Page 3 of Kicked in the Heart

She rolled her eyes at him. Man, she was even more gorgeous when she was irritated.

“Rocky! I was beginning to think you changed your mind,” Coach said as he walked up to them.

“You’re Rocky?” Butch asked. Confused he looked at the coach.

She smiled at him. “Yeah. I’m Rocky, your new kicker.”

“You’re what?”

“Good thing you’re cute, brains aren’t your strong suit are they?” she said as she turned toward Coach. “Yes, girls can play football.” She followed the coach toward the tunnel, not bothering to look back at Butch.

He stared after her. She was the new kicker? No way, she was too pretty to be a kicker, surely this was a practical joke. And she’d insulted him, insinuating he wasn’t smart. He looked over at his teammates expecting to see some of them laughing their asses off at their joke. None of them were even looking in his direction, they were all watching as the girl-kicker followed Coach into the tunnel. How could they let a girl on the team? If she wanted to play football let her start a girls’ team. No way would he block for a girl kicker.

He stomped over to his teammates. “You see this shit? A girl kicker? The whole league will be laughing at us.”

“Yeah, well, it's not up to us,” Trey remarked as the others made their way to where the assistant coach was setting up for warm-ups.

Butch crossed his arms and grouched, “Can’t make me block for her. I'm sure there's something in my contract that will get me out of it.”

Trey looked at him. “Weren’t you just saying how you’d block for anyone? That it didn’t matter who they were?”

Butch shrugged. “I was talking about normal kickers, not a girl.”

Coach Thomas blew two long blasts on his whistle, the signal to get over there to begin warm-ups.

Butch stood there defiantly, hoping some of his teammates would follow his lead. He was dismayed when he was the only one. Not even Trey had stayed by his side.

“Butch, you waiting for an engraved invitation or what?” Coach Thomas yelled.

He stood his ground, frowning when the coach stomped toward him.

“You got a problem today, Butch?” Coach asked.

“Well, yeah, I do. I won’t block for a girl kicker. Girls don’t belong in football.”

“You don’t get paid to decide who you will block for. Get over there and start your warmup.” He blew a sharp blast on his whistle. “Now!”

Grumbling under his breath Butch sauntered over and took his place next to Trey for warm ups. Half-heartedly going through the motions of warming up he stopped when he heard Coach Albertson call his name.

The other players all watched as he walked toward the coach.

“Back to work!” Coach yelled before he turned to face Butch. “I hear you have an issue with our new kicker.”

“You can’t make me block for a girl kicker. I won’t do it.”

“You will or you will be in breach of your contract. Neither one of us wants that.”

Butch stared at the turf and rubbed the back of his neck. “But…”

“No buts. You’ve got a couple good years left, don’t ruin it over this.”

“Okay, Coach.” After Coach motioned for him to join his teammates, he trotted over to the sidelines to find out what play they would be practicing.

Rocky

Rocky stood just outside the door to the media center and took a deep breath to calm herself. Being mistaken for a cheerleader was nothing new but it still made her temper flare. Egotistical ass thought she would want to date him? Never! He was good looking for an older guy but his attitude sure needed some work. As if she’d date someone with such old-fashioned ideas about women. He probably thought she should be at home in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant or something.

“You ready for this, Rocky?” Coach Albertson asked as he walked up to her.