Free from Pain to Pleasure (Gainesville Book 1) by Bella Jeanisse

herself with a few deep breaths, terrified he would know she wasn’t alone. “It’s good. The teachers are great.”
    Logan suddenly stopped short and cringed. He looked at Marie and mouthed, “I’m sorry.” There was no way to avoid it. The car in front of them had done the same.
    “Are you in a car?” Brian tried to hold his temper back.
    Danielle closed her eyes. “Marie’s taking me to get groceries.”
    “Oh, OK.” He had to allow her to go to the store but wished she had a different friend. Although, it could be worse. “Make sure you use the Visa. The American Express was turned off.”
    Marie looked back and saw the expression on Danielle’s face. That meant he didn’t buy the story. She wished she could convince her to ignore his calls. Sometimes she cried for hours afterward.
    “I will,” Danielle replied. “I have to put the phone down, so I can grab my bag and stuff.”
    Brian looked at the clock. It was midnight. No wonder I’m tired . “It’s fine. I need to get some sleep anyway. I love you, Dani.”
    “Love you, too.” She dared not forget to say that.
    Marie waited several minutes after Danielle had put away her phone before she asked, “What did he say?”
    “He told me what credit card to use.” She sniffled. He tracked her that way as well. She was as trapped as ever, like he wanted.
    Logan quickly turned right. “That means we have to stop at a store and buy some stuff. That way he believes your story.”
    Danielle sighed. “Yeah, I guess.” She hated that they were in the middle of the insanity.
    “Hey.” Marie reached back and patted her knee. “We understand. Don’t worry.”
    The trip to the store didn’t make them late for the game, but the traffic around the stadium almost did. There had been two accidents close to the stadium entrance, so everything had bottlenecked.

    * * *

    “When will Alex play?” Danielle asked when the game was in the second quarter. She didn’t understand football.
    Logan leaned down to her. He sat between the two girls at the home stadium. “He might not. Third-string means there are two other guys who play more than he does.”
    “But you said Will had the flu,” Marie reminded him.
    His eyebrows rose. “Oh yeah, so he’s kinda second-string today. We should see him.”
    Suddenly the crowd cheered. Danielle did too, along with her friends but had no idea why. “What happened?”
    “We got first down.” Marie understood a lot more than she did. “We keep the ball,” she explained.
    “Oh, OK.”
    Danielle sat down and tried to read the players shirts. She knew a few by their numbers. Alex’s was 69, which always made her giggle. The thought of that sexual position made her recall his penis. She hadn’t seen it again, but she had felt it a few times when he held her.
    By the third quarter, Danielle was bored. The school’s team was losing, and she was unsure what were good or bad plays. Then everyone around them stood up and made sounds that told her someone got hurt. She was sure it wasn’t Alex because she had not seen him yet.
    Logan watched closely. Their halfback had been tackled, and several opposing players jumped on the pile. As the referees helped break up the melee, one was left sprawled on his back. The halfback still held the ball. When they tried to help him up, he grabbed his ankle.
    Marie smiled when they carried him off the field. She quietly cheered. That was sort of good news.
    “How can you be happy?” Danielle asked, angry. “That’s one of our guys.”
    Logan looked at her and shouted, “That was the halfback! Alex gets to play!”
    As soon as the game got underway again, Alex ran on the field. He was nervous as hell, but the cheers helped somewhat. Just before the play started, he looked up to where he thought Danielle was and smiled.
    Danielle held her breath when she realized Alex had the ball. She was terrified he would get hurt. She grabbed Logan’s jacket as someone on the opposing team moved