Rebound (Pro-U Book 3) (7 page)

Chapter 12

Natasha

The pregnancy care center was far busier than I could remember it being before. Having Micah there with me left me with mixed feelings. Surely he had to wonder what I was doing there. I would have wondered it myself, but there was a part of me that hoped he wouldn't ask. I didn't want to open the door to my past and have him turn away from me. He would. I had no doubt. It was better to keep things at a friendship level and just try and enjoy his company. That he was the hottest guy on campus didn't help much, but I could deal with it. Adam had been beyond hot too.

"Tasha. I'm so glad you're here today." Martha moved around the counter and pulled me into a tight hug. The sweet Hispanic woman often acted like a mother to me though she wasn't but twenty years older or so. "Who is this handsome young man you brought with you?"

"This is a friend from school. Micah, this is Martha. Martha, Micah. He's the point guard for the men's basketball team at Providence."

"Nice. I'm glad you're here to help out today. We're going to be sorting in the back room for a little while. Just stay as long as you can." She glanced over at me. "Are you going to-"

"Yep. I'll be in the back sorting today. I'll come back later this week to help with anything else you need done." I gave her a warm smile and moved toward the back. "Come on, Micah. I'll show you the ropes."

If he wondered about what else I did at the center, he didn't ask. I was grateful for him respecting my privacy. I often counseled young girls that were going through things at home like I had. Something about giving back made me feel better about myself. As if I needed to make up for some of the shit in my past. Nothing could change the past, but serving at the center helped to dull the pain a little.

"I like it here. It's peaceful." He moved up beside me and held the door to the boxing room. "Just point me in whatever direction you want me to go."

"I like that you're compliant. You always like this?" I moved to a large stack of boxes.

"Only when I wanna impress a pretty girl." He pointed to the boxes. "You want me to tote these somewhere?"

"Yeah. Over to this table and we'll unpack them. We need to create diaper bags for the center to give out to young moms in the hospital. We'll just put one of each item in the boxes. Easy enough?" I ignored his comment and tried to keep myself grounded. Him thinking that I was attractive at all was flattering, but it was also irrelevant. My life was falling apart again, and the last thing I wanted to do was bring anyone in the middle of it.

He bent down and picked up one of the boxes, grunting a little as his arm muscles flexed through his t-shirt. "Damn wrist is still giving me trouble."

"Oh no. Don't lift anything else then. I didn't even think about it. You've been moving around so good." I reached out to take the box, but he chuckled and moved past me, setting it down on the table.

"Stop babying me. I'm good. I just need to see about getting the doctor to give me more strengthening exercises. I've stretched the thing out enough, but I need to build up the muscles around it."

"Then they'll be big like your arms." My breath caught in my chest as he pulled up his sleeve and flexed. The boyish smile on his face as he turned back toward me melted a part of my heart.

"You like?"

"Yeah. Too much." I fanned myself and walked back across the room. "Keep your sexiness on the down low. This place is swarming with women."

"And they're all pregnant. You think they'd be interested in someone that wasn't their husband?" He snorted and walked over to me, bending over and picking up another box. "Your bad girl side is peeking out."

I glanced down and covered my chest as I realized he was teasing me. I popped him in the shoulder and rolled my eyes. "You ass."

"You like my ass too? Jeez. Here I was just hoping for a friendship, but by the sound of things..." He set the box down and turned to face me. "You're hoping for so much more. Just give me the ring and let's get it over with."

I shook my head. "Are you always this open? I don't think I've seen this side of you yet."

"No? Shame. It's me relaxed and away from responsibility. I swear being house mom for Omega has turned me into a stiff." He lifted his hands toward the ceiling and stretched. The movement lifted his shirt just enough for the bottom of his stomach to show. The dark trail of black hair that ran from his belly button down into his shorts caught my attention and left parts of me tingling that I'd almost forgotten existed.

