False Start: A Fake Dating Sports Romance (Red Zone Rivals)

It was a dumb fucking idea.

I knew it, and had I stopped long enough to consider what I was proposing before I actually opened my mouth, I likely would have shoved the idea down and never spoken it out loud.

As it was, seeing those bruises on Madelyn’s arm had my brain short circuiting.

I didn’t care about being logical.

I only cared about making sure she was okay.

The truth of that made me frown a little as I waited for her to respond, because the first time I’d seen her after all those years, I’d wanted to hurt her. I’d wanted her to feel the pain she’d put me through.

Now, I was trying to keep her from pain.

I was a walking contradiction.

“Well?” I probed again when she didn’t answer, the word echoing in the empty foyer where we stood.

Madelyn’s soft brown eyes flicked between mine, and then she blew out a breath, shaking her head and looking up to the ceiling.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but… fine.”

Inside, I threw a fist into the air in victory.

On the outside, I simply smirked.

“But I have conditions,” she added with a finger pointed straight at my chest. She was using that thing like a damn weapon today.

“Name them.”

“No fighting with Marshall.”

Marshall.

So that was the fucker’s name.

Madelyn must have seen how tense my jaw was because she arched a threatening brow. “I mean it. If you go fighting him, it’s going to cause more issues for me. So, be the six-foot-seven bodyguard all you want, but do not goad him, do not call him names, and do not lay a finger on him.”

“I won’t,” I promise. “Unless he lays a finger on you.”

Madelyn’s brows tugged inward, just a little, as if she didn’t understand why I would care if he did. But she listed her next condition before I could think too much on that reaction.

“No one lays a finger on me. You included.”

It was my turn to cock a brow.

“We can… pretend all you want,” she said with a wave of her hand. “But let’s not forget the reality. We aren’t even friends, let alone anything more. Don’t go holding my hand or touching my back or trying to sneak in a kiss.”

The way she listed out those demands made it so hard not to laugh. Her little cheeks were growing redder by the minute, the blush creeping down her neck, too. She could barely look me in the eye when she said kiss.

“Madelyn,” I said, leveling her with a gaze that I hoped told her she was being ridiculous. I took a tentative step toward her. “Come on. We’re adults, and we used to be friends. I think we can handle some fake kissing.”

“Absolutely not.”

“No one is going to believe we’re actually together if you won’t let me touch you, least of all your ex.”

She chewed on that, then swallowed and crossed her arms over the binder she still had, crushing it to her chest like a textbook.

It made me flash back to when I was a sophomore and she was a senior, when I saw her walking the halls and had the irresistible urge to hold her hand, to claim her for everyone to see.

“Fine,” she gritted out. “But minimal, you understand? No tongue.”

“No tongue,” I conceded with a wry grin. “My turn to list a condition.”

“You don’t get conditions. This was your idea, remember?”

“Exactly — which means I get to make some rules, too. And my number one rule?” I cracked my neck. “I don’t want you around Marshall without me there.”

She blinked at me. “You don’t want me around the father of my child who I co-parent with.”

It was a deadpan statement, not a question.

“Nope.”

“He’s Sebastian’s dad.”

“I don’t give a fuck,” I shot back without hesitation. “Did you hear what I said? Unless I am with you, you’re not to be around him.”

Distantly, I was aware I was overstepping. Madelyn had survived this long without me here to do shit about it. She could handle herself.

But that didn’t stop me from wanting to help her now that I was here.

I watched her digest what I’d said. At first, she looked appalled, like she was about to slap me hard across the face and walk out of this house.

But then, she softened, her chest rising on a deep inhale before she slowly let it go. And that’s when I saw it.

Relief.

It was relief in her eyes.

She may have been strong enough to take care of herself and her son, but that didn’t mean she didn’t like the idea of someone else wanting to protect them, too.

“First of all, do not get the impression that you ever get to tell me what to do,” she said sternly. “Second of all… okay,” she conceded softly. “But I don’t know how that’s going to work out. We trade off at least once a week, sometimes twice.”

“Any time you need me, I’ll be there.”

“What about football?”

“We have a while until camp. Right now, it’s technically off-season. So, like I said,” I repeated, inching toward her with my eyes locked on hers. “Call me, and I’ll be there.”

Madelyn held my gaze for a long pause before she tore her eyes away and nodded.

