Player (What Happens on Campus Book 1)

by M L Sparrow

  On the edge of town, they pulled into a trailer park and she glanced over at Parker apprehensively, but he was concentrating on not flattening any of the children who were playing football, or soccer as the Americans called it, in the middle of the road.

  Weaving through the jungle of trailers, he finally stopped alongside one with several cars out front, all in different stages of disrepair. Chloe wasn’t a snob, but this place…

  “Still glad you came?” Parker asked with raised eyebrows.

  “Of course,” she lied, forcing a smile and leaning over the centre console to kiss his cheek.

  When she tried to pull away, he slid his hand into her hair and turned his head so that their lips brushed. “Give me a proper one.”

  Bracing her hand on his leg for balance, she did. They drew apart a minute later, hot and breathless, to the sound of cheering. Turning, they looked towards the steps of the trailer to see a skeleton thin man, wearing a wife-beater and jeans, cheering with his arms in the air.

  “Your dad?” she asked.

  “Brother,” he replied grimly, shocking her.

  “How old is he?”

  “Twenty-five,” he said, after a moment’s thought.

  “Are you serious?” He looked at least double that, scrawny and haggard as if he’d already lived a hard life.

  “That’s what drugs do to you. Take a picture to show Riley.” With that, he opened the door and stepped out, walking over to shake the other man’s hand as she followed him. After his brother had pulled him into a hug and thumped him on the back, Parker stepped back to wrap an arm around her waist, pulling her protectively into his side. “Chloe, this is my brother Tyler.”

  “This your girl?” Tyler smirked, before Parker could get around to introducing her, eyeing her in a way that made her shift uncomfortably.

  Parker didn’t like it either; tightening his hold, he scowled at his brother, saying warningly, “Yeah, she’s my girl. Hands off.”

  Throwing back his head, Tyler laughed. “Cool it, baby brother, no one’s tryin’ to steal your girl.” However, when they squeezed past him into the trailer, he caught her eye and winked.

  As soon as she stepped inside a huge hound dog came shooting out of the kitchen, almost tripping over its own ears as it bounded towards them, barking noisily. Dropping to his knees, Parker got an armful of dog, whose tail pounded happily against the wall as he got his ears scratched, even though he was still barking up at her, hackles raised.

  “Enough of that,” Parker said sternly, grabbing his muzzle and pushing him away when he snarled. Holding out his hand for her, he said, “Come here, sugar, he’ll be all right once he knows you.”

  Another flurry of barking as she edged closer, keeping Parker between her and the dog. A voice bellowed from another room, “Boone, shut the fuck up.”

  No wonder Parker swore so much if that’s what he grew up hearing from his mother.

  Ignoring the woman, Parker grabbed her hand and pulled her down beside him, holding her hand out for the dog to sniff. “This is Boone, he’s a big ol’ softie really.”

  “Yeah, he looks it,” she said dubiously as he continued to grumble at her.

  “You’ll be best of friends by the end of the week,” he promised, pushing the big dog onto its side and scratching its belly, before standing and pulling her up along with him. “Now you’ve met Boone, you’d better meet the others.”

  She met his mother then and there, but didn’t get to meet his father until he rolled in several hours later, stinking of beer and slurring his words. His other two brothers arrived even later.

  Since he’d moved out, Parker’s bed had apparently been removed to make more room for storage, so they were sleeping on a blow-up mattress in the living room. It was actually surprisingly comfortable, except that the dog kept trying to snuggle with them and Parker kept having to push him off.

  Around midnight, the door burst open and Boone started barking. Bolting upright, Parker dislodged her head from his shoulder and she looked around blearily, trying to pick out shapes in the dark.

  “Hey bro, you’re home!”

  “We were sleepin’,” Parker grumbled.

  “You can sleep when you’re dead.”

  “Yeah,” the other one put in, “you’ve turned into an old woman!”

  “Shut up,” their dad yelled from the bedroom at the end of the hall and the short exchange ended, all three of them glancing down the hall.

