Vance crossed his arms and looked at me skeptically.
“What about if we make a deal?” he asked.
My brows rose.
“Okay,” I said. “What’s the deal?”
“You don’t play college ball,” he said quickly. “You do anything but that. I don’t care.”
College ball had never been my dream. But he’d refused to understand that.
He’d always wanted to go into college together. Find a place to share and become Sooners. Then, when that stage of our life was done, he wanted us to go pro.
Only, despite telling him repeatedly that I didn’t want to do that, he just couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t.
“Deal,” I said. “I’ll not do it, and you leave.”
He rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”
Then, without another word, he closed the door.
And I was left wondering if what he said would actually happen.
Chapter 23
SHI T
R
-t-shirt
Perry
“Just like that?” I asked. My eyes widened and I was too afraid to hope.
“Yes, just like that,” Dad said, his eyes darting to my mother and back, as if he wasn’t giving me all of the information. “I’m not sure what happened, why he left, or where he’s going, but the house is empty, and I got a call from Trance saying that he was back in Benton.”
My mouth fell open.
“That’s… that’s amazing,” I found myself saying. “Did you check with the school?”
“Yep,” Dad confirmed. “He unenrolled and had his school transcripts sent back to Benton.”
“Wow,” I found myself saying. “That’s just… wow.”
But, the thing was, as I was relaying this to Banner later that evening, he didn’t look the least bit surprised.
“What did you do?” I asked worriedly.
Banner’s lips twitched. “I just… I couldn’t live like this anymore. I went over and apologized. Told him I was sorry. And he just… offered to leave.”
“That’s it?”
That was too easy.
“That’s it.” He shrugged, his eyes trailing away. “I don’t know what it was. But, he just looked at me, said that he was sorry for how he acted, and that was the end of the conversation.”
“What else?” I tapped him on the chest.
“Shhh,” he said. “Do you want your dad to come up here? Remember, he told me to leave.”
She rolled her eyes. “Dad’s asleep. He’s been asleep for an hour, because, might I point out, you were gone for a whole lot longer than you said you would be.”
He sighed and looked down at his bottle of water that he’d had me run down to the kitchen for.
“He told me that I couldn’t play pro ball, or he’d be back.” He shrugged, as if it wasn’t a big deal.
My mouth fell open. “What?”
He moved fast, placing his hand over my mouth. “Shh,” he ordered. “I’d love to be able to come back, and if your dad catches me here, he’s going to make me leave and stay away.”
That would never happen.
I wouldn’t let it happen.
My dad knew what Banner meant to me now.
If it hadn’t been obvious at the hospital after I’d been beaten, then it’d been obvious about how I’d pleaded with my dad to let him stay.
I had a feeling my dad knew that Banner was here.
That was why he went to bed and allowed me to ‘sneak off to my room’ at such an early hour, and why he told my mom to leave me alone for the rest of the night.
“What do you mean by you won’t be able to play pro ball?” I asked.
He looked at me like he wanted to curse himself for talking.
“I…” He shook his head, and I realized that he was about to lie to me.
“Don’t tell me then,” I said. “Just don’t lie to me, okay?”
I wanted to know this secret of his. I wanted to know all of his secrets. His hopes and dreams. His goals out of life.
But, honestly, tonight I was just tired.
Tomorrow, I’d get out of him what was going on.
Tonight? I just wanted to wrap myself up in his arms and go to sleep.
Tomorrow would be soon enough to think. Tomorrow would be soon enough to pursue this topic.
But for tonight, rest was what I needed.
“Let’s go to bed,” I said softly. “I know you’re tired.”
He looked at me warily.
“I am,” he confirmed. “Did your mom say that she was going to church tomorrow like you thought?”
I nodded, walking over to my bed and pulling the sheets down.
My mother had come in here and made my bed earlier while I was showering.
My mother was of the generation that always made their bed. I was of the generation that slept on top of the covers and didn’t need to make the bed.
It always drove her nuts.
But tonight, with Banner in my bed, I couldn’t just use the top blanket. He’d get too hot. He needed the thin sheet.
Something I’d found out over the last couple of times that we’d been sleeping in the same bed together.
“She is,” I confirmed as I tugged off my sweats and stood there in my panties and long-sleeved t-shirt. “She’s also going to lunch with the congregation afterward. My dad’s got to leave early for work. He’s got some things to make up after missing today.”
Banner kicked off his boots, then shrugged out of his shirt.
I shrugged out of mine and then picked up the shirt that he’d just discarded.
He grinned when I tugged it on over my body, then removed the bra from underneath the shirt seconds later.
“Looks good on you,” he murmured, his eyes going hot, and his smile getting lazy.
I posed for him, causing him to chuckle.
