The Balled And The Beautiful: A College Sports Romance Story (8 page)

Another gloriously hot shower and a change of clothes and Amanda almost felt ready to face the world again. They climbed back into the jeep, still yawning, and made their way back onto the highway. William had been quiet as they had gotten ready to go, but she had caught him glancing at her over breakfast. There had been something lurking in his gaze since they had woken that morning, and even when the warm haze of imagined safety had faded it had lingered.

Now as she stared out the window, watching the rocky landscape swish past, out of the corner of her eye she could see him watching her carefully. She looked over at him and looked away immediately. She couldn't explain the expression of confusion she had glimpsed, but she wasn't really sure if she could ask.

The morning past quickly with only a quick stop for gas breaking up the endless miles. Amanda was slowly working up the nerve to ask if they would be stopping for lunch at some point when William's hands tightened around the steering wheel. The leather creaked under his hands. A clench of fear gripped her belly and the now familiar pounding in her ears throbbed in time with her racing heart. His eyes were locked on the rearview mirror and she twisted in her seat to look out the back window.

It took a moment to figure out what he was staring at, but finally she noticed them. Two cars back a dark SUV twisted along the streets. The driver was a pale man wearing dark sun glasses even though the day had remained cloudy and grey. The passenger slumped in his seat, staring out his window, but something in the way he held himself told her that his mind was entirely focused on the present and not lost in a daydream.

"The SUV?" she asked quietly, looking back at him for confirmation. He nodded stiffly.

She swallowed hard, hunching down in her seat. She could feel the thrum of her heart, and wondered absently if terror could replace cardio as a work out. She was beginning to think it might.

A warm hand on her own made her look up. William still stared straight ahead but his hand wrapped tightly around hers.

"It's going to be alright," he stated firmly. "I won't let
an
y
thin
g happen to you."

His voice rang with sincerity and she found herself nodding, heart calming in the face of his determination. She turned her hand over, weaving her fingers between his and squeezing. He glanced back at the SUV that had managed to maneuver on the narrow highway until it was only one car behind.

"Are you ready?" he asked, and she watched as he took a deep breath, letting it out in a rush.

"Yes," she replied simply, reaching up to tug on her seatbelt. She shifted her legs from where they had been curled underneath her, settling deeper into the leather seats and bracing herself. He pulled his hand from hers with a final reluctant squeeze, grasping the steering wheel with both hands.

"Hold on," he murmured. Her hands clenched on the armrests as they suddenly accelerated, shooting around the car ahead of them. She glanced back and saw the men in the SUV shouting and trying to speed up. They were caught behind q truck though, and William's jeep only continued to surge forward.

A squeak burst from her lips as he slammed the breaks. The tires squealed as he forced the vehicle to fly around a tight corner onto a tiny gravel road. They skidded up the steep hill they had been driving parallel to for the last hour. The jeep bounced, its shocks overworked as they careened along the thin road, screaming past tiny homes and the occasional farm animal. Amanda glanced back again and swallowed as the SUV spun into view.

She glanced at William, but he was already looking with a sober expression into the rearview mirror. His eyes flashed forward again, and when she looked forward she saw a tiny village in the distance. It was tucked into the side of a hill, the streets impossibly steep and twisting. A grim smile twisted on William's lips and he sped up again.

The SUV was still gaining, but in less than a minute they were careening into the tiny village, sending the few pedestrians scattering as they screamed Greek curses in their wake. Amanda leaned back as they swung around another corner. The jeep lurched forward as they shot down a steep hill. Amanda's eyes widened to the point of pain as she gasped. They were going to crash. They were going too fast and they were going to crash.

But when they hit the next intersection, William yanked at the emergency break and the car skidded, barely turning in time to keep from sliding into a wooden shack of a store. Before she could catch her breath he had already turned again, accelerating back up the same hill they had come down. Amanda winced as she heard a horrific crash behind them, the crunch of wood and metal audible even over the roar of the overworked engine. Amanda sent a prayer up to anyone who might be listening that there hadn't been anyone in the small building. Another sharp turn and they were rocketing down another impossibly tiny street, but this one led down into another small valley and away from the village.

