Team Hate

by Hart, Rebel

  When we'd finally made our way to my bedroom, I was drowning.

  "More," I commanded.

  John's lips danced over my skin. "As much as you want."

  For the first time in my life, I relinquished control. I didn't want to be the alpha. John took the lead and I didn't stop him. Anyway he wanted me, anything he asked of me, I allowed him, no questions asked. We finished like the giant ball dropping over Times Square on New Year’s Eve. It was the first bite of a new favorite food, and I was not planning on feasting in moderation.

  I stayed sitting on top of John as we both searched to ground ourselves after the first of what I was certain would be many rounds.

  John tapped my ass a couple times. "You could have warned me that you're like one of those raccoon cages."

  I giggled, running my fingers through the valleys in his abs. "What?"

  "You know, that metal cage that people use to catch raccoons and other critters. The door folds in but not out, so once you go in after the cheese," he slapped my ass, "you're stuck."

  "Are you saying sex with me is like that?"

  John tilted his head to one side. "More like the sex is the cheese?" He thought about it for a second. "But I think I was stuck before this. So, maybe I need a better analogy."

  I leaned down and kissed him. "You're weird."

  He raised an eyebrow. "You're weirder."

  He grabbed my waist and flipped me around so that I was on my back underneath him. He kissed me on my lips, cheek, and neck. He got down to my collarbone and softly pressed a finger to the darkened spot where the worst of Dax's bruises was still taking its time to fade away. He touched his lips to it gently before nuzzling the spot with his nose. It was overwhelming in its intimacy and I thought my emotions were going to eat me alive.

  I grabbed his head and guided his face back to mine. We gave in to each other all over again, but this time more slow and deliberate. The way he caressed my flesh and placed his lips in spots that were chosen and intentional gave me goosebumps. There wasn’t a fleck of my skin he didn’t pass with his hands or his mouth. Where he ended and where I began was indistinguishable.

  I was crumbling in the best way. Each time I felt like we'd reached the height of bliss, John’s hands would slide up my thighs in an already memorized and practiced way and it would ignite me from within. My fingertips scraping red marks across his back only seemed to turn him on beyond a level he could control. It was every fight we’d ever had. For each time we’d sworn at one another, we were kissing each other to replace it. Every time John pushed into me, it was like he was trying to push away any time he’d hurt me in the past, and it was working.

  All I wanted to do for the foreseeable future was stay in bed with the man before me. He made me feel like no one had ever made me feel before. Even if it killed me, I would be happy with the way I went out. The gentle way he kissed my neck, or knew exactly when and how to apply pressure and go a bit harder were nearly too much to bear.

  Every now and again, our torrent would slow, almost to a halt. John's hands would rest simply on my skin and he would just smile at me. The way he stared at me made my heart pound the same way it did in the moments after the snap on the football field. Not knowing what was going to happen next and just having to trust that John knew what he was doing. The same confidence I gave him to get the ball down the field, I gave him as he moved my body to his will and filled my body with a pleasure the likes of which I never experienced before. I gave him everything that I had in me. I loved drinking in as much of John as I could and I wanted him to know that, in every way possible, I was grateful for what he’d done for me.

  Each movement knocked out a brick of the sturdy wall that protected me from the trivialities of the world. Those judgments which my dad warned me I'd come upon; those which Dax had forced on me from the day I began. My chest tightened. Once John was on top of me again, I found myself climbing to him, not wanting to let go. The breaths and moans that escaped my lips were pleas for us to stay that way for just a little bit longer; just a few more minutes; just a few more minutes. John met my every request. Hands played across me, grasping, massaging, and burning in. The more he gave, the more I took, until I was convinced we might never come down.

  Minutes turned into hours and we completely lost track of time and when we were finally rolling out of one another again, the moon was already descending from the apex in the sky.

  I rubbed John’s chest beneath my face and kissed his pec. “Why do I kind of feel like I could do this all night?”

  John looked out the window. “There isn’t much night left.”

