Secret Tutor: A Football Romance Story

by Amber Heart

  Chase nodded a few times too many. “I understand. I really do. I’ll--”

  “And it’s not just me that has to sign off on this,” the coach said, cutting off his relieved babbling. “Wait here.”

  Chase nodded as the coach walked out. Then he leaned forward until his ears stopped ringing and his vision cleared. He’d just brought his head up again when the door opened once more and Coach Davis came back.

  He wasn’t with Professor Porter, as Chase had expected. Instead, the coach was leading Claire Montgomery. Chase felt his whole body grow hot at seeing her again so unexpectedly. His throat went dry in a rush.

  “I asked your tutor if she’d be willing to continue working with you,” Coach Davis said. “And she informed me that you don’t seem to want to work with her. She also mentioned that you have one hell of an attitude problem. Care to explain that?”

  Chase rubbed the back of his neck and cleared his throat. “She’s right about the attitude.” He took a deep breath and looked at Claire. He thought that he could see her shaking. He shoved down the urge to go over and pull her against him. If he did, she’d probably give him the slap that he knew he deserved. “I was pissed off about the whole thing and I took it out on her. I’m sorry, Claire.”

  Her lips parted in obvious surprise, but she stood her ground. “I can’t teach someone who doesn’t want to learn. And I won’t teach someone who treats me the way you have.”

  Chase nodded. “I know that I don’t deserve another chance,” he said honestly. “But I’d like to make things right between us.”

  “Why?” she asked, her voice barely more than a whisper.

  “Because...” He couldn’t find the right words. Especially with his coach standing right there staring him down. “Because I’m honestly not a jerk,” he said. It was half of the truth, anyway. “And I’d like to prove it.”

  “I can vouch for the fact that he’s a decent kid,” Coach Davis said. “Doesn’t listen too well. But he’s all right.”

  Claire looked at him. Chase looked back, waiting. She swallowed hard, but she didn’t speak.

  “I really do need your help,” he said into the silence. “But I understand if you don’t want to be in the same room with me. And I won’t hold it against you.”

  Claire chewed her thumbnail, looking from Chase to the coach as they both waited for her decision. She sighed. “Fine. I’ll help you out.”

  Chase couldn’t hold back a grin. “Thank you, Claire. I’ll be your best student, I promise.”

  “And on your best behavior,” Coach Davis said seriously. “If she tells me that you put so much as one toe out of line, you’ll be benched for more than just the next game.”

  Chase blinked. “Wait. I’m benched?”

  “Oh yeah. It seems like you need the extra time to study.”

  Claire eyed Chase warily and he knew that she was expecting him to lose it. Oddly, it helped him stay calm. He took a long breath and then blew it out.

  “Fair enough.”

  His coach nodded in approval. “Then I’ll leave you to it.” He pointed to both of them. “You’re starting over. Clean slate. This is all water under the bridge.”

  They both nodded and the coach walked out, closing the door behind him. Chase stood and pulled a chair out for Claire. She took it without speaking and then began digging through her bag.

  “Thanks,” he said again. “I wanted to...kind of explain myself, if that’s cool with you. Part of that clean slate thing.”

  Claire only nodded, still facing away from him, her dark hair curtaining her pretty face. He itched to push it back, to twine it around his fingers and feel it brush his palm. He sat up straighter and tried hard to remove the mental image. The best he could ever hope for was that Claire didn’t hate him thoroughly. No matter how much more he might want.

  “I was pissed off the first day because I felt like an idiot,” he said honestly. “And I took it out on you because I couldn’t take it out on the coach or Professor Porter. But I shouldn’t have, because my shitty math grade isn’t your fault. Obviously.”

  Claire still didn’t look at him but she nodded, so he went on. “The second time...Logan told me that you’d called him after I left. That you said I was...” He didn’t exactly know how to put it. It all sounded stupid now that he looked back on it. “That I was coming onto you.”

  Her head whipped around. “What?”

  “When I showed up, I was still mad that you’d say something like that, but--”

  “I didn’t!” she said, her voice trembling slightly as her cheeks went bright red. “I haven’t spoken to him since I broke up with him. And even if I had, why would I...” She trailed off, inhaling for calm. “Obviously, Logan and I had a rough breakup. I don’t think that’s a secret to anyone on the team.” Sometimes it felt like it wasn’t a secret to anyone on the whole campus, but she didn’t mention that. “But I never said anything like that.”

  “I know.”

  “You know?”

  Chase looked down at his shoes. “It...I knew that you were telling the truth when we had that fight. And I...look. We’re still teammates.” He wasn’t sure that those two pieces of information went together, but she nodded.

  “I know. That’s part of the reason why I haven’t said anything about him.” She turned away again, obviously still shaken by what he’d said.

  “Are we gonna be okay?” he asked.

