Balls: A Bad Boy Sports Romance (A Cruz Boys Novel Book 1) (18 page)

“Somebody has to be,” I said.

Josh stopped as the light turned red. Leo and I pulled up next to him.

“Hey, Sport,” he said as he reached across and pulled him over in a hug. “How about we get a snack and then some ice cream for dessert?”

“Yes! And then a churro after that!”

Leo laughed. “We’ll see.”

The light turned green and we continued on for another couple of loops. Ed captured it all.

Awesome.

Leo pulled up to a stop next to Ed.

“How did we look?” he asked.

Ed tucked the camera under his arm.

“It’s sickly cute. People are going to love it.”

“Thanks, Ed. You rock, brother,” I said.

“Just doing my job, while I still have one.”

“Haha, very funny,” I said. “You can thank me later.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’ll consider it. Well, you guys have fun.”

I was about to tell Ed what to do with the footage when he held his hand up.

“And I’ll get this to Editorial ASAP. We’ll get a few clips ready for posting by tomorrow.”

“I owe you one, Ed,” I said.

“Don’t I know it,” he said with a nod.

“See you later,” Leo said and started the bike back up Las Ramblas. “I’m so jealous,” he said as the buildings slid by. Josh rode up ahead a little ways.

“Of what?” I asked.

Maybe he missed the thrill of first learning how to ride. It was more terrifying than thrilling to me. But Leo certainly had an appetite for danger that I didn’t share.

“Of your seat,” he said.

“What?”

“I wish I was your bicycle seat right now. If I was, I’d be one big tongue.”

My insides squirmed. They were perpetually squirming around him. I couldn’t believe what came out of my mouth next.

“If you were my bicycle seat, I’d ride you all night long.”

Leonardo

We spent every night for the last three weeks at my place.
 

In bed.

The room service guy bringing meals was the only face we saw from seven in the evening to seven in the morning.

So much for being out in public working on my image.

Screw it.
 

I didn’t care much in the beginning, and I didn’t want to share Alex now.

In my bed, she was mine and mine alone.

It wasn’t all stacks of unlimited awesome though. On our last few times hanging out together, Josh was acting weird. I thought he could tell something was changing in me. He could tell my feelings for Alex signified a new major player in my emotional landscape.
 

He wasn’t used to the competition because there had never been any.

I broached the topic last week but he shut me down cold. There was no way I was gonna break his heart, but he had to understand I had enough room in my life for both of them.

He needed time to adjust. He’d get there.

I’d never give up on him.

Practice was another area in my life feeling the burn of Alex’s and my time together. We were like a band. Every performance got better as we figured out how to play together. And we practiced our harmonies all night long.

It was unbelievably good.

And utterly exhausting.

I hadn’t slept more than a couple of hours each night. Between lack of sleep and the acrobatic exertion of claiming Alex night after night, I was seriously depleted.

And depleted wasn’t where you wanted to be when you were preparing to lead your nation to victory in the biggest sports spectacle in the world.

A better choice would’ve been restraint.

With Alex, I was no good at that.

Turning down another round of Alex’s long legs wrapped around my waist required a level of self-restraint that I didn’t have, had never had, and was pretty sure would never have.

Plus, why the hell would I want to do that?

So, yet again, I dragged ass at practice, paying the price.

The hard heat of the afternoon sun beat down on Camp Nou stadium and all of its occupants.

Me, specifically. It singled me out. I felt it.

Even dragging ass was a tall order. I was more like a shuffling corpse at this point.

Coach didn’t miss it. And he hadn’t missed any of the preceding days either.

“Pick your feet up, Cruz!” he shouted from the sidelines.

If only he knew how heavy they were.

He turned to the assistant coach and said in a voice clearly intended to be heard by every last person in the stadium, “It’s like I’m watching a fucking slow motion special effect.”

Rodrigo jogged by and slapped my ass. “Get it into gear, Lion. That elephant wants to stomp your nuts.” He laughed and headed off toward the play building further up the field.

