Hook Up (A Bad Boy Sports Romance) (8 page)

I
t was
Monday morning and I was on a mission. Find a job within a two-mile radius of Rose’s place by the end of the day, or die trying. That may have been a tall order, and sure, I was overly dramatic. The thing was, I’d already forked over my share of the rent to Rose last night. Seeing my tiny nest egg diminish by almost ten percent within the first day of getting to New Orleans got me to the point of desperation. At any moment I expected to break out in hives from worry.

What threw me over the edge was the call from my cousin after that. The tow truck driver had dropped off my car, and my cousin had asked a mechanic friend to see if it was repairable. According to the mechanic, my car could get back on the road for only five thousand dollars.

Five thousand dollars?

That was what I screamed into the phone, after which I told him to scrap the piece of shit Frankencar, and keep the money. It may have had sentimental value, but I was not so hard up for my own set of wheels to fork out pretty much the rest of my life savings.

Taking the bus started to look damn good.

So I was officially carless and jobless. Finding a job today would take care of at least one of those things. Yesterday, I had gone for a nice long walk around the area, and had seen several places with
‘Now Hiring’
signs in their windows. Those were what my aunt would call low-hanging fruit. They were old school, usually mom and pop places where the owner worked the business on-site, unlikely to post job openings online, even more unlikely to ask for a resume, and if the sign was still up today or a few days later, they would probably give anyone who walked in looking half-decent and more or less sane a shot.

I looked half-decent.

I was more or less sane.

I had a shot.

I put on a nicely ironed white, collared button-down shirt, my best-looking pair of black pants, and the only pair of black low-heeled pumps I owned. I pulled my hair neatly back into a bun, put on a small amount of makeup, and headed off to get my first job. Low-hanging local fruit, ripe for the picking.

Four hours later I was hot and sweaty, my feet were sore, and I was still jobless. I was turned away by three places because the owner was not actually working today. At the fourth place, the bistro owner looked me up and down, and sized me up as not having enough experience. Just like that. The fifth place I got to was a nice-looking restaurant, but it was closed until after four in the afternoon because they only opened for two dinner sittings. I could check that out later on, but it wasn’t a solution. I needed something now.

On my way back home I took a different route to cover more ground. I passed by a corner store and was so tired and thirsty from the heat, I went in for bottled water. As I got my money out to pay the cashier, I saw the sign behind her.

Now Hiring.

Woot!

This was three blocks away from Rose’s place. Sure, they probably paid minimum wage, and corner store patrons never tipped, but I needed to at least try. After I had paid her, I asked about the opening.

“Yes, they’re still hiring. It’s for evening shifts from Wednesday to Sunday. You’d work alone too, for minimum wage. Do you want the owner’s number? He’s got a bunch of these shops around town, but if you phone, you could probably meet him today.”

“That would be great. Thanks!”

She passed me a business card. “You got a resume?”

My heart sank. “Well, I have one on my email account, but it’s kind of outdated. I guess I can find a print shop.”

“Nah. Don’t worry. Just call him. He’s short-staffed, and between you and me, he’ll probably hire you on the spot once he meets you.”

“Yeah?” I was pretty excited, too excited to care about why a store owner would entrust a store with thousands of dollars of food and beverages to a complete newbie.

“Good luck.”

I strutted out of there on cloud nine, hurrying back to the apartment so I could phone him up. The owner answered on the first ring and asked me if I could meet him at nine tonight. That was an odd request, but then I figured he wanted me to get a realistic idea of what it was like working evening shifts.

“Definitely, sir. Nine p.m. works well.”

“And can you start tonight if I end up hiring you? Your shift would normally be from four in the afternoon to midnight.”

“Yes, I can.” This was a real lead!

“Great. See you there. Be sure to bring your driver’s license and social security number.”

I was so excited when I hung up, I almost sent a text to Chris. He did tell me that I could contact him anytime, but the idea of doing it felt corny and slightly infantile, even after he’d sent me all those texts with pictures of him getting shit-faced with his college friends. The shot with the topless chicks got me a little jealous. I was jealous of the blonde girl on the end with the black one-shoulder top and a denim jacket tied around her waist.

She looked carefree.

She had nice breasts too.

That used to be me when I lived with my aunt.

The part about looking carefree.

I had a family member who treated me like her own daughter, a roof over my head, a waitressing job that paid good tips, and my savings were intact. I could be fun-loving and footloose back then. Now I had to grow up fast and make sure I didn’t end up broke and homeless.

Instead of texting Chris, I settled for unpacking my fold-out easel. I painted for a few hours, then I had a nap before getting dressed up again for my first job interview.

