Secret Tutor: A Football Romance Story

by Amber Heart

  Riley raised an eyebrow and looked at him as though he was something she’d found on the bottom of her shoe. “Don’t flatter yourself, Eli. You were just a one night stand anyway.”

  ****

  Eli went into work and got straight under the hood of the nearest car. It wasn’t the Superbird. With the tension he was carrying now, he didn’t want to risk messing it up.

  Riley had gotten dressed and called a cab without speaking to Eli again. He’d stood on the porch with her to make sure that the cab didn’t ditch her, but for all the attention she paid him he might as well have been across the country. She stared down at her phone the whole time, surfing Facebook and Instagram. She hadn’t even returned his goodbye.

  It was bugging him more than he wanted to admit. The only thing that worried him more was how in the hell he could manage to avoid Shane today. It was a small shop, but he needed to figure something out. His friend would see the guilt written all over his face, he was sure of it.

  Eli had thought that his luck had turned around in the past few years. Now it felt like it had only been lying in wait to screw him over in the worst way possible. He’d had a one night stand with his best friend’s sister, for God’s sake. Everything he had, he owed to Shane Harris. And then he’d done this. Shane would never forgive him.

  “Eli, can you come here for a minute?”

  Eli’s breath caught in his chest. Shane didn’t sound happy. He stood up and took a deep breath, rubbing his hands down his jeans to dry the sudden sweat. He’d be honest and he’d take what came of it. It was no one’s fault but his own.

  “Ye-” he cleared his throat and tried again. “Yeah?”

  “Remember I told you that my sister’s flight was getting in last night?” Shane asked, his face drawn.

  “Yeah, yeah, you uh...you said she was coming in.” God, what was he doing? Wasn’t this the moment to admit what had happened?

  “She didn’t come home.”

  “What?”

  “She never came home. I know that the flight got in, because I called and checked. But Riley never showed up. I called her a few times and she didn’t answer.”

  He’d heard her phone ring a few times while they’d been tangled up in each other. Eli rubbed the back of his neck, trying to get the image out of his mind.

  And hell, he’d figured that she’d at least stopped off at home first. Apparently she’d gone straight to the bar. And then straight to his bed.

  “I don’t know what to do,” Shane admitted. “I mean, she’s an adult. I don’t want to check in on her or anything...but this is just weird. She’s always been so responsible. This isn’t like her at all. Just to leave me hanging like this.”

  “I don’t think it could hurt to call,” Eli said, chickening out spectacularly. There was no way that he could get the words out of his mouth. There was no way that he could tell his best friend that the reason his sister hadn’t come home was because she’d been underneath him.

  “I mean, let her know that you’re worried. And she might be there by now. Maybe she just took a later flight or something.” He’d never hated himself more than in that moment.

  “Maybe,” Shane said with a distracted nod. “All right, I’m gonna be in the office.”

  As Eli went back to working on the car, he heard Shane’s voice raise. It sounded like he and Riley were having a fight. Maybe there was some harm in calling after all. He listened carefully, wondering if Riley was telling Shane where she’d been. He felt sick with relief when Shane came back out and grabbed a wrench.

  “She won’t say where she was, but she’s home now,” he said. “Go find something else to do, I’ve got this.”

  Eli took the suggestion.

  Chapter 4

  Nearly a week had passed and Eli hadn’t had any indication that Shane knew what had happened between him and Riley. He felt like a complete pussy for being so relieved, but he was. That didn’t mean that he didn’t miss her.

  Eli found himself thinking of her more and more as the days passed. He wondered how she was settling in at Shane’s house. He wondered if she’d managed to find a job. He wondered if she thought about him at night the way he thought about her.

  He wished that he could ask Shane about her, but there was no way he could. Not without raising questions he really didn’t want to answer. And Shane seemed incredibly stressed lately. He hadn’t even touched the Superbird and he spent a lot of time alone in the office.

  He claimed to be catching up on paperwork, but Eli didn’t believe it. For one thing, Shane hated paperwork. For another, Eli hadn’t been able to lay his hands on an invoice for the past four days without digging through the teetering mountain on Shane’s desk. Maybe he should offer to take him out for a drink, get him out of his own head.

  Eli was pulling his phone out of his pocket when it rang. He didn’t recognize the number and he answered it absently, still thinking of how he’d drag Shane out of the garage that night. It was probably a bill collector.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey there, handsome.”

  A sultry voice came down the line. He frowned for a second and then his heart thumped as he suddenly recognized the woman on the other end of the line.

  “Riley?”

  “Oh, good job. You got it right in one try,” she said, a giggle making it slightly harder for him to understand her. “I must have been memorable.”

  “You’re memorable,” Eli allowed. “You’re also drunk.”

  “Ding ding ding!” She laughed. “You are on fire tonight, Eli!”

