Quarterback Sneak Read online

  It was hard to wrap her mind around the fact that Alceo wanted her, really wanted her, but the idea was growing on her. He pulled her hand in hand toward to locker room. Galynn, still lost in the absurdity of the whole situation was shocked out of her thoughts when Alceo spoke.

  “You wait right here.” He kissed her full on the lips, his tongue hinting at things he wanted to continue to do to her. When he pulled back, she watched as a thick lock of hair fell over his eyes and his pink lips turned a shade darker.

  Galynn’s cheeks flushed crimson under the intensity of his gaze.

  “I have half a mind to drag you in there with me. But I know that if I do half the team will be all over you.” Galynn rolled her eyes. She kissed his lips gently and stepped back to reach for the hem of his practice jersey when his hands stopped her. “Don’t. You keep it. You wearing it kinda makes us more official. That is if you want to,” he added after hesitating.

  Galynn’s heart swelled as she watched the embarrassment cross his face then quickly disappear. “Of course I’ll wear it.”

  Alceo grinned and kissed her forehead fearful of starting more than he was willing to finish outside the locker room. He told her he’d be back in a few – he just needed to shower and change. He didn’t want to gross her out any more with his smell. At the doubtful look in her eye, Alceo promised to hurry and rushed off.

  Galynn was still in her own little word, draped over the fence separating the field from the bleachers when she heard heels clicking behind her. She wouldn’t have paid any attention except for the fact that the voice she heard was familiar.

  “Girl, we can’t keep doin’ this shit. It’s too damn cold to be out here.”

  “Shut the hell up. You know you love it each and every time. Quit whining and fix my hair for me.”

  Galynn felt like melting into the ground. Without trying to draw attention to herself, she glanced around looking for somewhere to hide. She was out in the open, and the girls were right behind her. Galynn tried to calm herself thinking that maybe, it wasn’t who she thought it was.

  “Jasmine, for real, maybe we should stalk the lacrosse team instead. At least they don’t play in weather this damn cold.”

  Galynn’s insides froze. It was Jasmine. She wasn’t entirely sure why she was surprised, but of all the gin joints in all the world…

  “Lacrosse players don’t get million dollar contracts to go pro. Now shut up and look good.”

  This was too funny, Galynn thought. She had snagged Alceo Russell and she hadn’t even meant to.

  “So, who are we snagging this time?” Jasmine’s friend asked.

  “You know who I want. The same one I’m always here for. Russell.” Galynn’s heart dropped as Jasmine’s voice swooned. “I want that damn jersey.”

  “You mean the one that fat chick is wearing over there?” Galynn’s shoulders slumped dejectedly. She had just been thrust between a rock and the quarterback’s jersey. What started out as the perfect morning, followed by an amazing afternoon was going to be ruined in a few short moments by her gold digging roommate and her best friend. Galynn knew the girl was bad, but she didn’t know she was this bad.

  “What?” Jasmine incredulously shouted. “I’m the only one on his list. Have you heard anything about this?” The doubt in Jasmine’s voice made Galynn smile, at least for a little bit.

  Galynn could hear the other girl laughing. “Looks like he’s a chubby chaser.” Galynn could tell that the comment infuriated her roommate by the way she stomped her feet and let out a very unladylike growl. For half a second, if Galynn didn’t know any better, she would think that Jasmine was jealous.

  “He and I have been fucking too long for me to let some shit like this slip.” Galynn tensed.

  They’ve had sex?!

  Of course they have, she thought to herself. Jasmine was the ringleader of the Celt Cunts. It was stupid of Galynn to assume that Jasmine wouldn’t go after someone like Alceo.

  But what if Alceo was a chubby chaser? Did that make things any different? Not really, not from her end anyway. What’s the difference, she was fat. She knew that much, and didn’t do much to change anything about it, but that’s the way she was. Was he just with her to get his rocks off?

  Galynn tried to push the thoughts from her mind. Alceo had made it perfectly clear he wanted her. Wasn’t that enough? Galynn didn’t have the time to answer the question before she heard the sound of Jasmine’s footsteps drawing her closer and closer.

  Trying to take a deep breath, Galynn calmed herself. The tap of a finger on her shoulder didn’t come as surprise, but it still shocked her.

  “Uh, excuse me,” Jasmine politely said, as if Galynn hadn’t heard her and her friend talking about her literally behind her back.

  “Yea?” Galynn asked without turning around. She felt foolish for trying to make her voice sound slightly different than usual but she did it without thought.

  “I haven’t seen you around her before, what’s your name?”

