by L A Cotton
But it wasn’t just a kiss at all.
It was Jason willingly handing over his heart. With every press of his lips, every stroke of his tongue, he silently told me everything I’d so desperately craved to hear from him as his mouth moved over mine. He might have been the one in control, setting the pace, but I was the one with the power. It simmered between us. An unspoken admonition. He was apologizing to me through actions, not words, but the ball was in my court regarding what happened next.
“Jason, wait,” I said, physically forcing myself to break the kiss.
He dropped his forehead to mine, letting out a pained groan. “Hey,” I said, sliding my hands gently against his cheeks, forcing him to look at me. “I’m here, I’m right here, but you’re right, we should talk.”
There was so much we needed to figure out. Things I needed to know before I let him off the hook.
“I can come back later,” he started to pull away, “when it’s—”
“Jase?”
“Yeah, Giles?”
“Shut the hell up and lie down with me.” I shuffled over to make room for him and threw back the cover. His brow went up but his expression quickly softened.
“You’re sure?”
“Get over here before I change my mind.” My parents were sleeping right down the hall, and I didn’t want to think about what my dad would do if he found me with a boy in my bed, let alone a Raider, but I wasn’t about to give up the chance to have Jason here like this. In my bed, heart on his sleeve and ready to talk.
He kicked off his sneakers, his hoodie going next, before slipping in beside me. We lay on our sides, facing one another. “What did you mean, you did it for me?” I asked.
“Thatcher knew you were someone to me. He sent me some messages, threatening to come at me through you. So I distanced myself.” His eyes shuttered. “Pushed you away.”
“I see.” I shuddered thinking about everything we’d been through the last few weeks, everything he’d put me through.
Jason pulled the covers up around us, refusing to let me escape from the conversation. “But it didn’t matter because he knew the truth and he already had his ace card up his sleeve,” he hesitated, guilt swimming in his eyes. “He had some images of us, down by the lake that day.”
“No!” Panic flooded me, embarrassment flaming my cheeks, as my thoughts shot off in a hundred different directions.
“I’m so fucking sorry. I still can’t figure out how he got them, but he threatened to make them viral unless I agreed to meet him.”
“He has images… of me. Us?”
“I’m going to go to the authorities. It’s gone too far. I realize that now. I will do everything in my power to make sure he doesn’t release those photos.”
Tears pooled in the corners of my eyes. I wasn’t a slut. I didn’t sleep around or date guy after guy after guy. But I’d done things with Jason… things I didn’t want anyone to know about, let alone see. “Oh God, if my parents—”
“Hey, hey,” he pulled me into his arms, tucking me against his solid body. “It won’t come to that, I promise.”
Hands pressed against his chest, I closed my eyes and inhaled a shuddering breath.
“I’ll fix it, Felicity, you have my word.” I didn’t just hear the words, I felt them. Jason meant every single one. He’d done all this for me, to protect me. It was a lot to process.
Suddenly, a thought popped into my head. “What about Aimee?” I craned my head back to look at him.
“Aimee is no one.”
“Jason…”
“She was someone, once upon a time. But that shit was over a long time ago.”
“She’s Thatcher’s sister?” He nodded, his fingers tracing up and down my spine, making it difficult to concentrate. “You were together?”
“You really want to know this stuff?” he asked, and I gave him a weak smile, nodding. “I hadn’t seen or spoken to Aimee in months until yesterday.”
“Oh, that makes me feel better.”
“Good, I don’t want you to ever worry about other girls. There is no one but you.”
“Jenna?” my brow rose accusingly.
He snorted. “A means to an end.”
“Whatever happens next between us, promise me you’ll never ever refer to me as a means to an end.”
“You’re not a means to an end, Giles. You’re endgame.”
If I wasn’t already head over heels in love with Jason Ford, those three little words would have spun my world.
“Endgame? Sounds… serious?”
“Oh it is.” He pecked the end of my nose. “Dead serious.”
“I’m not entirely sure I understand exactly what it means, you might have to break it down for me.” I fought a grin.
“It means you’re mine.”
“I’m yours, okay, I think I can get on board with that.” Warmth spread through me. He said the words as if they were the simplest thing in the entire world. And I loved it.
I loved him.
I had for a while now. I’d just been too scared to admit it.
“Anything else?” I lowered my head, looking up at him through my lashes, acting coy.
“Yeah, I think it means come game day, there’s only one number you’ll be wearing.” He captured my lips in a bruising kiss. “Mine.”
The next time I woke was to my alarm and a very hard, very warm chest. I untangled myself from Jason’s embrace and reached behind me, desperately trying to locate my cell to make the noise stop.
“What the—”
“Sorry,” I whispered, “Alarm.”
“Shit,” he bolted upright and quickly sank back down, groaning in pain. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
“I’m glad you did.” Pushing my bed hair out of my face, I smiled at the sight of Jason sprawled out in my bed. At some point in the night, he’d taken off his jeans and jersey and climbed back in beside me, sliding his bare legs against mine.
It had been heaven.
“How long do we have before your parents surface?”