  Claire continued digging through her bag, but he saw her lithe body grow tense. Chase couldn’t blame her for being wary around him, but he hated it.

  “Because I meant what I said,” he went on. “I really do apologize.”

  “Sure,” she said, straightening up and putting a piece of paper on the desk. Her face was completely closed off, her lips pressed together. “I heard you. I need you to take this placement test so that I can see where we need to start.”

  Chase sighed when he saw the long list of math problems that filled the page. “The last time I felt like I knew what was going on in a math class we were learning the multiplication tables.”

  “I don’t think we have time to go back that far.” The slight smile that tugged at her lips as she spoke made his own lips quirk upward. She tapped the piece of paper in a businesslike way and then pushed a pen over to him. “Get started.”

  He stared at her incredulously. “You do math in pen?”

  She shrugged. “Sure.”

  “Do you have a pencil on you, oh great one?”

  She handed one over. Chase thought that he saw another hint of a smile, but it was so quick that he couldn’t be sure.

  “So? Do you accept my apology?”

  “Depends on what kind of grade you get.”

  He took a breath and got down to work. By the time he'd gotten through the questions, he was thoroughly depressed. He was pretty sure that he hadn’t gotten a single question right. Which meant two things. It didn’t look like Claire would be accepting his apology any time soon. And she’d probably think that he was a complete moron. He bit his lip as she took the paper and began going over it.

  “I promise I’m not as dumb as this makes me look,” Chase said as she wrote a depressingly low grade at the top and started making notes. “I’ve got an A in English right now.”

  “I don’t think you’re dumb,” she said absently. Then she seemed to catch herself. “A jerk maybe, but not dumb. All this shows me is that you’re weak in a lot of areas that are sort of important in trig.”

  “Then you think there’s some hope for me?”

  Claire put down her pen and eyed the test with a calculating gaze. “If you put in the work, you can pass.” Before he had time to be relieved, she went on. “You might think about picking a major that doesn’t involve a whole lot of math though, because if you keep going with general education, you’ll only be digging yourself deeper.”

  Chase sighed. “One thing at a time, please. Get me through this class and then we’ll talk about my major.”

&n
bsp; “Also,” Claire said, sliding his test into a folder. “I’ve decided that I’ll accept your apology when you get a C on a practice test.”

  “So where do we start?”

  “As close to the beginning as possible,” she said, sounding slightly apologetic. “I actually think we’re going to need more sessions than there are on the original schedule.”

  Chase pushed his hand back through his hair and slumped in the chair. It figured. “Okay. As long as I’m not in class or on the field, I’m yours.”

  Her face went slightly pink and he realized how that had sounded. He also realized that he didn’t want to take it back.

  “Well,” she said, her voice going high and her movements growing flustered as she repacked her bag. “I think that does it for today. Just email me your schedule and I’ll figure out some additional times for us to meet.”

  She was gone before he could speak again, practically running out. It hadn’t gone very well in terms of flirting, no matter how unintentional that flirting had been. But hopefully, he was a step closer to earning her forgiveness and changing her opinion of him. It meant a lot more to him than he’d thought it would.

  While he was still in the coach’s office, he pulled his phone out and typed up a quick email with his schedule. Then he grabbed the business card she’d left him and typed in her email address. Her cards were plain and simple, designed and given out by the student center. He could probably get another one whenever he wanted it. And hell, he didn’t even really need it because he’d just put her information in his phone. But he put it in his wallet carefully anyway.

  Chapter 6

  As Claire walked back to her townhouse, her phone rang. A quick check of the caller I.D. revealed her sister’s name. She smiled as she accepted the call.

  “Hello?”

  “You sound cheerful, big sister.”

  “Any reason why I shouldn’t?” she asked as she tilted her head back and lifted her face to the relentless Louisiana sun. “How’s it going, little sister?”

  “I can’t complain. Spill it.”

  Claire frowned slightly. “Spill what?”

  “What’s making you so happy today?”

  She glanced over her shoulder just in time to see Chase’s tall figure step out of the door. He waved and headed to the field. She waved back, but she kept it brief. Other than the fact that she’d been sick with nerves in the beginning, they’d had a pretty good time together. How long had it been since she’d had a decent day...even a decent moment with a guy? She couldn’t remember.

  “I had a good tutoring session,” she said, deciding to keep it simple.

  “It makes you that happy when people are good at math?” Kailey teased. “You’re such a nerd, Claire.”

  Claire grinned. “Oh, trust me...Chase isn’t good at math.”

  She could practically see Kailey sitting up in interest as she spoke again. “Chase? Is this the football guy?”

  “That would be him.”

  “Is he the one that’s so hot?”

