Sacked (The Alpha Ballers#2) (21 page)

“Yeah, I remember. We were roommates, Drake, I was there.”

“And you certainly didn’t make it easy on me, Parker! I could have sworn you hated me from the moment I arrived.”

“We,” I began, “had a rough start but made it work.”

“Yeah. That we did, that we did.”

“And you had Lily on your side, that must have helped.”

Drake looked forward and couldn’t keep the smile off his face. “She’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me, Lance, and I include football and playing for the Patriots.” He looked down and over at me, a little bit sheepish. “But, uh, don’t let anyone else hear that.”

“You’ll have to buy my silence.”

Drake chuckled. “Find the right girl, Lance, find the right girl. It makes all the difference in the world.” He leaned in. “What am I saying, I don’t need to tell you that, you already found the right girl, yeah?”

I met Drake’s intense stare. “Yeah, Drake, I think I have.”

He clapped me on the back again. “My man, I knew it. Lily’s gonna be thrilled to hear it too, she’s been talking non-stop about you two for weeks now.” He got quiet again. “Whatever you do, do not let that woman write a romance novel about you two. She wrote one about us and made me read it.” He closed his eyes and looked like he was in pain. “I could not get through it! She wrote me like the biggest asshole on Earth, man! It wasn’t fair!”

I laughed out loud. I had missed this kind of stuff. “OK, I’ll make sure Lily doesn’t write a book about us. That’s good advice.”

“The best I’ve got.” He saw Charlotte and Lily talking over on the other sideline. “You two are really good together, I’m happy for you.”

“I know, it’s been a rough season for her, I haven’t been the best lately.”

“I think she understands, man, she could have been reassigned if she didn’t. She wanted to say and work with you, she wanted to stay and be close to you. That’s not nothing, you know?”

Drake was right, of course. Charlotte had stuck around the entire time through all the ups and downs and here I was still wondering whether she was even interested in me.
 

“I gotta roll, dude, got a receivers meeting to get to before dinner. You gonna be alright?”

“Yeah, Drake, thanks, I’ll be fine. Great to hang out again.”

Drake stood up, tossing his empty cup. “Give it a little time, Parker, you’ll be throwing me touchdowns again soon enough.”

“I know it.”

Drake waved and walked away, leaving me alone on the bench. The sun was still out and it felt great to sit there and bask in its rays after weeks of being cooped up inside.

I watched Charlotte and Lily talk on the other side of the field. They hugged and separated, and Charlotte waved at me, and I thought for a brief second that she would come over and hang out with me a bit outside, but she hesitated, looked toward the door, and waved at me again before going back into the facility.

Everything was fine, right?

I didn’t want to think about this stuff. All I wanted to do was focus on football and making sure I was in the best possible position to start again, but Charlotte had basically taken over my mind in just a few short weeks. I couldn’t stop thinking about her, how much I wanted her, how much I loved her company, how much it thrilled me to see her come into my room every few hours.

Something was up, though, and I needed to know what it was.

CHAPTER 18 - CHARLOTTE

A couple days after Lance found out from Coach Armstrong that he’d be riding the bench for Oliver Lee, at least in the short term, Lance moved out of the medical wing and back to his regular room in the facility. The entire staff was sorry to see him go, me especially, but I was really glad that he was well enough to be able to live on his own and take care of his knee by himself.

It still stung that he wouldn’t be starting - I could see it in Lance’s eyes that being the Patriots’ backup haunted him, and that he was willing to do whatever it took to change that situation. At the same time, though, there wasn’t much he could do - just attend meetings, go to practice, get stronger, and wait for Coach Armstrong to decide to give Lance a try again.

It was a waiting game - different than waiting to recover from an injury, but almost more frustrating because now I could tell that Lance felt 100%, and he was raring to go, but was unable to move because Oliver Lee was in his way.

After Lance moved out, I went into the room he’d stayed in for the last few weeks and stood just beyond the doorway for a few minutes, after closing the door behind me. The room felt so empty now that Lance was gone. All that we had shared in this room, mostly fighting but a lot of fun and many stolen kisses too, all felt different, as if suddenly none of it was real because Lance wasn’t living here anymore.

