Second Chance: A Military Football Romance

by Claire Adams

  “Ava Marie Klein,” my father warned. “Mr. Flynn is an experienced personal security expert who is going to follow you around campus until we’ve determined that there is no longer a threat. You will not be anything but absolutely polite to him, do you understand me?”

  “Fine!” I hissed. “I’ll deal with it, but this had better not go on the whole semester! It’s going to be humiliating to have to explain why I have some meathead following me everywhere, and my friends are going to think he’s spying on them, too!”

  “Cool the dramatics, young lady,” my father warned. “We’ve hired a young man who is experienced at this type of thing and knows how to be discreet. If you behave and follow directions, you probably won’t even know he’s there.”

  “Oh right,” I replied. “No one will notice the guy following me everywhere. Sure, sure.”

  “Ava,” my father’s voice dropped into the low range he used when he was warning me that he was about to run out of patience.

  “Okay, fine. I’ll behave like a good girl and let the big, bad security detail sweep me off my feet and ensure my safe return to the castle,” I said in an airy tone designed to defuse the tension.

  “Young lady, you try my patience,” her father replied. “I’ve got to go, I’ve got a meeting in five minutes. Do you need anything else?”

  “No, I’m fine, but —” I began, only to be met with the sound of the phone line disconnecting.

  *****

  I sighed as I scanned the screen one more time before tucking the phone into my pocket. My father had said the security detail would meet me in front of Brody Hall, and I was fully expecting an old, grey-haired man with a crew cut, sunglasses, and a Secret Service suit to follow me all over campus before reporting back to my father. Hopefully, this charade of parental concern would only last a week or two and then I could go back to living a normal life on campus.

  I scanned the front of the building, but didn’t see anybody who looked like an official bodyguard. The only person standing in front of Brody was a guy who looked too young and hot to have been hired by my father, and a small smile spread across my lips when I noticed the scowl on his handsome face as he checked his watch; whoever he was waiting for was going to get an earful, but from those lips it might not be so bad. When he looked back up, the scowl had disappeared, replaced by a raised eyebrow and pursed lips as he began to walk toward me.

  “Ava Klein? I’m Brian Flynn,” he said as he extended a large hand and waited for me to reciprocate. “You’re late.”

  “Excuse me?” I replied.

  “You’re late,” he repeated as he continued holding a hand out for me to shake. “I was told you’d be here at 8:30 am, and it’s now 8:42. That means you’re late.”

  I stood staring at this broad-shouldered man who was simultaneously trying to engage and scold me, and I shook as I tried to contain my rage. How dare he!

  “You’re the guy who is going to follow me around?” My incredulous tone caused his scowl to return as he dropped his hand and stared at me. “My father hired you? You’re barely older than I am! How on earth does he think you’re going to protect me?”

  “I’m 32 and I’m not in the habit of having to explain myself to the people I’m hired to protect,” his voice cut through my mini temper tantrum, stopping it cold. “But yes, your father hired me to be in charge of your security while you’re on campus. As far as my credentials go, your father had me fully investigated and feels confident that I’m capable of protecting you, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

  “Fully checked out, eh?” I sarcastically replied as I rolled my eyes. “Well, I’m totally reassured. What exactly are your credentials, Mr. Flynn?”

  “I’ve got a degree in criminology from Michigan State, I’m certified in tactical force, personal protection, and close range weapons usage, and I’ve earned a black belt in karate,” he dutifully ran down his resume while I looked at him with one eyebrow raised. “And I’m a former Navy SEAL; is that good enough for you, Ms. Klein?”

  “It seems as if you know what you’re doing,” I retorted. I was impressed with his background, but I wasn’t about to show him that given the way he’d tried to lecture me a few minutes before. “And now that we’ve gotten that worked out, just how long do you think you’ll be employing these outstanding credentials, Mr. Flynn?”

  “As long as it takes to ensure your safety,” he responded, and then added, “Ma’am.”

