My eyes go wide from her declaration and when she notices, we both let out a bout of laughter. We laugh so hard that there are tears coming from our eyes when we stop. Wiping at my eyes and still attempting to catch my breath, I say, “I’m pretty sure I’ll have the girls begging.”
She delivers another snicker before replying. “That, I’m sure of.” Finishing up her task, she takes in the room with a contented smile. “If you think this is overdoing it, wait and see what I plan on doing for you when you graduate college.”
“What if I don’t graduate?” I ask, still teasing her because I already know what her reaction will be, and as expected, she delivers.
“Oh, you’re going to graduate, Matt. If not you’re a dead man,” she scolds.
“I refuse to be denied the opportunity to throw a party I will be planning for the next four years.”
“Dear, Lord,” I say, pushing myself from the counter I was leaning on and already walking back to my room to get ready.
“Just you wait, Matt. It’s going to be the party of the century!” she exclaims. I can only laugh knowing she’s teasing. At least I hope she is.
“Matt, you okay?” Abigail’s somber words draw me back to the present. All I can give her is a forced smile as I look back at her.
“Of course, beautiful,” I respond, pulling her down to kiss her. She gently lowers herself down onto my chest, careful as always to not put too much pressure on my injury.
Normally the position she’s in and the way she kisses me would make me grow rock hard in seconds, but right now I don’t have it in me to be cheerful. Not when the one person I’m wishing were here to help me celebrate is no longer with me. Abigail must have sensed my sadness. When she pulls away from our kiss, her hand comes down to run across my cheek to say, “She’ll be watching over you from above, Matt. I just know it,” she proclaims, knowing that’s exactly whom I’m thinking of.
My eyes turn glassy and I have to blink away the tears fighting to leave my eyes. Abigail leans down one more time to kiss me while rubbing herself against my groin. The movement and knowing I’m sitting in between her legs works this time to tempt me. Clasping my hands on her hips to rub her harder against my body, she lets out a tantalizing moan.
Now my dick is hard.
“How many more weeks until we can make love?” she desperately asks against my lips. I’ve lost track of time at the moment.
“I think our time is up,” I tell her, turning to roll her under me.
Trailing kisses across her chin, she lifts her head, giving me better access. Her little whimper is torture as my balls tighten up. I wasn’t kidding when I told her last week I had the worst case of blue balls, and with every day and night I’m next to her, it only gets worse. Every time I get her naked and willing, her senses come back to life and she forces me to stop.
As I feel Abigail’s hands in between us reaching for the waistband of my shorts, my mind does a little victory dance thinking this is it, she’s finally going to cave and we’re going to make love again. Her hand reaches inside my shorts and wraps around my dick and it’s now me whimpering as she glides her warm palm up and down my shaft. My hands are reaching for the button of her jeans when her phone starts ringing.
“Ignore it,” she says into my mouth and I’ve never been happier to hear her say it. I’m already pushing her pants down as the ringing stops, but within seconds it begins ringing again. Leaning my head against her forehead, I let out a sigh knowing she should answer it.
“Answer it,” I tell her, throwing my body to lie next to her thinking: There goes my chance of getting laid.
My dick is still rock hard as I watch her speak into the phone while perched on the side of the bed. At first, she looks confused as she has a back and forth conversation, but soon her eyes are lighting up and agreeing to something with the person on the other end. Lying patiently while she continues her conversation, it isn’t long before she’s ending the call with an excited smile.
“Who was that?”
Excited, she looks over to me. “That was Aaron. He’s the marketing director for Sprinter Running Company. I met him at a party I had to go to for the designer, but he was the one in charge of my first photo shoot you contracted for me.”
For some reason, her enthusiasm is bothering me, but with a smile, I keep listening. “He said his company is a sponsor for a series of races that are held throughout the United States. They’re having a race in Seattle in June and they want me to represent them by running it and do a photo shoot for the race.” Her excitement is beaming off her as she finishes explaining. I, on the other hand, am not as excited as she is.
