HALFTIME HEARTBREAKER

  A COLLEGE FOOTBALL ROMANTIC COMEDY

  TABATHA KISS

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Epilogue

  More from the Tabiverse…

  Also by Tabatha

  About the Author

  COPYRIGHT

  Copyright © 2023 by Tabatha Kiss

  All Rights Reserved. eBook Edition.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author.

  This is a work of fiction intended for mature audiences only. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Subscribe to my Newsletter for FREE books!

  Visit tabathakiss.com/newsletter for more info.

  For my family.

  Every last crazy one of them.

  CHAPTER 1

  CONNOR

  The Start of Their Freshman Year

  “Hey, Heartbreaker, stop gawking at my sister.”

  I snap out of it, but my eyes don’t stray far from Dana’s legs.

  She… never wears sundresses.

  “I’m not,” I say, adjusting the football in my palm before throwing it back across the lawn.

  Alex catches it. “Better not be.”

  He gives me a scolding eye before tossing the ball. Still, my gaze targets Dana again outside of their father’s car on the street. Her blonde hair travels the full length of her back, stopping just before her wrists hanging by her sides. Her dress is yellow and short, her exposed legs smooth and sun-kissed and—she’s looking at me.

  She’s looking at me, looking at her.

  I wave at them as her parents exit the car. “Go long, Mr. Kirby!” I shout, readying the ball.

  He hops backward into the empty suburban street. I throw, putting some heat behind it. John Kirby, retired football royalty, doesn’t need me to go easy on him.

  The ball sails into his open hands. “Good arm, Connor,” he says, impressed.

  “Good enough to be scout quarterback?” I ask.

  He chuckles as he throws it back to me, hitting me with as much force as I hit him. “Don’t see why not.” He sniffs the air. “Your dad out back?”

  “At the grill last I saw,” I say.

  He grimaces. “Better get back there before he burns my steak.”

  I laugh and bow my head to the ladies. “Hi, Dr. Kirby. Dana.”

  “Hey,” Dana says, her voice barely above a whisper.

  “Good evening, Connor,” Dr. Rose Kirby says, her own blonde locks fixed in place in a casual ponytail. “Alex.”

  “Hey, Mom,” he grunts.

  “Where’s your brother?”

  “He’s inside, using the bathroom.”

  With a nod, she steps forward onto the walkway. “No tackling,” she warns us.

  “Yes, Mother,” Alex says.

  “Don’t get dirty before dinner.”

  “Okay, Mother.”

  “No worries, Dr. Kirby,” I say, flashing a smile. “We’ll be in soon.”

  “Will Julie be joining us?” she asks Alex.

  “Nope,” Alex says. “I broke up with her.”

  Rose stalls on the sidewalk. Dana, too. I stand still, having been there for the breakup itself.

  It… wasn’t pretty.

  “What?” Rose asks in surprise. “Why?”

  “Because I’m a college guy now,” Alex says, scoffing. “I don’t need some high school girl tying me down.”

  She tilts her head, disappointed, before resuming her stride toward the house.

  “What?” Alex asks, his hands turned up.

  I breathe a quiet laugh. Truthfully, I’m not sure I wouldn’t do the same in his shoes. We’ve been talking about college for ages now; all the things we’ll do as Northies, as Alpha Delta Xi brothers, as Bearhawks. Emotional attachments would just get in the way of that.

  Dana stays a step behind her parents. She glances over her shoulder, her blue eyes focusing on me for a moment before leering at her brother.

  “Connor!” Alex says. “Throw the rock, man.”

  I toss the ball back, adding a little extra heat to it. Just like his old man, Alex catches it without shifting a single dark hair on his head.

  “You really think you have it, don’t you?” he asks.

  I look at him, raising my hands just in time to catch the ball targeting my face. “Have what?” I ask.

  “Scout QB.”

  “Sure, why not?” I throw it back. “You think I don’t?”

  He catches it. “I think it’ll be harder than you think.”

  “Oh, really?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you’re not at Chicago North High anymore, Dorothy,” he jokes. “This is Chicago North University. Home of the legendary Bearhawks.”

  “Yeah, so?”

  “So, star athletes from across the country are on the scout team, same as us. And guess what? They were QBs at their high schools, too.”

  I laugh it off. “Yeah, but they aren’t me.”

  “And who are you again?”

  I’m Connor fucking Morgan.

  Son of Junior Morgan.

  Grandson of—

  “You’re Connor fucking Morgan, right?” he says, mocking my thoughts. “Son of Junior Morgan? Grandson of Cary Pierce?” He stands tall, smirking. “That’s what you’re thinking, right?”

  “Okay, we’ve known each other for way too long.”

  “Or you’re just very predictable.” He throws the ball. “Daddy’s name will only get you so far.”

