We were playing New Orleans again.
I hadn’t seen Bobby Samuels since that shit went down on his turf, and I wasn’t looking forward to seeing him. I was glad Chloe had managed to get me out of it without an apology, and Bobby was the right type of idiot to make me knock his head in again. I wasn’t sure I had the willpower not to.
Everybody had been in my ear about it. My other teammates, Nicki, Margo, Chloe, Jess, hell, even Eli. I told them all the same thing – I wasn’t making any promises, but I would try. And I would try.
An appreciative rumble went through the guys in the locker room, and I looked away from TB for the source of distraction.
Nicki.
Well – Cole.
She was wearing her glasses today – looking sexy as hell in them as she strutted into the locker room, completely unphased by the team’s half-dressed state. I knew from this morning that she’d worn a suit, but her jacket was missing now, revealing the fitted gray pencil skirt and “Kings” blue, sleeveless silk blouse she wore underneath. Not at all revealing, and she still looked like straight up sex. To me, and probably every other man in the room.
She didn’t even look at me, heading straight to another player who was on her offensive roster, JR Pitts. I watched her ass in that skirt as she crossed in front of me, then looked up to see that Pitts was grinning way too hard for my liking as she engaged him.
Pitts was a known savage. Pretty boy, fan favorite with the ladies, and notorious for having no problem with inappropriate contact with the opposite sex. I’d seen him in action – reporters, cheerleaders, coaching assistants, physical therapists, whoever. And the women seemed to like that shit – I wouldn’t be surprised to find out he’d been inside of every woman who dealt with the NFL, in any capacity.
Except mine.
“You looking like you wanna tear that nigga’s head off,” Trent chuckled quietly, keeping the conversation between me and him. He was the only person in the room besides me and Cole who knew what was up.
“Damn right,” I muttered back. But she was just doing her job, nothing to be mad about. She had to catch people when she could, and if she needed to say something in person, this was the best time for it. Nevermind that his pervert ass was shirtless, and looking at her like he wanted to snatch her up.
He’d be a lot more respectful if he knew I’d knock his head of his neck about Nicki.
I was still telling myself not to sweat it when old boy grabbed her, pulling her into his arms for a quick hug. I’d already taken a step forward when TB stepped in front of me, looking amused as fuck as he shook his head.
“Calm your tits, boy,” he said, with a brotherly shove. “You know she’ll rip your ass in half if you make a scene in here.”
I shook my head. Right or not, I didn’t like the shit, and even though Cole ended the hug damn near as soon as it started, I wasn’t about to let it ride.
“I hope you’ve got some news like that for me too, Ms. Richardson. What I gotta do to get a little contact with you?”
Cole looked back, venom in her eyes as she spoke. “You just focus on keeping the contact with you and the opposing team to a minimum tomorrow night, Mr. Johnson. Let’s not get arrested again, okay?”
“But you came and got me out personally. I got to ride in the backseat with you and everything. I’d love a repeat of that.”
She hiked an eyebrow. “Don’t make it seem like something it wasn’t.”
“I’m not. I’m insinuating what it’s gonna be if I get you in a position like that again.”
The whole locker room seemed to take a deep, “Oh, shit!” type of breath.
“Too far, motherfucker,” Trent mumbled, and from the look Cole was giving me, I thought he might be right.
She took a step toward me, eyes narrowed, and I held her gaze. I wasn’t about to punk out now.
“Jordan. Johnson,” she said deliberately, dangerously as she stalked toward me. All eyes in the room were on us, coaching staff included, but nobody was saying anything. “I know you may think you’re “the man” on this team. Hell, in the NFL. You may have women all over you, throwing themselves at you, making you think you’re some irresistible force.” She poked a perfectly manicured nail into my chest. “But let me tell you something…” she hooked her finger around my chain, pulling it tight. “If you ever speak to me like that again, I will…” she leaned forward, speaking into my ear, just loud enough for me, and no one else to hear, as she twisted the chain, “Suck. You. Dry.”
