Keeping Score Read online

  I took a step backward as she advanced, bumping into the side of the desk. “And yet when he saw you, his eyes lit up like it was Christmas morning and you were the best present he had ever been offered and then you decided to be a dick.

  “You were a complete and total ass to him and I will be damned if I let you around him or any other children here. Consider your community service terminated!” she screamed.

  “You can’t do that,” I replied, not moving from my place against the desk.

  “I can and I will. You just watch me. You don’t belong around children, especially Hunter.”

  “No. Like you said that little boy showed more excitement seeing me than you have gotten from him ever, right? And if you call the judge and tell him to terminate my community service then I will go to jail and that means no more football for me which means no more role model for him.” I hung my head. “Look, Julie. I fucked up. I shouldn’t have been an ass to the kid. It won’t happen again. I promise.”

  “If you so much as wrinkle your brow at one of these children I will pick up the phone and make the call. Don’t test me,” she threatened.

  “Understood,” I replied, standing up straight.

  “And you need to apologize to Hunter. Make it right, because so help me God if he hides back in that shell of his because of you, I will skin you alive. Football will be the last thing on your mind. I promise you that.”

  “Got it. I’ll see to that now.”

  “Good.”

  “You done lecturing me now?” I cocked my head to the side.

  She was worked up. Her face was red and her breath was as heated as it was last night.

  She took a deep intake of air. “Yes.”

  “Can we talk about what happened last night?”

  I saw the recognition in her eyes. Damn. In the light of day they were a beautiful light blue.

  She shook her head. “Nothing happened.”

  “That’s not how I remember it.” I leaned against the desk, touching her arm lightly as I relaxed now that she had laid down her laws. “I’m here because of you.”

  “What?”

  I laughed. “I decked that guy last night, protecting you.”

  She wriggled back. “I didn’t tell you to get in a fight,” she whispered. “I never asked for your help.”

  “You think I’m going to kiss you. Lick you. Suck you until you’re ready to come and then let some drunk man put his hands on you?” I leaned toward her, the energy growing between us. “I might not be that good with kids, but there was no way in hell I’d let him hurt you. Do you understand me?”

  She nodded. “I think so. Maybe.”

  I pressed my eyes to her gaze. “What I’m trying to say is don’t hold last night against me. I see you’re a different person.”

  “I-I am,” she stuttered. “That wasn’t really me.”

  “Got it. Maybe we understand each other better now.”

  “I don’t know if that’s possible.” She folded her arms over her chest and I remembered how free and adventurous she had been in the store room.

  “Thanks for letting me stay. I think you’re going to like having me around, Julie. I’ll go talk to the kids now.”

  I walked out of the room, leaving her speechless.

  Eight

  Julie

  I had always been a firm believer in not judging a book by its cover, and in Kane Hawkins’s case the cover was great, but it was his past that worried me. Especially when a certain eight-year-old was staring up at him with nothing but complete adoration on his face. If he could pull this type of reaction from a boy who hides within himself ninety-nine percent of the time, then I’d give him a chance.

  I turned my back and waited for Hawk to walk out of the classroom. Once I heard the click of the door, I took a deep breath and let myself relax. It was easy to not notice anything about him while my anger was running hot, but as my temper cooled and my eyes began to take in more and more details of the man standing in front of me I felt myself flushing for a totally different reason.

  Never in my life had I been affected by a man the way that man affected me. I went from wanting to murder him with my own bare hands to wanting to rip his clothes off and lick up and down each and every inch of his body.

  If he had stayed in the room for ten more seconds, I felt certain that my morals and dignity would have gone out the window and I’d have ended up in a similar position to last night.

  It was the eyes. I thought to myself. The darkest of browns, outlined in such a deep shade of brown they almost looked black as midnight. I felt certain he could see straight to the depths of my soul.

  It was the same look he gave me last night when I looked down between my legs and saw his desire and hunger for me. Damn it.

  It took almost ten minutes before I felt like myself again and even then every time I closed my eyes I saw piercing chestnut eyes staring back at me, daring and unapologetic.

  Last night I had been reckless and irresponsible. I couldn’t let that side of myself emerge again. Not with Hunter involved. I loved that child as if he were my family. I wasn’t going to let the lust I had for Hawk cloud my judgement.

  It didn’t matter why he was here. He had been sentenced to serve his public service here with these kids and I wasn’t going to let his flirty, cocky personality knock me off track.

  I may not have been a rational woman last night, but that didn’t mean it was a permanent condition. I dug through my purse until my fingertips landed on my phone. I knew what I had to do.

  I scrolled through my contacts until I found the number for Dubby, the manager of Catch.

  I waited while it rang a few times before he answered.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, Dubby?”

  “You got him.”

  I bit my lip, more nervous than I should have been for this kind of call. “Hi, it’s Julie. Julie Bristow.”

  I heard him sigh. “Let me guess, you’re not coming in for your shift tonight?”

