CHAPTER 38
GRAYDON
Graydon: Leaving the practice facility now. Will pick you up soon.
Maple: Already left. Hank is dropping me off at my place.
I clench my jaw and take a deep breath as I try not to get angry at Slutty Little Glasses still sticking his fucking sniveling body where it doesn’t belong.
Graydon: Be there shortly.
I pocket my phone, sling my bag over my shoulder, and head out of the locker room just as I come face-to-face with my father.
He’s leaning against the wall opposite the locker room entrance, wearing a pair of worn jeans, a gray Foghorns shirt, and a matching hat. He looks like a goddamn idiot trying to relive his glory days. Get a fucking life, go somewhere else, you piece of shit. Preferably far away from Mom and me.
Not sparing him any of my time, I start to turn away, but he pushes off the wall and grips me by the shoulder. “Graydon, a word.”
From his tone, I know I don’t have an option in the matter, so I let him direct me away from the locker room and toward my coach’s office.
Great.
Can’t wait to see what they have planned for me this time.
We enter Coach Keenan’s office, where he’s sitting at his desk. Gretchen is perched on a chair as well.
“Take a seat,” Dad says, pushing me down into a chair but having a hard time doing it, given that I’m bigger and stronger than him.
Wanting to get the hell out of here and to Maple as quickly as possible, I don’t put up a fight.
“Did you have a good night last night?” Coach Keenan asks, and immediately, the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention. “Because from the pictures I’ve seen, you had one hell of a night.”
Fuck.
My mind reels back to my room, where I fucked Maple on every surface. Were the curtains shut? I think they were. Pretty sure they were. It’s rare that I actually open them. But on the off chance, were they open?
Did OC say something? I don’t think he would, but he also is an idiot and could have said something without thinking.
“From the panicked expression on your face, I’m going to guess that you did,” Coach Keenan says as he turns his computer screen toward me and shows me a picture of Maple sitting on the tailgate of my truck, me standing between her legs, my hand obviously gripping her breast while we make out.
Shit.
But at least it’s not my bedroom.
“Gretchen went to visit Maple today at the zoo.” My eyes fall to Gretchen.
“What the fuck did you say to her?”
Is that why she went home with Hank? Gretchen better not have scared Maple away. There will be fucking consequences if she did.
“Your tone,” my father says.
I shoot a look at him and say, “This does not concern you. Why the fuck are you even here?”
“Because you’re my son, and even though you don’t believe it to be true, what you do in your everyday life affects me as well.”
“Right, forgot your reputation is far more important to you than any other real-life situation.”
“We’re getting off-topic.” Gretchen steps in, clearly not wanting to be part of another father-son fight.
“I spoke with Maple today about your relationship and how your moving from a PR relationship to a real one would have been information we needed to know. I don’t like waking up to surprises like this, Graydon. ”
“We’re kissing. It’s not that big of a deal.”
“Your hand placement is a big deal,” Dad says.
“Oh, fuck off. As if you’ve been innocent throughout your entire career. You paid millions to get rid of a sex tape you made with some whore on a road trip.”
Dad’s eyes narrow. “This is not about me.”
“Exactly, it’s about me and my private relationship with Maple.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Coach Keenan says. “The moment you signed to be in a PR relationship with the zookeeper is the moment you gave up all rights to keeping this private.”
Eyeing my coach, I ask, “Shouldn’t you be talking to your offensive coordinator and figuring out why it’s so difficult for your O-line to stay up on their goddamn feet for more than three seconds? Seems like that might be a more productive use of your time.”
“You’re about to cost yourself a starting position,” Coach Keenan says, throwing around an empty threat. There’s no way they’d start without me. I’m one of the reasons our opponents aren’t able to run the score up as our offense struggles to reach a first down.
“You know, I think I should just talk to Graydon alone,” Gretchen says.
“I would prefer to hear what he has to say and how he plans on handling this breakup.”
“Breakup?” I shout, looking at my dad, who had the audacity to even mention such a stupid thing. “Where the fuck did you come up with that?”
“Graydon, you can have your fun with her, but we all know where this is headed and it’s why we’re getting in front of the crisis beforehand, coming up with an action plan. Gretchen already secured a breakup relationship NDA with Maple today—”
“What?” I stand, my heart pounding. “What the hell did you have her sign?”
Did she say she would break up with me?
Panic ensues because I know Maple. I know that she would just give in to make things easier. And I’ll be damned if she just signed away her rights to be with me.
I slam my fist on the desk. “What the fuck did you make her sign?”
Gretchen calmly says, “Just a document that says she will not comment on your relationship when it inevitably falls apart.”
“Inevitably?” I ask.
“We have to cover our bases, Graydon. And you haven’t had a serious relationship since, well…since you’ve been in the public eye.”
“Did it ever occur to you it’s because I haven’t found the right person?
” I tug on my hair. “Jesus, fuck, what did you do? Just go to her work, corner her, and scare the shit out of her so she’d sign some bullshit NDA?
” My eyes fall on Gretchen. “I would expect that from them, but you, Gretchen? I expected a little more from you.”
I need to get the hell out of here and go see Maple.
Turning away from them, I head toward the door, but my dad steps in the way, blocking my exit.
“Move,” I say through clenched teeth.
“Graydon, it’s important to hear them out. You’ve made a lot of progress and have brought the team forward in popularity. We don’t want to see that all go to waste.”
A sneer on my face, I look my dad in the eyes and say, “Because that’s all that matters, right? The public perception? That’s all you’ve ever cared about. You never even thought about visiting Mom in her care facility because it didn’t fit the image you were trying to create for yourself.”
His eyes widen just as I push him to the side.
“Get the fuck out of my way.”