"Why are you the house mom?" I swallowed hard and moved around him. I had to stay busy or I was going to say something that would get me into trouble.

"Someone has to do it. Seeing that half the guys are pot heads and the others are jocks, it's me." He moved around me, brushing his shoulder by mine. "Why did you decide on a dorm instead of an apartment or a sorority?"

"Privacy." I shrugged and picked up a smaller box. "And just so you know. The center helps mostly moms that aren't married and don't have anyone to lean on."

"Where're the dads?" He glanced around and turned back to me. The honest confusion on his handsome face left my heart skipping a beat. Was he being silly or was he really that naive.

"Have you never been to one of these places?"

He chuckled. "No. I've never been pregnant, nor have I been married. Have you?"

I stared at him for an uncomfortable second as indecision raced through me. "I work here all the time."

"Right, so what's the deal?" He walked back over to grab the last box and bent over, giving me the perfect view of his ass.

My stomach tightened again as pleasure danced around the pit of my stomach, leaving embarrassment racing up my chest to coat my neck and cheeks. My nipples budded so hard they ached like I was on my period.
Crazy.

I had to be careful. He wouldn't have to do much of nothing and I would be the girl I was back in high school, pulling him toward a bed to show him how much I could give him if he would just love me. I hated myself for trying to earn love when I was younger and promised to never confuse lust and love again. That being said, it was simply easier to just steer clear of all of it.

"A lot of these girls are like Teri. They got knocked up by someone they thought loved them, or in an act of passion one night, and the dad is long gone." I shrugged as if it were no big deal.

"No way." He set the box down and glanced around as a frown formed on his face. He was judging them. Everyone did.

"Yep, and instead of judging them, I choose to help them. What's done is done." I reached out and opened the box in front of me. "The baby doesn't deserve to suffer for something it had no control over."

He reached out and grabbed my wrist. "Neither does the woman who decided to indulge in a little bit of passion."

The seriousness in his gaze scored me, but I was still lost to what he meant.

"How so?" I pulled my hand from his and forced a tight smile. I was scared shitless that his words would close the door on even a friendship with me. I was strict in my support of unwed mothers, no matter what happened or how it happened. If they wanted to raise their babies and needed help, I wanted to be that help. It was a choice I didn't get.

"If a baby is the result of a night of sex, then both parties should step up." Anger burned by his handsome face. "This is fucked up. I mean, not the place... this is great that you guys do this, but the fact that they don't have someone helping them with the kids. It takes two to make a child. Bastards."

"It happens all the time." I glanced down and worked on a box in front of me as memories tried to assault me.

"Does it, Tasha?" He moved around the table and reached out, cupping the side of my face and forcing his way into my heart.

"Yeah. Unfortunately so." I moved back and pointed to the box. "Get busy Casanova. We don't have time for your flirting. We have three hundred of these to do."

"Three hundred? Shit. Why didn't you say so? I'd have saved the flirting for next year... you know, when we get done." He gave me a goofy grin before pulling out his phone and turning on some music. "You good with my playlist?"

"So far so good." I tore the box open and focused on the project at hand. Between the upbeat music, Micah's funny comments and us working hard to help the care center, I was able to keep my problems tucked away just enough to enjoy the evening with the handsome boy that threatened to steal a part of my heart.

Something told me that no matter how hard I tried to keep myself from getting to know him that he was going to push me past my comfort zone and force his way into my life.

Worse things had happened.

*

"Oh man, I was really hoping to take you out to eat. Another time?" He pulled up to my dorm building and turned the car off as if he expected to come inside.

"Yeah. I'd like that." I reached for the door as he reached for his. "I'm really not in the mood for company tonight. I hope you understand."

"Oh yeah. I was just going to walk you to the door. It's around the other side of the building, right?"