“Marathon?” I calmly ask even though deep down inside I’m apprehensive over the entire situation.
She sees the apprehension radiating off me. “I’ll be fine, Matt. He knows about my injury and said I wouldn’t have to run with the elite. They just want me to do a promotional shoot for the race and wear their products while running. They said they’d even pay me for it!” she exclaims, still trying to convince me.
I’m still skeptical, but seeing how excited she is pushes some of it aside.
“June?” I ask, thinking about how soon that seems to be.
She ignores my question and begins searching for information on her iPad mini. “Oh my God, Matt. They even have one here in Portland. They’re all over the place,” she claims, turning the screen so I can look at it. I can’t focus on what she’s showing me. My worry is overtaking my thoughts.
“Do you think you’ll be ready for it? You’d be actually representing a company. I know it wouldn’t be as fast as an elite, but I really doubt you’re going to want to run it at a slow pace.”
Her smile quickly turns into a frown as she nervously swallows while considering my question. “I’ll make sure I’m ready,” she says with determination, but disappointingly looking at me.
“Come here.” I beckon her to climb back on top of me, but her head is hung as she speaks.
“You don’t want me to run it, do you?” she somberly asks, and from the breaking in her voice, I know she’s on the verge of tears. From the ways she’s repeatedly swallowing, I know she’s strongly forcing them back.
Her question nearly breaks my heart as I force myself to step back and look at the situation. She only wants to do the one thing she’s come to love, something I pushed her to start doing. Lifting her chin up so I can see her face, her eyes are glassy and my heart completely shatters knowing I’m keeping her from doing what makes her happy.
“You really miss it, don’t you?” She nods her head slowly to answer. “I understand. I may not be able to train with you, but I’ll make sure you’re ready,” I say to her, watching her eyes light up.
“Really?” she giddily asks, as if needing clarification.
“Only if you promise not to push yourself too hard. You can always do that later,” I tell her.
She never does promise me as she throws herself at me and wraps her arms around my neck, screaming with excitement into my ear. The excited screech makes me wince, but laugh at the same time. Pulling back, her beaming smile has now returned. Her eyes wander and then go wide.
“Your appointment. We have to go or else we’re going to be late. I’m excited to hear what the doctor has to say,” she says, already climbing off the bed and me.
I’d forgotten my routine checkup was today. Since the bullet came so close to my heart, they have me going in every week to have an EKG. It was more an order from the NFL to make sure I wasn’t going to have a heart attack on them while training. So far, everything was coming back normal, but I was still ordered to check in every week. I already know I won’t be one hundred percent ready to play the opening season, but rookies rarely do. So it gives me time to completely heal and be ready for next season.
This is the first appointment Abigail is going to be able to come with me. The previous ones I’d forced her to stay home because of the media camping outside our house. Ever since everything has calmed t
here was rarely anyone lingering outside the gates. Abigail was finally able to go on a run at the beginning of the week. Of course, I made her take a few extra friends along to help Julio out, and other than one camera man taking a candid shot when she was leaving the trail, everything had gone okay.
Standing up from the bed, I’m right behind her as she bends over, most likely looking for her shoes, but I’m unable to resist rubbing myself up against her ass. Abigail snaps straight up and faces me, glaring right at me.
“Matt, stop teasing me!”
“Me teasing you? I’m the one left with a hard-on most of the time,” I throw back at her, trying to sound upset, but I’m biting the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.
“I’m going to make you start sleeping on the couch if you don’t behave,” she huffs out before turning to walk away.
“The day I sleep on the couch is the day hell freezes over!” I shout to her retreating back walking down the hallway.
Shaking my head, hating how she always gets the last word, I’m left staring down at my straining dick pushing straight up under my basketball shorts. I let out the same exasperated huff Abigail just gave me. “I’m sorry, man. I’m trying,” I say down to my dick. As if sympathizing with me, it jerks up before I go to dress for my appointment.
