CHAPTER 7 Maverick Jennings
On Top of You
“The bottom line is that your recovery is going well, but you’re not quite there yet,” Dr. Baker says.
“I can’t clear you for full practice, but I can clear you for position drills and conditioning starting Wednesday.
No pads yet. You can begin light cardio at home, and we’ll reassess as we go.
Just listen to your body and immediately stop if anything feels off. ”
“Thank you, Doctor.” The words are mumbled. It sucks that I’m not clear yet, but at least I can start getting back to work. I guess that’s something to be thankful for at a time when it feels like the hits just keep coming.
She’s got a lot of nerve trying to get into my head with that line of questioning, but it’s none of her goddamn business why I don’t do relationships anymore.
It’s nobody’s business.
I walk out of the exam room, and she’s right on my tail.
I don’t like it.
I don’t want someone following me around for the next year. I didn’t ask for this nonsense. “Can you just leave me the fuck alone?” I ask.
She shakes her head, those large brown eyes moving to mine as those full lips settle into a smirk. “No can do. I’m supposed to stay on top of you for the next year.”
I raise my brow at her. Staying on top of me and getting revenge on Dex by fucking his sister wouldn’t be the worst way to go down in flames.
I smirk back at her. “On top of me, huh?”
Her cheeks flush, and she sputters a little. “Oh, I, uh—that’s not what I meant.”
“I know what you meant,” I say coolly.
“But, hey, good news about getting back to light conditioning, right? Maybe you won’t be in such a bad mood once you can exercise again,” she suggests.
I shake my head, and I whip over in her direction. “It’s not a mood, and a workout isn’t going to change who I am at my core. The sooner you come to terms with that, the easier this will be for you.” Though I’m sure I’ll do my best to make it miserable for her regardless without even trying.
She doesn’t respond to that. Instead, she says, “I’ll get a schedule together for us that gives us time to touch base each day. Some days will be heavier than oth—”
“Fuck the schedule,” I mutter, interrupting her. “Just fix my image so you can move onto your next client.”
“It’s not that simple, Maverick,” she says. “I’m here for the next year whether you like it or not.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t.” I leave those as my parting words, and I storm out toward the navy blue Ford truck with silver stripes I had custom painted to match the colors in Dallas.
What a fucking waste.
All of this is. I don’t want to be here, I don’t want a babysitter, and I don’t want a fucking truck with the wrong goddamn colors.
I peel out of the parking lot, my tires screeching for good measure, and I head toward my condo.
I just moved in last month despite having been here in Vegas since May.
I was renting a place, and one of the players on my offensive line told me about this building that houses many of the players from the team.
They had a couple condos open—likely players who were traded from Vegas considering the timing—so I grabbed the first one that was available.
So far, I guess I like the amenities. There’s a doorman, a car that’ll take us anywhere at any time, and views that can’t be beat. There’s also a fitness center and a few restaurants nearby, though I haven’t had the chance to try any of that just yet.
I suppose it’s home for now, and as much as I wanted to get out last night, today, I just want to get back home, sleep off this hangover, and try to forget everything that happened this morning.
I pull up into the parking garage and into one of the two spaces assigned for my condo, and I head down to the lobby first to get my mail.
When the elevator doors open to the lobby, I see Everleigh standing there, chatting up the doorman.
“I leave the practice facility, and you follow me home?” I demand.
I thought I’d at least get an escape from her here at my home—that our interactions would be limited to practice.
I guess I didn’t realize that when she said she’d be on top of me, she literally meant twenty-four seven.
Fuck that.
Her jaw drops. “You live here?”
My brows push together in confusion, and the doorman pushes a set of keys across the counter toward her.
“I do.”
She picks up the keys, and she lets out a sigh. “I do now, too.” She smirks at me again, and I have the sudden image of pushing my cock between her lips to wipe that goddamn smirk off her face.
Fuck that. Fuck her. Fuck all of this.
There’s literally no escaping her.
She gets on the elevator while Milton, the doorman, checks for my mail, and once I have it in hand, I take the elevator up as well.
I’m on the seventeenth floor, and all I can do is hope that she’s on the second or third—far, far away from where I land. But I have a feeling I’m going to run into her. A lot. She’s going to be around. A lot.
And that’s why it’s even more important that I get that image out of my head of her sucking my cock as those big brown eyes lift to mine, a little bit of fear and innocence in them as my cock fills her mouth and lightly chokes her.
Jesus.
I push that thought out of my head even as my cock swells at the very thought of it, and the doors push open on my floor.
And there she stands, fumbling a bit with her keys as she seems to finally get the door unlocked.
I head toward my door without a word, and she turns with a smile to introduce herself to her new neighbor.
The second she sees me, the smile falls clean off her face.
“Oh, shit,” she whispers as she watches me slide the key into my lock to unlock the door that’s right next door to hers. “We’re neighbors?”
I smirk. “It would appear so. Keep to your place, and keep it down. I don’t want any interruptions to my daily routine.”
She rolls her eyes. “I could say the same to you.”
“Then do it.”
An annoyed snarl escapes her, and she finally opens her door, walks through it, and slams it behind her.
I can’t help the tiny lift that plays at the corners of my lips. It’s not quite a smile since my mouth seems to have forgotten how to do that, but it’s something.
I blow out a breath.
It’s something I don’t want. It’s a distraction I don’t need.
And now I won’t even be able to escape her at home.