Taking Chances (Blackrock Book 2) (58 page)

Putting
the brochure down, I look at her picture. My anger still lurking
shaking my head at the picture,

“This
is what you left me with? A picture and creams from a family who is
trying to remember you.” Tears fall from my eyes looking at her
smiling face knowing she should be here smiling at me for real. “Why
Summer?” I whisper letting my anger take hold again. “Why
God damn it! Why did you leave me here alone?” I shout banging
my fist on her face “It’s not fair I am so fucking angry
with you.” My dad grabs me as I cry. “Its not fair dad we
promised. We promised to be together forever.”

Holding
me to his chest he sighs heavily. “I know sweetheart, I know
it’s not fair.” He holds me until I stop crying; I feel
like I am a kid again wrapped in his arms. “Sweetheart?”
Holding me away from him he frowns. “You can’t keep
getting upset when you see her picture; time will make the hurt
lessen but you have to go live your life and have fun.” Rolling
my puffy eyes I nod, he pulls me back to him.

“What
am I am going to do with you?” he sighs. Knox and Max are
watching from the patio I can see from Knox’s face he wants to
be the one holding me.

Letting
out a deep sigh, I pull back from my dad. “Sorry dad, I didn’t
mean to get all crazy.” He laughs at me.

“Since
when? You always get crazy.” He winks at me.

“But
I think you need to go to therapy for a while.” His words make
me frown,

“I
am dad,” I confess and he looks surprised.

“Good
now you just need to have fun, go join that league maybe it will
help.”

I
pack all the stuff back into the box and bring it out to my car
resting against the trunk I watch a bird flitter back and forth.

“You
okay, darlin’?” Knox my knight on a shining Harley wraps
me in his arms.

“Yeah
I guess, sorry. Never in my life did I think I would be so fucked
up.”

Knox
chuckles kissing my head. “You’re not fucked up, darlin’.
Its grief trust me I know. I only stopped freaking out about two
years ago, even now it’s hard to look at my mom in
photographs.” Stepping back, I smile at him.

“I
love you babe. You’re too good for me.” He tilts his head
to the side allowing hair to fall across his eyes.

“No
beautiful, you’re too good for me, but I love you too much to
let you go.”

“In
some countries that’s called kidnapping,” I joke brushing
his hair away so I can kiss him.

“Don’t
care.” He chuckles. “We need to go so Max can go to
work.” Walking back inside, Max and my dad are laughing.

“Dad,
we have to go Max here has work.” Standing he hugs me kissing
the top of my head.

“Okay
sweetheart, enjoy school tomorrow.”

Groaning
I look at him. “You must be mad; I have math first thing Monday
morning. I will be into work on Thursday afternoon for a bit.”

He
nods letting me go. He hugs Knox and Max walking us out he pulls me
back. “Are you going to be okay, sweetheart?”

I
nod and smile at him. “Yeah I think so.”

He
hugs me again. “You know you can always call your old man; he
loves hearing from you.”

I
kiss his cheek. “Okay dad.”

We
all walk into our apartment and I flake out on the armchair hanging
my legs over the side.

“Who
want’s coffee?” Knox calls from the kitchen. Neither, Max
or I answer and I laugh. Knox walks in seeing us both relaxing he
crosses his arms,

“Well
you two look chilled.”

Max
grins at him from the sofa and I give him a thumbs up from the chair
yawning.

“Okay
coffee and cupcakes for me then.” Leaving the room Max calls
for a cake and Knox tells him no, but brings in the last few anyway.
He pushes Max’s feet from the end of the sofa so he can sit
down turning on the TV. I close my eyes while they play video games
listening to them call out each other for cheating and hearing
grunting when one hits the other.

My
body relaxes as I slumber on the chair Knox covers me with a blanket
kissing my head.

“Is
she ok?” Max asks. I don’t hear a reply from Knox.

They
play the games quietly while they talk about Paige and going to the
gym Thursday morning. I hear my phone ring from the kitchen but
ignore it. Soon Knox answers it mumbling then tells the person to
fuck off, I want to ask who it is but I can’t open my eyes. A
little while later I feel my body shaking opening my eyes Knox is
shaking me.