I let out a soft breath through my nose. "Yeah. Sorry. I thought you-"

"Naw, it's all right. I get it. I just wanna walk you to the door." He got out of the truck and I stumbled out of my side, feeling like an idiot for assuming he wanted to come inside for a little while. The worst part was that I wanted him to, but knew where it would lead. Neither of us would know what to do with the other the next day.

"Thanks again for coming with me tonight." I closed the door and moved up beside him, walking slowly toward the front of the building. The breeze picked up and blew my hair all around my face.

"Thanks for letting me. I had a great time and learned a lot. I'd be happy to help out anytime you need an extra set of hands."

"Even with your bum wrist?" I turned to face him as we reached my door. "I'm teasing you."

"I know. I like it." He reached out and brushed his thumb along my jawline. "I know you're going through some shit. Just know that I'm not going to ask what it is or pry my way into your life, but I'm here if you need me. I'm a great listener and I try really hard not to offer too many suggestions."

"You're going to force me to like you, aren't you?" I took a step closer to him and pressed my hands against his chest, loving the way his muscles trembled under my touch.

"Like? Well, damn. I was hoping you already liked me. You're saying I gotta start all the way down-"

I lifted to my toes and pressed my lips to his, not wanting to think about it for another minute. I'd be kicking myself all night for not finding out if his lips were as soft as they looked.

He slid his hands into my hair and cupped my face as he tilted his head and deepened the kiss. I could feel myself melting against him as I gripped the front of his shirt and opened my mouth to his advances. The soft brush of his tongue by mine was tentative at first, but quickly turned into something more aggressive - hungry.

I broke the kiss as every part of me lit on fire.

"I need you to go." I glanced up at him and released my tight grip on his shirt.

"Yeah, of course." He brushed his thumbs over my cheeks and smiled down at me. "Thanks for one of the best nights of my life."

I nodded, unsure of how to answer him. I wanted more. So much more, but it wouldn't make sense to me in the morning when I tried to reconcile what I'd done. I was hurting so badly inside. Reaching out to have him ease that pain only to reject him later or be rejected by him was out. There was nothing to do but wave and offer him a friendly smile as he turned and walked back toward his truck.

"Night," I whispered roughly and turned to walk into the dark loneliness of my dorm room.

Chapter 13

Two Days Later

Micah

I hadn't stopped thinking about her all weekend, which didn't help much seeing that I had to talk with Jacob and Dillon about why we thought Darren was the bastard messing with us at Omega. I spent most of the conversation lost in a fog. About halfway through Jacob got pissed and Dillon got in his face. It wasn't at all the way the conversation should have gone. I was just tired, confused and needy for more time with Tasha. I had no doubt that her not returning my text on Sunday meant that she was in the same boat as me, but where I was looking forward to seeing her again, I had the sinking feeling that she would be running hard and fast the other way.

She was hiding something, and I'd promised not to dig. I had to stand by that promise no matter what. I had faith that if I showed her that good men still existed that she would open up to me when the time was right. I didn't know much about her family situation, but I was hoping that I could find out enough to pinpoint where her constant
good guy
comments kept coming from. She was borderline sarcastic when she teased me about the title, which meant she didn't believe in good guys at all. Why was the question that wouldn't leave me be.

Jacob left the house shortly after his blow up, and I spent the rest of the day napping and drinking with the guys. Dillon talked me into studying for the Economics exam around nine that night, which worked out perfectly. I was itching to drive back into town and find Tasha, but she wouldn't appreciate me turning into a cave man and dragging her to my place just in an effort to see her.

I finally made my way upstairs and crashed in my bed around eleven that night, letting dreams that would never come true drive me farther and farther into physical need for a woman's touch. I woke up early the next morning, my body hard and balls tight. As much as I hated to masturbate, I wasn't going to get through the day without snapping several heads off if I didn't find a little bit of relief.

It took no time to bring myself over the edge, the pretty point guard for the women's basketball team being the center of my fantasies. Where I would have imagined her sweet round ass bouncing up and down on my shaft as a teenage boy, I couldn't seem to stop the image of the two of us locked together, making love like a married couple might.