  “Well...I guess it depends on your preferences...” Claire let the sentence trail off, unwilling to say just how good looking she thought Chase was. The fact was, she thought he was the best looking guy on the team, her ex included. “There are a lot of nice looking guys on the team.”

  “No, no evading. You know who I mean! The tall guy from the team picture that I saw that time. The transfer student.”

  “How come you remember so much about him?” Claire demanded.

  “Just because I play for the other team doesn’t mean that I can’t appreciate a handsome guy,” Kailey said wryly. “And he is. And I know you thought he was too.”

  “I was dating Logan when I met him,” Claire protested.

  “Yeah, which is why you didn’t jump his bones. But he’s totally your type, Claire.”

  “I have a type?”

  “Yep. Everybody has a type. I like them redheaded and sassy. You like them tall and nice.”

  “You can tell he’s nice from a picture?” Claire asked. “You should get a television show. Kailey the Clairvoyant.”

  “That sounds fun. I like the alliteration. And I can tell he’s nice because it sounds like you’re smiling. You should probably do him.”

  Claire laughed in surprise, clapping her hand over her mouth to cover the sound when some of the people walking by turned to look at her. “Don’t you think that’s a little quick?”

  “Nah. I believe in the psychological benefits of the fling.”

  “You’re too young to know anything about flings!” Claire said firmly.

  Kailey laughed. “Okay, but you’re not. Go for it. Get that...what does he play?”

  “He’s a wide receiver.”

  “Hmmm, the variety of dirty puns is far too great, so I’m going to keep it classy. The point is, I like that you sound happy and I hope it stays that way whether you go after the guy or not.”

  “I didn’t realize it was that obvious,” Claire admitted, her tone going serious. “That I was...you know...”

  “Miserable?” her sister filled in quietly. “I sort of picked up on it several thousand times...but I didn’t want you to think I was trying to get all into your business. It’s different now that you’re so far away. And I didn’t know if maybe you wanted some space from...well...me.”

  Claire sighed and dropped down to the edge of the fountain in the quad. “I never wanted space from you,” she said. “I mostly just wanted space from everything else. And it didn’t really work. Instead, I kind of just hid. I’m so sorry, Kailey.”

  “Don’t be sorry. Just...don’t be sad. Logan is an asshole.”

  Claire gave a half laugh. “God, he really is.” Why had it taken her so long to see it? They’d been together for a year and looking back on it, she didn’t remember ever feeling comfortable with him.

  “That’s the spirit!”

  “So, enough about me. What about you and Brianna?” Claire dragged the other girl’s name out in a sing song voice. “Do you looooove her?”

  “No. Shut up. And we’re going to the movies tonight.”

  “Text me when you leave and tell me all about it.”

  She could hear a smile in Kailey’s voice again as she said, “Every detail. Promise.”

  ****

  When Claire stepped into her townhouse however, her mood took a bit of a nosedive. Both of her roommates were there, sitting at the island in the kitchen. She’d have no choice but to walk past them to get to her room. It didn’t seem as intimidating as usual, but it still wasn’t going to be fun.

  “We heard Chase Franklin got benched,” Ellie said as Claire walked up.

  Claire didn’t say anything. There wasn’t really anything she could say. He had gotten benched, but it was his own fault, not hers. But she discovered that she didn’t want to throw him under the bus. For one thing, they wouldn’t believe her. But mostly...he’d acted on what Logan had said about her. She couldn’t blame him for that. And he’d apologized. And, as much as she hadn’t wanted to believe it, he’d sounded sincere. She wasn’t going to be stupid and only time would tell...but she was a step closer to believing that he wasn’t a jerk.

  “With a tutor like you, it’s not really a surprise,” Ellie pressed on, resting her chin in her hand and watching Claire closely.

  “I haven’t even had a tutoring session with Chase,” Claire protested. It was one thing not to end up in a shouting match, but she was tired of people spreading and believing misinformation about her.

  “Obviously not, even though you were supposed to,” McKenna said, rolling her eyes. “You did your best to screw the team out of a good quarterback, now you’re getting the wide receiver benched. Which guy are you going to go after next?”

  “I’m not--”

  “I hope you’re not planning on trying to get Logan again,” Ellie said. “Because I can promise that he doesn’t want you anymore.”

  Claire glanced at Ellie quickly. There was a smug look i
n the other girl’s eyes.

  “Congratulations on finally getting him in bed,” Claire said tightly. “You tried for a long damn time.”

  Ellie’s face flushed, but there was no way for her to deny what Claire had said and they both knew it. To get any sort of alone time with Logan last year, Claire had been forced out of the townhouse. If he came over, Ellie was there, leaning over him, smiling at him, complimenting him. She had even cooked for him, for God’s sake. Claire remembered how Logan had laughed about that when they were alone. He’d called her “Eager Ellie” and he’d absolutely loved the fact that she’d worshipped him.