Qualified: A Sports Romance (11 page)

Allie couldn’t remember the last
time she had felt so horrible. Maybe when her college boyfriend talked her into
going out for her twenty-first birthday. Her head pounded and her mouth tasted
like death. She woke up on her bathroom floor, snuggled up with a towel she’d
pulled down from the drying rack against the shivers that shook her while she
lay on the cold tile.

She could hear the TV on in the living room.
Eventually, she got herself up to hunch over the sink. She found the glass of
water she vaguely remembered Kelsey bringing in during the night. Bracing
through her palms, she took a bleary first look in the mirror at the mess she
had become.

Something dug into her palm. It was her apartment
key. She kind of remembered Marc fishing it out of her pocket last night. Allie
lifted a shaky hand to neaten her hair back from where it stuck to her
dried-sweat neck. It wasn’t so bad. Someone had gotten it up in a lopsided
ponytail. Was that Marc? She thought she remembered hands, but maybe that was from
Blake from earlier.

The memory seemed to worsen the throb of her head.
She got the Advil out from the cabinet, but careful swallows informed Allie
that her stomach didn’t like the idea of forcing anything else into it quite
yet. She should have never taken all those shots. Now half the team had seen
her acting like an idiot. And they’d seen her with Blake. Allie was so glad she
hadn’t gone upstairs with him.

She still didn’t understand how Marc had come to
find her. It seemed like Valentine’s Day magic. Although Allie had managed to
screw that up, too.

What had she even said to him? Her recollection of
the end of her night was mostly a miserable blur confined to the tile of her
bathroom. If nothing else, it was going to be hard to maintain an authoritative
air after he’d seen her like this.

Tugging the robe that Kelsey must have draped over
her into a more proper wrap, Allie finally saw fit to make her exodus from the
bathroom.

“Hey hot stuff.” Kelsey leaned her head onto the
back of the couch to smile upside-down at Allie. “How’re you doing?”

Allie just groaned. She finished her zombie shuffle
to fall onto the cushions beside the other woman. The TV was turned on with a
movie playing, something with Amy Adams in it, or maybe it was Isla Fisher.

“You missed an excellent game of Twister.”

“I think I would have killed myself.”

“Too much come in the tum,” Kelsey said
sympathetically.

“Ew.” Allie rolled her head back and closed her
eyes. “Don’t remind me of those shots. If I never see another blow job again it
will be too soon.”

Kelsey laughed weakly. “How about some toast? You
can have my other piece.”

“You found gluten somewhere in California?” Allie
said in faint wonder. She fought enough strength into her aching stomach to
curl forward and find the plate on the coffee table. “Thanks.”

“Funny. Now I know you’ll be okay,” Kelsey said as
she snuggled beneath her throw blanket. “Did you have a good time? Apart from
the … you know.”

Allie had to think about it while she took nibbles
of crispy carbs. Every good thing she could remember seemed to be stained by
something she’d rather not. “That house is amazing,” she finally settled on.
“It’s easy to see why Blake is … like he is.”

Kelsey spread a smile. “I think he likes you. But I
have to tell you, rumor is that he likes to have a girl as a good luck charm
going into big tournaments. Someone to relieve his stress before the big game
and all that. He’s kind of a serial dater.”

Allie wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know if I’m
interested in being a charm. Anyway, I’ve run out on him twice now.” She
brushed crumbs off her fingertips onto the plate, thinking of whose heartbeat
they instead longed to feel. It wasn’t a reason she could admit to Kelsey. “It
would be totally unprofessional to date a client.”

Kelsey hummed like she wasn’t convinced.

“Violet is appalled that I haven’t just gone for it
already,” Allie admitted with a weak smile.

“That’s your roommate from Colorado?” Kelsey
stretched out a corner of the blanket on offer once Allie set the plate down.
“If you’re going to spend all your time focusing on your career, what’s the
harm in having a little fun on the side?”

