Thorn: Bad Boys Love, #1

By Savina Joyce

Bad Boys Love Sports

 

Thorn was projected to be one of the best up-and-coming football players in the country until an injury killed his career, and his dreams. After his injury, he spent most of his time drinking. When he was offered a job as a doctor for a women's pro soccer team, he was happy to be back in the game, but the drinking didn't stop. His new boss refused to tolerate his vices and he couldn't keep his eyes off of her.

 

Gabriella had her dream job managing the women's soccer team in her hometown. All she needed was a doctor. When she found her old classmate down on his luck, she knew he was the right man for the job. Maybe even the right man for her.

 

Will Thorn's drinking and his bad attitude get in the way of his job and their budding attraction? Find out in the first book of Savina Joyce's Bad Boys Love series. Each book features a different couple and can be read as a standalone with a happily ever after ending.
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Savina Joyce
• Release date: May 7, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393604808

Book preview

Chapter One

Thorn

Thorn Thompson put the videotape in the old busted VCR. It was old technology, but he didn’t have the heart to transfer these tapes to DVD. He wanted to believe that someday he would stop reliving his past. He knew no good would come from watching them again, but he had to remember a time when he meant something. Anything.

Now he was a has been. Thorn never thought it would come to this. He never had any plans to come back to Rhode Island, but here he was. Every day hoping that he wouldn’t run into anyone that he knew from high school or college. Even grocery shopping was an exercise in anxiety. There was no avoiding it.

As his highlight reel began to play, he mouthed along with the words of the announcers. Watching himself race down the field was exhilarating. In between swigs of his beer, he called the plays along with the announcers.

Thorn had been such a strong player. Football was his life. He played ball since he was big enough to enter the peewee league. He was a standout from the start. It only made sense for him to continue it through high school and college. Most of the people raised around here never left. Thorn wanted to be the exception, and he grew up hoping that football could take him there.

In no time, he was a local sports star. Thorn was always making amazing plays and being featured on the local news. No one was surprised when he got picked up by The League. He had more rushing yards than anyone else on his draft list. He’s been training for the NFL since he was old enough to walk. It was all he ever wanted.

It still was. Even after all these years. Too bad he would never play again.

Watching his highlight reel was the worst thing he could do. It hurt him more each time. If he ever told anyone about it, he knew they would tell him to stop. Especially a therapist. Thorn didn’t do therapy. That’s what beer was for. Not that all he drank was beer. But he tried to keep it light during work hours.

Every interception he watched gave him a stinging sense of pain and pride. He involuntarily twitched his arms in time to the movements he made on the screen. Sometimes he felt a twinge in the bad shoulder that took him away from the life of his dreams. Frowning, he took another sip of his beer. Then another.

The only reason that he ended up back in Rhode Island was because of his older sister, Stacy. She was a nurse and insisted that he have a career to fall back on. Thorn still had some money left over after his football career blew up, but even he had to admit that he was bored. He had taken classes towards his physical therapy degree while he was in college. It was interesting at the time. He never thought he would have to finish it.

He was drafted into the NFL in the middle of his college career. As soon as the call came down, he left. His college courses were a faint memory.

After he had the labral tear in his shoulder, he had to have surgery and months of physical therapy. At the time of his injury, Thorn was signed as a free agent. His team had taken that as an opportunity to drop him, and no one else picked him up. He couldn’t blame them. His game was off no matter how hard he tried.

That’s when he started drinking. It didn’t matter the type of alcohol as long as it was wet. The cheap stuff was always available. Thorn didn’t think he had a problem. After all, he only drank on his down time. Alcohol did nothing to improve his mood, though. He