I sighed, and before I knew what I was doing I found myself walking through the facility to the residence area, where Lance still lived alone. I went up to his door and found it open, with Lance inside unpacking the bag he had brought to the medical wing weeks earlier.

It was so good to see him, but at the same time, the nagging feeling of unease that had been following me for a week now hadn’t let go - I still knew there was something wrong between Lance and I.

He looked up when he saw me standing just outside. “Hey, Charlotte!” he smiled, opening his arms out. “It’s like a housewarming party! Come on in!”

I stepped in, wondering from Lance’s remark about the housewarming party if anyone else was already here, but the small studio was empty. “I love what you’ve done with the place.” I closed the door behind me, and once again Lance and I were in our own little world.

Somehow, with us, that felt right, that felt natural.

“I like to call it my…tan period,” Lance said with gusto.

“Well, it is very tan.” That was about all I could say about the place. It was daily nondescript.

“Can I do anything for you?”

“Oh, no, I just wanted to see how you were adjusting to living back in your old place, is all, I was just walking by…”

Lance put his hands on his hips. “Just walking by, eh?”

My face reddened. “Yeah, what of it?”

“Charlotte, I’m the only person in this entire wing of the facility. If anyone’s here these days, I’m usually involved. You weren’t just walking by…”

“Fine, fine, I wasn’t. I just…I wanted to see you.”

Lance’s gaze softened and he stepped toward me. “Charlotte, did you miss me living in the medical wing?”

“No! That’s not it at all!” I turned around, unable to face him, trying to find the right words, but as soon as I had, I felt Lance’s huge arms wrap me up and pull me into him. “Mmmmm,” I moaned, letting my legs turn to putty and collapsing into his arms. “That feels amazing.”

“I missed being so close to you too, Charlotte,” Lance whispered gruffly into my ear. “I liked having you at my beck and call.”

My eyes dropped open. “Ugh!” I shook free of his arms. “Come on! You did not just say that.”

Lance chuckled, crossing his arms over his chest. That’s where I should have been right then, pressed up against his chest. “What? It’s true! That was super hot.”

“I was being professional, Lance! That was work! I’m very good at what I do!”

“Don’t I know it. And it wasn’t all professional, was it?”

“N-No, of course not.”

Lance opened his arms wide again. “I know which parts were professional and which were personal,” he growled, inviting me in with his low voice.

I couldn’t help it, I rushed back to him, jumping into his arms and planting kiss after kiss into his face and lips. “And this,” he moaned in between kisses, “is strictly personal.”

“I like the sound of that,” I whispered. “Fuck me, Lance.”

“How could I refuse such a request?”

“Don’t even think about it.”

“I don’t have time to.” And then we were kissing and our clothes were coming off and Lance was pressing his cock into me.

I was soaking wet and he slid right in, filling me to the hilt on his first stroke. We found our now-familiar rhythm and I watched the fire in Lance’s dark eyes as I rode his cock, shocked at how much this man turned me on, how much I wanted to rake my fingernails over his strong back, how I wanted to map out all his muscles and write a book about them.

Lance couldn’t stay away from my boobs while we fucked. At all times he kept at least one hand on them, the other on my waist, guiding me up and down and controlling the speed at which he moved me to make the most of our connected time, which made it even hotter to me.

I’d look down and see his huge and rough hands gripping my small body and nearly collapse out of lust and desire. He filled me up and I shook my dark hair out, clasping my hands together behind Lance’s neck and leaning back throwing my head back as far out as I could, thrusting my breasts toward him, my nipples aching for the touch of his lips, his fingers, his teeth.

I stared deep into his eyes and wondered what he was thinking while he fucked me. Did he appreciate all I did to make him feel good? Did he like how I looked when I rolled forward and presented my breasts to him? Or was he thinking, like all girls guess guys think, “having sex woo!”

I shook my head and thankfully those thoughts disappeared and I got back into the moment, just as Lance took his hand off my breasts and reached around my back, into my hair, and pulled it downward toward the bed. I moaned, loving the light pain his hair pulling caused, and I looked up in reflex.

