ROMANCE: SPORTS ROMANCE: Double Blindside (Bad Boy College Football Romance) (New Adult College Alpha Male Sports Romance)
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“Are you trying to get away?”
I shook my head that I wasn’t, pressing back as I looked behind me. His lips touched mine as his pelvic thrust against my softness. “Am I sober enough for you now?”
I hear another growl as his body moved over mine. It was so sudden that it took my breath away, but I didn’t have time to think of anything else. Looking up into his dark brown eyes, his excitement kept putting pressure on my need.
Tony didn’t answer me, no words needed as he moved away long enough to hike the skirt up and pull my panties down. There was no time to savor anything the first time. He took me hard and fast, losing control as I lost everything in that moment. Never had I came so hard or screamed so loud in my life. When I was lying on the bed panting, unable to move, Tony was ready then to savor me and I was late for my first class. It was almost noon by the time I finally got of there.
We promised to see each other again soon and since he was too busy to drive me, he had one of his employees take me home. Vinny was introduced as I got in the car, but he didn’t say a word to me the whole trip. I didn’t understand anything that happened with Tony or who he was to tell so many people what to do, but it didn’t matter in that moment. I hadn’t been looking for a husband, but someone to make me forget about Jared and in that way, he had worked magnificently. When Jared called later that day, I was able to ignore the phone call, no longer worried about him.
If I was honest with myself, it was more than just how I was able to repel my ex, but how I felt in general. It was like Tony had given me back some energy, hope, something was different. I spent the day on some kind of high and I spent more than enough time thinking about the man who had made me feel this way. The only thing that was wrong about it all was the kind of man he was. He was covered in tattoos and though I had loved the hard lines of his chest, there were more scars on just that area, than my whole body. Tony was living rough for whatever reason and I knew that he was not the type of man that I was supposed to be associated with.
I tried to forget about the dark-eyed man that had made me feel like a whole new woman. There was nothing that I could say, or do to change what had happened, but I knew that it wouldn’t be wise to do it again. I had to forget about Tony and just see him for what it was. He was the perfect man to make me forget my problems and now I had to do the same thing with him.
***
I stuck to my resolution. There was a couple of times when he would call and I would see him number go across my phone that I wanted to answer it. I wanted to meet him again, feel his hands on my body again, but I knew that I shouldn’t. Because I was such a nosy person, I had done some snooping on him and what I had found was not good. I had always been familiar with the police station, my father having worked there for almost thirty years and because of that, I had access to their systems and the knowledge to get the information I needed.
Tony Castello had a huge rap sheet and I was sure that he had not been caught for many of the things he did. He was a drug dealer and that information alone was enough to make my heart sink. That he was one of the biggest suppliers in the city was even worse. After my investigation, I knew that there was no way we could be together. I had thought about it in an off way. After a few hours with Tony, I was thinking of a life on the other side of the tracks, but then I remembered who I was.
“Emily? What are you doing here?”
My dad had snuck in behind me and was looking at what I was doing on his computer. “Nothing.”
“So if you are doing nothing, why are you in the databases?”
I closed what I had been looking at, but his eyes were sharp and he had already seen what I was looking at. “Why were you looking at Tony Castello? He hasn’t been bothering you, has he? I knew there would be problems if any of those kinds found out that my daughter went to school in the city.”
“No I just heard the name. That was the guy that had you so upset the other day, right?”
He nodded and seemed to calm down once he knew that I wasn’t in current danger. “Yeah, he was here bailing one of his runners out. The boy wasn’t much younger than you. It’s appalling for a man like that to be destroying the city in such a way. Chicago has enough crime and drugs. I tried to appeal to his heart, but that man doesn’t have one. He would take advantage of anyone or anything if given the chance.”
I knew that it was not true about Tony. He had made sure that I was sober before he would do anything with me and I had practically begged him to take advantage of me. It made me wonder what else my dad was wrong about. Was Tony just a guy that was misunderstood?
“Why were you so angry the other day?”
“Because men like him are looked up to. It is a responsibility to all the youth in the neighborhood. Instead, he is sending them out to do all of the work for him while he gets rich.”
I didn’t think it was quite like that. My father had a tendency to be dramatic and when I asked him how old the kid was, I found out he was actually an adult, but dad thought that I was still a kid at twenty-one. It was hard to keep a straight face as he railed on. The whole time I was wondering what he would think of his daughter if he knew what I had done with Tony. I didn’t see him as he did, I couldn’t. While I knew that I couldn’t be with him, I looked back fondly on us being together. I couldn’t regret it, even though it would never amount to anything.
When the spiel from dad got onto how I should stay away from men like him, I lamented. “I know dad. You have taught me well.”
I smiled to myself as he looked away relieved. What he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him.
