THE MAN. THE GAME. THE BABY. (A Knight Brothers Novel) (A Bad Boy Sports Romance)

by London Casey

  “Jesus, if he does that, why not talk about it? I mean, that alone could help with his image problem.”

  “Don’t ask me about it.”

  “You know, Ted, this whole thing would work better if I knew exactly what I was supposed to do and exactly who Roman is.”

  “Tough shit.”

  Ted then hung up on me.

  All I wanted to do was disappear from Roman until I could come up with a plan on how to handle him. But then I realized I pissed him off and he was out running around right now. Doing anything he wanted.

  “Damn,” I said and grabbed for my keys.

  I had to go hunt down a beautifully sexy broken football player before he got his ass into trouble again.

  (Roman)

  I hit the back door with my hand open. I repeated it over and over until someone yelled, “Who in the fucking hell is it?”

  “Delivery,” I said.

  Hank opened the door, a dirty towel over his shoulder. “Roman.”

  “I need a drink.”

  “Most people use the front entrance.”

  “I’m not most people. How many you got sitting today?”

  “Two regulars. Gets slow in the morning. You know, not many people are ready to wake up and drink.”

  “Good.”

  Hank gave a nod and I followed him through the back of the bar like I did before.

  I reclaimed my previous seat and ordered something on tap.

  I reached for money and Hank waved me off. “This one’s on me. Everything okay with your problem?”

  “Yeah. Don’t worry about that anymore.”

  The two guys at the bar looked at me, trying to figure out if I was really there. I gave a wave and they nodded.

  “What brings you in?” Hank asked.

  “I need a minute here, that’s all. Out of the spotlight and to think.”

  “Okay, Roman. Have at it. Just no fights.”

  “With those two old guys?” I asked.

  “They’re ex-military,” Hank said. “I’d put my money on them.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

  “You can’t win all the time. You’ll learn that eventually. Maybe that’ll keep you from acting like an ass all the time.”

  “I doubt it,” I said. “I got another lawyer on my back. My lawyer hired another lawyer to keep tabs on me. Imagine that.”

  “I can’t even,” Hank said. “I run a shit hole dive bar on the edge of the city, Roman. I’m lucky if I clear enough to keep the lights on. I’m far from the life you live.”

  “Goddamn, Hank. I’m sorry to hear that. Now you’re making me feel like an ass.”

  “You should.” He smiled. “Finish that beer and get out of here. You belong out there. Go do something.”

  I sat there then and just thought. Sometimes it was hard to get away from all the noise and just think. Willow had no business going through my bag and finding what she did. I got it though, I did. She needed to protect herself from me. That part I was fine with. But what I did with my money was my business. Yeah, I donated millions across the country to domestic abuse charities. And no, I wasn’t going to plaster my face on posters and ads about it. Nobody needed to know about my life. The only thing that mattered in my life was that when the time came to make that throw again, I would make it the right way. Drop that fucking football right in Shawn’s hands in the end zone.

  Ted and my accountant were the only ones that knew about the donations. I had set up a dummy company that handled it. I’d anonymously send the checks and have Ted call to verify the check was received and that the true donor wanted it to be kept silent. Maybe on my end that was a dumb move. The knowledge of the donations would put me in good standing with the league, the team owners, and probably in the eyes of the media. But what was that then? Me buying good faith? That was bullshit. I didn’t buy good faith. I didn’t want it.

  And Willow had found it all.

  Yeah, part of me was still fucking livid that she hadn’t joined me in the shower. That was my fault for not pursuing harder at her. Breaking her down and devouring her the way her eyes so beautifully begged for. I heard what she had said though. About her job. Losing a case. Needing me to stay out of trouble for her benefit.

  That was a tall order.

  An order I wasn’t going to fill. Sorry.

  I finished my beer and stood up. I grabbed a hundred dollar bill and folded it up and stuck it under the glass. It wouldn’t solve any of Hank’s problems, but it couldn’t hurt.