* * *

I
got the job
.

I wasn’t jobless anymore. I was also already working the rest of the shift as part of my two-shift orientation and training. The owner was all business. He hardly looked at me twice. All he cared about was having someone to restock supplies and punch in sales at his cash registers so he could turn a profit each and every night his stores were open.

There was a downside.

I probably wouldn’t see my twenty-first birthday as I’d hoped.

The minimart curb and this entire neighborhood seemed to transform into a seriously dangerous-looking wasteland at night. Men were staggering around with booze bottles in brown bags, women were selling their bodies on every other street corner, crazy people were arguing and getting into fist fights down the street, and I was almost sure I saw an illicit drug deal go down twenty feet away from me. That was all on my way into the job interview. I couldn’t imagine how much worse it would get when my shift ended at midnight. In hindsight, I should not have left my handgun behind in El Paso. I could have used it for protection on my way to and from my new job. Maybe a Kevlar vest would have helped too.

I sent a text to Chris just as I was leaving work. He had phoned while I was getting hired and trained at the minimart. As it was my first day on the job, I let his call go to voicemail. He didn’t leave a message, hence my text to find out why he called. He phoned me back just as I was two blocks away from the apartment building. I stepped back outside to take the call.

“Hey Chris.”

“Hi. Everything cool?”

“Yeah. I got a job.”

“Nice! Congrats. What’ll you be doing?”

“Working evening shifts at a minimart. The job’s not ideal, but it’s a start, and I’ll only have to walk three blocks to get there. I’m actually walking home now.”

“It sucks that you have to walk alone this late at night, but good for you…”

“So you phoned earlier? I was getting trained up.”

Chris groaned. “Yeah, I uh, those pics I sent you. Hope you’re not too offended. I was drunk outta my skull…I can’t even remember sending those messages.”

“Naw. Those were pretty tame.”

“Tame, huh? Remind me to tag along when you get out for a night on the town.”

“I just might, now that I’m gainfully employed again.”

“Can’t wait… So what was that jealous remark about?”

“Oh that. Nothing really. I was kidding around, being a bit sentimental.”

“You don’t strike me as the jealous type.”

“Why would I be? Are you?”

“Who knows.”

“Good answer. Well, I’ve got to run. I need to get some rest so I can find me a St. Jude’s necklace in the morning… maybe a handgun too.”

“Wait a second, Jo. A gun? What the hell for?”

“Okay, you know the stuff they say about the Lower Valley area of El Paso?”

“Yeah. Just don’t ask me to repeat it. My mom’s parents grew up there, and they stayed to raise my mom and her brothers. They never moved away. It sucks that the place has such a bad reputation lately. Is that where you’re from?”

“Close, but not quite. Anyway, have you ever been in that area at night?”

“God, yeah. It’s sketchy as hell. I’d be scared to pass through there alone.”

“Well, Lower Valley is a five-star luxury resort complex compared to what it’s like at night where I live.”

He cleared his throat, probably unsure what to say. “Oh. Shitty.”

“Yeah…hmmm, maybe pepper spray might be a better bet.”

“Hey, when do you usually get off?”

I gave him a sexy laugh. “Anytime I want…with my hands.”

“Don’t get me started, sweet thing,” he drawled. “Just be glad you’re over an hour’s drive away.”

“And what if I weren’t?”

“I’d show up unannounced again, whisk you away somewhere private, and have you screaming my name again, honey.”

I was all lighthearted and flirty with the laughs, but what he didn’t know was that just the sound of his voice and that suggestion had my core aching and my panties soaked. He would have been the perfect distraction if he lived a bit closer to me.

“Well, cornerback, it’s pretty late. I’ll let you know how I make out with the new job.”

“Try to stay safe.”

“Will do. Night, Chris.”

“Night, Jo.”

I hung up and tucked my phone back in my pocket when I turned onto my street. I was half a block away when I figured out what Chris meant when he said he’d show up unannounced again. He was parked outside the apartment building, leaning against his car with the sexiest grin on his face.

I
was parked
outside Jo’s sister’s place.

There was no rhyme or reason as to why. I couldn’t say when or how I made the decision to come see her. I’d allowed myself a good long sleep to get over my hangover. When I woke up and didn’t see her reply to my text, I gave her a call, which went through to voicemail. Fall camp wasn’t starting until eleven tomorrow, so I took a shower, got dressed and jumped in my car.

Then I ended up here.