  Galynn’s shoulders slumped. She hated confrontation. She wasn’t ready for this, but when is one ready to confront their gorgeous roommate and tell them the fatty snagged the man?

  Galynn turned toward the eyes she could feel piercing her back. It was as if Jasmine was trying to burn a hole through Alceo’s numbers.

  “Hi, Jasmine.” Galynn said politely. She tried to fight the blush creeping up into her cheeks, but it wasn’t working too well. The look on Jasmine’s face was relieved. Galynn watched in astonishment as Jasmine’s dread turned to a look of pure relief.

  “Oh hey girl! What are you doing here?”

  Galynn was caught off guard to say the least. “Just waiting.”

  Jasmine chuckled not hearing the words Galynn said. “Oh Lord,” Jasmine said dramatically as she drew her hand to her chest. “You had me scared. For a second, I thought – well never mind,” Jasmine said with a hint of genuine laughter.

  “You thought what?”

  “Nothing, girl. It sure as hell ain’t possible.” At the look Galynn gave her, Jasmine rolled her eyes but continued. “I thought you had been given that jersey. But you must have found it somewhere. With Celt fever, everyone is wearing those damn things. I’m sure it’s not a real practice jersey.” Jasmine’s arm reached out to touch Galynn’s arm. “But you really shouldn’t wear that. You should give it back – or give it to me if you don’t know who it belongs to. Do you even know whose number you’re wearing?”

  Galynn tightly pressed her lips together, pressuring them into a thin line. “No I don’t.” If Jasmine didn’t think there was any way in hell that Alceo could have given her the jersey, Galynn wasn’t going to burst the girl’s bubble.

  Galynn glanced over Jasmine’s shoulder to see her friend popping her gum nosily. Her grunt of disgust made her look even more unattractive.

  “Well, it’s the jersey of someone really important, but I wouldn’t expect you to keep up with this kind of stuff.” Something behind Galynn caught Jasmine’s eye and it took everything in Galynn to not turn around. For half a second, she thought it might be Alceo but the subsequent squeal let forth by Jasmine let her know otherwise. At the relief she felt from not hearing Alceo’s voice, Galynn didn’t hear who it was that walked up beside her.

  Jasmine shook her head as their visitor walked up beside Galynn. “Don’t worry everybody, Galynn just found it and put it on. I’m not sure why, but don’t worry, the big man hasn’t been taken off the market.”

  Galynn felt her stomach tighten at Jasmine referring to Alceo as “big man”. Just how much did she know about him? How much did all of these girls know about him that she didn’t? Or maybe she had finally gotten to know him the same way they had. Her stomach continued to sour as three more girls stepped into her line of sight. They were eyeing her with distain, arms folded across their chests.
Galynn had never felt the urge to flee more strongly.

  Alceo could fend for himself, couldn’t he? He’d lasted this long. He didn’t really need her did he? This display was proof that he didn’t.

  “Are they selling those at the Uni Sports Shop?” a particularly tall girl with fiery red hair asked.

  Galynn just nodded her head afraid that any other movement on her part would force tears from her eyes or a scream from her lips. Was this what all the girls were after, a practice jersey? It didn’t make any sense to Galynn, but maybe she should feel proud that he gave it to her. But how many other girls had he given it to before her? She didn’t know the story of his love life, but maybe this was the time to find out. Who better to ask than his admirers?

  “Damn, they are totally going to loose their value now. Everyone will be able to wear one.” Her glance was particularly hard when she looked Galynn’s way. “What are we supposed to do now?”

  “We get the real jerseys,” Jasmine answered without hesitation. “I’d say we take the jackets, but winter will be over soon and it will be too hot to wear them.”

  The other girls nodded in agreement.

  “So,” Galynn started timidly, “whose jersey is this?”

  The red head was the first to speak up. “That’s Alceo Russell’s jersey.” She rolled her eyes at Galynn obviously astounded that someone had the nerve to not know his number.

  “Wow, so he’s pretty big, huh. I only bought it because it was on sale at the Sports Shop.” Playing up her part, Galynn smiled brightly.

  Jasmine patted her shoulders as if she felt bad for her. Outwardly Galynn smiled. Inwardly, she wanted to smash the girls face in, but never in her lifetime would she do something like that.

  “So, what’s this guy like? By they way all you guys are here, I’d guess that he’s a real ladies man.”

  Jasmine and several of the other girls laughed. “Honey, we aren’t looking for a life partner, just someone to get us the hell out of here. He has real potential to enter the NFL Draft. He won’t talk about it, but we all know what he’s thinking.”

