Quarterback's Secret Baby (Bad Boy Ballers) (8 page)

Kaden hadn't even taken the time to take the rest of his clothes off. I grabbed the bottom of his t-shirt and pulled it off over his head, increasingly desperate to feel his skin against my skin, and then sighed at the feeling of his bare chest against me. Nothing had ever felt so right or so perfect as being underneath Kaden that afternoon, opening my body for him, taking him. And as we moved our bodies together something started to happen. Something I hadn't expected at all. I dug my fingers into his shoulders as it came over me, the first little whispers of oblivion. I think he knew what it was before I did.

"Tasha," he panted, "are you going to come? You sound like-"

"Don't stop," I said, clutching him to me even harder. "Don't stop - oh my God, Kaden, please..."

He sped up. He sped up and I felt my mind starting to slip away a little more with every sweet motion of his hips.

"Kaden!" I cried out, suddenly desperate, clawing at his back. "Kaden, please!"

My body arched up off the blanket as a huge, rolling wave of pleasure wiped out every thought in my mind. There was no thought, only feeling, only bursts of sweetness deep inside me, in the exact place where he was. My body shook with it and I only managed to open my eyes in time to watch Kaden's face contort into a grimace as he went rigid and jerked his hips down.

He pushed his mouth against my neck in a futile attempt to muffle himself and bellowed my name. And God, there was so much physical power there when he came - enough to make it clear just how careful he really had been - how much he'd held back. He stayed inside me, emptying himself completely and breathing his ragged breaths into my mouth.

When some semblance of consciousness had returned I looked up at him. His cheeks were flushed red and his blonde hair was sticking to his sweaty forehead. I didn't say it, because as I said, I'd started to come back down to earth by then, but he was the sweetest thing I ever saw like that, all out of breath and so, so masculine.

Kaden pulled himself out of me very carefully. There was still a twinge, a bitten lip from me.

"I'm sorry," he said, lying down next to me on his side. "Is it - does it hurt? I tried to-"

I rolled over so I was facing him and kissed his damp forehead. "I know, Kaden. Yes, it hurts a little. Not too much. I just - that was-"

I couldn't find the words. It was alright, I didn't need to. I could see from the look on his face that Kaden knew what I meant. We lay there next to each other, both of us catching our breath and, I think, both of us trying to let what had just happened sink in. I pulled my t-shirt and my leggings back on, suddenly aware of the fact that we were in public - the middle of nowhere, yeah, but still technically in public.

"No panties?" Kaden asked, picking them up. "Can I keep them as a trophy?"

"They're soaking," I replied. "And cold. Brrr. I'm not putting those on."

"God, they
are
soaking. Damn, Tasha. Goddamn. Did I do that?"

"Yes," I said, very quietly, smiling at him. "You did."

There was something I wanted to ask him, too. Something I wasn't sure about, but was too curious to let go. When he stood up to pull his pants back up I decided it was now or never.

"Kaden?"

"Yeah?" He replied.

"Is it - uh, is it always, you know - like that?"

He lay back down and put one arm behind his head on the blanket, chuckling. "No. No, Tasha, it is not always like that."

"Oh. Is it better? Or worse?"

Kaden rolled over and kissed my neck, biting my earlobe gently. "It's usually worse. I mean, everyone likes getting laid, right? But it's not - yeah, it's not usually like that."

"Good," I said, smiling at how oddly proud that comment made me.

I dropped Tasha off at her house for a few hours before picking her up again to go to Reinhardt High's prom. It was still daylight when we arrived, and a lot of people were milling around outside taking pictures. Before we got out of the Suburban I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out the flask of whiskey I'd hidden there.

"Want some?" I asked Tasha. She was wearing a white strapless dress and that made her dark skin glow and she looked good enough to eat. Good enough to skip the whole fucking prom, in fact. She raised her eyebrows at me.

"Kaden! I hope you haven't had any of that yet."

"Nah," I said, truthfully. "But it's prom, isn't it? Come on, just have a sip. I'd be surprised if anyone here was sober tonight. Even the teachers."

I watched her as she raised the flask to her lips - those full, pink, perfectly-glossed lips - and took a small sip.

"Ugh! Kaden, how can you drink that stuff?" She spluttered, wiping her mouth and scrunching her eyes closed. She was so adorable. It was all I could do not to pull her onto my lap and bury my face in her cleavage.

"Well, I'm not drinking it for the taste," I laughed.

We walked in together and I noticed Kelsey Richards and a few of the cheerleaders loitering by the front door, eyeballing me.

"Hello, ladies!" I called, waving. Most of them waved back but Kelsey and a couple of others just gave me bitchface. I probably didn't even have the right to be angry so I just shrugged it off. It didn't matter anyway - I was at my high school prom with Tasha Greeley, the girl I'd crushed on from afar since we were little kids. And I was at prom with her after taking her virginity mere hours beforehand. I felt like the goddamned king of the world.