She didn’t have to tell me how sketchy the neighborhood was over the phone. I saw it as I was driving through here. This was not safe for a woman to walk at night. Or a man. It wasn’t my place to tell her something like that, so I kept it to myself. Now she was standing in front of me with her arms folded and her head cocked to one side, confused but not angry. Even in this white fitted button-down shirt and knee-length black skirt she’d picked out for her job interview, it all hugged her body in all the right places. My eyes gazed down her shapely legs, already picturing them wrapped around my hips.

“Well, well, well. If it ain’t cornerback Chris.”

I tugged on the cuff of her work shirt. “Relax those arms, sweet thing.”

“You’re stalking me, aren’t you?”

“Admit it,” I said, getting closer to her. “You’re happy as hell to see me.”

She peered up at me with those sexy eyes, and that expression where she bit down on her bottom lip. “Depends.”

“On what?”

Her hand reached up to her hair, and for a second I wondered if she was planning on loosening her bun so I could bury my hands in all those fiery red tresses. “On why you came all this way.”

“Maybe I knew you needed protection.”

“Nice try, White Knight.”

I walked around to the passenger side, opening the door for her. “Get in…before I swallow you whole right here at your front steps.”

Jo let out a moan, then she pretended to clear her throat. She tucked her bag under her arm and walked over. Before she got in, she stopped directly in front of me and craned her neck to look me in the eye. “Thank you, Chris.”

“For coming down to see you, or for what I’m about to do to you?”

She grinned, looking at me with lust in her eyes, and hopped in the car. When I got in and drove off, she asked where I was taking her.

“For a drive…maybe to somewhere private. Tell me about this new job of yours.”

While she was sharing her update, I took the nearest main street straight north until I got to Lakeshore Drive. I paid attention to every word she said, yet I was itching to take her to the nearest hotel and get between her legs again.

“Stop here,” she said after a few minutes.

“What?”

“Pull over.”

I put my indicator lights and checked my rear view mirror before stopping, not that I needed to. The roads were dead quiet on this stretch of road just east of the college campus.

“Why’d you want me to stop here?”

She undid the first few buttons of her shirt. “Because…I’ve had one thought on my mind for almost the entire time since you sent me that text after you got back to Baton Rouge yesterday.”

I cocked an eyebrow as I looked over at her, admiring her delicate skin above the line of her bra. “What?”

She kicked off her shoes, hiked up her skirt to about mid-thigh, then she took my hand and placed it between her legs. “How did we drive for all those hours in your car and not have even the shortest makeout session inside?”

“It’s time to change that,” I told her, sliding my hands up under her skirt and rubbing against her warm pussy through her panties.

She parted her legs for me, moaning as I played with her clit. After a bit, she lifted up her hips from the seat and dragged the panties down her legs. Her hand reached over and cupped my erection through my jeans. I couldn’t wait anymore. Positioning my seat as far back as it would go, I pulled my fingers away from her heat and used both hands to grip her waist and pull her over the center console and into my lap. She adjusted her body in the tight front seat, and I helped her bring one leg across my body so she could straddle me. She was not going to be very comfortable, but that was the last thing on either of our minds right now.

Jo held onto my shoulder with one hand reached up to her bun and finally let her hair down. She was one gorgeous woman. I moved a hand up her back and gripped the base of her neck, pulling her head down to press my lips against hers, aware but not giving a damn that cars were passing by every so often. Hungry for more as I took her mouth, my hands roamed down under her skirt, squeezing her plump ass and pressing her hot center against my hard dick.

She ran her hands through my hair, relaxing her body into mine, allowing me to feel her pebbled nipples rubbing gently on my chest and her hips rocking on my groin. Jo moaned, pulling from the kiss, breathless and panting for air before she whispered that she was ready and we needed a condom right now.

She held on to my shoulders with one hand and lifted herself up high enough to reach the other hand down between us, gripping at my belt and jeans to free my cock. I got a condom from god knows where by the time my dick sprang free, rolling it on lightning fast and guiding it to her sopping wet opening, ready to feel her tight pussy gripping around it. With her arms back around my neck and her forehead pressed onto mine, she eased herself down, taking me deep inside her inch by mind-blowing inch. I tipped my chin forward and kissed her mouth again, pleased at the way that made her hum against my lips and rock her hips until I was buried all the way in, anchored in her tightness.

My hands returned to her ass. God, how I loved the feel of her ass cheeks against my palms. I was gripping and squeezing and spreading them, moving her pussy up and down my shaft that way, planting my cock inside, filling her completely. I placed a finger at her asshole and she hissed out with pleasure, speeding up the pace, eyes closed and her head tilted up to the sunroof. Slowly, I pressed my fingertip harder against it, and all that movement of her hips intensified when my digit slowly dipped inside. She cried out from pleasure. Jo was so fucking close to coming I could feel her inner walls tightening and gripping my shaft. For a second she looked down at me as though she would whisper a question, but she didn’t. Her head lowered to bury itself at my neck and she almost screamed out when she came.

