Penalty Box: A Second Chance Sports Romance (Love in the Arena Book 1)

by Kayla Tirrell

  “Okay.” He drew out the word, not sure what he was supposed to be doing or saying as she continued to stare down at him.

  “Do you realize I just spent my Saturday night at a soccer game?”

  “Sounds like a great time.”

  “Ugh. You and I both know I don’t like soccer. I’d rather go watch paint dry than watch a bunch of guys chase after a ball for two hours.”

  He lifted his hand to argue that soccer wasn’t just chasing around a ball but thought better of it and lowered it. “So why did you come?”

  “I came because some jerk decided he wanted to come back to everything he left behind like it’s no big deal, and someone had to be here to help Miriam through this.”

  Much better Allie than Harris. Silas shuddered at the thought of another guy’s arms wrapped around Miriam—another set of lips on hers.

  Allie smiled triumphantly, thinking she’d scared Silas. She had, just not the way she thought. Silas wasn’t intimidated by her tone or her death stare. He was genuinely terrified that he’d screwed things up with Miriam forever and that, no matter how hard he tried, he’d never get a chance of winning her heart again.

  Not that he was throwing in the towel just yet.

  When Silas came back to Florida, he had two goals: Lead the Storm to the championship game and make things right with Miriam. Nothing else mattered. Until those two things were accomplished, he planned to pour all his energy into them.

  “No more meet and greets,” Allie said, pulling him from his thoughts. She crossed her arms over her chest.

  As Miriam’s best friend, Allie knew the rules as well as anyone else with the Storm. Silas shook his head. “You know I can’t agree to that.”

  A frown touched her lips. “Fine. No more than the required amount.”

  “I’m not promising that either.”

  Allie let out an impatient sigh. “See? This is why I never liked you. I’m not going to pretend to understand the inner workings of your mind. I don’t know why you want to torture Miriam the way you are, but whatever it is, it comes from something purely selfish. If you cared about her at all, you’d leave her alone.”

  When she was finished with her tirade, Allie flipped her hair dramatically, and stormed off across the field.

  Silas was dumbstruck. Was it selfish for him to want to make it up to Miriam? He didn’t think so. But maybe Allie had a point about his motives. He wanted things to go back to how they were, and that was never going to happen. He knew that. However, he didn’t stop to think about the consequences of manipulating the situation trying to create artificial feelings. If things turned that direction, no one was going to be happy in the end.

  He faked a smile for the rest of the autograph session dwelling on what Allie had said hoping he still had a real, fighting chance.

  Miriam

  Miriam put away half a tub of ice cream when she got home from the Storm game on Saturday. She polished off the rest for breakfast. Her stress-induced eating was making her feel terrible, and she wasn’t lying when she told Allie she was going to gain a ton of weight if she didn’t limit the sweets. And since Miriam didn’t think she was going to stop stuffing her face with chocolate anytime soon, she did the next best thing—she went to the gym.

  Big Results was a corporate sponsor, which meant that all the players and the office staff for the Storm got to work out for free. It was a nice perk that ensured she stayed in at least moderate shape.

  She threw her hair up in a messy bun, put on an oversized tee, and some old running shorts that had paint on them before heading out the door of her apartment. Miriam didn’t even look at her reflection in the rearview mirror of her car before walking up to the gym, since she only came to get some hardcore cardio in.

  Too bad Murphy’s Law was alive and well.

  Miriam groaned when she pulled into a parking spot and saw Silas walking up to the gym. She wanted to turn and go back to the comfort of her home. For a moment, she seriously thought about it. But then she considered what that would mean for the long term. Was Miriam planning on cowering every time she bumped into Silas?

  No way was she going to stop living her life because Silas made things uncomfortable. She straightened her shoulders, took a deep breath, and continued her walk to the front of Big Results.

  Silas came over, bringing his intoxicating smell with him. “Fancy seeing you here.”

  Miriam snuck a glance in his direction as they walked up to the double doors together. Her heart skipped a beat as she took him in. Just like before, his shirt looked like it might be one size too small with the way it hugged his chest and arms. Silas looked better than was fair, and here Miriam looked terrible.

  She was embarrassed to be caught this way but tried for easy conversation anyway. It was necessary if they were going to keep seeing each other. “Are you stalking me?”

  Silas avoided her gaze. “No. I, uh, actually have a session with a personal trainer.”

  Miriam stumbled slightly over her steps, which caused her face to burn. She hoped Silas didn’t notice. Of course he’s not stalking you. He’s at the gym to get in peak performance for his one true love—soccer. He’d even hired someone to help him with it. She hurried inside to the welcome blast of A/C.

  She tried to compose herself, but soon, it was even clearer why Silas was willing to go above and beyond the basic membership that the gym had given him for free.

  A gorgeous and toned-everywhere woman walked over and hugged him. “I wasn’t sure you’d come back after last time.”

  Of course he came back. You’re like his perfect match. Sporty, hot, and devoted to him. No matter how often he reassured her that he only had eyes for her, Miriam had always felt insecure next to the women who flocked to him after games. She certainly felt insecure next to his new trainer.

