Chapter 27
— Scout —
My phone chimed, throwing a notification over the endless reels I’d been scrolling since arriving at Remmy’s room. Correction: Remmy’s empty room.
At least her belongings were still here, so she hadn’t ghosted me entirely. But she hadn’t goddamn texted me back earlier this evening after I saw her pert ass striding out of the hotel, on a mission, no doubt, to find her girlfriends. And leaving my message unread, no less.
I tapped my thumb on the new message from Tito—one of our team’s outfielders. It was cryptic as fuck, making me grind my teeth a little harder.
Tito: Dude, did you know Remmy’s out tonight? Like OUT out?
I pushed out a frustrated breath as my thumbs worked.
Me: I figured as much since I’m sitting in her empty as fuck room like a needy dog.
Tito reacted to my message with the laughter emoji, and I watched the three little dots wave obnoxiously as he typed.
Tito: Dude, this is going to grind your gears then…
Waiting wasn’t a personal strength of mine, and my knee bounced impatiently for his photo to load.
It took a second to decipher what I was looking at through the red and black shadows. My knee stilled as I realized the sensual woman with her back arched and a curtain of long dark hair flowing down her back was my woman.
“Fucking hell,” I growled, fingers working overtime to message Tito back.
Me: She’s stripping???
If she was, I…
I didn’t know what I’d do. I got that she didn’t like being told what to do. That she was her own keeper and wouldn’t bend against her own free will. But this ? Bile rose up my chest to consider this was her way of punishing me for earlier. Punishing me for a rule I didn’t make but contractually couldn’t break.
I pressed my forefinger and thumb against my eyes, fighting familiar urges as they rose. They grew louder. Goading me. Daring me to do it.
Bolting from the couch, I rushed to the bathroom and gave in to the devil already clawing halfway up my throat.
When I returned to the couch, stomach void of its contents and mouth scrubbed clean with the complimentary toiletry kit, I had a message from Tito waiting for me.
Tito: Not stripping, just dancing… She’s good dude.
My jaw ground back and forth as I bit down on the wash of jealousy. As I debated my reply, his update chimed.
Tito: She’s done.
Scrubbing my hands vigorously over my head failed to erase the irritation. I wouldn’t let myself get asshole possessive over her—she was a grown-ass woman who had run her entire world before I arrived into it, and she’d continue to do so whether I was with her or not.
Me: Where are you?
Tito: Crimson strip club.
Tito: Fuck, I’m getting booted out. Bringing the girls.
That had my spine straightening while searching up the address for Crimson. Barely three blocks away. An easy distance to cover on foot.
Me: I’m heading your way.
I snatched up Remmy’s key card and flew from her room. My haste compelled me onto the street where I strode with purpose toward Tito and the girls’ location.
My stomach still churned in the background, unable to shake the residual burn looping beneath my sternum. I hated being pissed off that she’d gone out, but as soon as Tito and the three women came into view a way-off down the sidewalk, the knot in my chest eased. I’d been worried. Preposterous really, since Remmy would maim without reason or hesitation.
My pace slowed as they approached, not spotting me yet. Tito and Remmy held an animated conversation peppered with laughs and smiles, whereas the other two girls had their arms locked together and appeared to be holding each other up. God knows how—their legs were as unstable as a newborn foal.
I lined myself up with Remmy and slowed my pace until her focus shifted from Tito to me. It took a few seconds to register on her face, then a wild grin broke free.
“Scout!”
I barely had time to catch her as she launched into my arms, sending me stumbling back a couple of paces.
All the anger and irritation melted away simply from the pressure of her arms around my neck and her thighs squeezing my hips. I anchored her to my chest with one hand under her ass and another wrapped around her waist.
“Hiya, honey. You’ve proved your point.”
Remmy pulled away a fraction. “What point?”
I snickered. “That waiting alone in a hotel room fucking sucks.”
Surprise shot her dark eyebrows high. “Oh yeah, I forgot about that.”
Setting her on her feet, I lifted my chin at Tito, then said to Remmy, “I thought you were punishing me.”
Hers and the girls’ laughter filled the night air. “I was to begin with, but then it turned into an epic girls’ night. Until Tito got us kicked out of the strip club.”
“Why’d they kick you out?” I asked with a smirk.
Tito snickered. “’Coz I was using my phone in the club.”
Remmy’s eyes flashed as she put two and two together. “That’s how you knew I was here.” She whirled on my boy and slugged his arm. “You ratted me out, Tito.”
Another wash of rolling laughter bubbled from his mouth. Nothing fazed him. “Sorry, Remmy. Just looking out for my man’s girl.”
I looked at my teammate. “Thanks, dude.”
He shrugged. “No problem, brother.”
Pressing a hand to Remmy’s lower back, I lowered my mouth to her ear. “We’ll talk about it in private.”
