Her Champions: A high school bully romance (Bad Boys of Jameson High Book 3)

by Taylor Blaine

  “Then what’s the problem?” Talking about Jasmine wasn’t worth skipping practice for and I could feel my frustration amping up.

  “She’s going to Timbercreek, Gray. You don’t understand what a huge no that is for our positions. We had to sign a contract that said we wouldn’t go into that town. There’s serious competition and they have no problem hurting Jameson residents.” Chris narrowed his eyes and shook his head at the seriousness of the situation.

  “Why is she going there? Did you see where she went?” I shifted my weight on my foot, biting my lower lip. I couldn’t figure out what he was getting at, but a tightening in my gut suggested I didn’t want to know the details.

  He cast his eyes downward. “She… she gets in a lot of cars with a lot of different guys.” He took another breath. “I confronted her. She’s messed up. She’s running tricks for some crew over there to feed her addiction to heroin. She gets paid more when she gets Jaeda involved.” Large tears crested the edges of Chris’s eyes, magnified by the glasses he barely had on his nose. “You don’t understand. She doesn’t care what she’s doing to herself. She needs the money to give to their mom. I mean, I get it. We’re all doing this for the great pay. I was able to put my older sister through college when I started three years ago. I mean… I get it. But she’s whoring over there and she’s not being careful.”

  I shook my head, pity stronger than any other emotion I’d felt toward the blonde welled up inside me. Should I care what she was doing to herself? I wasn’t sure why, but for some reason, I felt I had to tell the cousins. I nodded tightly at Chris. “Thanks for letting me know.”

  He reached out as I turned to go and grabbed at my bare elbow. He searched my eyes desperately. “Are you going to tell the Jamesons? I don’t want to get in trouble for leaving mid-shift.”

  I half-shrugged. “I don’t know just yet. I need to figure out what it means.”

  “Don’t you see what it means? It means I love a whore.” He turned; his shoulders slumped forward. I couldn’t argue with him. I had no doubt she was a troublemaker and a slut. The information confirming that she was getting money for her actions didn’t make me sick so much as sad. I didn’t like Jasmine, but she had to have more than that to offer. Especially when she kept dragging her sister into things.

  I didn’t offer consolation to the kid as he walked away, disappearing into the shadows. What would I say?

  Turning, I sprinted across the parking lot before someone found out I wasn’t in the bathroom.

  When I pushed through the doors, I came up short. Brock leaned against the wall by the locker rooms, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyebrows arched. He didn’t say anything as he nodded in the direction of the locker rooms. Pushing off the wall, he turned away but didn’t walk until I opened the door. He took a step as the door swung shut behind me.

  If he’d been sent out to babysit me, he could just forget about listening to my call that night with Sara. Two could play at that game, Brock Jameson.

  Chapter 9

  Gray

  I ignored Brock when he came in later that night to listen to my brief call with Sara. Her voice was getting more tired sounding, bored almost, but other than that, she sounded okay.

  For now.

  He listened to the call and then disappeared, returning with Gunner moments later. He touched his finger to his forehead as they ducked out the backdoor.

  Tucking my phone into my front pocket, I listened to the noises in the old house. Pipes creaked and I realized Stryker was in the shower. I would have a little bit of time where I wasn’t being watched over like a toddler. There weren’t a lot of things I wanted to do, but I could handle a hot bath. In fact, I’d never been so giddy in my life at the thought of just soaking in hot water.

  I had to push off my guilt that Sara wasn’t able to take one right then. Not to mention the fact that I held onto secrets I shouldn’t know like Jasmine’s actions and where Stryker’s old phone was. And then there were all the questions I had that I couldn’t ask like had Sara seen my mom? Was Jasmine going to Dominick? What was my dad doing? Where was Danielle?

  Who was I going to fight?

  All of it came back to the fight and I wanted to soak my worries away. Just for a little bit.

  We had a week. One week.

