Chapter 13
13
Cade
G unshots from the video game ring out as Lex laughs in my ears. “Gotcha.”
“Asshole,” I grumble.
Every once in a while, we take a break from playing Madden , and instead, choose any first player shooting game—and I’m notoriously bad at them.
“I’m just…better than you. Let me take a minute to soak that in.”
I try to find where Lex is at in this stupid game, but I’ve got nothing. I shoot some other guys and then throw a grenade for good measure.
“Heard anything about the combine yet?”
I sigh into my mic. “Not yet.”
“You know,” Lex says, “you can do whatever you want after school. You don’t have to be a big-time NFL player. Dreams change. We change.”
I see a glimmer of his guy with the night vision and take off after him. “Honestly,” I admit, maybe because I’m sidetracked with the game, “I’m not sure what I want anymore. It’s different playing ball without you guys. It’s been a weird season for me.”
“Well, your stats are still solid.”
“Yeah, it’s not that. I haven’t lost the fire for the game, but maybe the love for it. Or maybe I have to figure out how to love it without you guys around. God, don’t tell anyone how soft I’m being right now.”
Lex chuckles. “You were always softer than you let on. Plus, you’re talking to the most sensitive one out of all of us.”
He’s got a point there, which is probably why it’s so easy for me to open up to him.
“What was the transition from football to normal life like?”
“Weird,” he states matter-of-factly. “But in a way, I still get the same high like I did being out on the field. Now I just want the win for someone else.”
Coaching isn’t for me like it is for Lex. He took to it shortly after Coach T put us in charge of the powderpuff team. Then he wanted to get more and more involved until Coach was having him sit in on staff-only meetings.
When he and Kennedy broke up, I thought he might lose desire, but he didn’t. He just took it somewhere else.
“I wish I knew what I wanted. I think it’s bullshit they expect us to make life-altering decisions while we’re so young.”
Lex laughs, and then I hear the telltale whistle of a grenade right before the fake surroundings in front of me explode. “The only time when claiming youth is helpful.”
“I don’t know. Maybe I should’ve left with you guys.”
“You wanted a shot,” Lex recalls. “Do you still want that?”
I picture myself at the end of last season. Dejected. Lost. Watching Reid at the combine, and then again at the draft, seeing him get everything we ever wanted.
My guy manifests, and in the quiet, a knock sounds on my door. “One sec,” I tell Lex before checking the peephole. A small figure in a hood stands outside. I catch her profile, the cute, upturned nose, the resting bitch face. Yep, that’s my girl.
She’s here.
I stride to the bed and pick up the mic. “Gotta go, Lex. See ya.” I quit the game as the knock sounds again and toss the clothes on the floor into the closet before walking toward the door again.
After opening it, I lean against the jamb. Charley stands there in an oversized hoodie, the hood pulled close around her face.
I tug her hood off. “I really am your dirty little secret, aren’t I?”
Immediately, she runs her hand over her hair, trying to tame the flyaways. “I was cold. It’s chilly out.”
“If you’d asked, I would’ve picked you up.”
“I’m perfectly capable of walking to campus by myself. I do it every day.”
The corner of my mouth pulls up. “So, what’s up, Charley? It’s late…”
She lifts her brows. “Do you want me to go?”
I tug her inside and shut the door. “Of course I don’t. It’s that…usually people don’t drop by this late unless it’s a booty call. Or they’re upset. Are you upset?” I eye her up and down, looking for any telltale signs that she’s in distress, and come up empty.
She frowns. “I don’t know how I feel about the term booty call .”
“We can call it whatever you want.”
She searches around the room, her eyes flitting from my bed to my desk. Walking that way, she picks up the picture frame I have there.
“Those are the friends I told you about. Lex, Reid, and Briar.”
“You all look so happy.”
“Maybe you could meet them sometime.”
She sets the frame down. “I probably wouldn’t fit in.”
I disagree, but that’s a point of contention for another day. She’d probably fit in better than any other girl I’ve ever introduced to them, which is none. That realization hits me. There were girls I was with in college while we were all here, but I was never with someone formally.
