture of, bet that helps take your mind off everything that’s so far out of your control.”

“Get on the fucking field, Calvin.”

He laughed and jogged to the backup wide receivers to throw the football lobbed to him for a screen play.

Short of punching him, I couldn’t go there with what Calvin had said about Mom, and that wouldn’t help the team or me. It certainly wouldn’t help Mom.

Would a picture of Gia and me out there be so bad?It might get my dad off my back. I threw a few passes, but thoughts of Gia were lodged in my head, which rarely happened on the field. I ground my teeth then overthrew a pass.

“Head in the game,” Liam said under his breath before he took off running a route.

My head was so far from the game. It was stuck on Gia. She was an anomaly, a fucking problem, really. I needed her to be a solution.

When we lined up and scrimmaged, my mind continued to wander—to Gia, my dad’s demands for publicity to help him, and Mom’s health. What I was usually able to block out broke through and screwed with my head. I threw passes short or too long. I mixed up the direction of a new play.

“Wilder!” Coach bellowed from the sideline.

I ground my teeth, yanked off my helmet, and jogged to him.

“What’s going on?” Coach Becket’s mustache worked overtime with the aggressive way he chewed his nicotine gum.

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