Reckless: A Bad Boy Sport Romance (26 page)

“Babe. Do you wanna hit up this party at NYU after prom? My brother says he can get us in.”

“Oh my god,” Debbie squealed. “Yes, please! I've never been to a –”

I took out the rubber band in my pencil case and started to aim it at the back of Mario's head, but Mr. Smith stepped in.

“Ms. Hunter, Mr. Gomez, I can still hear you. Now, if there's something you would like to share with the rest of the class, I'm sure Ms. O'Neill will be more than happy to –”

“No, that's okay,” said Debbie, giggling as she turned back around in her seat. “Sorry, Mr. Smith. It won't happen again.”

“Good.” Mr. Smith waved a hand at Tabitha. “Ms. O'Neill, you may proceed.”

I mean, girls like Debbie were hot, but Tabitha was...different. She looked like one of those expensive porcelain dolls in my grandma's china cabinet. Grandma passed her collection to Mom when she died.

My favorite was this beautiful doll with soft, curly red hair just like Tabitha's, except Tabitha's dark brown eyes were much prettier than the doll's. The doll kept me safe. The only way I got myself to sleep after one of Mom's drunken tantrums was to sleep with it in my arms. I used to sneak into the chest on the foot of Mom's bed and take the doll out, combing its hair and playing with it secretly in my room. That was, until Mom took them all and pawned them off on one of her crack binges.

“You don't know it, but my heart whispers your name,

You don't know it, but my heart withers with pain.

You don't know it, but my heart, it aches,

With a love so close, but so far away.”

Some of the kids started snorting, but Tabitha continued.

“A heart so young, so pure, and yet I've never been so sure,

A heart unsung, your lure, our love so premature.

It isn't our time, I tell us, but my soul, it weeps.

For mine is the one your soul should keep.”

Tabitha's cheeks were starting to go pink. It looked even more obvious with the black lipstick and all the dark makeup on her face. The rest of the class was restless, elbowing each other in their seats. But Tabitha kept her eyes on her notebook and went on.

“But where do I begin? We're 2 worlds apart,

How do I take part in something that can never start?

My stage in lights, and yours in green, but still, I await your call,

To catch me like you would that lemon leather ball.”

My heart was thudding like mad against my chest. I couldn't believe it. I watched as Tabitha held her notebook against her chest and strode up to her seat, ignoring the jackasses.

“Alright, guys, pipe down,” said Mr. Smith sternly from the front of the room. “Ms. O'Neill, that was lovely – thank you for sharing that with the class. I'll be passing my assessment of your assignments to all of you when the bell rings. Now, who'd like to go –”

Mrs. Brown's head appeared behind the door. She was the school secretary. The rest of the class turned around in their seats to face her.

“Mr. Smith, so sorry for the interruption, but Principal Matthews needs to see you right away. It's urgent, but he promises not to keep you from your class for too long.”

“Right now?” Mr. Smith looked a little annoyed, but he straightened out his vest and headed for the door. “Alright, class, I trust you'll adhere to proper classroom etiquette in my absence. I will be right back.”

As soon as the doors closed, it was chaos. Kids hopped out of their seats and flocked over to their friends. In less than 20 seconds, one of the guys up front had hooked up his iPod to his speakers and was bumping some Fall Out Boy.

I wrestled with myself for a couple of seconds, but I finally worked up the courage and got out of my seat.

“Hey, Tabitha.”

“Yeah?”

Tabitha whipped her head around to look at me, her hair bouncing. She stared at me, frowning. Seeing the cute freckles on her nose and her pretty dark eyes up close, my mind just got swept clean.

“Can I help you?”

“No, I mean – I just came over here – um, cool poem.” I gulped, smiling at her. “I mean, um, I just came over here to tell you to ignore these clowns. They wouldn't know what good poetry sounded like if it jerked off in front of them and splooged all over their faces.”

