FORCE: A Bad Boy Sports Romance

by Vivian Lux

  We stood staring at each other for several long, chilly seconds before he finally opened his mouth. "Are you okay?"

  I blinked. "Yes. Why wouldn't I be?"

  "Everything okay here? Your parents and sisters, they're okay?"

  I could tell the reason he was asking was desperately important to him, regardless of whether I understood why he was asking it. "Yes they are."

  "You sure? Are they inside?"

  "No, no one's here."

  "Can you check on them?"

  "Case?"

  "Just check for me please, Lexi." His voice rose slightly.

  "Okay then, I'll go text them, hang on." I darted quickly back into the house and grabbed my phone. I didn't want to set off any alarm bells with my family, even though I didn't know what the alarm was. Quickly I texted my father, "Hey Daddy, should I start dinner?" To Mary I typed a sarcastic little, "How's it going?"

  My phone buzzed twice in succession. First to arrive was Mary's angry, "You're a bitch," which made me smile. Then my father's longer and incomprehensibly garbled. "No Need 2 UR Mom said she + girls will B home soon Luv U." What was it with older people and terrible textspeak?

  I heard Case's footsteps on the porch and hurried back to the door. "They're fine," I told him, searching his face, trying to figure out what had him so rattled. I held up the phone. "Just checked."

  He let out a whoosh of breath, but then immediately grimaced.

  "Case should I be worried about something? Worried about you?"

  "Don't worry about me."

  I wanted to touch him again. My body burned with my recent self-love and having him this close without touching him made the flames leap higher. "I'm always going to worry about you," I muttered, lifting my hand to touch him. "You need to learn how to deal with that."

  I was trying to be playful, but his big hand caught mine fiercely and I gasped in surprise. I saw a million emotions play across his face before he lifted my hand and pressed it fervently to his lips. It was such a gentle, polite gesture from such a rough, imposing man. I nearly crumbled from the shock of it.

  "I just found you again," was all he said before his lips covered mine.

  Chapter 32

  Case

  He could almost believe it was steering wheel that resisted turning down that street, not him. The Jeep didn't have power steering, and turning the wheel was always a gamble that he enjoyed. So he could have blamed it on his Jeep.

  But that would have been delusional. It was his own reluctance that made the turn so difficult. What was most horrifying, he found, was how little things had changed. The house that used to be Mac's was still shrouded in trees, looking like it existed in its own private forest. The house next to it still had the same green Buick sitting in its same place to the right of the garage. If it had been Spring, he knew that the front walk would be lined with red geraniums, just like it always had.

  He almost stopped right there in front of that house. Because driving any further would put number 451 in his line of sight. He wished he could drive past it with his eyes closed.

  Be a fucking man, he told himself. It's just a fucking house for God's sake. They don't live there anymore.

  He pushed down on the gas pedal, flooring it before his nerve failed. He was in front of Lexi's house, with 451 looming behind him like a bad dream. He could feel its malevolent presence as he slipped from the driver's seat when he saw her open the front door.

  But then the vision of her crowded everything else from his brain. She was flushed, her eyes bright and shining, her wild curls tousled and untamed. She was looking at him like she always used to look at him, like he was some sort of puzzle that she longed to be able to figure out. And that she wouldn't rest until she had completed it and set everything to right.

  The sound of gunshots echoed in his brain and he shook himself, remembering why he was here. Remembering why he had braved the drive to the neighborhood he had been avoiding ever since he was taken from it. "Are you okay?" he asked her.

  She was confused, he could tell. But the less she knew about this ugliness, the better. Her not knowing would keep her safe. When she answered in the affirmative, he dared dart a look over his shoulder to her driveway, catching an inadvertent glimpse of 451 in the corner of his eyes. He shook his head and tried to focus.

  There weren't enough cars in her driveway. Not enough for two parents and two teenage daughters. If her family wasn't home, that meant they could be in danger as well. Whoever these people were that had shot at them, they had made it clear that they didn't care about who they targeted.

