Kicked: A Bad Boy Sports Romance Read Online Free Page A

she'd be happy to see me, but probably not.
    I continued running, knowing Coach would probably kill my ass if he knew how much overtime I was putting in. The thing was, I wasn't running for the exercise. Right then, I was running from the memories of a little redheaded girl, from her smile, from the way she put her arms around me at four years old like she could take the pain away.
    “Shit,” I said, coming to an abrupt stop and letting my body slam into the trunk of a tree. For four years, I ran away from her memory like it was poisoned, forced myself to put Teagan out of my mind. You're a fucking coward, man, I told myself as I stood up and ran my fingers through my hair.
    I had to go see her. I had to. I had a fucking game on Saturday and I wasn't going to let some ghost from my past mess up everything that I'd worked for. I started running again in the opposite direction, back towards Teagan, pretending with each footstep I took that I wasn't a coward, that I deserved all of this.
    Until a few days ago, I still believed that.

    I didn't think I'd ever run as fast as I did on my way to Teagan's apartment, flying up the steps and pounding on the front door like I had a personal vendetta to settle. Hell, in that moment, it sure as fuck felt like I did.
    I was mad, even though I shouldn't have been. Every molecule in my body vibrated with suppressed anger and frustration, disappointment and fear, none of it aimed at her. Years of holding it back were catching up on me all at once and I prayed as I waited there that Teagan wouldn't come to the door. If she did, I knew all of this bottled rage would find a purchase in her.
    The front door was painted a cheerful yellow, the perfect match to the leaves that littered the ground at my feet. I waited, tilting my head back and doing my best to suck in deep breaths as I listened for movement inside the apartment. When I dropped my head back down, I noticed the curtains to my right fluttering.
    Lifting my fist, I slammed it into the wood several more times before I heard the click of a lock.
    “What the hell?” Teagan asked, sounding more like her old self. She was a firecracker, a wild card, the girl who dragged me out of school to swim in the river naked, but the woman I ran into in the park was quiet, more reserved.
    Good.
    I wanted to hash this out with someone who would scream, yell, fight with me.
    I pushed the door open and Teagan stumbled back, looking shocked, her red hair straight and perfect around her shoulders. Her eyes were ringed in dark liner and her makeup was flawless. Fuck. She'd changed so much since I'd left, really grown into her looks. I was having a hard time looking away.
    “Going out somewhere?” I asked, sounding like an asshole. We both knew in the back of our minds that we had a history, that once upon a time we'd meant something to each other. But those days were long gone and right now, I was just some strange dude shoving his way into her apartment. I knew I was making so many mistakes, handling this situation in the worst way possible, but I couldn't stop myself. When I didn't know what to do, I deflected to what I knew best. Sarcasm, anger, flirtation. Those were the three things that had gotten me through the last four years.
    “What are you doing here?” Teagan asked, reaching up and pulling her ruby red hair over one shoulder. She looked so out of place in that sterile apartment, like an ember plucked from a fire and dropped in a bucket of ashes. I stared back at her, at those eyes that had always captivated me. If I'd let myself once upon a time, I would've made her mine. Instead, I ran away.
    I took a deep breath and shoved my hands in the pockets of my black sweatpants, looking her five foot two frame over from head to toe. She was dressed in these raggedy old jeans and a plain purple top, but she couldn't have looked anymore beautiful. Her body was curved in all the right places, generously full in the chest, ripe in the hips.
    “What