Dirty Quarterback: A Secret Baby Sports Romance (Blitz Book 1) Read online

  Dirty Quarterback

  A Secret Baby Sports Romance

  S.J. Bishop

  Contents

  Prologue

  Part 1

  1. Ava - 3 Years Later

  2. Carter

  3. Ava

  4. Carter

  5. Ava

  6. Carter

  7. Ava

  8. Carter

  9. Ava

  10. Carter

  Part 2

  11. Carter

  12. Ava

  13. Carter

  14. Ava

  15. Carter

  16. Ava

  17. Carter

  18. Ava

  19. Carter

  20. Ava

  Part 3

  21. Ava

  22. Carter

  23. Ava

  24. Carter

  25. Ava

  26. Carter

  27. Ava

  28. Ava

  29. Ava

  30. Carter

  Part 4

  31. Carter

  32. Ava

  33. Carter

  34. Ava

  35. Carter

  36. Ava

  37. Carter

  38. Ava

  39. Carter

  40. Ava

  41. Carter

  Part 5

  42. Ava

  43. Carter

  44. Ava

  45. Carter

  46. Ava

  47. Carter

  48. Ava

  49. Carter

  50. Ava

  51. Ava

  Epilogue

  Personal Note

  Drop Kicked - Excerpt

  Copyright © 2016 S.J. Bishop, All rights reserved.

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  I dedicate this book to you, my reader.

  Prologue

  I watched Carter from a distance and nudged Hannah. "Your brother looks..." I was about to say "good" or maybe even "amazing," but then I realized how that would probably sound and settled for "healthy," which just sounded lame. Luckily, Hannah was too preoccupied with our graduation to notice my cheeks flush.

  "Hey guys," Carter said when he’d finally zigzagged his way through the crowd. "Congrats, little sister. You’re a free woman." He beamed at us and kissed Hannah’s cheek. After a pause, he leaned in and kissed mine too. No one thought anything of it, not even our parents. Hannah and I had grown up together. Carter had always been like the big brother that I never had.But when he kissed me, me cheeks burned a bright red. The spot where his lips had touched me was on fire.

  "You’re coming to the party later, right?" Hannah asked. Carter nodded. Phil Baxter’s graduation party had been the talk of Dover Chase High for the last six months. He’d gone all out. A band, caterers, the whole nine yards.

  "Good," Hannah exclaimed, then wrapped her arm around me, yanking me away. "Come on," she said, "we’ve gotta get ready."

  "The party’s not till six." Hannah looked confused. "It’s only noon," I told her.

  "Yeah," Hannah said. "But there’s hair and makeup and I need to check your dress. Did you get that blue one I told you to?"

  I nodded and sighed. I should have known better. Between the two of us, Hannah had always been the one who cared about the girly stuff. I would have preferred to spend the next few hours lounging on my parents’ patio and going through the stuff Harvard had sent me. Three months from now, I’d officially be a student at Harvard Medical School, and my dreams would be on their way to becoming a reality.

  "What are you thinking about?" Hannah asked. She knew me too well not to recognize I was a million miles away.

  "Just about where we’re going. I can’t believe you and I are splitting up."

  "I know. Boston and Los Angeles... we couldn’t get any further apart, could we?"

  I felt my eyes tear up then Hannah couldn’t stop hers from tearing up too. "It doesn’t matter," Hannah said. "I’ll call you every day. And soon I’ll be a famous actress with tons of money and I can come visit you whenever you have time to spare for me."

  "I’ll always have time to spare for you."

  "Tell me that again in five months when you’re in the middle of dissecting a human body or whatever it is you freaky med students do."

  I laughed as Hannah steered us towards her house.

  Hours later, we emerged from Hannah’s room looking like we’d just stepped out of the pages of a magazine. I had to admit—I’d never felt so glamorous. As we walked down the stairs, I felt Carter’s eyes fall on me.

  "Wow," he said. I felt the blood rush to my cheeks.

  "Pick your jaw up," Hannah said, pinching her brother. She was beaming though. She’d gone to a lot of trouble to make sure I—who normally preferred to wear comfy clothes and flats—looked like a supermodel.

  "You guys ready?" Carter asked, and I saw he was blushing too.

  "Any time you are," Hannah replied.

  The three of us got into his car and drove to Phil Baxter’s house. It was already filled with people by the time we got there. "Oh! I see Bobby!” Hannah exclaimed. “I’ve gotta go talk to him. I might never see him again after tonight!" She ran off, leaving me alone with Carter.

  He glanced at me sideways. I kept my eyes trained to the ground, afraid to make eye contact, knowing that one look would betray my desire. I must just be imagining that Carter was looking at me. But my heart began to palpitate anyways. Why did he smell so good?

  "Want a drink?" he asked.

  "Sure."

  I just couldn’t understand why my heart was pounding like this. I’d known Carter forever. Yet somehow, tonight, his golden hair and tanned skin seemed to sizzle whenever I got near him.

  He got us both some punch and I inhaled it and realized it was spiked. I’d never had any alcohol and my head was light in seconds. I started giggling.

  "That’s good. Can I have another?" I handed my cup to Carter, who promptly refilled it.

