by Unknown
by
Shawnté Borris
* * * *
Catching Haley
Copyright © 2014 by Shawnté Borris
Editing by Raelene Green of word·play by 77peaches –
A division of 77peaches enterprises, LLC
Cover Designer © by Wicked by Design
Formatting and interior design by JT Formatting
Cover Photographer: Made in 81 Photography – Shawnté Borris
Cover Models: Ashley Verbeek & Dalas Venning
Beta & Proofreading:
On The Same Page Beta & Proofreading
[email protected]
All rights reserved.
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review
This book is a work of fiction. Characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, places, or events is purely coincidental.
FBI Anti-Piracy Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
Title Page
Dedication
Note to Readers
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Epilogue
Thank You
Books by Shawnté
How to Find Shawnté
The Game, Kirsten Backhard *Book One*
The Game – Prologue
The Game – Chapter One
The Game – Chapter Two
The Game – Chapter Three
THIS PROJECT HAS been the hardest one by far. I don’t think I will ever commit to writing a book in the spring and fall again, as life is too busy here on the farm, with only eighty days of summer. LOL
I want to thank you all for your patience as this book is way late getting out. Thank you for reading it and taking a chance on reading every book I have written and leaving a review. Every night I go to bed feeling blessed for this opportunity and for you, the reader.
I also need to specially thank Rae and Julie for not getting too gnarly at me for being so late in the editing and formatting process and not forgetting about me.
I have left out questions on purpose of what’s happening or going on with Travis & Whitney and Maggie & Ben as I’m leaving it up to you, the readers. If there is enough demand, then each couple will get their own book. :)
Thank you for falling in love with Bentley and Haley, as up to date they are my favorite couple I have written. (Falling for Bentley—part one available where most e-books are sold.)
All my love,
WAKING UP TO see the sunrise with Haley asleep on top of me was the best feeling I’ve ever felt in my whole life. I twirled her hair between my fingers as I watched the embers of the fire cool, thinking about what would it be like to have this moment for the rest of my life; what it would be like to raise a family, to watch my parents play with their grandchildren in the same spot they played with Travis and me.
Which got me to thinking how could my parents afford to put Travis through college if I left the farm? The farm was my parent’s only income. Where would dad find his peace when something pissed him off, or where would mom put her peach pies to cool when they were done baking? All these thoughts came at me faster and faster. Once again, I was being put in a situation I didn’t have control of. I was put in a place where I wasn’t sure I wanted to be.
How could my family do this to me again? I just had sex with Haley…without a condom…what if she got pregnant? Then I could never leave. My breathing picked up, and the panic began to rise. I had to get out of here.
I tried to ease out of her embrace without waking her. I didn’t want to see the expectation on her face. My silent escape was interrupted as she stirred.
“Morning,” she said in her sweet, raspy voice.
I lifted her off me and slid the rest of the way out from under her. “I need to go. I’m sorry, Haley.” I rambled as I pulled on my pants, keeping my eyes averted.
“Why? What did I do wrong?” The tremor in her voice cut through me as I turned to reach my other shoe and slip it on. I moved past her, stopping to wipe away the single tear I saw fall before walking away.
“Run, run like you always do, Bentley!” she yelled, so full of emotions I didn’t want to see or feel. If I did I would never leave.
“I’m not running,” I answered back heading towards my truck.
“Bullshit!” she yelled back angrily.
I turned around facing her, “What is that supposed to mean?”
She walked right up to me with my parent’s quilt wrapped around her with her long leg sticking out from the side. “Bentley, you are a good man, you came home when your family needed you with, no questions asked, but now, instead of making a decision for you, you’d rather run.”
“I stayed,” I argued. She has no idea what I gave up for my family…no one did. I never breathed a word of it to anyone.
“Really? Because instead of figuring out what you want, you stayed away and lived with Curtis these past two weeks.”
Damn it, why doesn’t she get it? “I’m figuring out what I want!” I shouted at her.
She took a step back as if I slapped her, “I-I thought when you came here last night you’d made your decision.”
Facing my truck again I sighed, as she pleaded with me, “Make a decision, Bentley. Pick something; just make a choice. Pick me…take a chance on us.”
I got into my truck without looking behind me, at the one person what very well owned my heart.
I DROVE HOME and ran into the house, grabbed my duffle bag out of the hall closet and threw what I owned inside.
“Bentley, please don’t leave her. You will crush her,” my mom begged at my bedroom door.
“I have to. Otherwise I’ll stay because of her,” I stressed.
“Would that be so wrong? She loves you, Bentley, and I know you feel the same.”
