Long: A Secret Baby Sports Romance Read online

  “Oh come on, I doubt that. You’re the most popular guy on this campus.”

  “Not exactly,” he said. “I have a thousand acquaintances but not many friends.”

  I nodded. “That makes sense.”

  “I don’t mean to complain, though. It’s just that being this successful comes with a whole new set of problems.”

  “Mo’ money, mo’ problems. Right, Gibson?” I said, joking.

  He laughed. “Exactly.”

  “I get it, though. At the end of the day, you’re just a guy.”

  “Right. Just another guy who happens to be able to play football really well.”

  I bit my lip, looking at him. I wanted to say that he was a tall, muscular, handsome as hell guy, the sort of guy that stood out in a crowd no matter what he did, but I kept that part to myself.

  “Actually, I was thinking about you last night,” he said.

  “Oh yeah? Clean things, I hope.”

  “Definitely not clean things. First I was having a nice stroll down memory lane to the night in my truck.”

  “Oh, the night you got me pregnant?”

  He smirked. “That’s the one.”

  “Glad to hear it.”

  “But I was thinking about something else, too.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You should study me.”

  I cocked my head to one side. “What’s that now?”

  “Study me. You said you wished you could study an athlete for your biology class. Why don’t you study me?”

  I laughed, shaking my head. “Are you kidding? That’s crazy.”

  “I’m an athlete playing at the top of my game right now. You should totally study me.”

  I shook my head, smiling at his crazy idea. I couldn’t imagine running a study with Gibson involved. We’d have to work so closely together, and I’d have to touch his body, watch him work and sweat. I’d have to observe every motion and twist of his strong, ripped physique, and I’d have to somehow remain impartial.

  There was just no way. We were already tangled up together too deeply, whether we wanted to be or not. Throwing this study on top of it couldn’t be a smart idea.

  “I don’t think so,” I said.

  He laughed. “When are you going to have another opportunity like this one?”

  I sighed. He had a pretty good point. It wasn’t every day that one of the top athletes in the country was willing to let some random undergraduate girl study him, at least in a professional manner.

  “Maybe,” I said. “I don’t know. I don’t even know what we’d look for.”

  “Work it out and let me know. I’m at your disposal, Avery. You can do with me whatever you want.”

  I couldn’t help but smile. “See, it’s that sort of comment that makes me not want to do it.”

  “Okay, fine. I’ll keep that to a minimum. I just can’t help it around you.”

  “I don’t believe that.”

  “You don’t? Avery, whenever I’m around you, all I can think about is sinking my cock deep between your legs. I want to feel those pretty lips wrapped around my cock so badly that I can barely walk straight.”

  I couldn’t believe he was saying this. I was suddenly very aware of how close he was to me and of all the other people in the house. They had dropped back to background noise, but suddenly they were all there, staring at us. Gibson’s eyes tore into me, intense and steady.

  I took a step away from him. “I, uh, need to use the bathroom.”

  “Sure,” he said. “Upstairs and to the right.”

  “Okay. Be right back.”

  I walked off, glad to get some space from him. I didn’t know if I could trust myself there in that room, and I could feel people staring at us. Frankly, that attention made me super uncomfortable. Not the attention from Gibson; that I didn’t mind.

  No, it was everyone else. Everyone knew Gibson, and just being around him made people stare at me. I could practically feel their judgmental comments behind my back already.

  Maybe I was just being paranoid. I was so out of my depth here and just trying to figure this thing out. Maybe I was reading too deeply into everything. I made my way through the party, past the wasted kids and the flirting girls, until I reached the stairs. I slowly climbed up and then made a right.

  Ahead, there was a small line. “Is this for the bathroom?” I asked the girl standing at the end.

  She sighed. “Unfortunately.”

  I smiled my thanks and got behind her. There were maybe five or six people ahead of me, but that was fine. I didn’t really need to go; I just needed an excuse to take a second to myself.