  Is he mocking me? I wondered as I looked more closely at my knight in a hoodie and Nike tennis shoes and thought, He looks like a total frat boy, but at least he’s easy on the eyes.

  “Fine,” I grudgingly conceded. “But you need to get something straight, right here and now. You work for me, and if I want to be late, I’ll be late, and you’ll shut up and follow. Got it?”

  “Oh, I’ve got it, alright,” Brian said, the corners of his lips twitching ever so slightly.

  That jerk! Is he laughing at me? I wondered as I glanced down at my watch and realized that class was about to start.

  I nodded, flipped my long brown hair over one shoulder, and turned toward the classroom, looking over my shoulder as I called back, “Good, I’m glad we understand each other. Now, let’s move, move, move soldier!”

  “That’s sailor, ma’am,” he quietly corrected.

  “What?” I was getting irritated.

  “Members of the Navy are sailors, not soldiers,” he explained.

  “Whatever! Just get a move on it or I’m going to be late to class!” I shouted at him over my shoulder as I picked up my pace and headed for my psychology class.

  I could hear him trailing behind me as I quick-stepped my way to class. My professor hated it when we were late, and he’d threatened to lock the doors when Jessie and Lara arrived late for the second time that week. I didn’t think he’d do it, but I didn’t want to put that thought to a test.

  Behind me, he was silent. I felt like I should make some kind of conversation with him, but since I had no idea what to say. Besides, I was still pissed at both him and my father for engaging in this silly little exercise. I didn’t need a bodyguard, but it seemed that if I put up a fight, it would only make things more difficult. What I really wanted to do was dismiss him on the spot and then call my father and tell him to stay out of my business once and for all, but I knew from experience that telling my father to butt out was the best way to ensure that he had a hand in my business, albeit a distant one.

  As I walked briskly across campus, I kept looking back over my shoulder to see if the bodyguard was still there. What is his name? Brad? Brandon? Oh, yeah, Brian. Every time I did it, I felt like an idiot for caring whether he was there or not. After all, he was there to serve and protect me, not the other way around.

  I couldn’t get a clear look at him as we trotted along, and as I replayed our little conversation, I felt like there was something familiar about the look in his eyes, but the thought slipped from my mind as the phone in my pocket began buzzing. I pulled it out and saw a message from Jess asking where I was. I quickly texted back, “On my way” and then stuffed the phone back in my pocket.

  Another look over my shoulder told me that Brian was still on my heels. We were almost in the center of campus now, and I was aware that people were looking at the odd paring of the Klein girl and the guy who was following her, but I’d grown used to the stares in my time at this school and I shrugged them off as I scanned the quad for Jessie and Lara.

  “Oh my God, Ava!” squealed Lara. “What is going on here? Who’s the hottie following you?”

  I rolled my eyes dramatically and sighed, “He’s a gift from my father. Jessie and Lara, meet Brian. Brian, meet Jessie and Lara. They’re my best friends and they are do not pose a threat to my safety in any way.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, ladies,” Brian said as he nodded politely at them both and then with a wry grin added, “It’s good to know that I won’t have to use force on either of you.”

 
; “Oh, you can feel free to use force on me anytime!” Lara purred as she gave my bodyguard the once-over.

  “Lara!” I objected. “Do you always have to be in seduction mode?”

  “Well, he’s cute,” she pouted. “You know how I am around cute guys!”

  “You have got to be kidding me,” I said as I turned and gave Brian an apologetic look before addressing the girls. “I’m being followed by a guy who my father has hired to monitor my every move and you are talking about how hot he is and trying to flirt with him? What is wrong with you two?”

  “There’s nothing wrong with us, Ava,” Jessie interjected. “We just appreciate his rugged good looks and his finely-tuned bod!”

  I peeked over at Brian and realized that he wasn’t listening to anything we were saying, but was instead scanning the quad area, presumably looking for potential threats to my safety. I rolled my eyes and looked back at Jess and Lara who were now whispering conspiratorially as they continued assessing Brian’s body and giggling about what they’d do with it.