  In one week, the fight would be over and I’d either get my friend back or we’d all die. I wished there was some way to get rid of Dominick, but I had a feeling that even if I won, he’d still be around causing problems.

  Did Stryker and his cousins understand what a real problem their uncle was? I had to believe they did. I had to have faith in them or trusting them was worthless.

  I trailed my fingers up the stair railing as I climbed the steps. It hadn’t escaped my attention that Stryker was in the shower and I’d made it my main goal to seduce him before the fight. Now, though, I realized I hadn’t been doing a very good job because I couldn’t screw him in school or at practice. I was too tired at the end of the day for much of anything else and as we approached the weekend, I realized I just wanted to get in a bath.

  Maybe I’d have energy the next day to try to push past the formal façade we both wore like masks or maybe we’d continue as we were, both of us uncomfortable with just what we expected of the other.

  I paused outside Brock’s room, closing my eyes as I listened to the water running in the bathroom. Stryker was in there and I wasn’t doing anything about it. Not right then.

  I moved past the room and went inside Stryker’s room, shedding my practice clothes and tossing them toward the laundry basket he said I could borrow. We played our own version of house as we went about our day pretending we didn’t have friends in danger and that a fight of potentially high cost loomed ahead of us.

  I rolled my head back on my shoulders, even as I leaned down and turned on the hot water for the tub. As I drew the bath, I grabbed down a fluffy towel from the linen shelves recessed in the wall above the toilet and tossed it on the rug beside the bath.

  Twisting the mass of my hair up into a messy bun with tendrils falling around my face, I dropped the final pieces of my clothing on the floor. I’d have to pick up afterward. I just wanted in the bath.

  I stepped into the water, closing my eyes as the heat seeped into my very soul.

  One thing I had to do was let all of the worry and stress go. Just let it float away. I couldn’t think about the things I’d been faced with or the loss I’d had to internalize. Why didn’t my mom want me? Why was my dad such a deadbeat? He might have stayed after my mom left, but did I believe for a minute he stayed because of me or did I suspect that he only stayed because he had nowhere else to go?

  I couldn’t investigate that suspicion any more than I had to.

  Yawning, my eyes grew heavy, but I wasn’t ready to fall asleep in my cooling water. I leaned forward, pulling the plug before standing. Stepping from the tub, I wrapped the towel around my chest, tucked tightly beneath my arms.

  Sleep would be nice that night. Most of my evenings were spent staring into space and wondering what Stryker was doing on the other side of the wall. I counted on my pure exhaustion to override my horniness.

  I opened the bathroom door as I flicked off the light and froze at the sight of Stryker standing in his room.

  He stared at me, frozen in the center of the room. We’d been so caught up in this act of nothing was wrong, there was nothing between us, I wasn’t sure how to behave with him standing less than ten feet from me.

  And me in a towel.

  He motioned toward the dresser and cleared his throat. “I need… um, needed socks.” He wore a pair of soft cotton pajama bottoms and a white t-shirt that snugged against his muscles in all the right places. I reached up, securing the towel corner with my right hand as I leaned on the doorjamb to the bathroom.

  How was I supposed to act? I’d been thinking long enough about ways to get him to come to bed with me that now that I was faced with a scenario I hadn’t thought
of, I felt incapacitated. He’d laugh at my efforts. Why wouldn’t he?

  His bare feet peeked from beneath the straight leg style of his bottoms. He opened the top drawer and pulled out a rolled pair of socks and closed the drawer again. He turned; his eyes downcast as he avoided looking at me.

  I glanced down at the towel barely covering my cleavage. My breasts might be modest because I worked out so much, but they were there with a solid B-cup if not close to a C. Was I ugly or something? Why wouldn’t he look at me?

  The formality between us had gotten to me. I folded my arms and stared him down. “Look at me.”

  After ten seconds, he finally raised his eyes to meet mine. Something was broken in his gaze that left my knees weak. I blinked, once, twice, three times. I moved forward, my feet moving of their own accord as something inside me needed to know how to fix things for him. How did I make his pain go away?

