Claimed By My Pretend Boyfriend: Blackwater Pack Book Six

by Liam Kingsley

  “I wouldn't mind a kiss or two actually. But no antics.”

  “Ugh, you are no fun. None at all. I don't like you anymore.” I started to push him away and he caught my wrists in his hands.

  “Promise me no antics?” he insisted.

  “I promise nothing,” I refused.

  He shook his head and reached down toward my groin. My jaw fell open in a shocked smile that he would go there in a public parking lot, but to my disappointment he grabbed the handle of the driver's side door instead

  “Good night, Tripp,” he said in a saccharine tone.

  “Good niiiight,” I whined in sing-song as I sank into the seat and pouted at him exaggeratedly. I closed the door and rolled my window down a few inches. He pushed his fingers through the crack and I kissed the tip of one. Then I slipped it into my mouth, flicked it with my tongue, and suddenly rolled the window back up an inch. He jumped out of his skin and pulled his hands back as I screamed with laughter and kicked my legs into the steering wheel.

  “You bitch,” Decker accused, laughing. He leaned back down to the window and said, “I'll see you tomorrow.”

  “See you then, Coach,” I said, pushing my tongue suggestively against my cheek. He laughed again and sauntered off to his car. His laughter echoed in my mind, wrapping me up in warmth as I put the car in drive and headed home.

  Walking into the football stadium, I saw a group of people—presumably parents of the team—clumped together in one section of the vast seating area. So I headed over to them and realized I actually recognized one of them. He had short, curly dark hair, thick stubble across his jaw, and was wearing a contented smile on his face.

  “Jonah?” I asked.

  “Oh, hey, Tripp!” he said amiably.

  “How are you? I haven't seen you in a while. Mind if I sit down?” I gestured to the spot next to him.

  “No, not at all,” he offered, scooting over slightly. “I hurt my hamstring so I've been taking a break from hot yoga. Still stretching at home, though!”

  “Oh, I'm glad to hear that. You know I can always help you with adjustments. It's good that you're resting, though. What're you doing hanging out at a high school football practice, anyway?”

  “Oh, my little brother, Lewis, is on the team. He's a freshman.”

  “That's nice that you're here supporting him. What a good big bro. What's his number?”

  “Seventy-two,” Jonah said, squinting at the green expanse in front of us. “I don't know if he's on the field right now.”

  We both scanned the turf to see if little Lewis was getting any action. My eyes landed on a muscled bubble butt being gently cradled by light gray sweatpants. I felt saliva gather in my mouth as Decker jogged down the field. The way his body moved was enchanting me, which must have been obvious as my jaw had gone slack. I wouldn't have been surprised if stars had been dancing in my eyes.

  “I guess we know who you came here to watch,” Jonah said, nudging me with his elbow.

  Shaken from my trance, I closed my mouth and self-consciously wiped it with my hand to make sure I hadn't actually been drooling.

  “Guess I couldn't hide it, huh?” I asked Jonah with a smile.

  “So are you and Decker...a thing?” he asked innocently.

  I sighed dreamily and looked back out on the field. Decker was demonstrating a drill by running sideways while he twisted his hips back and forth. I opened my mouth but no words came out. I shook my head slowly from side to side in disbelief at what a wet dream Decker was when he was in coaching mode.

  “That pretty much answers my question,” Jonah remarked with a chuckle.

  “Oh, look, there's your brother!” I said, grateful for the change of subject and an opportunity to gather my thoughts.

  “Oh, yeah, I guess he is getting some field time after all,” Jonah said, sounding ecstatic and clapping his hands.

  We watched as Lewis dropped the ball, tripped over it, then somehow kicked it over the sidelines, nearly hitting one of his teammates in the head. He rolled through the fall though, and recovered pretty well.

  “Hey, he's got skills,” I surmised to Jonah.

  Jonah laughed. “Yeah, he's getting better.”

  After watching in silence for a few more minutes, I felt comfortable enough with Jonah to lay out the situation with Decker. I thought maybe he could offer some insight. He seemed like a friendly, even-keeled kind of guy. I could use the perspective of someone like that in this tumultuous situation.