  “Oh really?” Galynn asked, her smile turning into something of a grimace. She didn’t want to get that ahead of herself, but if he entered the draft, they would be over. Hell, what was she thinking? When school was over they would be over too. Or perhaps this was a much more temporary situation. She hadn’t thought these things until now, and it was showing on her face.

  “Oh don’t worry, we have a lot of guys that will probably be able to carry the team once he’s gone.”

  “Good,” Galynn said. “God forbid.” All the other girls nodded in agreement. It was like they were all extensions of each other. They were standing huddled together, too much makeup and too little clothes looking exactly the same. Hungry for football meat. But what was she being so judgmental about? Wasn’t she here doing exactly the same thing?

  The thought that she could be anything like these girls propelled her feet forward, but the sound of Jasmine’s voice stopped her. “I guess we all have a chance with him, and it’s only a matter of time before he makes his decision. I mean, he’s been with all of us. You know, like sampling the buffet before you decide which foods you want to take home with you.”

  Jasmine made it sound so nonchalant – like this was normal. Like all these girls sharing one guy was a privilege, a right of passage. Galynn’s stomach flipped. Wow. She knew Alceo had a reputation, but this? This was crazy. She didn’t want to be mixed up with him, even if he did say they were “official”. How many of these girls had he been official with? All she could think about was the diseases they could possibly be carrying. One girl had something very suspicious on her lip.

  Grief at what she had fallen into overtook her first, then anger. Anger at Alceo for making her believe, anger at Jasmine and her stupid friends for making this seem so easy and so…unimportant. But most of all, Galynn was angry with herself for letting this happen. This is exactly why she was the quiet girl who sat in the corner and minded her own business. She didn’t do things like this…like them. It would be a cold day in hell before she let herself become them.

  That thought had her feet caring her away from the girls before she realized what was happening. As if by some sick twist of fate, she could hear the girls squeal. Alceo was coming. The knot in her stomach exploded. Her hands started to shake, but she was thankful for her legs propelling her forward even if her mind couldn’t come up with one coherent thought. They could have him if they wanted him. That’s probably what he really wanted anyway.

  ----

  Alceo rushed from the locker room, not paying any attention to anyone. All he could think about was Galynn, standing outside in the freezing cold waiting for him. The thought warmed his insides and forced him to move faster as he showered off. He may have forgotten to wash behind his ears or between his toes, but he had other things on his mind.

  When he burst from the locker room and out into the cold, he was hoping to be warmed by Galynn’s smile, the smile she reserved just for him. Instead he was chilled by the voices he could hear as they traveled through the tunnel.

  His stomach dropped. FUCK! He had completely forgotten about the Celt Cunts. He hadn’t come up with the name, but it seemed appropriate. They always waited around like hungry vultures trying to snag a player and ride the gravy train. If there was one part of football he hated, it was this. Truly the girls were cunts. No substance, no personalities, just a warm hole to fuck and half the time, it wasn’t even any good. Of course, there was the occasional one that surprised him, but that didn’t happen anymore. It hadn’t happened in awhile and definitely not since he met Galynn.

  He ran faster, bags in tow as he tried to get to her before they did. They were the last people he wanted her talking to.

  ---

  Galynn’s heart was beating nearly out of her chest as she heard the girls yell out to Alceo. She was terrified that he would come after her; she was even more terrified that he wouldn’t. For all she was worth, she started to recite the Star Spangled Banner, anything to keep the tears flowing from her eyes, but she couldn’t remember the words. She tried to tell herself she wasn’t listening for him to strike up a conversation with his fan club, but the thought made her hiccup with sadness. Instead she lowered her head and forged on.

  She couldn’t help but think what a fool she was. Was she blowing this out of proportion? Was she over reacting? Galynn had never been in this position before so she honestly couldn’t tell.

  The sound of rushing footsteps approached her faster than she thought possible, and part of her was overjoyed at the sound of the girls shouting his name, demanding that he come back to them. Strong hands gripped her arms from behind and stopped her progress. Galynn lowered her head in defeat.

  “What happened, what did they do?” Galynn’s eyes didn’t lift.

  “They didn’t do anything, I just got really cold. I just want to go home.” Galynn wanted to do more than that, but she wasn’t going to say that to him.

  “Please baby, look at me.” The word baby softened her and made her want to cry all the more but she swallowed back her tears and looked up at him. “Whatever they said wasn’t true. They are looking for a gravy train, and believe me; I am too smart for that. They will say anything to eliminate the competition.”

  Galynn could hear the girl’s shouts in earnest now, no doubt they were wondering why Alceo had passed them up for her, and Galynn said as much.