  But they weren’t dating anymore. Silas was free to enjoy the company of whomever he wanted—including model-esque trainers.

  Miriam didn’t say anything before she sulked over to the cardio room. She hopped on an elliptical and started a punishing, fat-burning workout. She set the duration to an hour—even though she knew full well she’d probably only make it thirty minutes—and tapped the small screen attached to the machine to pull up Netflix.

  She scrolled through romantic comedies and dramas until her eyes crossed. Miriam didn’t want to watch any of those programs. They would only make her think of Silas. She gave up and played music over her headphones as her legs moved in quick rotations, and her gaze went to Silas in the weight room.

  Miriam couldn’t see him the entire time, but when his trainer moved them to the battle ropes, he was on full display. His muscles flexed as he moved the ropes up and down in a rapid motion. He looked better than ever. Of course, looks had never been the problem. Miriam had always been attracted to Silas. Even now, her hand itched to trace its fingers over his arms one last time. Her lips tingled to kiss him again.

  No, the issue had been that Silas Jenkins only cared about one thing—soccer. It was more than just a hobby or even a job. His professional career was more important than anything else, including spending even a minute to discuss a cross-country move with his girlfriend.

  He got the offer, he was going, they were breaking up. He hadn’t cared about what she wanted. There was no asking Miriam what she thought about signing with the Wolves—she would have said it was a terrible idea. And after he signed, he didn’t even bother asking if she wanted to come with—the answer would have been yes, even though it would have meant uprooting her entire life.

  Back then, she would have followed him anywhere.

  She pulled her eyes from him and started looking through her emails on her phone hoping to see replies from any of the people she reached out to about meet and greets. Normally, it wasn’t this hard, and she wondered if her lack of enthusiasm was self-destructive.

  “Hey.”

  Miriam jumped at the sound of Silas’ voice over the sound of the music softly playing over her h
eadphones. She pulled one free and looked at him expectantly.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “You startled me. There’s a difference.”

  A corner of his mouth lifted. “Then I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  She looked up at the clock on the wall. They’d only been at Big Results for half an hour. “Done with your workout already?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, and I was hoping to catch you for a few minutes. Mind if I work out next to you for a minute?”

  Miriam was already breathless from exercising and having Silas so close wasn’t helping. “I was actually just finishing up,” she said, trying to keep it short and sweet so he couldn’t hear how winded she was.

  Silas pointed to the workout tracker on her screen. “It says you still have thirty minutes left.”

  She knew it was a mistake to set the time to an hour. “Right. What’s up?”

  Silas hopped up and started pedaling on the neighboring elliptical. “I was thinking about player meet and greets.”

  Great. Apparently making a few goals meant he could tell Miriam how to do her job. She kept her face trained forward and focused on her every movement. It was meant to make her feel more in control of the situation, but the more effort she put into looking casual, the jerkier her movements became. “What about them?”

  “I like going out into the community. It’s a lot of fun.” His tone said there was more.

  “But?”

  “I was thinking, what if we did something a little different than hanging out at our sponsors’ businesses?”

  That thought had crossed Miriam’s mind before, too, but finding places to have events wasn’t easy. If they didn’t use the brick and mortar stores of their sponsors, it eliminated a lot of options. Every place worth having an event at had an astronomical fee attached, and that just wasn’t feasible right now.

  She turned her head to face him. “Like what?”

  Silas smiled bright, making his dimple stand out. “Like schools.”

  Her foot slipped off the pedal, and she felt a sharp pain in her ankle. She stopped pedaling and got down without putting too much pressure on that foot. “And do what, exactly? Pass out ticket vouchers that are going to get thrown away with the rest of their papers?”

  Silas got off the neighboring elliptical and did the same. “I was thinking a little more than that.”

  Miriam lifted her brows and waited for him to continue.

  “You know how Bastian coaches the youth league, and all the players come to the games? They love him.”

  Miriam nodded.

  “I was thinking we could do some kind of outreach with the kids at local schools. Read to them, hang out and play soccer with them in aftercare, things like that. I want to build relationships with them.”

  Miriam snorted.

  Her first thought was that Silas was the last person who needed to be talking about building relationships with people, even superficial ones with kids. But as she considered it another moment, she also had to acknowledge that his idea wasn’t half bad. Kids would love getting a chance to talk and play with professional athletes.

  Silas’ idea just might put more butts in seats for games.

  “What do you think?” Silas smiled at Miriam, but she could see it cracking with uncertainty.

  Good. She wanted to watch him squirm. She wanted to let him know what it was like to be rejected. She wanted him to suffer like she’d suffered. But it was a good idea. It not only benefited the team, it would also be good for the children the players interacted with.

  She refused to meet his eager gaze. “Fine, I’ll look into it.”

  Silas let out a joyous laugh.

  Miriam hated the way her lips tugged into a smile. “I said I’ll look into it, not that you just got signed to the Premier League, so calm down.”