She released my chain, and stepped back, giving me a look that would have left me sliced and diced on the floor if it was possible. “Believe it,” she spat, as if she’d just threatened to snatch my balls off my body.
“Is that a promise?” I asked, as she turned away, keeping a grin on my face.
With a last look of disgust at me, she glanced at the coaching staff. “Locker room stays in the locker room. I can handle my own shit – no need to mention it to my father. Understood?”
“Yes ma’am,” they answered immediately. They didn’t want reprimands right before a game either. Cole stomped out, and the locker room erupted in laughs and shouts about what had just happened. General consensus was that I’d gotten punked, but the shit was hot, so… swag me out.
I took the good-natured ribbing from my team, took the scolding from the coaches about fucking with the owner’s daughter in stride. I wanted to tell all these fools that she was mine anyway, but she was still on the whole “keep it on the low” thing, so I chilled. I didn’t want to, but…. Whatever.
For the last two weeks, things had been good between me and Nicki, but I was constantly waiting for something to pop off. Waiting for her to give another bullshit reason to end it, or slow down, or create distance. Just waiting for something to go wrong.
The shit I’d just pulled was an opening. Her chance to decide it wasn’t going to work out. And instead… she’d flirted, and played along. That gave me something I’d almost been a little scared to have about her.
Hope.
“WHAT IS TAKING YOU SO DAMN LONG?! – Nicki.”
“Relax, woman. I said I was coming. Got caught up in traffic.”
“HURRY UP!!! – Nicki.”
I chuckled, then slid the phone into my pocket. I was already heading down the hall to our suite, and could tell from her progression from a million exclamation points, to all caps, to all caps and a million exclamation points, that Nicki was still horny from this morning, and still stressed about her day.
I stopped in front of our door, hoping that my locker room stunt hadn’t added to our stress. I waved my wallet in front of the electronic lock so it could pick up the signal from my keycard… and nothing happened. Confused, I opened my wallet, rifling through until I found the keycard, holding it up in front of the lock again, but still nothing happened.
My phone buzzed in my hand, with another message from Nicki.
“I’M ABOUT TO HANDLE MYSELF!!!!!! - Nicki”
“Didn’t I tell you to relax?! I’m right outside the door, damn.”
I hit send on the text, then raised my card to try one more time, but the door flew open, and there she was… without a single stitch of clothing on.
Her eyes were seductively low, hair hanging loose around her shoulders, silky and sleek from her trip to the salon. She flipped it out of her face, then propped a hand on her hip, posing. “Are you coming in, or not?” she asked, even though she damn well knew the answer.
Still, I hung back, leaning in the doorway as I looked her over. “Depends on what you’ve got planned.”
“My plan?” She smirked. “I plan for you to fuck me until every bit of stress from this day disappears.”
I shook my head. “So I’m doing all the work? I don’t know if I like that plan.”
“I’m willing to negotiate,” she said, walking away to grab her glass of wine from the counter.
“I’m listening.”
She took a long swig, draining the glass, t
hen cast a disdainful glance at what I suspected was an empty wine bottle before she looked at me again. “How about I do what I threatened to do earlier?”
I grinned, then closed the door, stepping inside to join her at the counter. My hands went to her waist, pulling her against me, and I marveled at how perfectly she seemed to fit. “That sounds very enticing. And then after we’re done, we can… I don’t know… do some normal couple shit. Just ride around, go to a movie, something like that…”
I already knew it was a long shot, before it came out of my mouth, but it still made my throat tight when she stiffened in my arms at the suggestion. To her credit, she really did seem remorseful when she looked up at me and shook her head, but still… this secrecy shit was wearing on me.
“Right,” I said, stepping away from her. “You can answer the door at the hotel ass-naked, but taking you a fucking drive… that’s just too much. Forgive me for asking.”