  He shook his head, holding out a hand to keep me at a safe distance. His voice came out raspy and jagged as he searched my face with his gaze. “Nothing we’ve done for you since you came to Jameson has been worthwhile. You’ve had nothing but hardships and we contributed to that.” He furrowed his brow and stared at the socks in his hands as he worried them back and forth between his fingers. “I bet you wish you’d never met me.” He lifted his torn gaze back to my face as if he expected me to admit the truth.

  Did he really think I regretted him? Did he really think I wished none of the things had happened as they stretched behind me, creating a canvas of pain and exhilaration?

  I stopped in my approach, pausing with my feet shoulder width apart as I stared at him. What did I think? What did I feel deep inside about having Stryker in my life in all the varying contexts he’d held?

  I stepped forward then moved around him, keeping a wide enough berth as I approached the door.

  Stryker sighed; the sound soft in the silence of the room. He turned, following my path with the angle of his body.

  I gripped the handle of the door and turned to face him, my gaze not wavering. He nodded as if he thought I had invited him to leave, but before he could accept my nonexistent invitation to leave, I swung the door shut. The click soft but final as the panel coasted into place.

  Stryker’s confusion would be amusing, if I wasn’t so nervous in each of my actions. My chest rose and fell rapidly as I breathed in an almost panting rhythm. I raised shaking hands to the towel and, while holding Stryker’s quizzical gaze, I unhooked the corner from where I’d tucked it under my arm.

  And let go.

  The towel unfurled, falling to my feet and leaving behind a slightly cooler air to billow around my still damp body.

  Parts of me tightened with the change in temperature and I fought the desire to cover myself.

  Holding his gaze wasn’t possible as his eyes followed the towel to the ground. Then, with painstaking slowness, Stryker studied me from my feet to my ankles, then my shins, up to my knees and thighs. His eyes darkened as he glanced at my lap and then his gaze moved upward, taking in my waist, my breasts and then finally landing on my gaze again.

  “I don’t want to hurt you.” Stryker stepped toward me, his words saying one thing while the front of his pants showed something else entirely.

  I shook my head just enough to say no and I whispered, “So don’t hurt me.” The challenge was there and I didn’t back down. Virgin or not, I wasn’t playing games any more. Stryker needed to step up and he needed to do it before I lost my nerve.

  He scanned my body again and for a brief moment I worried he wasn’t going to take me up on my offer.

  Maybe he thought I was more trouble than I was worth. I needed him to do what he wanted so I could get what I wanted.

  ***

  Stryker

  In the bunker I’d only seen pieces of the package Gray used as a powerful weapon. She’d flashed us, showcasing her bruises and war wounds and my lust had been tempered.

  But here, in my room, with the only light coming from a lamp on my nightstand, I had to admit that even the faint coloring of healing bruises wasn’t enough to keep me away. I couldn’t unsee the valleys and plains of her body, the roundness of her breasts, or the gentle dip of her hips. There was nothing safe in the way I wanted to grab the bun at the crown of her head and maneuver her around as I kissed her lips, her face, and her neck.

  Don’t hurt her. That was easy enough to say, but virgins were a different animal altogether. I never touched them because it was too much expectation, too much hope. Where there was hope, there was the potential for disappointment. That was the last thing I wanted to be to Gray.

  Orange light from the lamp cast an amber glow across her skin. I tried to look away to gather my thoughts, I really did, but her nipples tightened in the cold and I couldn’t stop staring. I couldn’t stop looking.

  Before I knew it, I’d closed the space between us until I was inches away. I didn’t touch. I just looked, breathing in her fresh scent as I continued looking down at her form.

  She glanced up at me, her soft lower lip moist and hypnotic as she whispered, “We’re all alone, Stryker.”

  I nodded dumbly. She had no idea how aware I was of that fact. Brock and Gunner had disappeared for a run. I had a sneaking suspicion Brock’s recent stress was tied up in Sara’s captivity, but I couldn’t prove anything. My cousins would be gone for at least an hour, longer if they stopped for pizza at Ricardo’s in town.

