I nodded.
“She is,” I confirmed.
“You’ve known her what…twelve days?” he asked sarcastically.
“A few months, actually,” I admitted. “Which you know, because I told you about her the moment I met her that first day.”
Leslie’s mouth tightened, and then released as he allowed himself to smile.
“I’ve been going back and forth all day with people that’ll have my ass if I talk to you, and I’m not in the best headspace. But I’m willing to check my suspicions and make nice if you’d like to introduce us this time,” Leslie uncrossed his arms.
“You’ll tell me what’s going on?” I hoped.
He sighed.
“Yeah.”
Relief washed through me.
“Thank you.”
Chapter 17
Nothing inspires the words ‘fuck off’ like someone telling me I need to watch my language.
-things you probably shouldn’t say to an umpire
Sway
I pulled out my secret stash of Oreos and dipped them into my Dr. Pepper.
When I was nervous, I ate.
It was a bad habit that I was never able to kick, and I was making it even worse by adding Dr. Pepper to the mix and dunking my cookies in it.
It was a super weird thing that I started doing when I was in high school, and it’d been something I continued to do when I got stressed out to this day.
Usually, I managed to use milk to dunk my cookies in.
Dr. Pepper had been out of necessity one day, and I’d found out that it was almost ten times better than milk, and I had to force myself not to do it since I knew it was a fattening habit that I definitely didn’t need.
“Wow, you’re actually here?” Sinclair said snottily, bringing my attention away from my cookie dunking to the door where he stood looking at me with a curl of his lips.
“Yes, I’m here,” I said, dropping the cookie into the trashcan beside my desk so he wouldn’t see what I was doing in my drink. “Can I help you with something?”
It wouldn’t do to have someone know my secret shame.
Sinclair’s face pinched.
“Absolutely not,” he replied jovially. “Just surprised me to see you where you belong for once.”
I clenched my teeth.
“In that case, if you don’t mind, would you close my door on your way out?”
I gritted my teeth when his eyes lit with humor.
“I met someone yesterday, and we bonded over our mutual dislike of you.” He continued as if I hadn’t asked him to leave.
“Is that right?” I asked, leaning back in my desk chair, my Dixie cup full of Dr. Pepper in my hand. “And who might that be?”
His eyes lit with an inner light that set me on edge.
“We didn’t know that we hated the same person, you see. We were just discussing our reasoning for being in a bar at the same time,” he smiled. “It was funny, because we both said your name at the same time. It was like fate.”
“And why, might I ask, was my ex drinking at a bar?” I guessed that was who he was speaking of, seeing as I was pretty sure nobody actively hated me but him. “And what have I done to you to warrant you discussing me like that with a practical stranger?”
I honestly didn’t care why he was drinking, or why Langston was drinking for that matter.
In fact, it didn’t bother me one bit that I pissed people off. What did bother me, though, was that I hadn’t done anything to either one of them to be pissed off at me for in the first place.
I was genuinely a nice person.
It wasn’t often that I pissed anyone off, let alone these two men.
Add in the fact that I’d instantly drawn the ire of a man who obviously meant a lot to Hancock, and I wasn’t in a good place.
“Well, I went to management, again, and mentioned your obvious love affair with a player, and they didn’t do a damn thing about it. Again.”
“Again?” I tested the word, finding an instant dislike for it. “You’ve gone to them before over this?”
“It specifically says in the contract that you’re not to fraternize with fellow staff or players.”
My mouth tightened.
I’d read that part of my contract, of course, but at the time it hadn’t occurred to me that I’d fall in love with a player. Who knew Hancock Peters would even give me the time of day?
“Piss off the star player of the team,” came an amused voice. “And you lose him. He has thirty other teams in the league that would kill to have him, and he has the money to break his contract. Do you really think they’ll be stupid enough to listen to your useless quibbling instead of letting their star player have what he so obviously wants?”
Sinclair stiffened and turned, and that’s when I saw Hancock staring at Sinclair like he was about to murder him. His godfather, Leslie Corvallis, was standing beside him, staring at Sinclair like he was a bug that he was about to step on with his dirty, steel-toed boot.
I stood up, bringing my handful of cookies and my Dr. Pepper with me.
“Hancock! Mr. Corvallis! Hi!”
Hancock’s lips twitched, and he turned his angry gaze to me.
His eyes took in my disheveled, harried expression, the cup in my hand and the cookies clenched in the other, and then clenched his jaw once more.
“I suggest you leave and don’t come back for a while,” Hancock murmured quietly. “And if I ever find out that you’ve harassed Sway again, you’ll be gone. Understand?”
Sinclair left without another word, leaving me with two obviously pissed off men.
“What is his malfunction?” Hancock growled.
“The real question is why the hell is Langston complaining about me at a bar?” I questioned. “I haven’t done anything to him. In fact, he was the one to break up with me. I haven’t seen him since the day you were sick with strep and at my house.”
Hancock sighed.
“I can hire someone to find out why he’s acting the way he is,” Hancock shrugged.