  “The thing with Decker is...” I started off. “This was supposed to be a ruse, at least for Deck it was. He needed a pretend celebrity boyfriend to impress his parents after his Nona exaggerated the reality of his situation. It's a long story but basically he begged me to pretend to be his beau and I agreed, partly because I always had a crush on him and it was an excuse to get to know him better. But now it feels like things are shifting, changing, and the ruse is barely an excuse anymore. For both of us.”

  At that moment, as if sensing the topic of our conversation, Decker looked up into the stands as he walked toward the sidelines. He spotted us, waved to Jonah, and then looked at me and his mouth spread into a brilliant, beautiful smile, his white teeth shining in the rays of the afternoon sun. I swore I could hear angels singing. My heart lurched in my chest and my wolf whined and pushed my chest toward Decker. Decker gave me a little nod. I raised my hand and wiggled my fingers at him before he turned his attention back to his players.

  Jonah and I both sighed simultaneously and then broke into laughter. Jonah summed up the situation.

  “Man, I can see the effect he has on you. Seems like it's gotten really complicated between you two. Those are some serious sparks. So when is the jig gonna be up?”

  “The big dinner with his family is only about two weeks away. So I might have to wait until then to find out what's really going on in that big, stupid, handsome, beautiful head of his,” I grumbled. “I can’t tell if it’s for real until then. He might drop me like a hot potato after the parents leave.”

  “That's tough, man. I hope it goes well. I feel for you,” Jonah sympathized, “...the dude looks like a model.”

  “I know, that's what I keep saying! You're on my wavelength.”

  “Not that I'm into Decker. You've clearly got something going on and I respect that.”

  “I appreciate your respect, thank you,” I said, bringing my hands together on my chest as a gesture of gratitude and bowing my head. “Something indeed. But what exactly?”

  “I guess you'll have to wait to find out,” he remarked, shrugging at me innocently.

  We looked back at the field but I snuck a sideways glance at Jonah. He seemed so peaceful, genuine, caring, and secure in himself. And he never asked me for selfies or to follow his page. He just showed up to my classes and made an effort to be nice. I could use a friend like that.

  “I like you, Jonah. Want to be real friends and not just yoga acquaintances?” I asked him with a smile.

  Jonah's contented smirk widened. “Yeah, I'd like that,” he replied. We exchanged phone numbers and when I looked up, the team was jogging toward the locker room, dragging their muddy gear behind them. Decker wasn't with them. Then I noticed him hop over the barrier and start climbing the stairs toward us in twos.

  My heart started beating against my chest and my wolf whined softly as Decker's hot and musky arms went around me. With my chin resting against his shoulder, I felt like I could exhale even deeper than I had during my class that morning. I felt the eyes of all the team parents on me but feeling close to Decker was intoxicating and he didn't seem to care who was watching either, which was the most seductive part of all.

  I was still savoring his scent in my nostrils when Decker pulled away from our embrace.

  “Thanks for coming,” he said.

  “I told you I couldn't resist.”

  “So what did you think of the practice?”

  “I think your defense is a little weak. Needs work,” I tried to p
unctuate my critique with a macho grunt but it just sounded like I had something stuck in my throat. Decker threw his head back and laughed at the sky. I watched his throat move up and down and his laughter rang like bells in my mind. My heart felt like it was going to burst knowing I had made him laugh like that. I felt like I had somehow reached him in a deeper way than before.

  Decker struggled through the aftershock of his guffaw to say, “Thanks, I'll keep that in mind for our next practice.”

  “Well, you better! If you want any chance of surviving Helena's offense!” I laughed nervously.

  Sighing and giving me a slow blink of his deadly long lashes, he asked if I would join him for dinner. I watched his lips move around the words as a different type of hunger grew in my belly.

  “Ugh, yes, I'm starving,” I said to his still-smiling mouth.

  We headed to Pete’s Roadhouse and I gazed into his eyes in between jokes and bites of my eggplant parmigiana. The meal satisfied my digestive hunger but my heart ached for more. Every step we took closer to each other seemed to ignite a deeper level of yearning within me that I didn't know existed. As easy and casual as conversation had become between us, something much more intense was thrumming below the surface - I could feel a tingle deep in my heart chakra and I knew it meant we were really falling for each other. My wolf was even more impatient than I was and I felt it pawing at that chakra in my chest.