  I catch, chuckling as I throw it back. “I could say the same to you, man.”

  “Hey, at least Ben and I have a gimmick. You…” He checks me up and down. “You have no gimmick.”

  “Well, keep your eyes peeled, Alex,” I say. “This year, you’ll see something new.”

  “Big words.” He throws the ball. “For such a tiny man.”

  The ball arches over my head and into the hands of his brother, Ben. I swivel around, glancing upward to look him in the eye. Same towering height. Same dark brown hair. Same cocky Kirby smirk. Identical in nearly every physical way. Eighteen years I’ve known these guys and I wouldn’t be able to tell them apart if it weren’t for the way they color-code themselves. Alex wears red. Ben wears blue.

  And Dana wears little yellow sundresses now, apparently.

  I spot her through the windows across the lawn, smiling and chatting with my mother at the kitchen counter.

  Ben steps forward into my eyeline. “Oh, we shitting on Connor now?” he asks with a grin. “I wanna play.”

  “No, we’re not,” I say.

  “Heartbreaker here thinks he’s shoo-in for scout QB,” Alex says.

  Ben laughs. “Of course he does. Didn’t you hear? Cary Pierce is his grandpappy.”

  Alex gasps. “You don’t say?”

  “Don’t call me Heartbreaker,” I say, extending my hands up as Ben throws the ball over my head toward Alex.

  “Aw, look at that,” Alex says as he catches it. “Wittle Mowgan gettin’ weal mad.”

  “I’m not mad,” I say. “And I’m not short. You guys are just freakishly tall.”

  Alex throws the ball. Again it sales over my head into Ben’s hands. “Are we?”

  “Yes.”

  “I don’t think so,” Ben says.

  Ben throws the ball. This time, I time my jump, leaping as high as I can to intercept it mid-air. I land on the grass, planting my feet and standing tall with the ball.

  “Yes,” I say. “You are.”

  They swoon with fake awe and amusement as another car rolls to a stop just behind the Kirby’s sedan on the street, this one an SUV. Another family of familiar faces steps out, one face in particular a copy and paste of Rose Kirby’s with darker lipstick.

  Her twin sister, Daisy.

  Multiples run in the family.

  “Hey, Coach Novak,” I greet her husband while she targets the car seat in the back.

  Hunter Novak steps onto the grass, followed closely by their daughter, Violet. She wears black from head-to-toe, her caramel-colored locks tumbling over one shoulder; the antithesis to Dana in nearly every way, but that hasn’t stopped them from being friends their entire lives.

  “Hey, cuz,” Ben says to Violet.

  She bobs her chin, barely glancing up from her
phone. “Yo.”

  “Hey, Connor,” Hunter says to me. I raise the ball, offering to throw it, but he waves a hand, declining the pass. Football isn’t his game. “Are we late?”

  I shake my head. “Nah. Still waiting on Coach.”

  “See?” Daisy says as she guides Aster out of his car seat. “I told you we weren’t late.”

  “Hey, you’re family,” I say. “And family can never be late, as my mom says.”

  “See?” she says to Hunter again before smiling at me. “Thank you, Connor.”

  Aster detaches from her as soon as he can and races toward us on the lawn. Alex takes a knee to scoop him up onto his shoulders, filling the neighborhood with infectious laughter only a six-year-old can provide. Aster beams. A child amongst giants.

  “Would you look at that?” Ben pokes Aster's belly. “Another few years and you’ll be taller than Morgan here.”

  I don’t laugh.

  “They used to tell me I was short, too,” Hunter says to me as they chuckle on. “It doesn’t matter as much as you’d think.”

  I smile, trusting his word. Hunter Novak is one of the greatest baseball players of his generation. I can probably take his word for it. “Thanks,” I say.

  “Anything I can say to convince you to tryout for baseball instead?” he asks, only slightly kidding. “We could use your speed.”

  I laugh. “Sorry. Pigskin is in my blood.”

  He shrugs. “Fair enough.”

  “Violet!”

  I instantly look at the porch. Dana is back, waving at Violet as she hops down the porch stairs. Violet abandons us and rushes toward her with open arms. They greet each other as if they haven’t seen one another in months, but I know they’ve spent almost the entire summer together along with my older sister, Courtney.

  I point over my shoulder. “Dads are at the grill, Coach.”

  He nods and starts that way as Daisy follows Violet inside.

  “Hey, Dana,” I say.

  She hangs back. I toss her the football, a light and casual throw. She startles, only for a second, before catching it with two capable hands.

  “You think I’ll be scout quarterback, right?” I ask her. “My dad has three championship rings. I gotta have it in me somewhere.”

  Dana considers for a moment. “Well, mine has four, so…” That cruel Kirby smirk. “If that’s the metric we’re going by, then I have a better chance than you do, Heartbreaker.”

