Whiplash: A Sports Romance (16 page)

But Eliza and I are just having fun. She confirmed as much a few minutes ago. No strings attached. Just good, old-fashioned, casual sex.

When the coach told me to stay away from her, he could have meant not to
date
her. We’re not dating so we should be in the clear, right?

I slink back to my room and the temporary comfort the thought brings me disappears. The place still smells of her. That flower perfume lingers on the walls and my bedsheets. Her moans of pleasure and laughter still echo in my ears.

It could all come crashing down at any moment. The mere thought of that burns. Every ounce of victory and satisfaction in me is instantly displaced by nagging guilt and doubt but it doesn’t change a damn thing in the end.

I plop down onto my desk chair and twitch as something soft breaks my fall. I reach behind me and pull out that teddy bear from the arcade. It takes me back to that night and how cute she looked sitting in my car with it on her lap. It’s just a stupid stuffed animal but it makes me grin like a damn idiot every time I look at it.

I’d do it all again. I’d throw everything else away for a minute of her in my bed.

Does that make me an asshole?

Screw it. I’ll be an asshole then.

OCTOBER

Chapter 16

Eliza

“It’s over.”

I say it without blinking, without hesitation, and Junior stares back at me from the other side of his bed with a blank expression on his face.

“I don’t accept that,” he replies.

I try not to look down at his naked abs, the one distraction I don’t need right now. His bed sheet lies draped over his groin. I’m sure if he even sneezed just right it would fall down to expose his—

Focus, Eliza.

“I don’t care what you accept,” I whisper, forcing my eyes down to my shirt — or I should say
his
over-sized shirt that I’ve claimed as my own. “It’s over, we’re done. I can’t do this anymore.”

He sits up. “You’ve sung this song before, Nora. What makes this different than any other time you’ve run away from us in the last ten years?”

“It’s…” I clamp my jaw in frustration. “It’s the…
shit.
Line.”

Junior smirks and twists his wrist to flick the script open. “It’s the first time I’ve thought more with my head—”

“More with my head and not my heart!” I complete the line. “
Dammit.
Why can’t I remember that one?”

He tosses the script back down. “From the top again?”

I sigh with amused frustration. “You’re not even looking at the script.”

“I don’t need to anymore.”

“You have it memorized?”

“I guess.”

I kick his chest with my bare foot. “I can’t believe you know this scene better than I do…”

Junior cradles my foot in his hands, putting soft pressure against my arch. “Well, maybe if you didn’t end up with my cock in your mouth every time you came over to run lines, you’d know it by now.”

My jaw drops and he laughs. “
Wow
… you know what?” I take the opportunity to mess with him. “I think you’re right, Junior. Maybe we
shouldn’t
hook-up anymore.”

He drops my foot and points a finger at me.
“I didn’t say that,”
he argues. “I did not say that
at all
.”

“I see the light now, Junior…” I add more emotion to my voice. “Sex is a
bad
thing. It’s naughty and horrible for productivity.”

“But that’s the
fun
part…”

“It’s over,”
I say, taking it from the top.

He smiles and leans forward, letting the sheet gently slip off his naked groin. “I don’t accept that.”

“I don’t care what you accept…” I slide beneath him as he crawls up my body. “It’s over, we’re done. I can’t do this anymore.”

Junior shifts between my willing thighs. “You’ve sung this song before, Nora…” He crushes his lips against mine and I stretch towards his condom stash to grab one off the top. “What makes this different than any other time you’ve run away from us in the last ten years?”

“It’s the first time I’ve thought more with my head and not my heart,” I say, rolling the latex onto his stiff shaft. “This is the right thing for both of us, Danny. I know it.”

He adjusts my knees, pulling me closer to align us. “If this is right… then why does it feel so wrong?”

I moan as he pushes inside, stretching me out with every thick inch of him. “It feels wrong…” He rocks me with quick, firm thrusts and I twitch with pleasure. “It feels…
oh, fuck
, Junior, that feels good.”

He laughs. “That’s not your line.”

“I don’t care.” I raise my knees and he drapes them over his shoulders the way I like it. His tip presses against my most sensitive spot and my back arches off the mattress as I squirm on him.

Junior grins down at me. “Nora,” he continues, keeping hard, consistent thrusts, “I don’t give a good goddamn what your head thinks. All I care about is what that beautiful heart of yours feels.” He leans down, flashing his best, melodramatic eyes at me. “It feels the same as mine. I love you. I’ve always loved you since the day I saw you and I
refuse
to let you go.”

I laugh from the bottom of my gut. “You fucking show-off!”

He chuckles, breaking character. “I think I may have missed my calling with this whole
acting
thing.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t think you’re handsome enough to be an actor,” I tease.

He halts his thrust. “Oh, those are some fighting words, Eliza Pierce.”

“What are you gonna do about it?”

His eyes narrow, firing down at me with intense, playful revenge. “Okay, then—”

I laugh out loud as he takes hold of me and spins me around onto my stomach.

He’s back inside of me in seconds, entering me from behind as he pins me to the bed. I tremble, feeling the weight of his body against my back. He takes my hair in his fist and pulls my head up to expose my neck for his bites while pounding me hard and fast.