There were more photos to take inside. We'd agreed to spend some time with our own friends during the evening - there was no hostility there but we had different social circles. And something told me Tasha and her friends didn't want to hang out with a bunch of half-drunk football jock idiots anyway.

It took me longer to get finished with the pictures because more and more people kept asking me to pose with them. I gave Tasha a little 'are-you-OK-with-this?' look when something like the tenth person asked and she just threw me a smile and a shrug, nodding. God, she was perfect.

I put an arm around the girl who'd just asked for a photo. "Just in case you get famous!" She giggled, smiling at her friend who was holding up her phone. When everyone seemed to be satisfied I jogged back up to Tasha, who had a big grin on her face.

"What are you smiling at?" I asked, bending down to kiss her cheek. It was difficult for me not to just push her up against the wall and keep kissing her but that probably would have gotten us kicked out pretty quick.

"You," she said. "You're famous!"

"Nah, they're just hoping I get drafted so they can sell those photos on eBay or something."

"Maybe the guys," Tasha teased me. "I think the girls are all in love with you."

I don't know why that comment - which she obviously meant to be affectionate - bothered me so much but it did. It was probably just self-consciousness at how happy I'd been to have sex with anything that moved for the past two years or so, until I got with Tasha. I did a quick check to see if any of the teachers were nearby and, when I didn't see any, pulled out the flask and took another swig.

"You better slow down there, cowboy," Tasha giggled. "Or you're not going to be able to put one foot in front of the other."

We made our way into the gymnasium. That Black Eyed Peas song about having a good night was playing and the prom committee had hung balloons and streamers and little LCD-light 'stars' from the ceiling.

"Cheesy," I commented.

"It's supposed to be cheesy," Tasha responded, looking up at me. "I actually feel a little emotional. That's weird, I didn't think I would."

"Really?" I asked. "You feel emotional about Reinhardt High? I don't know, Tasha, I think most of us are counting down the hours until we get the hell out of this place."

We sat down on a bench and she gave me a little shrug. "Yeah, I know. But this is a big deal, Kaden. This is our high school prom. It only happens once - and you know what it means, don't you?"

"There's gonna be a lot of puke all over the parking lot tomorrow?"

Tasha gave me a playful punch on the arm. "No, idiot. It means adulthood is imminent. Literally weeks away. That's kind of heavy, no?"

I bit back another joshing response - she was being serious - and gave it some thought. "Yeah, you're right. I mean, maybe it's going to be a shock for some more than others, you know? You've already had a job for, what, two years? You've already got more responsibility on your shoulders than most thirty-year-olds, Tasha."

She was going to respond when the first notes of 'Don't Want To Miss A Thing' by Aerosmith came floating out of the big speakers that had been set up near the stage. Instead, she just grabbed me. "Kaden! We
have
to dance to this!"

The gym floor was immediately flooded with couples - I took Tasha by the hand and led her into the fray, holding back more commentary on the cheese-factor of the whole thing. Aerosmith? Really? I wouldn't have gotten anywhere near that dance floor if it wasn't for Tasha - but somehow she made it OK. She looked up at me as we danced and her smile was so pure and genuine I actually felt my too-cool cynicism start to waver. I bent down so I could whisper in her ear:

"Damn, I think you're making me soft."

"Why's that?" She asked, speaking up so I could hear her over the music.

"I was just thinking that maybe you're right. I mean, even if this is cheesy, it's still prom, right? It's still something we're going to remember the rest of our lives, right?"

"Yes!" She laughed. "Yes, Kaden! Just go with it. You don't always have to be Mr. Cool Quarterback, you know."

"Alright. But don't tell anyone, OK?"

"OK."

She tilted her face up to me, then, and I kissed her, slipping my tongue into her mouth - and my hand down onto her ass - without thinking.

"BARLOW!"

Fuck! I jerked away from Tasha, expecting to see Mr. Ward or one of the teachers but it was just Jake Roberts - one of my teammates. He was with Aaron Sokolsky and a few of the other guys.

"You dick!" I yelled, before turning back to Tasha.

"Barlow! You pussy-whipped bitch! We just need you for a few minutes, man!"

I actually didn't even want to go with the guys - not right then, anyway. I knew they were just ragging on me but the term 'pussy-whipped bitch' got under my skin a little. The song was ending, though, and Tasha was waving across the gym at a group of her own friends who had just arrived.

"Go," she said. "Go hang out with the jocks. Meet you back here - whenever? An hour?"

"Cool. Yeah. Ok, Tasha. Be good."

I bent down to kiss her one more time. If only I'd stayed where I was. If only I hadn't joined Aaron and Jake and all the other football players in the empty classroom they'd managed to sequester and immediately started downing shots of vodka.

"How did you get this in here?" I asked, swigging straight from the bottle.

"You fucking savage, Barlow. Use a goddamn glass." Josh Barton shoved a shot glass at me and nodded towards a cabinet at the back of the room. "Snuck it in two weeks ago, didn't we? That cabinet is always empty and we knew they were gonna be searching everyone tonight. So we just stocked up when Sokolsky's older brother was in town to buy us the liquor."