  My hands decided to reach up and wrap themselves around the small of her waist, my thumbs splayed up enough to rest just under the globes of her breasts.

  She inhaled sharply and stared up at me, her eyes wide.

  I held my own whisper soft and subtle, full of all my questions and doubts. “I’m not sure now is the best time for this, Gray.” How was I finding any strength to reject her? I wasn’t. The last vestiges of my control hung by a tiny thread and I had no idea how long they’d be there. I closed my eyes to stop seeing what I could feel in my hands. Maybe touching her had been stupid on my part.

  She inhaled and moved under my hands and yep, she confirmed that it was indeed a stupid move on my part as her chest came close to mine. I felt the barest whisper of her nipples through my shirt and then they were gone.

  Agonizingly gone.

  I opened my eyes and stared at her, careful to not focus on her breasts that were on just the outer edge of my peripheral vision.

  Gray lifted her arms which lifted her chest and she wrapped her hands around my neck. In less than a second, she’d pressed her warm, naked body against my clothed one and she stared into my eyes, her fingers trailing up to cradle my face. Her blue eyes challenged me as she whispered, “There’s no more time.”

  She lifted up on tip-toe and angled her head to the side, pressing her lips to mine and deepening the kiss like she’d kissed a hundred guys yet, tentatively touching my tongue with hers like it was really her first time and she had no idea what she was doing.

  I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I shed my own clothing while kissing Gray and we connected our heat in a clash of over-warm flesh.

  What would she do when it hurt? Would she push me away? I’d have to be careful. It would hurt me to hurt her. That’s all I wanted to do, protect her from pain of any kind. The secrets I held back from her would only cause her pain.

  As I trailed my hands down her sides and cupped her buttocks in my grasp, I pushed aside the things that would cause her pain or drive a wedge between us. She was right. We were out of time. If we wanted to enjoy each other, we had to do it as soon as we could.

  I reached down, lifting her legs with a hand under each knee and raised her above my waist. She settled herself against my stomach, mere inches from the tip of my longing. There was no going back once she dropped lower. I held her there, with my legs braced apart as she clung to me with the same wanton cravings I’d tried to hold at bay myself.

  She would need to control the entry. A girl like Gray needed to have the power handed to
her so she could take the reins. As it was, I’d be fine with that. Let her explore as she figured out what felt good and what she’d rather not do. As far as I was concerned, it all worked for me.

  “Let’s move this to the bed.” I whispered against her mouth and she nodded. I held my grip on her hips and strode forward. I had condoms in the drawer of the nightstand and I drew one out before we settled with my back against the headboard. “Hold on, doll.” Ripping the packaging off, I rolled the piece on and then arched an eyebrow. “You’re in control, got it?” I reached up and rubbed my fingers across the tips of her breast and relished that I could make her lips part with pleasure.

  She nodded; her eyelids heavy as she moved against me. Then suddenly she slipped around me, determination in the very set of her jaw. She took me on like she took on everything else and she was winning.

  I bit back my groan at her tightness and refused to make her move faster or harder. She was in control, no matter how much I wanted to take it back.

  As she moved, she became more confident, leaning back as I used my hands to explore the rest of her. She closed her eyes and a small moan slipped from her lips at the same time that she tightened around me.

  I let myself go at that point, unwilling to wait a moment longer.

  As she sagged against me and I trailed my fingers down her back, both of us breathing quickly, I realized I’d done things with her before telling her the truth about her mom and the things I questioned for my community. It wasn’t enough to be partially honest. I needed to make sure I was completely honest with a woman like Gray.

  How many more rules could I break before I lost her for good?

  Gray slid to my side, wrinkling her nose. “Sorry, I’m probably heavy.”

  I laughed, shaking my head as I lifted up to press my lips to her forehead. “You’re light as a pillow. Let’s clean up and then get some sleep.”