Impossible To Resist (BWWM Romance Book 1)(10)
“Yes and no. And you playing football is not the only time we see you on TV. What about the girls? The parties? The car?”
“Hey! Don’t go knocking my car. I love that car,” Jared answered defensively. “I’ve dreamed of owning a car like that since I was a kid.”
“Okay, the car is off limits. But the girls and the partying? Is that really you? I’m not judging, I’m just asking because it seems like that guy is a completely different person from the one I know.”
“It’s an image. I have to live up to it,” Jared defended himself weakly. “I’m young and I don’t want to be tied down. I've seen guys who got suckered into bad relationships and lost everything. I don’t want that to be me so if I don’t get to know them, then I don’t have to worry about gold diggers.”
“Fair enough, but you have to see what kind of idea that gives to people, especially people like A.J.,” Rick pointed out.
“So, A.J. sees me in the gossip rags and thinks I’m a male whore or something, is that it?” Jared’s frustration bled into his tone. “I mean, no double standard here.”
“It’s different and you know it. She’s afraid,” Rick explained. “I know Ally told you her story. You have to understand why she wouldn’t want any part of that.”
“Why does she have to be a part of it? I’m not asking her to marry me. I’m just…” Jared trailed off.
“You’re just what? Falling in love with her?” Rick laughed. “Yeah, we know. It’s pretty clear that you want her to be a part of your life for more than just PT.”
“I didn’t say that,” Jared muttered.
“That’s the point, you don’t have to. It’s all over your face every time you leave PT.” Rick grinned. “I just need you to accept it and decide what you want to do about it.”
“How would it even work? I mean, I have to go back to my life and she wants nothing to do with it.” Jared groaned. “Why am I even saying this? I just told you I don’t want any type of long term anything. I can’t do it.”
“Why not?” Rick threw the question out there, the one that’s been hanging in the air around Jared for weeks.
“I don’t know,” Jared grumbled. “I am not good at being tied down. I’ve not had a real girlfriend since my freshman year of college. It’s not part of the image unless you’re a family man and once that happens, you aren’t exciting anymore and your game suffers.”
“What about Jeremy Waters? Jimmy Farrel? Ty Jones?” Rick rattled off three of the all-time greats who were known to be family men. “They were also active in their communities. Hell, look at your own team! Trent Roberts is a family man and one hell of a tight end.”
“Trent is about to retire,” Jared pointed out, “and he met his wife in college. She was an athlete, too, nearly made the Olympic team for swimming. Sarah gets it.”
“And A.J. doesn’t? She probably gets it more than most,” Rick suggested. “But none of that matters, does it? You like her. You want her to like you. Why not start with that hurdle and see what happens from there?”
“I don’t think it’s going anywhere.” Jared looked out the window. “She wants nothing at all to do with me.”
“Like I said, show her the real you.” Rick repeated himself, emphasizing the “real.”
“Yeah, yeah. I hear you.” Jared frowned, it seemed impossible. Yet, he couldn’t help but consider it, consider her.
“You’ve got two weeks until the wedding, how’s about you really give the PT some good effort and really try to be positive in your sessions. Then, at the wedding we’ll get you all cleaned up and let her see this side of you.”
“Nobody can recognize me, Rick,” Jared reminded him.
“Nobody will. We’ve got it covered,” Rick assured him. “But you have to at least trim that beard. You crossed over from disguise to overgrown mountain man about two weeks ago.”
Jared burst out laughing. He’d been considering his facial hair for over a week. It didn’t itch any more but it was scraggly and kind of gross. Not that he ever even cared for facial hair in the first place. “I don’t even know where to start.”
“Marie can help with that. Once upon a time I had a beard,” Rick confessed. “Not my cup of tea these days but Marie used to trim me up real nice. She can work on that mop of hair, too. Who cut it for you, Edward Scissorhands?”
“You’re a funny guy, Rick,” Jared replied dryly. “Funny, funny guy.”
Chapter3
Jared sat in the back of the church for the ceremony. He’d never been particularly comfortable around religion but Rick asked him to be there. Then Marie insisted. Paul even tried to convince Jared to sit with them but he politely declined and opted for a row in the far back that gave him an excellent view of the attendees.
Unsurprisingly, A.J. was not among them. Jared watched everything, the way couples interacted, mothers doted on their children, even an elderly couple that held hands and looked at each other with the same love that Ally and Colin shared. Mercifully, the ceremony went fast and the minister was highly amusing.
“You look lovely, Ally.” Jared led the procession line in his hurry to avoid the crowd. “Congratulations to you both.”