“Maybe I’m crazy.” Allie couldn’t shake her head
very much without feeling woozy. “I guess it just doesn’t feel very fun to me.
I suppose that’s what a lot of the guys are doing. Focusing on practicing, on
the win.” She picked at the blanket’s edge with her fingernails. “When you push
hard for your goals, there’s not really time to be serious about anything
else.”

“Yeah,” Kelsey agreed. She turned her head to watch
the movie as it flashed through a montage of the actress in a plethora of
amazing outfits. “Marc was here when I got home.” She said it like an absent
thought.

Allie tightened her jaw against the anxious churn
of her stomach. “Was he …” Allie didn’t think anything
like that
had happened. She repeated the phrase lamely, like she could now make it an
entire question. “Was he?”

“He was passed out on the couch.” Kelsey had mercy
on Allie’s suspense. “I got back pretty late. He walked you home?”

“I think he carried me home.” Allie was too drained
of anything to even blush.

“That’s sweet,” Kelsey said like a joke.

Allie rolled her head to meet Kelsey’s eyes,
debating before she confessed: “I think I tried to kiss him.”

Kelsey’s brows lofted. “And?”

“I don’t know.” Allie lifted her hands to cover her
face as she groaned. “Did it look like I threw up on him?”

Kelsey at least had the decency to muffle her laugh
into the blanket. “Well he wasn’t wearing a shirt.”

Allie groaned. “Oh wait. I’m not sure … I
think I was giving him shit, for trying to catch pneumonia on the walk back.
Did he … look upset?”

“Honestly, he just looked tired. And I was pretty
sloshed myself.”

Allie peeked her eyes open to look at her roommate.
“Did he try to kiss you?”

“Oh please.” Kelsey kicked a foot at her hip. “No
way am I hooking up with anyone on my brother’s team, or who went out with one
of my teammates, but
especially
not someone who has walked my roommate
home. Chicks before dicks.”

One of her teammates—Kelsey must have meant Natalie,
despite what Marc had said about not dating. More than Allie’s hangover
threatened her expression but in its bleary funk she couldn’t bring herself to
face anything more. She offered a weak smile of apology to her roommate.
“Sorry.”

“It ain’t a thing,” Kelsey said airily. “Now cuddle
up.” She pushed more of the blanket over towards Allie. “I’m going to get us
some more water, and then I say we spend the day eating microwave food and
watching chick flicks. Will you Netflix and chill with me this Valentine’s Day,
baby?” She batted her eyes.

Allie had to laugh. “It’s like you have the remote
control to my heart.”

Allie was feeling physically better
by Monday, but it was hard to go down to the garage where she’d have to face
the guys. Her knuckles were white as she gripped the wheel and waited for the
boys to come pouring into the car.

“Allie,” Adam greeted her brightly as he bounded
into his seat. “Made it out from under the pile of whipped cream?”

“Just barely,” she said weakly. “Did you have a
good Sunday?”

Troy deflated whatever story Adam was puffing up to
give. “He went and saw his mom.”

“She makes this amazing carrot cake,” Adam went
along with it with little resistance.

“Yeah, she has a way with the long and crispy,”
said one of the NorCal guys on his entry.

“That doesn’t even fucking make sense.” Adam
smacked backhanded at the other guy’s shoulder.

Allie held onto her smile even when Marc’s hulking
form entered the car. He had to bend halfway over to climb his way into the
back seat with his gym bag. Their eyes met for a moment in the rearview mirror.
Her gaze snapped back to her liferaft hold on the wheel before she could read
his expression. She could imagine plenty of possibilities for what Marc thought
of her after the other night, but none of them were very flattering.

“Everyone’s belts on?” The checking glance she made
over her shoulder was fake since she didn’t want to risk further eye contact
with Marc. After the chorus of assent and the slam of the door, she could
devote her focus to the road. Allie eased the big car out of the garage and
into the early morning streets to drive the now-familiar way to the aquatic
complex.