She glanced back, but there was no dark SUV behind them yet. The road worsened until each bump sent both of them bouncing out of their seats. William was leaning forward, glancing around as the ground became rocky and impossibly rugged. A sudden, victorious smile lit his face and he yanked the wheel around, sending them off the road and down what looked like an overgrown trail used by farm equipment, or maybe the occasional truck. A tiny, clearly abandoned farmstead appeared to grow organically out of the rocky hills. The barn had been built right against an outcropping, utilizing the natural wall. William slowed, navigating carefully around rusting equipment and into the tiny space walled in on three sides by the rock cliff, the barn and what had probably been a house at one point.

Amanda's ears rang in the sudden silence as he turned the engine off with a sharp twist of his wrist. They sat, silent and straining to listen for any sound of vehicles. Just as Amanda was beginning to hope they had lost their tail, the roar of another vehicle bubbled up. It was moving slower than they had, but it was definitely heading their way. William swore, his hand resting tentatively on the keys to the jeep. They listened as the vehicle approached, slowing further as it got closer. It stopped, idling a short distance away and they held their breath. Amanda reached out, gripping William's arm in her panic.

"It's okay," he whispered, but his voice was strained. The other engine roared suddenly and the sound of rocks spraying had William twisting the keys again. They shot from their hiding place; even Amanda knew that it would only trap them when the SUV came around the corner, and they would be impossible to miss from that close. The only way out was the path that the SUV was now rocketing down towards them, and William hesitated.

"It's going to be okay," he repeated, but she didn't think he was talking to her anymore.

"William?" she whispered, fear freezing her as she stared at the oncoming car. He didn't answer, but instead slammed his foot on the accelerator. They tore towards the SUV and Amanda leaned back, holding in a shriek of terror. Just as she was sure they were going to collide with the oncoming car, William jerked the steering wheel to the left. They flew off the road and into the underbrush. The world became a blur of rocks, trees and the crunch of metal. She glanced back and saw to her relief that the SUV had veered away at the last moment, and was currently smoking against the rock cliff. Her relief was short lived, though, and as she looked forward again the scream she had held back before ripped from her throat. William slammed on the break but it was far too late and the car tumbled over the edge of another hill.

The last thing Amanda remembered was the scream of metal on stone, and the flash of mind numbing agony.

She woke in another perfectly white bed, staring up at the lazily turning fan. Pain sang along her right side, making her vision blur as she fought to keep from crying out. Her hands flexed, clenching as she fought against unconsciousness. One of them twisted tightly into the bedding, but the other strained against another warm hand, one that tightened around hers as she fought her way back from the precipice. She swallowed back a

wave of nausea, letting her head fall to the side.

William stared at her, his dark eyes haunted and bloodshot. A dark bruise covered one high cheekbone, and long scratch disappeared down his neck and below his shirt.

"Are you okay?" she whispered, her throat dry and rasping. He blinked in surprise, a harsh laugh falling from his cracked and swollen lips.

"Am I...Am
I
okay?" he asked, a hysterical edge in his voice. She frowned, wincing as it pulled at something sore on her scalp.

"Yes," she agreed. "Are you okay?"

He stared at her in disbelief for a long moment before he laughed that harsh crow's laugh again, his head falling forward to the bedsheets. His shoulders continued to shake, but she couldn't tell if it was laughter or tears.

"William?"

He shook his head, his hand clenching around hers. She squeezed it in return and lay back, watching him as he continued to shake beside her, too exhausted to do anything else. Finally he looked up, his eyes wet and a little crazed.

"How can you ask me that?" he whispered, roughly. "How can you care in the least how I am, when all I've done is kidnap you and risk your life? You almost
died
-"

His rant choked off, and he stared at her. It was all she could do to meet that guilt ridden and panicked gaze, drowning in pools of mahogany. Another hysterical laugh ripped from his chest and he lurched forward, faster than her pain fogged mind could follow.

But when his lips pressed desperately to hers, the pain fell away and the only thing she could feel was the warmth of his kiss. Her free hand flew up against his chest, tangling in his shirt. He pulled her impossibly closer, tilting his head to kiss her more firmly. She responded in kind, and when his tongue brushed her lips they opened welcomingly. The sweet press of his tongue to hers made had him pulling back with a quiet gasp, only to lean forward and press another light kiss to her willing lips. Then another. And another.

"I'm sorry," he choked out. "I'm so, so sorry."