He hooked his fingers into the waistband of his sweats then, causing my eyes to slowly roll down his body.
“Mmmm,” I said. “More gray sweatpants.”
He chuckled. “I’m not quite sure what your obsession with them is,” he teased as he pushed them off, revealing a pair of black boxers. “But I kind of like the way you’re looking at me right now.”
I felt things inside of me tighten. Things that only tightened when he was the one looking at me. Or touching me. Or doing anything with me, really.
Hell, all it took was me lying in his arms and I started to think about things that had never once crossed my mind before.
“Which side of the bed do you want?” he asked as he kicked his sweatpants to the side.
I turned and walked to the bedroom door and locked it before flipping off the overhead light and making sure the fan was on high.
I heard the bed squeak as he climbed into it, and instead of ‘choosing a side’ I crawled up the bed and laid directly on top of him.
He chuckled, and I heard the rumble deep in his chest as I placed my head over his heart.
“Am I too heavy?” I asked quietly.
He wrapped his arms around me, spread his thick thighs wider so that I was lying more comfortably between them, and said, “Never.”
I felt a shiver of pleasure run down my spine.
“Back to school after tomorrow,” I murmured softly.
He squeezed me tighter. “It’ll be better now.”
I knew it would be.
Without Vance there to make Banner’s life hell, the only thing that would bother me at this point was the cheer squad, and I’d been dealing with them for years now.
Six more months wouldn’t make a difference.
I shifted restlessly, moving my face into a more comfortable position so that it wouldn’t hurt, and felt the obvious swell of Banner’s erection that was now pressing against my inner thigh.
I didn’t move, and neither did he. At least, at first I didn’t.
I wondered if it’
d go down, but the longer I stayed where I was, the longer it stayed, too.
I felt my grin grow as I started to run my fingers along his chest, his chest hair soft and silky underneath my fingertips.
His cock got harder, and I couldn’t help but smile wider.
This was likely killing him, me lying on top of him like this.
I shifted so that I was now straddling his thigh, but made sure it was the one that his cock was closest to, and shifted slightly so that his cock was now pressed against my lower belly.
He tensed slightly at the move, and I petted his chest in response.
His heart was pounding away underneath my ear, and I licked my lips as I dragged my fingers downward, allowing my fingers to run along his upper abs.
“I’m not sure how you have abs after seeing how much you eat this weekend,” I teased as I ran my palm up and back down. Over and over again.
He grunted out something unintelligible, and I chose to take that as an ‘I dunno.’
My hand swept farther downward this time, letting my fingers brush against the top of his waistband and slowly dip inside.
It was half of a fingertip at most, and I felt the curly, wiry hair above his cock just as my hand was captured in his.
“Perry.”
I grinned and moved so that my belly was pressing more solidly against his erection, causing him to curse.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said.
I didn’t want him to hurt me, either.
“You won’t,” I promised him. “Not if you go slow and keep your weight off of me.” I paused. “Not if I’m on top.”
He froze as I sat up and straddled his thigh.
“Perry,” he said again, much more strangled this time.
I grinned.
“Yeah?” I asked as I pulled my shirt off over my head.
“You’re not feeling well,” he said.
I bent down until my breasts could drag teasingly against his chest.
“I don’t know what to do,” I said. “Show me how.”
He groaned. “Shit.”
Then I was straddling his hips sans panties, and he was pushing the waistband of his boxers down with one hand while the other was steadying my hips.
“Hop on,” he ordered gruffly.
I walked my knees up until I was hovering over his cock and then felt the way his penis lodged at the entrance of my sex.
“Lower yourself down,” he ordered, taking my hip with one hand and urging me down.
I did as he said, my mouth dropping open slightly as he slowly started to fill me.
I’d never felt like this before.
These things that I was experiencing with Banner? They were things that I hadn’t even dreamed of.
“That’s it,” he growled as his cock head breached me. “Now rise up and come back down, let your pussy coat me with your juices.”
I felt a ripple of shock roll through me at his words.
His dirty mouth was a major turn-on.
I did as he said, coming back up only to start pushing right back down.
And he was right. With my juices coating him, I slipped in much more easily this time, taking him about halfway before he urged me to do it again.
We repeated this process until I was completely full of him, and my ass was resting on the top of his thighs.
“Goddamn,” he growled. “You feel like hot silk.”
“Do you even know what silk feels like?” I teased as I rocked my hips back and forth.
He growled and latched onto my hips, urging me to do it again.
“Yes.” He laughed, pinching my ass. “Smartass.”
I grinned and lifted up again, loving the way he felt as he slid out.
But the way he felt when he slid back in again? That was something that I would never get used to or get over.
“That’s it,” he growled. “Fuckin’ ride me.”
Then his hands were gone as he put his hands behind his head.