  I teetered on my heels. Was I that predictable?

  “I thought a lot about what happened last night, and I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, especially since I didn’t have any experience, but—”

  “Let me stop you right there. You don’t need to come back.”

  “What?” The back of my throat tightened.

  “I heard about your little thing with Kane. And after that fight, it’s not good for business.”

  “But all the girls—” I had to bite my tongue from calling out the waitresses I had known for only a few days. Flirting with the Sharks seemed like it was part of the job. I had never intended to take it as far as I did, but I couldn’t believe he was trying to shame me for it.

  “Doesn’t matter. I need that kind of bad exposure to die down. I need the Sharks in here. I don’t need girls who cause trouble. Let’s say it’s better for both of us if you move on.”

  “But, I…” I let my voice off, knowing he was right. I didn’t want that job. I needed the money, but I was going to have to find something else to fill the penny bank void. It wasn’t going to be waiting tables at Catch.

  We both understood that.

  “Thanks, Dubby.”

  “Sure thing. Good look, sweetheart.”

  I hung up, not sure if I felt any better than when Kane walked out of my classroom.

  Nine

  Kane

  As I walked out of the school and on to the field where the pack of boys was huddled, fighting over the ball I paused to call Savannah. She had to get me out of this.

  I pressed the phone to my ear as if that would make her answer faster. “Damn it, Savi,” I muttered. Where in the hell was she? She knew I had been sentenced to this shit. She should be here for me.

  She answered before I was dumped into her voicemail.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be saving the world’s children?” she mocked the situation.

  “Savi, look you have to do something. I want out of th
is. You puts a guy like me in with a bunch of little kids?”

  “It’s not happening, Kane You got in a bar fight. This is your only chance of redemption. So suck it up and do the time.”

  I looked out on the field. How in the hell was this supposed to work?

  “I’m one week away from playoffs. I don’t have time for this shit. You know it. I know it. What’s more important?” I asked, appealing to the sports side of her. If there was anything I knew about that woman it was that she loved to represent a champion.

  I heard her groan. “Hawk, you either get your ass at that center every day and work with those kids or you heard the judge—he’s going to release the court statements and make your case public.”

  “It’s already public.”

  “You know what I mean. He’ll put you in jail. At least this way it’s not officially a sentence. You are volunteering. And the league is ok with this situation if you volunteer. You have a leniency with this judge for some reason. Take it and be grateful. ”

  I gritted my teeth. “I’m not fucking volunteering. It’s blackmail.”

  “Damn it, Hawk. I don’t have time to waste on a guy who wants to sink his career. The judge threw you a life raft. Take it and work with the kids.”

  “You know it’s bull shit, Savi.”

  “Doesn’t matter what I think. If I’m going to continue to represent you I need to know you’re going to volunteer there every day. Can I trust you?”

  “Does anyone care I was defending a woman? She was being attacked. That’s what really happened? Doesn’t that matter? I was chivalrous, damn it.”

  “One of your regular whores?” she asked.

  I felt the anger sweep through me again. Julie was anything but a whore. I knew she didn’t fit in at the bar. The fact that she was now the one supervising my time at the center only cemented what I knew in my gut—she was a good girl. A good girl I wanted to hold and kiss. I wasn’t done exploring her body. I wasn’t done tasting her. I needed more.

  But this situation was fucked up. The way she looked at me five minutes ago, I was going to be lucky if she let me within ten feet of her. Last night she was a different person.

  “It wasn’t like that,” I argued.

  “Get your hours in. Go to practice. Call me tomorrow. Ok?”

  Savannah was such a hard ass. “Fine.”

  I hung up and stuffed the phone in my back pocket. I couldn’t help but feel as if I had zero people in my corner. No one thought Kane Hawkins could do this.

  I shouldn’t even be here. I should be on the field practicing with the Sharks, but because some drunken asshole decided it was okay to put his hands on Julie’s ass, after being told to stop, I had to save her. It damn sure didn’t look like anyone else planned on helping her out.

  Everything would have been fine still, if the dumbass would have just paid his tab and left the bar, but no. He had to get riled up and take a swing at me.

  He couldn’t walk away.

  He couldn’t take no for an answer.

  Even after I knocked him back the first time with an uppercut to the jaw, he still kept coming back for more. I just wanted to relax and enjoy a night out with my team. Drink a few beers. Score a little action.

  The chair flying through the air was the final straw for me. Up until that point I was trying to take it easy on the drunk. You don’t strike a man when his back is turned and you damn sure don’t do it with an inanimate object. Luckily Jason, my center, was there to shove me out of the way and snatched hold of the chair before he hit someone else with it swinging it wildly through the air.

  When I finished laying into him that time he didn’t get back up. Joe pulled me to my feet as the police filled the building, blue and red lights ricocheting across every surface.

  I was in handcuffs and thrown in the back of a squad car before you could even say who did it. Not that I blamed them much. I was the only one standing with blood dripping down my arms and fingers, pooling on the ground at my feet where the biker lay motionless.

