Read Online Quarterback's Surprise Baby (Bad Boy Ballers Book 2) by Imani King - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Imani King
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possible for you.”
“You didn't ruin anything.” We turn to each other and I take her in my arms. “Not at all. I don’t know why, but I started thinking about my past.”
She looks doubtful. “You want to talk about it?” she asks, her nose scrunching up. I give her a kiss. “Off the record, of course.”
“I dunno,” I say. “Is there anything to talk about?” I scratch my head. “I've made some poor choices in my life, but it's not surprising considering where I came from.”
“Where did you come from?” she asks, laying her head on my chest. Her nails run up and down my back, sending tingles through my body.
“Is that something that you really want to know?”
“If you want to tell me.” She pulls away for a second and looks up at me, her big doe eyes so soft and beautiful.
And I guess I do, because I find myself talking. Telling her about growing up in the trailer park, my mom was a mess and my dad even worse, until she shot him for cheating on her. Shot him dead and went to jail. How I was so skinny, because even when we did have food in the cupboards, I was too anxious to eat. I’d just hide food in my room, even though I never did get around to eating it. My stomach was always too upset. How they moved me into the foster system and my foster dad beat me. How I had to fight to get anything I could in that home, how my foster sister was even worse off, but kept a smile on her face. How I didn't fit in with all the rich kids at my high school. How they treated me like a second-class citizen until I worked out and got big and muscular, and made their football team a national sensation. How I made the first real friends of my life in Brooks U, and belonged somewhere real for the first time. How all my friends, Kaden, Mack, Jackson, Brando and all the rest of the gang got picked up to different teams, and I lost my crew. Sure, we're still friends and we see each other on the field every now and then when our teams compete, but it doesn't mean we still can have each other's backs in the same way we once did. We weren’t just a team, but a real gang of friends, not like in the pros.
I miss those guys. In fact, this is the first time I’ve really been able to let go and open myself up to someone since I had them in my life. Guy friends who didn’t need anything from me but friendship, and who would be there for me.
And I guess that's what left me vulnerable to a girl like Sabrina. She seemed to know sports, and she said all the right things at the right times, until she also said things to get me into more trouble than I've ever been in my life. She wanted my money, and if she couldn't marry me, the second best way to get it was to sue me.
Odell listens quietly to the words pouring out of me until they finally slow and come to a halt.
“Look,” she says finally, lightly running her hand up and down my arm. “I get some of the things you're dealing with. I do.” She clears her throat, and then her voice vibrates in a soft purr against my chest. “Not everything, for sure, but I can empathize. Life hasn't been a walk in the park for me either. I know just how shitty people can be. But I haven’t gone through the same things as you, and I can't imagine what a lot of those things were like. In my case, my parents were upper class, and they wanted the most for me. But that didn't mean that they supported me in any way other than with their financial means. They just wanted me to be the best in whatever I was doing, and if I wasn't, then I wasn't one of them. I was ostracized. Not a proper “Williams.” And when I did succeed, it was all just to be expected and they took no notice. So I didn't have much of a home life at all. I was raised by nannies, and you were raised by foster parents. I'm not saying my life was anywhere as hard as yours has been, I’m just saying that we're not as different as we might seem, you and I.”
“So you became a lawyer like I became a football player.” I
“You didn't ruin anything.” We turn to each other and I take her in my arms. “Not at all. I don’t know why, but I started thinking about my past.”
She looks doubtful. “You want to talk about it?” she asks, her nose scrunching up. I give her a kiss. “Off the record, of course.”
“I dunno,” I say. “Is there anything to talk about?” I scratch my head. “I've made some poor choices in my life, but it's not surprising considering where I came from.”
“Where did you come from?” she asks, laying her head on my chest. Her nails run up and down my back, sending tingles through my body.
“Is that something that you really want to know?”
“If you want to tell me.” She pulls away for a second and looks up at me, her big doe eyes so soft and beautiful.
And I guess I do, because I find myself talking. Telling her about growing up in the trailer park, my mom was a mess and my dad even worse, until she shot him for cheating on her. Shot him dead and went to jail. How I was so skinny, because even when we did have food in the cupboards, I was too anxious to eat. I’d just hide food in my room, even though I never did get around to eating it. My stomach was always too upset. How they moved me into the foster system and my foster dad beat me. How I had to fight to get anything I could in that home, how my foster sister was even worse off, but kept a smile on her face. How I didn't fit in with all the rich kids at my high school. How they treated me like a second-class citizen until I worked out and got big and muscular, and made their football team a national sensation. How I made the first real friends of my life in Brooks U, and belonged somewhere real for the first time. How all my friends, Kaden, Mack, Jackson, Brando and all the rest of the gang got picked up to different teams, and I lost my crew. Sure, we're still friends and we see each other on the field every now and then when our teams compete, but it doesn't mean we still can have each other's backs in the same way we once did. We weren’t just a team, but a real gang of friends, not like in the pros.
I miss those guys. In fact, this is the first time I’ve really been able to let go and open myself up to someone since I had them in my life. Guy friends who didn’t need anything from me but friendship, and who would be there for me.
And I guess that's what left me vulnerable to a girl like Sabrina. She seemed to know sports, and she said all the right things at the right times, until she also said things to get me into more trouble than I've ever been in my life. She wanted my money, and if she couldn't marry me, the second best way to get it was to sue me.
Odell listens quietly to the words pouring out of me until they finally slow and come to a halt.
“Look,” she says finally, lightly running her hand up and down my arm. “I get some of the things you're dealing with. I do.” She clears her throat, and then her voice vibrates in a soft purr against my chest. “Not everything, for sure, but I can empathize. Life hasn't been a walk in the park for me either. I know just how shitty people can be. But I haven’t gone through the same things as you, and I can't imagine what a lot of those things were like. In my case, my parents were upper class, and they wanted the most for me. But that didn't mean that they supported me in any way other than with their financial means. They just wanted me to be the best in whatever I was doing, and if I wasn't, then I wasn't one of them. I was ostracized. Not a proper “Williams.” And when I did succeed, it was all just to be expected and they took no notice. So I didn't have much of a home life at all. I was raised by nannies, and you were raised by foster parents. I'm not saying my life was anywhere as hard as yours has been, I’m just saying that we're not as different as we might seem, you and I.”
“So you became a lawyer like I became a football player.” I
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