“I get it,” I tease. “You’re only here to watch more of that serial killer documentary.”
She spins on her heels, grinning. “Am I that transparent?”
It’s easier to let her get away with lying for now. The fact that she’s here is enough. A step in the right direction.
“Well, come on.” I head toward the bed, setting the TV up to play Netflix. “I don’t remember which episode you fell asleep on.”
She turns my desk chair around and sits on it. The sound of Netflix booting up boomerangs in the background. “You’re not serious.”
“What?”
“Sit on the bed with me, beautiful.”
Her cheeks flush with a crimson stain.
She doesn’t move, so I reach out and tug on her hand. She comes willingly with that, and I arrange her in front of me, her ass nestled into my crotch. “Relax,” I whisper in her ear. “It’s me.”
She does so immediately, lying her head on my shoulder snuggling against my chest.
I wrap my arms around her, intent on pulling up her show but I’m distracted by all things Charley. The way she feels against me. The way her chest rises and falls. And the way her muscles jump under my touch when I bypass her hoodie and cotton shirt and go straight to splaying my hand across her stomach.
“You’re nice and toasty.”
“Mmm,” she replies.
I move her hair around her other shoulder, leaving her neck and ear open for me. For a few moments, I let her get comfortable, then I start exploring. Slowly, my fingers trace patterns over her stomach. Then more north, where my thumb skims the outline of her bra. Then, as far south as her jeans.
I had easier access before. Pajamas are so much more manageable to maneuver around, but I can make do.
“Are you warm?” I ask, discarding the remote for good.
“A little.”
She leans up, and I help her get her big hoodie off, dropping it to the floor. She’s so much smaller in my arms now. A perfect plaything.
“I’m going to touch you,” I whisper.
“You’re already touching me,” she replies.
I smile into her temple. “Smart mouth.”
I work my hands up to her breasts again. I haven’t been able to get the picture of her perfect pink nipple out of my mind. The hard peak tantalizing while she watched me on the bed.
I rub her over the cup of her bra, my thumb fanning across her nipple until it hardens. Then I take both palms and squeeze her, plucking at her tight buds through the satin fabric. She has more than a handful hidden underneath her clothes. I’m not ashamed to admit that the thought of being the only one who’s touched her here thrills me beyond explanation.
I unclip her bra from behind, moving my hands to her front again but not touching her where she wants me. Instead, I let her get used to the idea that they’re there. She starts to wiggle while I caress her ribs. I want her more excited than scared when I finally touch her skin to skin. “Is this okay?” I ask, my thumbs brushing the undersides of her breasts.
She nods, and I move up, rolling her nipples between my fingers.
She squirms again, her hips lifting into the air and meeting with nothing.
Her breaths deepen.
While I still cup her left breast, I reach my right hand down, skimming under the waistband of her jeans. Her hips move against me.
“I’m a little caught up. Want to unzip your pants for me?”
Beneath my hand, her heart jackhammers in her chest. With shaking fingers, she unbuttons her jeans and lowers the zipper.
“Pull them past your knees?”
She lifts her hips, and I follow, slipping my finger between her folds while she shimmies out of her pants.
“Cade,” she starts.
She’s wet. God, is she wet.
I moan into her neck. “You’re driving me crazy.”
“Me? You…You make me feel so good.”
“Let me know what you like. Okay? No embarrassment.”
“Easy for you to say—” She ends on a moan as I rub a circle into her clit. Soft sighs echo around the room. Music to my ears, fueling my movements.
I drag her juices across her belly before playing with her tits again. “Does it feel good when I touch you like this?”
I circle her nipple, then stroke her tight peaks.
“Maybe this?” I ask, plucking at them.
“Cade, yes. That.”
“You can do this at home. When you’re thinking of me. And only when you’re thinking of me.” I blow a breath against her ear. “Practice while I touch your pussy.”
I widen her legs, holding on to her left thigh while I pass a finger between her slick folds. Her hands come up to her breasts, tugging and playing. Her mouth opens in ecstasy, her lids fluttering closed. I find her entrance, pushing inside, and a moan escapes her lips.