  I waved to Hank and he waved back.

  After two steps, I looked to my right and a couple of guys enter the bar and go for a table. They pointed right at me.

  “Roman!” one guy yelled. “You’re amazing, man.”

  “Thanks,” I said.

  I then thought about that woman in the office. She asked for an autograph for her father. And what did I do?

  “Shit,” I whispered.

  That wasn’t right to ignore her. Or to rip up that paper. She didn’t do a damn thing to me. Still, it was strange to have people want me to write my name for them. Like I really fucking mattered. To them I was a hero. I was the man. I was the game. I was the everything.

  I retreated back to the bar. “Hey, Hank.”

  “What?”

  “I need a pen and a napkin.”

  I stood in the hallway and waited for Willow.

  I knew she’d be after me, wanting to make sure I hadn’t done anything crazy yet today. I got her number from Ted, who seemed way too pleased with the fucking situation he had created. I told him I planned on firing him and he said to do him the favor.

  Fuck him. He was stuck with me for life. Even if I ended up in prison.

  It took Willow only a few minutes to get there. She came through the door and ran right toward me like she wanted to hit me. She probably did, but she restrained herself from doing so, keeping a short distance from me.

  She was fucking ravishing. And the allure of her being untouchable made it all that even hotter between us. Then again, I didn’t believe in fucking barriers. Nothing was untouchable in my eyes. If I wanted it, I got it. I grabbed the low hanging fruit and if it was out of reach, I’d climb the fucking tree and get it.

  Nothing could or would ever stop me.

  I turned and faced her. “You got here fast. Out looking for me?”

  “Maybe I was. What the fuck do you want, Roman? Want to scream at me again? Rip something out of my hands and rip it up? Or better yet, what can I do for you? Tell me. Because I’m lost here.”

  I stepped right up to her, knowing it was time to abolish all thoughts of barriers and respect. Fuck whoever she was. Fuck whoever she was with, if anyone. Fuck Ted. Fuck all lawyers. Fuck everything.

  I cared about my world.

  My hands touched her curvy waist, feeling the soft material of her professional clothing. When I pushed at her, my eyes shot down, watching the subtle yet sexy cleavage she had showing bounce.

  A second later I had her against the wall.

  She opened her mouth to say something but I didn’t care what she had to say.

  This is my world.

  My lips touched hers and one taste was never going to be enough. I kissed her, softly at first, to ease the tension. Then my tongue slipped forward, sliding into her mouth. There was a slight hesitation at first, her little flirty tongue trying to get away from me. But that wasn’t going to fucking happen. My hands squeezed tighter on her hips as I drove myself forward, making goddamn sure she felt my dick already starting to get hard because of her.

  I kissed her for just a few seconds though. We still had a professional relationship to maintain.

  When I pulled away from her, I caught her leaning forward. She didn’t want the kiss to end. She wanted me to keep going. I bet she regretted not joining me in the shower.

  I let her go and backed up. Her hands were against the wall, as flat as her back. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes on fire, her lips pouty, an
d her mouth still open.

  “What the fuck?” she whispered.

  “You’ve been wanting me to do that since we met. You’re welcome.”

  “What?”

  “Kills the tension between us. Now we never have to worry about that again.”

  “Are you really that cocky? Or just fucking insane?”

  “I guess you’ll have to wait and find out, sweetie. Now, since we’re setting some rules here…” I moved at her again. Willow put her hands out and stopped me. I could feel her ever-so-slightly squeezing, enjoying the rewards of muscle through my intense workouts. “I’m not going to fucking kiss you again. Don’t worry about that.”

  “Good to know.”

  “No, let me finish. If I wanted you naked, you’d be naked. If I wanted to fuck you, I’d already be inside you. You fucking pissed me off, Willow.”

  “You fucking pissed me off. I don’t need this shit, Roman. You don’t want to open up to me, fine. But if you fuck up, then I fuck up. And I don’t have millions in the bank.”

