Intended for Bristol Read online

  Derek hooked a finger my way. “Reed here draws too, but he designs cars and motorcycles.”

  Eyes wide, Cooper turned to me. “Really? I never would’ve guessed.”

  I laughed. “Not many do. To everyone else, I’m just a dick.”

  Derek cleared his throat. “Can’t argue with you there,” he replied teasingly. He then focused on Kate. “What about you? Are you ever coming back to the team?”

  “Of course,” she said. “I love you guys to death. Andrew’s just going to have to do it solo for a while.”

  Andrew Sawyer was our other team physician. He was good at what he did, but the guys always wanted Kate to tend to them. I had to admit, when she first started working for the team, I made it a point to see her frequently. That was, until Cooper came to the team and staked his claim.

  Derek stood and shook Cooper’s hand. “All right, bro, I think we’re going to head out. I gotta get home to my wife.”

  Cooper chuckled. “Sounds good. Tell Hayden we said hello.”

  “Speaking of Hayden,” Kate cut in. She set her son in his playpen and hurried out of the room. When she came back, she had a handful of pictures. “Since you just got married a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t know if you had a chance to get your wedding pictures printed, so I went ahead and got some made for you.”

  Derek accepted them and smiled. “Thanks, guys. We really appreciate this. I’m sure we’ll get around to getting our own printed, but it’s been a hectic month.”

  As much as I wanted to feel like I fit in, it was hard to. Derek and Cooper were married and I was still the forever bachelor who liked to fuck a different girl every week. It was what made me different from them. I didn’t give a shit about marriage or finding the right woman. I was happy doing my thing.

  Looking at one of the photos, Derek slapped me on the arm and burst out laughing. “Holy shit, dude, is this the girl you said you fucked in the bathroom that night?”

  Groaning, I glanced down at the picture. It was me, dressed in a tux, dancing with a tall redhead in a short green dress. I had no clue what her name was and I was so drunk at the time, all I could remember was laying her over the sink and fucking her from behind.

  “Yep, that’s her,” I said uneasily. “I don’t remember much from that night.”

  “Well, at least you stayed sober enough to be a decent groomsman.” Derek laughed. It was the first wedding party I’d ever been in, but I couldn’t tell Derek or Hayden no.

  “Okay, that’s enough about me.” I nodded at Cooper. “Hope the leg gets better soon.”

  Cooper waved. “Thanks, man. Good luck this season.” The Cougars were going to need all the luck they could muster.

  Chapter 2

  Bristol

  “About ready to call it a day, Ms. Thomas?” Mrs. Blanton asked, peeking her head through my door. She was in her late sixties, with white hair that she always kept up in bun. I had to say she was probably the best receptionist around, and luckily, nowhere close to retiring. Our boss, Galen Matthews, would probably go insane if she ever did.

  “Almost.” I laughed, lifting my gaze to hers. It was getting late in the afternoon, but I had a lot of work to do.

  “Okay, dear. I just wanted you to know I’m about to head out for the day. Is there anything you need from me?”

  I waved her off. “Not at all, go. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Her smile brightened. “Okay, but I know you’re excited about tomorrow.”

  My focus landed on the picture of me and Ryan on my desk. I couldn’t wait to see him; he was moving here from Texas to take his place as quarterback for the Carolina Cougars. “Very excited,” I replied. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen Ryan. I’ve missed him so much.”

  “And I’m sure he’s missed you. But I must say, M&M has been lucky to have you.”

  M&M Architectural Design was the most prestigious company on both the East and West coasts. “And I’m lucky to have this company,” I said.

  When I graduated college, my main goal was to work for M&M. Starting out at the top was a stretch, but I was ambitious enough to believe I could do it. So after I finished school, I put in my application and waited. I’d won various awards in local magazines in Texas and even one in California. Most of the stuff I’d done was on the West Coast, so I knew Mr. Matthews hadn’t heard of me. Fortunately, a co-worker at the West Coast office had and passed my name on to him along with my résumé. My first choice would have been to work at the California office, but there were no openings there. The North Carolina one was a lot farther away from home, but I knew the opportunity would never arise again to work for such an amazing place. In the end, I took the job a year ago and have not regretted it one bit.

