Kicked Read Online Free Page A

But instead of freezing, heat grew in the pit of my stomach.
    Trent pulled out the empty chair beside me and sat down. He was smaller without pads, but still a large man. His thigh touched the side of mine, and I shrank away despite the pleasant warmth.
    Landon glanced at me and then back to Trent. “Who’s this guy?” His mouth turned down in a glower. “Wait, is this—”
    “Trent Carrington.” He held his hand out across the table.
    Landon’s eyes narrowed and he avoided Trent’s proffered hand. “What do you want?”
    Landon knew all about what happened freshman year. He’d pulled every detail from me one night after I’d had a few too many shots at a campus party.
    “I overheard your conversation and thought I might be able to add some information.” Trent withdrew his hand. He wore a gray long-sleeved t-shirt and jeans. He must have just showered because a clean, woodsy scent drifted around me.
    Landon pushed his chair onto its back two legs, balancing while he studied Trent with a critical eye. “What do you think you have to offer?”
    Trent turned to me, a sparkle in his light green eyes. My heart hammered against my ribs, and I forced myself not to fidget. Jesus, he was still just as beautiful as he was back then, maybe more so. The sun had graced him with a warm tan, and his dark hair tickled his ears. I remembered it was soft and shone a gorgeous chocolate in the sun. Without the bright stadium lights and the eye black, he was only the most handsome man I’d ever seen. No big deal.
    He smiled, and my eyes were drawn to his lips. Memories of a stolen kiss danced around in my mind, but I closed the door on them. Trent wasn’t the man he pretended to be. He was much, much worse.
     

 
    CHAPTER FOUR
     
    T RENT
     
     
     
    I UNDERSTOOD THE DISTRUST in her amber eyes. But the way she pulled away from my touch left me scalded.
    “Talk, man.” Her friend, Landon, smirked at me.
    I cleared my throat. “I was just saying that first-string kickers get full scholarships.”
    She chewed her bottom lip. “I know.”
    “What do you mean ‘I know’?” Landon dropped his chair onto all fours with a clack and leaned across the table toward her. “Full scholarship? You didn’t tell me that. You need this, Cordy. Go for it.”
    “But soccer—”
    “Fuck soccer. Try for first-string.” Landon opened his palm.
    She reached out and lay her small hand in his. Something rumbled deep in my heart, and I had the urge to knock his hand away. I knew all about him, his many conquests, and his constant need to be close to Cordy. He may have had her fooled, but I wasn’t buying the “just friends” routine.
    Instead of starting something that would end with Landon in a heap on the floor, I slung my arm over the back of her chair.
    He gave me an acid look and turned back to Cordy. “You need to try for it at least. You could get your tuition paid for the rest of the year and next year, too, if you stayed on.”
    “They aren’t going to let a girl be first-string.” She shook her head, her long brown hair tickling the back of my hand. “Especially not after what happened yesterday.”
    I took in her scent, sweet and warm. Keeping my hand out of her hair was taking an effort. I leaned closer. “You don’t know that. I saw what you did yesterday. You have enough leg to get the ball between the uprights from thirty yards out. You just set up wrong and didn’t get enough lift.”
    She glanced at me and pulled her hand away from Landon. I had to stow my goofy smile and the juvenile feeling of triumph that bloomed inside me.
    Tucking her hair behind her ear, she frowned down at the table. “You saw what happened. It bounced off my own player . The defenders didn’t have to do anything other than stand there. I sank the whole thing myself. Besides, I can’t kick a fifty-yard field goal, or even a forty-yarder, most likely. They won’t let me be first-string if I can’t make distance kicks.”
    She finally