I took over then, moving my hands back to her hips, picking her up and dragging her down my shaft, helping her along as she still shook from her climax while bringing myself to the edge. I stayed buried deep inside her now, thrusting my hip up a few more times until I shuddered and came so hard my face froze and my mind went blank. She relaxed her weakened body on my chest, hanging on to me like she was mine.

She didn’t move or talk for a while, and when her panting calmed, she asked me to open my driver side door so she could stand and straighten out her clothes. I let her out but made her walk around to the shoulder of the road, following behind her with my cock still pulsing and hard. I wanted more of her. Not willing to miss the opportunity, I discarded of the used condom and went back to my side of the car for another.

I walked up to her with the unopened package in my raised hand, eyebrows raised and waiting to see if she was game. This was when I knew I’d met my match. Jo stepped over to her side of the car, lifted her skirt past her hips and placed both palms on the door. I had to hold down a growl when she bent at the hips, sticking her bare ass out for me to take her again. Barely able to keep my hands off of her, I stood behind her and got that second condom on in a hurry. In a second I was positioning myself at her slick opening and did not hold back when I buried by rock hard cock to the hilt. She groaned out a sigh, and pushed her hips back with every stroke I made, welcoming me over and over as I pumped in and out of her, both of us still hungry for more and getting closer to another peak.

By the time we both came again and caught our breaths, I was hard and wanting to go again.

This time, I held back.

It was almost one fifteen in the morning and I needed to get on the road so I’d be ready for the start of fall practice. She pulled her skirt back down her hips again, finding the rest of her things inside before hopping in. We were quiet for the trip back to her house, and as the car stopped, she kissed my cheek.

“Drive safe and have a good week, Chris,” she said, getting the door before I had the chance.

“You be safe on these streets after work,” I called out to her as she took the steps up to her front entrance and went inside. Then I drove home.

* * *

F
all camp started
, and my social life came to a grinding halt. This was my senior year. We were all gunning for the limited spots in the NFL. A good fall practice would position our team for a strong kickoff game and a solid season. This was not just about me. As a team, we all needed to bring it. Slade led the way. He pushed hard. That and that got us all challenging ourselves and each other.

No one was doing half-assed shit. Everyone brought their A-game and we blocked out the rest of the universe. Family and friends were forgotten. All that existed for the weeks of fall camp was good nutrition, twice a day practice, game planning meetings with the coaching staff, a shit load of gameplay rescreenings, and good rest.

Then the season started and things got even more intense with games, practices and college coursework. I went more than three months without seeing Jo. To be fair, I gave her the headsup about needing to focus. She had no issue with it. She was also adjusting to a new life in a new city. I couldn’t travel down to see her in any case, with her evening and weekend work schedule. It was simpler this way.

Early in the week of the kickoff game, I invited her to come see me play that Saturday. It was more of a token invitation because she worked Wednesday to Sunday evenings. She couldn’t come to any of my Saturday games even if she wanted to be there, not just because of work but also because transportation would have been tough.

Those Saturdays after our games were the toughest for me. Everyone on the team would drink, party, hook up with their ladies or the usual groupies that hung out at the frat house. I couldn’t afford to do that, mostly because I wasn’t that strong a student to begin with. It took a hell of a lot of effort to maintain half decent grades. So while everyone else was whooping it up for those post-game shindigs, I would show my face for the first ten minutes, then ease back out of the place to bust my ass to hang on to a B-minus average. Maybe it would have been easier if I hadn’t picked a science-based Kinesiology program as my major, but this was the tail stretch. I needed to live with it for just two more semesters.

While the frat house and half the college were in on the bet Slade had going about kicking it with that cheerleader, Cassidy, well sure I was in on it too. My money was on Slade. And all that time he was sneaking around to bus tables at the frat house landlord’s restaurant after that antique furniture destruction mini-blowout, I took the opportunity to do some sneaking around of my own—to keep my ass on top of my degree coursework. I think we all snuck around to study and never admitted it, except perhaps for Mo. Dude needed to get his shit together if he wanted to graduate.

Still, when we won all those games, I wished Jo could have been there to celebrate with me. The one game where we had a devastating loss, I was close to getting in my car and driving down to see her. All I could think about was that seeing her would cheer me up. Even then, I didn’t. I kept my head down, focused on my top priorities. We did keep up with texting back and forth, but because she knew what I was up against, I was the one initiating contact each time.

Until three weeks before Thanksgiving.