But what if? It was a scenario, though very unlikely, still plausible. What if he decided that he didn’t need the headache right now? He was working on his own career. He definitely didn’t sign up for this heap of trouble. Was it really worth it to him? I didn’t know what would happen inside his mind or what decisions he would make if he did know what was going on.
But I decided in the end that Allison was right. He had to know. If he ever found out and I didn’t tell him, he would probably never forgive me. This was something that affected both of us. It was about the both of us.
Bobby definitely needed to know the truth.
Chapter Fifteen
Bobby
I slammed my fist into the wall of my dorm room. It hurt a bit, but I was too livid to care. I was on the verge of a rage like I’d never known I possessed within myself. The anger welling up within me was the kind of anger that I feared ever letting go or directing towards anybody. Most of the time I was pretty laid back and I could keep that in check, but there had been a few times in my life where I had let that anger go and I had regretted it. That side of me was ugly; I never wanted anyone to really see it.
But right then I saw nothing but red. I was just getting ready to leave for football practice when Ro called me. I could tell instantly that she was very upset. She calmly told me the whole story of how her name was being dragged through the mud and then she told me about last night when some Neanderthal had attacked her and threatened her at knife point. This had gone too far. If these bastards thought they were going to intimidate my woman, they had another thing coming. I was ready to go to war over this. I would not stand for it.
“Bobby, calm down,” Ro said on the other end of the line. I had almost forgotten that I was holding the phone or that she was there. The rage was brutal and quick within me. I would not stand for it. I didn’t care what anyone said or who tried to keep me in line with things. No. This was something I was going to take care of. I would never let anyone get away with treating Ro this way.
“No. This is over. I’m going to find that son of a bitch.”
“I don’t know who it is. I have no name to even give you.”
“Don’t worry about it; I’m resourceful. I’ll find him.”
I knew that if I went looking for them and making some noise, that someone would want to take credit for it just to stroke their own ego. Someone who would attack Ro that way wouldn’t be able to resist. I just had to go push the right buttons. Simple.
“Bobby, I wish I hadn’t told you. I was afraid you would react this way. I don’t want you getting hurt.”
I shrugged and smirked. I was so worked up now. “It’s good that you did. If someone ever hurts you, I will take care of it. We are together now; what happens to you directly affects me and vice versa. I love you. I will not let this happen to you. I’m going to fix it.”
“Bobby, please… don’t do anything rash.”
“I won’t. I have to get to practice. I love you, baby.”
“I love you,” Ro replied.
Then I ended the call.
When I got to practice, I told Jacob and a few of the guys about what was going on. They were shocked that I was dating a girl from Purdue, but they quickly got past it. They didn’t carry this idiotic grudge any further than that, unlike those psychos at Ro’s school did. When I told them about what was happening to her, they were almost as pissed as I was.
“Ok,” Jacob said. “What do you want to do about it?”
“I don’t want to ask you guys, but I’m going there to confront them. I could use some backup.”
“I’m with you,” Jacob said.
“Me too,” Scotty Dawes said.
“Ditto,” Alan Greene chimed in.
“Alright,” I said. “Thanks, guys. We leave after practice.”
We all gave each other high fives. We were going to get this done. I felt good going there with my friends having my back. But if they didn’t want to get involved, I would have understood. This could affect their future careers. They all had pro scouts looking at them. If word got out that they went to Purdue with me to start a fight (things more than likely were going to get out of hand) then their future careers could very well be in jeopardy. My own career would be as well, but I was willing to risk it for Ro. The fact that my friends were willing to risk all of that for me was really inspiring and said a lot about how close we were as a team.
After practice we all piled in my SUV and drove up there. When we got there we instantly stood out like sore thumbs. I had a pretty good idea of where we were going and who I was looking for. I figured the best place to start was with those goons who had accosted me the other day when I was leaving town. They had to be at the center of it. I wondered who it was who had actually pulled a knife on Ro. Was it Jack? That pig. I would tear him limb from limb. This was going to end right now. And if these fools wanted to fight us, then so be it.
We sent out word on social media to Jack and a few of his cronies that we were coming to their turf to have a little chat. They met us outside of their field house. When we got there, I was pleasantly surprised to see that we were mostly evenly matched up. I expected their entire team to be there, but so far all I saw was five of them and five of us. Although, I suspected there were others waiting in the wings in case reinforcements needed to be called in.
I didn’t give a shit. We’d take them all on if need be. Whatever it was, we could handle it.
“So, you couldn’t leave well enough alone,” Jack said stepping towards me. “You shouldn’t have come here, punk.”
I smiled. “You shouldn’t have attacked Ro.”
“Attacked?” Jack shrugged. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
I laughed. “Yeah, right. Are you going to stand there and tell me that you or one of your goons here didn’t attack Ro and hold a knife to her throat? You’re an even bigger chicken than I thought.”
Jack hissed in anger for a moment. “Fine,” he said. He glanced back at his friends. “Any of you know what he is talking about?”