“Wow. Thanks.” Tabitha lowered her shoulders. She pushed her hair behind her hear, smiling back at me. “A little gross, but thanks.”

“Sorry.” I slipped my hands into my pockets. I didn't want her to see my hands shaking. “My name's Daymond, by the way. Daymond Armstrong.”

“I know. Don't we live on the same block?”

“Yeah, yeah, I think we do.” I gnawed on my lip, trying to hide my excitement. She knew who I was! “So, uh, that poem. I take it you've got a thing for a guy on the football team?”

“That obvious, huh?” Tabitha rolled her eyes, groaning. “I guess the last line kinda gave it away.”

“Right. About that. Listen, I'm just gonna go for it before I pussy out. Tabitha, I've been in love with you ever since I saw you moving in to that house across the playground. Will you go to the pr –”

When I saw Tabitha's open notebook on her desk, I choked back the rest of my sentence. There were glittery hearts all over the page, and each one of the hearts had the same name inside of them. Ace Warner.

“Oh my gosh.” Tabitha slammed her notebook shut, stuffing it into her backpack. “Please, Daymond, I swear to god – please don't tell anyone. He's my best friend's boyfriend – I'm never gonna do anything about it, just please – please promise me you won't –”

“I won't,” I replied coldly, taking a step back from her.

“Good. Thanks, Daymond.” Tabitha cocked her head to the side. “Wait, but what you were saying –”

“Never mind that,” I cut her off darkly. “This was all just a prank. I didn't mean any of that. And while we're keeping things real, that was the lamest poem I'd ever heard.”

There was a flash of hurt on her face, but she screwed up her nose and crossed her arms, turning away from me.

“Fuck you, Daymond.”

I walked away from her and slid back to my seat. My fists were curled up so tight I could feel the veins popping out from my arms. All around me, the rest of the class was kicking it and having the time of their lives.

Fuck Tabitha and fuck everyone in here. But most of all, fuck Warner. That dude had everything – a working car, a hot cheerleader girlfriend, and for some fucking reason, everyone broke their backs kissing his ass. He had everything I fucking deserved, and now he was taking Tabitha, too?

I don't care how long it took, but this motherfucker's gonna get it coming to him – mark my fucking words.

Chapter Four:
Ace

2016

“Alright, guys!” Coach's voice tore across the field. “Gather up the equipment – we're moving inside!”

Above us, the sky went dark out of nowhere, and it was now pissing rain. The guys on the field spread out and started hauling equipment back into storage. I jogged up to one of the football sleds. As I took hold of one side, Baldwin and Hardwick ran up to the other side. We started pushing, the rain hitting us like bullets.

We dragged the sled into the stuffy storage room and set it down against the wall. I got up from the ground, cringing as a needle-like pain zapped up my right shoulder. It had been a little over 2 weeks now, but my whole arm was still sore from breaking that door down.

I started to make my way out the door, wringing the rain out of my jersey.

“Warner,” came Baldwin's voice from behind me.

I stopped and turned back around. Baldwin and Hardwick stood with their shoulders hunched forward, dripping onto the floors. They glanced at each other, but neither one of them said anything.

“Yeah?”

“I'm sorry, Warner,” Hardwick spoke up. He locked his hands in front of him, finally bringing himself to look at me. “I'm sorry I doubted you. Hell, you didn't deserve that. You've always had my back, and when it came time for me to step up to the plate, I let you down –”

“Forget it –” I started, but it was Baldwin's turn.

“I'm sorry, too, Warner.” Baldwin folded his arms over his chest, taking a step towards me. “I know I gave you a hard time, but I –”

“Like I said, forget about it.” I lowered my chin and looked him in the eye. “I would've done the same if it was my main man, too. I'm sorry for your loss, for Genevieve, for all of us. I really am.”

“I'd like to make it up to you, brother,” said Baldwin. “There's this new restaurant at Columbus Circle – my wife and I would like to take you, Genevieve, and a couple of the guys out for dinner. I know it's not much, but it's a start. You in?”

