Reckless Goals - Excerpt

Reckless Goals is FREE on all platforms. But for how long? Who knows?!

Here is an excerpt of when Rhys is having dinner with his brother, Levi, in Atlanta after his soccer game, and Ash calls him from Miami... drunk...

Levi was just about to question the truth in my words when my phone started ringing. My eyes practically popped out of my head when I saw Ash’s name on the caller ID. I hadn’t heard from her since she left my place the other night.  

“Let me grab this,” I mumbled to Levi before answering. “Hello?” 

“Guess who's here?” Ash’s voice was a high whisper with a slight slur. There was loud music in the background, and I could hear another girl giggling nearby. 

“Where are you?”  

“At a pool, on a roof. Sound familiar?” Based on the continued slur in her voice, I knew Ash had been drinking. “And there is rum.” 

I looked up to Levi, who was trying not to smile at me, as he was pretending to play on his phone. He couldn’t hear Ash, but I knew I had tensed up and he took notice. Holding up one finger, I told him I needed one more minute, then lowered my voice.  

“Ash, where are you?”  

“Club something. Not far from your place. I guess all these tall buildings have pools on top.” 

“Who’s with you?”  

“Erin.” She spoke as if I knew who Erin was, so I assumed she was a teammate. I still didn’t have a clue, but at least she was with someone she trusted.  

“Is that what you called to tell me?” I actually smiled, calming down a little. She was having fun, the pool probably reminded her of me, and I couldn’t help but be glad I was on her mind. 

“Noooo,” she laughed again. “I called to tell you that Coach is here.”  

“Colin?”  

“Hunter.” She was back to a stage whisper, and the other girl—Erin—was giggling again.  

“Why is he there?”  

“I don't know. He hasn't seen us, but he’s with a girl. Can you believe there is a girl who wants to spend time with him? I guess I could see him being kinda hot if he wasn’t such a dick. But not Rhys Peyton hot.” 

“Ash, baby,” I slipped, getting worked up again since she mentioned Hunter. “What’s going on?”  

“Okay let me start over,” she giggled. “Erin and I are by the rooftop pool. We had some drinks. Hunter walked in with a girl, and then I called you.”  

“It's eight, barely even dark. What time did you get started?”  

“We had three shots of rum. It’s always party time in Miami, baby.”  

“Four,” Erin yelled into the phone. “We had four because it’s paaaarty time.” 

“Started strong, I see,” I said with a grimace.  

“I was going to text you, but did you know that spelling and rum don’t go well together? Rhys, I swear…rum makes you dumb. So I told Erin, ‘Ah ha. I can call him!”  

I rubbed my hand down my face and looked at Levi. He was trying to suppress a knowing smirk. Slipping up and calling Ash a term of endearment was not lost on him. Either was the fact that I had scooted my chair back and was ready to run back to Miami.  

“Try to slow down. You're making me nervous.” 

“I’ll be fine,” she sighed. “No one worries about me when I go out because it's just me, myself, and I in my life. Don’t start worrying now.” 

Too late.  

“You plan on staying there all night?”  

“Yeah, and I'm gonna dive in the pool. But Rhys…. Hunter is with a girrrrl.”  

“Does that bother you?” I instantly got jealous at the idea that she was jealous. Not to mention it wasn’t lost on me that she had just said he was kind of hot.  

“It bothers me that he is in my space.”  

“Maybe if we flirt with him, he will leave,” Erin suggested. “I tend to scare men away.” 

“No!” I jumped up and started pacing, making other people in the restaurant take notice and look at me strangely. “Don’t go near him.” 

“Are you jealous, Mr. Coach? Rhys. Peyton. Man?” She was slurring even more, giggling at herself. 

“You know I don't like him, Ash. I don’t want him anywhere near you. It's bad enough he’s your coach.”  

“Well, don’t you worry, Mister. I don’t think his dick is as big as yours. And that is what I told Erin.”  

“For fuck sake,” I whispered, looking around the room like everyone could hear her. “I’m in Atlanta, but I’m going to text you the code to my apartment. If you need a place to go, you both can go there for the night.” 

“I know you’re in Atlanta. You kept lifting the leg of your shorts and those thighs, Rhysssss, those thighs. You have the best thighs.”

“You watched the game?” I smiled again, not being able to help myself. 

“Most of it,” she giggled. “Enough to know you overused your left foot, and probably didn’t drink rum before the game.” 

She noticed. Fuck, my chest was warming up. I had to squeeze my fist just to keep from rubbing the area where my heart was rapidly beating out of my chest. 

“Ash, just go to my place if you need to, okay?”  

“Why would we need a place to go? Ohhh shit, Hunter just saw us… He’s coming this way.”  

The phone call ended abruptly, and I turned back to Levi. Before I could even say anything, he tossed me the keys to his car and took another pull of his beer.  

“Leave my car at the airport, and I’ll grab it later. I already texted James, and he’s ready for takeoff.”

Want to see what happens when Rhys makes it to Miami? Check out... Reckless Goals.

All my love,

Katie