“Not long.” I’d had the foresight to set my alarm thirty minutes earlier than usual so he could sneak out before they got up.
“Come here.” He hooked his arm around my neck and pulled me down to him, his lips finding mine in a clumsy kiss.
“Ew, morning breath,” I complained.
“You think I give a shit about that? Lips, now,” he growled the words, fixing his mouth over mine, making a show of pushing his tongue deep into my mouth and tangling it with my own. My tummy clenched; a delicious ache spreading through me.
“How long did you say we have again?” Jason rolled onto his side, sliding my leg over his hip and rocking his erection into me.
“Not long enough.” A soft moan spilled from my lips as he continued grinding against me. “Oh God, that feels…”
“Fuck, I need to stop. I need to—” A knock at my bedroom door had us both freezing.
“Morning, baby, are you awake?”
“Uh, yeah, Mom,” I croaked, barely able to form words as Jason pressed into me again, a smug smirk gracing his bruised face.
“I’ll make coffee. See you down there.”
I waited a second to make sure she had left and then swatted Jason’s chest. “You’re so bad,” I scolded, but his expression was twisted with pain. “Crap, I’m sorry. Where does it hurt?”
“Everywhere, but nowhere as bad as here.” He grabbed my hand and closed it around his rock-hard dick.
“Jason!”
“You’re telling me if I do this,” he slipped his fingers inside my panties, “I’m not going to find you wet?”
“Oh God…” I pressed my lips together as he rubbed back and forth, sliding through my wetness. “We can’t…” I moaned, lost in sensation.
“For once, I’m inclined to agree.” His fingers disappeared and my eyes fluttered open, only to find him sucking them clean. “Later.” Promise burned in his eyes as he leaned in, kissing me. Swirling his to
ngue around mine, letting me taste myself on his lips.
“How will you sneak out?” He could barely sit up, let alone execute a stealthy escape plan.
“Who said anything about sneaking out? Moms love me, remember?” My eyes widened to saucers and his face broke out in a wide grin. “Gotcha.”
“Haha, now go, before my dad wakes up.”
Jason climbed out of bed and grabbed his clothes.
“Your ribs,” I blanched at the huge purple bruise painted along his side.
“It’s nothing,” he played it down, but I saw how carefully he pulled on his jersey and hoodie, pain behind his eyes with every movement. “I’ll see you later, okay?”
It was on the tip of my tongue to ask what happened when we got to school, but Jason had already slipped into the hall. He glanced back, his eyes saying all the things we were yet to say.
Things I never thought we’d get to say.
And I knew in that second, this time it wasn’t a game or some cruel prank.
It was real.
Jason Ford, Rixon’s golden boy of football, was mine.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Jason
“Are you sure about this?” Cam asked me as we made our way into school. Everyone was looking; kids, teachers, even the few parents doing the morning drop off. I knew what they saw.
Jason Ford.
Star football player.
Cocky arrogant troublemaker.
People usually turned a blind eye. Usually excused my antics as ‘boys being boys’. But not this time.
This time, people had gotten hurt.
I’d gotten hurt.
But they didn’t know the truth. They didn’t know I’d done what I’d done out of a need to protect Felicity. To stand up for the girl who consumed my every waking thought.
They didn’t know at all.
As far as I was concerned, it could stay that way. I hadn’t fought Thatcher for glory or in the name of the Raiders reputation, or even my own. I’d done it because when it came down to it, I was just a guy who loved a girl and refused to let some fucktard like Lewis Thatcher ruin her because of his beef with me.
I spotted her first. She was talking to Hailee and Mya near their locker bank, ignoring the rumble of whispers and gossip flying up and down the hallway.
“So did the two of you talk about what happens now?” Cam asked me as we slowly approached them.
“Nope.” I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her to answer him. Felicity was wearing boy jeans, slung low on her hips, a slither of skin on display where her shirt didn’t quite meet the waistband. It was baggy around her midriff, tight over her chest, and hung off one shoulder. Her long brown locks were swept over one shoulder, her face void of makeup, her expression animated as she talked to her friends.
“So what’s the pla—”
But I was already gone. Cutting through the stream of kids. Hailee noticed me first, her lips breaking into a wide grin. Mya was next, smugness dancing in her eyes, as if she knew this was a forgone conclusion. I gave zero fucks about their reactions though. The only girl I cared about still hadn’t noticed me as I moved up behind her. Sliding my hands around her eyes, I leaned in and whispered, “Guess who?”
“Hmm, Asher?” She chuckled as I spun her in my arms and glared at her.
“Try again, Giles.”
“Hi,” she said around an uncertain smile.
“Hi.”
Hailee and Mya backed up, giving the two of us space. The whole school seemed to have stopped around us, everyone watching their King fall for his Queen.
“Is it me or is everyone watching us?” Felicity cast a quick glance around.
“They’re waiting to see if the rumor is true.”
“Oh yeah?” Her smile grew. “And what rumor would that be?”
“That QB One is officially off the market.” I inched closer to her.
“And is he?” She matched my step.
“I think it’s pretty safe to say, he’s taken.”
