Dirty Baller: A Secret Baby Sports Romance Read Online Free Page B

going to hate me, I want it to be for how bloody good I am out here, in my element.
    I’ll show them all who I really am. I’m more than a party boy with a bad temper.
    I’m Ryan fucking Mackenzie.

CHAPTER FIVE
    HAYLEY
    I’m late.
    Like, really, really late.
    Ryan, of course, left me before I woke up. I kind of don’t blame him.
    I mean, it’s not like this was meant to be anything more than a one-night stand. I stand up and stretch, feeling the soreness between my legs.
    And that was one hell of a one-night stand. I stumble out of the room with my clothes clutched to my chest.
    Just my luck; the cleaning crew is on this hallway. One of the maids nods a hello at me. I can tell she’s hiding the judgment in her eyes, but only barely. I slip as quickly as I can into my room and double-check the clock.
    Yep. I’m two hours behind. No breakfast for me.
    I take a taxi out to Hounslow; it’s almost two hundred dollars. I’ll expense it, but I know that Sandra won’t be happy about it. The Tube would put me even further behind; the good news is that a lot of the rush hour traffic has cleared out. I slip the driver an extra twenty pound note and tell him to drive faster.
    We pull up next to the pitch and I stumble out of the taxi onto the grassy median, pushing open the chain link gate and walking up the steps of the old wooden clubhouse. The players are out on the pitch sweating like it’s a hundred degrees out here.
    I guess the English aren’t used to sunshine. This would be light jacket weather in most of the United States. I open the door and step inside. I feel suddenly like I’m back at my grandfather’s house. Wood paneling lines the walls and neon beer signs glare at me.
    “Mr. Maier?” I ask the man sitting at the table.
    He stands up to shake my hand. “Call me Ivan. You must be Ms. Childs. Pleasure to meet you!”
    “I’m so sorry I’m late,” I say hurriedly.
    He waves away my apology. “The players had a long, long warmup today to welcome the new recruit.” He pauses at the confusion in my eyes. “We have a new player who just joined the team today, so everything is a little up in the air.” He runs a hand through his thinning hair. “Unfortunate that you’ll be documenting our team when we’re not at our best, but never mind. This is how things work out.” He holds the door open for me. “Practice is nearly over and I was just about to speak to the team. After you, madame.”
    I walk back down the stairs and wait for Ivan. He steps around me and through a set of red metal doors on the bottom floor. I walk into the space and gasp. This is the locker room. “Are you sure I should be in-“
    Ivan laughs. “You have the run of this place. Go wherever you need to. You need to get a good story, don’t you?”
    I gape at him. “I guess-“
    The doors burst open and soon my body is buffeted by nearly two dozen sweaty, muscular British men.
    I suddenly feel a little faint, and it’s not from the sudden increase in temperature. I stare at the ceiling as the guys start to strip down to nothing.
    Ivan yells. “Alright, boys, listen up. We’ve got a new guest here for the next few weeks. Ms. Hayley Childs from the United States. She’s writing a piece for her magazine about British football.”
    I feel all eyes on me. I’m the only woman here, of course, and I’m being looked at like I’m a piece of raw meat and the team is a pack of coyotes.
    “Hello,” I say nervously.
    “Where’s the new meat?” Ivan asks, and I suddenly wonder if he just read my mind.
    “We left him out to pick up all the balls and cones,” a tall, ripped guy says from a few feet away. “Thought we’d teach him a lesson.”
    Everyone laughs.
    “Alright, settle down and get changed. I’ll go get him. Poor sod,” Ivan mutters as he walks through the doors to my right.
    And on that note, I’m all alone with all of these men. One of them walks over to me. He’s blonde and wiry.
    “Terence Jones,” he says,