Roughing the Passer (Quarterback Sneak Book 2)

by Natalie Brock

  Hmmm. Tony was actually pleased she turned the conversation back to him. Could be she’s interested after all. “No, never. He probably wasn’t much older than I am now. My grandmother—that’s who raised me—she says she knew he was trouble the minute she saw him, but my mother was always drawn to bad boys.”

  There was a lull in the conversation that made Tony regret mentioning bad boys to someone like Allison. He searched his brain for a segue, but she beat him to it. “Are you still close with your grandmother?”

  “Yeah, I guess. She’s the only person in my life who ever really gave a damn. If she didn’t push me, I wouldn’t be in college, and I wouldn’t ’ve gotten a scholarship. Her and my high school coach are the only two people who ever believed in me.” He sighed. “Sometimes, I think they wasted their time.”

  “Don’t say that. I’m sure that’s not true.”

  Tony stopped and looked at Allison, surprised by her kind remark. Allison’s cheeks reddened and she pressed her lips together. Silence fell between them again as they continued their leisurely walk to the main campus.

  “Uh. You in a sorority?”

  “Me? No. I rushed one or two in my freshman year but didn’t get in. Told you I never get into anything on the first try.” She laughed, even though her comment wasn’t funny. “The sorority sisters told me I just didn’t have it.” She hooked her fingers into air quotes when she used the word it. “Whatever it is.”

  Tony searched his mind for something else to talk about. “So what about your family,” he asked.

  “What about ’em?”

  He was clearly going to have to work a little harder to get her to open up to him. “Well, your accent sounds like you’re from the south.”

  She looked askance at him and gave him a sweet smile. “What accent?” She lightly hit his arm with the back of her hand to let him know she was joking. That was the second time she initiated a touch during their stroll and this one had quite an effect. The touch, her charming accent, and her sweet smile resulted in an unexpected erection. Down boy, he said to himself. She’s not that kind of girl—at least he didn’t think she was.

  “I’m from a suburb of Atlanta called Dunwoody. Ever hear of it?”

  Tony shook his head no and tried to focus on something unpleasant. “Um there are tons of good schools in Georgia. Why’d you decide on a Florida school?”

  “To get away from my mother.”

  Ah. The mother. Now we’re getting somewhere. “Guessing you don’t have a great relationship with your mom.”

  Allison merely shrugged, but that wasn’t good enough for Tony. He had opened up to her in a way he never had to someone he hardly knew. He wanted to know more about her, so he tried a provocative question. “Bet she’d hate it if she knew her daughter was hanging out with a guy like me.”

  Allison nearly gasped. “Oh my God, she’d—” Allison’s words trailed off and her demeanor softened. “Actually, I think she’d be surprised that a guy like you would even talk to a girl like me. Guys like you aren’t usually nice to me.”

  He was surprised by Allison’s response. He was trying to get her to think of him as boyfriend material, but Allison didn’t seem to pick up on that.

  Before Tony could think of a response, Allison continued. “Anyways, I don’t mean to make my mom sound like a wicked witch or anythin’. She’s okay I guess. I just never gelled with her the way my sister did. They were two peas in a pod. You shoulda seen them do cheers together. I’d be sittin’ on the bed with my legs crossed—I shared a room with my sister—and the two of them would be puttin’ on a show like it was the big game, you know?”

  “Your mother did cheer routines?”

  “Didn’t I tell you? She was a cheerleader in high school and college and she was absolutely fabulous. Just ask her,” Allison said sarcastically.

  “So, are you trying to follow in her footsteps?”

  Allison stopped and faced Tony. “No. No, of course not.” She shook her head vehemently and started walking again.

  Catching up to her, he reached for her arm and held it. “You mentioned they did cheers and you watched. Why didn’t you do the cheers with them?”

  “I tried to. I mean, I’d get off the bed and start doin’ the routine with them, but surprise surprise, I have no coordination and I’d just mess up their fine-tuned performance.” She paused before adding, “They used to laugh at me. Same way you did.”