I turned to face her while grabbing my stuff off of the dresser, “And what, stay because of her? I’ve already stayed for someone else; doesn’t what I want matter, Mom?”
“Oh, son,” Mom walked to me and gathered me in her arms, “what you want is very important. I just don’t want you walking away from something you might not ever get back. I believe last night Haley gave you everything she had.”
“What if this life isn’t enough, and one day she wakes up and realizes it and decides to leave?”
Mom pulls back, “Bentley, is that how you see yourself?”
“Mom, I’m a washed up farm hand. What kind of life can I really offer her? Coupons and budgets? I don’t know too many women willing to choose this kind of life,” I said, waving my arm around my room. “One day she’ll wake up and say this isn’t enough, and she’ll want more; a lifestyle I can’t provide for her. Then what am I going to do?”
“I don’t think that’s true, you are just scared.”
“Can you give me
a one hundred percent guarantee?” I asked
“You know I can’t do that, Bentley. If I could, your father would have never been hurt…”
“…and I wouldn’t have come home. I would be playing in the NFL somewhere.”
Mom stepped back and covered her mouth. We stood silently looking at one another in the eyes.
“Is that how you truly feel? You resent us…the life we provided for you?” A long heavy silence hung between us before she finally sighed and said, “Maybe you should go then.”
Mom turned around and left, leaving me standing in my room, feeling like the biggest piece of shit for hurting her the way I did. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before gathering my duffle bag and heading back to Texas, right back to where the life I’d wanted abruptly ended.
“WELL, WELL, WELL. If it’s not the lost prodigy of my career,” Coach Brown greeted me as I walked on the field I missed so much. I bent down and rubbed my hand against the grass, remembering the feel of it under my feet. “I bet if you close your eyes you can still hear the crowd cheering for you.”
I stood up and shook his hand, “Nice to see you again, Coach.”
“I was surprised to get your call, Bentley. What are you doing here?”
I looked around the university stadium and breathed in the familiar smell that always seemed to calm me. “I needed to talk to someone…someone that might understand what I’m feeling.”
Coach looked at me confused, “I’m not sure what you are getting at, Bentley, but I’ll give you any advice I can. Why don’t we take a seat on the bench?” Coach led the way over and took a seat.
As I followed him, I looked at everything around me. “I’ll never forget what it felt like, being on the field,” I said more to myself.
“That you won’t,” Coach smiled as I sat beside him.
Coach sat quietly, waiting me to share what I had on my mind. It was the best quality about him; when it came time to talk, he had all the patience in the world.
“Do you think I would have been drafted into the NFL?” I asked.
“I think we both know the answer to that. You know you would have.”
“Do you think I would have made it far?” I asked, looking over at the goal posts.
“I can’t answer that. Anything can happen in this game, Bentley, you know that.”
I looked over to him, “I’m sorry couldn’t make it back for the funeral.”
“I got the flowers you sent, they were nice. How did you know calla lilies were her favorite flower?”
“Easy, Coach, after every win you stopped and got her some. I thought it was only fitting,” I smiled at him.
We sat there quietly again in our own thoughts.
“Bentley, let me tell you something I have learned from life. My wife died last year, and I didn’t even notice until it was too late. She was dying right in front of me, and I was too selfish in my own world to notice…to even have given two shits to notice.
“I was so busy playing football when we got married that she raised our three kids on all her own. I didn’t even know the youngest had dyslexia until he almost didn’t graduate high school because he couldn’t read properly. I would have known if I had taken the time to sit and read him bedtime stories when he was a child, but in my mind the football team always came first.
“I even asked my daughter to move her wedding date because I wanted to see who would be picked in that year’s draft. How selfish is that Bentley?” he asked angrily. “My only daughter didn’t even get married on the day she wanted. But do you know what the saddest part is?” he asked looking at me. “It was so common in our house for football to come first, she didn’t even bat an eye when I asked. I’ve only talked to my oldest son three times since his mother died.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Coach,” I said sincerely.
“Don’t be, Bentley. I made this life myself.”
I picked up the football by my feet and tossed it from hand to hand as Coach went on.
“Six months before my wife died, she was sitting at the kitchen table with me while I was eating the bacon and eggs she’d made for me. I glanced at her to say something, but stopped when I noticed I could see her cheek bones, and that her arms were so thin. It was the first time in a long time I’d seen her without a sweater on. When she noticed I was looking at her, she rubbed her hands up and down her arms trying to hide them.”
“That sucks,” I said, still holding the football and thinking how awful that must have been.
“I didn’t even know she was sick. Hell, I didn’t even know she’d already been through a round of radiation at that point.”
