Off the Field: Bad Boy Sports Romance (18 page)

“What are you thinking about?” he asked.

“Lots of stuff,” I lied.

“Okay, you don’t have to tell me.”

“Huh?” I peered up at his face. “I just told you.”

“That’s a bullshit answer, and you know it. Don’t get me wrong. I really don’t care that much, but you shouldn’t go around lying to people, even if they’re innocent little lies.”

“White lies?” I asked as I giggled.

He chuckled. “You’re the funniest woman I’ve met in a while.”

“You need to get out more.”

“I do. And I think I will now. You’ve awakened something in me.”

I reached down and squeezed his manhood as it rested.

“Yeah, that, but something else too. I want to thank you.”

“Mmmm…” I sighed, content living in the moment. “I could go to sleep again.”

“Go ahead. I can leave, if you want.”

“No. Stay. Please.”

He sighed contentedly and squeezed me closer. A feeling of safety fell over me as I laid in bed next to him. We’d just met, but after what we’d just shared, I considered him a friend. Even better, our hook-up had convinced me I was making the right decision moving to California to start a new life.

“Are you leaving tonight?” he asked.

“No. I was going to sleep here if that’s okay.”

“I’d like that.”

I wondered briefly if I should express my sadness at him losing his wife, but I decided not to bring it up. The moment was too perfect to risk ruining it. For such a big and well-endowed man, Jerome was a very respectful, romantic and giving lover. Gradually, I fell asleep under the blankets and snuggled up against Jerome, the best man in Pennsylvania.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

When I woke up in the morning, he was on the other side of the bed still asleep. His snores almost made me laugh for some reason. I managed to keep from giggling so I didn’t wake him up. After I carefully climbed out of bed, I got dressed quickly. His body looked peaceful. I watched him sleep for a moment or two before I headed down the stairs to the garage. In the office, I wrote a quick note on a receipt.

“If I’m ever in Pennsylvania again, I’ll be sure to look you up. Thanks again. You’re the best. –Nikki xoxo”

I left $500 with the note to pay for the tow and fixing my car. I didn’t know if it was too much or not enough, but I was somehow sure I’d run into Jerome at least once again in my life. It was the last of the cash I had on me, but I could stop at a bank. Hell, you can go buy a better car if you want. That’s probably a good idea. Outside in the morning sun, I stretched.

A smile spread over my face. In some small way, I’d grown as a person in the last twenty-four hours. Thoughts of Steven sleeping with Maryanne faded in my mind a little more as I got into my car and started it up. Before Jerome woke up, I drove away and into Scranton. The theme song for The Office played in my mind, causing me to smile.

My life wasn’t perfect, but for the first time in a long time, I had hope that it was about to get a lot better. I didn’t want to make sleeping with strangers a common practice, but the night with Jerome was special to me. I’d never forget the way he’d treated me, the pleasures he’d given my body. Even if I never saw him again, he would hold a special place in my memories.

The miles between me and him began to add up as I made it through Scranton and headed west toward Pittsburgh and then Ohio, a place I’d never been before. While I had a lot to think about and decisions to make, for the moment I was happy. What other adventures await me as I travel cross country? I couldn’t wait to find out.

Nikki Flees to the Cleve

I stared out the plate glass window in front from behind the counter. Life as a barista wasn’t too bad. It wasn’t much different than being a babysitter. After leaving Pennsylvania, I heard some crazy guy called Xander on late night college radio talking about an artistic revolution happening in the Tremont neighborhood in Cleveland. He got me so worked up, I decided to Flee to the Cleve to see for myself.

A month later, I’d infiltrated myself into the local scene by getting a job at The Loop, one of the popular coffee shops that had sprouted up in the area. Xander and I had hung out a few times and smoked pot together. We clicked on a level I hadn’t achieved with any of the other men I’d been with in my life. He was definitely walking that thin line between genius and madness.

Is that what attracts me to him so much? I wondered as a random hipster strolled up, opened the door, and came in. As he walked over to the counter to place his order, I took a deep breath. Dealing with dumbass hipsters all day was the only negative thing about my job. The free coffee was nice, but the customers were a lot worse in my mind.

“Can I help you?” I asked as friendly as I could muster on an early Tuesday afternoon.

“Yes. Do you have goat milk or cow milk?”

Fuck… I smiled. “Both, of course. This is The Loop. We’re known for our dedication to dairy as well as the local art community.”

He held his palm up, as if to stop me from talking. What am I? Some kind of fucking Wii game to him? The smile on my face was frozen in place, but inside my mind, I let the guy have it. While I didn’t need the job, the money was nice and it had allowed me to get closer to Xander without being too pushy. Friends first was going to be one of my new mottos in life.

“Make it a half-mocha with a shot of goat milk, two teaspoons of cow milk, three seconds of whipped cream and…”

“We’re out of that,” I interrupted.

“Which part?”

“All of it. I can get you a small or tall coffee. That work?”

He snorted, as if I’d actually offended him in some way. “Is your manager around? I’d like to talk to your baristavisor.”

I laughed. “My what?”

“The supervisor of the baristas here. I’d like to file a complaint.”

Without saying a word, I pointed to a huge painting on the wall. “Can you read that?”

“What?” he asked as he turned around.

“Cleveland is the city where we come from so run,” I said simply.

“What’s Harvey Pekar have to do with you having a bad attitude?”

“Just leave, okay?”

His eyes widened in surprise. “Did you just tell me, a customer, to leave?”

“Um. Yeah.”