  Tony felt an ache in his gut. Her reaction to his laughing at her finally made sense. He rubbed his hand up and down her arm. “Oh God. Allie, I’m sorry. I had no idea.”

  “I know. It’s okay. You don’t know someone until you know someone. You know?”

  Tony nodded. “So what’d you do when they laughed?”

  “I laughed too. Well, I pretended to. The two of them thought it was this fun, close, family moment, but it tore me up.”

  “Did you ever tell them how it made you feel?”

  “I’m not sure they’d care. And I didn’t want them knowin’ how hurt I felt. I was dyin’ on the inside and laughin’ on the outside.”

  Processing the information, Tony muttered, “So instead of encouraging you and helping you, your mom basically validated the idea that you were uncoordinated.” Sight unseen, he already hated Allison’s mother.

  “It’s not an idea, Tony. It’s a fact. I am uncoordinated.” She stopped walking. “We’re here. This is my dorm.”

  Tony briefly glanced at the building entrance and let his hand drop to his side. The walk might be over, but he wasn’t finished. “I’m not so sure about that.” Tony faced Allison. “I think it’s just a matter of gaining confidence.” When she gave him a skeptical look, he added, “I’m speaking from experience. Look, I had no confidence until my grandmother pushed and my high school coach shoved. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t of had the confidence to keep trying. Everyone needs someone to believe in them, Allison.”

  Allison looked down at her feet. “Maybe, someday I’ll have someone like that in my life.”

  He touched her chin and quietly told her, “You already do.” She looked up into his eyes and he felt the urge to kiss her grow stronger. Something told him he’d only scare her away, so he broke the gaze and took a step back. Focusing on a tree on the path, he mumbled, “I have an idea.” He looked at her again. “Would you meet me after practice tomorrow night?”

  “Why?”

  “You’ll see… On second thought, why don’t you come to practice? Or are you working?”

  “No, I’m off tomorrow, but—”

  “No buts,” he interrupted with a sly smile. He slid her backpack onto her shoulder. “And no more questions. Just come. I’ll leave your name at the VIP ticket booth.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Tickets for summer practice games were open seating and most people in the stands clustered around the fifty-yard line within the first twenty rows. But not Allison. She chose to sit facing the thirty-yard line about twenty-five rows from the field. She liked having practically the whole section to herself and being away from the masses.

  Allison had attended plenty of games here her first year, but never a practice. It was kind of thrilling, being one of the few spectators admitted to the late afternoon practice game. She applied a layer of lip balm, then she folded a flyer she’d picked up on the way in and used it to fan herself. Thank goodness it wasn’t noon. It was plenty hot in the stands without being under the midday sun.

  She didn’t really know why Tony invited her to watch. Why would he even want her here? He apparently had something planned for after the game but she didn’t have a clue what it might be. Her first thought was a date, but really, it didn’t matter. He could have asked her to come watch paint dry with him and she’d be just as happy. She loved being around Tony, loved it when he filled her field of vision, she loved listening to him talk, even if his grammar wasn’t always the King’s English. He was a little rough around the edges, but he had a basic down-to-earth quality
and sincerity about him that was attractive and sexy.

  When she first laid eyes on Tony in person, she felt an instant hate for him, not only because he laughed at her during tryouts, but because of his advance publicity. She’d heard he was a stoner, a slacker and, according to reports, a rapist, and she believed it—all of it—even though she’d only heard one side of the story.

  Now that she was getting to know Tony, those labels didn’t add up. Tony seemed humble and respectful around her. He treated her with a gentle kindness she wasn’t used to. He was helping her make the cheer squad. All told, he was the nicest guy she’d ever known.

  She hadn’t worked up the nerve to take Brittany’s advice and ask him if the accusations were true, but she didn’t need to. In her heart she knew he didn’t do it. She couldn’t feel the way she did about him if he was the kind of guy who would do something like that.