  It’s not the first time I had blacked out when fighting. I liked to think of it as my escape mechanism. The one tool that has kept me alive over the years when I had no one to protect me.

  I was alone.

  Left to fend for myself with nothing but my mouth and my own two fists.

  I shook my head and kept walking toward the kids.

  What the fuck was I doing here?

  The kids were setting up the kickstand at what I’m assumed was the fifty-yard line. It was hard to tell since there weren’t any markings anywhere. I stood back, watching as they bossed each other around.

  Someone needed to get out here and cut this damn grass and at least set up markers along the field. I didn’t know how to teach kids in these conditions.

  Eventually, they started their version of football. I saw the kid from earlier walk away and hang on the fence. He was the one I had told to get lost. The one that Julie had been protective about. The one that had sent her over the edge. This kid meant a lot to her.

  I sauntered over to him. He had dropped to the ground and was picking through weeds.

  “Hey, do you know how to throw the ball?” I asked.

  He didn’t answer me.

  I took a knee in front of him. “Listen about earlier … I didn’t mean to be a dick.”

  His eyes popped up. “Miss Bristow says we can’t say that word.”

  “Oh right.” I rubbed the back of my head. “Sorry I was a jerk. That better? Am I allowed to say jerk?”

  He nodded.

  “Looks like they already have a game started over there. Want to try a few passes with me?” I offered.

  He shrugged his shoulders. “I guess so.”

  I jogged over to the mesh bag full of peeling leather soccer and footballs. I grabbed the one that was the least banged up and handed it to Hunter.

  “I’ll run long and you throw it. Just put your whole body into it. Got it?”

  He looked at the ball in his hands as if I had handed him a bag of candy. I’d seen that look before.

  I took off in the opposite direction. It had been a long time since I had been on this end of a throw. I waited while the boy positioned his fingers on the laces. His chewed his tongue, concentrating on what his move was going to be.

  “I’m open, Hunter,” I called.

  He stepped back and then propelled the ball forward. It spun perfectly, landing against my chest. I gripped it tightly with my swollen fingers and then sent it flying back through the air to him. Kid had one hell of a fucking arm on him.

  I gripped the ball and sent it soaring toward him. He caught it effortlessly with a gigantic grin on his face and jogged to my side. I felt like I had apologized and he accepted it in the lost language of men. But to appease the woman inside and to make sure my ass didn’t end up in jail tonight, I figured I better make it official.

  “Good catch, man.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Everything good between us?” I asked.

  “Yeah. Definitely,” he replied, kicking up the dry grass at the field's edge.

  “Sweet. Go long.”

  I backed up a few paces as he darted down the field as fast as he could. After about ten yards he glanced back at me and juked to the left. I sent the ball flying straight to him.

  Some kids have to work every day on a certain gift that they want to pursue later in life. They strive every day to make it better, to become stronger, faster, greater.

  And then you have some that are born with all the talent they will ever need or want already inside of them. All they need is a little guidance and someone to believe in them.

  This kid was born with talent. Pure talent.

  Now he needed guidance and someone to believe in him.

  Ten

  Julie

  I watched from the window in my classroom as Hunter rolled across the ground after being tackled once again by Kane. I watched as he pointed and directed each kid, yelling over the
loud excited noises that come with coaching boys.

  He was a natural with them.

  Which I supposed made sense. He played professional ball after all, but that didn’t qualify him to teach. I was surprised. Mesmerized by how easily he instructed them.

  I guess he could have been like my dad and loved the sport, but have no ability to pass that knowledge on to anyone else. I laughed to myself.

  Daddy loved football since he was a little boy, no older than three or four. He liked to joke and said there was a crossfire somewhere in his brain between the stage of knowing what to do and making his body actually do it.

  It didn’t change his love of the game though. He watched it religiously every single time the Sharks had a game. If the Sharks were home, then he was at the stadium, cheering them on. If they were away, then he had the grill fired up and the television blared pregame to postgame.

  In a way, football had always been a part of my life too. Without my mom, it was how Daddy and I spent our time together. I bet that drunk driver didn’t think about that when he got behind the wheel. He didn’t realize how he would change my life. My dad’s. End my mom’s. My fingers tingled with the anger. I stopped to take three long breaths.

  She had been gone twenty years. My dad did the best he could. He was an awesome dad. An amazing dad. A dad who played both parenting roles and was one of the best judges in DC. But it didn’t make the pain hurt less. It didn’t make the memories fade. I missed her.

  I pulled myself out of my funk when I noticed two of the kids on the field shoving each other over God knows what. I rushed through the main center and down the hall to the back door. When I flung it open I’m surprised to find that Kane has already handled the situation. Both boys were running a lap around the field, each one holding onto opposite ends of the football.

  I walked across the field, careful not to let me heels sink into the grass and joined the kids as they observed the two boys jogging inside the perimeter of the fence.