  “It’s a good thing one of us is,” he said. “What can I do for you, Riley?”

  “I’m so glad you asked,” she purred. “You can come pick me up.”

  “What?” He could hardly hear her over the noise around her and her voice had been low. Surely she hadn’t said what he’d thought. He’d been wanting her to call him and say that almost since she’d left him that morning a week ago.

  “Come pick me up,” she repeated over the loud music that threatened to drown out her voice.

  Eli sighed. Just because she was what he wanted, that didn’t mean that she was what he could have. “Listen, why don’t you give your brother a call, Riley?”

  “Because my brother isn’t a muscular biker dude,” Riley said as if it should be obvious. “He wouldn’t fit in here.”

  “Yeah? And where are you, exactly?”

  “Lion’s Den.”

  Eli held back a groan. “Are you serious?”

  He knew exactly where it was, but he’d never been in because it set off every warning bell in his brain. He’d been in too many places like it back home in North Carolina and he didn’t want to go in now. The trouble was, he didn’t want her there either. He’d never felt protective of a woman before.

  “Yeah,” Riley said, her voice sounding just a bit shaky now. “I’m not having a good time anymore and I want to go home.”

  He rubbed his forehead. There was no way in hell that he could tell her no. Not when she sounded like that. Not when all he wanted was to make sure that she was safe.

  “Okay,” he said roughly. “I’ll come and get you. But you’ve got to meet me outside, okay?”

  He didn’t want to go in. It would be too much like walking backwards into a past he’d much rather forget.

  “Yes sir,” she said briskly. “I’ll see you soon.”

  When Eli pulled up outside the bar nearly half an hour later, and parked his motorcycle as close to the entrance as possible, he was ticked off to discover that she was nowhere in sight. He waited a few minutes, watching as the crowd ebbed and flowed, but she didn’t appear. Where the hell was she?

  Eli pulled his phone out of his pocket and called her. No answer. He had a feeling that trying again wouldn’t change anything. As loud as the music was in there, he’d be surprised if she could even hear the phone ringing.

  He looked up at the bar with a sigh. She wasn’t leaving him with much choice. He walked up the stairs
, ignoring the way that the people on the porch looked at him. They’d be sizing him up and he knew that he didn’t have long before someone got ballsy enough to approach him.

  Eli stepped inside, standing by the door as he glanced around. He was relieved when he saw Riley standing in the corner near the bar. The trouble was that she wasn’t alone. A big guy in a leather vest stood beside her, leaning over her, one hand on the wall over her head, making it impossible for her to move without shoving past him. She was looking up at him and Eli could see from where he stood that she was annoyed and more than a little frightened. He sighed and walked across the room. This probably wasn’t going to go well.

  “Riley,” he called. “You ready to go?”

  “Yes,” she answered, relief lighting those green eyes the minute she saw him. “Definitely.”

  The guy reached out and grabbed her arm, looking at Eli with narrowed eyes. “Who’s he?” he demanded, giving her arm a shake. “You’re here with me.”

  Riley tried to pull out of his grip and Eli saw her grimace with pain. He clenched his hands, trying hard to ignore the instinct to knock the guy flat.

  “Take your hands off of her,” he said, stepping closer, keeping his voice low. He didn’t want to draw attention to them. If he could get her out of there without embarrassing this asshole in front of his buddies it would be much less trouble. It wouldn’t be nearly as satisfying, but he tried not to focus on that part.

  “Who the hell are you to tell me what to do?”

  The man eyed Eli, sizing him up. Eli had been doing this same. This guy was a little shorter than him, probably around 6 feet even. But he was built even more solidly. Muscle strained the seams of his shirt. The plus side to that would be that Eli was faster. The downside was pretty damn obvious.

  “I’m the guy that’s taking her home,” Eli said flatly. That wasn’t negotiable and there was no point in pretending that it was. “This doesn’t need to be a problem.”

  “Yeah, well it’s gonna be,” the man informed him. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll turn around and walk right out of here.”

  Eli shrugged. “And if you know what’s good for you, you won’t make me prove that I can kick your ass up one side of this bar and down the other.”

  Riley took advantage of the man’s slackened grip and pulled away. Eli put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close against his side and hoping that she was sober enough to hustle out of there the minute he moved. There wouldn’t be much time. A bar fight was like a wildfire in the way that it spread. They’d have about a minute, tops, to be on his bike and getting the hell out of there.

  The man stepped forward and Eli stepped back, dodging his punch easily. Riley squeaked with surprise and he glanced down to make sure she was okay. The next punch landed on his jaw. He turned back and caught the guy’s fist when he swung again.

  “You get one for free,” Eli said, shoving him back, getting him off balance. “Don’t fucking try it again.”