“Babe.”
He smiles.

“Dinner
time, darlin’.” Checking my watch I scold him for letting
me sleep for the last two hours.

“I
won’t sleep tonight.” Taking my hands, he pulls me up.

“That’s
okay, darlin’. I think we can occupy ourselves.” After
dinner I watch Knox go through his books frowning at them.

“Babe,
did you change your major?” I ask seeing mostly engineering
books.

“No
darlin’, why?” Lifting up a book I flick through it,
seeing mechanical drawings and math equations.

“These
are all for engineering. I thought you were doing business.” He
smiles as I put the book down, picking up another with, even more
complicated drawings inside.

“No
darlin’, minor in business, major in engineering. I got all my
business classes out of the way first.” Holding out his hand, I
place the book into it so he can shove it into his backpack.

For
the rest of the night we watch TV except for when Knox has to give
Max a break. I have a shower and get my own school supplies ready,
Plugging in both our computers in to charge. Knox texts me telling me
he is hanging out with Max for a bit, scrolling through my phone I
find the call I heard earlier and don’t recognize the number.
Opening my emails, I read through the ones Becky has been sending to
me and Abbey, both of them tormenting me about the league. Deciding I
should find out more information, I go to the website and read as
much as I can about what they intend to do it looks like fun if the
rules are anything to go by. I hear Knox close the door so I put away
my computer and walk down to meet him.

“Hi
beautiful.” Stretching up I wrap my arms around his neck.

“Hi
babe.” I kiss him as his hands cup my ass lifting me so I can
wrap my legs around his waist.

“Now
this is an nice welcome home.” He smiles holding onto me taking
me to the bedroom.

*****

Two weeks later

“Abbey,
get your butt out here,” Becky calls from the hallway outside
her dorm room. Abbey swings open the door grinning at us.

“Let’s
go ladies.” We walk down to my car and drive over to Blackrock
high to attend our first meeting of the lingerie league. We all
congregate in the gym in total there is about fifty girls and I am
stunned to see so many,

“See told you it would be a
blast.” Becky says giddy with excitement as she looks around at
the mixture of girls here. We find a seat and listen to the coach as
she tells us about the league and what they expect. She passes out
information packets to us all to read at home.

“Next
week ladies, we will be holding tryouts I hand to change the night
because my assistant coach had a family emergency and the team doctor
is busy.” She grins at us.

After
the meeting we all sit around Abbey’s dorm room only because
she has a single one. Becky shares and I have Knox.

“Looks
good,” I muse going through the packet. We fill out the
information sheet and the medical history one too. Scratching my head
I look up.

“Hey
should I lie on my medical form?”

They
both look up at me. “Why?” Becky asks looking confused.

“Well
my heart kind of stopped for a while there.” I laugh and they
both gape at me.

“What?”
they say together so I explain about spring break and what happened.

“Yeah,
lie, fuck it. They won’t take you if you don’t.”
Becky nods at me and Abbey looks at me.

“It’s
up to you, but are you okay to do sports? I mean you can always get a
check up from your own doctor first.”

I
nod at her “Good idea, I’ll try get in on Friday.”
After an hour I take off home “See you guys tomorrow,” I
call leaving them to finish their paperwork.

I
can smell the food when I open the door walking into the kitchen Knox
is dishing out his famous lasagna for Max and himself.

“Hey
darlin’, I thought you’d be out longer.” Walking
over I give him a kiss.

“No
tonight was just a meet and greet type of thing.” I lie taking
a plate from the cupboard. He still thinks I am doing boxercise but I
really want to tell him about the league.

“Hey
sis.” Max smiles at me.

“Hi.”
I ruffle his hair on my way past him. “We need new chairs,
babe,” I tell Knox watching him stand to eat his dinner.

He
nods. “Yeah, when I get better tips I will,” he jokes but
I am already thinking I can use my allowance because I never really
spend it, just let it build up, after I gas my car and pay a few
bills.

“I
thought you guys practice on Wednesday’s?” I say looking
at them.

“Usually
but we were tired today,” Max says shoving food in his mouth.

After
dinner I clean up then join them in the sitting room surprised they
are doing homework and not playing videos games.

