RUNNING GAME (A SECOND CHANCE SPORTS ROMANCE) (82 page)

The bed creaked like the springs were going to break as I rode him. Years of ballet had taught me how to correctly activate my hips. I let my body dance on top of his. I could tell he enjoyed his view from the bottom as my rolling hips made my breasts jump in tandem.

I felt like I was starting to gain the upper hand, bringing him to the brink of orgasm this time. I saw the first crack in his confident demeanor as his brow furrowed when I switched my hip motion. He wasn’t the only one who was going to have his way. Luke writhed under me, trying to hold himself back as I squeezed him with everything I had.

Just as I thought he was about to finish, he threw me off and grabbed my hips from the back. Sliding me to the edge of the bed, he stood and entered me from behind. My knees wobbled in response to the pleasure from the new position.

There was no slow build up from him this time. We were both on the brink. He hammered into me with everything he had. I looked back over my shoulder to watch his thighs slap against my bare butt. With each hard stroke my ample backside jumped.

“Let’s finish together,” he groaned.

“I’m ready,” I whispered.

Luke clamped a big hand on the back of my neck. I steadied myself against the bed and leaned back into him with everything I had. He threw all that he had into me and I felt his cock start to pulse.

At the same time my body went off. Waves of warm happiness radiated from my middle to my fingertips. My whole body flushed a shade of pink and my wetness seeped pleasure.

Luke pulled himself out of me just in time to empty streams of his hot, white manhood. His entire form tightened and then released in a couple of last expulsions of passion.

When he collapsed on the bed next to me I’d never felt more in tune with someone else.

“Whoa,” he whispered to no one in particular.

“Yeah,” I said, trying to stifle another girlish giggle.

I
t had been nearly
a week since Bria came to the house. She shook up my world. For the longest time, all I’d thought about was fighting. But now… I was starting to wonder what kind of life I could lead on the other side of the cage.

And then she was taken away from me…

Bria’s firm had sent her out of state for a pre-arranged meeting a few days ago. Something about a class-action case her boss was working on. We had spent the better part of two full evenings talking on the phone while I should have been sparring. I learned more about her than I ever thought I would. She was planning on getting her license to practice law. She wanted to start her own thing doing defense work… Defending the kind of clients who had nowhere else to turn.

The helpless.

I admired her heart and her selflessness. It was so different than the life I’d chosen for myself… And maybe it was a bit too different. She deserved someone who could nurture the good inside her.

The problem was timing. No matter how much I wanted to be that man for Bria, I had a fight to win. Simmons wasn’t going to step into that ring and go easy on me. He didn’t get to the top taking half measures. I was just about to kick my training camp for the Simmons fight into high gear and I didn’t want
anybody
fucking it up.

Bria doesn’t seem like the type to get in the way, but if I was going to survive this fight, I couldn’t take any chances…

Could I?

K
aitlyn was going
to kill me if I held out any longer on her. She had been asking me every day since I last saw her if I went to see Luke, and I’d been keeping her at bay with vague answers. The thing is, I still wasn’t quite sure where I stood with him. We had a great time at his place, but talking to him on the phone felt a little forced. We had good conversations and I got to know him a little better but he seemed standoffish.

Maybe he was feeling the pressure from the fight he has coming up. He didn’t seem like the type to let that stuff bother him but I don’t know him all that well yet.

Either way, it was a bad time to be sent to Ohio. I finally meet a guy who I can’t get off my mind and I get sent a thousand miles away to handle my boss’s meeting.

Now that I’m on my way home, and stuck on a layover in Chicago of all places, I should probably give her a call.

I listened as Kaitlyn’s service played one of those shitty ring back tones. I tried to tell her that everybody else stopped using those things around 2010, but she loved it. As the song played on, I had a guilty hope that it would go to voicemail.

“Hey!” she answered, excitedly. “How are things in Omaha?”

“Ohio,” I corrected. “And I’m not there anymore. I’m stuck in Chicago waiting for my next flight because my cheap ass boss wouldn’t spring for a direct.”

“Oh, do you want me to pick you up at the airport?”

“No, that’s okay, I’m not getting in until late so I’ll just grab a taxi.”

“Okay,” she said. “So… is there anything
else
you want to talk to me about?”

“Fine, I give up,” I said. “I went to see him.”

“I knew you would! So give me the details.”