  Allison blinked several times and sat up straighter in her seat. This was the first time she really admitted to herself she had strong feelings for Tony. Her only serious relationship up to now was in high school. She dated a guy for a semester and remembered thinking he was the one. She thought she was in love with the guy. He was her first sexual experience but after a while, she realized that’s all he wanted from her. He wasn’t much interested in doing anything together besides having sex and they did it a lot. They drifted apart after the semester was over, and it was just as well.

  A loud cheer erupted when the Barracudas took the field. She immediately spotted Tony and noticed he was looking toward the stands, searching the crowd. His attention was focused on the fans seated on the fifty-yard line. Then he looked to his far right and spotted her. A big smile overtook his face and he waved at Allison. Her heart skipped a beat as she smiled and waved back. He had the most beautiful smile, so warm and sincere. She felt flattered that he’d actually looked for her in the stands and appeared relieved to see her there.

  A moment later, the offense was on the line of scrimmage and Tony was receiving the snap.

  How did this happen, she asked herself as she watched him complete a short pass. She didn’t even know him that well and she obviously didn’t set out to crush on anyone, least of all Tony. If she were going to have a college boyfriend, she figured he’d be tall and slender, blond, clean cut, clean shaven, well-dressed, well-spoken, and well above the law. That was the kind of boy her mother would approve. Tony was none of those things and Allison wasn’t the type of girl who was normally attracted to so-called bad boys.

  What now? What was she going to do? Should she tell him she’s interested? No, definitely not, she decided. There was only one possible outcome if Tony knew how she felt. He’d go running in the opposite direction. She knew she wasn’t his type any more than he was hers. He was just being nice because he felt guilty about tripping her up a few weeks ago. She was fine as a friend, but she wasn’t confident and sexy like the girls most football players dated.

  On top of all that, Tony had a reputation that worried her. She could easily convince herself it wasn’t true, but she didn’t know for sure any more than Brittany did. And asking him wasn’t that simple, at least not for Allison. It was too personal and embarrassing to discuss and, if it were true, she wasn’t sure she really wanted to know. If his morality was questionable, she’d have to back away and she really wanted to move toward Tony, not away from him. She felt so conflicted!

  She shook herself out of her reverie and refocused on the game. She looked for number 18 on the field, but she didn’t see him. Instead, there was another quarterback on the field, Tony’s backup apparently.

  »»•««

  Allison’s heart was beating madly as she waited for Tony outside the sports complex’s gymnasium. It was nearly six thirty and the corridor was nearly deserted, but that wasn’t the reason for her anxiety. The reason was her growing feelings for Tony. She should have seen it coming. Heck, even Brittany figured it out. But for Allison, this all felt new and surprisingly exciting. Even if Tony didn’t feel the same way she did, just having these kinds of feelings was thrilling. It gave her something to concentrate on outside of herself and her insecurities. She closed her eyes and allowed her brain to fill with thoughts of Tony, with fantasies of what his strong arms would feel like holding her, how his lips would feel on hers.

  “Hey.” Her eyes flashed open and her cheeks warmed when she heard his voice. He jogged down the corridor toward her and stopped just a few inches away, closer than a stranger might, but further than she would have preferred. “Hope I didn’t keep you waiting long.” He was slightly out of breath. “I took a quick shower.”

  Allison couldn’t help but hope his haste was due to his own impatience to see her. She dropped her gaze from his face to his chest and down to his jeans. Fresh from the shower, his jet-black hair was slicked back, the dampness making it look less wavy than it normally did. He sported a tight spandex T-shirt that clung to his muscular chest more than usual, likely because he threw it on before his body dried completely. The EFU Barracudas logo adorned the garment over his heart and a tiny silver Barracuda hung from a short chain around his neck. She stared at his tight black Levis a moment too long before lifting her eyes back to his face. She found him smiling at her, as if he knew what she was thinking.

  “Ready?”

  Oh yes, she said, but not out loud. “Um. For what?”

  “I came up with the perfect way to teach you coordination.”

  “Tony, you can’t be taught coordination.”

  Smiling, he disagreed. “That is so not true.”

  “No, it is true. It’s like talent,” she asserted. “You’re either born with it or you’re not.”

