35. Balls Deep #2
It takes me a solid five seconds to fully register the weight of his words, and by then, Olivia’s already choking on her food.
“ Hank !” I scream, rubbing Olivia’s back.
“Uh-oh,” he murmurs. “Dublin, I’ve fucked up again.”
* * *
The only logical explanation for why I’m currently listening to Olivia’s school principal go on about how much he loves when Cara visits—for some fucking reason—is because I’m batshit crazy for this woman.
I saw her three hours ago when she kissed me good-bye from her bed, where we slept last night so she could get up early for work.
I promptly passed out for another hour and a half, woke up, devoured most of her kitchen, then ordered grocery delivery service for her because I felt bad.
It’s been three hours, and yet I’m still not ready to say good-bye to her for the next five nights.
“I was young once,” Ray’s busy telling me. He told me to call him Ray. “You two seem quite close based on the pictures over the last two weekends.” He wags his brows, which is kinda weird; he’s Olivia’s boss. Also, I’m slightly concerned about that last comment.
“Is that a problem? The pictures of us? Kissing?” Fuck, I never thought of that.
He waves me off as we stop outside the gym doors. I can see Olivia in there, surrounded by a bunch of boys that tower over her, even on a day she’s chosen to wear heels.
“Olivia’s personal life is her own. She’s perfectly entitled to have intimate relationships; it just so happens that hers is photographed. She won’t be punished for that, so long as everything stays legal and respectful.”
My head bobs as my throat tightens. “Legal and respectful; got it.” It sounds easy enough, but I’d say I’m maybe a wee bit feral when it comes to loving on Olivia. I’ll have to make a conscious effort to keep it PG when we’re out and about.
“The kids around here love her, and it’s no secret she hasn’t exactly had it easy, being relatively close in age to them.
Many of them see her as a friend, someone they can confide in.
I’d say she’s gotten a bit more flack since you two took your relationship public, but Miss Parker knows how to handle those kids. ”
I stifle a laugh. Handle them she does; see the kid she threatened to put in the ground for calling her a puck bunny. I won’t bring that up, though.
Instead, I say, “Thank you for walking me down here. Olivia always talks about how much she loves working for you.” Those words have never once left her mouth but the way Ray’s face lights up tells me I’ve done my due diligence as a boyfriend today.
I slip through the door, leaning against it before it can close as I watch her work. Sometimes I learn the most interesting things about her when she doesn’t know I’m watching.
The volleyball net is up, and Olivia’s got a ball glued to her hip, clipboard in her free hand, while a few of the boys fuck around with balls.
“All I’m saying is if you’re embarrassed, say so. Don’t worry about it, Miss Parker.” A blond kid bounces a volleyball three times before tossing it toward the basketball net. It bounces off the rim, much to my smug amusement. “If you’ve been talking yourself up all this time—”
“I have not been talking myself up,” Olivia replies with disinterest, setting her ball down and making some notes on her clipboard. “I don’t want to embarrass you . Wouldn’t want to fracture that male ego of yours. I know how sensitive they can be in the teenage years.”
“I’m eighteen. I’m a man.”
“Right. How could I forget?”
“You always say you can play, but you never show us,” another boy starts. “It kinda sounds like you’re making it up.”
“You are not goading me into playing with you.” Damn right they’re not. But also, Olivia is 1000 percent easily provoked, so…
“Look, if it’s because you’re short—”
Olivia smacks her pen down on the clipboard and fixes the boy who’s still talking with a look so dark I’m scared from all the way back here. “Seriously? The short comments? Again?”
Uh-oh.
She tears the ball from his grasp and starts stalking toward me, head down while she mutters to herself. “Stupid freaking short jokes. So freaking tired of them. I get it, my legs are tiny. Ha-ha.”
I bite back my laugh, slinking farther into the shadow of the doorway, watching my girl kick off her heels and sink three inches closer to the ground.
Olivia spins toward the net and bounces the ball while she speaks. “I’m only doing this once, so make sure you’re watching.”
I don’t think that’ll be a problem. These boys are riveted, as am I.
Olivia spins the ball in her hands before bouncing it. On the third bounce, she catches it, tosses it ridiculously high, takes three massive steps forward, leaps into the air, and…
Smashes that damn ball straight across the gym, sending it slamming off the opposite wall and rolling right back to her. She bends, catching it at her feet, and while the boys lose their fucking minds, says, “Hope you got that on camera to remind you why you don’t mess with me.”
I have to remind myself that I’m in a high school, so blatantly adjusting my junk is maybe not the best idea.
