Denying The Bad Boy (Tattooed and Pierced #2) (3 page)

Oh, she had known who he was as soon as she looked
into his hazel eyes, saw that they were more green than brown, and forced
herself
to not act like a hormonal teenager. Okay, so she
may only be twenty-one, but being that close to him, smelling that spicy,
expensive cologne he wore, and thinking about all the times she saw him but he
had clearly not seen her, made her realize she needed to control herself. He
was gorgeous and had a hard, muscular body that made her feel wholly feminine,
but he was so not her type. For one thing he slept with far too many girls,
probably didn’t know half their names, and she considered him a bad boy in the
worst kind of way. Just thinking about the time she had seen him coming in from
football practice in nothing but a pair of loose fitting shorts had her body
heating all over again. He had been sweaty and slightly red from running or
tackling perhaps, but his body was hard and defined, corded and tensed, and the
tattoo that started on his left bicep and covered his entire back in swirling
dark patterns had instantly made her wet.

Then some busty blonde had bounced up to him, her
boobs barely restrained in her workout clothes, giggling and muttering things
far too quiet for Mary to hear, and that had been the end of that. Alex had
wrapped his arm around her waist, and the two of them had disappeared in the
locker room. Of course he hadn’t even noticed Mary standing there watching him
like a freak, and that was okay because she didn’t need a guy like Alex
Sheppard in her life. He was too dangerous and experienced for her, and
besides, there was no doubt he would break her heart, whether it was
intentional or not. Mary could see herself falling for him easily.

Tutoring on the side had given Mary an opportunity
to earn her own money and meet a plethora of interesting individuals. Despite
her family being wealthy, Mary wanted to do things by herself, to support
herself. She took out student loans to pay for her schooling, and bought her own
food and other supplies she needed to survive. When she wasn’t tutoring she
worked a few hours on the weekends at a coffee shop right off campus property.
She was exhausted the majority of the time, but it was a hell of a lot better
than depending on her parents to fund her way.

Her family came from old money, or so her mother
liked to call it, and because of that there had always been a stuffy,
aristocratic vibe to them and the way they had lived. But then again Mary was
adopted, had been with the Trellis family since she was two years old, but had
never felt like she really fit in. Her parents, Stephen and Marsha Trellis, had
showed her affection when the situation called for it, but Mary never felt the
love a daughter felt when around her parents. Her mother and father had always
treated her like she was part of their family, but there was no denying Mary
was nothing like them. She had felt that way ever since she could remember.
Then there was her older sister, Margo, who was the most self-centered person
Mary had ever come across.

When they were younger Margo liked to snub Mary,
making her feel more like a thorn in her side than her sister. Maybe it was
also the fact Mary looked nothing like her family. Where she had dark hair and
blue eyes, all of the Trellises had blond hair and green eyes. If looking in
the mirror every day hadn’t solidified the fact she was so out of place,
hearing Margo’s twelve year old voice tell her she was clearly not a “Golden
Trellis” had made it abundantly clear that she would never fit in. Of course,
her mother had told her every night that she loved her, and that she was part
of their family whenever Mary brought it up. Maybe it was just the years of her
questioning her self-worth, Margo’s hurtful words, of the murmurs behind cupped
hands whenever she went to a social function that had her feeling that way? The
years had gone by though. Margo no longer said those things to her, but there
would always be a part of Mary that never felt like she belonged.

She took a left, and then a right until the small
single story house she shared with her roommate came into view. She pulled into
the driveway right beside Darcy’s faded blue Corolla. Turning off the car and
sitting there for a moment. Mary let the sound of the engine cooling fill the
interior. The BMW had been a high school graduation gift from her parents, and
although she hadn’t really wanted it, and knew them giving it to her had been
more due to the fact they wanted to look good, Mary also knew she needed
transportation. So, she had smiled and thanked them, but hated every minute
driving around in the thing. It made her feel like a fake and fraud, and she
wasn’t quite sure why that was. So, Mary made sure to send them payments for
the car and insurance, and ignored their complaints when they received her
check. It made her feel better knowing she could stand on her own two feet,
because there would be a time when her parents wouldn’t be here, and if she was
dependent on them where would she be then? Margo took everything their parents
gave her, and Mary knew when the time came when her sister was alone, she would
drown.

Mary grabbed her purse off the passenger seat, got
out of the car, and headed toward the front door. There weren’t any lights on,
but then again it was midnight. She normally didn’t tutor this late, but Adam
was having a difficult time understanding the dynamics of economics. Mary had a
feeling he hadn’t been paying attention either, not when his eyes had been
trained on her breasts instead of the textbook.

Oh well, if he didn’t want to focus on what he was
paying her for that wasn’t her problem. She unlocked the door and pushed it
open, and immediately was assaulted by the loud, sexually explicit sounds of
Darcy having sex. Mary rolled her eyes and went into the kitchen for water.
Leaning against the counter and bringing the glass to her lips, she turned her
head to the side and listened with astonishment as the sound of a headboard
banging against the wall resounded in the silence. After only a few seconds of that
racket all was quiet again. Mary finished her water, and just as she was about
to head to her room a very naked Darcy and her current guest for the evening,
Dane she thought his name was, came walking into the kitchen. The lights were
still off, but there was enough of a glow from Darcy’s bedroom light that Mary saw
everything.

Darcy stopped when she saw Mary standing there,
which in turn had the guy slamming into her back.

“Shit, Mary.” Darcy placed a hand over her heart.
“You scared the hell out of me. What are you doing creeping around in the dark?
Did you just get in?” The nude couple didn’t seem to be the least bit
self-conscious over their body parts just hanging out in the open since they
moved further into the kitchen. Dane opened the fridge and bent at the waist.
Talk about an unattractive picture, even if he did have a nice body. She
quickly averted her eyes and looked back at Darcy. Her roommate had started
walking over to the fridge, and Mary decided now was a good time to get the
hell out of there.