  “There’s people who got more coordination and people who got less. Same with talent,” he explained. “But that don’t mean less talented people oughta give up. It just means they need to work harder at it.”

  Her brow crinkled. “Oh. I guess that kinda makes sense.”

  “So, come on.” He took her hand without warning and her whole body shivered. She hoped he didn’t notice.

  His stride was longer than hers and she practically had to run to keep up. She squeezed his hand as he led her through the maze of corridors that connected one part of the sports complex to the next. Suddenly she wondered if she were dressed appropriately. A T-shirt and capris were fine for a ball game, but maybe not for what came after. “Where are we goin’?” She didn’t really care where he was taking her. She was perfectly content for her hand to live inside his no matter where they ended up.

  “You’ll see.”

  “You keep sayin’ that,” she said with a giggle.

  He laughed as they rounded another corner. “You hungry?”

  “Why? Are we goin’ to the campus cafe?”

  “Not now, but I thought we could get a bite after.”

  This was definitely starting to have a date vibe. “After what?”

  “After this.” They were in the hallway between the media room and the operations offices behind the football field. Tony pressed some buttons on a keypad on the wall next to the field operations office. He opened the door and Allison followed him inside. “How did you know the code?”

  “I pay attention to stuff like that.” He grabbed a plastic tote and filled it with a dozen footballs. He pulled a jersey off the shelf. “Here, put this on.” Allison shrugged and slipped the jersey over her head. She was starting to think she was wrong about the date idea. This jersey wasn’t sexy. It was only about a hundred sizes too big for her.

  “Okay, let’s go.” Tony lifted the tote on his shoulder and took her hand again. He peeked out at the field from the tunnel, like a spy making sure the coast was clear. “We’re gonna need light.”

  “Don’t you need a key or a code to turn on the lights?” she asked.

  A mischievous smile crossed Tony’s face. “Yup. And I got the code right here,” he said, releasing her hand and tapping his temple. He punched a code around the corner from the tunnel. The ligh
ts slowly brightened. He grabbed Allison’s hand again and led her toward the field’s fifty-yard line.

  Walking quickly beside him, she glanced in his direction. “Okay, so now are you gonna to tell me what we’re doin’ on a deserted football field?”

  “Soon.”

  Whatever it was he was planning, Tony sure was going to a lot of trouble, and he was doing it all for her. Teetering between nervous and giddy, Allison began to babble. “Ever wonder why they call it a football? I mean you hold the ball and throw it, right? With your hands, not your feet. They should call it handball.”

  “I think that name’s taken,” he chuckled. “Besides, the ball gets kicked plenty.”

  “So they should call it kickball.”

  “Ha! I doubt they’re gonna change the name just because you don’t approve.” Tony set the tote down on the fifty-yard line. “Okay, ready?”

  She placed her hands on her hips. “Ready for what?”

  Pointing to the tote he explained, “I’m gonna teach you to throw a football.”

  Her lips parted. “Seriously? And that’s supposed to help me with coordination?”

  “Sure! Why not?”

  “I don’t know. I mean, how much coordination does it take to throw a football? Ya just grab it and throw.” Allison picked up a football from the tote and tossed it.

  Tony watched the ball dive to the grass a few feet away. He picked it up. “Told you. You just grounded it. You need to hold the ball the right way,” he said, his smooth baritone boomeranging around the empty stadium. “You need to have the right stance and the right throwing technique. Then there’s hand-eye coordination. And you have to pick your target. There’s tons of mechanics. Come on, I’ll show you.”

  “You’re right-handed, right? You threw the ball with your right hand.” When she nodded, he handed her the football and took one out of the tote for himself. “Here. Hold it like this.” He held up the football and she watched him, trying to mimic his grip. “No, your fingers need to spread over the laces.” Allison spread her fingers out. “No, not like that. Here.” Tony dropped the ball he was holding and approached Allison. Standing next to her, he gripped the ball as she held it, adjusting the spread of her fingers, some more, some less, and moving her thumb to the right position on the opposite side of the ball. He turned his head to look at her. “Isn’t this more comfortable?”