I was glad that I hadn’t turned off the lamp because now I could watch him watch me.
His eyes were everywhere.
Starting at the way my breasts bounced, moving to my hips and where we were joined, only to do it all over again.
Honestly, it was the best feeling in the world, having his eyes on me.
I felt sexy and claimed.
I bit my lip and leaned my head back, moving my hips at a slightly different angle.
And things started to explode as his cock started to rub against a part of me that I’d never felt it rub against before.
“Oh, fuck,” I whispered, my voice low but no less fierce. “What was that?”
“That was your G-spot,” he growled. “Do it again.”
So I did.
Again and again and again until suddenly, I couldn’t take it any longer.
My orgasm exploded over me in a burst of flames, taking me under and holding me there until I found myself resting lightly on Banner’s chest.
His chest was heaving, and his cock was still as hard as a rock inside of me.
“Fuck me,” he growled. “Slowly.”
So I did.
I fucked him slowly until long minutes later when his abs tightened.
A soft grunt later, I was shivering as his release filled me in a rough blast.
His hands fisted on the bed next to my knees, and I knew that he’d done it to make sure that he didn’t inadvertently grab me and hurt me in any way.
When he was finished, I rose up and stared at him, studying his eyes.
“I love you, Banner.”
His smile was brilliant.
“I love you, too, Perry.”
Chapter 24
Don’t underestimate my ability to find shit out.
-Perry to Banner
Banner
Perry and I pulled up in her mom’s car, and we both stared in horror at the church parking lot where she’d come to get me the night before.
“Ummm,” she said as we watched all the little kids play around the parking lot.
There was a fucking carnival going on, and there were ticket booths and a dunking booth set up on either side of my car.
Hell, they were even using my car to prop up one of their signs.
“I’m not going to be getting that right now,” I said as I stared. “It’s gonna have to stay until they’re done.”
She snickered then pulled the car over.
Seconds later, she ran to the nearest person that looked like they might be in charge and waved her over.
They chatted for a few seconds, then Perry came running back.
Jumping into the driver’s seat, she turned to me. “The carnival ends at six.”
I cursed. “I have an appointment that I need to make.”
Her brows rose.
“What?” she said. “I thought you were going home to wash your clothes and write that paper.”
I nodded. “I am. I do. I have an appointment, too.”
Her lips pursed. “What kind of appointment?”
I scratched my bearded jaw.
“One with a Navy recruiter,” I answered hesitantly.
Her eyes went wide, and then she started to shut down.
I knew the moment that I said it that she wasn’t going to like it.
That had been partially why I wasn’t telling her what I was doing. I didn’t want to freak her out.
“You… a recruiter?” she asked, sounding horrified. “What? Why? You have a full-blown college scholarship to LSU and Alabama!”
I did.
But I didn’t want to play football for the rest of my life. I wanted to go into the Navy. I wanted to make a difference, and I didn’t think that I could do that by being a professional football player.
That, and there were never any guarantees. I could break my leg the first year that I was there, and then they could drop me. Then what?
�
��I know.” I paused. “That’s why it wasn’t a big deal when Vance asked me not to play college ball. I never intended to.”
Her eyes were filled with horror as she stared at me.
“Don’t freak out,” I said. “This is just a talk with them. Nothing serious.”
Except, that was a lie.
The Navy was serious for me.
It was something I’d wanted to do for a very, very long time.
And though I loved Perry, I couldn’t give this dream up.
My lie tasted bitter on my tongue.
She didn’t say anything for so long that I was worried that she was going to blow up.
Instead, she calmly put the car into drive and started toward my house.
“Is your bike okay?” she asked. “You can get your brother or somebody to drop you off here later?”
I was looking at her hard, but she refused to look over.
“Yes,” I answered. “But why can’t you do that?”
She curled her fingers hard around the steering wheel and said, “Because I need some time to come to terms with you dying.”
I felt my belly clench.
“Perry,” I said softly, my hand going over to touch her, but she flinched. “I’m not going to die.”
She looked over at me then and I saw the tears in her eyes. “My dad almost did.”
I didn’t say anything to that.
He had.
But not everyone that went into the military came out the way her father did. Some did, but not anywhere near all.
“Don’t freak out,” I said. “This is just the initial meeting. Nothing’s set in stone.”
Except, that was really a lie, too.
I planned on telling her that later.
Right now? I just needed to get to my appointment.
I couldn’t be late.
Not when the recruiter had already waited a couple of days for me due to Perry’s health.
“I won’t hold my breath.”
She pulled up to my place five minutes later and came to a stop.
Before she could tell me to get out, I leaned over, pulled her mouth to mine, and laid a wet kiss on her lips. “Take care.”
Somethin' About That Boy Page 17