  One of his brothers, this one big and stocky, headed towards the kitchen area and grabbed a beer from the fridge, throwing a second bottle to the other, before they both headed off down the hall and into one of the bedrooms.

  Flopping back on the bed, Parker groaned, throwing one arm up and over his eyes. Settling back down beside him, she rested her head on his chest again and curved on arm over his waist.

  “Well, they seemed nice,” she said into the dark.

  His chest jerked up and down as he laughed, burying his face in her hair to muffle the sound. “I’ll introduce you in the morning.”

  Waking to the sound of someone shuffling around the kitchen and the mouth-watering sent of bacon cooking, Chloe slid out of bed, careful not to disturb Parker.

  His mum was bustling around the cluttered kitchen in her dressing-gown and slippers. It suddenly occurred to her that Parker had only introduced her as ‘my mom’, so she didn’t know how else to address her.

  “Mornin’, love,” the other woman said, gesturing for her to sit at the bar, which she did, curling her fingers around the glass of orange juice that was pushed in her direction.

  “Morning, Mrs. Mitchell.”

  “Call me Louise.” That solved that problem.

  For several minutes neither of them spoke; Chloe just watched as Louise cooked, breaking eggs into a pan. She got the feeling that the other woman was just as uncomfortable as she was.

  “Would you like some help?” Chloe asked after a minute.

  “No. It’s almost ready. You’re not one of those vegetarians are you?” Shaking her head mutely, she almost jumped out of her skin when Louise suddenly hollered, “Boys, breakfast!”

  So much for letting Parker sleep a little longer.

  Within ten minutes the bar was surrounded by men, of whom the only one wearing a shirt with his boxers was Mr. Mitchell. Rolling off the blow-up mattress, Parker padded over with a yawn, pushing between her and one on his brothers. Picking up a piece of bacon with his fingers, he bit into it and she heard it crunch between his teeth.

  Gesturing vaguely at the two brothers who had yet to be introduced, he said, “Axel, Conner. Guys, this is Chloe.”

  “What are you kids up to today?” Louise asked, slapping the fried eggs onto plates and handing them out.

  “I was gonna go to the pizza place, see what hours they’ve got.”

  “There ain’t no job at the pizza place, no more,” Axel said around a mouthful of food.

  Looking at the four together, she could see some similarities. They all had the same hazel eyes, though Tyler’s had been dimmed by drugs, and the same coloured hair. Axel was the biggest, with the same wide-shouldered, muscular body as Parker, whilst Tyler and Conner were tall but lanky.

  Setting down his fork, Parker frowned, “What do you mean there’s no job?”

  Axel shrugged, “Craig gave it to someone else. But no worries, there’s a job you can help us with tonight.”

  “No,” he answered immediately, darting a quick, paranoid glance her way.

  “Come on, bro, we’re just collecting some stuff. Or is that below you now that you’re this big star football player?”

  “Fuck off, Axe.”

  “Don’t start,” their mother warned.

  Picking up his fork again, Parker plunged it into the top of his egg and rich, yellow yolk spilled out. “We’re going into town,” he said, voice calm although she could feel the tension in his muscles.

  After breakfast, Parker deflated the mattress and rolled it into a co
rner, before they both got ready to leave. Ducking back into the main room to grab her handbag, she found the men all sat in front of the TV. Bending down to pull her bag out from behind the sofa, where Parker had stashed their things, she felt a sharp slap on her arse. Spinning around, she glared at Axel, who smirked back at her.

  “Touch me again and I’ll break your nose,” she snapped.

  “Feisty, I like that.”

  Watching him cautiously, she was careful to keep her distance as she skirted around him to get to the door. Finding Parker waiting outside playing with Boone, she opened her mouth to tell him, but then shut it again. This family had enough problems.

  “Ready, sugar?” he asked, throwing the deflated football once more for the dog before wiping his hand on his jeans and holding it out to her. Leading her round the side of the trailer, he said, “Let’s go for a ride.”