  “Maybe you should have learned how to throw a football,” I said.

  Willow pushed at me. I barely moved. She then gritted her teeth and I knew the look on her face. That’s why it came as no surprise when she slapped me. It was a good slap at that. The sound echoed down the empty hall.

  “You stay the fuck away from me,” she said. “You’re a fucking piece of shit, Roman. I don’t care if you’re an athlete or rich or muscular. Fuck you. You have no right to storm into my office like that. Or talk to me like that. Or make me come here to kiss me? Who the fuck are you?”

  She turned to leave and I grabbed for her arm. “Wait.”

  “No.”

  “I have something for you,” I said.

  “What? You going to show me your dick now?”

  I reached in my pocket and took out the napkin. “Here. For that woman. Whatever her name was. I shouldn’t have done that to her and her father.”

  Willow took the napkin and looked at it. “Oh.”

  “And make sure I get her father’s information, too. I’ll get him some tickets for next season. My treat.”

  Willow looked at me. “Is this your way of kissing my ass?”

  “Sweetie, if I wanted to do anything to your ass, I would just fucking do it. You need to learn that about me. This is my world, Willow, and you’re inside it.”

  “Then maybe I’ll just quit,” she said. “Then I can tell you to go fuck yourself once and for all.”

  Willow hurried away from me and I let her go.

  I stood there, watching her ass press against her clothes, rocking back and forth as she moved fast to the door. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I actually stood right in the same spot and didn’t move until she was gone.

  By then, my dick was hard and I was thinking about going into the shower for a little relief.

  That wasn’t my style though.

  Instead, I went to find a prepaid cell that I always kept on hand. I then made a phone call to an associate who would have any woman I wanted from his establishment at the practice facility to aid me in my relief.

  If Willow wasn’t going to do it for me, someone would have to.

  It wasn’t my normal situation but I made do. She wasn’t the first woman I fooled around with at the practice facility, but it just felt a little off. I stood facing the water and put my head back and groaned. Her hands were wrapped tight around my cock, pumping me as I came. Her huge breasts pressed against my back. She would have let me do anything to her but this was working just fine for now.

  I think her name was Candy or Charlotte or something. She meant nothing to me and I meant nothing to her. Her money was on the bench just outside the shower. Her car was parked outside and she’d be back at the office waiting for her next client in no time.

  When I looked down at my cock, she was still going at me. She knew right when to slow, when to squeeze, and knew how to get every last droplet out of me. I watched it all swirl and go down the drain.

  After I was done, she kept at me. Her right hand touched my stomach while her left hand continued to gently stroke me. Her thumb rolled against the thick head of my cock and I felt myself thrusting.

  See, I don’t really ever get soft. Not after coming just once either. That was a little warm-up for me. I knew Candy or whatever was waiting for me to go soft.

  “You’re still hard, baby,” she whispered and kissed my neck. “And you have plenty of time and money waiting for me.”

  I grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand away.

  I turned around and looked at her naked body. I cupped her large breast and my thumb flicked at her nipples. My intention had been nothing but getting the urge to come out of my system.

  That I blamed Willow for.

  But staring at this paid-for, sexy woman, with my cock still standing tall, I couldn’t help myself.

  Two minutes later I had a condom rolled down my shaft and she was facing the running water. I slammed my cock into her, watching her move to her toes as she tried her hardest to take all of me inside her. My hands held her tits as I fucked her, only stopping when I filled the condom.

  Then I was done.

  When I stepped into the hallway, a security guard stood with Tyler.

  Tyler?

  I had my bag over my shoulder. My body was aching from my workout. The rest of myself ached from the woman in the shower and because of that kiss with Willow. She still raced through my mind, which meant the money I threw down for that woman was wasted. My dick was still half hard and I was far from satisfied.

  “What the fuck do you want?” I asked Tyler.