  I giggled. “Are you gonna let me make you breakfast this time?” John pulled me close enough to him that he could pull his hands together in front of my face. He made a fist and set it in the center of his palm, ready to play rock, paper, scissors. “I am not playing rock, paper, sci—” He smacked his hand in the center of his hand again and I scoffed. “Fine.” I lifted my hands up and we squared off in rock, paper, scissors. I threw out paper and John threw out rock. “Ha!”

  I jumped out of bed, prepared to run downstairs and start the breakfast I’d earned the right to make, but the second my feet hit the floor, my back seized up, my legs felt like jelly, and I immediately got lightheaded. I collapsed onto the bed, and John shifted so that he was laying on his stomach and his face was at mine.

  He kicked his legs through the air like a schoolgirl with a crush. “So what happened?”

  I turned my head and growled at him. “This is your fault.”

  He flashed me a mischievous grin. “Guilty.” He kissed my cheek. “I’ll go start breakfast and you can work on just getting downstairs.”

  He hopped out of bed, his nakedness bouncing free and unhindered. I stole a glance at his ass as he walked past. A good male ass was a truly beautiful sight to behold. John’s was cut from stone and deliciously round; perfect.

  When he disappeared from sight. I did as he said and started trying to make my way out of bed. His maroon button-up was the closest piece of discarded clothing, most of mine didn’t even make it to the second floor, so I pulled it on, wincing as I bent down and picked it up. I thought of how sore my body was after being attacked by Dax. Every single time I felt that pain, I wanted to die. The kind of pain I was in now, was the best kind. Reminding me of every thrust and grab and kiss. The bruises I had now were delightful reminders of beautiful lovemaking, not of a delirious demon who believed he was entitled to my body.

  I limped my way downstairs and into the kitchen where John was standing, still stark naked, preparing what ingredients he’d gathered from my fridge and pantry. I sat down at the table I had in the kitchen, John took a quick break from mixing ingredients in a bowl to bring me a cup of coffee. He returned to the bowl and I watched as he expertly mixed different spices and stirred together some concoction.

  “You seem like you’re in your element over there.” I took a sip of the coffee and breathed in the warm feeling of it sliding down my throat.

  “Yeah.” John tossed in some milk. “I actually really like cooking. My mom was never really good at it. My dad had some experience, and he was always combatting the notion that a woman’s place was in the kitchen, so he made me learn the same as my sisters. He said it’s everyone’s responsibility to know how to take care of themselves and others.”

  “You sound close to your dad.”

  “I am. I guess I’m a miracle child, so my parents kind of doted on me, and my dad in particular always wanted a boy, so I was his precious little boy.”

  “I was wondering about that. You and your sisters seem really close in age.”

  John laughed. He walked over to a pan and dropped in some of the batter he’d put together. “Yeah, my parents either got really lucky or really unlucky depending on how you look at it. They’d been trying to have kids for years and then a doctor finally told them my mom wasn’t an ideal ‘host.’ They decided to do in vitro fertilization, and right after their sur
rogate announced she was about four months pregnant, my mom found out she was pregnant with me. They were born just before Thanksgiving, and then I was born four months later on Valentine’s day.”

  “Aw! You’re a Valentine’s baby, how cute!” Then I started to think about it a bit closer. “Wait. Your birthday is soon.”

  He peeked back over his shoulder at me. “Yeah.”

  “Well, what should we do to celebrate?”

  “I’ll take a Super Bowl win.”

  I laughed. “Well that’s a given, but what else?”

  John started pulling pancakes out of the pan he was cooking them in. “You know, every single year, the guys throw me a huge party and there’s drinking and women and the whole nine. Honestly, I’d like to just do something quiet. A weekend away.”

  I smiled. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. Maybe just the two of us?”

  The thought filled me with joy. “Consider it done.” I took a sip of my coffee. “If you get the ring that is.”

  John set a plate of pancakes in front of me. “Wow. I have to win to get my birthday gift?”

