Free Fourth Down and Dirty: A Bad Boy Sports Romance by Kristen Flowers Page B

“Ivy,” my supervisor’s voice came in from the
other end, “I know it’s your day off but we wanted to know if you could go meet
with Landon Bryce’s coach in an hour.” My insides started to turn to ice, “He
needs a progress report and the sooner the better.” I breathed and audible sigh
of relief over the phone.

 
    I felt instantly
relieved. That didn’t last long, however. Maybe the coach knew about us and he
was taking it upon himself to confront me about it. I agreed and ended the
call, going to get ready before checking on my mom. As I put on my outfit I
laid out the night before, I realized I was terrified of what the coach would
say. I took a quick glance in the mirror. My navy blue skirt reached just above
my knees. I let out a long sigh. This was supposed to be a good day with a cute
outfit. I wasn’t supposed to get fired. I gulped, smoothed out the skirt, and
walked out of the bedroom.

 
    I left a glass of
water on the coffee table in case mom needed it before walking out the door and
heading to campus.

 
    As I walked across
campus, closer and closer to the stadium, I thought about how I had never even
been to the stadium before. As soon as the stadium came into view I cringed. It
was god-awful and ugly compared to the rest of campus. It was this glistening
modern building that clashed with all the older brick buildings. I pulled out
my phone to double-check the message Stella had sent me, informing me the
offices were located in a tunnel underneath the stadium. The directions didn’t
help. Somehow I got lost and ended up making two wrong turns that caused me to
get there eight minutes late.

 
    I stopped dead in
my tracks. Landon was already sitting there. I realized at that moment how
silly it was for it not to cross my mind that he would be there. I clutched my
chest and attempted to catch my breath. I was tired from scurrying around the
stadium in a lost panic.

 
    Without a word, I
sat down and tried to ignore the heat rising off of Landon sitting next to me.
He didn’t even turn to look at me once I sat down. I hated to admit it, but his
lack of regard toward me stung. Mere seconds later, the Coach stepped out of
his office and called us inside. The two of us took our seats across Coach
Kingsley and tried to stave off the awkwardness as much as possible.

 
    “How are your
grades?” He asked Landon pointedly, after only merely greeting me more as a
formality than anything else.

 
    “They're getting
better,” Landon mumbled his reply.

 
    I was pleased to
hear it come from his mouth, but I just nodded solemnly. The two of us were
sort of pretending I wasn’t there, even if for completely different reasons.

 
    “Is it true,
then?” It was obvious the coach wasn’t taking Landon’s word for it.

 
    Luckily, I had
come prepared. I nodded with a smile and pulled out a thin folder to show Coach
Kingsley the proof inside. I started by showing Landon's record of attendance
to prove he really was putting in the time and effort.

 
    “He hasn’t missed
a single session, first misstep aside,” I informed the Coach. Then I pulled out
his original draft of his History term paper and showed him the final product.
“We worked on this together for more than one session, but he pulled a good
amount of the weight on his own, even completing homework tasks I set up for
him.”

 
    For the first time
since I arrived, Landon looked at me. I felt my chest tighten when he shot me a
grateful look for backing him up and proving to the coach he was being honest.
I was proud of him and hoped he was proud of himself as well. He had gone from
being someone who stormed into the Tutoring Center demanding he be let off the
hook, to an actual student who put in thought and effort.

 
    The Coach pulled
the paperwork toward him and squinted at it, but I could tell he was just
pretending to scrutinize it. Everything was for show. All Coach Kingsley cared
about was getting the forms