  “So, what’s the deal with this guy?” Lara whispered.

  “My father thinks that this is the best solution to the Dominic problem,” I replied as I rolled my eyes.

  Lara and Jessie groaned as the three of us rolled our eyes. They’d grown up with me and knew how little interest my parents had taken in me unless it had to do with the family business or the family name, and while they knew that things hadn’t gone so well with Dominic, they didn’t know the whole story. No one did, and I preferred to keep it that way.

  “Apparently he thinks that by bringing in the big guns, he’ll make me feel like he actually cares about my safety,” I told them in a matter-of-fact voice. “I say, whatever floats his boat. In two weeks he’s going to lose interest in trying to protect his little girl, and I’ll be able to ditch the security detail and go back to normal.”

  “Well, at least we’ll have something to look at while you’re waiting for your time in house arrest to be up!” Jessie squealed.

  “I’m not under house arrest, Jessie,” I corrected. “I’m simply being tailed 24/7. Big difference. If my father ever tried to keep me confined to my apartment, I’d totally lose it!”

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to hit a sore spot,” Jessie apologized.

  “Nah, it’s fine,” I brushed off her apology and turned to see what Brian was doing. His eyes constantly scanned the surrounding area and it was starting to creep me out a bit. I wasn’t worried about what Dominic was going to do, but Brian’s vigilant watch was already getting to me.

  “Besides, you know that my father doesn’t know the first thing about me or what’s going on in my life anyway,” I asserted. “He’s just using this as a way to garner sympathy and use it to promote himself by claiming that his poor daughter is a victim of some crazy ex-boyfriend.”

  “He never met Dominic, did he?” Lara asked.

  “Nope,” I replied. “Never had time to stop in town and have dinner or anything.”

  “Man, I know my family is a mess, but your dad takes the cake, girl!” Lara’s sympathetic tone was almost more than I could handle, so I laughed lightly before turning and motioning them on to class.

  When we finally reached the classroom, I breezed right in and dropped my things on my usual desk before I turned around and noticed that Brian was nowhere to be seen. I slung my purse over my shoulder and headed back out the door, motioning to Jessie that I’d be right back.

  “What’s the matter?” I asked when I found Brian leaning against the wall across the hall from the door to my Psych class. “Do you have something against psychology?”

  “Not as a tool of learning, but —” he replied.

  “But what?” I pushed. I noticed the way he avoided looking at me as he scanned the corridor, opened his mouth to speak, stopped and scanned again, and then closed his lips and shook his head.

  “Never mind,” he muttered.

  “No, that’s not fair!” I protested. “You don’t get to start to say something and then stop.”

  “Look, Ms. Klein,” he explained. “I’m here to ensure your safety, I’m not here to joke around and be your buddy. It’s best if you just act like I’m part of the surroundings rather than someone you can chat with, okay? It’s for your own good. Believe me.”

  “That’s about the most idiotic thing anyone has ever said to me,” I shot back. I was angry that he’d cut me off when I was trying to be nice about this whole thing. After all, it was my privacy that was being invaded by his job, and I hadn’t asked him to do it. When I’m mad, I get very sarcastic, and I turned that on him as I asked, “So, are you going to sit in on class or is your bias too great to allow you to enter the room?”

  “Actually, I think it’s best if I don’t invade every aspect of your personal life,” he said as he fixed his steel blue eyes on my face. “I will secure the spaces you are in, and then I’ll back off and let you do your thing. During class, I’ll be out here in the hallway.”

  “And if I have to go to the bathroom?” I said in a snippy tone. “What are you going to do then?”

  “I’ve secured the bathroom on this floor, so you’re free to use it if you need to,” he replied in the same even tone.

  “Oh my God,” I laughed as I turned on my heel and headed back into the room. “You’re really taking this way too seriously.”

  “I’m sorry you feel that way, Ms. Klein,” he said in a voice tinged with the hint of sadness.