She may have been worried about how the guys would
treat her after she showed up at their party, but it turned out to be a
non-issue aside from the odd joke tossed her way in those first few days.
Everyone was too busy to waste time worrying about what happened the previous
weekend. What was ahead loomed so large that there was no room to fuss the
present details. It wasn’t even that weird when she ended up wrapping Blake’s
shoulder with ice after his turn in the weight room.

“So it appears you got home okay,” he observed
while she secured the crinkling wrap around his torso.

“Yeah.” In focusing on her work, Allie only had to
give him the briefest of sheepish smiles. “I was so hungover. Kelsey and I just
lived on the couch the entire day after.”

Blake chuckled. “We’ll have to hide the liquor from
you next time.”

“Sure.” Allie laughed, too, rather than argue. She
didn’t intend for there to be a next time. Not with Blake.

Maybe not with anyone. Allie didn’t know what to
think about Marc after seeing him with Natalie and hearing Kelsey’s off-hand
comments about his apparently extensive history with women. She didn’t exactly
seek him out, but he was the one who had disappeared while she was sleeping on
the bathroom floor. Certainly she didn’t want to seem like she was
chasing
him
when her drunken tongue had probably said too much. So they never ended up
talking, not until Allie was alone with Marc at their next sampling session for
the research trial.

“I don’t think I’ve thanked you, for walking me
home,” Allie said as she busied herself with readying her kit.

“Don’t mention it.” Marc was watching her hands
instead of her eyes.

“Kelsey told me that you stayed with me until she
got home.”

“I fell asleep on the couch,” Marc said
indifferently. He shaped a smile once she had taken her sample. “I thought you
might puke and rally,” he added with a careless shrug.

“Oh.” Allie focused on getting her sample put away.
They were both watching how her fingers circled his wrist. Her forehead
tightened with the start of a frown. He thought she would rally … to do
what?

“I guess I was wrong.”

“Sorry to disappoint you.” Perhaps it came out a
little more crisp than Allie intended. Sure enough, she had made a starry-eyed
fool of herself when he was just looking to score. She forced herself away from
him.

“It doesn’t really matter.” Marc was quicker than
usual to get up. “Guess you had your fill of blow jobs.”

Allie froze. Her downcast smile was fake. She
jangled, embarrassed and crestfallen at how easily Marc could dismiss her.
While he made his way out she could barely make herself go through the motions
of putting away her kit.

Allie actively tried to avoid him
after that. It proved dishearteningly easy. Marc was a wall. It didn’t seem
like he let anything in. Whether or not she was saying hello to him in the
morning didn’t seem to affect him in the slightest.

At least Lindsey and Everett made it easy not to
dwell. The team would be leaving the country in six weeks for the qualifying
tournament, and there was a whole checklist of tasks to make sure the travel
and event went off without a hitch. They asked Allie to coordinate with the
national committee’s office to make arrangements. Her contact was Violet, so it
was a welcomed opportunity to work with her friend. Still unclear was whether
or not Allie would be attending the tournament with the team, so they worked
off of a rough headcount to book with the tournament’s hotel.

With Lindsey, Allie started to devise the on-site
training plan. Violet was trying to find an arrival schedule that would allow
the team to adjust to the new time zone, but they would still have to account
for jet lag. There was also the issue of fitting so many men over six feet tall
into the cramped leg room of economy class airlines. It was both a blessing and
an additional complication of financial paperwork when Blake’s family offered
one of their jets at cost for the flight.

And yet she couldn’t get away from Marc entirely.
Doctor Kaitech was starting to forward study data to Allie so that she could
help format it into charts for publications. She had Marc’s samples to send to
the processing lab, and she’d started to exchange emails with the professor in
LA in order to book his last appointment for the study.