“Or…” I held up my finger. “I can just ask my mother.”
“Your mother?”
I nodded.
“My mother.”
“Why would your mother know anything about Langston and why he’s drinking at a bar?” Hancock wondered, his eyes going to Leslie who looked just as confused as me.
“Because they go to church together.” I rolled my eyes. “And I’ll ask her tomorrow. Tonight is for catching up,” I smiled. “So, where are we going to eat?”
***
I made my way into Hancock’s bedroom, leaving the men to their discussion that I knew they were wanting to have without me there.
Neither man had been rude about it, nor had they flat out asked me to leave, but every time the discussion strayed toward Hannibal, both men would easily turn the conversation to something else entirely.
It didn’t take me long to realize what they were doing.
Though, I was sure they weren’t intentionally being rude about it.
I froze when I walked into Hancock’s bedroom and found Ruby, Hancock’s dog, sitting on the chest of drawers looking out the window.
The six-foot-tall chest of drawers that had nothing else around it that would enable her to get up there very easily.
“Ruby,” I called to his dog. “What are you doing up there?”
Rudy turned only her head and looked at me like I was interrupting something important.
Maybe I was. Maybe she had a routine, and I’d interrupted it by deigning to speak to her.
Deciding to leave her alone, I walked into the bathroom, did my business, washed my face and brushed my teeth, before heading back to the bedroom.
This time it was to find Ruby on the bed, staring at me the moment I came out the door.
“I’m glad you got down,” I told the dog. “That’s pretty dangerous for you to be up there like that. You could get hur
t.”
Why was I talking to this dog like it was a human, you ask? Because she was exceptionally smart, and by smart, I mean smart.
I think she understands every single word I say.
And her eyes…those eyes of hers are beyond intelligent-looking.
It’s like the dog had a world of knowledge behind those beautiful pale baby blues.
“You sleeping with me, big girl?” I asked.
In answer, Ruby jumped off the bed, headed over to the door—which she opened with her paw—and immediately walked out.
Shaking my head and wondering if Hancock had gotten the lever door handles for that very purpose, I walked to the door and closed it, ignoring the way the voices carried from the hallway.
The moment I laid down in bed, my eyes closed, and I melted into the soft sheets.
I’d intended to read so I could talk to Hancock when he finished with his godfather, but the moment my eyes closed, I was dead to the world.
That was until two hours later when my eyes opened in the darkness, and I moaned aloud as pleasure started to course through my veins.
Chapter 18
I’d do anything with you, anywhere. Except fellatio in a police station. That’s probably frowned upon.
-Text from Sway to Hancock
Hancock
“I’ll talk to you in the morning,” I mumbled, running my hand through my hair as I made my way down the hallway.
I stepped over Ruby’s prone body, who didn’t even bother pretending like she wanted to move.
That was my dog, though.
Such an asshole.
Leslie’s words swirled in my brain.
Mole. Set up. Captured. Torture.
Those four words stood out. Those four words put a lot of extra stress on my plate, and I didn’t know what to do with the offer Leslie had made me before I’d left him.
You want to help? I have a way for you to help.
The door to my bedroom was slightly cracked, and I breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn’t closed.
I didn’t want to wake Sway up. I knew she wanted to know what we’d discussed, but right now I needed to think about what we’d discussed before I said it all aloud. As long as I didn’t voice it, maybe it wasn’t as serious as Leslie made it sound.
Which was stupid.
It was serious. Very serious.
Leslie wouldn’t have told me if he didn’t think that Hannibal was already gone.
Taken. Held hostage somewhere in a small town in Iraq. Another team is there getting him. I just don’t know what kind of shape we’re going to find him in once we’re finished collecting evidence to do this the correct way. The kidnappers’ specialty has been all over the news lately. If we’re lucky, they won’t decapitate him on national television like they have the last three captives.
I closed the door a little hard, and my eyes went to the bed where Sway stirred.
She was wearing one of my t-shirts. A bright blue Nike one that I’d gotten when I was playing college ball. It was very comfortable. One of those t-shirts that you slipped on after a long, hot day in the sun.
One that you knew wouldn’t chafe your sun-burned skin.
Smiling now, instead of feeling the need to cry like a little boy, I moved on silent feet toward the bathroom.
I’d just flipped the switch nearest the shower on, giving me just enough light to do my business, when I heard it.
She mumbled something in her sleep, and I moved toward her.
“Love you,” she whispered again, so softly that I wasn’t sure if I’d heard her correctly.
“What, baby?” I asked quietly into the darkness.
If she wasn’t awake, I didn’t want to wake her.
But those words I’d thought I heard were life savers.
They sent a jolt of pleasure through my body, and I wanted to hear her say them again.
“Love you, Hancock,” she repeated, just as softly as before.
She wasn’t awake.
She sounded drugged out. Her speech was slurred, and her breathing was even and deep.
“I love you, too,” I whispered back.
She smiled making my heart warm.
