Fourth Down and Dirty: A Bad Boy Sports Romance by Kristen Flowers Page A

far I had gotten.

 
    Did I actually
want to impress Landon Bryce?

 
 
 
 
 

I didn’t know what
had gotten into me, but I was done with the confusion and waiting around. I
needed to actually do something. My answer to that was to hop in my car and
zoom off to the Tutoring Center, obnoxiously double-parking just like I did the
first time I stormed into there. This time however I had completely different
intentions. I knew it was Ivy's day off, but there was something I needed to do
that I could only do there. I walked in and was glad to see Stella sitting at
her desk, thankfully not with a student.

 
    Stella looked up
from what she was doing and gave me a smile. I smiled as she motioned me over.

 
      “Ivy’s off today,” she chirped.

 
    “I know,” I responded,
taking a seat next to her. She looked at me curiously.

 
    “Umm okay. So
what’s up, Mr. Bryce?”

 
    “I need Ivy's
address,” I said, cutting right to the chase.

 
    Stella jerked her
head back and crossed her arms. She looked at me, clearly sizing me up before
cautioning, “She lives with her mom, you know.”

 
    “I know, but I’m
glad to know how easily you’re telling me her whole life story,” I joked.

 
    Stella chuckled.
“Like it’s not something you didn’t already know!” She pulled out a notepad and
scribbled Ivy’s address down, ripping the paper off and handing it to me.
“There, now you can leave me alone.” She grinned.

 
    “What kind of
friend just gives out addresses like this? I could be an axe murderer or
something.”

 
    Stella rolled her
eyes, " Please , you don't want to
kill her.” She leaned in with a smirk, “You want to fuck her and trust me, she
needs to be fucked."

 
    I stared at her in
shock. As much as the two of us had joked around I wouldn’t have expected her
to be so direct with me—even with her outspoken and bubbly personality. I
wondered just how much she knew, but now wasn’t the time to ask, much less the
place to have that sort of conversation. I swiped the paper off the desk and
stuffed it in my pocket.

 
    “Thanks,” I
mumbled before practically jogging out of the Tutoring Center. It was probably
for the best now not to address the last thing she said. I could still hear her
laughing as the doors of the center closed behind me.

 
    Emboldened, I got
into my car and drove to the address. It was close to campus so it didn’t take
long. I was on the opposite side of the street so I pulled in behind a car and
turned to look at her house. I wanted to get out of my car, walk over there,
and ring the doorbell but then something caught my eye. An older woman was in the
front yard, gardening. I narrowed my eyes and shielded the sunlight with my
hand on my forehead. The woman looked happy, but looked to be moving slowly
with pain. I figured it was Ivy’s mother. For some reason I immediately got
cold feet. I wasn’t ready to march up there and talk to the woman. I didn’t
want to try and explain who I was.

 
    I sat back in my
seat and continued to glance at Ivy’s mother as I tried to figure out what to
do next. I really wanted to see Ivy now. I watched as she dug into the soil of
a potted plant. Ivy really must have been a strong woman to be able to take
care of her mother and go to school. Not to mention, she worked at the tutoring
center with what little free time she had.

 
    Slowly, all the
pieces started to come together in my head.

 
    I went around in
my fancy car and touted my status. I lived without a care in the world and
whenever I had to put actual effort in to school I got pissed off. Meanwhile,
there was someone like Ivy who found strength to move forward no matter how
tough things got. I wanted to see her even more now. I felt an even greater
pull to her and was baffled that she could open up enough to be interested in a
guy like me.

 
    I drove back to my
house and ran upstairs to my bedroom, ignoring the calls from the few