“Well, first of all that gym is crazy. It’s huge and the guys there are all in shape and making money. I felt like I got punched in the face with all the testosterone in the air. You would love it.”

“It sounds like my kind of place,” she said. “Then what happened.”

“…”

“Bria, what happened?”

“He took me out to this nice restaurant downtown. The drinks were really good. We should go there when I get back.”

“What!” she exclaimed. “You went on a date with Luke Greer?”

I couldn’t help but smile at her shrieking.

“You went on a date with Luke Greer and you try to gloss over it by telling me about some stupid fucking restaurant you went to?!”

“Calm down, it started out as a way to thank him for saving me from that creep…”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” she interrupted. “Started out? As in, you started out at the restaurant and then you let him fuck you in his car?”

“No,” I hesitated. “We made it back to his house first.”

I thought she was going to completely lose her mind.

“What?! Okay, wait, tell me… No way! I can’t believe…”

“Kaitlyn slow down. One question at a time.” She was a whirling dervish spinning out of control.

“Oh my God, okay, okay, I’m calm,” she said.

“He’s actually a lot of fun to be around. I thought he was gonna be a real prick, and he does have those tendencies sometimes, but overall… I think I like him.”

“How big was it?” she asked.

“How big was wh- … wait, I tell you to slow down and ask me one question at a time and the first one you come at me with is ‘how big is his dick?’”

“C’mon, don’t go back to being ‘stick-in-the-mud Bria,’ you were doing so good for a minute,” she whined.

“Wow, well, first of all I’m not being a stick-in-the-mud. I just so happen to be sitting in an airport terminal full of people so excuse me if I don’t want to get in a loud conversation about how
big
he is. And second… it’s none of your business.”

“Oh, you better believe it’s my business,” she countered. “I’ll let you off the hook because you’re in a crowded place -not that anyone would care- but you can count on giving me all the details as soon as you get home because you’re my best friend, understood?”

She was on a mission.

“Yeah, I guess,” I said.

“And I’m gonna want to know a lot more than that, too. What was his house like? When can I meet him? Does he have any cute friends?”

“Okay, Kaitlyn, I said okay. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know when I get back. Just take it easy on me. I’m a little overwhelmed with all this myself.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s exciting that’s all. I won’t say another word about it until you’re ready.”

I knew that was a lie but it was good enough for the time being.

“Oh, by the way,” she continued. “Guess who showed up at the bar looking for you last night?”

“Who,” I asked, suspiciously.

“Your asshole of an ex-boyfriend, that’s who.”

“Ugh, I don’t even care anymore.”

“Good, because I told him to fuck off.”

“What was he doing?” I asked.

“He kept bothering me, asking what you were up to… He asked if you were okay… He was relentless!”

“Oh God, you didn’t tell him anything, did you?”

“Of course I didn’t tell him! I said you were doing great and he needed to leave you alone.”

“Thank you.” I breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

“Well, don’t thank me yet… He didn’t believe me. Word must have gotten back to him about the other night, because he kept asking if anything bad had happened and he just wouldn’t let it go!”

“Oh God…” I whispered, shaking my head. The last thing I needed was Kevin finding out about the assholes in the alley… Or Luke… We were done, and he had no business being nosy.

“And then guess what he did?” Kaitlyn said, breaking my train of thought.

“Do I even want to know?” I asked.

“It doesn’t matter because you don’t care about him anymore, but he spent the rest of the night getting drunk and chatting up that mega-slut who works at the Starbucks down the street.”

“Kaitlyn! You shouldn’t talk about people like that, even if it’s true.”

“It is true,” she continued. “He even left with her, so if you ever think about taking him back just remember who he’s been with and what he probably has now.”

“Alright, I get it. Don’t be gross.”

“Just sayin’.”

I fumbled to find the charger for my phone

“I get it. But hey, my plane’s gonna board pretty soon so I have to go.”

“Okay beautiful, have a safe flight and make sure to text me when you get it. Don’t forget this time either. You almost gave me a heart attack last week,” she said.

“I will, bye.”

I ended the call and stared out at the tarmac. The wind picked up and blew a shipping container on to its side. I said a silent prayer asking that our flight not get delayed. I needed to get home. I need to go see Luke.

L
ess than thirty
days until the fight and I’m feeling like a beast. I’m leaving sparring partners battered and bruised all over the gym. No one can match my power or my skill. Simmons is fucked.