  Silas’ smile fell. “That’s not my dream anymore.”

  That was hard to believe. It was all Silas used to talk about. I’ve got to work on this so that I can play for the Premier League. I’ve got to focus on that so I can play for the Premier League. You and I will move to Europe together when I play for the Premier League.

  He hadn’t even wanted to stay together when he signed for a team on the same continent. In the same freaking country.

  “It’s not,” he said.

  Miriam lifted a brow. “And what’s your dream now?”

  He shook his head. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

  “Is it to play for the Storm until you retire from professional soccer?”

  “That’s only part of it.” He took a step toward her.

  Miriam’s breath caught in her chest, and she was having a hard time thinking straight. It sounded like Silas was implying that Miriam was part of his dream. There was something deep down that wanted to hear him say it. That was insane.

  Even if he did say that, what would she do? Go running back into his arms? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. It would be a colossal mistake to trust Silas again.

  Miriam closed her eyes and shook her head to steer her thoughts in a different direction. “I think reading in schools is a great idea. I’ll run it by Greg this week. If he’s on board, I’ll start reaching out to schools.”

  “Are you going let me know if he approves the idea? Or will I hear about it from other players after they’ve already gone?”

  She opened her eyes and looked at him. “You’ll be the first person I ask if it works out.”

  “Thank you.” He lifted his hand toward her cheek, but stopped at the last second, and dropped it. “Well, I guess I’d better get going.”

  “Me too.”

  Silas jerked his head at the front of the gym. “Walk you out?”

  Miriam’s heart stuttered at the simple request that was so comfortable and yet so awkward at the same time. It felt like old times but also like the first time. Miriam didn’t like it, but she gave him a small smile anyway. “Sure.”

  Silas

  Silas loved game days.

  There was so much energy that filled the locker room when all the players gathered. Barros was playing samba over the speakers, and the guys were dancing around the room still wearing their warmup kits. Bastian was running around and whacking people with the Thera Gun, a massage device the physical therapists used on the players’ sore and tight muscles. Now, it was a weapon that brought raucous laughter with every attack.

  Even though Silas still felt like he was on the outside of the team looking in, the excitement was contagious. There was a perma-smile on his face at the sound of excited chatter competing with the loud music. The only thing that would make it better was if he’d made a little more progress with Miriam.

  Talking at the gym was a start, though Miriam might have been in a better mood if she hadn’t seen him with his personal trainer. Miriam had never believed him when he told her how beautiful she was, and he’d almost blurted it out at the gym. With her hair up off her face he’d had a clear view of those eyes and freckles that drove him crazy. The tiny shorts she’d been wearing had made it almost impossible to talk to her normally about his school outreach idea.

  Not that he could focus on that right now. He needed to get his head in the game.

  No sooner had the thought entered his mind when their coach walked in. He went to the giant white board off to the side of the locker room and started drawing out plays. Though excitement still hummed throughout the room, Barros turned the music off and everyone stopped talking.

  “Okay, guys. The last game went great.” Coach continued to draw on the board. “We won our season opener. The fans loved it. Harris said the sales for today’s game are already higher than last time, so we want to keep the momentum going.”

  A chorus of yeahs went through the room.

  “Maryland is a good defensive team, so we’re going to have to step it up with those offensive plays. Jenkins, Cardosa, I want you guys to go hard. Take every shot you can.”


  The two guys nodded.

  “Finn. Their forwards are rookies and are still getting their feet wet in the arena. You should have no problem blocking their shots.”

  Finn clapped his hands together once and rubbed them together. “I’m ready.”

  “Bastian, I want you to stay on Valle like your life depends on it. If anyone is going to score, I think it’s going to be him.”

  “Got it.”

  Coach continued to go through the roster, giving each of the players a specific task. When he was done, he talked about what he’d written on the whiteboard, mostly plays if they got a penalty kick.

  There was no way of knowing if it would happen, but it was where the Storm shined. They almost always got a goal thanks to their coach’s plays.

  “Now go out there and get warmed up.”

  With a final few whoops of excitement, they filed out of the locker room and onto the field. Fans were just starting to arrive, and Silas could see them coming in and finding their seats as the team worked on passing and dribbling.

  Even though he knew he wouldn’t see her, his eyes scanned the crowd and the floor seats for Miriam. He wondered if she would watch the game tonight, or if she planned on hiding in the halls of the arena like last time.

  “Think you could focus on warming up instead of watching the stands?” Grant yelled as the ball rolled past Silas feet and hit the wall.

  Silas jogged over and kicked it back to Grant.

  The midfielder still hadn’t forgiven him for what happened at the first meet and greet. Even though word had never gotten back to Greg about him and Vinny showing up late to The Sports Emporium, Grant was convinced that it would somehow count against him. He was only cordial enough to practice and play with Silas—and even that wasn’t exactly comfortable.

  The two passed the ball in tense silence for the duration of that part of their warmup, and when it came time to work on shooting drills, Grant was quick to move to the front of the line. Silas, meanwhile, hung back to put some space between them.