  Decker walked me to my car for another maddening make-out session just like last time. He didn’t make a move to go any further, and I managed to stop myself from pushing it, too. Driving home, I wondered if I would have to wait until after I fulfilled my fake boyfriend duties before he would let me try out for the part of his real boyfriend. That is, if my wolf didn't escape my clutches, lurch forward, and mount him before then.

  11

  Decker

  Nash was right. It was time to introduce Tripp to Nona. If things were going to get any more serious between us, I'd want him to know her – and most of all, I wanted her opinion on him.

  “Hey, Nona, I've got some news,” I told my grandmother as she cleaned her brushes in the kitchen sink. The whole place smelled like turpentine, Dawn dish liquid, and linseed oil, with a faint whiff of the lasagna that was cooking in the oven.

  “Hm? Go on then,” she said, hunched over and scrubbing at a brush with her fingernails, before muttering to herself, “Why did I let the ultramarine dry on the brush? It's so stubborn.”

  I cleared my throat, “There's someone I want you to meet.”

  “Hm?” she asked, and squeezed a squirt of dish liquid into her hands to soap up the brush tips.

  “I want you to meet Tripp,” I said.

  She gasped and immediately spun around. She clapped her hands and bubbles of dish soap flew everywhere.

  “Yes! Let's get this show on the road!” she cried. “Invite him over for dinner tonight. That lasagna is big enough to feed an army.”

  Tripp arrived just after we'd finished cleaning the brushes. The doorbell rang and Nona hurried to get it while I rinsed out the sink and washed off the last of the turpentine from my hands.

  “Well, thank you – it is designer!” I heard him trill as they walked up the hallway towards the kitchen. “And this gorgeous piece? Where'd she come from?”

  “I got her from my very own hands,” Nona's voice floated in, proud as punch.

  “You made her?!”

  “I did – she was one of the first shawls I ever made. Decker, this young man is already my favorite, please be nice to him so that he sticks around,” she said as they came into the kitchen, arm in arm.

  I smiled as I dried my hands and turned to greet him. “I'll do my best.”

  My eyes stuck on Tripp. His outfit was truly remarkable – he was wearing tight jeans with a bright shirt and a shawl that looked more like a dress. His hair was down and the slight wave in it gave his face an even more angelic look than usual.

  He gave me a bright smile and a little wave as my grandmother clutched him tighter around the shoulders.

  “Dinner smells, uh...” he trailed off as he sniffed the air.

  “Chemical?” I asked with a smirk.

  “Mhm! You could say that, yeah!” he said cheerfully with a quick nod.

  “Don't you worry about that, dear, just a little painting clean-up,” Nona said, patting him on the back as she pulled away to open the oven. “We've got a big lasagna bubbling away in here.”

  “Oh, uh... Yummy! Did Decker happen to tell you that I'm... uh,” Tripp bit down on his lip and glanced from me to Nona. He looked genuinely worried, and I frowned. Had I forgotten an allergy he'd told me about? My mind went into overdrive thinking of everything I'd ever seen Tripp eat, wondering what I could have missed.

  “I'm a vegetarian,” he whispered.

  “Who gives a shit?” Nona laughed. I watched as Tripp gasped before she clarified, “So am I. It's a roasted vegetable lasagna. That okay with you?”

  Tripp burst out laughing and my shoulders finally relaxed from around my ears.

  “Yes, that's perfect, Nona,” he smiled and she reached out to give his cheeks a hard pinch.

  “I'm telling you, Deck. He's a keeper,” she smiled at me.

  “Don't I know it,” I grinned.

  Tripp's eyes landed on mine and, for once, he was the one blushing.

  The lasagna was incredible, as per usual, and we ate it in the dining room, far away from the chemical-scented kitchen. Two bites in, Tripp's eyes shot wide open.

  “Nona!” he exclaimed through a mouthful. “You have to teach me this recipe!”