But something was wrong.

I rub my aching jaw, feeling the deep bruise that would bloom there. That was a little penalty for letting my focus drop even for a second. Bria had crossed my mind just long enough to miss a block on a wicked right hook and I paid the price.

It was my last sparring partner of the night… Jessup. He was six foot four with muscles like tightly wound spring. Not the kind of man you took lightly, even if he wasn’t my caliber. I unloaded on him quickly, looking to end the night on a high note. Right hook, left jab, kick to the knee, ground and pound. I’m a machine. I don’t think. I don’t worry. I don’t hesitate. I don’t let some girl throw off my flow.

I pulled back at the last second, staring down at him. All I could see was Simmons…

And beyond him, at the edge of the cage… I could almost imagine Bria standing there cheering me on.

And that’s when the fist smashed into my face.

My eyes flashing back down to his, Jessup looked almost as surprised as I was. I punished him for his hesitation. Knee to the side and a few sharp pummels and he was tapping out, but the damage was already done.

The girl had gotten into my head. Next time I saw her, I didn’t know if I’d break it off with her, or shove her up against the wall and fuck her goddamned brains out.

T
he ringing alarm
felt like it was constructed for my own personal torture. My flight out of Chicago was delayed last night and I didn’t get home until after four in the morning. That didn’t change the fact that I had to be in Jones’ office with the specifics on the meeting by seven-thirty.

The one good thing was that I was able to get all my stuff organized during the delay. I had my stuff setup so well that I’d be able to roll out of bed, head to the office, and throw my manila folder with the neatly typed notes down on his stupid oak desk. It was so thorough and well-done he could take what he needed from it without asking me a single, solitary question.

I used an old school twin-bell alarm clock because I didn’t trust my phone. There were just too many ways the battery could run out or the phone could inexplicably shut off, leaving me high and dry. Kaitlyn told me I was “anal” about everything when she saw my alarm. But I thought I was just being prudent.

Today, though, I wish I could have been a little more like her. I hated that damn alarm clock and I had half a mind to throw it against the wall.

Instead, I dragged a weary arm from beneath my warm blankets and flipped the switch to the “off” position.

Somebody kill me now
. I thought to myself.

By sheer force of will, I swung my legs off of the bed and sat upright. My head was filled with that miserable fuzzy feeling you get when have to wake up after far too little sleep. In retrospect, I should have grabbed a coffee on the way home and just made it an all-nighter. It would have sucked big time in a few hours, but it’s still gonna suck, anyway.

My thoughts were jumbled. I couldn’t even tell if I was making any sense and I was the only one in the room. Eyes at half mast, I made my way to the shower. While I let the water warm up I kicked out of my pajamas and took a look at myself in the bathroom mirror.

I managed to take pretty good care of myself despite the ridiculous work schedule. Mostly, I did it by eating right, though, Kaitlyn had gotten me into yoga a few months back. One thing was for certain, if I was going to keep up this relationship with Luke I would need to pick up on my exercise routine. I was still sore from our little session and that had been nearly a
week
ago.

Steam was rising behind the shower curtain. I jumped in and let the hot stream of water hit my face. I felt like I could fall asleep standing in the shower. It actually felt nice until my balance shifted forward and I caught myself by grabbing handle and turning the water to straight cold. It was as aggravating as it was invigorating.

Twenty minutes later and I was on the road with a gigantic cup of coffee in hand. I was steady slurping away at it when my phone started to ring. I grabbed it without looking and stuck it to my ear.

“Hello?”

There was nothing but silence.

“Hello…?”

I was just about to hang up when they finally spoke up.

“Hey. It’s me.”

Shit! Kevin.

“Oh, hey, what do you want? Because I’m almost at work.”

“Let’s get together for a few minutes.”

He sounded drunk. Not an unusual thing for Kevin to be…

“Sorry Kevin, but the answer is no.”

“Baby, c’mon, we need to talk.”

“You need to talk to me? Maybe you should have thought about that before you stuck your dick in the secretary at your office and half the girls in the city. Maybe, and just maybe, if you hadn’t done that I’d still be
seeing
you.”

“Oh my God, you’re still stuck on that?” he asked. “How many times do I have to tell you that was just a goddamned phase? I apologized. I can change if you just give me a chance Bria. At this point you’re just being a cunt about it.”

