Binding 13

When she reached me, she slapped the ball against my chest and hissed, "Is this your ball?"

I was so struck down by the sight of this tiny, mud-covered girl that I just nodded like a fucking eejit.

Jesus Christ, who was this girl?

Clearing my throat, I took the ball from her and said, "Uh, yeah. It's my ball."

She was tiny, seriously fucking small, barely reaching my chest in height.

"You owe me a skirt," she growled, still clutching the fabric by her hip. "And a pair of tights," she added, glancing down at the huge ladder in her skin-colored tights.

Her gaze roamed over her body then landed on my face, eyes narrowed.

"Okay," I replied with a nod, because in all honesty what the hell else was I supposed to say?

"And an apology," the girl added before collapsing on the ground.

She landed heavily on her ass and grunted out a small cry from the contact.

"Oh, shite," I muttered. Tossing the ball away, I moved to help her. "I didn’t mean to –"

"Stop!" Again, she batted my hands away. "Ouch," she moaned, cringing when she spoke. Reaching up, she clutched her face with both hands and breathed heavily. "My head."

"Are you okay?" I demanded, unsure of what the fuck to do.

Should I pick her up against her wishes?

It didn’t seem like a good idea.

But I couldn’t exactly leave her here.

"Joh

"She's grand," I called back, wincing when a hiccupping sound tore from her chest. "You're grand, aren’t you?"

This girl was going to get me into trouble.

I was in enough trouble as it stood.

I was on the outs with Coach.

Almost decapitating the girl wasn’t going to look good for me.

"Why'd you do that?" she whispered, clutching her small face in her even smaller hands. "You hurt me."

"I'm sorry," I repeated. I felt oddly helpless and it was a feeling I didn’t like. "I didn’t mean to."

She sniffled then, blue eyes watering, and something inside of me snapped.

Ah, shite.

Horrified, I threw my hands up and blurted out, "I'm so sorry," before crouching down and scooping her up from the grass. "Christ," I muttered, helpless, as I set her on her feet. "Don’t cry."

"It's my first day," she sniffled, swaying on her feet. "My fresh start and I'm covered in shit."

She was covered in shit.

"My Dad's going to kill me," she continued to choke out, clutching her torn skirt. "My uniform's ruined."

A pained, hissing sound tore from her throat then and the hand she was using to hold her skirt shot to her temple, causing the scrap of fabric to fall away from her body.

My eyes widened of their own accord, an unfortunate reaction of seeing a female's underwear.

Wolf whistles and cheering erupted from the lads.

"Oh god," she cried out, scrambling clumsily to retrieve her skirt.

"Go on, gorgeous!"

"Give us a twirl!"

"Fuck off, you assholes!" I roared at my teammates, stepping in front of the girl to block their view.

I could hear the lads cracking up behind me, laughing and talking shite, but I couldn’t concentrate on a word they were saying because the sound of my heart hammering in my chest was deafening me.

"Here," reaching for the hem of my jersey, I pulled it over my head and ordered, "Put that on."

"It's filthy," she sobbed, but didn’t stop me when I pulled it down over her head.

She slipped her hands into the sleeves and I felt an immense amount of relief when the hem fell to her knees, covering her up.

Christ, she really was a tiny little thing.

Was she even old enough to attend secondary school?

She didn’t look it.

Right now, she looked very, very young and…sad?

"Kavanagh, is the girl alright?" Coach demanded.

"She's grand!" I repeated, my words a harsh bark.

"Take her to the office," he instructed. "Make sure Majella checks her over."

Majella was the school's first respondent. She worked in the lunch hall and was the go-to woman when a student sustained an injury.

"Right, sir," I called back, flustered, quickly swooping down to snatch up her skirt and school bag.

I stepped closer and she flinched away from me.

"I'm only trying to help you," I stated in as gentle a tone I could muster, holding my hands up, as if to show her I meant no harm. "I'll take you to the office."

She looked at bit dazed and I worried I might have given her a concussion.

Knowing my luck, that's exactly what I'd done.

Fucking hell.

Flinging the bag over my shoulder, I tucked her skirt into the waistband of my shorts, placed a hand on her back, and tried to coax her up the hilly bank separating the pitch from the school grounds.

She wobbled on her feet like a baby foal, and I had to resist the sudden urge I had to wrap my arm around her shoulders.

A couple of minutes later, that was exactly what I had to do anyway because she kept losing her footing.

Panic surged through me.

I broke the fucking girl.

I broke her head.

I was going to get a suspension for losing my temper and a warrant put out for my arrest.

I was a cunt.

"I'm sorry," I continued to tell her, glaring daggers at every nosey bastard who decided to stop and gawk at us as we walked at a snail's pace.

She was in my jersey and it fell around her like a dress.

I was freezing my tits off beside her in nothing but a pair of training shorts, socks, and studded football boots.

Oh, and the pink fucking school bag slung on my back.

They could look all they wanted; my only concern was getting this girl's head checked out.

"I'm seriously fucking sorry."

"Stop saying sorry," she moaned, clutching her head.

"Right, sorry," I muttered, feeling her lean her weight on me. "But I am sorry. Just so you're clear."

"Nothing's clear," she croaked out, stiffening against my touch. "The ground's spi

"Ah Christ, don’t say that," I strangled out, tightening my arm around her rigid frame. "Please don’t fucking say that."

"Why'd you do that?" she whimpered, so frail and small and covered in shite.

"I'm an asshole," I informed her, shifting her pink school back onto my back as I tucked her in closer. "I fuck up a lot."

"Did you do it on purpose?"

"What?" Her words threw me enough to cause me to halt. "No." Twisting my body so I could look down at her face, I frowned and said, "I wouldn't never do that to you."

"You promise?"

"Yeah," I grunted, hitching her up with my arm and melding her body to my side. "I promise."

It was January.

It was wet.

It was cold.

And for some strange, disconcerting reason, I was burning the fuck up on the inside.

My words, for whatever reason, seemed to ease the tension inside this girl because she released a huge sigh, loosened her rigid frame, and allowed me to take her entire weight.