I covered my eyes to block out the searing light. I needed a solid ten hours sleep and then I’d be as good as new.

But Alex was coming over tonight and I didn’t see that happening.

“Are you on drugs, Leonardo?” Coach yelled. “Get over here!”

Rodrigo glanced over his shoulder and threw a gruff laugh my way.

I flipped him the bird. The bastard.

 
I jogged over, ready to get my butt chewed because he wasn’t wrong.

“You’re moving like you’re in water!” he yelled. “Are you too good to give a shit at practice?”

He pointed behind me toward the field. “Get your ass moving or you’re gonna find it warming the bench.”

A hot geyser of rage burned in my belly.

Who did he think he was talking to?

Without me, this team had no chance of taking on the Cup. I bit back fiery words that fought to spill out. I did an about-face and loped back into the ongoing play.

The thing that pissed me off the most was that he was right.

Rodrigo passed me the ball, and I turned in a fluid sweep towards the opposing goal. The predictable fire of the finish flared in my gut. I sprinted towards the goal with the ball never far from my foot.

Our best defender rolled forward to intercept me. I juked left, tapped the ball right, and then cut hard to follow it. I left him in the dust.

His best wasn’t good enough when I was on my game.

But I’d let the ball speed ahead a little too far.

I struggled to catch up as the goalkeeper ran out of his box, intent on cutting me off. We met at the ball at about the same time.

He dove for it, and I reared back and tried to drive it through his outstretched arms and into the goal.

Unfortunately, my foot was a fraction of a second slower than usual and it found his stomach instead of the ball.

He doubled over in agony and curled up in the fetal position screaming like I’d shot him.

My foot had deadly power.
 

Shit.

“Sorry, man. My fault,” I said.

I tried to help him up, but he slapped my hand away.

He glared at me through a twisted grimace. He never would’ve gotten to that ball first if I wasn’t so drained.

Literally drained.

Coach shouldered me aside as he arrived on the scene of the crime. A couple of trainers knelt down beside the injured goalkeeper and started checking him out.

Coach turned to me. “Are you insane? You want to kill Spain’s best keeper?”

“No.”

Small words and short answers seemed best. Coach didn’t seem in the mood for more.

He pointed to the benches and yelled, “Go cool off!”

He looked at the player standing on the sidelines hoping to take my job. Rafael Martinez. Eighteen years old and pretty good by most accounts. Some professional armchair idiots claimed he might be as good as me someday.

That was never gonna happen.

 
“Martinez, get on the field!”

“You got it coach!”

I walked toward the bench, determined to defy the dictator trying to ruin my life.

As Martinez jogged past, he held out his hand expecting a low five.

He wanted me to be happy about him taking my spot?

Dipshit kid.

As I approached the bench in a decidedly terrible mood, a ray of light pierced my darkness.

Alex was standing in front of railing of the Significant Others’ section.

Because she was my S.O.

She waved and smiled.
 

I waved back and wondered if she’d seen what happened. I hoped not.

She flashed me a thumbs up and a
you can do it
fist.

Okay, she’d seen it.

Great.

I didn’t know how long she’d been standing there watching, but however long was too long.

She wiped sweat from her brow and suddenly stumbled. She fell back and plunked her butt down hard on the grass.
 

I sprinted over in a flash. I got to her as another one of our trainers did.

“You okay, ma’am?” he asked.

I helped Alex to her feet. “What happened?” I checked her over and there wasn’t any obvious sign of injury.

She had a surprised look in her eye. “I don’t know. I was standing there. Then I felt a little woozy and next thing I knew I was parked on the turf.”

“You fell on your butt, honey.” I said.

“Yeah, that’s one way of putting it.”

The trainer gave her a more thorough scan. He checked her pulse. He didn’t freak out, so I figured it was probably the heat and too many sleepless nights.

“How do you feel?” the trainer asked.

“Not great,” Alex replied.

“How about lately? Earlier today? Yesterday?”

Alex thought about it. “A little weird, for sure.”