Her face fell a little then, and she shook her head, eyes falling to her feet. “This means you have to meet Sebastian.”

I couldn’t explain why, but my heart both broke and swelled at the sound of those words. I could tell Madelyn was scared. But I also could feel my own excitement.

I wanted to meet her son.

I wanted to know the child she had made.

“I can’t break his heart, Kyle,” she said, her wet eyes finding mine. “I can’t.”

Shit.

I nodded, scrubbing a hand over my face. “Listen, what if we agree to be friends when this is all said and done?”

She tilted her head at me.

“We can just tell Sebastian we’re old friends, that we went to high school together. That’s technically not a lie,” I reminded her. “That wouldn’t raise any red flags. In fact, Marshall would probably prefer that, right? For Sebastian to just think we’re friends?”

Madelyn sighed. “He’d lose his shit if I said anything else.”

“Exactly. So, to Sebastian, we’re friends. And when you’re safe and away from your prick ex-husband, then… we just stay friends. Sebastian won’t know the difference.”

“Except as soon as I get your commission, I’m moving across the country.”

Those words slammed into my chest like a WWE wrestler with a metal folding chair in tow, but on the outside, I acted like they didn’t faze me at all.

“Good,” I said. “Get a guest room for when I visit.”

She huffed out a laugh at that, shaking her head and furrowing her brows as she studied me. “Why are you doing this?”

“I told you, I’m tired of going stag to every wedding I’m invited to. My former teammates give me too much shit, and I want to shut them up.”

“I’ve seen the girls you post online,” she shot back. “You could take one of them.”

“Trust me. My friends would see right through it. If anything, they’d give me even more shit if I brought a girl they thought was just the flavor of the week. But with this, with us… we could make them believe it’s real.”

She flattened her lips like she still didn’t believe me.

But I couldn’t say more than that.

I wasn’t ready to admit to her that, regardless of what she’d put me through, I’d always have love for her. I’d always want to make sure she was safe.

I didn’t much care what I got out of this deal.

I only cared that she would be okay — and I’d be there to ensure that.

“When is this wedding I’m supposed to go to with you, anyway?”

I cringed a bit. “Next weekend.”

“Next weekend? And where is this wedding, exactly?”

Another cringe. “Colorado.”

She laughed. “You’re joking, right? I can’t just leave the state next weekend.”

“Why?”

Madelyn stuttered for a moment before groaning. “I don’t know. Marshall is kind of incompetent. Even when he takes Sebastian for the weekend, I like to know I’m right down the street.”

“Let’s bring him with us.”

“Yeah, okay. Because Marshall would be okay with that.” She shook her head, but I saw her wheels spinning. “My mom has been begging to see her grandbaby. Maybe I could get her to fly in.”

My heart squeezed at the mention of her mother.

I had such mixed feelings when it came to her. I loved her, loved the girl she’d raised, loved the generosity she’d shown me as a shithead kid.

But I also remembered the way she’d turned her back on my parents when they needed a friend.

When they needed forgiveness.

“I’ll pay for her to fly in, if she’s willing,” I offered.

Madelyn glared at me, then cursed. “I don’t have anything to wear to a wedding, Kyle. I definitely don’t have a nice enough dress to attend a professional football player’s wedding.”

“Trust me — my friends aren’t like that. You could show up in a trash bag and they’d love you for it.”

“You calling me trash, Robbins?”

“If you’re trash, then I’m a dumpster diver.”

She paused, frowned, and then laughed so hard she bent at the waist.

I made a face and looked up to the sky, embarrassment heating my neck. I couldn’t even try to come back from that. It was a stupid and awkward comment, but it was also the kind of jokes we’d say to each other as kids.

We were weird together.

That was what I loved most about us.

“You’re really serious about this,” she mused.

I swallowed, nodding. “I am. In fact,” I said, fishing my wallet from my pocket. I plucked one of the many credit cards out, the American Express that earned me flight miles. “Here.”

She eyed the card between my fingers and then cocked a brow at me.

“Go get a dress. Get shoes, too. Get a bag, get your hair done, whatever you want.”

Madelyn tongued her cheek. “I’m not taking your fucking credit card.”

“Fine, then let me take you shopping.”

Again, she let out an incredulous laugh that told me she thought I was acting insane.

And maybe I was.

If anyone in this world could make me crazy, it was this girl.