  He felt the rush of affection for her when, instead of pressing him to explain himself, she just ran inside and did what he asked when he told her to make sure they were okay. He tapped his foot on that bare pavement nervously, trying to keep his back to 451. But that made him feel like it was going to leap out and grab him.

  Perhaps it was better to face it.

  Slowly he shuffled his feet until he was facing the seat of his nightmares. The first thing he saw was that tips of long, brown, dead grass sticking out of the snow piles. The branches of the hedge that lined the front window were long enough to press up against the grass and double back. The house was dark, silent.

  Abandoned.

  Lexi reappeared, her cell phone in her hand. "They're fine. Just checked."

  Case's relief was only temporary. Until he saw them all under one roof again, he wouldn't be able to relax. He heard Lexi ask if everything was okay, if she needed to be worried. "Don't worry about me," he snapped, a reflex long ingrained.

  Her fingers lightly brushed the sleeve of his jacket, idly brushing the leather in a touch so feather light it should have been imperceptible. But it was as if sparks flew from her fingertips, jolting through his body. "I'll never stop worrying about you," he heard her say from very far away, her voice melting with love. A quirky smile played around her lips and she spoke further. But he was deaf to her words as the realization hit him like a freight train. He had found her again and for some inexplicable reason she stilled loved him. It was the first lucky thing that had ever happened in his shitty life.

  I've been dreaming about you for years. I wasted so much time hating you that I nearly forgot how much I loved you to begin with. I lost you and then I found you and now, because of me and my stupid rush to get money, I thought I might lose you again. And I just found you again. He didn't realize he was speaking until the last sentence left his lips, but it didn't mattered if she heard him. What mattered was that he hold her. Right the fuck now.

  When he bent to kiss her, she stood on her tiptoes to meet him halfway. He caught her quickly, lifting her so that he could taste her lips more easily. Her mouth was scalding hot, searing him with a heat so intense he felt it spread through his body and down to his toes. Her body was almost as warm and when she pressed it against him fully, he knew she wanted him as much as he wanted her. He felt himself harden against her belly and he pushed against her insistently. Wrapping his hands around her ass, he lifted her easily and she wrapped her legs around his torso, gripping him almost as tightly as he was gripping her.

  "Case." His name was like a sigh on her lips, but he heard how she used his new name. It didn't bother him. Though his hands and lips knew she was the same Lexi he had always loved, this animal rush of desire was a new thing entirely. Everything could be new.

  "Yes, Case," she moaned in answer to his unasked question. Her hot lips found his neck, raining kisses down his throat as she slid back down to standing.

  "No one is here, right?" he croaked.

  Instead of answering, she grabbed him by the forearms and pulled him over the threshold with such force that he had to grin. He only took one moment to look around and see that the Delaneys' house had barely changed before she was on him again.

  Case pulled her sweater to the side and bent his lips to her freckled shoulder. The small noise that escaped her lips inflamed him further, and he moved his lips upward, trailing kisse
s along the length of her neck until he reached the delicate skin of her earlobe. He lightly drew his teeth across the soft skin and was rewarded with another kittenish gasp. That was all he could take.

  He swept her up into his arms, and ran up the stairs two at a time. The last door on the left, that was her bedroom. He lowered her to the too-small bed. She landed with a soft bounce, and then reached upward to pull him down on top of her.

  All of those other women, they had just been practice for this moment. When he finally had Lexi trembling underneath him.

  "You are so fucking beautiful," he rasped against her ear, tasting that delicate lobe again with a flick of his tongue. "And I'm going to make you feel what you do to me."

  He pulled himself up to look her in the eye. Those wide cinnamon eyes were gazing at him with a tantalizing mix of passion and trepidation. He meant to wash that trepidation away with his tongue.

  When he lifted her shirt, she wiggled and threw it over her head impatiently. He dove immediately for the soft rise of her freckled breasts, letting his lips seek and then find the soft pink nipple. He drew it into his mouth, feeling it pucker and harden against his teeth as he gently dragged them upward. A flick of his tongue had them flushed and standing at attention, just like his cock was.

