ROMANCE: SPORTS ROMANCE: Tight End (Bad Boy Football Romance) (New Adult Alpha Male Sports Romance) (51 page)

Chapter 4

Nate woke her up the next morning and told her that she could go. Farrah was relieved and thanked him. She was pissed that she was held against her will, but he was releasing her, so that was better than many of the scenarios she had considered earlier.

“Thank you Nate. I won’t say a word and you will never see me again.”

“Oh we will see each other again. Soon Farrah.”

As he walked away, he stopped and moved back to her. Nate wanted to kiss her and though it was the wrong time, he had waited long enough. She was surprised, but his lips were quickly moving against his. Farrah moaned softly into his mouth and pressed her body against him. He was not expecting that or the way her small surrender would make him feel. There was the need to take her on his bed, but something else. He enjoyed her reaction to his touch, like he was the first.

Nate was the one that pulled away, her eyes still closed and his hands on her shoulders to steady her. Farrah was surprised at her own actions and the slight blush that creeped over her face made his body tense. She was too old, at least early twenties, to be as innocent as she looked in that moment. He just didn’t realize that her shock was the reaction she felt in kissing him, not the way she had clung to him for a moment for more. In her mind, that was understandable. No one would want to deny themselves a touch that felt so good. It was impossible to and she was tempted to go to her tiptoes and kiss him again. She had forgotten what she was there for.

“Soon Farrah.” Nate had a feeling that it was not going to be soon enough as he watched her leave.

Farrah didn’t look back. Instead she was lead out by the skinny guy Boris and pushed into the cab of a different truck. The one from the night before was gone and she was told to put the black cloth cover they had used on her before on her head. Her first reaction was to refuse, but she was still under the hope that they were actually letting her go like she was told. She didn’t know why, but she took Nate at his word.

She was taken back to her dorm, the cloth pulled off her eyes in front of the dorm room like nothing had ever happened. Letting her out, the two men spun off and she took in the plates, trying to remember the six digits for later use. She had a few phone calls to make, but she stopped herself for just a few minutes. Farrah needed a second to breathe and she touched her lips softly. It was going to be hard for her to forget that kiss, no matter how brief it was. It was a complication and she tried to push it from her mind.

Making her calls, she felt a little better about what had happened. Farrah wondered in the back of her mind when she would see Nate again. She knew that he would be watching her and the anticipation of it kept her wondering. Checking the time, Farrah realized she was going to be late for class. She didn’t have her car, so she had to race over to the other side of campus on foot.

Out of breath, she sat back down next to Matt. “Where have you been?”

She shook her head, not able to talk. The teacher was already giving them a dirty look, her especially for being late to class again. “It’s a long story.”

Matt looked at her and she just kind of shrugged like there was nothing to say. Farrah couldn’t tell him, he would just get involved and become another complication. They had been friends for so long that there were times that it seemed like they didn’t know each other anymore. In moments like that one, it was just as well that he didn’t know the truth. She didn’t want him to be suspicious, but after a few more questions, Farrah understood that he was just worried about if she had hooked up with someone else of not. The fact that he had a blinding love for her, made keeping secrets from him that much easier.

“So tell me the long story.”

“After class Matt, I am already getting eye-balled from the teacher.”

He seemed happy with that answer. Sure that she would explain it all, never lying to him. It was not close to true. She didn’t lie to him, but omission was used more and more as things changed. Farrah just had too many secrets and keeping Matt out of it was one of the many changes that had occurred since she took her new job.

***

Class ended too quickly for Farrah’s liking. She had tried to think of what to say to him, but she blurted out a different cause in the end when the questions started again. “So where were you? You were there and then you were gone. I tried to call and I couldn’t get a hold of you. I even went to your dorm room and you weren’t there. Candace said that you had not been home all night.”

He sounded needy and the lengths that he had went to find her was making her uneasy. She had sent him away in a cab plastered. Matt should have gone home and went to bed. Farrah wondered what he was trying to get from her when he was looking so hard for her. It made her look at him a little differently. Things had gone too far in that respect.

“If you went to my room, you would have seen my phone on the desk. That was why I wasn’t answering my phone, I forgot it yesterday.”

“Yes, but where were you all night?”

“How do you know I was gone all night Matt?”

Matt blushed and looked away. The creepy feeling was back and in full force and it made her say something that she knew would make him finally back off. “I was with a guy. I went home with one last night. That’s where I was if you must know.”

It just came out. He had hounded her for years, wanting to be her first. Farrah thought that if it was off the table, she was with another man he would stop with the insistence. Instead, she could see that she had misjudged his reaction. He was angry, very angry and there was a look in his eyes that she hadn’t seen before. Farrah regretted saying anything. Why had she thought it would help?