I grip the pillow beneath my head, moaning into it with each breath. His lips graze my ear and his warm breath tickles my spine.

“You going to take it back?” he teases, grinding me a little harder.

Fire burns inside, almost ready to explode. I open my mouth to speak, but nothing but pleasure falls from my tongue.

“Ellie…”
he chuckles.

He stops thrusting and I whine beneath him. “No, keep going—”

“Take it back and I’ll let you come…”

I grit my teeth in dissatisfaction. “You son-of-a—”

He twists my neck, guiding my face back to kiss me. “Take it back and I’ll make you come all over this cock.”

I whimper. “I take it back—”

“Take what back?”

“You’re handsome,”
I laugh. “Born for the stage.”

He slaps my ass. “Good girl.”

The pleasant pain charges up my lower back and I moan as he resumes his domination of me. He has me so close again within minutes and he groans with me as he races me to the edge.

“Ellie…
I want to own this tight, little body.” He wraps my hair tighter around his fist and I kindle at the deep growl of his voice. “Let me own you…”

I moan, fueled by his perfect, dirty mouth. He reaches for my hips and guides me to raise my ass, sending his cock in deeper and I gasp at the extra pleasure. “Right there…
don’t stop
.”

He bites my neck, etching a line into my skin with his teeth. “I’m not going to stop until you’re coming on my dick,” he teases into my ear, “and then I’m going to come all over your ass.”

“Yes!” I moan.

He reaches around me to cradle my clit between two fingers, rubbing and fucking me until I’m purring like a damn kitten in heat.

“You’re mine, Ellie,” he groans. I spasm with lust. “Tell me that no one else makes you feel like this.”

“No one—!” I gasp, barely able to speak.

Climax takes over, crashing around me like a fierce ocean wave and there’s nothing I can do but lie here and drown in it.

Junior kisses my neck as I come, chuckling softly in my ear as he does every time I submit to him.

I settle against the pillow and he pushes off of me to rip the condom off. I feel his bare tip against my ass, dripping and shaking as he strokes himself in a tight fist.

I crane my neck to watch the torture on his face as he ejaculates, enjoying the expressions that cross over him. Ropes of him spray against my skin and he marks both of my bare cheeks with his warmth.

He lets out a final grunt and drops his cock, letting it twitch against his thigh. “
Goddamn
, I love this beautiful ass…” he says, slapping me again with his open palm.

I chuckle. “It’s not
that
impressive.”

“Never tone down your strengths.”
He raises a finger at me.
“Even if you have to fake it.”

I cringe. “Quoting my dad probably isn’t the best thing to do after coming on my ass, Junior.”

“Shit, you’re right.
Sorry.
” He gives my cheek another tap before climbing off the bed and retreating into his bathroom for a rag to clean me up with.

I lie still, watching the sweat glisten on his skin as he moves across the room. “Did you mean what you said?”

He takes the warm, wet towel and glides it across my rear. “About what?”

“About owning me?”

“I say that because it’s what you like to hear,” he says. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed but every time I say it, you come within seconds. I certainly have.”

“But did you mean it?”

He folds up the towel and tosses it across the room, easily landing it in his laundry basket in the corner. His eyes trail up my body to mine but he quickly looks away. “I don’t know how to answer that.”

I shift onto my side. “Why not?”

“Ellie…” he hesitates.

“Answer the question, Junior.”

“Yes, of course. I meant it,” he spits. “But no one could ever own you, Ellie. That’s why I want to.”

I let the words sink in and my brow furrows.

Slipping casually in and out of Junior Morgan’s bed for the last few weeks probably hasn’t been the best idea. I’ve grown attached to him somewhat — but I never expected him to feel that same attachment to me.

“Look—” he says, overruling my chance to react. “Don’t read into that. What we’ve got going on right now is more than enough for me.”

I push the disappointment aside. “Is it?”

“Yeah. I like having fun with you. There’s no reason that should change.”

I nod, playing the part. “I agree.”

His eyes shift to his bedside clock and he sighs. “I gotta get to practice.”

“Hope I didn’t wear you out too much…” I grin.

“Eh…” He shrugs. “That ass is always worth it.”

“What are you doing later?”

“Later…” he says, snatching a fresh pair of underwear from his drawer. “I need to study for tomorrow’s geometry test.”

“Need me to help you?”

He laughs. “No amount of real studying will happen if I say yes to that.”

“Decent point.”

Junior steps into his pants and wanders over to the bed to lean over me. “But I’m sure you can change my mind with the right
incentive
…” He pecks my shoulder and travels upward, grazing his lips on my skin until he reaches my mouth.

I lay my finger over his chin, blocking him from kissing me. “No, you’re right. We should take a little break. You have a rough weekend coming up and you need to stay focused.”

His cheeks turn pale white.
“The Homecoming game…”
he murmurs.

“You guys are going to kick some serious ass,” I say, punching his arm. “Trust me.”

“This team
slaughtered
us last year…” he recalls. “I’m pretty sure we ended the game with
negative five points
— which you might think is impossible, but… we managed.”