Lance leaned forward and began attacking my neck with his lips, kissing me all up and down, trailing his tongue lightly across me. He knew just how much that turned me on, and I shuddered with delight as he did it, my breath hitching in my lungs as I tried to make sense of all that I was feeling.

My legs tightened around his, and Lance growled as he started to get even hotter, and I moaned along with him, feeling my own orgasm rushing toward me like an oncoming train. I couldn’t hold it till he was ready this time, and after a few more seconds I pressed my head into Lance’s massive chest and screamed as I came.
 

Lance picked up the pace at which he lifted and lowered me onto his cock and I responded, ragged from cumming but still eager to make him feel good. When he came, Lance groaned and looked up, his eyes rolling back, and he shook below me as I felt the rush of his cum inside the condom.

We must have taken a short nap after that, because when I next gathered my wits about me, we were lying in Lance’s bed, with just the sheet over us. I wasn’t cold, though, even though they barely climate controlled the residence wing since no one but Lance lived here. Lance had me in his arms and his huge mass kept me entirely warm enough for my taste.

The nagging feeling in the back of my head had finally decided that it was done hanging out in the rear and had come forward. It pounded into my head like a migraine and I couldn’t shake it. All of a sudden being in this room with Lance, in his arms, all of which should have felt right and perfect and wonderful just felt scary and full of doubt, and I had to get out of there as quickly as I possibly could.

I wriggled free enough to look at the clock on the wall and realized I had spent way more time here than I had expected to, and I tried to get out of the bed without waking Lance.

“Hey,” he grunted, coming awake and rolling over, a big arm covering me up, momentarily making me lose my focus. “Where are you going?”

“I gotta go, I didn’t realize how late it was. We fell asleep!”

“Yeah, that sometimes happens after you do what we just did,” Lance said with a grin. “We could go for another round.”

“I really do have to go, Lance,” I murmured, getting out of bed and looking around for my clothes. I found them in a pile near the chair and I hurried over there and started getting dressed.

“Oh, uh, OK,” Lance shook his head and watched me get dressed. “

“What’re you looking at?”

He propped his head up on his arm, still watching me. “I like watching you put on clothing almost as much as I like watching you take it off.”

Ordinarily that would have made me swoon, and more than likely jump back to bed with him. But right now it just made me want to leave faster. What was going on with me?

I had no idea.

“Charlotte,” Lance started, sitting up in bed, his hands on either side of his legs. “Is everything OK?” He sounded concerned. Momentarily, I was thrilled that Lance had started noticing these cues of mine.

“Yes, everything’s fine.” I looked around for the rest of my stuff, then I stopped, closed my eyes, took a deep breath, then opened them. “Wait, that’s not fair to you. No, Lance, things aren’t OK.”

“I could tell. What’s wrong?”

“This, right? This is all wrong. You and me, this is all wrong. We can’t make this really work, can we?”

Lance frowned. “I don’t understand. We seem to be doing OK until just now…”

I almost laughed, but it came out wrong. “Doing OK? We’ve had more ups and downs than a romantic comedy, Lance, and it’s only been a few weeks that we’ve known each other!”

“I know it hasn’t been ideal, but…”

“But what?” My voice raised as I finally let all of it out. “We met and slept together on the first night. Neither of us thought this was going anywhere! We were never supposed to see each other again!”

Lance stood up and looked down at me. “Is that what you wish had happened? That we never saw each other after that night?”

“No!” I gulped, “I mean, sometimes maybe. It would make things easier, certainly.”

“I don’t try and make things easier for myself, Charlotte. I try to do the right thing.”

“That’s bullshit, Lance, and you know it. All this nonsense about a rule, no dating during the season, all that stuff. That’s just making things easier for you, isn’t it? That’s just denying who you are so it’s easier to play football!”

He had nothing to say, but he opened and closed his mouth a few times before he could find the words. “What’re you saying? You want to end this right now?”

“That’s best, isn’t it? You’re about to get back on the field, and soon you’ll be starting. Irrational confidence and optimism, isn’t that what you called it?”