  Gibson said he wanted me to run a study on him. And honestly, that was an incredibly opportunity. Just having him lend his name to the study would give it some importance and credibility.

  But I didn’t want to use him for his name. I could already see that people did that sort of thing all the time to him, and it clearly was something he was worried about. I didn’t want to make Gibson think I was only interested in him for his fame.

  Because I wasn’t. I couldn’t care less whether he played football or not. The only thing I cared about was the baby growing inside me, the baby he helped make. We had to deal with that together.

  I didn’t ask for any of this and neither did he, but we were in it together. He was clearly trying, and maybe I needed to get over my own fears and give it a shot, too.

  As the people went in and out of the bathroom and the line got shorter, I made my decision. Gibson was a good guy, although he was intense and gorgeous. He was trying to do the right thing, trying to get to know me, even if he was going about it in his own way. I had to give that a shot, too.

  Just as it was almost my turn in line, a girl came up behind me. I recognized her from downstairs. She had been sitting next to Gibson when we had arrived. Her long blond hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail with a bow tied around it. She wore light blue eye shadow and her lips were a deep red.

  “Hey,” she said to me.

  “Hey,” I said back.

  “You know Gibson?”

  I shrugged. “I guess.”

  “I saw you guys talking. You looked like you knew each other.”

  “I guess we do.” I didn’t know what she wanted, but her tone of voice put me off instantly.

  “My name is Cathy,” she said. “I’ve known Gibson, like, forever.”

  “Okay, Cathy. I’m Avery. Nice to meet you.”

  “Sure.” She frowned at me. The girl in the bathroom came out, and it was my turn. “Avery, just be careful, okay? Like, Gibson doesn’t need drama in his life right now.”

  I gaped at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  She shrugged. “It’s your turn.”

  I looked at her for a second longer and then went into the bathroom.

  I couldn’t believe that girl. She didn’t know me at all, but she was talking about drama to me like I was somehow coming after Gibson. Did he tell her about the baby?

  I stared in the mirror as horror hit me in the gut. Maybe he was telling people about this baby. I hadn’t told him not to, at least not explicitly. I assumed we both wanted it kept secret, but maybe I was wrong.

  I felt so embarrassed. If all these people here knew about the baby, maybe my paranoia had some basis on reality.

  After another second, I flushed the toilet and then left the bathroom. I walked quickly past Cathy, not even bothering to look at her. I walked downstairs and found Harper as fast as I could.

  “Hey!” Harper said. “I’m kicking ass as always.”

  “Listen, I want to leave.”

  She nodded. “Okay, sure. Did you tell Gibson?”

  “No, and I’m not going to.”

  “Okay, okay. Let’s go.”

  Harper and I left the room and then headed for the front door. I loved that Harper was willing to drop whatever she was doing just to leave with me.

  Just as we walked out the front door and got down
the steps, someone called my name.

  I looked back. “Hey, Avery,” Gibson said again.

  “What?” I asked him.

  “I’ll wait for you over there,” Harper said softly. I nodded gratefully as she walked down to the sidewalk.

  Gibson came over to me. “Leaving so soon?”

  “Yeah. I just have to get going.”

  “Okay. Whatever you want to do.”

  “Who’s Cathy?” I blurted out.

  He looked confused. “Cathy? Blond girl, bow in her hair?”

  I nodded. “Yeah.”

  He laughed. “Well, I didn’t think we’d be having this conversation anytime soon, but she’s my ex-girlfriend.”

  Shit. Of course she was. Cathy was thin and blond and pretty. Of course Gibson dated girls like her.

  “Oh. Okay. Yeah, we definitely don’t have to talk about this.”

  “You brought it up, so you should tell me why you asked.”

  “She came up to me in the line for the bathroom, said something about not causing drama.”

  He shook his head, annoyed. “She can be pretty fucking unpleasant sometimes,” he said.