“Damn, just when I’d finally plucked up the courage to tell him how I feel. Ah well, I guess I’ll have to wait until whoever it is dumps his sorry ass.”
“Did I ever tell you, you’re so fucking weird?” I lowered my head to hers.
“Did I ever tell you, I have a serious thing for football players?”
“Players, plural? Because I know a couple of the guys who would love to hook—”
She swatted my chest. Before she could move her hands, I captured her wrists, keeping them pressed there.
“Something you want to tell me, Giles?”
“You first, Ford, I have a reputation to protect.” She winked and I let out a hearty chuckle. This girl...
This fucking girl.
Leaning in, I brushed my lips over her ear and whispered, “I am so fucking gone for you.”
Felicity eased back to look right in my eyes. “Is that your way of telling me you love me?”
Swallowing thickly, I nodded, aware this wasn’t exactly how I planned to tell her.
“Good job, because I am completely and utterly gone for you too.”
I didn’t care we had an audience. I didn’t care people had their cell phones out recording the moment QB One publicly handed over his balls to a girl.
I didn’t care one bit as I pressed Felicity against the lockers and kissed the ever loving shit out of her. People would just have to get used to it because she was mine, and I was hers, and I intended on reminding her of that every second of every day.
“Ford, my office, now!”
All eyes went to me as I stood up and padded across the locker room. A couple of guys clapped me on the back, silently offering their support. But this was my burden to bear, and mine alone. Until I stepped inside his office to find I wasn’t alone.
“Coach,” I said coolly, waiting for the shit to hit the fan, sliding my eyes to the silent figure already seated in front of his desk.
“Sit,” he barked, and I took the other empty chair. “I don’t think I even need to ask my next question to know the answer. You’re a mess, Son. A real damn mess.”
I shifted uncomfortably on the plastic chair, trying to find a position that didn’t make my lungs feel like they were on fire.
“As soon as we’re done here, you head straight to medical. You hear me? If you’ve broken anything so help me God...”
I nodded, knowing this was one of those times Coach wouldn’t appreciate a smart assed reply.
He tore off his ball cap and rubbed his head with sheer frustration. “Four more games, that’s all I asked for. And you couldn’t just listen. You know I’ll have to go to Principal Finnigan with this, right? If he hasn’t already found out since it seems to be the only thing on kids’ lips this morning.”
“Sorry, Sir.” It sounded so lame in comparison to what was at stake, but it was all I had.
“So you’re confirming his story?” he looked to Asher who rubbed the back of his neck.
“I, uh...”
“It’s okay, bro. I already confessed I screwed up by goading Thatcher into that fight and you had to come save my sorry ass.”
What the fuck?
I stared at Ash like he’d lost his goddamn mind. Or maybe I had. Because nothing he was saying was making any sense.
“Well, Jason, what do you have to say for yourself?”
“I, hmm, I...”
“It’s okay,” Ash whispered and my eyes slid back to his in question. He nodded, his eyes hammering home everything I didn’t want to believe.
He was taking the fall.
For me.
My teeth ground together behind my lips as I tried to figure out what the fuck to do. If I let him take the fall, chances were his season was over. But if I told Coach the truth, my season was over, and maybe Asher’s too for the fact he tried to save my ass.
Fuck.
“I haven’t got all day, Son.”
“It’s okay, Jase, just tell him.”
I couldn
’t do it. I couldn’t be that guy. Not after everything.
“Sorry, Coach, but I have to tell you the—”
“The truth is, Coach,” Ash cut me off, “Lewis Thatcher is a sick fuck who has spent the last three months coming after Jason through his friends and family. Jason didn’t want to tell anyone to protect his step-sister and girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend?” Coach frowned, rubbing his jaw.
“Felicity Giles, you may know her?”
“The name does ring a bell.”
“Thatcher threatened to hurt Felicity over and over, but Jason refused to take the bait. His final threat was more persuasive,” Asher threw me a sympathetic glance. “I knew if Jason found out about the threat he’d go after Thatcher, so I arranged the meet.”
“And what exactly did you expect to achieve, Son?”
Ash shrugged in that easy way of his. “World peace?” I snorted. “Fuck if I know. But I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing. Anyway, the whole thing was a set up. They jumped me and I had no choice but to call for back up.”
“Which is when you intervened?” Coach cocked his brow at me.
“I... yes.”
“To save your teammate’s hide?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“But we played straight into Thatcher’s hand because he’d wanted Jase there all along.”
“I see, and the rest of the team? How do they figure in all of this?”
“I took them as back up, but that was it.” I ran a hand over my face.
“You have proof of Thatcher’s threats?”
Asher nodded. “I have screenshots of everything.”
“You do, since when?” I asked.
“Since I knew that one day we might need them.”
“There’s also a video and some photos, Sir. But they’re hmm, quite graphic.”
“You should have come to me with this. You should have come to me the second Thatcher upped the ante.”
“Yes, Sir,” we grumbled in unison.
“Will Miss Raine and Miss Giles attest your story?”
I nodded.
“Right, well, I have no choice but to take this to the Principal. Given your history with him, I wouldn’t expect him to be on your side. You know what that means?”