The sound of her soft whimpers in my mind left my heart racing, my body filled with far more emotion than I could remember feeling before. I didn't wanna fuck her. I wanted to make love to her until she begged me to stop, wanted her to feel so much passion and adoration that she was left breathless by what I could do to her if she just opened up to me.

"Tasha," I moaned and came again, lifting my hips as I worked my swollen flesh slow and hard.

"Dude. Let's go," Jacob barked outside my room as he banged on the door.

"I'm coming." I smirked at the double entendre and milked myself dry. He could fucking wait. Everyone could.

*

"Why are we here so fucking early again?" Jacob rubbed his hands down his face and yawned loudly.

"I told you I would drive my truck today. I have to meet with Coach Jacobs. Something is up." I opened the door and got out. "I'll find you later today. You still have another hour before class starts. Go home."

"I'm going over to Tasha's. Emily wanted to stay over there last night because Tasha's dealing with some shit with her mom." He yawned again.

As much as I wanted to get him to find out what the hell was going on, I knew it would get back to Natasha. There was no way I was breaking her trust when I was hopefully starting to earn it.

"Good luck with that." I closed the door and jogged toward the athletic offices. Coach Jacobs was the head football coach and shared the athletic director position with Coach Billows, who was also the head hockey coach. I liked both of the guys, but figured something was seriously up if Coach Jacobs wanted to see me. It was football season, which meant the guy was putting in more hours than anyone else on campus. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

I walked into the building and shivered. Someone had to have left the air conditioning on all damn night. It was freezing in the building and the windows were misty making it hard to see out of them. There were a few students moving through the halls, but everyone with sense in their heads were still asleep.

After knocking on the main door, I let myself in and called out. "Coach Jacobs?"

"Back here, son. My secretary isn't here yet. Come on back."

I followed the sound of his voice down to a conference room at the end of the hall. I was a little surprised to see our assistant basketball coach, Peter Jenkins sitting at the round table in the middle of the room.

"Hey, Coach Jacobs." I extended my hand to the portly football coach before turning to my assistant coach. "Coach Jenkins."

"Hey, son. Go ahead and have a seat. This shouldn’t be too long." Coach Jacobs laid a piece of paper in front of me and Coach Jenkins and sat down across from us. "Before I start the conversation, I need you guys to sign confidentiality agreements. Nothing said in this room can leave it. Got it?"

He gave us both a stern look and I echoed Coach Jenkins as he nodded and mumbled, "Yes, sir. Of course not."

"Good." He sat back in his chair as we signed the paper and slid it back across the table toward him.

I had a sinking feeling that the conversation we were about to have had everything to do with the interview I'd seen Coach Billows give to the local news station over a coach stealing funds from his players.

"I have some horrible news, but I'm thinking two smart guys like yourselves have probably already figured out that Freddy isn't on vacation." He let out a long sigh. "He's the one that we investigated regarding misappropriation of funds and scholarships. How in the world he would get himself wrapped up in something like this is beyond me. He's been here as long as I have."

"Wow." I sat back and brushed my fingers down my face. What the fuck was I doing in the middle of this conversation? There should have been a room full of our assistant coaches present, but there I was with Coach Jenkins, who was so pale he almost looked white, and the head athletic director. "You guys really think Coach Gamble would do something like this? He's always been a great guy from what we could tell."

Coach Jenkins sunk down into his chair and let out a sigh. "I knew something was up. Freddy's been acting weird for about six months now. When did all this stuff happen?"

"About five months ago we noticed that some of the scholarship funds were being routed to an odd account. We let it ride and decided to tag all of them so that we could better assess what was happening. After doing our due diligence, we realized that they were fake accounts."

"And?" I leaned forward, pressing my elbows to my knees. Coach Gamble had come himself to recruit me from high school. The man had been beside me for two years, giving me his time, his energy, his everything. My heart ached at the thought of losing him.