  Mrs. Blanton smiled and waved. “Be safe going home tonight, child.”

  I waved back. “Thank you. You too.”

  She gently shut my door and I went back to my pictures of a house on which I had to do a complete remodel. My client, Georgia Lowery, was a divorcée who wanted no trace of her ex-husband in her house whatsoever. She gave me the complete reins on the project and I was excited about it. It was a lot of work, but I welcomed it. Ever since I moved to Charlotte, I hadn’t had time to go out and make new friends, but luckily, there were several girls my age in the architectural department who I went out with from time to time.

  “Bristol?”

  Mr. Matthews’s voice came over the intercom on my phone and I jumped. “Yes, Mr. Matthews?”

  “Good, I’m glad I caught you before you left. Do you mind coming to my office for a minute?”

  “Uh-oh, I’m not in trouble, am I?” The words came out so fast I couldn’t stop them. One good thing about Mr. Matthews was that he wasn’t much older than me and he had a sense of humor.

  He chuckled in response. “No, you’re not in trouble.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. “Awesome. I’ll be right there.” My office was on the side of the building opposite his, with an amazing view of downtown Charlotte. My phone was filled with pictures of the skyline during sunset. I’d never seen anything so beautiful.

  Straightening my skirt, I made sure to look presentable before going to his office. After sitting at my desk for hours, it was hard to keep my clothes wrinkle-free. His door was shut when I arrived, so I knocked.

  “Come in,” he called out.

  I opened the door to see him standing there with his tie disheveled and his shirt untucked. I didn’t feel so bad about my skirt being wrinkled. “Long day?” I asked, wishing I’d learned to keep my mouth shut. He could totally hear the assumption in my voice and laughed.

  “How can you tell?” he asked, lifting his amused gaze to mine.

  I pointed at his clothes. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you not look perfect.”

  Grabbing his tie, he slid it off and tossed it on his desk. “That’s because it’s after five o’clock and my vacation starts now.” Galen Matthews was a good-looking man with ash-blond hair and bright blue eyes. Mrs. Matthews was a very lucky woman. Her name was Korinne and she was an interior designer just like me. They were college sweethearts who’d separated for a few years and then found their way back to each other. I loved hearing Korinne tell me stories about it. I was a hopeless romantic at heart.

  “Vacation? I didn’t know you were going anywhere,” I replied.

  He filtered through the papers on his desk. “I am—that’s why I wanted to talk to you.” He searched a little more and found what he was looking for. “Ah, here it is. Korinne gave me this earlier and I meant to ask you then, but time slipped away from me. I know it’s last minute, but do you think you’d be able to meet with these clients next week while we’re gone?”

  I took the paper and there were four people on the list, along with their phone numbers and appointment dates. “I don’t mind at all. I’d be happy to.”

  He breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Bristol. I’m sorry to throw this on you, but we decided to take a last-minute vacation
. It’s more like a celebration.”

  “Oh yeah? For what?”

  His eyes lit up and I could practically see him glowing. “Korinne’s pregnant again.”

  I gasped and clapped a hand over my mouth. “Oh my goodness, congratulations. I know this is huge for you two.”

  He nodded. “Exactly. That’s why we wanted to get away for a few days.”

  Korinne had confided in me during our lunch breaks about how she was told she couldn’t have kids. Then when she reunited with Galen she got pregnant with their oldest, and now they were being blessed with another one.

  “I’m really excited for you both,” I said happily. “Please tell Korinne congratulations for me.”

  “I will. Now go home—it’s getting late.” It was, but I still had a lot to do. Looked like my work was going home with me.

  Chapter 3

  Jaxon

  Morning had arrived and I dreaded the thought of what was to come for our team. I wished the higher-ups knew what a fucking mistake it was to bring Ryan “the Fuckhead” Delaney to our team. When I strolled into the locker room, I could feel the tension. Half of our team was excited for the new quarterback and the other was pissed; that’s the half where I belonged. Blaine McCarthy snarled at me as I walked past and I flipped him off. He was one of our wide receivers but nowhere near as good as Evan. Being a dick was how he compensated. Many could say I was the same way, but I was just naturally an ass. Survival of the fittest was what my father always taught me. He was a survivor until he died of a heart attack two years ago. It was right after he found out my mother had pancreatic cancer.

