Read Online Tackled by the King: A Bad Boy Sports Romance by Christina Clark - Free Book Online
Authors: Christina Clark
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My gut was churning just from the thought of it. I clung onto Dad's arm with both hands, hugging him as tightly as I could.
“Don't you worry, Carrie. I'm not going nowhere,” said Dad softly, planting a kiss on my forehead. “I'll always be with you. I promise.”
I bounced off my study stable, waking up with a start.
My hands were still stretched out over the keyboard, and some paper was caught on my face, stuck to the damp tear tracks. I yawned, doing some claw stretches to get rid of the numbing jolts shooting up and down my fingers.
When I peeled the paper off my face to get a groggy look at it, my stomach dropped. It was Jackson's hospital bill. I gawked at the total printed across the bottom of the page in block letters with blurring vision – $4,967.
A defeated howl ripped out of my throat, the only noise to penetrate the unmoving stillness of my bedroom.
I was still working on the $1,252 balance left from Jackson's hospital bill 2 months ago. My mind flashed to Jackson's helpless, bloated face, his ruddy cheeks completely devoid of color. The image from yesterday morning was still so fresh in my mind. All the tubes jammed up his nostrils and into his arm, and his tiny body on the hospital bed made him look so fragile. While Jackson slept, he hugged his new toy close to him, the dinosaur rising and falling with his chest.
Taking a deep breath, I dabbed at my eyes with one of the crumpled tissues on my table. I turned back to my laptop and shook my mouse, rousing it from its humming slumber. A Word document appeared on the screen, bearing the title of the article, “10 Reasons To Try Viagra Today.” The rest of the page was blank.
In an effort to rake in as much extra income as possible, I was taking up any freelance writing job I could find on the internet. The work was almost always tedious and a grave insult to my writing abilities, but I never declined an offer. At this point, I was in no position to turn anything away for something as petty as my dignity.
As I cracked my knuckles and prepared to get back to work, my phone started dancing across my table.
“Hello?” My voice was still raspy from sleep.
“ Oh my God, Carrie. You – you'll never guess what just happened – ”
“What's going on?” I wrapped my fingers around the edge of my desk. “Is Jackson okay?”
“ Yes, he's fine – he just had lunch, and now he's taking another nap. If all goes well, he'll be discharged on Wednesday, just as planned.”
“Good –”
“ Kingsley Kelly was just here, and he just paid Jackson's bill in full ,” Jamie blurted. The pitch of her voice was escalating with every word. “ And guess what, he paid off the rest of the balance for Jackson's last bill, too. Can you believe it?! ”
“Wait, what?” My heart skipped, but an explosion of warmth unfurled in my chest. “I don't – I don't understand –”
“I don't know why he did it, either. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it myself. But he did tell me not to post anything about it online, which is weird, but I guess I can't – wait, hold on. Yeah? Okay, I gotta go, Dr. Wang needs to see me right now. Talk to you later. ”
“Wait, but –”
Two beeps sounded in my ear, signaling the end of the call.
Chapter Nine: Kingsley
“I'm whoopin' your ass like a little bitch!” I leaned forward with my Xbox controller in my hands. I thunder-burped as I leaned closer to the TV, mashing my favorite combo buttons. “Hadouken, motherfucker!”
“Ah, son of a bitch.”
Dhalsim toppled back to the ground. The fiery letters, “K.O.,” flashed across the screen as Ryu held up his fist in victory. Louie groaned like the sore loser that he was. He tossed his controller aside, hitting Odell on the side of the head.
I grabbed my beer on the coffee table, chugging back the rest before crushing the can in my fist.
“Watch it, boy, or I'ma knock you out for real,” Odel snapped at Louie, rubbing the side of his head.
“Not
“Don't you worry, Carrie. I'm not going nowhere,” said Dad softly, planting a kiss on my forehead. “I'll always be with you. I promise.”
I bounced off my study stable, waking up with a start.
My hands were still stretched out over the keyboard, and some paper was caught on my face, stuck to the damp tear tracks. I yawned, doing some claw stretches to get rid of the numbing jolts shooting up and down my fingers.
When I peeled the paper off my face to get a groggy look at it, my stomach dropped. It was Jackson's hospital bill. I gawked at the total printed across the bottom of the page in block letters with blurring vision – $4,967.
A defeated howl ripped out of my throat, the only noise to penetrate the unmoving stillness of my bedroom.
I was still working on the $1,252 balance left from Jackson's hospital bill 2 months ago. My mind flashed to Jackson's helpless, bloated face, his ruddy cheeks completely devoid of color. The image from yesterday morning was still so fresh in my mind. All the tubes jammed up his nostrils and into his arm, and his tiny body on the hospital bed made him look so fragile. While Jackson slept, he hugged his new toy close to him, the dinosaur rising and falling with his chest.
Taking a deep breath, I dabbed at my eyes with one of the crumpled tissues on my table. I turned back to my laptop and shook my mouse, rousing it from its humming slumber. A Word document appeared on the screen, bearing the title of the article, “10 Reasons To Try Viagra Today.” The rest of the page was blank.
In an effort to rake in as much extra income as possible, I was taking up any freelance writing job I could find on the internet. The work was almost always tedious and a grave insult to my writing abilities, but I never declined an offer. At this point, I was in no position to turn anything away for something as petty as my dignity.
As I cracked my knuckles and prepared to get back to work, my phone started dancing across my table.
“Hello?” My voice was still raspy from sleep.
“ Oh my God, Carrie. You – you'll never guess what just happened – ”
“What's going on?” I wrapped my fingers around the edge of my desk. “Is Jackson okay?”
“ Yes, he's fine – he just had lunch, and now he's taking another nap. If all goes well, he'll be discharged on Wednesday, just as planned.”
“Good –”
“ Kingsley Kelly was just here, and he just paid Jackson's bill in full ,” Jamie blurted. The pitch of her voice was escalating with every word. “ And guess what, he paid off the rest of the balance for Jackson's last bill, too. Can you believe it?! ”
“Wait, what?” My heart skipped, but an explosion of warmth unfurled in my chest. “I don't – I don't understand –”
“I don't know why he did it, either. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it myself. But he did tell me not to post anything about it online, which is weird, but I guess I can't – wait, hold on. Yeah? Okay, I gotta go, Dr. Wang needs to see me right now. Talk to you later. ”
“Wait, but –”
Two beeps sounded in my ear, signaling the end of the call.
Chapter Nine: Kingsley
“I'm whoopin' your ass like a little bitch!” I leaned forward with my Xbox controller in my hands. I thunder-burped as I leaned closer to the TV, mashing my favorite combo buttons. “Hadouken, motherfucker!”
“Ah, son of a bitch.”
Dhalsim toppled back to the ground. The fiery letters, “K.O.,” flashed across the screen as Ryu held up his fist in victory. Louie groaned like the sore loser that he was. He tossed his controller aside, hitting Odell on the side of the head.
I grabbed my beer on the coffee table, chugging back the rest before crushing the can in my fist.
“Watch it, boy, or I'ma knock you out for real,” Odel snapped at Louie, rubbing the side of his head.
“Not
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