CHAPTER 37 Dex Bradley
Drifting
I hate this place.
It feels like everything I’ve worked so hard for is slowly drifting away from me because of this stupid VIP lounge, and I don’t know how to pull it all back in.
Ainsley has been standoffish since I admitted half the truth about the lounges to her, and I think she can sense I’m leaving something out.
But I can’t exactly tell her about the fact that in another couple of weeks, my dad is opening an underground, illegal operation where we’re going to be raking in the cash.
It’s dangerous for her to know that. It’s dangerous for me to know that, too, and truthfully, I’m angry with my father for putting me in this position. I went my entire life not knowing about his illegal activities. Why did he have to tell me now?
Oh, right. Because now he can benefit from my help.
I hate it.
It feels like a huge betrayal only to be used by a person who should never do that to his children, and somehow, I have a feeling he’s going to involve us all by the time he’s done.
I wonder if he’s got Ford on something illegal in Tampa, though I think Ford would lean on the line of legalities.
He’s the traditionalist of this family, my opposite in most ways, and I think he’d have a moral issue with running something illegal.
It would appear I inherited my father’s moral compass since that’s not the part I have a problem with.
I’m trying my best to protect Ainsley and Jack, and even though I just want to walk away from the casinos, I can’t.
It’s not just the promise of a huge payday lurking around the corner, a promise big enough that it has the potential to set us up for life after I retire from football.
It’s for the entire Bradley family, and while my parents have done little to earn my respect or my loyalty, I do feel a sense of that loyalty for my brothers and sisters.
I’m paving the way for the future, and when I think of the future, I’m thinking of both Jack and Ainsley in there, too. What I don’t see in my future, though, are my father’s illegal operations.
But I also feel like I’ve hardly seen Ainsley lately, and I know one of my major flaws tends to be avoidance.
I avoid problems that I can’t throw money at.
It’s how I was raised, and it’s part of why I can’t get out of this deal with my father.
I tried. He wouldn’t let me, and now it feels like I have to choose between the only family and legacy I’ve ever known or the life I never wanted.
I never wanted it until I got a taste of it, and now it’s all I want.
But what if I pick that life—what if I choose to walk away from my own family—and it doesn’t work out with Ainsley?
It’s a heavy debate to carry the weight of, but since I’ve never done this relationship thing, I have no way of knowing.
And it’s not just that.
I keep thinking of abandonment. My parents abandoned us in favor of nannies.
Just like I’m doing to my own son.
Fuck. I feel like I’m handling everything the wrong way, and maybe Madden was right. I shouldn’t get involved with someone who’s caring for my child. I don’t know anyone else who would love Jack the way Ainsley does, and maybe it was a mistake to get involved with her.
Or maybe it’s everything I never knew I needed.
I run harder on my treadmill as if that’ll give me the answer.
It doesn’t.
I go harder at practice as if that’ll give me the answer.
It doesn’t.
I flatten a backup quarterback in a preseason game as if that’ll give me the answer.
It doesn’t.
No amount of pushing my body to its limits helps. Nothing gives me the rush I’m looking for.
Nothing makes me feel the way Ainsley does.
And that’s why on a Sunday after our final preseason game—one in which we emerge victorious—the second I walk in the front door, I finally say the words I’ve been holding onto for weeks. “We need to talk.”
“I was going to congratulate you on the win first,” she says.
I chuckle. “Thanks.”
“What do you want to talk about?” she asks. She stands from where she was seated on the couch, and I indicate she should sit.
I sit next to her. “It feels like we’re drifting, and I don’t want that for us.”
“I don’t either,” she admits.
“So how do we fix it?”
“I don’t know for sure, but open communication would probably be a good start.”
I press my lips together. Isn’t that always the sage advice successful couples give to make a relationship last? Open communication? “Right. So I’m communicating that I feel us drifting, and I don’t want to drift from you.”
“I figured it was just the start of the season.”
“That’s part of it.” I clear my throat, and I open my mouth to admit how it feels like everything is spinning away from me when she interrupts me.
“That and your father’s lounge. And it’s okay, Dex. I’m right here. For the next two years at least. Right?”
Right. The contract. Our sham of a marriage.
So maybe it’s time to give her some attention—to help her feel like this is less of a sham since it’s starting to feel more and more real to me.
“I hope it’s longer than that,” I say softly.
Her eyes dart to mine. “So do I.”
I lean over to press my lips to hers to seal in those words, but the heat between us burns too hot. My mouth opens, and so does hers, and suddenly I’m on top of her, humping her with our clothes still on.
She moans beneath me as she wraps her legs around me, and then she breaks the kiss to whisper, “I got on the pill last week.”
That’s my green light.
I pull her shirt over her head and start by giving some attention to her perfect, gorgeous tits.
I suck her nipples into my mouth until they form those sexy as fuck tight little peaks, and then I shift off her to get the rest of our clothes out of the way.
Once we’re both naked, I move to hover over her once again.
My eyes are on hers, and my voice is a low rasp when I ask, “Are you sure about this?” I reach between us and fist my cock, bumping the head against her clit.
She closes her eyes and leans her head back as she moans, “Oh yes, Dex. God, yes, I’m sure.”
I pump my cock against her clit a few more times, and I let go of my cock to slip a finger into her.
She’s sure.
She’s ready.
She’s wet as fuck.
I hiss out some incoherent appreciation of just how wet she is, and then I fist my cock again and move down to slide into her.
Her pussy clenches onto my bare cock as I move in and out of her, and it feels somehow sexier and more emotional with nothing between us at all. It’s intense as I open my eyes and look into hers, and a moment seems to pass between us that I’ve never had before.
I can’t say I’ve never fucked a woman without a condom before. Jack exists, so obviously that’s not true.
But I’ve never been in love with someone I’ve fucked before, and doing this very intimate deed with Ainsley Riggs pushes me to a place I’ve never been before. I’m no virgin, but she’s still managing to give me these thrilling new experiences.
It’s too good, from hearing her sexy moans to feeling the way her cunt greedily pulls me in, to tasting her lips and seeing her bite her lip as she leans her head back at the pleasure of it all.
I pump into her, and my body barely gives me any warning at all before I hit the edge. My balls tighten as my release plows into me, and I start to come inside her. It’s a long, shuddering, hot release that seems to go on forever, and as my cum fills her up, she’s pushed into her own climax.
Her pussy contracts around me as the sweet relief hits her, and I ride out the rest of my orgasm as she flies into hers.
I’m depleted, but I continue pounding into her anyway because I don’t want to be done.
I focus on the sensations as she comes around my cock, the only thought in my mind the fact that my cum now lives inside of her, that I’m the only man on the planet who has that designation.
And it leaves me feeling proud, a little emotional, and still incredibly horny as I realize the thrills I’ve been chasing my entire life have landed right here beneath me.