  "Wanna take a walk?" I asked. Carter nodded. We strolled into the night. Phil’s house was near the edge of the Allegheny River. We walked to its shore and sat under a giant tree that seemed to engulf us in darkness. I sighed and leaned back against Carter’s chest, feeling braver thanks to the punch. I could feel his breath quicken.

  "Ava," he said. I turned to him and realized how close we were. Our lips were almost touching. I didn’t know who was responsible for what happened next—did I kiss him first or did he kiss me? —but suddenly our mouths were pressed together and our bodies were entwined.

  I’d never done anything like this before. My heart thudded in my chest as I ripped away Carter’s clothes. I didn’t know whether it was the night itself or the excitement of graduation, but when our bodies fit together as one, I knew magic was real, and it was right here in Dover Chase.

  Part I

  1

  Ava - 3 Years Later

  I leaned back against the kitchen wall and closed my eyes. My head was throbbing.

  "Don’t let Mr. Brewster see you do that," Terri warned.

  I opened my eyes again and started moving.

  "You okay?" Terri asked.

  "Fine," I said. "Just tired. I pulled a double last night at Y-Mart."

  Terri shook her head sympathetically. "I don’t know how you do it. I can barely handle one job, let alone two."

  "Hey, Ava!" Johnny called from the back. "Order’s up."

  "Thanks," I said, grabbing the food and setting it on the tray. I walked over to my table and smiled as a five-year-old from hell sucked up a straw full of soda and spit it at me. His par
ents, no doubt the cause of this monster, apologized but clearly thought it was funny. I wanted to smack the kid and the parents, but laughed along with them. I really needed a good tip. As soon as I could, I all but ran to the back to wash the child’s spit-laced soda off of my face. But I couldn’t do much about the stain forming on my uniform.

  I took a deep breath and checked my watch. My shift at Piccadilly’s was almost over, and I was actually looking forward to going to Y-Mart. Well, that may have been an overstatement. What I was looking forward to was the lack of people who came into Y-Mart during the night shift. At least I wouldn’t have to contend with children spitting at me. I didn’t understand parents like that either. Lily was only three, but if she had done anything like that while I was out with her, I would have been mortified.

  "Hi, Ava," I heard a man’s voice behind me.

  "Oh, hi, Myron." He beamed at me and I darted back into the kitchen. Myron was nice enough, but sometimes it was frustrating the way he was always following me around. It was like he was always scheduled the same days as me. I would have told him to knock it off long ago, but I felt kind of badly for him. He just moved to Dover Chase a year or two ago and didn’t seem to have any friends.

  "What are you doing later?" Myron asked me. I tried to busy myself by refilling some salt shakers.

  "Working at Y-Mart."

  "Oh. That’s nice."

  I shot a glance at him. "Nice" was not typically the word people used to describe Y-Mart or those who worked there. Pathetic might have been better suited to the situation.

  "Well I was just wondering if, you know, on another night when you’re not working—"

  I cut him off right there, knowing where he was going with this and wishing he wouldn’t. "I’m always working, Myron. If somehow I’m not, then I’m with Lily."

  "Lily could come with," Myron said. His eyes pleaded with me. I almost felt bad for the guy but not bad enough to go out with him.

  "I’ve gotta..." I looked around searching for some means of escape. "Take out the trash." I grabbed a garbage bag that was beginning to overflow and hurried outside, tossing the trash into the dumpster. I stood there a second, hoping it was enough time for Myron to move along and find something else to do.

  My phone vibrated in my pocket and I pulled it out. My breath caught in my throat. The test scores were in. I hesitated, but then opened my email and my stomach dropped. Forty-eight percent. An F. I’d never gotten an F in my life. I closed my phone, fighting back the tears.

  "I guess it’s a good thing I’m not at Harvard. They’d have thrown me out in the first three months." But deep down I knew that wasn’t true. If I hadn’t gotten pregnant right after graduation, I never would have bombed such a simple test. The fact that I couldn’t even pass some stupid online course made me feel worse than the fact I still had to go to my other job when I left this one.

  Sighing, I went back inside, stopping at the table where the five-year-old monster had conducted his assault. They’d left cash for their bill. Cash usually meant a bigger tip. But these people—two dollars! Cheapskates. I clocked out and went to my locker, switching out uniforms.

  "See you tomorrow, Ava," Mr. Brewster called as I left.

  "Yeah, good night."

  My car barely started as I stepped on the gas. I sat in it a minute, letting my head clear. My phone rang and I jumped. My mother’s voice sounded in my ears as I picked up the receiver.

  "Ava?" my mom asked, breathless. There were tears in her voice.

  "Mom? What’s wrong?"

  "Oh honey, it’s Lily. We’re at the hospital. Something..." Mom choked on her words. "Something’s wrong with her. I don’t know what. She couldn’t breathe and I—" her voice cut off.

  "I’m on my way." I peeled out of the parking lot and called Y-Mart, praying that my boss was in a good mood. When I got to the hospital, I ran inside to find my mother and father sitting in the waiting area. Dad’s face looked drawn and tired. I’d never seen him look so upset, except perhaps for on the night I’d told my parents I was pregnant.