She jerked her head back. “Jordan, you know that’s not fair,” she said, crossing her arms. “You know why we’re doing this, and I thought you understood. Especially after the day I’ve had, with executives scrutinizing every little thing I’ve done this season. Even being here tonight is a risk!”
I sucked my teeth. “Don’t act like you did this shit for me. It was selfish, and you know it. Don’t act like it was about anything else.”
Cole’s lips parted, but nothing came out as she shrank back toward the counter.
“See?” I shook my head. “It just fucking hit me, since you can’t even deny the shit. All you’re concerned about is sex. Here I am, thinking I can relax with you, and nah… you can’t even get in the damn car with me, but we can bounce around the hotel all you want?”
“It’s not like that!”
“Man, the hell its not,” I said, waving her off. “I tell you what… if it’s not like that, call me when we can do something besides look at these same four walls. Until then, I’ll holla.”
And I was serious about that shit too.
I ignored whatever bullshit she was trying to feed me in the moment, and left her in the suite alone. Did I want her? Hell yes, I did. But if all she wanted was somebody to screw her on demand… she could find somebody else for that. I could get sex from anybody. With Nicki… it wasn’t supposed to be about that.
I wasn’t settling for anything less.
Sixteen
Maybe I’m tripping.
That thought ran through my head several times over the next couple of days, but didn’t resonate enough for me to act on it. The fact that Cole hadn’t even tried to contact me except through Margo about some contract shit, didn’t help.
Nevermind that I didn’t try to contact her either.
But I was pissed.
Wounded, honestly.
I thought we were in a good enough place by now that she would let go of that secrecy shit, but she was holding on, and I just didn’t get it. Why the fuck was being with me something she had to be secretive about? Was she making sure that when she dropped my ass this time, she wouldn’t have to answer to anybody else?
Whatever it was… after damn near a month, I wasn’t down anymore.
I wasn’t playing this “fuck buddy” game with her.
“Meet me at Roll Play, tonight at seven. – Nicki.”
I rolled my eyes about getting that, after days of not hearing from her. I was still pissed, but intrigued enough about her asking me to meet her at a public place – a supposedly sentimental place for us – that I did as directed.
I went to Roll Play at seven.
I narrowed my eyes at the empty lot as soon as I rolled up, but I told myself not to sweat it. As soon as I walked in, I saw Nicki, looking good as ever in a cream-toned sweater dress and dark brown boots, with her hair pulled into a high ponytail. I couldn’t help my grin about the ponytail – her signature style through college.
“Hey,” she said quietly… nervously, as I approached her. “You didn’t respond to my text, so I was scared you wouldn’t come.”
I shrugged, looking around the empty tables, knowing that this place was always popping, even on weeknights. “Well, I’m here. What is this?”
She smiled. “This is my way of showing you – hopefully – that it’s not just about sex. I was able to talk to the owner, explain the… sensitivity of the situation. He actually remembered us, from the location near Blakewood. So, he was willing to let me pay him to close the place for a day, so we could have it to ourselves. For a date night.”
Wow.
“So… let me get this right,” I scoffed, stuffing my hands into my pockets. “I get pissed off about you wanting to keep us a secret, and your solution is… to keep us a secret?” The smile melted off her face, turning into a look of distress, but I wasn’t phased. “You know what… this was good while it lasted, Nicki, aiight? You be cool.”
Nothing about that felt good.
Not a single word.
As a matter of fact, her expression made me sick to my stomach, but I couldn’t do this shit with her. I turned my ass right back around and left, debating what to do with my night instead of spending it tripping over somebody who wasn’t tripping over me.
I thought about calling Cin, but I knew she was traveling, basically scouting places to live before she committed. I didn’t want to bug her with this anyway, especially knowing how she was rooting for me and Cole to actually make something happen.
She was also firmly Team Cole, and I didn’t feel like listening to anybody defend her.
Unfortunately, that ruled out Jess too, and none of my homeboys were good for shit like this. They were good for turning up, making it rain at the club, which… maybe that was exactly what I needed.