“Wow,” I said. “I don’t even know what to say to that. I don’t think I’ve ever dealt with a person as dense as you.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” he asked.

“I’m not stupid, Kevin.”

“Baby, I just want to talk… I heard about what happened.”

“I swear, if you call me baby one more time, I’ll throw up in my mouth. Stay out of my goddamned business and lose my phone number.”

“Fine,” he said. “You’re on your way to work, right?”

“Yeah…”

“Perfect, then I’ll come see you this afternoon.”

“You absolutely will not,” I yelled, but it was too late. He had hung up the phone.

Great.
This is exactly what I needed. My loser of an ex showing up at my job. What’s worse is that he is friends with most of the people there. He’ll get right in and they’ll tell him where I am with no questions asked.

Screw it
. It’s not like there’s anything I can do about it now. He’s probably just testing me anyway. If I had to bet on it, I would say he probably won’t show. This is just his way to get under my skin. He knows how seriously I take my work so he’s taking a cheap shot.

I pulled into the parking garage and decided to forget about it.

The morning air was cold and combined with my coffee, which was just starting to take effect, I was starting to feel a bit better.

I shoved my way through the revolving doors, determined to make it through this day.

“Hey Bri… how ya doin’ this mornin’, hun?”

It was Clara. She’d been working the front desk for as long as the firm had been around and was a sweet old lady.

“Hi Clara,” I said, putting on my happiest face. “What’s up?”

“You sure are popular this morning, dear. First of all, you got these…”

She pulled a huge bouquet of red roses from behind her desk and handed it to me. They were bundled neatly in a beautiful glass vase that looked like one my mother would have had in the house years ago.

“Oh,” I said with genuine surprise.

“There’s a note too,” said Clara.

She handed it to me over the tall counter.

“You didn’t read it, did you Clara?” I asked, with a knowing smile.

“Of course not, dear. I would never do anything like that.”

Anytime one of the girls got flowers Clara would read the note. We all grew to accept it as a cost of doing business.

“Who’s it from?” she asked.

“I’m sure you already know, Clara,” I said, pulling the note from the unsealed envelope.

Welcome home.

People say roses are cheesy, but I don’t know a damn thing about flowers, so here you go.

Can’t wait to see you again,

-Luke

For a brief moment the fatigue and the frustration went away and it was replaced with warmth. I absolutely could not believe he sent me flowers. It seemed like the most out of character thing in the world.

“That’s sweet, isn’t it hun?”

“Yeah, it is… thanks for hanging on to them for me, Clara.”

“Oh but wait, don’t go yet. There’s something else.”

I beamed, thinking Luke had left another surprise for me.

“Here ya go,” she said, handing another piece of paper over the counter.

“It’s from Kevin,” she said as I opened the folded sheet.

All the wind went out of my sails.

“He’s already called for you three times this morning. I wrote the times down on that paper. It sounded awfully important.”

“Thanks Clara,” I said, absentmindedly. “I’m gonna head up now.”

“Well, aren’t you gonna call him? I can’t have him tying up my phone lines all morning.”

“I’ll take care of it,” I said.

I glanced at my phone and realized I had about five minutes to make it up to the conference room where the partners were meeting. With the way the morning was going, I’m sure the elevator was about to be slower than it had ever been.

I waited patiently. The elevator Gods smiled on me and I made it to my floor with two minutes to spare.

As I stepped out and let the elevator doors close behind me, Tim Schreiber happened to be passing by.

“Hey kiddo, do you have your meeting notes, we’re just about to meet in the conference room to discuss the case?”

He always called me kiddo. He started on my first day and never stopped. I hated him for it a little more each time.

“Right here Mr. Schreiber,” I said, waving my folder.

“That a way, let’s go.”

He threw his arm over my shoulders and led the way. That annoyed the hell out of me too. Not because I thought he was being creepy, because he wasn’t. It was just his way of trying to relate to one of the bottom feeders. He felt like calling people kiddo and giving random pats on the back made him relatable to the rest of us. In reality, it was just an awkward way of going about things. Just about everyone else saw right through it. I guess when you have your name on a building long enough you start to lose touch with reality.

Everything was pissing me off this morning.

The meeting went smoothly. We were in and out in less than ten minutes. They got their information and gave some lip-service about how I was doing a “superb job” and if I kept it up, I’d be “climbing the ladder in no time.”

I didn’t even know what the hell that meant. Climbing the ladder? To where? There was nowhere to climb to until I got licensed and one thing had nothing to do with the other.

