Chapter 17
SEVENTEEN
PHOENIX
The endgame between Thumper and me had always been inevitable, but the time had finally come to get my shit together and make her mine.
When all was said and done, the most successful predators (i.e., those who get what they want) aren’t the toughest or fastest; they are the most patient. Biding their time, which is exactly what I had done, and that fucker had paid off in spades.
We’d only had a twenty-minute break, and part of that was needed to listen to the coach strategize, ready for the next play.
That hadn’t given me much time to speak with Harper and show my cards.
Something I had decided to do the moment I saw she had finally done the same.
I had been fighting diligently to control myself for so long, and now the waiting was over.
Wearing my number had sent a clear message that Harper Radcliffe was mine.
The stadium had held its collective breath as I’d kissed my girl and made my claim. At last.
The fact that we had an audience was the only thing that stopped me from lifting the hem of my shirt and taking her hard against the bleachers.
My heart was still hammering in my chest.
From the way she had kissed me back, I knew I was going to take her home that night and screw her senseless.
And yes, there was still stuff left unsaid, but that could wait.
I wasn’t going anywhere, and neither was she, and I was a firm believer that actions spoke louder than words.
Neither of us was articulate when it came to sharing our feelings, but that night, I would thoroughly enjoy showing Harper exactly how I felt.
Plus, the little vixen was clearly asking for it, teasing me by wearing my jersey without a bra.
I could clearly see her nipples poking against the material.
She looked so adorable, toothache sweet yet still as hot as fuck.
Harper’s confident, cocky attitude before I’d kissed her had also thrown down a challenge.
A bold one that no red-blooded male could turn away from, especially not somebody as competitive as me.
A girl doesn’t show up wearing a guy's shirt unless she’s trying to get his attention.
Well, my little Thumper had certainly done that.
Molly had also told Hudson in confidence that some new fish at school had been sniffing around my girl.
I’d wanted to hunt him down and wring his dweeby fucking neck.
But I was in college, and kicking the shit out of a high schooler wasn’t the way to go.
His interest in her was yet another sign that I needed to make ‘us’ official.
I glanced back and gave my now girlfriend a cheeky wink. Her cheeks were still flushed, and those pert nipples were like bullets. I couldn’t wait to taste them, feel them against my tongue.
Harper had always been mine, but the timing when she’d first joined our family hadn’t been right.
When I had first seen Harper again on the cusp of womanhood, I was instantly attracted to her, but she had been too young and innocent for me to do anything about it. I had also been screwed up about my affair with Melanie at that time.
And now I had my agency file and past to deal with.
I had sat on that shit for so long, not feeling ready to face what was in there. Well, now I knew, and I felt like I was on the road to recovery. I could therefore start to initiate those other plans of mine. Making Harper Radcliffe mine in every way possible.
Staying away from her had been like a human being denying himself the need for oxygen to breathe.
Incomprehensible. And I couldn’t wait to share the conclusions I’d reached about my mother and brother going forward.
And my decision to track my father down, somehow.
I would also find out more about Harper’s life, bridge those fricking gaps between us. The part I hadn’t been there for.
Yep, it was time to put our cards on the table, no more secrets. Everything out in the open, the way it should always have been; no more hiding.
I couldn’t believe it had taken me so long to realize how perfect Harper was for me.
Everything about her drew me in. She was funny, interesting, chaotic, and confounding, and she had shit to say.
She wasn’t vapid or vain like other girls her age, and her heart, although having been pummelled in the past, was huge.
She didn’t wear it on her sleeve, but it was a powerful part of that pull I felt towards her.
She also got me; she always had. There were not many people on the planet who could admit to that. Even Hudson misunderstood me at times.
We also had shit loads in common, one of her favorite movies was Jaws, instead of most of the girls her age who raved about sappy shit like The Notebook or The Holiday. We both hated chewing gum, fake people, rollercoasters, and flying. Fuck, we even used to finish each other's sentences.
Now that I had my head on straight, I felt we could make a go of it. See where things went, and the thought of that excited the hell out of me.