I open the door and take off, fury firing off my shoulders as I make my way down the hallway. Heels clack against the cement floor behind me, but I don’t bother to pause. I have one thing on my mind, and that’s getting to Maple and making sure everything is okay. Making sure she’s okay.
I can’t believe they—
“Graydon, wait,” Gretchen says, pulling on my shoulder.
I turn to face her, blistering her with the anger in my eyes. “What?” I shout.
And for the first time since I’ve met this woman, I actually see a hint of fear crossing her features before she adjusts and straightens. “This is all to protect you.”
“I don’t give a fuck about protecting myself. I care about protecting Maple. She didn’t ask for this, for any of this, and yet…”
“She did when she signed onto the PR relationship.”
“Out of force. Out of the hope of bringing awareness to an animal she loves. Her motives were selfless, yet the Foghorns keep asking so much of her. And now this, a fucking breakup NDA? Jesus Christ, Gretchen, you’re not even giving this relationship a chance to succeed before you’re calling it dead. ”
“We have to be prepared, Graydon.”
“If you want to be prepared, then figure out a way my girl can come to the games and be safe. Find her a seat up front with Scarlett, Hutton’s wife.
Get her a goddamn jersey of mine, treat her like a queen, and give her a positive experience that she can lock away about the Foghorns rather than making her sign some disgusting contract about us breaking up.
” I move close to Gretchen, and in a threatening tone, I add, “Because I can tell you right now, I have no intentions of breaking up with Maple. In fact, I see her as the endgame, so figure out how to deal with that and protect her. Not me. Got it?”
She swallows and then nods. “Of course.”
“Good.”
Then I take off and head to the parking lot.
I jog up the steps to Maple’s apartment, a nauseous feeling in my stomach as I grow closer and closer to her.
The entire drive over here, all I kept thinking about was what would happen if Gretchen scared her.
What if she put negative thoughts in her head?
What if Maple’s waiting in her apartment right now, trying to find the right words to end this?
End it when it just started.
When I reach her door, I give it a knock and then stick my hands in my pockets as I wait for her to open it.
It takes a few seconds, but when she does, my breath catches in my throat as I take in her fluffy pink robe, makeup-free face, and wet hair that is now braided.
“Hey,” I say, feeling awkward.
Then, to my surprise, she takes my hand in hers, tugs me into her apartment, and shuts the door. She stands on her toes, loops her arms around my neck, and pulls me down, crushing her mouth to mine.
The worries all fade away as I lift her by her ass, right into my arms, and walk her over to her couch, our mouths molding the entire time while I take a seat, situating her so she’s straddling my lap.
My hands slide along her legs, up to her hips, where I find that she’s not wearing anything under this robe, at least on her bottom half.
She moans into my mouth, the sound so sweet, so goddamn perfect that I almost get lost in it…almost.
I pull away and attempt to catch my breath before saying, “We need to talk.”
As if I just slapped her, she pulls back, fear replacing the lust in her eyes.
“Shit, that came out wrong,” I backtrack, trying to gather my wits. “Sorry, I just…I was expecting a different greeting, and you kind of short-circuited my brain for a second.”
“What kind of greeting were you expecting?” she asks.
I run my palm over the back of my neck as I say, “Honestly, I thought that maybe you came back here, to your place, because of the conversation you had with Gretchen. And had Hank drive you because you were upset.”
“Oh…no. Not to make things gross, but I got into a situation at the exhibit today. I’ll spare you the details, but I was in desperate need of a shower and wanted to take one before I saw you.
And I didn’t have Hank take me to your place because I don’t want him knowing where you live.
” Her hands run up my chest. “Did Gretchen tell you about the conversation we had?”
I nod. “She did. She cornered me with my dad and coach as well. She told me what she made you sign.” I shake my head. “I need you to know, I knew nothing about that and—”
She places her finger over my lips, silencing me. “I know what Gretchen talked to me about today has nothing to do with you and everything to do with what she’s paid to do.”
Relief starts pushing through me. “You sure? I don’t want you doubting this…doubting us. We just got started. I would be…fuck, beautiful, I would be gutted if you backed away because of something they said.”
She leans in close to my ear and whispers, “It’s going to take a lot more than some stupid NDA to break me.” Then her lips kiss along my jaw, to the spot below my ear, and then to my neck, where she slides down my body and between my legs, kneeling on the floor.
Her hands find the waistband of my jeans, but before she can undo them, I say, “I need to make sure you’re okay, Maple.”
“I’m okay.” She offers up that soft smile of hers.
“Promise? You’re not second-guessing anything?”
She shakes her head. “Of course not. It’s you and me, right? Any outside noise doesn’t matter.”
God, she’s so fucking perfect.
So strong.
Everything I need in life, wrapped up into this beautiful human.
“Right,” I answer, rubbing my thumb over her cheek. “You and me. As long as we’re communicating, then everything will be okay.”
She nods, her eyes darting to my pants, but I grip her chin, forcing her to look at me. “Communication, Maple.”
She nods again and then undoes my pants, pulling them down along with my boxer briefs, taking my shoes and socks off at the same time.
I reach behind my head and pull my shirt off as well while she drags her hands up my thighs, leading with her nails, scraping along my skin and turning me on faster than any other goddamn woman I’ve ever been with.
I lean my head back as her hand finds my length, and she starts pumping me.
Perfect.
She’s so perfect.
“Of course not. It’s you and me, right? Any outside noise doesn’t matter.”
Fuck, I hope that stays true. Because I know there will be a shit ton of outside noise.
I won’t deny that it stung when neither Coach, nor Gretchen, nor my dad—not that he surprised me—believed I was capable of having a lasting relationship. But I will prove them wrong.
Maple Baker is the best thing to ever happen to me.