“Went home with one? So you just left with some random guy?”

His look of disgust pissed her off. It was none of his business where she was. The friendship that she thought would last forever was quickly unraveling. If he knew everything, it was pretty clear that he would never forgive her.

“It’s not like that Matt. Why are you acting like some jealous boyfriend? We don’t go out, we haven’t went out. It’s not like that.”

She wasn’t helping anything. They had stopped walking and were stopped in middle of the hallway. He looked hurt and Farrah started to feel bad. Their friendship went back too far to end it like that, but at the same time, he had to realize that it just wasn’t going to happen between the two of them. It shouldn’t and she just wasn’t into him like that. Farrah knew him too well and knew that he wasn’t the one for her.

“Yeah but you have been stringing me along for years. Then we start school and you get even more distant. Now this?”

Farrah wanted him to leave, but she didn’t want to upset him any worse than he already was. There was something in his eyes, betrayal that cut deep. “I’m sorry Matt. You know I love you, just not in that way.”

He didn’t want to hear it and started to walk off. Matt turned around to say something, his blue eyes filled with pain, but then he just stopped and walked faster away from her. He had always been emotional, the very opposite of her and though she felt guilt she did not have the same reaction as he had, there was something else present. It may have been ugly, but it looked like Matt finally understood it wasn’t happening.

Cursing to herself, she started to walk back to her dorm. The conversation could have gone better. She still had to go get her car and now she was going to have to walk. Farrah had planned to ask Matt to take her, but now he was turning into a girl and she was stuck. It felt eerily familiar to walk back down the same path that had caused her so much grief the day before. When a car pulled up beside her, the dark window didn’t have to go down. She knew exactly who it was.

When it did go down, she stopped and turned at Nate’s deep voice. “You need a ride?”

The door opened and the question was once again not really a question. It was more a suggestion before it became a command. She was starting to realize how he worked and even though she liked the simplicity of it, Nate was kind of scary at the same time. Farrah didn’t want to upset him.

“Thank you.” She slid in and shut the door behind her. He stayed midways in the seat so that their thighs had to touch when she sat down. His eyes went to her lips and she nervous bit the bottom left corner as she looked over at him. “Fancy seeing you in the neighborhood.”

“I told you I was going to keep an eye on you. Where are you going?”

“To get my car so I don’t have to walk like I am twelve.”

He chuckled and sat back. His shirt was short sleeved and she could see tattoos all the way up his arms, covering every inch of him. It was new information and her eyes studied the inked pictures that bent together into one solid artwork. “Well this will get you there faster. So why were you fighting with that man in school? It was pretty public, don’t you think?”

The car started to move and she looked ahead to the man driving. He did not look familiar and she didn’t even want to see his face. “Where are we going?”

“To your car. You are good at changing the subject.”

She was trying to, not wanting to get into the conversation she just had with Matt with Nate. It was embarrassing just to think about it and she could feel heat spreading over her light skin. “He was mad at me for taking off last night from the bar.”

“Is he your boyfriend?”

“No, that is Matt. I told you about him last night.”

“He is into you.”

Farrah looked away uncomfortably. She was sick of people acting like it was her fault that he liked her. She had done nothing to push that. “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I am into him. He got upset because he thinks I left with some guy to his house.”

Nate nodded his head. It made sense, but there was still something about her that made him suspicious. She was just too poised all of the time. The car stopped in front of the bar and she opened the door to get out. “Come see me tonight. I will have Randall pick you up.”

She nodded her head as she shut the door and the dark town car moved away from the curb. Who was this guy and why did she honestly wish more than anything that he had kissed her again? The whole ride she had been quaking inside and not one kiss to show for it.

Chapter 5

“So what do you have?”

“I have a headache for one. Why can’t you come at a decent time?”

Carl looked at her and she sat up in her bed. It was part of the job, late night visits in her pajamas. She wasn’t wearing much, letting her bare legs come out from underneath the blanket for her to get up. Why was he always the one they sent?

“So do we have time for coffee or what?”

He nodded and stood up, moving to the small coffee pot that was presently perched on top of a bunch of textbooks. “You know these late night talks kill my sleep schedule. I fell asleep in class the other day.”

“We will change your grades if we have to. This is more important than environmental science.”

She had forgotten that they hear everything. He lifted her shirt up to change the battery in the device attached to her bra. That was why she didn’t like Carl, so abrasive. He liked to shock her and the first time he had done it, she had accidental elbowed him over it. She still swore that it was just a reaction. Now she had learned to deal with his forced touches. It didn’t turn her on, but he was getting louder behind her. His crotch pushed against her ass and she moved away. “Thanks Carl. I think that is good.”