  Derek and Evan were already prepared for practice and were talking to Samson and Aaron Grainger, our punter. Aaron was the only teammate besides Derek who I hung out with on a regular basis. Not only did I train with him every day with our kicking coach, but he was also dating Hayden’s best friend.

  “When do you think Delaney will get here?” Samson asked.

  Everyone looked at the young quarterback and I almost felt sorry for the guy. “Hopefully, never,” I grumbled.

  “Seriously,” Aaron agreed. “I can’t believe anyone would want that arrogant prick on our team. He’ll make us look bad.”

  Derek slapped him on the shoulder. “No, he won’t. We’ll just have to take him down a few notches.”

  Then, Evan, the voice of all reason, spoke up, but he had his glare on me. “Guys, let’s not do anything stupid. Delaney may be a dick, but we have to give him a chance. Now come on, we need to get out to the field.” Samson and Aaron followed him out of the locker room while I stayed behind with Derek. He leaned against the lockers with a smirk on his face.

  “You noticed he looked straight at me, right?” I laughed.

  He shrugged. “He’s just trying to keep the morale up. But I know he’ll go head-to-head with Delaney if he has to; we all will.”

  I shoved my bag into my locker and started for the door. “I just want to start winning again. We’re not going to be in the NFL forever. The last thing I want is to go out knowing we were on the worst team in the league.”

  Coach Joel nodded at us as we walked past his office and I had no clue if he heard me or not. The same thought had to be on his mind as well. “Dude, that’s not going to happen,” Derek replied. “The team is more than just the quarterback. We’ll make it back to the top.”

  Once we were outside, he took off toward the rest of the guys while I ventured over to Aaron and Drake Caulfield, our specialist coach. While Aaron and I had similar positions on the team, they were also quite different. Aaron was a punter, who receives the snapped ball directly from the line of scrimmage and then punts it to the opposing team to limit any field position advantage. I was a field goal kicker. My job was to make sure to get those extra points no matter the circumstances.

  “All right, boys, you know the drill,” Drake called out. “After your three miles we’ll get to work.” Coach Joel walked out onto the field and Drake rushed over to him while Aaron and I stretched.

  The morning air was humid, which almost made it hard to breathe. So much for yesterday’s cool breeze. I was used to the humidity, though. Being from Tampa, one of the nation’s most humid spots, definitely prepped me for my time in the Carolinas. Once Aaron and I were warmed up and stretched, we took off for the track.

  “Think we’ll be ready for the game this Sunday?” he asked.

  Sweat dripped down my forehead and I wiped it away. “Fuck if I know. I guess we’ll find out.” We quickly finished our three miles and joined Drake by the sidelines. Drake was around forty years old and a former kicker for Pittsburgh. He ran a hand over his shaved head, keeping his gaze on ours.

  “Why don’t we switch it up a bit today? Reed, I want you to practice punting, and Grainger, I want you working on field goals. That way if either one of you were to get hurt we’d have a decent backup. We don’t want the clusterfuck of what happened to Cooper.”

  Aaron and I glanced at each other, completely in agreement. Drake tossed me a football and we took to the field. “I’ll snap the ball to you so you can punt,” Aaron offered. However, before we could even begin, a figure to my left caught my attention. Walking out onto the field, suited up and dressed, was none other than Ryan fucking Delaney.

  “Here we go,” I whispered. Coach Joel and Drake hurried over to him, and they talked for a few minutes while everyone stood still.

  “Think we should join the team for the introductions?” Aaron suggested.

  “Yeah, let’s go.”

  We walked over to where Derek and Evan were and waited silently. Once Joel was done talking to Ryan, they strolled over. “Boys, this is Ryan Delaney, our new quarterback. We have a lot of work to do for our game against Seattle. There will be plenty of time to converse later. Ryan,” Joel said, flourishing his hand to the field, “let’s see what you got.”