“Just got home from tutoring, and I’m beat. I’ll see
you in the morning.”

“Yeah, all right.”

She quickly headed down the hall to her room, and
when the door was firmly shut behind her she breathed out. God, she so needed
her own place, but of course she couldn’t afford that on her own, and even if
Darcy had a lot of sex, she was good company. There were far too many times she
had either walked in on a lot of flesh jiggling around as Darcy screwed her
boyfriend of the week, or heard the sound of their almost animalistic sex, or
seen enough wieners in her house to give her nightmares. She supposed it was
just one of the hazards of having a roommate that liked to get it on … a lot.

Getting undressed and changing into a t-shirt, Mary
climbed in bed and closed her eyes. She was tired, but of course the blissful
peace of sleep didn’t come right away. Instead the image of Alex Sheppard
slammed into her brain. Even now she could swear she smelled Alex. It was a
darkly intense aroma that had her heart racing and her toes curling. She was
insane, certifiably so, because there was no way anything would ever come
between them. Well, maybe a one-night stand, but that wasn’t Mary’s style, and
anything long term certainly wasn’t Alex’s calling card.

Oh, who was she kidding to even play with an idea
like that? Forcing everything that was Alex out of her head, she made herself
relax and finally felt herself drift to sleep.

****

“Sheppard, I want to talk to you.”
Coach Marx called out from across the
field. Alex tipped his chin in acknowledgment and walked over to the bench to
grab one of the towels sitting in a stack on the metal seat. He took off his
jersey and equipment and wiped the sweat from his face and chest. Then he
tossed the small strip of cloth over his shoulder and headed to where Coach
stood talking with a few of his teammates.

“Damn,
Sheppard,
even hung
over like a motherfucker you played like a beast.” Harley, one of the
linebackers and a mean asshole on the field, slapped Alex on the back and made
his way with the other players to the locker room.

“You wanted to talk to me?” He stopped in front of
Coach Marx and breathed out roughly, trying to calm his respirations from the
grueling exercises.

“You came to practice hung over again.” It wasn’t a
question. Coach didn’t want any of the players to drink, because he said it
polluted their bodies and made them sluggish on the field the next day, but he
couldn’t stop them from having a good time, and they just had to deal with the
shitty feeling the next day. Alex knew in order to succeed in this sport, this
career, he needed to kept to a strict regime and diet, but the truth was that
as much as Alex loved playing football it obviously wasn’t in his heart if he
couldn’t just stop the fucking partying and focus.

“Yeah, sorry about that.”
Alex
didn’t offer any more of an explanation. He respected the hell out of Coach
Marx, but even nauseous like a bitch after drinking all night he kicked ass on
the field. “I mean, we still played good today.” It hadn’t just been Alex that
was hung over. There had been a handful of other players that had dragged their
sorry asses out of bed and busted their balls in practice.

Coach ran his hand over his buzzed dark hair. Alex
knew something was wrong for him to look almost hesitant. “Listen, I’ve seen
that you’re slacking in your studies, and have fallen under the grade point
average that is required for you to play with the team.”

Shit.

Alex knew he was slacking in some of his classes, but
the last time he checked he was passing them all, at least he thought he was.
Clearly he had been wrong. Although this was his fourth and final year at OSU
before he could graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Sports Therapy, he had
only been thinking about exactly that: this was his final year. He hadn’t even
realized he had been fucking up so much that he was now at risk of getting
kicked off of the team. “Shit.”

“Listen, this is totally out of my hands. You know
the rules the university requires for all players, and the fact you need to
keep your grade point average at an optimal level in order to stay on the
team.” Coach started pacing in front of him. “Alex, I have to put you on
probation until you bring your average up.”

Anger built deep inside of Alex even though this was
totally his doing.

“Are you fucking serious?” His voice was raised, but
Coach didn’t even blink at his outburst. “You want to put me on probation?”
Alex was now the one pacing. Football had been his life for as long as he could
remember, and in one fucking semester he had fucked it all up. Yeah, he had
read the rules which he had to follow if he wanted to stay on the team, but
fuck he hadn’t actually thought this would happen. “How the fuck did this
happen?” It was an empty question, more for himself than anything else, but he
said it regardless.

“Alex, this isn’t anyone’s doing but yours. You know
how strict the University is about this, and it pains me to have to suspend you
seeing as you’re one hell of a player, but my hands are tied on this. All I can
say is get your average up at midterms, and then when that happens I’ll throw
you back in the games. Go talk to the academic advisor and see what you need to
do, and maybe get someone to tutor your ass so you can get your grade point
average up.” Coach slapped him on the back and walked away, cutting off any
further conversation, and not bothering to hide his disappointment. Fuck, he
was disappointed in himself.

Well,
motherfucking shit.

****

“What time are you coming in?” Mary held her cell
phone between her shoulder and ear and adjusted her shoulder bag. She kept her
exasperated sigh to herself at hearing Margo’s clipped words. Her sister’s
normally snotty attitude was to the nth degree with her upcoming wedding.

“Margo, that’s like a month away.” Her sister didn’t
bother hiding her frustrated sigh.

“Listen, I am trying to plan when the bridesmaids
are coming, and I need you tell me if you’ll be here any earlier. It isn’t like
you have anything else to do that weekend, or any weekend for that matter.”
Bitch
. “Mom’s having dinner Friday
night, so I know you’ll be there, but are you coming up any earlier?”

Mary gritted her teeth, biting back a smart-assed
retort.
Just one more month of
Bridezilla
and all of this will be done.