Then she rolled over on the bed, closer to my side now than hers, and shifted.
Her leg went up and out, taking the blanket with her.
Her arms flailed, one going high above her head causing the t-shirt she was wearing to hike up, and the other went to her chest, her hand resting just underneath her breasts.
Her braless breasts.
I licked my lips, my mind focused solely on Sway now, and started walking toward her.
When I was close enough, I leaned over, planting my fists in the bed on either side of her chest.
She didn’t stir, her eyes closed tightly, and her breathing still deep and steady.
I studied her face with what little light the one I’d left on in the bathroom afforded me.
Her lashes lay across her upper cheeks, and her mouth was set in the cutest pout I had ever seen on someone who wasn’t a child.
Her beautiful hair was fanned around her head, spread out like she’d tossed and turned a lot in the last hour.
And she was hot.
She had a light sheen of sweat on her forehead, which explained why she didn’t have any covers over her body like she usually did when she slept.
Normally, she was so wrapped up in the comforter that I didn’t have a hope or a prayer to get it away from her.
Over the last couple of days that I’d been staying with her, sleeping with her and holding her at night, I’d resorted to a single sheet that was usually over my legs along with the comforter.
But I couldn’t find it in me to complain.
In fact, I quite liked it.
My eyes traveled down her body, zeroing in on her naked lower half.
Why aren’t you wearing panties, pretty girl? I wondered silently.
Of its own volition, my hand moved to her exposed thigh and then slowly up.
Her thighs were so smooth and milky that my roughened, tanned hand looked out of place next to it, reminding me that I should go to sleep and leave her alone. We’d all had a really long day. One I wanted to forget if it was possible to do so.
But then she moaned in her sleep, her thighs moving once again, and I couldn’t stop myself.
The moment her legs spread wider, almost beckoning me to her in her sleep, I made the move.
My hand went from being a little naughty to extremely naughty in about half a second.
The moment my fingers touched her juicy core, I growled low in my throat.
Watching her face for any signs of waking, I rubbed the pad of my thumb over her drenched pussy lips, being sure to catch her clit with each broad stroke.
My cock was now straining in my sweat pants, and I said a silent prayer of thanks that I’d decided to change into something more comfortable the moment we’d walked in the door.
Because now that I was here, touching Sway’s pussy, I found that I quite liked the naughtiness of what I was doing.
If she’d been awake, she’d be participating.
Not that that would be a bad thing, but right then, I liked that I could do what I wanted to her without her reactions battering at my control.
“Mmm,” she moaned in her sleep, legs opening even wider.
A grin kicked at the corner of my lips as I crawled up between her thighs, my mouth only inches from the sweetest pussy in the world.
“Sway?” I voiced, the words whispering against the lips of her sex.
She didn’t answer, and I moved forward, my cock pressing into the bed, and gave her one single lick from clit to anus.
She shivered but still didn’t wake.
“You taste so good,” I told her, even though she wasn’t awake to hear the words.
I thought that she needed to hear them. Every single time, in case she forgets how much he
r body makes mine react.
When she still didn’t move or react, I wedged my shoulder against her leg to keep it open fully, and brought my fingers up to the entrance of her sex.
“So ready for me,” I murmured, my fingers encountering her wetness that was soaking me in her excitement.
My fingers slid in easily, and I didn’t stop until I had two digits buried deep, all the way up to the webbing.
That got a reaction out of her and she gasped.
I knew it wouldn’t be long before she woke.
There was no way in the world she could sleep through this.
Or at least I thought, anyway.
But as thirty seconds turned into two minutes, I realized that she must be a very sound sleeper.
I’d witnessed the phenomenon, but having my fingers buried deep in her pussy with my mouth on her clit wasn’t like me rolling over in bed and accidentally bumping into her.
“Fuck me,” I groaned when her cunt started to ripple in release.
She cried out and rolled, dislodging not only my mouth from her clit, but my fingers from her pussy.
I smiled and stood up, knowing she was awake now, but she did nothing but roll to her stomach and bury her face into my pillow.
Her hips didn’t even move. The entire time, she’d laid still, letting me do anything I wanted to do to her.
“Holy shit,” I groaned, lifting my fingers to my mouth and licking each one clean while I stepped out of my sweats and crawled up on the bed behind her.
The way she was laying, with one long, luscious leg extended and the other cocked up toward her chest, caused her ass to lift slightly into the air.
Which was perfect, because all I had to do was crawl in between her legs, line my cock up to her sopping pussy and slowly inch my way inside.
She felt like an inferno as I worked my dick inside her, not stopping until my balls were pressed against her clit, and my pubic hair was tickling her ass.
I moved my hand up underneath the shirt, which had ridden up to her chest, and circled one blunt finger around her nipple.
She hissed and tried to move, but the only thing she was able to do was push back on my cock, which shoved me impossibly deeper inside of her, pulling the breath from my chest.
My free hand went to her hip to steady both of us, while my other fingers continued to play with her nipple.
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