“Good. Do you know what today is?”
“Saturday,” I say, hoping this doesn’t go on much longer. I hate unwanted attention. The last thing I need is for people to label me as Bash’s ex-girlfriend who made a scene at the season opener. The rumor mill will churn, same as always. If Bash so much as sneezes, the campus knows about it. And anyone seen with him is always a target.
“Other than the bruised cheek, I’m fine,” I tell Dr. Holland, attempting to make my words sound believable.
Ten minutes pass before Dr. Holland is satisfied with the outcome of his tests. Apparently, I don’t have any major signs of a concussion. I figured as much by the way my body responded to Bash alone. Or maybe I’m losing my shit. Because why on earth would I think of Bash in that way ever again? He still disgusts me. He should repulse me. Except he doesn’t. And I kind of hate myself for it.
Helping me to my seat next to Jessica, Dr. Holland hovers over me with a concerned look in his eyes. “You don’t have any major warning signs, but that doesn’t mean your situation can’t change. I want you to be careful for the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours. No drinking, drugs, or any strenuous activity.”
Jessica laughs but keeps her mouth shut. The last thing she needs to mention is the after party in front of the doctor.
“No problem.” I give him a forced grin, even though my face and head hurt like hell, causing the lines on the field to blur. “Thank you.”
“Take it easy, Victoria.” He smiles, then shoves his medical instruments into the leather bag. “You can have a delayed reaction. It happens to my players all the time. Don’t take anything I’ve told you for granted.”
I feign a smile. “Of course.”
“I’ll take excellent care of her, Doc,” Jessica chimes. She hooks her arm through mine, putting my biceps in a vise. “I won’t let anything bad happen to my bestie.”
Dr. Holland hands me his business card. “Call me if anything changes. My cell phone number is on the back.”
“I will. Thank you.” I stuff the card into my pocket as he walks away.
“Is he serious about not being able to drink tonight? That ruins my plans.” Jessica sounds like a child complaining about not getting her way.
I do an internal happy dance because I take this incident as a valid excuse to bail on the dreaded party. But Jessica doesn’t see it that way.
“You have to come with me,” she says, her eyes pointed at the field. She salivates over Clay. “You are not getting out of this that easily. We are a team.”
I hold my hand up to my forehead, pretending to faint. “I think I feel something coming on.” Trying to hold back my laughter, I fail.
“You’re not funny, Tori. I have been looking forward to this for weeks. We have it all planned out.”
“No,” I correct her, “you have it all planned out. I just listen to you ramble on about how you’re having sex with Clay.”
She presses her index finger to her lips and looks over her shoulder at the people behind us on the bleachers. “Shh! He would have a stroke if anyone heard you say that.”
How Clay has waited this long to have sex with Jessica shocks the hell out of me. A guy like Clay—the starting quarterback of our team, good-looking, and rich—has girls throwing themselves at him all day long. Just like Bash. They’re practically twins. Jessica is beautiful beyond words, but I’m still surprised he hasn’t bailed, like his jerk of a friend did to me.
“Calm down, Jess.” I stroke her forearm with my fingers. “I’ll make an appearance, but I can’t promise I will stay all night. I don’t feel good after getting smacked in the face and knocked down by Bash. He’s not a small guy, and the tip of the football hit me like a dart.”
She lets out a relieved sigh. “I’m calm. Just glad that you’re not ditching me.”
I force a closed mouth smile. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
“But I understand if you need to leave,” she adds, with a hopeful expression on her face.
“I’m sure it’s nothing. I’ll be okay. Don’t worry about me. This night is about Clay popping your cherry.” I chuckle at the last part. “I won’t let this ruin your celebration.”
“You’re so vulgar.” She smacks me on the leg. “Why do you have to say things like that?”
“You’re such a prude,” I counter. “And for someone so pure, I can’t believe you want to give up your V card at a football party.”
She shrugs, her eyes focused on the game in front of us. “It’s an important night for Clay, and this is an important night for me. I don’t know. I just thought it would make it special for us.”
“I don’t know how special it will be with music thumping through the house and drunk people humping each other’s legs in the living room.”
Jessica rolls her eyes at me. “Easy for you to say. Bash made your first time something from a fairy tale.”
I can’t deny it. Bash went all out, made me believe he was my Prince Charming. It turns out he was more like a toad.
“But look what he did after. That’s all that matters anymore.”
She doesn’t respond this time. Jessica knows the story better than anyone. It’s a shame Bash has his version. That’s the story everyone on campus knows. It’s also the story that turned him into a legendary ladies man and made me an outcast.
As much as I’d love to use the pulse throbbing in my head as an excuse to go back to the dorm, eat junk food, and binge watch Netflix, I have to support my friend. So, I have no choice but to suck it up and deal with Bash and his stupid friends. It’s only a few hours.
How much damage can he do?
Roughing is available from Amazon and free with Kindle Unlimited.
FACE-OFF SERIES
Book 1: Parker
Book 2: Kane
Book 3: Donovan
Book 4: Jameson
CITY OF SINNERS SERIES
Book 1: Corrupt Me
Book 2: Teach
NEW ADULT NOVELS
Roughing
Chasing Ella
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Acknowledgments
Cinderella was always my favorite Disney movie and fairy tale. My dad has a lot to do with why I love the story so much. Since birth, my dad has called me Princess and only calls me Jill when he’s mad at me, and I’m thirty-four now. We used to have tea parties and the whole nine yards, so I thought it would be fun to write a Cinderella retelling.
I loved writing this story. Finch is my new favorite man. I wish he were real. I wanted to write a bad boy football player, but Finch was always a nice guy in my head. In some ways, Finch is like my dad. There are more good guys with rough exteriors out there than the legit bad boys I like to write about in my books. I thought Finch had just enough of the bad boy persona mixed with a mama’s boy that would do anything for his girl.
Thank you to the readers for following along with my writing journey. You guys are awesome, and I love coming up with these stories for you. I hope you loved my version of Cinderella as much as I loved writing it.
A big thank you goes out to my bestie, Charlotte. Thanks for convincing me to go through with this book and for always being my rock. If it wasn’t for our conversation about fairy tales, who knows if I would have written Finch’s story. Love ya, babe!
Thank you to all the bloggers, ARC readers, members of Quinn’s Sinners, and anyone who helps with the planning, release, and pimping of my books. I couldn’t do this without you guys.
XO,
Jill
Random facts about the book:
Ella’s family is from High Point, North Carolina, which is where my dad was born. His side of the family is from the South. My mom’s is from the North.
My grandmother’s name is Katherine aka Auntie Kay.
Shawn Finch’s character was inspired by two football players: DeSean Jackson and Rob Gronkowski.
I extended the college football schedule in this book to make it work for this story.
Jillian Quinn is an international bestselling romance author known for the Face-Off Series, City of Sinners Series, and Roughing.
Jillian loves sports, bad boys, dirty talkers, strong females, and books with plenty of heat—all of which you will find in her books. As a lover of all things bookish, she has a serious book hoarding problem and runs a blog in her free time. When she’s not reading, writing, or blogging, she’s obsessively fangirling over hockey players and can be found wherever she can catch the next hockey game.
For more information about Jillian’s books, visit her website at jillianquinnbooks.com.
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Jillian loves to connect with her readers on social media. You can find Jillian on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Chasing Ella Page 21