  “Gladly,” Ryan agreed with an arrogant smirk. “All right, team, get in formation.”

  “And I don’t like him already,” Derek mumbled low. Aaron and I moved out of the way to our end of the field and watched the others. Drake kept yelling at us to get to work, but I had to see how the fucker played with our guys. McCarthy made sure to talk to him a lot and that pissed me off more than anything. The last thing we needed was for those two to band together; it would be an all-out war.

  “Come on, Reed!” Aaron shouted. He had a bucket of footballs on the ground, ready to go. I got into position and waited for him to snap the ball to me. Being a kicker, I never had to actually catch the ball, but it was second nature to me. I caught it effortlessly and punted the ball across the field to the end zone. In high school, I played two positions, kicker and wide receiver. I liked both, but the NFL felt I was more valuable as a kicker.

  “That was good,” Aaron praised.

  “Thanks.” I worked through the whole basket of footballs, and now it was my turn to help him with field goals. Aaron was pretty good at it, but his aim was unpredictable. Drake gave us another bucket of footballs and stood back. Usually, when I kicked the field goals, it was Aaron who held the ball in place. Now, it was my turn to do it for him. He’d once kicked my hand, resulting in a broken finger, but luckily, he hadn’t done that in months.

  Grabbing a ball, I held it in place and nodded to Aaron. He focused on the field goal and then down at the ball, his chest rising and falling rapidly. It was an adrenaline rush being in the game and knowing the fate of the kick could land the win; it was scary, but exhilarating. Aaron rushed toward the ball and kicked. It went soaring through the air and hit the side of the pole, but in the end, it went through.

  “That sucked ass!” he shouted.

  I got to my feet. “You still made it, though. Just keep practicing.”

  “Again!” Drake hollered, waving his hand impatiently in the air. Grabbing another ball, I started to kneel down, but then turned my focus to the other side of the field. I couldn’t help but be curious about how the others were faring with douchebag
Delaney. The ball snapped to him and he was looking for someone to throw it to, but Evan couldn’t get open. Time stood still as I watched Derek charge toward Delaney and sack him.

  Aaron and I chuckled under our breaths, but then something happened that I wasn’t expecting. Blaine McCarthy rushed toward Derek and tackled him from behind. “Motherfucker,” I growled. All hell broke loose.

  It was team against team, the tension finally exploding. Aaron and I raced into the fray, but I headed straight for McCarthy. Tackling Derek from behind was a dirty move. Even I wouldn’t have stooped that low. There were fights everywhere and I could see Evan trying to get to Derek, but I was closer. Lunging in the air, I grabbed McCarthy around the waist and hurled him onto the ground. Derek jumped up and ripped off his helmet, but he was too late. McCarthy was mine and I wasn’t going to let him get away with what he did. Jerking McCarthy’s helmet off, I punched him right in the jaw, not just once but twice.

  “What the fuck is going on?” Coach Joel shouted. He jerked me away from McCarthy and glared at me. “Why is it that every time there’s a fight you’re right in the middle of it?”

  Everyone separated and focused their attention on us. And of course, I was getting the blame, like always. For the first time, it wasn’t for something I’d instigated. Snarling, I pointed a finger at McCarthy. “Maybe if dickface over there wouldn’t have attacked D from behind, I wouldn’t be in this shit.”

  He didn’t look like he believed me until Evan spoke up with a venomous glare focused right on Blaine. “He’s right, Coach. When D sacked Delaney, McCarthy went after him and attacked him from behind. If Jax hadn’t separated them, it would’ve been me. And frankly, I wouldn’t have stopped at just two punches.” Evan was pissed. One thing I noticed about him was that he was protective of his friends. It was strange, because I’d never felt like that until just recently. I never gave a shit about anyone or anything but myself.

  Joel huffed and glared at all of us. “Get your shit together, boys.” Then he pointed angrily at Blaine. “If you so much as cause one more problem, your ass will be on the sidelines.”