  Pulling away a length of water-proof sheeting to reveal a rusting motorbike amid the rest of the junk, he handed her the helmet that had been fastened to the handlebars.

  Staring at it uncertainly, she glanced at him, “Is it safe?”

  Giving the handlebars a shake, he smirked, “She’s sturdy as anything.”

  She didn’t know what that expression was supposed to mean, but she nodded anyway, pulling on the helmet as he wheeled the bike away from the debris surrounding it. Stepping back out of the way, she had to smile at the sight of him straddling the machine, looking gorgeous in a bad boy sort of way.

  How did she get so lucky?

  “What the hell?”

  She had been too busy noticing how sexy he was to realize that he’d been trying to start the bike and clearly failed. Kicking the stand back into place, he swung his leg over to get off and hunkered down to see what was wrong.

  Almost immediately his face clouded over and he stood abruptly. “Those assholes!” Yanking off the helmet, she ran after him as he stormed back around the trailer and slammed open the front door, demanding, “Which one of you fuckers stripped my bike?”

  “You weren’t using it,” Axel said calmly, taking a long drag of his cigarette.

  “You get good money for spare parts,” Conner put in, backing his eldest brother.

  “They weren’t spare,” Parker yelled, “my bike doesn’t work now.”

  “So, use the fancy ass car out front.”

  Lobbing the bike keys violently at his brother, he snarled, “You might as well sell the rest of it.” Turning around, he took her arm and steered her back out of the door, but then he spun around suddenly and pointed a fingers at his brothers. “And if you mess with Jet’s car I’ll call the fuckin’ cops.”

  “Ooohhh, big man.” They laughed as he left, but from the look on his face Chloe didn’t think he was joking.

  Getting in the car, he slammed the door with more force than necessary and the whole vehicle quaked. He was seriously pissed. Quietly slipping in beside him, she fastened her seatbelt as he brought the car to life. Driving without a word, he kept his eyes fixed determinedly on the road, knuckles white on the steering wheel.

  “Let’s park up somewhere,” she suggested, once they were out of the trailer park. He didn’t answer, but a little further down the road which led to the main street, he turned onto a dirt track which eventually led them to a pond surrounded by trees.

  Once the car was in park, Chloe unbuckled herself and climbed into his lap. It was a tight squeeze, with the steering wheel digging into her back, until Parker reached down to pull the leaver which slid the seat backwards. Twining her arms around his neck, she leant in for a kiss, the stubble on his unshaved face scraping against her as they made out.

  Running his hands up and down her thighs, he grabbed her denim clad arse and pulled her closer, before sliding his hands up the back of her shirt to caress the line of her spine. His calloused hands against her bare skin made her shiver, melting against him, but when he tried to pull her shirt up, she broke the kiss, grabbing his hands.

  “Someone could see us,” she panted, glancing reflexively out of the window.

  “This could be the last chance we get until we get back to campus,” he tried to tempt her, kissing her neck seductively.

  “I’m sure you can last a week without sex.” Right now though, with his hands roving all over her, she wasn’t sure if she could.

  “No one will see us,” he whispered in her ear like the devil. “No one comes out this way, just horny school kids that want to do the same thing as us.”

  “You brought me to a make-out spot?”

  “Damn right.” Scraping his teeth along her jaw, he began easing her shirt up again and this time she let him.

  How did he talk her into being so reckless and irresponsible?

  Several more items of clothes later and they were being even more reckless and irresponsible and it felt amazing!

  Despite her initial reservations, they spent the morning by the pond, talking, making love and swimming in the cool water. Laughing as Parker splashed around in the pond, Chloe lounged in the shade of a big tree; she hadn’t brought any sun-cream on their little day trip and she didn’t want to ruin it by getting burnt. Climbing out of the water, he shook his head like a dog, spraying water all over her.

  “Thanks for that,” she grumbled.

  “Thought you looked a bit hot,” he smirked back at her.

  “Oh, I am.” She skimmed her hands down her stomach to tease him, before jumping up just as he reached for her and darting out of reach. “I’m hungry, let’s go get something to eat.”

