Ballers with Benefits (Double Play Series Book 3)

by Nicole Rodrigues

  He walks over to me kissing my forehead and walks out of the room. I look over and my mama’s hands are still folded across her chest.

  “Alright what is it? I know that mama look. You know somethin’ that I don’t wanna tell you, so you’re just gonna grill me until I break. Let’s just have it out, I’m too tired for the games.”

  My mama laughs and she walks over to me wrapping me in a hug.

  “I’m sorry about Connor,” she whispers.

  “Yeah well, I’m happy it happened now rather than after we were married like Aunt Savannah.”

  “Well a little bit of advice,” my mama says, pulling me away from her, resting her hands on my shoulders. I arch an eyebrow and she continues. “Don’t let your daddy and Devin know you’re shackin’ up with Damon Johnson, they'll have a fit.”

  “Oh my God! Is nothin’ a damn secret anymore? I ain’t shackin’ up with Damon Mama! Even if I was, it is none of y’alls business!”

  “You know how those two get Bella, just be careful.”

  “Be careful, be careful, that’s all I’m hearin’. No one trusts me to make my own decisions without fuckin’ up?” I yell.

  “Hey, you may be a grown woman Bella June, but you don’t go and raise your voice to me and you damn well don’t cuss either.”

  “I'm sorry. I gotta get home. I’ll touch base with you tomorrow,” I grumble walking towards the door.

  “Hey, I love you Bella. I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Love you too Mama.”

  I walk briskly to my truck, opening the door furiously and slamming it shut. I turn the ignition and slam my hands on the steering wheel. I love my family, but they don’t know when to butt the hell out. If I want to have some fun with Damon I will, no matter what anyone says about it. If I get hurt, then that’s my own fault for coming back to something that I knew would.

  Everyone has to make their own mistakes, I hate that no one is letting me make mine. A new Bella was awoken last week, and I don’t intend on getting rid of her. The devil on my shoulder flicks the angel off.

  I’m in charge now.

  Chapter 8

  Damon

  “Don’t be fucking weird, okay?” I tell my brother as we walk up to the girl’s apartment building.

  “Dude, are you kidding me? I’m not weird. I’m gonna have her eating out of the palm of my hand.”

  “Sure,” I scoff.

  He has no clue what he is getting himself into.

  We press the buzzer and Bella’s voice comes on the voice box.

  “We’ll be down in a second,” she says quickly.

  Nico and I wait on the bottom of the stairs and couple of minutes later the door opens. I swallow my tongue into my throat because holy fuck, Bella is stunning.

  She has on skin tight red jeans with a painted on black shirt. Her cleavage is spilling out of the top and her toned arms are bare. She has on black heels and when she walks, I can see the red on the sole of her shoe. She looks way too gorgeous for the hole in the wall place we were planning on taking them to. Anything more popular though and the paparazzi would have a field day with this crew. Between me, my brother and Bella we wouldn’t be able to breathe, especially with the stories circulating about Brynn and me.

  “Ladies, you look gorgeous,” I say smiling up at them.

  Truthfully, I didn’t even know Lacey was standing next to her, my eyes were fixed on Bella. I did glance over to my brother though and his jaw was on the floor.

  “Hey,” he squeaks out. I hold back a laugh at the way his voice breaks. “I’m uh...”

  “Nicholas Johnson, I know. Let’s go, Hulk,” Lacey says grabbing his hand pulling him away from me and Bella.

  Bella laughs and shakes her head.

  “I hope you warned your brother about her.”

  “He can handle it...I think.”

  We make our way over to my truck and I open the front passenger door for Bella. I kept my Mustang in the garage tonight. I didn’t want to attract unnecessary attention.

  “So where are we headed?” Lacey asks from the backseat, poking her head up to the front.

  “We decided on Granger’s. It’s a little bit outside town but the crowd should be lowkey. You ladies okay with that?”

  “If it’s got booze and a dance floor, we’re good with it. We’re easy, right Bells,” Lacey says, sassiness lacing her words.

  Bella turns around eyeing Lacey and she laughs.

  “What about you Hulk, what’s your deal? Do you speak?” Lacey asks poking Nicholas’ bicep.

  “I...yes of course I speak,” Nicholas says quickly.

  I glance towards the back through my mirror and smile.

  “All talk,” I mutter.

  We drive the ten minutes to Granger’s outside of town and I park the car on the grass. It is a beat up bar from the outside, but the inside is all newly decorated.

  There are brand new booths, and the bar looks like it has a fresh new gloss. The normal stale beer smell you would expect from a bar is replaced with the smell of burnt wood, compliments of the fireplace along the opposite wall of the door. Bella inhales and smiles.

  “I love this smell,” she says.

  “Oh yeah? Burnt wood?” I laugh.