“Wow,
what is this? No video games?”

Knox
laughs at me. “After we get this done, darlin’.”
Opening my computer I start one of my own assignments; the video chat
icon bounces so I open it seeing Paige.

She
waves. “So how did it go?” she asks buzzing. Max looks up
at me when he hears her voice,

“Good
it was just a meet and greet thing.”

I
try motion for her to shut up but she doesn’t get it.

“Cool
I am so jealous I can’t do it too. It would be awesome being on
the same team.”

Knox
looks at me. “What team?”

Paige’s
eyes widen hearing him covering her mouth with her hand. “Oh
the boxercise class has teams of four,” I say cringing on the
inside.

“Hello
angel.” Max calls from his seat on the floor and Paige grins so
I turn the computer for them to see each other.

“Hi”
she waves at him and he laughs. “You look busy,” she says
and he nods.

“Yeah
just doing homework. What about you?”

Laughing
she holds up a book. “Me too.”

We
talk to her for about thirty minutes.

“Okay
guys, I have to go. It’s bedtime here. Max, I will call you
tomorrow early, love you.”

Smiling
he waves at her. “You too angel.”

Knox
scoffs at him. “Damn Max, tell the girl you love her.”

Max
throws a pen at him. “Love you angel,” he says, winking
at her. Turning the computer, I roll my eyes as Knox laughs at Max.

“Okay,
email me,” Paige says and I nod.

“Okay,
talk soon.” We wave then hang up.

“I
miss her,” I sigh.

“Me
too,” Max says still drawing his design. Knox leans back
resting against my legs tilting his head back until he can see me.

“Was
the meeting good?” I nod rubbing my hand along his cheek
smiling at him,

“Yes
thanks.” Winking he sits up to finish his homework.

The
days go by fast. The doctor gives me the all clear to play sports,
but told me if I get knocked on the head to have it checked out
straight away. Feeling giddy Abbey, Becky and I are jumping up and
down on the high school football field warming up for our tryouts.
The coach blows her whistle and we all turn to face her; she has
another coach with her and both look menacing.

“Okay
ladies, we are breaking off into two groups for tryouts. If I call
your name come with me; if not stay with coach Pat.”

We
listen to her call out the names in no order. “Becky Garcia.”
Abbey and I fist bump her as she walks off. When the names are over
Abbey and I wave at Becky as she leaves, couch Pat blows her whistle
at the remaining girls.

“Okay
ladies, we have a few positions that have more than one applicant so
we are going to have whittle you down see who can do what.”

Abbey
frowns at me she looks nervous. “Mortenson, Hatcher up here.”
We walk to coach Pat who smiles at us.

“I’m
Pat, nice to see you ladies. Thanks for coming.”

Shit,
am I cut already without doing anything? She is holding a football
smiling at us. Pointing at Hatcher, she says, “Run and catch.”
Nodding the girl takes off half way down the field coach Pat throws
the ball like a pro Hatcher holds out her hands to catch the ball.
Doing so, she falls forward onto the ground.

Coach
reaches into her large bag of tricks producing another ball looking
at me “Ready?” I nod and take off running as fast as I
can. Looking over my shoulder, I see the ball flying at my face like
a fucking missile. Shit I squeal holding out my hands I pray I can
catch it. It slaps my hands so hard they sting as I run to the end of
the field. Looking up I see Abbey grinning and coach waving me back,
Once I reach them again, the coach goes through the same drill with
each girl. We end up doing it four times each two on the left side of
the field and two on the right.

“Okay
ladies, thanks for coming out tonight. I will email those of you who
are successful and if not don’t worry there is always next
year.”

Abbey
and I wait for Becky by my car.

“Shit,
that was intense.” Abbey grins at me and I nod.

“I
know I have never ran so fast in my life.” I laugh as Becky
joins us.

“Shit
girls, I saw some awesome moves from you guys.”

We
all smile at each other. “Hey who wants a milkshake to
celebrate?” I ask starting the car. We end up at the diner
enjoying a milkshake laughing at our tryouts,

“So
what did you do?” I ask Becky stirring my shake.

“Oh
we were trying to knock each other down.” She laughs. My phone
beeps taking it out of my pocket I smile.