  “Why did she do that?”

  “Cathy doesn’t like new people,” he said. “Just ignore her.”

  I nodded and looked away, unsure. He seemed like he was telling the truth, but I doubted he’d just come out and admit to telling people about the baby.

  This was just so crazy. I could barely trust the father of my own child. We were still strangers, and that wasn’t getting any better.

  Which was exactly why I needed to try with him. It didn’t matter what Cathy said or didn’t say. If this man was going to be in my life, I had to at least give it some effort.

  “Is your offer still on the table?” I asked him.

  “What, you want to go for another ride right now?” He grinned at me. “Let me get my keys.”

  “No. I mean the study.”

  He shrugged. “Sure. I’m down for that.”

  “Okay. I don’t know how it’ll work, but let’s do it.”

  His grin got bigger. “Okay then. I’m looking forward to being in your capable hands.”

  “Bye, Gibson.”

  He smirked as I walked away, joining Harper on the sidewalk.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked.

  I nodded, looking back at Gibson. He smirked at me again before turning and walking back into the house. He was so damn handsome, and my heart was beating like crazy in my chest.

  I didn’t trust him. I didn’t know him. But I was going to have to try at least.

  “It will be, I hope,” I said, and we started heading back home.

  9

  Gibson

  The night after the party, I had a dream about Avery. I could taste her lips, feel her body pressed against mine. She moaned my name in my ear, and just as I was about to come, Cathy appeared out of nowhere with a baseball bat.

  I woke up before she could start beating the shit out of me with it.

  I rolled onto my back, groaning. I glanced at the clock. It was five forty-five in the morning, fifteen minutes before my alarm would go off. Fifteen minutes before I had to get up and start my damn day.

  Unfortunately, my cock was hard as fuck from that dream, and the only thing I wanted to do was go back to sleep and dream about Avery some more.

  That girl had no fucking clue. Clearly Cathy had said something to her at the party, which pissed me off to no end. But Avery, she was something fucking else. Cathy was a catty, bratty ex-girlfriend who felt like the world owed her absolutely everything. We dated for two months before I saw through her bullshit, but even after we broke up she was still around all the time.

  I already knew Avery wasn’t anything like Cathy. Avery was intelligent, driven, beautiful, and funny. I barely knew her, but I already was positive I wanted to get to know her more.

  I resisted rolling back over and going to sleep. No use in it, not anymore. I needed to get up and face the fucking day.

  I climbed out of bed. Time to fucking practice. Time to sweat and run and work my ass into the ground.

  At least I had the afternoon off.

  Coach was clearly still pissed about the tutoring thing, because he did not take it easy all morning. Usually Sundays were pretty light, but this week he had me throwing reps over and over again before he put me in a game room to study tape.

  The hours slowly rolled by, and finally it was eleven in the morning and we were done for the day. After showering off, I walked toward campus with Hynes and Drinkwater.

  “You fucking hyped for next week?” Drinkwater asked me.

  “Sure,” I said. “It’s just Mountain.”

  “Still, man,” Hynes said. “First game of the season. I can’t wait for that first fucking run. I’m going to lay some pussy boy out.”

  I laughed. “I don’t know, Hynes. You always end up taking it as much as you give it.”

  “Hell yeah you do,” Drinkwater said. “I’m the only one here that spends more time on my feet than on my ass.”

  “Not sure,” I said. “The offensive line is looking good this year. I don’t think I’m going to have to scramble as much.”

  “Whatever, man. I’m just excited to get back out there, hear the roar of the crowd. You know?”

  I knew exactly what he meant. There was nothing better than standing in the middle of that field while thousands of fans screamed and cheered for you. There was an energy that I could barely describe flowing through those people, like some sort of weird magic ritual or some shit. All of those people so focused on me; it felt insane and amazing.

  We were headed to get some lunch at Dom’s, but my phone started ringing before we got there. “I’ll meet up with you two,” I said, pulling it out of my pocket.