Chapter 6
Emily
After the information I got from the police database and the conversation I had with my father, I tried to forget about the man that had been at the right place at the right time. It was what it was, I was sure of it. Nowhere else would we meet again, too far different to ever be in the same circle of people again. I blocked his number from my phone and went about my business, trying to forget about him.
I did a pretty good job of it and it was only late at night that I missed Tony. I told myself there was nothing to miss, I didn’t even really know him, but it didn’t stop the memories of his touch. Of that I could be certain of. I may not know much about what he did or liked as a whole, but I knew where I could touch him to drive him mad. That information seemed to be enough for me.
I finished off class and barely even thought about Tony anymore. Me and Jared were on talking terms again and before, I would have jumped with the chance to go back to him, I didn’t once break. Jared was working on me and I let him, but I knew it wasn’t going to turn into anything else. It was what it was but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t attractive and I wasn’t a hopeless flirt.
We were walking in the park one afternoon. I was getting ready to start an internship for the summer and he was starting his first real job after getting his degree. It was something that we had always done together on Sunday mornings and I missed that. It wasn’t Sunday then though, it was Saturday evening right before dark. He was trying to convince me to have dinner at his house and I saw it for what it was, a way to try and get me into his bed.
“I can’t Jared. I have to get up early in the morning and I still have to go over a couple reports and depositions.” I was already getting some work from the law offices of Weimer, but it was more of an excuse to not be alone with him. I was having trouble remembering why it was that we weren’t together. My body needed something more than holding hands while walking in the park. No matter how romantic the setting, it would be far worse in his apartment where I had such wild memories of when we were together. It was almost a conundrum. I was with Tony to forget about Jared, but now I had nothing to help me forget about Tony.
“Come on. It’s just dinner. I have no one to cook for anymore.”
I was tempted. The man could cook, but what he did better is what worried me. I wanted all of what he had to offer. I stopped and turned towards him to say som
ething and he leaned in to kiss me all of a sudden. My lips were not ready and I pulled away before it could go any further. It was that kiss that made me realize how wrong it was. Jared was not the one anymore.
“Stop. I thought we were going to just be friends.”
He was mad, the look on his face incredulous. “No man wants to be friends with his ex, Emily. Don’t be so naïve.”
I was the one getting mad next. It was stupid on my part to have even entertained the idea, but now I saw how silly I was being. I went home from the park, walking the several blocks to get to my apartment. I wasn’t thinking when I left the park. I had to walk through several bad parts of town that I would have rather not went through at night.
By the end of it, I was almost shaking. But as I got closer to my apartment, the street lights were brighter and I didn’t have too much to worry about being accosted on the street. There was no one on the sidewalk when I went in the entrance, checking my mail on the way up to my apartment. I admonished myself the whole way home, wondering why I was feeling so stir crazy.
I was convinced that it was because I was hormonal, but it didn’t take long for me to realize that I hadn’t had a period that month or the last once I thought about it. It was the only thing that kept me from worrying about the savory characters I had passed on the street.
It wouldn’t be that worrisome, if I had just been with Jared. We always used protection and it was never a problem. But that morning marathon tryst with Tony had been anything but safe and now that I was back at my place, looking at my calendar, I knew that the impossible had happened. I didn’t want to get myself all riled up, hoping that I was somehow wrong and somehow not pregnant, but the sinking feeling in my gut was enough to make me realize that I wasn’t wrong.
I sat down on the couch and must have stared off into space for at least an hour. There was no one to call. Tony probably didn’t even remember me and if I told my dad, all he would want to know was who the father was. What could I do? It was times like this, that I wished my mom was still around. She always knew the perfect thing to say and I needed that now. I needed someone to tell me what to do.
Convincing myself that I could be wrong and was freaking out over nothing, I knew I had to do something to ease my mind. There were a lot of reason that I could be late. I assured myself that I was just working myself up over nothing and that I would get a test and everything would be fine. That is what I told myself anyways, hoping that the bad feeling was just more over wrought emotions.
When I went out an hour later to the drugstore to find out once and for all, I knew that my fears were not unfounded. I sat with the small stick in my hand and my mind reeled. What was I going to do? Tony would never want to be the father. I was sure that he wouldn’t even recognize me again. I wanted to think that what we had was something special, but I knew better than that. Men like him didn’t stick around. I was going to have to do it alone.
The idea was scary at first, but as the weeks went by, I started to get used to the idea. I hadn’t gotten the courage up to tell my father what was going on, basically because I didn’t know how to tell him about the father of my baby. There was no scenario in which he would be okay with me being with Tony or having a child with him. But I had to do something soon. I was starting to show and even though I was starting to wear baggy clothes, I know that I only had so long before I had to say something. He was going to find out and I was already noticing a squint to his eyes when he looked at me.
I was over at his house one evening. I always went over there for dinner a couple of times a week and since I was finally getting over my morning sickness, it was a lot easier to enjoy my visits to his house. But I was unprepared for the bombardment of questions after dinner was served.