He gave her a look and pulled away, moving back to give her some space. He was one of the men that had to listen to her undercover and hear what went on. It wasn’t hard to figure out that she was naïve, never being with a man and it was the excuse Carl gave himself for wanting her so bad. He knew that he wasn’t supposed to, but if there was ever a chance, he would take it.

“You sound like you had the upper hand for a while there, but you seemed to get sidetracked.”

Farrah wasn’t sure what he was talking about, but her mind went immediately to the kiss. It had devastated her senses, though she would never be able to speak the truth out loud. If he kissed her again and they were privy to the sounds, she had a feeling she was never going to be able to look her boss in the eye again. It was rule number one, but Farrah was starting to break it. She cared about the perp and it had only been a couple of days. Nate was someone that she could see herself hanging out with. He was so calm and even though he was powerful, he held it all in.

There was the truth of who Nate was that made her having any feelings for him worse. Farrah was undercover to take him down. He was the drug boss in the surrounding area, most of the state being supplied by him. The police had known that he was the one behind it, but no one would roll over on him and eventually they figured the only way in was to send someone in to infiltrate. Having more experience with cops than most, he was ex-military and that meant he could spot a mole a mile away.

What he wasn’t expecting was for the ATF to use his weakness of young women against him. They had picked Farrah up after she enrolled in college and took a few placement tests. She scored high and since she was majoring in criminal justice, they figured she was perfect for the job. Now she was living a double life and it was moments like right then, that made it all seem even stranger.

“What do you mean? The objective is clear. Why do you want a young blonde woman that you know he will be attracted to, if you didn’t want him to go for it?”

“You’re right. I am just asking if you are okay with everything. Nate must be scaring you because you sounded so innocent.”

Farrah nodded that she was. It was bad enough that she had been so needy. It was another thing all together to have it thrown in her face by Carl. “I was under the impression I was to pretend to be innocent. Nate likes them young and inexperienced.”

“It didn’t seem like an act.”

She was getting irritated with his extra attention. Farrah didn’t want it and she sometimes wondered why all men seemed to think with their manhood, leaving not enough blood for their brains. Farrah was trying to be nice about it, making sure to stay professional, but it was hard with Carl. He was so sneaky that if she called him out on it, he would just say it was all a misunderstanding and then she would look like she was just being overly sensitive.

“You know how these things are. Nothing is ever how it seems. But I guess that means that I am doing good in the job, if you can’t tell the difference.” She always worried that they will see right through her. It hadn’t happened yet though. Farrah was learning that men just wanted to hear what they wanted to hear. And if that didn’t work, a little leg went a long way.

“Just be careful with him Farrah. He may have sweet words, but he has been known to be violent.”

“I’ve read the file. Nate is different than I thought he would be. I was expecting a man that was rude, but he was quite nice, considerate.”

“It’s all an act. You know that. You have seen what he can do.”

Farrah nodded her head. She had gone over his file more times than she cared to count. She knew that he had been wanted and then released over five times for murder. There was never a way to trace things back to him. It was done as a vendetta against a rival drug lord that had killed his sister. Nate was not as open and shut as the rest of her colleagues liked to think he was. After meeting him and talking to him a couple of times, Farrah was starting to realize that there is more to him than what even she had considered. He had a sense of honor about him that was unusually in criminals.

“I know Carl. You seem to forget that I am the one that has a date with the biggest drug dealer in Indiana. I am well aware of the situation it puts me in. Just let me do my job.”

“Well Captain wants you to get closer.”

“There isn’t much closer I can get. What do you want me to do, marry him?”

Carl looked uncomfortable for a minute, unable to meet her eyes. That bothered her more than anything else. What was so bad that he couldn’t even meet my gaze?

“Something along those lines. We need to get more information about his suppliers and how it is getting distributed. Finding the drop spot was good, but even if we watch that place, Nate won’t use it again. He is too smart. You are going to have to give him something, to let him know that you are committed. Don’t forget what happened to the last guy we sent in there.”

She got quiet her mind going to the fallen officer. That was why they had gone with a female. Farrah had known that sex appeal was key, but she had not imagined that they would ask her to actually go through with something like that. Especially considering that she really was as innocent as Nate thought she was. Farrah was not ready to give that up for a job, but she certainly wasn’t going to discuss it with Carl. She needed to get a hold of the Captain.

“That wasn’t part of the deal Carl. I need to talk to Mickey about that.”

“You’re in the big leagues now Farrah. They got intel that there is going to be a huge shipment coming in and we need you there. Everything you find out will be imperative if we are going to take him down.”

Farrah shook her head, but her eyes did not hold the confidence her face was trying to muster. She didn’t want to take him down all of a sudden.

“I will do what is necessary Sir.”

That was all he wanted to hear so that was all that she told him. One way or another, she would do what was needed to be done.