I grinned, impressed at the unusual forethought from my teammates. I guess if there was partying involved they could manage it.

"So," someone said, coming up behind me and slapping me on the back hard enough to make me take a step forward. Only one person was big enough to hit that hard as part of a friendly greeting I turned around. Yep, Steve Carlson. Our biggest and best linebacker.

"Steve," I said as someone else pushed a shot into his hand. "What's up, man?"

"Tonight? Probably me, later on. So many cherries just ripe for the picking - you know what I'm saying?"

I knew what Steve Carlson was saying. When I didn't respond immediately he started razzing me.

"Oh yeah, Barlow. Heard you got yourself a bitch. Full-time bitch, I mean."

There was something jarring about hearing Tasha referred to as a 'bitch.' Before we'd gotten together that kind of language was just normal locker-room stuff. I had no trouble taking part. And I knew if I said anything I was going to get the 'aww, we just mean a female' line - a line I myself had, I was sure, probably used a few times. Still, I didn't like it being used in reference to Tasha. I looked around for the vodka and signaled one of the guys to pour me another one.

"What?" Steve asked, watching me closely. That asshole always knew when he'd gotten to someone. And up until that point, it had never been me. "How many bitches you called bitches before, Barlow? You gonna go all white knight now because it's
your
girl we're talking about? You think she's something special, do you? Yeah, I can see that puppy-dog look in your eyes right now, man. Well, listen up. You're gonna go off to college - and believe me, these Reinhardt bitches ain't got shit on college ladies - and she'll still be here. How long do you think it's going to take her to get a little lonely? How long 'til she's hopping on every dick she sees?"

I knew what Steve was doing. He was doing what he always did when he sensed a sore spot - poking it over and over and over until he got a reaction.

"Fuck off, Carlson" I said, snatching a shot out of someone's hand as it was offered to me and downing it in one gulp. 'You're just mad because you're never going to get so much as a kiss on one of those fat cheeks of yours from a girl like Tasha."

"What was that?" Steve boomed, stepping towards me. I did the same, getting up in his face and everyone just piled on and pulled us away from each other before it could go any farther. It was Sokolsky who dragged me to the back of the room and handed me a bottle of water.

"Cool it, Kaden. It's prom night. Don't let that piece of shit get to you - you know he's just sore because he doesn't have NFL scouts swarming all over him like you do."

I opened the water and took a big gulp. "Yeah," I said to Aaron. "I know. I'm sorry, man - actually, yeah, I'm sorry. Here I am getting all steamed up over this shit and I know damn well I gave it to you for months. Karma's a bitch, huh?"

To his credit, Aaron just waved my apology off and told me not to worry about it. After that little almost-fight with Carlson the atmosphere in the room seemed to chill out a little. A bunch of cheerleaders showed up, which admittedly created a handy distraction for the rest of the guys and I drank more vodka. A lot more vodka, actually. I remember looking outside and noticing that it was already dark out - it had still been daylight when I'd left Tasha in the gym. It crossed my drunk mind to go and find her but as soon as I tried to head out someone - I forget who - handed me another shot and started talking about the relative merits of various about NFL quarterbacks - a topic which even my sober self wouldn't have been able to resist.

It was in the middle of that conversation, which involved about ten of us and which none of us were really following, that I felt a hand on my back. A small, obviously female hand. Tasha. She'd come to find me. I reached back behind me and squeezed her ass.

Was it a dimly lit room? Yeah, it was. There was only a single light on, right at the back - we didn't want to attract any attention from teachers. So yeah, the room was dimly lit but mostly, I was completely fucking drunk. When I turned around to kiss Tasha I just...didn't look. It seemed obvious that it was her.

It was only a few good seconds later that the taste of cigarettes actually registered in my brain. Cigarettes? But Tasha didn't smoke...? I stumbled back and allowed my eyes to slowly focus on the person in front of me. A face and a body appeared out of the spinning colors.

Kelsey Richards. FUCK. She was smiling, too. Had she done it on purpose? I took an awkward step forward and immediately felt someone dragging me back.

"Whoa, cool down, Barlow. We don't hit women."

I turned to see who was holding me back. Carlson. Anger tightened my throat. "I wasn't going to fucking hit her!" I bellowed, yanking my arm out of his grip. And that much was true - I wasn't going to hit her. I was just trying to get myself the hell out of there.  As soon as Carlson had let me go, I lurched towards the door, determined to find Tasha.

"Kaden, wait!"

It was Kelsey, and she was grabbing my sleeve, trying to stop me. "Kaden! Wait a sec - I just want to talk to you."

I spun around and slurred "Fuck off!" She was lucky I was too drunk to put a sentence together at that moment, because I wanted to say a lot more. Kelsey knew I was with Tasha - everyone at school did. Without the dampening effects of alcohol on my brain I think things would have gotten a lot uglier. Even with the "fuck off" her face was already crumpling into tears and Carlson was already moving in for the kill, wrapping his arm around Kelsey and pointing towards the door, shouting at me to get out. Which is exactly what I wanted to do.