A big guy in the back stepped forward. I recognized him as Keith Michaels. He was a punk.
“Well, maybe she just has bad luck, or bad eyesight,” Keith said with a smile.
I knew it right then. He’d just admitted it without actually saying it. The fool even winked at me to drive his point home. That scum was going to pay for this.
“Speaking of bad eyesight,” I said. “You are about to learn all about how poor it is to see out of two swollen, black eyes.”
I focused my gaze right on Keith. He laughed and stepped forward in front of me. “Oh, I’d love to see you try.”
“This stops now. Ro and I have a right to be together if we want to be. This has nothing to do with you or the school. It has nothing to do with our rivalry. If you don’t agree to back off right now then we will be forced to get violent. This is your last warning. Do I make myself clear?”
“Crystal,” Keith said.
I saw his lumbering, thick, meaty fist coming at me a mile away. He was big and strong, but not nearly as quick as he thought he was. I ducked under the blow and brought a vicious uppercut to his chin. He collapsed to the ground hard.
No sooner did I connect with my punch then Jack collided his fist with my jaw. The force of the blast knocked me backwards and I almost stumbled to the ground. Oh, he was going to pay for that one.
My friends roared loudly as they ran into the fray and fists started flying. I saw Jack getting pummeled by Jacob and being knocked off his feet. Keith was getting back to his feet now. I decided to focus mostly on him. That bastard had held a knife to Ro… oh… I had to rip his head off. When I looked at him I saw nothing but red rage and I really scared myself with the horrid thoughts I had in my head.
I screamed at the top of my lungs and tackled him to the ground. Then I started to pummel him with my fists. My hand was smashing into his jaw over and over again. I wasn’t sure I could stop. I just wanted to make h
im pay for everything that he had done to Ro. I knew he was behind the other things too. He dated Dawn, the girl that was out to get Ro at all costs. I knew who this creep was. I’d done my research. He really thought he could get away with all of this? No way. I would not let it ride.
“We got to go!”
Jacob was pulling on me now as I continued to try to hit Keith. Jacob pulled me away and stood in the way between me and my intended target.
“The cops are coming!” Jacob yelled. “We have to get out of here.”
I knew what was happening in my mind, but I didn’t care. I was in some kind of a rage induced brain fog and all I could see was the enemy. They had struck first with no provocation and they had attacked the one person in the world they should have left alone. Now, they had to pay.
“The cops are coming! We have to get out of here! Snap out of it,” Jacob yelled at me.
I heard the urgency in his voice and I knew that he was right. So, I turned around and ran following the others back to my car. Once inside the car, I swiftly drove away and we made it out of the school grounds and then out of the town before the cops saw us. We were lucky. If we’d been rounded up and arrested that could have ended very badly for us all. Our careers would have been ruined. We might have been kicked off the team and replaced with the rookies.
“We did it boys!” Jacob roared as we sailed off down the road. He slapped me on the back. “Man, you annihilated that shit head!”
I smiled. I knew I shouldn’t have been celebrating this sort of a victory, but I couldn’t help how good it felt. I’d avenged Ro and I felt great about it. I hoped she never saw that side of me, but I was sure that word would spread quickly and get back to her about what happened. She needed to know. I just hoped she didn’t judge me too much and hate the way that we had handled things. I knew it was not right; I’d known that when we went there. But sometimes you had to do the wrong thing to make something right. I had learned that long ago. And it was a philosophy that while brutal at its core, was nevertheless correct. And we’d proven it today.
I kept thinking of the way Keith had been beaten by me. I shouldn’t have been proud of it, but I was. It had been a few years since I was actually in a fight. I used to have a bad temper when I was a kid, especially during junior high and my early years in high school. Football had helped me channel that aggression into something positive. But it was nice to know that I could still beat down with the best of them when I had to.
I wished I had time to stop to say something to Ro, to see her in person. I wanted to hold her in my arms once again, to caress her body, kiss her lips and look her deeply in the eyes to tell her how much she meant to me. I would do anything for her and I would die fighting for her honor if I had to. This might have been considered outdated thinking, but it was how I felt. I just hoped she realized that I did all of this—I risked all of this—for her.
And I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Chapter Sixteen
Ro
“Are you ok?” I asked.
Bobby had been a bit quiet that day. He was usually so much more talkative, more upbeat, but today he seemed despondent. It wasn’t his usual style.
“Yeah,” Bobby said. “I’m just afraid I might have disappointed you. And that hurts me deeply.”
I smiled and laid my head on his shoulder. “You don’t have to worry about that. I’m not disappointed. It means a lot to me that you stood up for me the way you did, but I would never want you to put yourself in harm’s way for my honor. But I do value that you did it.”
Bobby smiled. “I will do anything for you. Every time I think about that jerk putting his hands on you, holding a knife to you—I want to go back there and do it all over again and beat his head in. I feel like what I did is not enough, but there really isn’t anything else I can do.”
