Punt: A British Bad Boy Football Romance Read Free Page A

forgot all about it. The problem here, of course, is that every time Liam looked at Audrey, he felt guilty.
    Audrey made him think of Jack, and Jack…. Well, his former friend wasn’t doing so well. According to Jack, he was knee-deep in bad debt, struggling with keeping his drug and gambling habits under control, and hiding it all from his pretty little sister.
    It wasn’t all that different from the first time Liam laid eyes on Jack, come to think of it. First week of their Swiss boarding school, Liam came around the corner of the dormitory building to find Jack getting the hell beat out of him by four brawny upperclassmen.
    An initiation of sorts, or a culling of a new schoolmate who the other boys thought was too weak to represent their school colors. Something along those lines.
    “Keep walking,” one of the older boys told Liam in quick, harsh French. “Or you’ll find your time at Academe Augustin unpleasant, I promise you.”
    Liam understood only a small portion of what the kid said, since he barely spoke the language.
    Half of Liam wanted to keep walking. After all, it was none of his business. There was likely a reason the kid had been singled out. But the look on Jack’s face, the furious way he stood up to the other boys and fought back against them…
    It sparked something in Liam, inspired him in a way. So often in his young life, he’d felt just that way. Fighting like a mad dog against bigger, meaner beasts.
    Besides that, Liam never could stand a bully. He’d seen enough of those in his life already. So he’d walked over and knocked one of the upperclassmen out, a single punch right in the face. The other three scattered and Liam helped Jack to his feet.
    What Liam didn’t realize was that, by being a scholarship kid and helping another scholarship kid escape the torment of his older and richer classmates, Liam had just put a big target on his and Jack’s backs. The next four years were incredibly tough on both of them, on the football pitch and off.
    It would bond Liam and Jack in ways they’d never experience again in their entire lives.
    Unbeknownst to Liam, that single moment of charity had started a lifelong friendship. Even after they finished school and Jack moved back to the States, even after Liam’s career took off while Jack’s languished… they’d kept in touch.
    Even though being sent to the US for a season was a sort of punishment, getting to help Jack get a spot on a pro team was a silver lining.
    If Liam could keep his head in the game and stay the hell out of trouble, that was.
    “Liam! Move those bloody feet! You look like you’re playing in wet cement!” Havershom yelled across the field.
    Liam shook himself, using the hem of his jersey to wipe sweat from his eyes. He stalked back to his starting position in the Olympic-sized field’s center circle, squaring off against one of his teammates. The whistle blew and he went at the ball with a vicious determination.
    Unfortunately, so did Carlos, the second-string starting center. Carlos had something to prove, moreso even than Liam. Two young lads with huge chips on their shoulders, competing for the same position on a team… it was a recipe for chaos.
    Liam and Carlos went head to head, attacking each other with knees and feet, wrestling for control of the ball. In a live match, this would be the moment where Liam was meant to break away and pass to a midfielder. Unfortunately, instead of making the play, he looked up over Carlos’s shoulder and spotted her .
    Audrey was impossible to miss, with that flaming auburn hair. Not to mention those ice blue eyes and a body more tempting than an apple in Eden.
    The same body he’d explored rather freely when they were both nameless strangers in the VIP booth of a popular Atlanta club.
    She’d just been a pretty redhead, didn’t have the faintest idea who Liam was. It was refreshing, and soon he had her on his lap, his hand in her panties, her soft gasps of pleasure driving