I had decided to draw a line under my biological parents for the time being. My mom clearly didn’t want me in her life, and to be honest, I didn’t really want to be there. Luna also had no intention of telling me who my father was, and I couldn’t exactly beat it out of her.
And then there was Alex. I had decided that if he continued to reach out, I’d let it happen and play that by ear. I would approach that relationship with no expectations and go with the flow. Something that wasn’t like me at all.
It was time to move forward and not look to the past. I had Ma, my brothers, a decent future if I continued to work hard at college, and then there was Harper.
She was the fuel that kept me going. And now I would focus my energies on helping my girl to tidy up her own life and make her whole again.
I knew she still had baggage and stuff she wanted to say, and I would be there to help her with that, however I could.
As I made my way back across the field towards the coach, the crowd was still going wild.
People were walking back to their seats, their arms loaded with cheese dogs and beer, and I played the crowd, posing for a couple of selfies with a group of high school wannabe jocks.
I stayed away from the girls that time, not wanting to make my little love jealous.
I was the best-looking guy on the team at the end of the day and a big fucker. I couldn’t disappoint the fans.
Half of the team had taken a courtesy break in the locker room, if you could call getting a hand-job at halftime from one of the cheerleaders that.
As I pulled away from the bleachers, Michael Dexter jogged alongside me, looking mighty pleased with himself.
His expression only had one setting: smug.
He’d been the same when he went to St Andrew’s whilst I was at Harbor Heights.
“You need to watch Prescott’s six, that rat defender keeps dropping into the middle, trying to read him,” he stated, his face covered with sweat.
He was right, too. I’d given the Vipers an easy ride so far.
It was a clear hustle between my team and me, but the opposition didn’t know that.
Now the gloves were well and truly off. “Yeah, I noticed him cut back, typical pussy trick player. Motherfucker can kiss my cleats. I’m gonna wrap the cunt straight off the whistle. ”
The rivalry on the field was unmatched; both teams were fighting for their place in the future playoffs, so go figure.
The Vipers were known for their raw power and relentless defense, and their quarterback possessed an arm like a fucking cannon, but he had nothing on my brother, Reed. Reed was the best quarterback in the division, and one day the NFL would be all over his ass, just like members of the NCAA were.
“Cole says there’s a scout here,” Michael blurted as he started to stretch.
The tension that appeared in my jaw as Dexter mentioned that sly defender reduced.
Knowledge that a scout was in the crowd was a clear reason for all players to up their game, but I didn’t give a shit.
I had no intention of playing football professionally, not like my brothers.
Whatever I did would still be physical work, but it wouldn’t amount to throwing a ball around for the rest of my life.
“Isn’t there always?” I replied in a bored voice. Cole Smith was our captain and was probably lying to get us to up our game. Not that we needed to, as we were already up by eight points.
“Nah, man. I mean the real deal.”
“What, as in pro?” I replied, dashing a hand down my face and glancing out into the crowds. It wasn’t as if I would see anyone; it would be a proper needle-in-a-haystack scenario. I glanced over at Harper. She was now laughing and joking with Molly, before Dexter drew my focus back.
“Hey, I’m talking Nunn Wooton.”
My brow scrunched. “Bullshit. How would Smith know about a scout anyway?”
“Well, he’s still tight with Adam Summers.”
“Adam Summers from your old High School, as in Storm’s cousin?”
“The one and only,” he replied proudly, as if he’d just delivered the biggest of secrets. “Adam’s old man still works for ESPN, hence the heads up about there being eyes on us tonight.”
“Holy shit. Well, they won’t be here for your lazy ass or mine. Does Reed know?”
“Nah, bro. He wasn’t in the locker room when I found out. God knows where he got to.”
And of course, he wasn’t in the locker room. Reed had been under the bleachers getting his cock sucked by Adam Summer’s cousin, Storm. The thought of that shit made me want to gag.
Rolling my shoulders, Dexter and I walked over to where the team was now huddled, listening to instructions from the coach. On our approach, he straightened from his bent-over position and glanced past us with an annoyed look.
“Where the fuck is Prescott?”