If I had enough time, I’d jump into a freezing cold shower right now. Damn. I already know this is going to be a long day if I don’t learn how to control my thoughts.
THE DOCTOR IS looking at me with a satisfied smile. “Well, Mr. Garcia, everything looks good and no signs of distress on your heart. Another couple of weeks and you’ll be done.” He takes notes on his iPad then looks back up to me. “Any questions?”
“When can I start having sex again?”
He lets out a small chuckle. “As I told you last week, Mr. Garcia, you’re required to refrain from any sexual activity at least until you receive your clearance. According to your EKG, your heart is in excellent condition, but unfortunately, it’s for your own good to wait.”
Of course he’d answer with a medical opinion since he’s old enough to be my grandpa and probably isn’t even having sex anymore. How does he know what it’s like to walk around with the biggest case of blue balls?
“See, Matt, stop asking,” Abigail lectures from my side. I turn the tables on her as I pierce her with a glare she would have given me for that comment. She sticks her tongue out at me, making me laugh.
Stepping over to me, the doctor is now patting my back. “I don’t blame you, boy. With a girl as beautiful as this one, I’d be asking the same question. See you next week,” he says before walking out of the door.
Hopping off of the table to take off the hospital gown they gave me, I start to throw my shirt over my head, wincing as I stick my left arm through the sleeve.
“I’m sorry, Matt. I swear when the time comes, I’ll make it up to you,” she says before placing a quick kiss on my lips. “If it makes you feel any better, I have to suffer through it with you.”
Snapping my head back in shock, I say, “If I recall, my mouth has been down in between your legs more often than yours has been in mine.”
She clucks her tongue at me. “Touché.”
“Touché, my ass. We’ll see how badly you’re begging when you’re horny,” I tell her.
“If it makes you feel any better, I think Trey has been holding out along with us.” Her comment surprises me.
“What makes you think that?” I curiously ask.
She gives me a simple shrug of her shoulders, but from the laughter in her eyes, I know she’s holding out on information as well. I grab her and turn her body so she’s trapped against the exam room table and my body. “Oh, no you don’t. Tell me what you know,” I say, nipping at her neck.
She immediately giggles as my fingers start to wiggle into her ribs.
“Matt! Stop it,” she screeches and giggles.
“Tell me what you know,” I playfully demand with another wiggle of my fingers. Her nails are now digging into my forearms as she tries to push me away, but I suck up the pain as I continue to torture her.
“Okay, okay,” she screams out while still laughing. I briefly stop, but when she doesn’t speak, I give a slight wiggle to warn her I could easily start again. “I saw a girl stomping from the bathroom at the Brewhouse the other night. At first I thought he’d been kinky with her, like we’d done, but she looked pissed. Like unsatisfied pissed. When I asked Trey about it later, he snapped at me and told me to mind my own business. When he walked away, he was mumbling something about her not doing it for him. I think he only mumbled it because he was already drunk. I don’t think he actually had sex with her, though,” she explains. My eyebrows are arched as high as they can go, and for some reason I want to believe her words, but since it’s Trey, I’m skeptical. “And he’s been looking miserable since we’ve left New York. In my opinion, I think that girl that left the hotel room messed with his head. He hasn’t been the same since,” she adds.
Thinking back on it, she has a point. Trey’s been acting as if he’s got a thorn stuck up his ass. He has his good days, and his bad, but the bad are practically intolerable. Abigail lets out a sigh. “I think he just needs to find the right girl and settle down already.”
“Maybe you’re right, but we can’t force Trey. You know how he is. He claims he’ll be a player for life.”
She’s now smirking at me. “If I recall, you used to say the same thing to me at one point.” Remembering how many times I used that phrase with Abigail to push her away makes me now laugh.
“You’re right, but I think I was just telling you that to lie to myself. You had my heart the moment you walked into my house. Thankfully, I came to my senses.”