“Sounds like a plan.” I gave them a quick salute and turned away from them. “Alright, guys, I'll see y'all in a bit. Dubois wants to see me in his office.”

“Take it easy, Warner.”

“See ya.”

I left the storage room and scaled the 3 flights of stairs to Dubois' office.

When I got here to practice this morning, I found a stack of clean towels and a bottle of Gatorade waiting for me outside my locker. And when I got in line for the breakfast buffet, 3 of the guys let me cut in line in front of them. Apart from that, the dudes had been coming up to me, some on their own and some in groups, stammering their apologies all day long. Obviously, I wasn't complaining, but in all honesty, I was just grateful this was slowly blowing over. Grateful I was back here and I could get a chance at starting over.

I walked up to Dubois' office, knocking on his door.

“Come in.”

I opened the door and let myself in. When Dubois saw me, he sat up straight in his chair, nearly slipping off his seat. The man looked like he'd aged 20 years since I last saw him. His dress shirt was all wrinkled and buttoned wrong, and his hair all messed up, flopping over his forehead. Judging by the sagging dark rings under his eyes, the man hadn't slept in days.

“Ace, it's you. Please, have a seat.”

I pulled up the chair across his desk.

“Mr. Dubois, what's this ab –”

“You know, Xavier, he's never been easy to handle.” Dubois gazed off into the distance. “He's smart when he wants to be, but he's weak-minded. The boy has poor judgment when it comes to choosing his friends, even when he was still in school. I know I've spoiled him, but I grew up dirt poor, with an immigrant father who spoke nothing but French, and I've only ever tried to give my son all I never had. I don't know where it all went so wrong. Somewhere along the way, I lost control of the reins. But I never would have thought my little boy was capable of...this.”

His glazed eyes finally swiveled back to mine.

“But he's still my little boy.”

I edged backwards uneasily in my seat. I didn't know what to say. Dubois was still looking back at me. He wasn't crying, but his dazed eyes were consumed with grief.

“I'm sorry, Ace. I'm sorry you were implicated in all of this – I never would have imagined, my own son – if there is anything I can do for you –”

“Mr. Dubois, please don't apologize. I'm still trying to wrap my head around all of this, but let me tell you know, I'm not holding any of this against you.”

I took a deep breath, resting my arms on my lap.

“The only thing I ask of you is to keep me on the team – I've been doing pretty good and I know I can keep this up. I don't want any special treatment, none of that. Just give me a chance to prove to you and Coach why I deserve to be first-string again.”

Dubois blinked at me, closing his mouth slowly.

“Of course.”

“Thank you, Mr. Dubois. If there's nothing else, I've gotta get back to practice.”

I let myself out of Dubois' office and headed back downstairs, but by the time I got to the indoor gym, practice had ended. Most of the guys on the team had left, with a couple of the staff and a handful of the team hanging around the water station. As I looked around at the gym, Duff came up behind me.

“Hey, Warner!” He handed me a towel.

“Thanks. Where is everyone?”

“Looks like the rain's not letting up anytime soon, so Coach called it a day.” He grinned at me, his eyebrows bobbing up and down. “So, how you holding up? This is some pretty insane stuff, huh?”

“Sorry, man, but I don't really wanna get into –”

“Oh, Warner!”

Hannah and Caitlin came to the rescue. As the cheerleaders sauntered up to me, Duff wandered off where he came from. The girls looked like they'd come straight out of the gym upstairs, dressed in skimpy sports bras and skintight yoga pants.

“Something I can do for you ladies?”

“Caitlin and I just heard about everything,” said Hannah, sticking out and crumpling her lower lip.

“We couldn't believe it when we heard what had happened.” Caitlin reached out, rubbing my arm. “I've always thought that Dubois' son was really cute, but really creepy. But never in a billion years would I have seen this coming from Daymond!”