Chapter 15 #2
I lightly run my fingers over his short chest hair.
“I think it stems from my mom,” I say. “I don’t know much about what happened between them.
I was far too young to know anything, but I do know she walked away.
I haven’t had any contact with her, and he never talks about her.
I think he was hurt and has held on to that hurt for years.
A part of me thinks because I’m a product of her, he feels apprehensive about me and what I’m going to do with my life.
Maybe he doesn’t trust me not to leave him.
I really don’t know. But it’s been hard living under his regime.
I’ve made the most of it and have found ways to connect with him, even if they’re small, but those moments are few and far between. ”
“Do you ever think about just not listening to him, not trying to appease him?”
“Pretty sure being in your bed right now is me not listening to him.”
Levi chuckles. “Yeah, I guess so. But do you ever want to stand up to him?”
“I’ve tried, but it just ends in a fight. It’s like nothing gets through to him.”
“Would you ever just . . . throw in the towel, give up on making anything of that relationship?” He slips his hand under the waistband of my shorts and soothingly strokes my hip. I love it.
I love this sense of possession.
“Maybe,” I say. “I guess it would depend. If I truly couldn’t get through to him, I probably would because I don’t think it’s fair for me to have a toxic and controlling relationship with my father rather than a loving one.
I don’t think it’s at that point yet. I think there’s hope, but it all depends. ”
“Is your career a deal breaker for you?” he asks.
“Yes,” I answer without even having to think about it.
“I don’t want to do something that I hate for a living.
How is that fair to me? And that’s what he doesn’t understand.
Sure, I went to school for business, but that’s because I was trying to make him happy.
Last year, I started realizing that I can’t please others for the benefit of their comfort and at the expense of my discomfort.
It was a tough conversation I had with my dad, and I know he didn’t take it well, hence the situation we’re in, but I’m hoping that maybe if I make something of myself, if I can prove to him that I can do this, he might be okay with it. ”
“I know you will, Wylie. If anything, I know that you’re determined. Learned that from the fucking torture you put me through these past few weeks.”
I chuckle. “It was a fun kind of torture.”
“For you, maybe. For me, I think my dick almost fell off.”
Laughing, I kiss his chest and then sit up on my elbow to look down at him. “What made you say yes to helping him out?”
His hand smooths over my ass now as he says, “Didn’t have much of a choice. Hate to admit it, but my dick has gotten me into some trouble in the past, and Coach Wood has helped me out of some potentially sticky situations. He’s held that over my head.”
“Ahh, I see. So it’s not your typical nature to play around with assistants and make them do crazy things?”
“No,” he says emphatically. “Christ, I didn’t even want an assistant.
I was fine with how I was handling things on my own.
And it’s not like I’m a big-ticket player like Taters, or Hornsby, or even OC now.
I’ve skirted under the spotlight and done my own thing.
But I didn’t have a choice with your dad. ”
I draw a circle on his chest and say, “I can still see the look of shock on your face when I walked through the door of my dad’s office. It took everything in me not to laugh.”
“Yeah, it was a mixture of shock and relief since I’d been looking for you for God knows how long.
I even had the hotel give me video of us that night at the bar to help me find you.
Looks like my private investigator was a fucking moron, given the girl I was looking for was stealing my bologna this whole time. ”
I chuckle. “Yeah, he didn’t look all too well.”
“That night at the bar.” He wets his lips. “I knew the moment I started talking to you that you’d make a lasting impression. I was planning on one night, but after five minutes with you, I was prepared to ask for your number.”
“Are you just saying that?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “No, Wylie. I wouldn’t just say something like that.”
I smile down at him and run my finger over his nipple, which makes him bite down on his lip.
“There was this one picture I found of you with your shirt off in the locker room. Your hair was wet, and you were looking off, a scowl in your brow. It was one of the sexiest pictures I’d ever seen.
I can’t tell you the number of times I got off to it. ”
His brow rises. “Really?”
I nod. “Yup. I had a big crush, Levi.”
“Had . . . or have?”
I smirk. “Have.”
“Good.” He cups my ass and says, “And whose idea was it to torture me with not wearing a goddamn bra?”
“That was a combination of me and Sandie. She’s my best friend. She’s been along for this entire ride, and I, uh, I kind of told her about us. I hope that’s okay.”
“That’s fine,” he says as his finger drags along my crack, sparking an ember of heat inside me. So I drag my fingers down to his stomach where I play with the divots of his abs. “You need to be able to have that open relationship. So she helped you make me weep at night?”