  When I snuck a look over my shoulder before I shut the door, I could see him scanning the hallway for the hundredth time, and murmured, “Well, you’re certainly vigilant, I’ll give you that.”

  *****

  I tried to focus on Professor Blake’s lecture, but my mind was racing a mile a minute as I thought about how pissed I was at my father for forcing Brian on me. None of this would make any difference in our father-daughter relationship, whatever there was of that. It was true that we’d never been close, but he’d never played the “dad card” the way he was right now, so I was suspicious of all the sudden concern for my well-being. Something strange was going on with my parents, but I had no idea what it was.

  “Good morning, everyone,” began Professor Blake. “Today we’re covering chapter 23 in our textbook. We’ll be talking about the evolutionary brain and how it relates to what has been commonly labeled Stockholm Syndrome. Now, can one of you who have read the chapter tell me what evolutionary brain function has to do with today’s topic?”

  “Hunter-gatherers were designed to solve certain problems!” came an eager response from the back of the room.

  “Correct, Justin,” replied Professor Blake. “And what was one specific problem that they had to solve, specifically the problem that women had to solve?”

  “Abduction of women would be used as a mechanism of asserting strength and increasing the size of a tribe, and women who resisted would often be subjected to deadly violence so they had to learn to give in without actually giving in, if that makes sense.” As usual, Lara summarized the issue in a succinct sentence.

  “Very good, Lara!” Professor Blake exclaimed.

  As I looked over my shoulder and gave Lara a thumbs up, I caught sight of Brian standing guard out in the hall, and again, my blood began to boil as I reminded myself that my father, the one who was so overly concerned with my safety, had never even met Dominic. Come to think of it, my father had never made the time to come to campus and see what was going on or even offer to come see me. Instead, every year he’d assign one of his minions to pack up the car, drive me to school, and drop me off in my dorm room, and the night before he’d come in and hand over cash, one new credit card for all my school expenses, and another one “for fun,” he’d say with a wink and a nod, then I’d roll my eyes and tuck the cards in my wallet. It became our yearly ritual.

  Sometimes during the year, I’d fly to New York and go on a huge shopping spree just to see what he’d say when he got the bill, but he never said anything; n
ot even when I spent over $15,000 on clothes and shoes in one trip to Dior. I’m not sure he even noticed.

  “What do you think, Ava? Do you agree with Jessie?” Professor Blake’s voice cut through my thoughts, pulling me away from my family and bringing me back to the classroom.

  “I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” I apologized as I turned beet red from the embarrassment of being caught off guard.

  “Ah ha, I see,” he nodded and then rephrased the question. “What is the base definition of Stockholm Syndrome? What makes it so powerful?”

  “That the victim finds a way to identify with the abductor and actually falls for him,” I said without hesitation.

  “Good, good!” he encouraged. “Can you tell me more about it, Ava? What’s the danger?”

  “That the captive empathizes so much with the abductor that they see the abuse as kindness…” my voice trailed off.

  “Yes! Excellent answer, Ava!” Professor Blake crowed as he turned his attention back to the whiteboard at the front of the room, where he began writing terms and asking other students to define them.

  I sat quietly, listening to my classmates calling out the answers to questions the professor asked in rapid fire, and wondered if Brian was still out in the hallway. I quickly turned to check and caught his eye before he turned and scanned the corridor again.

  I wasn’t scared, but something felt off, and I didn’t know what it was.

  *****

  “What did he say about the exam, Ava?” Lara was tugging on the back of my shirt. “Did he say it was 50 percent of our grade?”

  “No, he said the essay would be 50 percent of the exam grade,” I answered in an irritated tone. “God, Lara! Would you just slow down and listen every once in a while?”

  Lara’s pouty lower lip told me that I’d hit a nerve, so when I finished packing up my things, I stood and put an arm around the tiny redhead and said, “C’mon, cheer up! You answered so many questions right today that you’re bound to be on Professor Blake’s good side. I’m sure he’ll cut you slack on the essay.”