I looked over at him, stunned. How can a man not know this about his wife? “Shit man, that’s rough,” I said practically speechless at the situation.
“You know the real kick in the ass, son? She said she wasn’t even mad I hadn’t noticed because she knew what she was marrying when she married me.”
My head hung low at his last words, and my mind reeled over the implications. Did she settle for less than what she deserved just to marry the man she loved? Would Haley be settling? Do I want her to settle? No, I wouldn’t want my daughter to do that for a man, so why would I want that for my wife?
“Bentley, be smarter than me. Don’t let football take away the things that are really the most important. God, not a day goes by that I don’t think of my wife and children, and everything I selfishly missed out on.”
Coach stood and put his hand on my shoulder. “I hope that was the advice you were looking for son.” I looked up at him and noticed the moisture in his eyes. “As long as I’m coaching, my offer for you to be my assistant will always be on the table, but don’t let it matter if you already have something beautiful in front of you.”
“Thanks, Coach.”
He started walking away, but stopped and turned back to me, “While you’re in town, go see Darryl. I heard he’s home on his bye week.”
I sat in the stadium for at least another hour before I left for Darryl’s.
CHILDREN’S LAUGHTER ECHOED around me as I stood at Darryl’s front door and rang the doorbell.
“Bentley? Hey man, how are ya?” he asked as he pulled me in for a man-hug.
“Good. You got time for an old friend?”
“Sure do, I believe the wife is grilling and the kids are killing each other in the pool.”
“Wanting more kids?” I asked with a smirk.
“Currently working on the fourth as we speak,” he grinned. “I’m hoping these few days home will do it.”
“Why are you answering the door instead of working on that?” I teased.
“I nailed her twice this morning before we got up, and once after lunch. Kendra said she needed a break, and her nieces and nephews are over for a play date. They wanted to dunk their Uncle Darryl in the pool. Lucky me,” he finished with mock enthusiasm as he twirled his finger in the air.
“Well congratulations, man.” I patted him on the shoulder as he motioned me inside.
“Don’t jinx me, bro, I take this shit seriously.”
“More seriously than football?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Definitely,” he grinned as we walked into the kitchen.
He walked up behind his wife and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her neck before letting her know I was here and staying for dinner.
“Hi, Kendra,” I smiled and picked her up in a bear hug. “It’s been a while.”
“Put her down, bro. I don’t need my sperm falling out of her.”
I quickly put her down and stepped away, my hands held up in surrender. I didn’t try to hide the shudder that ran over me at Darryl’s visual.
Kendra slapped Darryl on the arm as she laughed, “Do you have to be so vulgar? Not everyone wants, or needs, to know we are trying to have another baby.”
“Why not?” he leaned down and kissed her again. “Those girls are my greatest accomplishment of my life. Besides, look how perfect our first
three turned out. They’re gonna be knock-outs, just like their momma,” Darryl gushed as he looked out to the patio at his daughters playing in the pool.
“Wait until the boys start sniffing around,” I chuckled while taking a seat at the kitchen island popping a few grapes in my mouth.
“You hush,” Kendra scolded me with a plastic spoon.
“Beer?” Darryl asked, opening the fridge door. “This one is gonna be a boy anyways. God ain’t that mad a me.”
“You sure about that?” I snickered.
“Why don’t you boys go out to the pool?” Kendra suggested. “Bentley, there are extra swim trucks in the pool house closet. I’ll finish making up a few snacks and meet you boys out there.”
I kissed Kendra’s cheek, “Thanks, and you look as great as ever.”
“Stop hitting on my wife, man, or I’m gonna throw you in the pool fully clothed.”
I winked at Kendra. “Dude, she’s still hot,” I added before making my way to the pool house.
After dinner, Kendra’s sister picked up her kids. I cleaned up all the pool toys while Kendra put away dinner and Darryl bathed and put their daughters to bed.
I lay back on a lounge chair and looked at the sky, noticing how much clearer it was on the farm, and how much quieter is was back home. I don’t think I could ever get used to the smell of the city.
Darryl dropped a fresh beer in my hand, pulling me back from my thoughts.
“Beer for your thoughts?”
“I was just thinking how much nicer the sky is back at home.”
“How is the farm?” Darryl asked sitting beside me.
“Good.”
“Family?”
“Everyone is good, man. My brother graduates this year, and I’m hoping he’ll get picked up by a college team.”
“You think he’s good enough?”
“I think he’ll win quarterback of the year,” I said proudly.
“Wow, Bentley, that’s awesome.”
“Nah, he’s just following in his big brother’s footsteps.” I joked.
Taking a drink of his beer Darryl asked, “As much as we like seeing you, why are visiting?”