  “Sex first,” he growled stalking towards her.

  “We’ve had sex three times already, I’m wasting away.”

  His eyes roved over her, hot and appreciative, making her thighs clench. “Sugar, that’s the one thing you’re not.”

  A few months ago a comment like that would have made her self-conscious, but she knew how much he loved her curves and so she smiled, insisting, “I am really hungry.”

  Sighing, like a little boy denied a treat, he said, “Pass me my jeans then.”

  Going over to the car, she found his jeans in the footwell and turned around to find that he’d striped off his wet boxers and was standing there butt naked for the whole world to see.

  “What are you doing?” she squealed, tossing his jeans at him, looking around despite the fact that they hadn’t seen anyone here all morning, just as he’d predicted. “Put your clothes on!”

  “What do you think I’m doing?” he laughed, pushing one leg in and then the other before pulling the denim up to cover himself.

  Once they were both dressed and back in the car, Parker headed off towards the main street, where they parker up and headed towards a small, homey diner. Escorted to a booth in the back, the only place left since the place was bursting at the seams, Parker pushed a menu over to her as he slid in opposite, his outstretched legs brushing hers beneath the table.

  “They have the best cheeseburger you’ll ever eat here,” he said.

  By best he clearly meant biggest, because twenty minutes later a burger the size of her head was placed in front of each of them, with a generous helping of chips – or fries she should say – in case someone actually had room to eat them after devouring that whopper of a burger.

  Tucking into his immediately, Parker groaned around a mouthful of beef and cheese, closing his eyes briefly as he chewed. He always ate as if each meal were his last. Smiling to herself, she squashed down her burger, before lifting it to her mouth and taking a huge bite.

  Since they both had their cheeks stuffed full of food, it was very awkward when a balding middle-aged man with a beer belly and sweat patches appeared at their table, holding his arms out wide and exclaiming in a booming voice, “Parker Mitchell, I’ll be damned. What you doin’ back in this shithole, my boy?”

  “Christmas… holidays…” Parker garbled around his mouthful, his jaw working as he chewed quickly, before swallowing hard and taking a gulp of his drink.

  “Ahh, good, good.�
�� The man clapped him heartily on the back when he coughed, having swallowed too much at once. “I thought for a minute you were back to work at the factory with your Pa, but I shoulda known better. You’re a good boy, you are, not like those waste of space brothers of yours. Gonna make somethin’ of your life, you are.” Grabbing Parker’s shoulder, he gave him a shake, a large smile on his face, “Couldn’t be prouder if you were my own son.”

  “Thanks, Coach. That means a lot.” Parker smiled, scooting over so that the other man could sit with them. Reaching for her hand across the table, he squeezed her fingers, before saying, “Coach, this is Chloe, my girlfriend.” Though it was blatantly obvious to anyone with eyes, she loved it when he introduced her as his girlfriend.

  “Nice to meet you, ma’am. You must be a special one and I can see why.” Winking at her, he turned to ask Parker, “What did you do to get a pretty girl like her?”

  “I’m fuckin’ lucky.”

  A sharp slap to the back of his head, delivered with such speed that he didn’t see it coming. “Watch your language around the young lady,” Coach admonished sternly.

  Catching his eye as he rubbed his head, Chloe lifted her eyebrows and smirked at him. He scowled at her in return.

  Ordering himself a drink, Coach – neither of them volunteered another name – sat with them while they ate, regaling her with stories of Parker as a teenager, when he had coached him in High school. From the way Parker interacted with the other man, she could tell that he had a lot of respect for him.

  Once they had finished and were heading their separate ways down the street, Parker explained, “He was like a father to me. Without him I never would have gotten into football, or become as good as I am. He’s the one who pushed me to apply for university, he helped me fill out all the forms to get the scholarship. I don’t know where I’d be without him. He saw something in me when no one else did.”

  “I guess I should thank him then,” Chloe smiled, linking her arm through his, “without him we’d never have met.”