  Oof.

  She throws the ball back to me. I let gravity plop it against my chest as she spins in her sandals and walks back inside, leaving her brothers to shred me with laughter.

  Et tu, Dana?

  CHAPTER 2

  DANA

  Courtney Morgan plops her palms on my shoulders and sighs. “Dana Kirby,” she says, tall and proud. “Kneel.”

  I laugh, rolling my eyes as I lower onto the carpet of her childhood bedroom. She regards me with intense focus, her blue eyes sparkling with over-dramatic flair.

  “Tomorrow,” she says, “you’re officially a Northie.”

  I open my mouth to speak. She shushes me.

  “You’re not a high school girl anymore. Now, you’re a college girl. Nay...” A sage-like nod. “A woman.”

  Violet snorts from the bed.

  Courtney fires a glare. “Vi...”

  “Yes?”

  “Was there something you wanted to add?”

  “Nope.”

  “Then, button it, outsider. This is official Beta Kappa business.”

  “My sincerest apologies.” Violet waves her arm, the upper half of an elegant plié. “Please continue.”

  I chuckle. Courtney diverts her glare toward me. I go quiet.

  “Dana.”

  “Yes, ma’am?” I reply.

  “As your sponsor, it is my responsibility to prepare you for what awaits you within the walls of the Beta Kappa sisterhood,” Courtney says. “Beta Kappa Beauties represent all things beautiful at Chicago North, from the purely aesthetic to the human spirit itself.”

  Violet coughs. “And blowjobs.” She coughs again.

  Courtney’s eyes burn in her direction again, but this time she smiles and... doesn’t refute it. “What happens at the Beta Kappa house stays at the Beta Kappa house.” Another smile. Warm and sister-like. “But if you have questions, fire away. I’m an open book.”

  “Why did I have to kneel for this?” I ask.

  Courtney shrugs. “I just wanted to see if you would do it.”

  With a laugh, she plops down to sit with me, playfully yanking the cushion out from under Violet as she goes. Violet rolls off the bed to join us on the floor.

  “Are you really gonna pledge?” Violet asks me.

  I nod. “Yes.”

  She grimaces. “Why?”

  “Why not?”

  “Aren’t they, like... a cult?”

  “No,” Courtney says. “They aren’t a cult. They’re a sorority.”

  “What’s the difference?”

  “Fuck you. That’s the difference.”

  They playfully slap each other.

  “I want to join,” I say as they simmer down. “I barely got to do anything in high school. This is my chance to do something fun without my mother hounding me about my inhaler or my father having a chat with the adult in charge to make sure I’m taken care of.” I sigh. “I want a normal college experience with parties and no curfews and—”

  “Sex with hot frat guys,” Violet says. “Yeah, we know.”

  They titter. I blush.

  “Well, no. I don’t mean that. I just don’t want to be treated like a broken kid anymore. I want to—”

  “Wake up in a random bed next to a sweaty frat guy after an all-night kegger,” Courtney quips. “We kno-o-o-w.”

  I deflate. “I want people to get to know me for me and not just because my dad’s famous.”

  “Oh, you’ll never outrun that,” Courtney says. “Trust me. During my freshman year, most guys hit on me just because they wanted to meet my dad. Double so for my mom. At least yours is just a professor. Mine’s been on billboards.”

  “Try being the Home Run Baby,” Violet adds. “Imagine the entire world knowing you exist because your parents had a drunken one-night stand.”

  I sigh. Great. “Well, I’m still gonna try,” I say. “There’s gotta be people at Chicago North who don’t care that my last name is Kirby.”

  “Right. You’ll blend right in... at the school where your mother currently has tenure. Nothing can go wrong with that.”

  “I get free tuition,” I mumble.

  “And I doubt anyone on Greek Row even remembers John Kirby,” Courtney says. “No, their eyes will glaze right over that very prominent commemorative parking space right outside the Delta Xi house.”

  “Or the wing named after him at the student rec center.”

  “Right. No one goes there anyway. Go, Bearhawks.”

  Again, my shoulders sag. “Go, Bearhawks.”

  “Listen, Dana, try not to worry about it,” Courtney says. “Sounds basic, but it’s true. Best thing you can do is ignore it and live your life. All kids of famous parents go through this. You’ll find your people. We did, too.”

  “Yeah?” I ask, hopeful.

  “Just keep your guard up,” she adds. “Because there are people out there who will try to take advantage of you. Luckily, they’re easy to spot.”

  “You might not spot them until your legs are over their shoulders, but meh.” Violet shrugs. “C’est la vie.”

  I blush. “Right.”

  Violet leans forward, studying me closely. “Hmm.”

  I tilt back. “What?”