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He rubs the back of his neck before he speaks. “Dominic Martinez.”
Son of a bitch — I should have guessed. Dominic is one of my worst students — I had him in my freshman English class last year, and he barely passed. He constantly falls asleep in class, and when he is awake, he’s a total class clown. I palm my forehead. “Has he agreed to this?”
“Not yet — I wanted to see if you’d be willing before I asked him. If he doesn’t bring his grades up, he’s going to be put on academic probation. We’ve actually got a good team this year, I’d hate to lose him going into the playoffs.”
“I don’t know, Joey. I’ve got a lot going on —”
“Kelsey, I’m begging you, please. You’re my only hope. I’ll owe you big time.”
I click my pen nervously, toying with whether I can fit this into my schedule. Grant will be pissed, that much is certain. He already gets edgy when I have an abundance of work to do.
“Thirty minutes right after school, three times a week — that’s the best I can do. That is, if you can get him to agree to it, and more importantly, take it seriously.” I look at him, deadpan, to emphasize my final point.
Joey grunts as he pumps his fist in the air victoriously. “Oh, thank you, Kelsey. You’re the best.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” I mutter to myself. I don’t know that I’m up to the challenge of tutoring another kid like Joey, especially if he’s not getting it while he’s taking my class.
Chapter 2
Kelsey Andrews… the woman I’ve had on a pedestal since we were seventeen. I wish I’d had the balls back then to throw high school hierarchy to the wind and ask her out. I was captain of the football team, and she was the valedictorian of our class. Some would have classified her as a geek or nerd, but her dangerous combination of fire red hair and bright green eyes made her more gorgeous than she realized.
Regardless of the differences that separated us, my need for tutoring brought her into my path. She was smart, funny and patient as all hell. I know I wasn’t easy to work with, and maybe sometimes I was difficult on purpose, just to get a rise out of her, but she never gave up on me. She was the reason I was able to graduate high school. I’d contemplated asking her out so many times, but I feared that she was way out of my league.
I’m certainly not hurting in the looks department — my Italian heritage works to my advantage — and finding random women to date around with has always been easy. But among all of the women I’ve been with over the years, none of them have held a candle to Kelsey.
As I walk back through the school hallways toward the boys’ locker room, I pass by the tutoring center, feeling like I’m taking a walk down memory lane.
On our second day of tutoring, I beat her to the classroom. After that first day, I was never late again. If I’m being honest, Kelsey scared the absolute shit out of me. No one had ever had the guts to speak to me the way she did, much less do so without an ounce of trepidation in their voice.
“Now who’s the late one?” I asked as she walked into the room.
She stopped dead in her tracks and stared at me for a second before smirking. She pointed her finger up toward the loudspeaker in the room — which rang the moment she did.
“I’m right on time, thank you.” She set her books down on the table. “But I’m impressed you got here early.”
“Well… I want to be respectful of your time. You’re doing me a huge favor. I only wish there was someway I could repay you for it.”
“Just improve your grades, Joey. That’s all the repayment I need.” She smiled at me, and I swear — all I saw was an angelic halo around her head.
“I’ll make you a deal. If I do well on my next test, you come to our next game.”
She looked at me inquisitively, trying to figure me out. “I’ll think about it. But given what I’ve seen on your last few tests, you’ve got a lot of work to do.”
“Challenge accepted.” I could do anything when I put my mind to it, and with her help, I could get there a hell of a lot faster.
I’m broken from my thoughts when I practically walk straight into Principal Morris.
“Joey Brooks, what brings you here during school hours? Aren’t you normally at the shop during the day?” She eyes me suspiciously, and rightfully so. I’m not normally in the school outside of practices and games. I own an auto shop in town and tend to split my days between the two.
I lean against a locker with my arms casually crossed. “Oh, you know, just trying to keep one of my players off of academic probation.”
“Uh-huh, and you needed Kelsey’s help for that? Why didn’t you just go to the tutoring center?” Now she’s donning a knowing grin. I know that I could’ve easily put in a request for Dominic to be tutored by a peer, but something about being in Kelsey’s debt appeals to me.
“Hey, that woman was an absolute godsend for me when we were in high school. If anyone can get him out of danger of being put on probation, it’s her.”
“Whatever you need to tell yourself, Joey.” She winks at me as she walks toward her office.
I’m just about to close up shop and head back to the school, when my friend Frankie’s tow truck backs into one of the bays. He gets out of the driver’s side before helping a little old lady out of the passenger’s seat. She looks completely frazzled as she storms toward the office.
