Authors: Raven Monet
“Is he cute?”
Ania rolled her eyes and put her hand up, shaking it slightly. “I don’t know. He is a jock. They are pretty much all the same.”
“So his is cute.”
Ania was blushing for some reason. She wasn’t sure why, but a thought had entered her mind that involved him. Frankie picked up on it and started to tease her.
“Stop. It is no big deal.”
“I didn’t think your dad ever brought home the guys he was recruiting.”
“He doesn’t. He said this guy was special or something. I don’t know. You know how dad is, probably on some crusade or something.”
The two girls were out driving. Ania wasn’t old enough to drink yet, not for a couple more months, so they were forced to find something else to do besides hit one of the many clubs throughout the city. They couldn’t decide on a location, so instead they were driving around to find a place to smoke. Going to one of their favorite locations on a small bluff by Ania’s house, Frankie pulled out a bottle and smiled.
“You know I am not supposed to be drinking. I still have a couple of months to go.”
Frankie shrugged. “In Canada, you can drink at nineteen, so let’s just pretend that we are there.”
Ania didn’t agree with any of it, but she wasn’t going to argue the logic. Her nerves were on edge and she needed something to calm herself. Between work and school, she was tired and overwhelmed with life in general. After about an hour, she wasn’t worried about either thing.
The only problem was that she needed to get a ride home. They were both a bit too tipsy to be driving and she called her house, hoping that her older sister would come pick her up. It wouldn’t be the first time she had, but after three rings, she was starting to think that it was too late.
A man’s voice answered and she asked who it was. “Uh, this is Ashton.”
“Oh, Ashton.” She giggled and gave her friend a look. Both girls started to giggle and the voice on the other side asked who she was.
“This is Ania. I need you to come get us.” She spouted off where she was and how to get there before he could ask anything else. The slurring of her speech told him that she was well on her way to being drunk, but he didn’t know what to do. He should have gone and got her father, gave him the address and left it at that, but he didn’t want to get her in trouble. She was off the line and he was left holding a silent phone when her dad came in.
“Hey, who was on the phone?”
Ashton shrugged, not wanting to lie, but not wanting to be a rat either. He was in a bad situation and he knew it. “It was one of those robo-callers, something about a survey for the elections.”
Dave just shook his head. “You would think they could pick a better time to call than this late at night.”
He agreed and tried to figure something out. He couldn’t leave his daughter hanging wherever she was, so instead he asked if he knew of a cab company.
“What do you need a cab for?”
“You know training. I am on this crazy diet right now and I need some salmon. I saw a grocery store a few miles back that I was going to go grab a few things.”
“I can give you a ride if you want. It’s no trouble at all.”
“No, that’s fine. It’s getting late and I don’t want you to have to do that.”
“Well just take my truck. It’s the red one out there in the driveway. Just don’t scratch her. I am kind of partial to my truck.”
Ashton thanked him and sighed to himself. He was already way over his head and he hadn’t been there a full day yet.
***
The place that she had told him to go wasn’t supposed to be far, but he didn’t realize until he had passed the place twice, that it wasn’t a house, but some off-road path that was posted with no trespassing signs. It seemed that the whole day was going to pot and at one point, Ashton almost thought he was getting messed with when he didn’t find them right away. They were parked in the back close to a bluff overlooking that area of town.
When he got out of the car, he smelled a joint burning before he noticed anything else. Walking up to the two women, they were talking loudly and they hadn’t even seen him yet. Clearing his throat, that finally got their attention.
“Hey, Ashton. You want a hit?”
She offered the rolled green to him and he shook his head. He was on occasion drug tested, especially if one of his genius teammates were caught with some. Then the whole squad would have to be checked and it had happened several times that year already. The school’s ‘no tolerance’ policy had made testing for all things normal. If they were trying to catch those that did something, right after spring break seemed like a perfect time to him.
“No, I am good.”
“I figured you were just another dud. My father always brings home the duds. He said you were special, but you don’t seem very special to me.”
She was baiting him, it was clear and usually he would have no problem with a little pressure. But that day was not the day and she was not the girl that he wanted to look bad in front of. She was looking at him as if he was one of the goodies from the college. Ashton was far from being the good one, but he was nervous about smoking.
“Come on. I got to drive and I don’t know the way, so you have to tell me where to take your friend.”
Ania whispered something under her breath about him being a dud, but she needed to get home without being caught, so concessions had to be made. “Well, thanks for picking us up.”
She sounded slightly begrudging, but he wasn’t going to take offense. Ania looked different, her face flush and her voice breathy. One way or another, Ashton decided that he really liked her like that. When she smiled up at him as she got in the side door he opened for her, his heart stopped a little.
The two girls were loud and it took him a while to get the other girl’s address, but he finally did, getting her back safe and sound before taking Ania home. He dropped her off first before doing what he said he was going to do anyways. By the time he got back, everyone was sleeping and he was thankful that he didn’t have to explain himself anymore.
Ashton went to bed in the unfamiliar room, thinking about Ania and how much he wasn’t supposed to be thinking about her. She was his type, though a little thick for his taste, but she had an attitude that was hard to ignore and her curves were well formed and in all the right places. Ashton thought of the difference between her and his girlfriend at home. Gretchen was nothing like Ania.
Sighing to himself, he reminded himself for the umpteenth time that she was not for him. While she may be nice to look at, she was not for him. Her father was the very recruiter that would make or break his career and no girl was worth that. No matter if she was gorgeous and made his knees turn to jelly. He couldn’t take his focus off of his goal and she was unfortunately not it.