  “So this it? This practice facility, huh? Can I see the field?”

  “Yeah. Sure.” I nodded to the security guard and he backed away.

  I took Tyler to the field and watched him react to it all. He walked right onto the field and crouched, running his fingers through the fake grass. His right leg had a hard time bending thanks to his lifelong injury.

  “This is nice,” he said.

  “What do you want?”

  “So the rest of your team is just off,” Tyler said. “But the big shot is always here. Always practicing.”

  “That’s my style.”

  Tyler rose back up, groaning and grabbing at his right leg. He turned and looked at me. In the lights I was able to see his eyes were glossy. He was fucked up on something. I instantly wondered if he actually needed the money the other night for gambling. Maybe it had been for drugs.

  “It should have been you,” he said. “All of it, Roman. It should have been you.”

  “That’s what you came here to tell me? To go back through time and blame me?”

  “We were supposed to be a team,” he said. “I was good at gambling. You could throw a punch. We were a team. Then you fucked me.”

  “You fucked yourself, Tyler,” I said. “You had no business getting in as deep as you did. You and I both know that.”

  “You left me hanging.”

  I dropped my gym bag. It hit with a thud and echoed. “I’m giving you one more chance to tell me why you’re actually here before I have security throw you out. I have nothing left to say to you, Tyler. What’s done is done. We dig our own graves, man. You know that.”

  “I need more money,” he whispered. “Those guys that saw you? They knew who you were. Right?”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  “Well, if I’m running with you, then I have to have extra money, right?”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Just help me out so nobody gets hurt. This is it, Roman. I pay this up and I move on. It’s over.”

  I stepped toward Tyler. “What have you gotten yourself into, man?”

  Tyler teared up. “Cards and pills. I’m sorry, Roman. It’s just my personality. When I first started taking the pills, my leg didn’t hurt. I forgot about it. I was almost normal, right? I started to win a few hands. I did good. Women… oh, man… I could affor
d the real good stuff… but then it stopped working. I took more pills, I lost hands, I…”

  I put a hand to Tyler’s shoulder. He started to weep. He bobbed his head, sobbing right there on the field he had always dreamed of playing on. He was the football star, not me. He was the one who grew up with the posters on the wall. His old man would take him outside and throw passes to him for hours. His parents struggled to afford to take him to a professional football game once a year. This was all Tyler knew.

  What was I supposed to do?

  “I’m not a bank,” I said.

  “I’m trying to get square with this guy so I could go get help. Okay? That’s what I’m doing. I’m going to get help, Roman. I’m going to clean up. Then I’m going to do something with football.”

  “Tyler, I had a job for you before. You want me to do that again for you? I will. I’ll hook you up. But not like this. You’re a fucking mess, man.”

  Tyler knocked my hand away and yelled, “I’m confessing it to you, Roman. You selfish prick. The world doesn’t revolve around you. You could be me in a second. A blink of an eye… an accident… illness… anything, man. It’s waiting right behind you. You’re not invincible.”

  “Get the fuck out of here,” I said. “Now. Go take your junkie ass and figure this out on your own.”

  Tyler nodded. He started to hobble forward. He wiped snot off his face and stopped at the door. “I loved you, Roman. You and me. We were a team.”

  Tyler opened the door and I let my emotions get the best of me. I walked up to him and stopped him.

  “I’m not giving you money to just blow,” I said. “But I’ll help. Okay? That’s the best I can fucking do here, man. You need to clean up for real. Now get the fuck out of here for good.”

  I nodded to the security guard and he walked Tyler out of the practice facility.

  I was alone again. It was nice to be alone though. No cameras. No questions. No trouble. But I could find trouble anywhere.

  I walked back to the field and stood there staring at it. In a matter of months it would be back to full swing again. We’d be having practices everyday. Coaches barking orders at us. Fat fucking guys with clipboards telling me how I could be better. Fuck that.

  I grabbed a football lined up a pass right at the corner of the end zone.