“You’ve done more than enough. It was fine. I am relieved that none of them will admit it was you guys. They could have easily ratted you out. Why is that?”
Bobby smiled. “Call it male pride, the guy code—whatever. Basically, they are licking their wounds and trying to save face to protect their wounded egos.”
“That is so macho,” I teased.
“Yeah, it is,” Bobby laughed. “But the other side of that is they are probably planning some sort of retaliation. If they go to the cops and tell them it was us, then they look weak and everyone will know that they got their asses handed to them by us. That is not good. Plus they won’t be able to do anything back to us to regain their pride if we are being handled by the authorities.”
“So, now you have to live in fear of the payback. Great.” I sighed.
“I’m not living in fear of anything. If they want to bring it then I’ll be waiting for them. They won’t intimidate me.”
I smiled. “We are so much more alike than we should probably be.”
Bobby laughed. “You think?”
I leaned back and looked around. The day was perfect. The weather was still pretty warm, but you could feel a slight chill in the air. Fall was definitely in full swing, but it hadn’t quite landed with its full force quite yet. Still, the colder weather was coming. And with that the football season would be ending as well.
I was almost ready for it to be done.
Bobby and I had gone out to my grandfather’s ranch to spend the day. We’d both decided to bag our classes and just get away from things for a bit. My grandfather owned a horse ranch which he’d operated since he was in his twenties. I’d practically grown up there. I loved it. Ever since I’d decided that I wanted to be a rider, I’d come there as often as I could. I eventually became a bit too tall to seriously consider riding, but it was still something that I loved to do when I had the chance. I often thought that one day I might have my own ranch. With that I would have a chance to do things my way, spend time around the animals and nature all day long, and just get away from the prying eyes that had started to get to me since I’d become head cheerleader. I loved doing it, but I had to admit that sometimes I would like a break from it all.
I ran a hand through my hair and thought about everything that had happened lately. Bobby could put up a front all he wanted and pretend that he wasn’t worried about a lashing back from the Purdue team. They were going to be out for blood.
Allison was the one who had first heard the news. She heard it in the hallways of the dorm where a friend of hers lived. No one was saying too much about it, but word was that some players from Indiana had come there to start a brawl. Of course most of the players were denying it and trying to blame it on some stupid bikers or something else that didn’t really make any sense.
But I knew. The moment she said it, I knew. Allison was immediately concerned. She listened as I called Bobby. He confirmed it and told me everything without leaving out a single detail. He wasn’t going to lie to me at all. That was good.
I was angry at first, but mostly because I couldn’t stand that Bobby had really stuck his neck out for me. He’d done something stupid and reckless to defend me that could have gotten him seriously hurt and it could have ruined his entire future. That wasn’t ok.
But at the same time I didn’t want him thinking that I didn’t appreciate what he had done for me. It was sweet. It took a lot of guts. And he didn’t even expect any thanks for it. That wasn’t his way. And I had to admit that being there with him and thinking about how brave what he’d done really was, turned me on to the hilt.
“Kiss me,” I said.
Bobby looked over at me as if he didn’t hear me at first, but once our eyes met he knew exactly what I wanted him to do. His lips touched mine softly. As he started to pull away, I pressed hard into his mouth, drawing his tongue out with mine.
I could feel the tension in his body, the nerves that did not lie. He was thinking through some things. There was a lot he had to process at the moment, so much going on in his life. And I couldn’t help but feel that a lot of it centered around me, but I wanted to fix it and make it better for
him. I wanted to take care of my man. He was so perfect. I never could have asked for a better man to come into my life. And now that he was here I would fight for him tooth and nail to never let him go or let anyone tear us apart. And it melted my heart to see it in action, to know for sure that he would fight for me as well.
I reached down and placed my hand on his crotch. He was already getting hard with the kiss. Our tongues were entwined now, slithering and dancing with each other, suckling our oral lust in and out of each other. I was getting so wet. I’d been horny all day, actually ever since I heard about what Bobby had done. I’d seen Keith’s face; it was a thing of beauty. I knew it was immature to be turned on by such things, but there was something so raw and primal about my man beating a up another man who had threatened me. That was so sexy.
My fingers quickly went to work and unzipped his jeans. I reached inside, found the fly hole in his boxers and then his package beneath. I then took his length out in my hand where I started to tug on it, just pulling on him as if trying to stretch him out towards the goal of his full length. He was growing thicker. I continued to kiss him harder, letting him pull my tongue into his mouth just make love to it with his own, flipping and pressing it down, moving me from side to side, and even sucking me back into his throat.
I was tugging on his member with my hand in an overhand position over the top of it, letting my palm really manipulate the head. I rubbed it in various directions, starting with clockwise circles and then going counterclockwise for a bit, before just rubbing straight off the top and resting on the tip before allowing my palm to slip off into the air before returning to the task.
The Touchdown Page 13