  They waved and headed on. I didn’t recognize the number, but I answered it anyway.

  I was glad I did.

  “Gibson Evans?” the man asked.

  “Yeah. That’s me. Who’s this?”

  “My name is Vincenzo Nicastro. You can call me Vin.”

  “Okay, Vin,” I said. “What can I do for you?”

  “Actually, this is about what I can do for you. A man reached out to me and my people, a man you know named Johnny. Do you remember why this man reached out to me?”

  I blinked, surprised. I hadn’t expected to hear back from them so quickly.

  “I do,” I said.

  “Good. Are you interested in meeting with us?”

  “I am,” I said.

  “Good. We’re interested in meeting with you. Can you come to Chicago today? Possibly by five in the afternoon?”

  “Yeah,” I said, checking my watch. “I can be there. No problem.”

  “Good. You come and meet us. I’ll text you an address. We’ll talk about your problem.”

  “Thank you, Vin,” I said.

  “See you later, kid.” He hung up the phone.

  I stared out across campus for a second. I thought I’d feel excited, but really I felt more anxious than anything else. These were dangerous men, very dangerous men, and if I took money from them, they’d expect to get paid back and then some.

  But I couldn’t go through anyone legitimate. The media would find out somehow and have a fucking field day with it. No, this was my best choice.

  I swallowed my bad feeling and headed toward Dom’s. I had enough time to eat real quick, get changed, and then grab a bus out there.

  I got off the bus in Chicago and checked the time on my phone. I had fifteen minutes to walk ten blocks, which was plenty of time. I didn’t rush, just tried to enjoy the trip.

  I hadn’t been in Chicago much since coming out to MD, and that was a shame. It was an awesome city, though I wasn’t much of a city guy. Still, I could appreciate the excitement, the people, the food, all that shit.

  I was more worried about this meeting, though. I’d never really met with mob guys before, and I had no clue how this was going to work. I ma
de my way down the street, keeping my head down to avoid getting recognized. I didn’t get spotted on the street very often, but I’d been on TV enough that a diehard MD fan could potentially spot me.

  Finally I got to the place. It was a little corner deli in the middle of a decent neighborhood. I walked inside, not sure at all what to expect.

  It seemed clean and nice. The girl behind the counter smiled at me. “What can I get you, sweetie?” she asked.

  “Uh, is Vin here?”

  She instantly frowned. “You here to meet with Vin?”

  “Yeah,” I said.

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah,” I said again.

  “All right. Wait.”

  She disappeared into the back.

  I crossed my arms, annoyed. I was well over six feet tall and covered in muscles, and nothing annoyed me more than when people tried treating me like a fucking kid.

  A minute later, a short man with dark hair appeared from the back. He smiled when he saw me.

  “There he is!” he said. “The football star. Gibson Evans, I’m Vin.”

  “Good to meet you,” I grunted.

  “Likewise.” He shook my hand. He was wearing jeans, an Armani Exchange T-shirt, and a gold chain around his neck. He looked like the most cliché Italian mobster in the world.

  “Come on, kid. Come on into the back. You want anything from the deli? Sandwich or something? Maybe some cheese?”

  “I’m good,” I said.

  “Okay. Come on.” I followed him behind the counter. The girl stared at us as we disappeared through the back door. Vin shut it behind us.

  We were in a little office in the back of the deli. He sat down behind his desk and motioned for me to sit in one of the two chairs. I choose the one closer to the door and sat.

  “Okay, kid,” Vin said. “What can I do for you?”

  “I need a loan,” I said.

  Vin nodded. “I figured. How much?”

  “Twenty thousand,” I said.

  He raised his eyebrows. “So you’re talking serious money here.”

  I nodded. “I am. I can’t do this legit, or else the media will have a fucking field day. I can’t earn any money, because the university owns my ass right now. I need some help.”