“Sure,” she confirmed before groaning at Steph and Bren being nuisances on the sidewalk, shimmying into the path of passersby and demanding they dance with them. “I need to get these two home first,” Remmy drawled.
I pulled her tighter to my side. “I’ll walk you girls back to hotel.” Tito was still grinning when I turned his way. “What are your plans, Teets?”
“I’m rolling back to the hotel too.”
“Were you at the strippers alone?”
His grin became wry. “Yeah. Less chance of getting noticed if I ride solo. A group of us would stand out like dog’s balls.”
I nodded. He had a point. “Okay, ladies. It’s time to roll. Goddammit, blondie, leave the poor dude alone,” I laughed. Remmy’s blonde friend had some guy pushed up against a building.
Remmy groaned. “Oh my god, Bren! Steph, grab her, will you?”
Steph was too busy weaving stumbled zig-zagged circles on the sidewalk while laughing her tits off to be of any assistance. Tito, bless him, took matters into his own hands.
He plucked Bren off her feet as if she was a miniature figurine, then tucked her under his arm. “You’re walking me with, trouble,” he drawled.
The look on Bren’s face as she gazed up at him had me pressing a fist to my mouth and clearing my throat.
My hand gently pressed Remmy forward. “C’mon, honey. If we walk, they’ll follow. Tito’s got them handled.”
She looked back and laughed. “Has he though?”
“Probably not, but don’t make eye contact—it’ll make it worse,” I said through laughter after a glance over my shoulder.
Both girls were practically hanging off either side of Teet, clinging to his bent arms, and he pinballed from side to side as each one stumbled.
“You owe me, Gats,” he called, voice drawling with amusement.
My chuckle soon faded as my thoughts returned to Remmy. She wasn’t wasted like her friends, which made me question how much she’d had to drink. Surely it would have been a substantial amount to get her ass up on stage at a goddamn strip club.
She tucked close to my side, unaware of the nagging questions eating me up inside. I saved the inquisition until we’d settled Bren and Steph into their room and made a hasty getaway before it turned into a room party like they were hellbent on hosting.
Tito grinned and gave a two-fingered salute off his brow before heading for the elevator, and I hovered behind Remmy as she zipped her key card in and out of the digital lock with surprising coordination.
“Breathing much,” she drawled.
I stood a little straighter, giving her a fraction more room. “It’s literally essential to my existence, so yeah, I’m breathing.”
I prowled through the door after her, then firmly locked it. When I faced Remmy again, she watched me from the bed, sitting and unlacing the straps from around her ankles.
My arms crossed over my chest of their own accord, echoing the frown pulling my brows low. My glare was met with an eye roll, then a scoff.
“Get on with it then,” she sassed.
“What are you expecting?”
She waved her hands flippantly. “A lecture of some description, judging by your scowl.”
Pressing my lips together, I studied her for a short while, contemplating which way I’d take the conversation. For the entire time I deliberated, her steely stare didn’t waver in the slightest.
“How much have you had to drink, Remmy?”
Her brows shot high. “ That’s your first question?”
I dipped my head in confirmation, only to receive another eye roll.
“Countless non-alcoholics. Next question.”
It was my eyebrows’ turn to jump in surprise. “None?”
“Ya,” she snapped, leaving her mouth open and giving me a condescending look that rubbed me the wrong way.
“So, you weren’t drunk when you decided to strip tease an entire goddamn bar full of people?”
Remmy snapped to her feet, kicking her high heels aside. She came at me with fire in her green eyes until we were all but a foot apart. Her chin lifted a little to meet my gaze head-on.
“Not the slightest bit drunk. And I didn’t strip.”
My glare narrowed. “So, why’d you get up on stage?”
Anger hardened the edges of her eyes. “Because I wanted to, that’s why. I didn’t need your permission, Scout.”
“There are rules—”
“Fuck the rules!” she interrupted with heat lacing each word. A finger stabbed at my chest. “I came here to see you. I get that you’ve got after-game obligations—I don’t have a problem with that. The problem I have is being told to go sit in my room and wait for you like a good little girl.” She scoffed. “Instead of reducing myself to do just that, I went out with my girlfriends. I’m failing to see why you have a problem with that.”
Boiling irritation forced me a small step closer to her sparking defiance. My nostrils flared, belying my fraught effort to keep an even tone. “That’s not what I have a problem with, Remmy. It’s not texting me back so I know you haven’t passed out in your own vomit in the bathroom of some seedy-ass club.”
Another slice of defiance cut through her gaze. “It wasn’t seedy.”
I ran a hand through my hair. “Fuck me to tears, woman!”
“How much more do you want to talk about it?” she bit back.
My fingers met her waist, flexing with contained frustration. “Depends on how much you wanna fight.”
“I came here to fuck, Ace. Not fight.”
Refusal to back down set hard on her features. It had me baring my teeth and snarling, “Goddammit, Remmy! Take your dress off.”