  “Is that good enough incentive for you?”

  John sat down with his plate of pancakes as well. “It’ll do for now.”

  24

  John

  I couldn't get Jane out of my head if someone offered me a million dollars to do so. What I wouldn’t give to rewind time and spend our first night together again. I’d had first times with women and I’d had sexual escapades that lasted all night long, but what I had with Jane was something different. I felt like I couldn’t get enough of her. No matter how much I drank, as soon as the glass was empty, I was thirsty for more. When I finally had to claw myself away from her, Sunday afternoon to go home and get ready for work, I threw a full-blown temper-tantrum. I went home and started throwing things around and swearing at nothing; I wanted to go back to my girl.

  “Well, you’re in quite high spirits.” The voice that sang to me sent a brush of happiness through my bones. I turned around and Jane was standing in the doorway. “If I didn’t know any better, I would say some pretty amazing woman has you by the balls.”

  “Eh, she’s okay. Nothing special.”

  She picked up a piece of paper off the wall, balled it up, and tossed it at me. “She’s more than okay. You’re pretty lucky.”

  I walked up to her. “I guess. If people are into that sort of thing.” I gave her a quick peck on the lips while no one was looking. “What are you doing here?”

  Jane shrugged. “I got a call from Sebastian last night.”

  I furrowed my brow. I didn’t like that. “Directly?”

  “Yeah. He said that he’s lifting my suspension and that I can come back to work starting today.”

  “Just out of the blue? That doesn’t seem odd to you?”

  “Sure it does, but I wanted to come back to work, so here I am.” She scratched my face and then walked around me and over to one of the strength and conditioning computers. “Maybe he just realized that he has nothing against me.”

  “Maybe.” I wasn’t so sure.

  “Whatever. I’m here and the championship game is in less than a week. There’s way too much work to do. We have to get in at least three scrimmage games, the guys have to adjust to your new playing style, our fullback is in a much worse place now, so we have to get one of the halfbacks well versed in that position and get Robin from the second-string trained into the open halfback slot. A new player means new chemistry, so we don’t have a single second to waste.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Wow. When did you come up with all of that? I know that you didn’t have much time because you had a debonair individual interrupting your ability to walk.”

  “That he did,” Jane admitted, “and then he went home and I had to come up with something to do with my time. Since he’s clearly the only important thing.”

  I sighed. “As long as you realize that, then we shouldn’t have a problem.”

  Jane chuckled. “You’re an ass.”

  Jane immediately sprung into action. She had the guys running around like she was the head coach and Jim let her, falling under her command. None of the team had an argument either. The more Jane instructed us, the more jointed we felt and it became glaringly obvious to me that, not only was there a place for her here, we’d probably be lost without her.

  “Robin! You need to get to John faster! If he’s holding the ball out, you should already be there.” Jane clapped her hands. “Faster!”

  Robin, the bright-eyed halfback that was in and covering for Julian, the new head running back. Julian wasn’t as stocky as Dax, so Jane had made the brilliant decision to have Robin, a much fuller, filled-out man, run the ball when it needed running.

  Robin was breathing heavily. “She is spartan.”

  Jack scoffed. “You’ve been here one day. You may want to kill her by Friday.”

  I looked over at them. “But by Sunday, you’ll be Super Bowl bound and you’ll have her to thank for it.”

  “John!” I looked over at Jane.

  “Yes?”

  She spanned her arms out on either side of her. “Are you going to continue standing there shaking your shriveled dick in the wind, or are you going to play some goddamn football?”

  My blood boiled. “Hey! Don’t fucking take that tone with me, I’m convincing the new guy not to poison your food!”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I thought you were on the books as a quarterback. My bad. I’ll go get Jerry the homeless clown for Sunday’s game.”

  Robin looked at Jack. “Aren’t they dating?”

  Jack chuckled. “Yeah, it’s fascinating isn’t it?”

  “Did you put your bra on wrong this morning, mom?”

  Jim rolled his eyes. “You two, knock it off.”