“That’s it, baby. Tell me.”
“It’s s-so good,” she breathes out. I start a steady rhythm, my free hand coming up to rub circles into her clit.
“Too much,” she gasps.
“Relax,” I soothe. ”It’s supposed to feel like this. Overwhelming and desperate.”
Beneath her, I’m hard as a rock. I want to fuck her so badly. Bury myself into her depths. Possess her.
Sex with others was always fun, but this is something more. Needier.
“Cade,” she says, a warning in her voice.
“Give it all to me. I want every last squeeze. Every last drop.”
“I’m going to come on you.”
“Do it.”
Her mouth unhinges, and like before in the hotel room, the purest cry escapes her lips, pleasure dripping off every sound. Her pussy squeezes my finger, her body trembling against me. “Cade…”
The after-orgasm haze crosses her face, and I maneuver out from under her. Her eyes widen when I drop between her legs. “I’m thirsty, Sunshine. And you need to be cleaned up.”
She tries to close her legs around my face, but I tease them open, my tongue darting between her folds to lick her sweet juices.
“Cade!” she shouts in surprise.
I reach up, pushing her shirt and bra up over her breasts while I keep my mouth on her. Sucking, licking. Drowning in her pleasure.
My hips slide against the bed. It’s not the same as entering her but, fuck, it feels amazing.
“God, you taste so sweet.”
“Fu— Oh,” she cries, her head dropping to stare at the ceiling. “Cade, this is— I’ve never?—”
“I know, Sunshine. And it’s perfect.”
I grind into the mattress in tune with my flicks across her clit. I’ve never been one to turn down giving a girl oral, but this is on another level. Her desperate cries. The innocence pouring off her, like she can’t believe pleasure could feel this good.
“Cade, I can’t think.”
Me neither because right now, I’m a prepubescent boy humping my hand. I pull away. “Charley, look at me.” My hips still grind into the mattress, her juices smeared over my lips. I can’t help myself. I move faster and faster. “You’re so fucking beautiful.” I groan, my last thrust before cum erupts from my tip, soiling my boxers.
My whole body shudders out my release.
“Did you…” she asks sweetly.
“I’m so fucking turned on,” I grind out before I go back to tasting her, lapping her up, groaning into her clit like a man starved. “Come on me.”
Each flick of my tongue has her panting until she reaches a crescendo, her hips bucking into my face. I can’t figure out if I’m fucking her or if she’s fucking me.
A cry rips from her throat, and I clamp down on her clit, sucking while she falls onto the bed.
I lay my head against her thigh, trying to catch my breath. Never have I ever…
She reaches down to feather her hand through my hair. Tentatively at first, then stroking me from forehead to crown. “So, that’s what that feels like?” she muses.
“That was on another level,” I breathe out, trying to find the will to move again. I need to clean myself up. And Charley. But holy shit, I’m spent. I just want to lay here, make this moment last forever.
When my heart rate has calmed down considerably, I grab a towel from my closet and return to the bed. I help her clean up, then assist her in pulling her clothes into place before I go to my closet and quickly change. I use my last towel to clean the cum off me and then tug on different boxers and some sweats.
By the time I’m finished, I’m desperate to be next to her again.
“Do you do that a lot?”
I turn toward her. “If you’re asking if I do that with women a lot, no. If you’re asking about coming in my pants, let’s just say I have a healthy relationship with my hand, but I can’t say I’ve come in my pants since I was a teenager.”
“You liked it that much?”
I sit next to her, arranging the sheets so they’re covering the towel. “I fucking loved it, Charley.”
“I don’t know what I’m doing though.”
“Clearly, I don’t care about that.”
“Well, you might. Once we get to the parts where I’m actually supposed to do something.”
I smile at her. “So, there’s going to be more?”
“Of course that’s what you would hear.”
“Hey,” I reach out, resting my palm on her cheek. Then I lean down and press a kiss to her lips.
She’s stiff at first, and I realize this is our first kiss. This delicate brush. I savor it, leaving my lips pressed against hers a moment longer before I pull away. “One step at a time, Sunshine.”