He raised his arm and pointed at me, about to say something, but nothing came out of his mouth as I stared him down, calm, cold and collective like a true citizen of Cleveland. Frustrated, he stormed out of the shop. A real artist, a painter, raised a fist in support from a nearby table. We were the only two people in the shop. Well, until Xander showed up a few minutes later.

“Hey, Nikki,” he said, leaning against the counter and stroking his thick, long goatee.

“Hey, Xander. What’s up? You want a cup?”

“No. I mean yeah. The coffee, but I want to invite you to my poetry rendition tonight.”

I laughed at his awkwardness. He found it hard to talk to people, to get them to understand, but I could see he had a brilliant mind underneath it all. That or he was really fucking crazy. Either way, I loved spending time with him and wanted to take it a little further. Steven the billionaire still popped in my thoughts occasionally, but with each day that passed I was able to forget him a little more.

“Don’t you mean poetry reading?”

“No. That’s for chumps. I do poetry renditions. They’re much better.”

As I looked into his eyes, I marveled at how alive he seemed. Some sort of fire burned in his pupils. When I stared into them sometimes, I saw the universe and it all made sense. A lot of that could be due to all the magic mushrooms I’d been taking since getting to Cleveland. For the first time in my life, I understood my mind a little bit.

“Ahh, I see. Yeah, I’ll come. Maybe we can take a trip after?”

“I’ll be tripping during, but you can come along if you want.”

“I want,” I said as sexily as I could manage.

Sometimes I had a hard time figuring out if he realized I was hitting on him or not. He was into women, but I couldn’t pin down whether or not he was into me. I wanted him inside me. My last two cocks had been huge. I hoped he was more of a normal size. As long as he could make me come, I would be happy and satisfied.

He smiled. “Great. Meet me at my apartment tonight around six and we’ll eat some ‘shrooms.”

“Will do. Did you want a coffee or something?”

“No, I just came to see you, silly.”

My heart melted a little as he winked and walked away. Xander was so different than all the other men I’d been with, I was sure he was the guy who would grow old with me. After he left, I was in a good mood all afternoon. No matter how many pseudo-hipsters wandered in asking for arcane drinks in a particular order, I just smiled and did their bidding.

When Charli, my replacement, arrived early, I convinced her to take over for me so I could rush home and get ready to go hook up with Xander and his magic mushrooms. The studio apartment I lived in was sparse, but I didn’t spend much time in it and the rent was cheap. It was a real find. Back at my place, I got dressed in a loose fitting sun dress.

Xander swore he didn’t like make-up on women, but I put on my face before I left to meet him. If I looked my best around other people, they usually treated me better. Cleveland instead of California would’ve never occurred to me a few months earlier. Now, it made perfect sense. After being drawn to the city on the rebound, I found my potential soul mate.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Half an hour after I wolfed down a couple stems, the psychedelics kicked in. Unlike the other times I’d experimented with the drug, I was out in public. As I looked across the table at Xander, whose goatee was growing as I watched, I wondered how the hell he was going to get up and read poetry in the front of the dozens of people crowded into The Loop’s booths.

“Hey,” I said, my hands clasping my coffee mug.

“What?” he asked, a faraway look on his face.

“Huh?”

“You said hey.”

“Oh, yeah. How are you going to read poetry like this, dude?”

“Read poetry?” He cackled with laughter. “I’m going to be doing a poetry rendition.”

The emcee at the microphone on stage called Xander’s name. He jumped out of his seat and made his way through the crowd. As I watched him, I realized his uniqueness might be why I was so attracted to him. Would it last if we got together? Ooh. That was cool. My thoughts flew past my consciousness in quick succession, leaving me muddled and confused but calm.

It’s all going to work out, Nikki. You had to Flee to the Cleve for a bit. It happens to the best of us. Wait. Who is that? Am I thinking my thoughts or is someone else? I shook my head, trying to orientate myself. Up on stage, Xander whistled into the microphone then made random chirping sounds. After just a few seconds, the audience erupted into boos for his performance.

At the peak of the hate for him, he stopped making the random sounds and started spitting beautiful words that were all married to each other in some sort of open relationship with both vowels and consonants welcome. Silence fell over the room as he cooed us with his verbal gymnastics without any beat or music in the background. It was sweet. Tight. Brilliant.

When he finally finished, gasping for breath, the audience clapped and cheered him. He bowed then handed the mic to the emcee and headed back to our table. As he walked over, literally getting pats on the back for his poetry rendition, I realized why I was in Cleveland. I’d always had a connection to the arts. Well, the artists and the art. People fascinated me, especially the strange ones.

“People are strange,” Jim Morrison’s ghost sang in my mind as Xander sat down across from me. His face was glowing – literally. It was probably the ‘shrooms, but I could see an aura around him. We made eye contact. I reached across the table and took his hand in mine. As soon as our skin touched, electricity rushed through my body. My nipples tingled.

“That. Was. Amazing. Can we go back to your apartment? I’m kinda freaking out with all these people.”

He nodded, not saying a word. I hated to tear him away from his adoring fans, but I wanted to get him alone. My mind was tripping balls, and I wanted to see his naked body, to feel his skin touch mine. All over. We stood up at the same time. A few people watched as we left together. Even though his place was only a few blocks away, the walk back was a strange one.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

We made it to his second story apartment what seemed like ten hours later. When I checked the time on my phone, only about ten minutes had passed. I laughed, the whole idea of having a miniature communication device in my purse was just ludicrous. He glanced over at me. His eyes were intense. I was afraid they might burn me if I looked into them for too long.

“What’s so funny?” he asked.

“Phones.”

“Right?”

I giggled again. “And the time. I thought for sure it took us at least two hours to get here.”

“Good ‘shrooms.” He shut his apartment door and turned to me. “What do you want to do?”