“You wept?”
“Wylie,” he says, looking dead serious. “You’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever met. You check all the goddamn boxes, every single one of them. And you were walking around my apartment in a threadbare shirt with no bra. Yes, I fucking wept myself to sleep.”
I laugh and pat his stomach. “You poor man. And yes, she aided in making you weep. It wasn’t until after we found the email, though.”
“What email?” he asks, looking confused.
“It was in the Vermont book,” I say. “It was the first email I’m assuming my dad sent you because they were the first tasks you made me do.”
“Oh shit,” he says. “Fuck, that’s right. You showed up when I was reading over the email I’d printed, and I just stuck it in the closest thing I could find. So from that email, you knew what was going on and decided to torture me?”
I nod. “Yup. Wanted to teach you a lesson and my father one as well. Then there was one night, after I walked in on you and Patty Ford. . .”
“A great but torturous night,” he says while running his hand over my ass. “I got to see you come for the first time, and it was so fucking perfect, but I didn’t get to be the one who did it.”
“Yeah, that was quite the night.” I smile softly, remembering it. “Well, after that, my dad called me, and we got in a fight. That made me change my perspective. I decided to stop messing around with you and instead focus on the job and my art. But then something in you switched.”
He slowly nods. “Yeah, uh, I was actually chatting with some of the girls and asking for their advice. They suggested that you knew about the deal I had with your dad, so I turned the tables on you.”
“They seem smart. Who are they?”
“Ollie, Penny, Blakely, and Winnie. So Silas’s, Eli’s, Halsey’s, and Pacey’s girls.
I went to them because, frankly, my teammates are idiots when it comes to relationships.
I figured they were the better option. I’ll admit, we had some ups and downs, but they were helpful.
I haven’t told them about this yet. They’ll freak out. ”
“Really?” I ask. “Tell them.”
“Right now?” he asks.
“Yes, I want to see their reactions.”
“Okay.” He reaches for his phone, and I lie back down on his chest, moving my hand to the bottom of his stomach near the waistband of his briefs.
I watch him pull up a text thread, and he starts typing.
Levi: ALERT. ALERT! Update.
He presses send and then leaves it at that.
“That’s how you’re going to open a text message?” I ask.
“They like the dramatics,” he says just as his phone starts buzzing. Together, we read the texts.
Blakely: Oh God, what now?
Penny: I don’t think I can handle any more alerts from you.
Ollie: Did you choke her, and it didn’t go over well?
I snort at that one.
Winnie: Please tell me you didn’t slip and accidentally penetrate her. Was she a willing participant?
“Oh my God,” I say on a laugh. “Are they always like this?”
“Always,” he says as he texts back.
Levi: I took her to a club, watched her feel up another woman, and then she told me not to fuck the woman she was feeling up, and then bam, my dick was inside her.
“Jesus, Levi,” I say.
“What? It’s a good summary,” he says.
“It’s confusing.”
“How so?”
His phone buzzes.
Penny: Wait, what kind of club?
Ollie: That’s what you’re asking? What kind of club? I want to know where his dick went. Did you put it in the girl who was felt up, or the girl you’ve cried over at night?
I let out a roar of a laugh as Levi’s chest rumbles with mirth as well.
Winnie: Please don’t let it be the felt-up girl. This will be a huge setback.
Blakely: I will be so sick if it’s the felt-up girl.
“Told you it would be confusing,” I say.
“It’s all part of keeping them begging for more information,” he says in a maniacal way as he texts them back.
Levi: **Drum Roll** My dick was inside Wylie. I made her scream my name, then I came all over her ass.
“Oh my God, Levi.” I swat at his chest playfully. “I can’t believe you said that.”
“They’ll love it. Just watch.”
Ollie: Um, can I get exact positioning? And were you in public?
Blakely: Hold on, you came on her ass?
Winnie: Was it a lot of cum?
Penny: Uh, hello, I think we’re forgetting one major thing—he fucked Wylie.
Ollie: That’s right, what does this mean?
Blakely: Was she happy about the fucking?
Winnie: Did you make her cross it off a to-do list? Fuck boss, check!
Levi glances down at me. “Did you enjoy the fucking, babe?”
I slide my hand under his briefs and drag my fingers over his length. “Loved it.”
He grumbles under his breath and grows hard in my hand.