  “My mama, brother and I used to go campin’ every year. It was somethin’ we did every single summer up until we graduated high school and we always made campfires at night. This smell is like dejavu, we haven’t gone in a while, I kinda miss it.”

  “We could go camping,” I whisper in her ear.

  My hand goes to the small of her back and I guide her to the bar. She glances around nervously, probably for Lacey and my brother. They’re nowhere to be found and I feel her tense under my touch. I look around and see them huddled against a corner, Lacey’s arms wrapped around his waist, kissing his neck. I nod towards them and I see her blush.

  “She is unbelievable,” she whispers.

  “If it’s any consolation, a lot of women can’t resist my brother,” I say laughing.

  “Yeah well, I ain't surprised. She eats men for breakfast and she’s still hungry the rest of the day,” she says shaking her head.

  Knowing the two of them are accounted for, I can feel her relax a little bit. I slide a glass of wine over to her, red.

  “How do you know I drink red and not white?” she asks eyeing me.

  “I mayyy have done my research.”

  I clink our glasses together and smile against the neck of my beer.

  “Cheers angel.”

  Bella smirks and she takes a healthy sip from her glass.

  “What have you been up to the past week? Thinkin’ of me?” I smirk.

  “Busy workin’. Gettin’ the office handled, showin’ Normani the ropes. What about you? Don't y’all live in Florida? What are ya still doin’ in Louisiana?”

  “Damage control. The breakup made a big stink in the media, so I’ve been holing up at my apartment I rent near my older brother’s house. Perks of the offseason.”

  “Yeah, I saw that, I'm sorry about what they're sayin’.”

  Brynn's people got to the media first, which meant they painted me as the villain and her as the victim. Damon Johnson back to his playboy ways, poor Brynn Roberts, woman scorned. I'm sure her agent is eating up all this attention and her portfolio will be doubled by the end of the month.

  “It's fine, I'm not that guy and I know it. I may love women but I'm loyal to the end. When I played the field, they knew what they were getting.”

  I feel Bella’s gaze on me as I slowly sip my drink.

  “Did you love her?”

  I look over to her and she doesn't break eye contact, she stares straight through me, waiting for my answer.

  “No,” I say shaking my head. “She was convenient. I was on a downward slope with no way to stop except to crash or to hop off and grab onto something that will keep me from falling. I grabbed onto her. It worked for a little while but...it's whatever.”

/>   “Do you miss her?”

  “No. If I'm being honest, my ego is just bruised. I never expected to be on the other end of ‘the talk’. It fucking sucks but what can I do? I'm better off without her. What about you? Miss the douchebag?”

  “No,” she says without hesitation.

  I don't know why but hearing her say that makes me fucking happy.

  “I miss havin’ someone, but I don't miss him. I guess, like y'alls relationship, it was convenient. We dated in college and then we just stayed together. We invested a lot of time in each other I didn't think I could survive in this datin’ world. I mean clearly, I'm not doin’ a very good job,” she says laughing.

  “I think you're doing a great job, but I'm sure you can always do better,” I whisper.

  I trace a finger down her bare arm and she shivers.

  “We uh...you hungry? This place has amazin’ wings.”

  “Wing girl? Spicy or mild?”

  “I like it spicy big guy,” she winks.

  I laugh and motion to the bartender to bring us twenty wings and Bella grabs her wine, finishing it.

  “Two beers also please,” she says before the bartender can walk away. “Can’t drink red wine with wings,” she smirks.

  “I get to see that pretty little mouth wrapped around a beer bottle and those magical fingers covered in wing sauce? This sounds like the dream I had last night,” I whisper in her ear.

  “Play your cards right Johnson and that ain't the only thing my mouth will be wrapped around.”

  I suck in a breath and she smiles as I lean away from her, eyeing her.

  “How’d you two end up being roommates?” I ask motioning to the corner where Lacey and Nico are rounding second base.

  “Moved in together last year. I was still crashin’ at my parents place whenever I was in Louisiana and they were just...well makin’ up for lost time and I needed my own space,” she says shaking her head. “Lacey graduated and started workin’ for my aunt full time, so we decided to move out together and get a place.”

  “I’m sure you both have a blast living together,” I laugh.

  “Oh yeah. She’s got her moments though, we go at it sometimes but we’re like sisters. We’ve been that way ever since her dad started datin’ my aunt.”

  “It’s good to have someone like that in your life.”

  She nods and her hand goes to my hip. “So, how um...how’s your knee feelin’?”

  “Better today actually. I had this really hot woman working her magic on me and poof, knee is good as new.”

  “Oh yeah? Do tell,” Bella smirks.

  “Let’s see...she has dark hair, kind of shy, crazy green eyes...her name starts with an N I believe…”

  Bella sucks in a breath and hits my chest.

  “You better be teasin’ me, Johnson!”

  I laugh and rub my chest.