“I know something is going on with you Emily. You have been my little girl for all these years, I know you.”
I tried not to sigh. I literally had not had my first bite before he was starting in on me. I wasn’t sure what I was doing to get the lecture, but I was sure if I waited long enough he would let me know. He was always good about that.
“What do you mean?”
“You barely eat for a month and you are always looking sick.”
I sighed to myself. Obviously the whole glowing thing wasn’t going for me. “I am fine, just been feeling under the weather is all. It has been a cold winter and I am just not used to it this year.”
I was scrabbling for an answer to his questions. He already had something in mind that was my problem. I could tell by the way he was looking at me. “It’s not that. I just, I don’t know Emily. Sometimes I wish your mother was around. She was always good with the emotional stuff.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Are you pregnant?”
I stopped and looked at him. He already knew and there was nonsense in denying it. “Yes.”
He closed his eyes and I saw a weight lifted off of his shoulder. The mystery had been solved. “Well when I heard about you and Jared, I was wondering if you were going to patch it up. You kind of have to now.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well if you two are going to have a baby together, you need to think about marriage. I don’t want you to have to raise my grandchild on your own.”
I wanted to pop off and just tell him that it was even worse than that. I knew that he was going to be upset, but I hadn’t considered the fact that he was going to think that it was Jared’s. If I was smart I would have told him that it was Jared’s. Then I wouldn’t have to explain that it was some guy I didn’t know, even worse if I told him it was Tony’s. I was sure that he would have a meltdown if I did that.
Stuck, I just tried to go with it. “You know, I always like Jared. I know that you two were young when you first started dating, you are still young, but I think he is going to be a good father and a good son-in-law. I always hoped it would be him. He always seemed to be able to calm you down. You two are good for each other. Before him, you were going through that gothic stage and running with all the wrong people.
If he said anything else I was going to have to say something. It was like word vomit that kept coming out and the more he talked, the more aggravated I became.
“It’s not Jared’s dad.” My voice was low and even though he was talking, he still heard me loud and clear. I almost regretted saying it for a minute. I had no plans to, but when he kept going on and on like Jared was the best man under the sun, I had to stop it somehow. It was really all I could do to get him to stop practically gushing over Jared.
“Why, what happened with you guys?”
“He blew off our last date and I caught him with another girl, you know going down on him.”
“Emily. That is no talk for the dinner table.”
I sighed and pushed the plate away. Even with everything going on and the pregnancy running most of my bodily functions, I couldn’t stand to look at food anymore. “That’s fine because I am not really hungry. Whenever you are done gushing over Jared let me know because he is a cheat and that’s the end of it.”
“All men make mistakes Emily. If you two are going to have a child together, it’s not fair to leave him out of it.”
I sighed louder. “I just told you that it isn’t his. Not because I don’t want it to be, but because it just isn’t.”
“Then who’s is it?”
I looked down. I didn’t want to talk about it. There was no way for me to tell him that it was Tony and it seemed impossible. “It’s just a guy. He is not going to be in the baby’s life, so it really doesn’t matter who.”
That got me a look and I tried not to squirm under his sharp look.
“I want to know who it is Emily. You can’t just let a man do that to you and then walk away.”
“Women do it all the time.”
“Well other women aren’t my daughter. You tell me who it is and I promise you I will make sure they are walking the line for you when it comes time for the baby to be born.”
“I’m not telling you. There is no way that I am going to let you go down there and threaten him. He doesn’t even know. I just think it is best that I do this on my own.”
He wasn’t buying it, but at least he got off my back some about it. I knew that it wouldn’t be the last conversation that we had about it, but I felt like I had made it past round one and that was going to have to be enough.
Chapter 7
Tony
“Where the hell do you get off touching my daughter Castello?!”
I turned to see Sergeant Price coming towards me in my own house. Vinnie was coming in behind him, unsure what to do. It was not something that I was expecting. One of Chicago’s finest in my house. “You better have a search warrant to be in here James.”
The smile on my face deteriorated when he kept coming. I had to stop Vinnie from doing anything rash, holding my hand up. “What is this about? I don’t know your daughter officer. I am sure you have the wrong guy.”
“Emily. My daughter is Emily. You’ve ruined her life and you don’t even know her name?”
The name brought back memories that made me straighten up in my seat. She had been the one that got away and for the life of me, I had not been able to forget her. “I remember Emily, but what does that have to do with you?”
“She is my daughter and you know it!”
I hadn’t, but it was just another reminder of how small the world was. “I haven’t seen her in a couple of months. I assure you that I didn’t know her dad was a cop. I wasn’t thinking about her lineage when I met her.”
It was the wrong thing to say, the man coming at me, fist back to hit me. I ducked out of his way easily, still not sure why he was so upset. Emily was an adult and though I could see how it would upset him, his reaction was a bit more than would be expected.