It was the last week of February and Allie was
working on the trial’s files when Lindsey poked her head into the office. “I
could use a hand,” she said in a clipped tone.

“Yeah.” Allie saved her work and jumped out of her
chair, trotting to catch up with the physical trainer as Lindsey headed back to
the weight room where the guys were having their early afternoon session.

Marc’s jaw tensed when he saw Allie. His right hand
was stuffed into a cup of ice water. He looked up into Lindsey’s face. “I
swear, it’s fine,” he insisted.

“Well let’s be sure, all right?” Lindsey was not to
be deterred. “Allie, can you finish the ice on his right hand and then get it
immobilized? He has six minutes and …” She turned her wrist to check her
watch, “twenty seconds left with that on.” She thumbed loose her watch’s band
to hand it over to Allie. “I’m going to call into my clinic and see if we can
get him booked for a scan this afternoon.”

“Yes ma’am,” Allie said as she took up guard beside
Marc.

“I need to be in the pool,” Marc was saying after
Lindsey’s retreating back. He shifted like he was going to get up and chase her
down.

Allie set a palm firmly on his shoulder without
even thinking. “Stay,” she told him with an authority that surprised even
herself. She sniffed and shook herself into a straighter posture, glancing at
the watch. “Five more minutes,” she told him.

With a sigh, Marc settled back. His chin tipped up
and his eyes rolled closed.

A few of the other guys were still doing their sets
in the room and looked over with curiosity. Allie gave them tight smiles which
told them to mind their own business.

It was a long time to watch the clock tick down.
When she proved insistent on keeping him, Marc fished his earbuds from where
he’d tossed them into his lap and clicked his music back on. His jaw ticked
while he gazed off towards where the rest of his team continued on with their
rotations through the weight equipment.

Allie didn’t find them as interesting as Marc
himself. She feigned watching the clock, and then the captioned news as it
scrolled across one of the flatscreens mounted high in the corner, but mostly
she observed him out of the corner of her eye. Though she took her hand from
his shoulder she could still feel the radiant heat of his skin. Sweat tracked
along his firmly muscled lines and liberated the faint scent of soap along with
a trace of chlorine from his morning in the pool. There was defiance in the
tightness of his shoulders, but his resistant resolve leaked away as the
minutes ticked onward.

Lindsey’s watch beeped before Allie could think of
anything encouraging to say. She stuffed it away into a pocket. Dropping the
ice pack at their feet she shuffled nearer so that she could reach the supplies
the PT had left on the weight bench. Marc’s flesh was chill beneath the run of
her fingers as she felt along the bones of his hand. She watched his face for
any flinching, but he was steadily watching her. There was extra thickness in
his ring finger’s knuckle.

“What happened?”

“Nothing. Just …” Marc pressed his mouth and
looked down to where she paired his ring and middle fingers together. His free
hand lifted to tug his earbuds from his ears. “I can’t give them a reason to
drop me from the team,” he said in a quieter rumble.

Allie watched him carefully as she leaned for the
tape, using a wipe-down towel first to dab moisture from his skin. “That’s why
you want us to treat this fast. You don’t want to push and make it worse. If it
is nothing, Lindsey will have you cleared well before the tournament.”

Marc just bunched his jaw again in answer. “Does
this mess up your studies?” he asked after a minute.

Allie blinked, startled. “I don’t think so.” Her
mouth started to skew sideways into a grateful smile but she caught it with a
bite of her lip. Lindsey was returning.

“Okay,” the physical trainer said with a short
exhale of breath. “Marc, I was able to get you in this evening for a look at
the state of the soft tissue and to make sure there’s no fracture of bone. With
traffic, you might as well get going now to make sure you’re not late. I can
give you the address, Allie. Will you be all right taking him?”

“I can do that,” Allie answered with prompt
efficiency.

“All right with you, Marc? I’ll speak to your
coaching staff.”

That mention didn’t make him look happy, but Marc
nodded grudging agreement.