“Well, your pulse is racing and you don’t look so good,” he said. “I don’t see any pressing medical emergency, but I’d highly recommend you check in with your doctor.”

A doctor? What was wrong with her?

“No, I’m fine. Really,” she said.

Oh no. Not happening.

“You’ll see my personal physician today,” I said.
 

If something was wrong with her, there wasn’t a chance in hell we were going to let it go unattended.

She shook her head. “That isn’t—“

“This isn’t up for discussion, Alex,” I said. “I’ll set up the appointment for this afternoon.”

“I don’t know,” she said. “Aren’t we all overreacting a little?”

“You don’t understand,” I said. “How am I going to concentrate on practice if I think there might be something going on with you?”

“Okay, fine. I’ll go.”

A pissed-off voice from further down the sidelines interrupted our conversation.

“Jesus H. Christ! Isn’t the reason we have a designated spot for girlfriends and wives is so they don’t get on the field and interrupt our practice?”

Coach was about five seconds from earning a broken jaw.

Alex shook her head. “Breathe, Leo. Stay calm.”

“Leonardo! If you intend to play for Spain in the upcoming World Cup, get the hell over here and show me that you want it!”

I hugged Alex tight. “I’ll text you the doctor’s number.”

“Thanks,” she said. “Coach sounds pissed. I hope you’re not in trouble.”

I laughed. “Me? Trouble? The two never met.”

I kissed her and headed back to endure yet another round of verbal abuse. I prayed I didn’t snap and beat the living crap out of the self-righteous fart.

How could he question my commitment?

I wanted that Cup!

Me! The Lion of Spain!

I glanced over my shoulder and saw Alex walking out.
 

I did want the Cup. No doubt about it.

But it hit me like lightning from the blue skies above that it was no longer the only thing I wanted in life.

I wanted Alex.

Under me.

Above me.

Forever by my side.

* * *

Alex skipped into the entry hall like a kid finding out it was a snow day. I’d given her a key to my suite and I was happy to see she felt comfortable using it without asking permission first.

Because we were a couple and that’s the kind of trust a couple had. The kind of trust we had.

She jumped into my arms and wrapped her legs around my middle.

“Straight to the fucking? That’s my girl.”

Blood rushed into my cock and I thrilled in anticipation of her tightness. I whirled around and pinned her against the wall, all of my intention focused between her legs.

She gasped as I drove my weight into her.

“Are you always hard?” she asked in a husky voice.

I went from standing at half-mast to full attention before she finished the question. “Around you I am.”

I massaged her tits through her blouse and growled when the perky nipples hardened. I started to tear off her pesky clothes when she covered my hand with hers.

“I have to tell you something,” she said. “I visited your doctor.”

Oh no. Bad news.

She had leukemia or some other horrible shit. Doctors never gave good news. It wasn’t in their job description.

“Are you gonna be okay?” I asked.

She was a real trooper. That was for sure. She got shit news and yet was staying so positive. She had a fighter’s spirit and so did I. We would never give up. Never let this thing beat us.

“Don’t worry, Alex,” I said. “We’ll do whatever it takes. I’m not gonna lose you.”

She gave me a weird look. “What are you talking about?”

“Uh, I don’t know. What are you talking about?”

She dug in the purse still slung around her shoulder and pulled out a folded piece of paper. Her hands shook as she unfolded it and showed it to me. It looked like a blood test or something. Hell if I knew. I wasn’t a doctor.

I couldn’t take all the mystery.

“Give it to me straight, Alex. How bad is it?”

“Bad? I’m pregnant, Leo. We’re pregnant!”

My legs wobbled and nearly gave out. I leaned into her against the wall to keep us both upright. My heart stopped in my chest.

Once when I realized she wasn’t horribly sick.

And then again when I realized she was carrying my baby.

“That’s fucking amazing!”

“I know!” she said. “Can you believe it?”

“I’m going to be a father?”

She stared at me with smoldering eyes. “You’re gonna be my baby daddy.”

I jerked back and howled loud enough to annoy people staying on the floor below us. I was a lion building my pride.