“Say please.”
“No.”
“Ye—”
It only took a swift movement and an assertive tug to sever the thin ties crisscrossing her chest for the material to gape wide, leaving her exposed chest rising and falling rapidly.
“You bastard,” she hissed.
“I’ll buy you another,” I drawled, eyeing her pierced nipples.
“You won’t.”
Those two words spittin’ venom against my mouth pushed me to breaking point. Slamming my mouth onto hers, I kissed her hard and forcefully.
She pulled away, fighting for breath and glaring daggers. “You asshole!”
I shrugged. “Been called worse, darlin’. What else you g—”
Remmy’s hard shove sent me stumbling against the wall at my back. I collided with a loud thud that boomed in the after-midnight stillness.
A curse tumbled from my mouth as she came at me, then stole the rest of the expletives directly off my tongue with a punishing kiss that left bite marks on my lower lip.
My cock instantly went from alert to steeled. Forcing her mouth back to mine after she pulled away, I consumed her manic laugh while holding her hostage by the throat. With fire in her eyes, and her jaw working against my fingers, she met my voracity head on.
Fabric tore between us—the result of more of my handy work, sans the anger from Remmy this time. I flipped us. Caged her against the wall and pressed against her until I felt her lungs fighting to inflate under my chest.
Snapping the side of her underwear was effortless, and I slung her leg over my hip as she frantically worked my pants undone. They puddled at our feet alongside her outfit and panties, followed closely by my underwear.
The instant she took my steeled dick in her hands, I uttered a curse to the ceiling.
“Get in me, Ace.”
I chuckled, low and gritty. “Saddle up, baby.”
Lifting her up and bracing with my legs set wide, Remmy reached between us to guide the head of my dick into her.
“Fuck, I’m not covered.”
“I’m on contraceptive, but we can stop quickly if you want,” she breathed out, almost sounding pained.
I looked her square in the eye while inching into her.
Her eyes widened, and she wiggled her hips. “Oh my god, your dick piercing…”
Sweet, sweet relief came with the squeeze and warmth as I worked my way in and settled deep to the hilt with her ankles locked against my lower back.
“Oh my god, yes,” she whispered.
Remmy pulled my mouth back to hers with unbridled impatience. Hands on her ass, spreading her cheeks wide, I fucked her recklessly, ignoring the burn in my lungs. She cried out against my mouth until her body took over, sending her head crashing against the wall.
I lashed my tongue at the hinge of her jaw then across her chin. Cries of relentless pleasure fell from her open mouth, and she opened her hips wider for me. I thrust up, hard. Then again, and again, all while licking each gasp and curse directly from her mouth.
“Fuck, I can’t hold back much longer,” I growled against her face.
A shuddering exhale breezed against my ear. “I’m close but not there yet.”
Her breathy, sultry voice became my undoing, and as my body coiled, ready to blow my load, I uttered a hoarse promise. “I’ll make it up to you.”
Remmy cried out again and bit into her lower lip as I thrust harder. Faster. Until the roaring in my ears took over, and I became blind to the world during those barreling seconds of euphoria.
I barely gave myself time to catch my breath before clumsily setting Remmy’s feet on the floor, then falling to my knees.
“You’re not…” came her panted whisper from above.
I snickered darkly and grinned. “I am.”
Her legs widened the instant I ran two fingers through her slit, and another heady gasp left her mouth as I pushed inside her body.
So warm. Wet. Filled…
I worked my fingers in and out a few times before lapping her clit. The first touch sent a jolt through her body. Fingernails clawed at my scalp, and I welcomed the needy rock of her hips, demanding me to make her come.
As I licked and sucked at her engorged bundle of nerves, her pussy began to pulse around my fingers. My own cum trickled down my hand while the sounds of wet fucking filled the air.
With another moan, she ground harder against my face, riding me shamelessly as her orgasm took hold. I reached up, splaying a hand wide across the middle of her torso as her body buckled and spasmed, until finally, she released my hair from her death grip.
Her head relaxed against the wall with a luxurious sigh. “Fuck that was good. We need to fight more often.”
Remaining on my knees and cupping her pussy, I rested my head against her belly and kissed her smooth skin. “I don’t like fighting, but that was crazy hot.”
A soft snicker vibrated under my ear. “I thought you were going to drink your own cum.”
I chuckled. “I managed to avoid getting it on my tongue, but not on my hand. Look.” I lifted my hand. “My cum and your cream.”
Remmy smirked. “I dare you to lick it.”
Having fucked the carnal urges from my system for the time being, I rose to my feet, laughing, and shook my head. “There’s no way, honey. C’mon. It’s late, but come shower with me.”
Now that I’d reclaimed her, fatigue settled in my bones. Even though we both had late travel plans tomorrow, I needed to get my ass into bed with Remmy secured in my arms for as many hours as I had her.