  “Vegetables, pasta, sauce, oven. What's there to learn?” she asked, blowing on her forkful of pasta.

  “I make lasagna and it turns to flavorless mush. What's your secret?” he asked, scooting forward on his chair.

  “You want to know my secret?” Nona asked, leaning forward and lowering her voice like she was going to let Tripp in on something incredibly confidential.

  “You bet I do,” Tripp nodded through a mouthful of lasagna.

  “It's all about PMA,” she whispered. “Positive. Mental. Attitude. Never give up, and you’ll perfect anything you try. Including lasagna.”

  “That's what I'm always saying!” Tripp said, washing down his bite with a sip of water. My heart swelled and fluttered at how well he was getting along with the person who mattered most to me in the whole world.

  “You can make anything work if you keep a positive mind about it,” Nona insisted, and then nodded at both of us. “Like this little scheme here. If we imagine Dylan and Charlotte – my son and his wife,” she said to Tripp, her voice dropping into a demonic tone at the end, “If we imagine them completely buying the idea of you two being together, then the whole charade is sure to work.”

  Tripp and I glanced at each other and I felt a thrill run up my spine as that classic sly smile inched into place across his perfect face.

  “I'm sure we can be convincing,” he said. I suddenly felt a foot nudge against my leg under the table. Tripp winked, and I felt a set of toes inching up my shin as he slid back in his chair.

  My eyes widened.

  “I'm sure you can be convincing. You're both good-looking boys, it makes sense that you would be interested in each other,” Nona prattled on as she ate bird-sized bites of her pasta.

  Tripp's toes tickled my kneecap and threatened to slide up the inside of my thigh. I frowned and mouthed, “Do not!” but nothing made that smirk budge off his face.

  “The real challenge will be convincing Charlotte that you're good enough for our Decker and not just some party boy who’s out there spending Dylan's hard-earned money... How can we do that...?” Nona pondered as she peered at the lasagna on her fork like it was a crystal ball.

  “Hm,” Tripp said through his cheeky smirk. I loved how his perfect pout was stretched, and how bright pink his lips became when he made that face.

  The toes inched closer to my crotch and I snatched at his foot with m
y hand. I grabbed it around the sole and dug my thumb into his arch. He gasped and hissed at me, and I felt my own sly smirk coming on. I glanced at Nona but she was still studying her lasagna so I looked back at Tripp and watched his mouth fly open as I tickled his foot with my fingertips. With one quick move, he snatched his foot back and sat up tall in his chair.

  “Well, I am a good boy, so I'll just tell her the truth!” Tripp said quickly to Nona.

  “Tell who what?” I asked, completely lost.

  “Your mother, dear,” Nona said as she rolled her eyes. “Try and keep up.”

  I tried to keep up with the rest of the conversation, but I barely got a word in. By the end of the night, I sat back in my chair and watched as they shot witty lines at each other, not listening to what was said but just basking in the content feeling that was spreading through my chest.

  “Oh, god, I really have to go,” Tripp sighed as he looked at the clock above the mantle.

  “No!” Nona cried, reaching out and holding his hand. “Just one more minute.”

  “You said that seven times already!” he laughed. “I do, I have to go, I have to shoot a video tomorrow.”

  “You need help with the video?” I asked, my voice coming out croaky. The two of them looked at me like I'd just appeared in the room, and then Tripp gave me a huge smile.

  “Sure... I'd love some help with it. Walk me out?” he fluttered his eyelids.

  “Of course,” I stood and gave Nona's shoulder a squeeze as I walked past.

  “Don't get up,” Tripp told her and bent down to kiss both her cheeks.

  “Come back soon, all right? Lasagna Thursdays?” Nona asked.

  “Lasagna Thursdays it is,” Tripp kissed her again, and followed me out to the hallway, wrapping his shawl around his shoulders.

  As soon as we were out of earshot, I grabbed Tripp's shoulder and spun him around. He immediately threw his arms around my neck and I planted a hard, desperate kiss on the mouth that I'd been watching all night. He pushed back against me, grabbed at my neck and shoulders, and slid his tongue between my lips. I moaned as soon as I tasted his spit, and my whole body lit up with desire.