  When the man glanced over Eli’s shoulder, Eli managed to duck the punch of the man behind him as he pulled Riley against his chest, keeping her out of harm's way. When he spun, he saw that there were about ten guys behind him. Fuck. For a second, he was pissed off enough to want to stand where he was, see how it all shook out. Then he realized that was the stupidest thought he’d had in three years.

  Eli grabbed Riley’s hand and ran for it. When he was close enough, he lowered his shoulder and knocked two of the guys back long enough to pull Riley through the crowd. He managed to get to the door ahead of the crowd and he shoved her through and out onto the steps while digging into his pocket for the keys.

  He felt someone grab the back of his jacket and yank him back. Eli spun and drove his fist into the guy’s stomach, shoving him back into the rest of the crowd. It gave him the time he needed to get the hell out of there. Eli ran for the bike, relieved to see Riley already standing beside it, looking at him with wide eyes.

  “Put your arms around me,” he barked at her as he threw his leg over the bike and gunned the engine. “Come on, move!”

  Riley got on the bike and wrapped her arms around him tightly. He could feel her trembling as he pulled out of the parking lot. He didn’t relax until he’d left the bar long behind them and was sure that no one was following them.

  He took the shortest way possible back to his house. His heart still hadn’t stopped pounding as he parked the bike and Riley slid off. She still looked shaky too but Eli was too furious to care. He steered her up the steps and into the living room.

  When he’d locked the front door behind them, he turned to face her. She was pale in the low light and he had an insane urge to jerk her against him and kiss her breathless. He shook the thought away.

  “What the hell were you thinking?” he demanded. “I told you to meet me outside!”

  “Well, I couldn’t,” Riley defended herself, her voice shrill with the last of her panic. “He wouldn’t let me go.”

  “What the fuck were you doing there in the first place?” Eli pressed on. “It doesn’t take a genius to see that it’s not a good place to be! Are you that fucking naive?”

  “Don’t yell at me!” she shouted back at him. “I...oh.”

  Shit. He knew that look. Eli grabbed her by the arm and shoved her gently into the bathroom. Then he waited outside until the inevitable was over. He wasn’t the hold back the hair type of guy.

  When he heard her shut off the sink after she’d cleaned up, he eased the door open. She was standing there, her face paper white and her hands trembling. His anger faded so quickly that it shocked him.

  “Wanna sleep here tonight?” There was no way that he could send her home like that even if he’d wanted to.

  Riley nodded tiredly and followed him down the hall to his bedroom. Eli let her brace herself against him as she pulled off her heels and pants. Then he caught the edge of her shirt and tugged it up over her head, tossing it to the floor as he unhooked her pretty lace bra with his other hand. She gave him a wary look, and he gave her a slight smile in return.

  “Relax,” Eli said easily, handing her one of his clean tee shirts. “I’m not enough of a jerk to make a move on you right now.”

  Riley leaned her head against his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist. “You’re not a jerk at all, Eli,” she whispered, her voice getting a little shaky. “Thanks for showing up tonight.”

  “Anybody would have done the same thing,” he replied briskly, hoping to avoid a crying jag. “It’s no problem.”

  She looked up at him and traced the rapidly growing bruise on his jaw. That would ache like a son of a bitch by morning, but he didn’t regret it. He’d gotten her out of there without a scratch.

  “It kind of was,” she countered. “You were really brave.”

  Eli smiled down at her. “I’ve had worse,” he said honestly. “Come on, quit talking and get into bed.”

  He pulled back the blankets and she slid down between the sheets with a sigh. Once she was settled with a trash can pragmatically close, he stepped over to the door. Riley propped up on one elbow, squinting at him.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I thought I’d sleep on the couch,” he said. “Let you get some rest.”

  “I’ll rest better if you stay.”

  Her voice was almost shy. Coupled with the fact that she still looked like she felt awful and the fact that she somehow looked just as beautiful in his tee shirt with her hair tangled and her makeup smeared as she did all put together in her nice clothes, Eli couldn’t bring himself to say no.

  “All right,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”

  Out of habit he checked to see that the doors were locked and turned off lights. Then he stopped by the kitchen and filled a glass with water. He snagged a bottle of Tylenol off of the top of the refrigerator on his way out. If tonight was any indication, they’d probably both need a few of those tomorrow. He’d expected her to be asleep when he got back, but sh
e smiled slightly when he opened the bedroom door.

  Eli tugged his shirt off, aware that she was still watching him. He didn’t mind one bit. He let his pants fall to the floor and pulled on a pair of pajama pants just to keep from being tempted. Then he climbed into bed with her, enjoying the smooth sheets and the soft pillow. It had been a hell of a day.

  When he turned the light off, he heard her sigh with relief. Then she rolled over and wrapped herself all around him, her leg thrown over him, her arm across his stomach, and her head resting on his chest. He wrapped an arm around her without even thinking about anything but how well she fit him.

  “Good night, Eli,” she whispered.