Free Qualified: A Sports Romance by Ada Croix

Allie. “Your
lab rat.”
    “There’s more to him than that.”
    “He’s a world-class athlete,” Violet stated as one
other obvious thing, but that wasn’t what she cared about either. Her eyes were
sparking wicked as she licked at her fork. “More to him, hmm? What’s the story
on Marc’s jet?”
    “I don’t think he has a … Oh my gosh.” It took
her a moment to get her friend’s meaning, and then Allie dropped her forehead
into the brace of her palm as her cheeks colored. “Why do I tell you anything?”
    “Because I love you and I want you to be happy,”
Violet chirped in quick reply. “Now fess up. Did you go at it in the back seat?
Fog up the windows?”
    “I didn’t even kiss him.” It should have just been
a fact. Allie didn’t know how her voice came out sounding regretful. She took a
deep breath and shook her head to put logic back into place. “He’s in my study,
Violet. I can’t be … hooking up with him.”
    Violet looked at her for a narrow-eyed moment.
“Well I don’t know how else you’re supposed to enjoy him. Maybe it’s all for the
best.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I came across some old stories when I was putting
together documents for the PR event.” Violet rearranged what was left of her
meal with her salad with her fork. “There was a piece about his hard partying
lifestyle. Apparently there was some drama with one of the girls on the women’s
water polo team. I didn’t really dig into it, but … maybe it’s better to
keep professional distance with that one. You could use an intermediary step
between Jimmy and the level of player that Marc looks to be. I mean, a guy like
Blake might buy you dinner. I think with Marc, you might just get tetanus.”
    “He doesn’t have tetanus.” Allie barely realized
she was answering like a clinical robot. “The study pre-screens demand a
healthy baseline.”
    There was no reason for Allie’s heart to be
sinking. “It’s not like Jimmy was such a great guy.” It had taken her a while
to get over her college boyfriend after he made it clear that his moving on to
med school also meant moving on from her. But that wasn’t what was aching in
her chest. It had been nearly a year since they’d split, and when she’d seen
Jimmy around town over Christmas with his new girlfriend, Allie knew that she
was well and truly over him.
    “Well sure. But my point is that you’re kind of
lacking in experience doing anything more than some jerk-face’s homework,
right? It’s a big leap to some dick that’s not friendly and offers no
benefits.”
    “I’ve done stuff.” Allie was too self conscious to
meet her friend’s eye. Certainly Violet was close enough to the truth and
besides, nothing she’d said about Marc should have felt surprising. Allie knew
better than to go looking for a relationship amongst the athletes. Of course
Marc Belmont was a player and his singular focus was the game.
    “Anyway, you’re right, I’m better off not getting
involved. With any of them. And they’ll all be leaving soon.” So it hardly
mattered. Putting on a smile that wasn’t as effortless as she would have hoped,
Allie made a change of subject. “So what’s this thing I heard about, with Adam
and the shrimp cocktail?” With Violet telling the story, maybe she could ignore
the distraught churn of her stomach long enough to finish her meal.

 
     
     
11
     
     
    After the weekend of the PR event,
the days slipped by fast. Lindsey had been relying on Allie more and more, so
she began to assist with the dailies and be responsible for all
inter-department appointment scheduling within the training center. It only
worked in conjunction with the workload at the sports clinic because they had
gotten Tracey back after winter break.
    With her schedule pulled in so many directions, it
also meant that Allie had hardly any time to worry about Marc’s questionable
past. She sat on the bleachers beside Lindsey during practices and watched