I hadn’t been to Arch & Point since I started pursuing Cole, but the idea grew in my mind as what I needed to do. Ass and titties in my face had always been a good remedy when I was stressed, overworked, whatever. It only made sense that a trip there was a good idea.
An hour later, I was on my way.
I let Kendrick drive, since I didn’t plan to be sober enough to get myself home after I left. I sat in the back seat, thumbing through the cards in my wallet when I realized I was missing my VIP card, which would get me in and out of the entrance. It wasn’t the end of the world, but I preferred not to have to call and make arrangements when the card was the arrangements.
I sat back, trying to remember where it could be. When the answer finally popped into my head, I sighed.
Fuck.
Maybe she won’t be there…
As a matter of fact, there was no way Nicki would be at our suite at Veil, since I wasn’t bringing my dick. I could get in, get my VIP card for Arch & Point out of the drawer where I’d left it with my other extra things after I’d changed wallets for the Gucci one Nicki had gifted me, and get the fuck out.
“Yo, Ken,” I said, leaning forward. “We’ve gotta make a little detour man.”
As expected, the suite was dark when I walked in. The only light came from the big window that led to the patio, where the moon illuminated the room. I didn’t bother flipping the main lights on – I went straight for the drawer where I’d left my old wallet and pulled it out, tucking the whole thing into my pocket.
I didn’t see her until I turned around.
She was in the bed – on my side of the bed we’d shared for the last few weeks. She looked stricken by my presence – sitting straight up, trembling, phone clutched in her hand. It occurred to me that I’d probably scared her, coming in unannounced, no lights, wearing all black, rifling through drawers in the dark.
I reached for the wall and flipped the switch on, lighting the room. Cole blinked several times against the sudden brightness, then stared for a second before averting her gaze. She looked… rough.
Her freshly done hair wasn’t even tied down, and she’d obviously been crying. Instead of the sexy, lacy things – or nothing – she usually wore to bed, she was swimming in one of my tee shirts.
“I… wasn’t expecting you to be here,” I said, clearing my throat. A twinge of guilt pricked my chest for the contrast between us – me dressed and ready to go out, and her… so obviously hurting.
She nodded, but still didn’t look at me. She pulled up the covers, probably trying to hide what she was wearing. “Yeah. Sorry.”
“Why are you here?” I blurted, not realizing how rude it sounded until it was out of my mouth. She finally looked up, eyes bloodshot and glossy.
“Umm...” she swallowed, and I realized how scratchy her voice sounded, like her throat was raw. “I… I was tired. This was closer than my apartment, and I just wanted to sleep.”
I frowned, mentally mapping the distance from her place. I shook my head. “That’s… not true. Your place is at least ten, fifteen minutes closer with traffic.”
She shrugged, but didn’t say anything else. I just stood there, not knowing what to say myself. It burned me up to see her like this – tough ass Nicki, never ruffled, always ready with a sharp remark… fragile and defeated.
“Do you need me to go or something?” she asked, her voice suddenly stronger. When I looked up, she’d used her fingers to tame her hair and was climbing out of bed to stand up straight, looking me right in the eyes.
This was the unbothered Nicki I expected. She’d switched right into character.
“Why would I need you to go?” I asked, shoving my hands into my pockets.
“I don’t know. I’m asking, because I don’t understand why you’re here.”
I pulled out the wallet, showing it to her. “I needed this. Left my card to get in A&P.”
For just a second, her façade slipped, and I could have sworn she was about to break into a sob, but she cleaned it up just as quickly as it came. She arranged her face into a bored, neutral expression before she spoke. “Right. You look like you’re about to have a good time.”
“I plan on it.”
“Good.” She slipped again. Her voice cracked over that word, but she immediately snapped back, holding her head high. “If you have what you need, can you turn the light back off, please? I’d like to go back to sleep.”
Love on the Highlight Reel (Connecticut Kings Book 2) Page 19