  Jane walked out onto the field. Everyone stared with concern as she marched up to me. Jack raised an eyebrow. “Is she gonna hit him?” He looked at Robin. “Five bucks says she hits him.”

  She closed the distance between us and when she was so close that her cherry blossom perfume was slithering up my nose, she took a fist and set it an open palm: rock, paper, scissors.

  “I thought you said no big arguments.”

  She raised an eyebrow, slapped her fist in her hand again, and smirked. “Scared?” I drew my fist. We tapped our fists in our hands three times and then threw down our calls. Jane threw out scissors, I threw out paper. She stood up on her toes, kissed the edge of my helmet, and then turned her back to me. “Pull the panties out, Sceptre, we’ve got work to do.”

  As annoyed as I was, I had to accept defeat. I patted Robin on the shoulder. “The hands have spoken. Run or die, new guy.”

  Jane had us in back to back scrimmages all week long. The more exhausted we got, the harder she ran us. Now I didn’t want her coaching us for a different reason; I liked my ability to breathe and walk. It took Jim cutting in for her to finally release us; and it was only Monday. The locker room was silent from exhaustion as we changed, and the second everyone could escape, they did. I was the only one dumb enough to hang behind, and if hanging around on the edge of Jane’s shirt made me dumb, then consider me the biggest idiot around.

  I knocked on the door to Jane’s office, noticing that she was so deep in thought scribbling notes on her playbook that she didn’t hear me walk in.

  “Jim?” she asked without looking up.

  “Not quite.”

  Jane smiled, but still didn’t look up. “Hey. I’m gonna be working all night, so—”

  “Nope, none of that.” I walked over to her desk and closed her playbook on her hand.

  “Hey!”

  I tipped her chin up to mine and kissed her. “Trust me, I’ve been there. It is possible to over-prepare for a game.”

  She looked up at me with true curiosity in her eyes. “Really?”

  “Yeah.” I laughed at her innocent, doe-eyed expression. “And I bet you’re hungry from being a dictator all day. Let’s go out.” />
  “You want to go out with a week to an NFC Championship game?”

  “Yeah, I do.” I knelt down in front of her and turned her chair to face me. “Dinner and maybe a movie? Then back to your place for,” I raised my eyebrow, “a friendly, wholesome game of scrabble.”

  Jane looked up as though she was thinking deeply about it, and then turned back to me. “Mm, I don’t want to play scrabble. I’d rather get into raccoons and cages and cheese or whatever the hell you were talking about before.”

  I snorted. “You just go right for it, don’t ya?”

  “I told you, you’ve got an alpha.”

  I kissed Jane and stood up. I was grabbing her gym bag when my phone rang. I set the bag down and when I noticed the name on the caller ID, I instantly got nervous. I looked back at Jane. “It’s Sebastian.”

  Jane nodded towards it. “Answer it.”

  I picked it up, concerned about what was awaiting me on the other side. “Hello?”

  “John. I’m so glad I caught you. I’d like you to come down to my office as soon as possible. I have an important matter I wish to discuss with you.”

  I opened my mouth to respond, but before I got any words out the line went dead.

  “He told me to come to his office and then hung up on me.”

  Jane sighed. “Well, that can’t be good.”

  My blood was starting to pump a little faster. “No, it can’t be.”

  25

  John

  My drive to Sebastian’s office was racked with nerves and concern. Sebastian wasn’t a good guy. If I didn’t know that already, I certainly learned it in spades seeing how he dealt with the situation with Jane and Dax. Part of me was concerned that I was going to get fired. I was the one who took the blame for beating the ever-loving shit out of Dax, and if Dax did manage to mention to Sebastian before his passing that it was actually Jane, Sebastian could be letting me go for being in clear violation of my player contract. Another part of me was worried that he had some big master plan to further hurt Jane, which I wouldn’t allow. If the meeting revealed that he had any plans at all to cause Jane any additional distress, he would get some very unkind words from me, and probably a boot to the face.