"And they are all tied to his name, son. I'm not bringing the two of you in here to discuss the situation with Freddy or talk through whether we think he did it or didn't. I'm here to tell you that he's been put on probation while we finish up our investigation. What I need the two of you to do is pull together. Peter, we'll be moving you up to head coach in the interim, and I'll discuss long-term options with you when we determine what our findings show. Until then, we'll need you and Micah to pull the team together and help us present a strong front. I don't want anyone knowing about this until we're ready to release the information. Got it?"

I nodded, unsure of what to say. I sat there numbly for the next ten minutes while Coach Jacobs ran down the rest of the information on what we could and couldn't say, what we could and couldn't do. He stood up after blabbering on and on for what seemed like forever.

"All right guys. It's up to you to keep the team’s spirits up and unify the group. No pressure, right?" He chuckled, but the sound fell flat.

"We'll be fine. We have a great team and a good support system." I patted Coach Jenkins on the back before shaking Coach Jacobs' hand. "I'll show myself out. Thanks for including me today."

"Absolutely. We'll chat soon." Coach Jenkins patted my back before I turned and walked back out into the hallway. I didn't remember thinking much about the temperature of the building as I walked numbly toward my Economics class. I was going to have to pull myself out of my funk, but the sadness of losing Coach Gamble left me emotionally shocked.

"Hey buddy. You're almost late. I thought you left the house early this morning." Dillon glanced up at me as I walked into class and took my seat beside him.

"Yeah. I had to meet with Coach this morning. Just some pre-planning for the season."

"Because you're captain of the team?" He pulled out a pencil and tapped his desk.

"Yeah. Something like that." I turned to my right as someone tugged on my shirt sleeve.

A pretty redhead with a great smile and big blue eyes leaned toward me. "Got a pencil I can borrow, handsome?"

"Uh, yeah, Sure." I turned toward Dillon and plucked his pencil from his hand before giving it to the girl. "Here you go."

"Thanks." She brushed it by her lips seductively and I just didn't have the heart to warn her about sucking on it. Dillon was a nasty dude. No telling what the fuck he'd done with that pencil.

"I'm going to bomb this shit." He leaned over and pulled out another pencil. "And stop giving my shit away. I don't come from money. I had to work hard to get that pencil."

"There's a bucket of them in the kitchen at the Omega House. Where are you working for anything?" I scoffed at him and glanced toward the front of the room as Mr. Abbott walked in.

"I had to walk in the kitchen to get it." He stretched. "It felt like work? I don't know. I'm so going to fail this."

"Keep talking like that and you're right. You are." I snagged his pencil and smiled as he growled at me. The haze I was in moments ago was fading, though the dull ache in my chest didn't seem to be going anywhere. I had to talk with Coach Gamble before they let him go. I needed to know if he really did it, and if so... why? Why would he risk everything?

"Hey, real quick. I had an epiphany this morning when I was lying in bed."

"Yeah, do I want to hear this?" I glanced over at him as the girl to my right giggled. I ignored her, figuring I'd already paid her too much attention as it were. The last thing on my list of things to do was lead anyone on. I had eyes for one girl, and until she told me to get lost, I was going to wait patiently for her to warm up to me.

"You sure do. Cameras." He lifted his hands and smiled like he'd just come up with the answer to all my problems.

"Come again?" I lifted my eyebrow and glanced back up as Dr. Abbott started to hand out tests. "Make it quick, please."

"Cameras. We're going to set up the fucker at the house and catch him on camera. We'll hide them everywhere. I know a guy on the football team who sells all sorts of shit. I promise you he has some small cameras that we can bug the whole damn house with."

I turned to face Dillon as a smile spread across my face. "Genius. That's perfect."

"Yep. You're fucking welcome."

I let him bask in his own glory. It would fade soon. It did for all of us.