I couldn’t wait to get down to the records room and lay my head on the table. The only good thing about being down there is that it was dark and lonely. Nobody ever wanted to go down there unless they absolutely had to. The most frequent visitor I got, aside from the other paralegals was Jamie. And he only came down when he felt like sexually harassing me. Last I heard he was in Hawaii with his wife, so I’d at least be saved from that scumbag…

As I was mulling over the pros and cons of life in the basement, another one hit me. Shitty phone service. If I was going to thank Luke for the flowers, I better do it now.

I sat down on the top step of the stairs to hell and pulled out my phone.
Here goes nothing.

I scrolled through my contacts and found him. He had snatched my phone and taken a picture of us together in his car right before he dropped me off. It was cute. I set it as his contact photo. I spent more time than I was willing to admit staring at in when I was in Ohio.

He picked up on the first ring.

“This…is …Luke,” he said in between deep gasps for air. He was breathing hard.

“Oh, hey, it’s Bria.”

“Hi… hang on.”

I had an irrational fear I’d caught him in the middle of something inappropriate. Even after all this time, Kevin’s little extracurricular activities were coloring how I saw the world... I almost felt ashamed for even letting the thought cross my mind.

“Sorry, I just finished running up the hill. I’m a little winded.”

“Oh, no problem, take your time.” I felt like an idiot.

“No, I’m good. What’s up? How was your trip home?”

“It was a total nightmare. But I don’t want to talk about that. I called to thank you for the flowers. They’re beautiful.”

“They’re nothing, I wanted to see you when you got in, but I thought since I couldn’t, I’d throw some flowers your way.”

“Well, I love them. Thank you.”

“Everything else good,” Luke asked. “You sound a little frazzled this morning.”

“Not much sleep, I guess. And…”

“What?”

“Nothing, it’s no big deal,” I lied.

“Is something going on?”

“Really, it’s not a big deal. Something else got under my skin this morning and it has me off my game a little bit.”

“Well, tell me. Stop beating around the bush already,” he said, impatiently.

“Ugh. Okay. It was my Ex. He called me this morning and kept giving me a hard time. I stopped answering his calls so now he keeps calling and harassing the lady who works at the front desk.”

“What did he say,” asked Luke.

“Nothing important. He’s been wanting to get back together for a while. Lately he’s been more persistent. I think he’s still drunk from last night…”

“So, he’s harassing you?”

“Yeah, a little, but it’s no big deal.”

“Listen, I know it’s not exactly any of my business, but I still don’t like it. He shouldn’t be causing you any problems at work. Maybe I should have a talk with him.”

“No! Please forget I said anything about it. It’s not anything to worry about, I promise.”

Luke sighed into the phone. I could tell he wanted to argue the point further.

“He’s just drunk,” I said. “He’ll sober up in a few hours and forget about the whole thing. I bet he’s already passed out by now. It’s nothing I can’t handle.”

“Fine. But if he gives you any more shit, I need to know about it.”

“Okay. Deal. But really, I’m good.”

I needed to change the subject.

“So, what about us?” I asked, hesitantly.

“What
about
us?” There was the hint of a challenge in his voice.

“When can we see each other again? It’s been a long week.”

“I have to do this training seminar tonight. How about after?”

“Does tomorrow work,” I asked. “I’m running on fumes right now and I desperately need a good night of sleep. Something tells me that won’t be happening if I hook up with you.”

“Tomorrow’s perfect. I’ll pick you up at work. There’s something I want to
ask
you anyway.”

“Oh, okay…,”
What could he possibly have to ask me?

“Call me when you’re ready and I’ll be there.”

Before I could answer, he was gone. Everything Luke did seemed to have a finality to it. He didn’t linger around long once he’d made his point.

I stuffed my phone in my handbag and stared down the dark steps. Ten hours in the records room. Better get to it.

The light clicked and flickered on. It gave off a constant buzz. At first the noise could be annoying, but after a few minutes it blended in with the other background sounds.

I pulled an armful of files from the top of the stack and started sorting. There were paper trails on court cases going all the way back to the late nineties in here. Thousands and thousands of pages that would never be touched or seen by human eyes again.

I’d begged my boss to let me purge a lot of the older stuff, as it was all well beyond the state’s record keeping requirement.

He’d dismissed the idea quickly.