“Well, hopefully Trey will come to his senses soon, too. If not, I’m going to knock some sense into him,” she retorts. The determination in her words make me laugh again. That’s one thing I’ve always loved about Abigail, she will not give up on something she believes in. Thankfully, she never gave up on me, no matter how many times I fucked up with her, or else I’d be the one acting like I had a thorn up my ass.
I’M LOUNGING ON my bed watching my guilty pleasure—a Spanish soap opera—when there’s a knock on my door. “Come in,” I shout, too lazy to get up and open the door.
Trey enters, his eyes catching a glimpse of the flat screen on the wall. With a quirked brow, he looks at me and asks, “Seriously?”
“Don’t judge me. I don’t tell you shit when I hear the screams and moans of your porno flicks coming from your room.” I expect him to look horrified, or at least embarrassed that I know, but instead he lets out a snort.
“I’ve got nothing to hide.”
“Neither do I,” I retort. “Whatcha want anyway?” I ask, getting straight to the point.
“I got a call from the director about the show,” he states. I perk up, somewhat excited from the news. It’s been weeks since we’ve heard anything. I quickly discovered what Julio had to go through with being on standby for my calls.
“It isn’t good news.”
Dreading what he’ll say next, I still ask, “What did they say?”
“They set a date for Paris, but you’re not going to like it,” he explains.
“Why?” From the frown on his face, I know he’s being as honest as he can with me.
“It’s the day of our graduation,” he proclaims.
“Are you sure?” I ask, as if needing clarification.
Silently, he gives me a short nod. My lips are starting to tremble from holding back my tears as I tell myself I’m not going to cry.
I refuse to cry.
Trey can still be wrong.
As if reading the doubt in my eyes, he declares, “I’m sure, supermodel. I even asked them to send over the itinerary for that week. It’s the same day. I’ve confirmed it.” It isn’t the answer I wanted to hear. I continue to sit in silence, stunned as I stare into the air ahead of me.
“What do you
want me to do?" he asks, forcing me to look at him.
“I can’t, Trey. I don’t want to miss Matt graduating,” I rasp out around the lump in my throat. “It’s too important to him.”
“I don’t think you have a choice, Abigail. You signed a contract,” he reminds me.
He’s right; I’m obligated to do the show. I signed my name on the line promising to do so. The sound of footsteps draws my attention to the hallway. Thinking it’s Matt, I’m somewhat relieved when I see Julio instead. He’s sympathetically looking at me, as if understanding my dilemma.
“I’m sorry, Abigail,” Julio apologetically says to me.
“He was in the living room when they called,” Trey says, as if needing to explain how Julio knows. I don’t care if he knows, the only person I don’t want finding out about the news is Matt. I know I promised to no longer keep secrets from him, but this is one I can’t face him knowing. Not yet. It will break both our hearts.
“Please don’t tell Matt. If he finds out he won’t want to walk at graduation and I can’t risk him giving that up. Not for me,” I say to both of them. They look torn from my request. “Please, promise me,” I plead.
They look at each other, and for a moment I think they are going to defy me.
“Of course,” Julio answers first, followed by a nod from Trey.
Their promises help calm my frantic mind. Scrambling up from the bed, I head over to the bathroom to wash my face, hoping it will help calm me a little. I don’t know how long I must have been leaning on the counter contemplating how I should tell Matt, but as if knowing I was thinking of him, he’s now walking into the room.
“Beautiful?” he ask, sounding as if he is searching for me. Forcing a smile on my lips, I walk out of the bathroom to greet him.
“Hey there. How was school?” I’m already asking while wrapping myself into his arms.
“News has gotten around that I got drafted. Suddenly I’m the cool kid in town,” he answers with a mocking tone.
“You’ve always been the cool kid. And the jock who had every girl chasing you,” I tease him.
Unspoken Endings Page 21