  "Mrs. Hart?" a doctor asked as he approached.

  "Miss," I said, extending my hand. "What’s going on? How’s Lily?"

  My heart was pounding in my chest. Lily had been born a month premature, and it seemed like she’d been plagued with illness ever since. A hospital visit was not unheard of, but still, Lily had seemed fine this morning.

  "Miss Hart," the doctor said, folding a clipboard under his arm. "I’m Dr. Martin. I’m head of thoracic surgery here at Dover Medical. I’m sorry to have to tell you this. We’ve run some tests, and your daughter has a congenital heart defect. It’s something she was born with."

  I heard my mother gasp. "I always knew there was something wrong with that child. You should have taken better care of her when she was a baby."

  I was grateful when Dad told Mom to hush. Tears threatened to spill over, but I fought them back. By now I was used to my mom’s tirades, but that didn’t make them any easier. Mom had never forgiven me for getting pregnant and blowing my scholarship. I suspected her intolerance of the situation was made that much worse when I refused to divulge the identity of Lily’s father.

  "So what does this mean?" I asked Dr. Martin. I wanted to see Lily now; I wanted to grab her and hold her tight and tell her everything was going to be fine, but first she needed to know that it really was.

  "I’m afraid there’s very little we can do without surgery," the doctor said. His eyes glanced up and down at my Y-Mart smock. "The surgery can be rather expensive and depending on your health insurance, you might have to pay for most of it out-of-pocket. But without it, Lily doesn’t stand much of a chance."

  "Are you saying she could die?" The breath stopped in my lungs.

  "Miss Hart," Dr. Martin said, looking solemn. "I’m saying Lily will die, unless she has immediate surgery to correct the condition."

  2

  Carter

  I stepped out of the NFL Commissioner’s office to a round of flashes and what seemed like several thousand voices surging towards me at once.

  "Carter! Carter!" one reporter yelled. "How do you feel about the commissioner’s decision to suspend you?"

  I tried to scramble away from him but was confronted by another one. "Carter! Do you agree with the decision? Do you think you deserve to be suspended?"

  These guys were relentless. I turned again and was grateful to see Coach stepping through the crowd. He put an arm around me and we hurried to the waiting limo.

  "No more questions at this time," Coach said.

  I dove through the open door of the limo and sat back in the seat, closing my eyes. Coach got in beside me. He slapped the back of my head and my eyes snapped open.

  "What the hell is the matter with you?" Coach asked.

  "What do you mean?"

  Coach tossed a paper at me and I picked it up. The headline blared back at me, making his face burn: “Bad Boy of the NFL Faces Suspension.”

  "Bad boy of the NFL huh?" I grinned. "That’s a new one."

  "I don’t think there’s anything funny about it," Coach said. "Two weeks you’re off. Two weeks your team has to play without their star quarterback. You let them down; you let me down."

  My eyes fell towards the ground as the limo moved through the curving streets of San Francisco.

  "I know, and I feel bad about it."

  "Do you?" Coach asked, his eyes thick with anger. Coach was a retired football player and still as big as he’d been when he’d played the game himself. His presence in a room always commanded respect.

  "Of course I do."

  "Then why do you keep pulling stupid stunts like this latest one that got you pulled from the game? Why are you beating up guys in bars and getting arrested?"

  "Oh but Coach, this guy had it coming. He was hitting on Olivia right in front of me."

  Coach sneered. "Olivia Kelly? I thought you two broke up."

  "We did, but that was a month ago. You know how it goes."<
br />
  Coach leaned back in his seat. "I never met a couple that went more out of their way to egg each other on than the two of you. Do you even like that girl? You got a million other girls from what I’ve seen. Why do you keep going back to Olivia?"

  I had to laugh. "You’ve seen her. She’s a model. A supermodel. Why shouldn’t I go out with her?"

  "Is that all you care about? Looks? Why not find a girl with looks and brains? I know it’s a rare combo, but they’re out there. Believe me."

  For a brief second, Ava flashed through my mind. I pushed the image away. That had been a lifetime ago.

  "You need a woman that’s gonna get you to settle down. Not one that’s gonna get you tossed out of a game you’ve spent your life trying to get into."

  "It wasn’t Olivia’s fault. The guy at that bar—"

  "There’s always gonna be some jerk at a bar or some guy that wants to prove he’s better than you. You’ve gotta learn to let that shit go. How’s your hand?"

  I looked down at my hand and made a fist, wincing slightly. Coach caught it.

  "See that?" Coach said. "You couldn’t even play tomorrow if you weren’t suspended." He sighed. "Look, your sister’s getting married soon right? To that producer?"

  "Director," I corrected him. "Erik Rudolphe. He directed the last picture Hannah did."

  "Right. Well, my advice to you is to go home and get your head screwed on straight. Knock those cobwebs out and come back in two weeks ready to work your ass off. Got it?"

  I nodded. I’d been planning on going back to Dover Chase for Hannah’s wedding. Maybe I would leave early. Maybe Coach was right and it was time I finally grew up.

  3

  Ava

  "Eskimo kisses," Lily said, giggling. She looked tired and her face was pale.