Ashton was woken up early and since he had been up late chasing after Ania, he was more than a little tired when Dave popped his head in and told him that he had to get up. The man’s bald head was the first thing that he saw and it took him a minute to realize where he was.
“Sorry Dave. I thought I had my alarm on.”
Dave waved him off. “Don’t worry. We have plenty of time, but I like to get up and get a workout in before the day starts. Figure you would as well.”
It was the very last thing that he wanted to do, but he smiled and got up anyways. “That sounds great. I will be down in a minute.”
Ashton waited for him to close the door before he got up and got dressed. He didn’t have anything to workout in but a pair of shorts from practice and figured that would be enough. It wasn’t even six o’ clock in the morning and he figured that no one would be up that early. The wife and daughter were most likely still asleep, so Ashton didn’t see it as a problem.
The house was full of small hallways and lots of different rooms. He walked down two hallways, still not finding what he was looking for, but then he finally found the small gym and he was not alone. Dave hadn’t made it there yet, but Ania’s back was to him and she was running on the treadmill. She must have figured the same thing because her attire was a pair of spandex shorts and a sports bra. It was enough to have him breathing a little heavier as he watched her ass bounce with each step. He looked behind him when he heard someone coming into the room and he immediately looked away so that Dave wouldn’t see what he was staring at so hard. It was difficult pulling his eyes from such a sight.
“Come spot me, Ashton. I need to work my arms this morning.”
Ashton agreed, turning towards him and moving towards the weight bench. It was on the other side of the home gym and it helped give him some space from Ania. He was surprised that she was up after the night she had had. When he had dropped her off before going to the store, the girl had been stumbling so much that he had to help her to the door.
He was jolted back to reality when the man reminded him what he was there for. Ashton spotted him for three sets of reps and then switched positions so that he could get some workout as well. It was just as well, his mind was able to concentrate on something else besides her when he wasn’t looking her way.
After a time, he heard her leaving and almost knocked himself out on the bar in front of him when he tried to sit up suddenly. Ashton felt his face getting red from more than the metal on his forehead. He could only hope that Ania hadn’t seen him acting like such a buffoon.
Dave thought that he just needed to get some more sleep, but either way, Ashton was happy that the workout was over. It was not at all what he thought it would be. Getting back to his room, he grabbed some fresh clothes for a meeting with the coach and assistant coaches.
He was getting out of the guest shower when the door opened and he tried in vain to cover himself. The intruder was Ania and her eyes stayed glued to his nether region for several moments. It was like she couldn’t look away and when she finally did, Ania could still see his hard member burned into her mind.
“What are you doing in here?”
“Dad was in the other shower, so I needed this one.”
She walked towards him and he stepped backward to match each one of her steps. He grabbed a towel off of the holder and wrapped it around his waist. The opening was in the front though and before long he was out and once again looking for attention. Ania smiled at him, liking how uncomfortable he was at that moment and she had a strange urge to touch him. When her hand went out to do just that, he almost leapt back as if he were to be burned.
“You can’t.”
Ania pouted and then shrugged her shoulders. “Fine. I was hoping to get some of this energy out, but I guess I will have to find another way.”
***
Ashton was thinking about Ania and the moments in the shower. He couldn’t get it out of his head. The whole ride down to the meetings with her dad, the time Ashton spent waiting for them to call him back and he was certainly thinking about her as he sat down at a long table to meet with four men that would all ultimately decide if he was going to be playing in the big leagues. It was all boy’s dream and he was no different, yet he pictured Ania lying on the long table in front of him.
He shook his head to rid himself of Ania as the man in front of him started to talk. “So Ashton, what makes you want to play in Dallas?”
He had learned a bit about the school and was actually interested in a lot of what was going on in Dallas, but it was the chance at a Super Bowl ring and all the glory he could ask for. While he had some made up answer, the truth came out and before long, he was just as relaxed as he found himself with Dave when he wasn’t checking his daughter out.
They ask some tough questions about what he was willing to play and Ashton really was up for anything. He certainly didn't care how much they played him or where they wanted him to play. As long as he got a nice contract, Ashton would play every position if that was what it was going to take. When he relayed the message to the coaches, they all laughed a little, but everyone knew that he was serious. It was still early in the year and a lot of time players wanted to wait for the best offer, but Ashton would take any good offer that came his way.
“I think you are going to be a good fit here in Dallas Ashton. Now I can’t offer you the contract yet, but it is as good as my word. I can’t think of another player that would fill the spots we need better than you. It is refreshing to see such a man like yourself, willing to bite the bullet and do more than just what you are good at. We need a player that we can use in tight spots and I have seen you play, you are good in all of them. What do you say, Ashton? Should we have a contract filled out?”
He nodded his head a little too quickly, but he was over pretending that he was not over the moon with the offer.
“So that is it?”
Ashton was still unsure that it was real. He was more than a little worried that he was going to wake up and everything would not be as it was. Maybe he was still in bed at Dave’s house in the guest bedroom. Maybe it was all a dream. He pinched himself and grimaced. If it was a dream, it was a painful one.
“Well, that’s pretty much it. You will meet the team tomorrow night for a dinner we are having. Just be yourself and I am sure you will fit in here just fine.”
Ashton stood up and smiled. “Thank you, Sir, you don’t know what this means to me.” He shook hands with all of the decision makers and was practically vibrating with glee on his way out. Dave just shook his head but enjoyed his job all the more. There were many good players that were jerks off the field, but then there were some that he liked to help. His life would never be the same because of him and in that moment, it was a good feeling for Dave. He knew the kind of package that he was going to get and it was enough to change his life forever. Nothing would ever be the same for Ashton again.