  The need pounded in his groin but he ignored it. This had been too long in coming to rush though to the end. Instead he let his lips travel down from the peak and into the valley between her breasts. She snaked her fingers into his hair, trying to draw him up to kiss him, but he had another goal in mind. He let his tongue flick downward, stopping to trace the outline of her navel, before he pinched the pull of her zipper and unfastened her jeans tooth by tooth.

  "I got it," she breathed, sitting up, the bloom of frustration coloring her cheeks.

  He grinned at her from between her legs. "I've been thinking about taking your pants off for five years. You really going to ruin this for me?"

  She looked shocked for a moment, and then burst out laughing. The she cupped his face in her hand and smiled so sweetly that his heart hurt. "Just be quick about it," she gasped, pressing her lips to his. She smoothed back his hair and raked her fingernails down through his beard. "I like this," she murmured. "It tickles."

  He grinned and bent his head back to her zipper. "I'll show you how much it tickles," he growled.

  She lifted her hips slightly to accommodate him as he pulled down to reveal the creamy flesh of her thighs and the sweet, white cotton covered mound that was his focus. He could feel the heat rising off of her already. The unmistakable scent of her desire permeated the air. He couldn't wait to taste it. He heard the sound of stitches popping as he tore her panties free to reveal the glistening pink wetness they had hidden.

  "Lie back," he ordered.

  She leaned backwards with a soft, hissing noise, and pressed her hips upward. He caught the soft mounds of her buttocks and lifted her until her thighs rested on his shoulders. When he knelt upward, lifting her hips to the sky, her strength gave out and she fell flat on her back, completely at his mercy.

  At first it was just a lick. Just to see if she tasted as sweet as she smelled. But when that slick honey poured over his tongue, he became a man possessed. Pulling her roughly closer, he buried his face into her cleft. She stiffened, clamping his head between her thighs and he let her grind herself against him for only a moment before he pressed her belly down. When he had her on the bed again, he slipped a finger inside of her and pressed his other hand downward, catching the spongy flash of her G-spot while he let his tongue dance along the scalding hot folds that hid her buzzing clit from view.

  "Jesus!" she cried, panting hard, and he felt the walls of her pussy clamp down on his finger, trying to drag him upward. He groaned at the slick tightness, wanting nothing more than to plunge himself inside of her with wild abandon.

  But not yet. Not yet. She was poised at the precipice and he meant to send her flying.

  He bent his head again and concentrated his full attention to that furious nub. When his first lapping strokes exposed it to the air, she gasped and bucked upwards, pressing into him to tell him exactly where to work. Her fingers raked through his hair and down his shoulders, clutching and clawing blindly. Her mouth was opening and closing soundlessly. She was nearly there.

  He pressed down onto the nub with an authoritative thumb and slipped another finger inside of her. She gave a strangled cry, arching clean off of the bed as she panted and gasped his name, her pussy tightening rhythmically as her juices poured over his hand. He watched her as she came, wild and uninhibited; her eyes squeezed shut in a grimace of pain and ecstasy. He couldn't wait a second longer. When he felt her subside, he yanked the condom out of his wallet.

  When she heard the jingle of his belt buckle, her eyes flew open and she sat straight up and stayed his huge hands with her tiny, trembling ones. She looked up at him and gasped, still catching her breath. ""I've been thinking about taking your pants off for five years, " she grinned. "You really going to ruin this for me?"

  His laughter trailed away as he watched her fumble with his belt buckle. He had to grit his teeth and resist the urge to swat her away and do it himself. But when his cock was finally freed from its prison, he had his blessed relief from his torment when he felt her lips close around his tip.

  She looked up at him and closed her hand around the shaft. "I don't know if I'm going to be as good as you," she murmured. "So you tell me what you like."

  "Baby," he groaned in sweet agony as her hot mouth enveloped him. "You are better than you'll ever know."

