Chapter Twenty-One
Rip
“Rip! Rip, don’t you even think about…!”
I roll her over so I can spank her curvy little ass again. This time I rap both sides before rubbing the cheeks of her ass and rolling her onto her back.
“I was upset, okay!”
She cries out the admission and I settle over her so I can hear everything she has to say. “I was upset. I missed my friend…who decided to leave me so he could fuck people the whole weekend. I understand you want me around when it’s beneficial for you, but as soon as I’m not useful, as soon as you don’t need me, you walked away.”
Is that what she thinks happened?
“I understand. I cared and you…were just doing what you do -playing around, keeping things light, and being a generally lousy human being. It was my fault for caring too much. And I’m the one who should be sorry because I understood what you were, and I did it anyway.”
She turns sad eyes up to mine. “Guess I didn’t learn my lesson in high school after all.”
“Sweetheart.”
“Tandy, my name is Tandy. Not sweetheart or baby or any of the other cute little nicknames you give to everyone.”
She pushes against my chest. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go home, tell my mom and sister not to listen to any of the stupid rumors going around because they’re not true and…”
“Tandy, sweetheart, just…”
I try to explain, try to let her know she’s wrong but she doesn’t give me a chance.
“You accomplished more than Roger did since you managed to not only leave me slightly scarred but you also ruined my reputation. I’m sure no one will ask me to tutor them knowing I slept with one of my students -unless of course they’re slimy and then I wouldn’t want to be around them alone for any length of time. So, I’ll have to find a new way to make money too.”
“Are you done?”
I ask as she finishes and stares off into space.
“Oh, yeah! I’ve been done for a long time. About five days now.”
I take her chin in between my fingers and turn her head so she has no other option but to look at me.
“You just came on my fucking fingers and let me paint the back of you in my spunk. If Coach hadn’t showed up…I’d be eating your pussy in the shower, which is the only pussy I’ve played with or looked at, or done anything with in a really long time. Almost two years now. And never after I met you. And whether you believe me or not, I stayed in my hotel room sulking until the game. You can ask Aaron and Holmes if you want to, they can tell you I was locked in my room. Alone.”
I see the glimmer in her eyes, the spark of hope.
“I didn’t take you because I didn’t want to hear about how you fell in love with that guy, how he got to teach you how to make love, how you loved his cock. It would have made me lose my mind, sweetheart. I would have ended up killing the fucker. And that’s on me. I was wrong. But you ignored me first, you ran from me first.”
“Because I was afraid.”
Her answer has everything screeching to a halt.
“I…I thought I fucked everything up, okay. And I did. If I had never touched you…none of this would have happened.”
Her lower lip wobbles as she finally opens up for me, finally lets me see her. Tears run down her temples and she sounds so fucking miserable and lost I can’t stand it. It feels like someone put my heart in a vise and is slowly squeezing the life out of it.
“I’m sorry, baby. I’m so fucking sorry. It wasn’t you. It was me. All me.”
I try to wipe her tears away and apologize in between kisses. My hands cup her cheeks, and I can’t stop taking little tastes. “I guess we broke all the rules, didn’t we? Even the one about talking things out before we do something stupid. We need to make new rules. And that’s going to be the most important one. The one at the top of the list, number one.”
She looks at me with a naked trust in her eyes that I feel all the way down to my soul, “I was…I didn’t want you to tell me I repulsed you after I touched you so…I didn’t answer my phone. I didn’t want to be told you were disgusted by me or that I was stupid for not knowing what to do.”
“I’m going to kill that fucker, sweetheart.”
I say it very calmly but with dead certainty before I take her mouth and kiss the shit out of her.
She grabs my arms like she’s subconsciously trying to keep me anchored to her like she’s trying to pull me so close I won’t be able to ever leave her. And my little tutor is a fast learner. When she kisses me back, all I can think of is getting her naked.
“If Coach wasn’t downstairs,”
I growl and try to find some control. “Come on, baby. Let’s get this over so I can apologize properly.”
“Properly?”
“Oh, yeah. And baby,”
I wait for her to look at me fully, “I have only ever called you baby and sweetheart. Everyone else is just…not you.”
She looks hesitant but eventually gives me a nod of acknowledgment.
I help her sit up and right her clothes before giving her another kiss. Then I lead her back down the stairs and head towards the kitchen which is where I am almost certain we will find the coach. He’s sitting at the big wooden island eating a bowl of cereal when we walk in.
“You kids alright?”
“Yeah, now we are,”
I answer for the both of us because if something isn't right we’re going to discuss it until it is. We’re going to figure shit out together, from this point on. So, yeah, everything will be alright from now on.
“I just wanted to stop by and check in on you guys because of the rumors.”
“I’m not pregnant.”
“Even though people are saying you have morning sickness and puked on the lawn this morning?”
“I didn’t puke. I dry heaved, mainly because I didn’t have anything on my stomach. It wasn’t morning sickness. It was...”
“Disgust! Some fucker decided to try to put his hands on her because he knew she was mine.”
Coach looks her up and down with a frown on his old, grizzled face, “You’re okay, Miss Tandy?”
She nods and offers him a small smile. “Rip has excellent timing.”
I try my hardest not to puff out my chest and preen like a fucking peacock but I can tell by Coach’s face I fail. Damn right, I have excellent timing.
“Did you hit him?”
“No! I was a little too busy helping my girl. But, uh, I did threaten to beat the shit out of him.”
“Well, remember, don’t get caught. And take some of the boys with you. Just for help and alibis and stuff.”
Coach sets his bowl in the sink after rinsing it out. “Oh, and there is a morality clause in your contract, even if it’s a loose one.”
“I remember signing it, Coach. But I also remember there being nothing in there saying I couldn’t date or marry either.”
Tandy gasps beside me.
It’s time we do some of that talking we should have been doing days ago. “If you’ll excuse me, Coach, I have some apologizing to do.”
“And that’s my cue to go. See you two soon, I’m sure.”
Once we walk Coach to the door and I flip the lock into place and set the alarm, I can finally breathe again. I have Tandy and she’s not going anywhere until we both admit what we feel to one another and agree that she’s mine. And I’m hers!