"Shh," she murmured, shifting her hand from his chest to run through his hair gently. "It's okay."

He pressed one last kiss to her lips before resting his head in the crook of her neck, breathing raggedly. They lay there for a long time. Slowly the world returned, including the aching pain in her side made her teeth clench. She ignored it, pressing another kiss to his hair.

"It's all my fault," he murmured against her neck, making

Her shiver. She took a breath, running her hand along his back.

"What is?" she asked. She felt him swallow hard.

"All of it," he replied. "Everything." "Trust me," she whispered. "Tell me."

And he did.

"I didn't know how it was going to end up, when I started," he began quietly. "After my master's degree I was offered a job reverse engineering weapons collected from war zones. If we understood how they worked, we could defend against them. That's what they told us, anyways. They even paid for me to complete my doctorate while I worked for them. And it didn't seem like a big deal, when we shifted from reverse engineering to modifications, adjustments of the original weapons. We made them more efficient, easier to produce."

He paused, letting out a shuddering breath.

"I was put into a new team, creating a capsule that could contain hazardous materials. Something small, easily transported. It was a way of collecting and removing dangerous materials when a lab wasn't available. In the field, even by soldiers. And we did it. When we were done someone could carry five pounds of radioactive material in their pack and suffer no adverse consequences."

He looked up, meeting her eyes.

"I didn't know," he murmured, his eyes dark with guilt. "I didn't know what they were planning on doing with it."

He glanced over at the corner of the room. A familiar dark backpack sat on the small chair; he had kept it with him as they traveled. Amanda had assumed it was just a bag of essentials but as she glanced at it, dread curled in her chest.

"It's a weapon," he forced out, his head dropping down to press against her shoulder again like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. "There was a second team, working on a compound that would wipe a battle zone clear within minutes. It could take out a small country in a week. It's airborne, radioactive and there is no way to defend against it once it's released. Our containment chamber was going to be used to protect whoever was transporting it and as a release mechanism."

Amanda stared at the bag, hoping that William couldn't hear her heart pounding. Something so innocuous, so unassuming; that it could hold such devastation was almost incomprehensible. He became even quieter as he finished his story, his voice barely audible.

"I couldn't let them use it. Once I found out what they were planning, I knew I had to destroy it. But they had already created the first prototype and there was no way for me to disable it without risking triggering it. So I went into the lab late after everyone had left and I deleted every file, every backup, and every trace of the project that there was. I torched the lab, took the prototype and I ran."

Something warm burned in her chest as he continued; a fierce pride, an overwhelming adoration for someone who would take such drastic measures to undo a mistake. William could have simply shrugged it off, claiming that since he hadn't known it hadn't been his fault. But he had
done
something. He had risked everything to protect people he had never met.

"They are never going to stop chasing me. We have to find a way to get you somewhere safe and-"

"I'm coming with you," she interrupted quietly, unaware of making the decision to speak. A sedate resolve filled her as she said it though, and when his head flew up to stare at her again she met his gaze steadily. A part of her mind was surprised at the sudden and completely calm determination that she felt, but her heart beat steadily and she knew that this was the only choice she could make.

"What are you talking about? I almost got you
killed
. They
will
kill you if they get the chance, if they think it'll get to me. I can't let you risk your life for my mistake." She ran a hand along his cheek.

"Leaving you, knowing that you are fighting this battle

alone-" she replied quietly. "-
That
would kill me. I want to help. I'm going to help."

"Why?" he choked out.

"I love you," she answered, simply. He stared at her, his breathing still ragged, but she only smiled and stretched up to press a kiss to his unresponsive lips.

"You barely know me," he whispered against her.

"Tell me you don't feel the same," she replied, huffing a laugh when he said nothing. "See? I won't leave you alone. We will figure this out together."

His forehead pressed to hers, his eyes clenched shut and his jaw tight. She ran her fingers through his hair, patiently waiting as slowly, agonizingly slowly, each of his muscles relaxed. A tear dripped down his nose, splashing on her cheek. She gently wiped away the dampness from his face.

"I love you," she repeated, quietly but firmly. He swallowed, finally opening his eyes. There was an awe in his gaze, a wondrous confusion, like she was something unfathomably lovely and it sent a shiver down her spine.

"As I love you," he whispered. And for the first time in her life, she knew what it meant to be whole.