  She moaned slightly in response, her throat vibrating against his shaft. He snaked his fingers into those wild curls, gripping tightly, having to hold himself back before he thrust himself deep into her throat. She moaned again when he gripped her hair tighter. "Oh god," she gasped, pulling herself free with a wet smack, "keep pulling my hair."

  "You like it a little rough?" he growled in surprise.

  She cocked her head to the side. "I guess I do," she grinned lazily, and slid her lips down the length of him again.

  He needed no more encouragement. Gripping her hair firmly, he thrust himself into her mouth. She made a small choking noise and then moaned louder. He could feel her throat closing around the head of his cock and he nearly lost it.

  "Get up," he ordered. "Now."

  She scrambled back onto the bed, watching him fixedly as he unrolled the condom. He crawled over top of her to position himself, but instead of waiting, she grabbed him and guided him to her entrance.

  He tried to be gentle as the hot walls enveloped him and welcomed him inside, but it was impossible. He thrust himself upward and her eyes flew open. "Sorry," he grunted. "Are you okay?"

  "I'm more than fucking okay," she growled into his ear. And then she clutched his buttocks and pushed him even higher. "I want you to take me, Case. I want you to have me however you want. I want to feel you everywhere."

  He sank himself inside of her all the way to the hilt and stayed there for a moment, feeling the rhythmic pulse of her against him. And then he began to work his hips, slowly at first, swirling himself inside of her. She was moaning and gasping underneath him, but this slowness wasn't for her. He wanted to feel every inch of her. He wanted to touch all of her secret places and claim them as his own.

  She shuddered again. "Case!" she cried as the sensations took her for a second time. She bucked underneath him, grinding herself wildly against him and her pleasure took him too. He thrust faster and faster. Somewhere in the back of his mind he worried that he was hurting her, but she took every punishing inch as she screamed his name over and over, until at last he joined her in her ecstasy. He felt his muscles twitch and his breath caught in his throat before he roared out her name while he spent himself furiously inside of her.

  His strength left him and he pitched forward on top of her.

  "Case." Her lips brushed his earlobe and his spent cock stirred again. "Case?"

  "Yes, Lexi?"


  "You're crushing me."

  He laughed and flopped off the bed. "You stay right there," he ordered. He didn't usually give a fuck about the aftermath, but something about being in Lexi's childhood bedroom made him want to clean up a little.

  "I'm not going anywhere. As long as you keep doing that thing with your thumb and two fingers, you're stuck with me forever."

  “I'll hold you to that." He brushed a kiss across her belly before hurrying out the door. The sooner he was done in the bathroom the sooner he could be back in her bed.

  But when he stepped on to that familiar tiled floor, he stopped as if frozen. The memory of the day he had met her at the playground was too damn strong for him to move. It grabbed him and held him until he was fourteen years old again, alone in the house with his mother during one of her benders.

  She didin't move from the mattress on the floor of her room for days, not showering, not eating. All of the assistance money for the month was gone. There was no food in the house and no money to buy it. But she had been able to scrape together enough change for rubbing alcohol and send him to the store to retrieve it. Those were the times he was glad his brothers were still in foster and that their bid to get them back had failed. Hunter and Jonah didn't need to see this.

  And so he wandered the neighborhood to get away from the stinking shadow that called itself his mother. He spent his whole day outside, in the heat, wandering the rim of the park. If he saw another person, he shied away, but that usually wasn't necessary. Decent people seemed to know to avoid him.

  He had seen the three girls go by his house in their Catholic school uniforms a bunch of times. The oldest one had hair that fascinated him. As did the way she cared for her little sisters. Seeing them made his heart ache for his brothers. He started watching the little trio more and more, standing on the edge of their life looking in.

  On that hot day, he was already at the park, poking listlessly at the dry, dusty ground of the playground, hoping to find a lost wallet or some dropped change so he could buy something to eat. He had been stealing from the corner store, but the man behind the counter was getting suspicious and started following him around immediately whenever he set foot in the door.