  “Easy angel, I’m banged up remember, you gotta be gentle with me.”

  I grab her hand and pull her closer to me, her body colliding with mine.

  “The only one working their magic on me is you, don't worry,” I whisper.

  She looks down at my lips and licks her own and I lunge at her, grabbing the back of her head to pull her closer to me. Our tongues tangle in a familiar dance and I feel her hand wrap around my neck, playing with my hair there. I meant to get a haircut, but her fingers running through it makes me think twice about that.

  “I haven’t stopped thinking about you angel. Every damn night I dream of you and wake up to a hard as a rock cock that I then have to take care of. Every fucking morning angel,” I growl in her ear.

  I feel her exhale on my neck and my dick twitches, itching to be buried inside her again.

  “Oh my God,” she breathes in my ear.

  “Wings and two beers. Enjoy,” says the bartender placing the plate of wings and beers in front of us interrupting our heated moment.

  “Th...thank you,” Bella says flustered.

  I smile and motion to the plate, backing away from her.

  “Alright Gavinwood, let’s see if you can put your money where your mouth is.”

  “Oh yeah? You tryin’ to out wing me Johnson? Ain’t gonna happen.”

  “Anything I want says you can’t eat more wings than me,” I whisper in her ear.

  “And anythin’ I want says I can,” she whispers back.

  We shake hands and Bella guzzles half her beer before she grabs for a wing.

  “Ready when you are angel,” I smirk.

  She nods and her mouth wraps around the wing, sucking off all the meat like a vacuum and my jaw is on the floor. Her tongue wraps around the bone, licking off all the sauce and I can’t even put my own wing to my mouth because I’m so mesmerized.

  “Did you just...did you even chew? I swear you just swallowed it,” I say dumbfounded.

  “If that’s how you like it Johnson,” she smirks.

  She reaches for another wing and I shake myself out of my own thoughts. I concentrate on eating the wings, careful not to look up at this enigma of a woman in front of me.

  Before I know it, she is dropping the last bone in her pile and throwing her hands up in victory. She bows and then dips each of her fingers in her mouth and licks them clean. My dick is hard as stone in my pants and I pull the loop of her jeans to bring her towards me, taking one of her wing coated fingers in my mouth, wrapping my tongue around it. I pop it out as I look at her hooded gaze and smirk.

  “I can get us a cab, give my brother the truck. What do you want angel?”

  “I...I shouldn’t leave Lacey, she may need-” her words are cut off when she glances over to the corner.

  My brother has Lacey lifted in the air pushed against the back wall, her legs wrapped around his waist and her hands fisted in the back of his t-shirt.

  “They’re busy,” I say.

  “I still don’t wanna leave her,” she says looking around.

  Her eyes widen and she takes a couple napkins from the bar, cleaning off her hands and then she’s pulling me towards the hallway along the wall that my brother and Lacey are dry humping against.

  We walk past them quickly and Bella jingles a door knob to a door across from the bathroom. The door opens and it’s dark. Bella pushes me inside and shuts the door, pulling on the string to the overhead light.

  A storage closet.

  I hear her lock the door and she turns to me, fisting my t-shirt in her hands.

  “I never did this,” she says quietly. “I’ve only ever done it in a bed, but you make me want to be so fuckin’ wild, I can’t contain myself. Are we doin’ this or no Johnson?” she says fisting my shirt harder, biting her bottom lip.

  In a second, I turn her and press her against the storage room door. Our foreheads are touching and we are just breathing, panting, the air thick with this craving we can't seem to curb.

  I run my hand down the side of her body, touching every curve, every muscle, from her shoulder to her hip. My eyes are trained on her lips, watching her tongue coat them, her teeth sink into them, the slight smile they twist into as I move my hand to the front of her jeans.

  “We’re doin’ this Gavinwood,” I whisper.

  I pop the button of her jeans, pulling down the zipper down slowly as I see the pace of her breathing pick up. I watch her chest heave as I pull down her jeans along with her thong and I hear a soft sound fall off those lips.

  Her pants are around her knees and I try to contain my groan when I see her perfectly shaved pussy for my taking. I slowly run a finger down against her soft skin.

  “Fuck angel. You did that for me?”

  She nods shyly and I drop to my knees in front of her, not giving her any time to brace herself for my lashing. I push her back harder into the door, my fingers opening her up to me, a satisfied groan as I see her clit and my tongue goes to work. I lap at her like it’s the only juice out there and I’m in a god damned dessert.

  Her hand fists my hair, pulling me closer to her center and I sprea
d her lips further apart, my mouth hungrily taking from her. I slide one finger inside her slick pussy and crook it, feeling her start to tense around me.

  “Yes, like that...don't stop...please don't stop Damon,” she moans.

  I flatten my tongue against her swollen nub and furiously shake my head against her dripping center, feeling her legs weaken above me.