“Holy shit. That was unreal. Did you guys see that?” I walk toward them, gesturing at Olivia, registering the look of shock on her face. “That’s my freaking girlfriend, gentlemen!”
“Carter!” Olivia drops the ball, running over on her bare feet. “What are you doing here? You saw that?” She wraps her arms around me, stuffing her face into my chest. “Now you can tell everyone to stop with the short jokes.”
I feel bad telling her that’s unlikely, given the high she’s riding right now, so instead I tell her, “I’m so proud of my little pip-squeak.” I drop my lips to hers. “I had to see you one more time. I hope that’s okay.”
A slow, devious grin ignites across her face as she inclines her head in the direction of her students, every single one of them frozen in place, jaws dropped. “You just earned yourself a teaching spot in third period senior boys’ fitness.”
“That’s cool. I’m good at telling people what to do, and I get to spend a little more time with you before we’re separated for a hundred and twenty-seven hours. Not that I’m counting or anything.”
Olivia grips my bicep as she slips her feet back into her heels.
I press my lips to her ear. “You’re so sexy in this teacher outfit.”
“You saw me this morning in this exact outfit.”
“Yeah, but I was half-asleep, and you just rocked this entire gym. Now I wanna peel it off you but make you keep on the shoes.”
Before I can make good on that threat, I clap my hands together. “All right, gentlemen, welcome to gym time with Mr. Beckett.”
Nabbing Olivia’s clipboard up off the ground, I pretend to flip through the notes, clicking my tongue against the roof of my mouth.
“Ah, here we are. First order of business…which one of you called Miss Parker a puck bunny last Monday?”
* * *
“I’m bored. Wanna go back to the room and play Xbox?
” I’ve eaten two pounds of wings and a plate of nachos and crushed a pitcher with Adam.
I’ve been propositioned exactly zero times, because as soon as a woman takes a single step in my direction, I hit her with a scowl so fierce she dashes away.
I’m ready to go. The text message that rolls across my screen only solidifies that desire.
Ollie Girl: Just getting in the shower, call you in 15, Mr. Incredible.
“Come on.” Standing, I take out my wallet and throw down a couple bills. Adam and Emmett start to do the same, but Garrett, who’s got a petite blonde at his side wearing his jersey and whispering in his ear, looks absolutely horrified. “You can stay, of course, Gare-Bear.”
“But I…you… ugh .” His head falls backward with a groan, and he whispers what I assume is an apology in the girl’s ear before disentangling himself from her limbs.
The bar is a two-minute walk from the hotel, and by the time we reach the elevator, Garrett’s adjusting himself for the third time. “You being in a relationship is killing my sex life, you fucking turkey.”
“You have bigger problems if your sex life relies on me.”
“It doesn’t rely on you, I just…it…Fuck you.” He checks me into the wall when we step into the hallway. “You’re obsessed with your girlfriend.”
“Yes.” The look on his face tells me it wasn’t a question.
“All you wanna do is go back to the room and talk to her on the phone and tell her how much you miss her and how you can’t wait to kiss her and fuck her and cuddle her.”
“Also yes.” In that order. And then on repeat.
Emmett’s chuckling to himself as he kicks his shoes off inside the room. He tears open a bag of Ruffles All Dressed chips and flings himself across the couch, shaking his head.
“What are you laughing at, dickhole?” I shove my hand in the bag and steal a handful of chips. We had to bring these from Vancouver. They’re hard to find in the States and trust me when I tell you if you find them, you’ll be sorely disappointed. They’re not the same; it’s a fucking travesty.
“Do you remember the night before you met Liv?”
“No.” I’ve blocked out my life before her.
“You kicked some girl out of our room in near tears because she wanted to stay the night, and said you’d never settle down.”
“That’s not true. She didn’t just want to stay the night. She wanted to move to Vancouver and make my home her home.” Fucking Lauren. Or was it Lisa? I don’t know, but the night’s coming back to me, that’s for sure. “And I didn’t say I’d never settle down.”
“Right. You said the day somebody walked into your life and flipped your world upside down would be the day you’d settle down.”
“Mmm.” These chips are delicious.
“Look at you now.” It’s Adam this time, gesturing at the phone I’m checking for the third time. “Can’t tear your eyes off your phone when you’re forced to spend some time away from your girl.”
“It’s almost six full days,” I mumble.
He chuckles. “It’s fine.”
“It’s lame ,” Garrett corrects.
“We’re just saying…the day has obviously arrived.”