Bad Reputation

by Nicole Edwards

  “Ah, fuck, Cass…You feel so good.”

  I think that’s an understatement, but I can’t say as much. My tongue’s tied in a knot; the only thing my brain can focus on is the exquisite pleasure that he’s offering as he fucks me. It’s true, I’ve never fantasized about Chase, but that’s okay because no fantasy could’ve ever come close to being this good.

  “Put your leg around me.”

  In this position, I can only lift my left leg, but I do as he says, wrapping it around his hip, which allows him to go deeper, changing the angle. When he pushes in more, he brushes that sensitive spot inside me that makes me moan.

  He rocks back.

  Does it again.

  “Yes…” It feels incredible.

  “Like that?”

  I nod. “So much.”

  He continues fucking me, driving in deep, thrusting his hips hard when he lodges inside me as far as he can go. Although my sexual experience is limited, I can honestly say that no man could possibly be as good as Chase when it comes to sex. It’s as though he were made for me, his body carved specifically to work with mine. I know that can’t be true, but for right this minute, it is.

  When he leans down, I wrap my arms around his neck, bringing our mouths together. His tongue mimics the incredible things his dick is doing to my body. And like the last two, my orgasm sneaks up on me out of the blue, completely obliterating my senses with its intensity.

  “Chase! Oh God, yes!”

  “That’s it, Cass. Come for me.” His voice is hoarse, his words rough as he continues to thrust into me. His rhythm never changes, his hips never slow even when my orgasm crests and I’m left a little breathless.

  “One more time. I want to feel your pussy squeeze my dick, Cassie. Come for me again.”

  I think I could come from his dirty mouth alone. However, I don’t get to find out because he changes the angle of his hips once more and increases his pace, driving into me harder, deeper, faster. Another orgasm—this one more powerful than the last—begins and I ride wave after wave of sheer ecstasy as he reaches between us. His thumb finds my clit….

  “Fuck!” I scream his name over and over, unable to help it.

  “Shit, Cass…Baby, I’m coming.”

  Chase grunts as his hips punch forward. I can feel him pulse inside me, filling me.

  And only then do I realize the true reality of what we’ve just done.

  Chapter 19

  “Do you have any regrets?” That’s the question I ask all the athletes I interview, so I tossed it out to Chase. I’m surprised to say that he didn’t hesitate when he said, “No. Not a single one. Everything I’ve done has gotten me to where I am today.” I guess that makes sense.

  —Excerpt from Sports Unlimited’s Bad Boys of Sports edition

  Chase

  Morning comes far too quickly.

  Unfortunately, morning turns out to be noon, and that’s when the chaos ensues.

  And I’m talking full-blown, world-ending chaos.

  The shit totally hits the fan.

  “Chase! Where’s Cassie?”

  With the phone to my ear, I try to get my bearings.

  It takes a second.

  Maybe a full minute. I’m not really sure.

  I open my eyes to a completely darkened room and a woman lying next to me. The room is unfamiliar, but the woman is not. Not by a long shot. Well, unless you count the fact that she’s naked. That’s a little new for me. With this particular woman.

  “Chase! I’m serious. Where’s Cassie?” Natalie shouts through the phone, causing the fuzzy edges of my conscious mind to clear.

  “She’s asleep,” I whisper, shoving the blankets off and putting my feet on the floor as I reach for the lamp and turn it on.

  “Oh, God. I was afraid you were gonna say that. She was supposed to be downstairs by nine.”

  I try to make sense of what she’s saying, but the words are watery, running together in a way that makes her hard to understand.

  “Are you…crying?” It sure sounds like she is.

  And that’s when it hits me.

  Cassie is supposed to be giving a presentation today. I glance at the clock.

  Or, she was supposed to be giving a presentation today. Three hours ago.

  “I have to go.” Without waiting for a response, I hit the button to end the call and toss the phone on the nightstand. “Cassie. Wake up.”

  “Mmm?” She rolls over, the sheet sliding off her body, revealing the perfection of her curves.

  My gaze immediately zeros in on her tits. I think my mouth even waters, but I manage to ignore it. Mostly. Of course, my dick has a mind of its own. I can do nothing to stop the damn thing from growing.

  “Cassie. It’s twelve o’clock.”

  “Okay.” She doesn’t seem too worried about the time.

  Taking a deep breath, I realize I have to be the bearer of bad news. “You missed your presentation.”

  And just like that, Cassie’s awake. Her eyes fly open and she sits up immediately. As though she doesn’t believe me, she scans the room until her gaze comes to rest on the bedside clock.

  “Oh. Fuck.” Her voice is nothing more than a breath of air.

  Blue-gray eyes slam into mine and I stand here, not sure what to say.

  Her eyes widen. “What do I do?”

  I have no idea, but suddenly someone is pounding on the door.

  “You need to get dressed.” My eyes dart around the room as I search for my pants. “Right now. Hold on!” I yell at our visitor—no doubt it’s Natalie—while I hop into my jeans, leaving Cassie still sitting on the bed.

  I know what this looks like, but there isn’t much I can do about it because Natalie is going to attract security if she doesn’t fucking stop beating on the door.

  I yank it open and come face-to-face with a distraught Natalie. I was right, she has been crying. That’s obvious based on the mascara streaks running down her face. I glance over her head to see Mark standing there. He looks completely wrung out, his hands in his pockets, his head hanging low.

  “Where is she?”

  “In her room.” I have no choice but to step out of the way or get bowled over.

  “Cassie! Oh my God. I’m so sorry.”

  The bedroom door slams and I’m left staring at Marky Mark, who’s still standing in the hall.

  “You might as well come in. I have to take a shower.” I leave him in the living room and make a beeline for my bedroom.

  Fifteen minutes later, I’ve shaved, showered, and dressed and I come out of my room to find Cassie sitting at the dining room table. Alone. She’s wearing a robe and staring out the window.

  “I’m going to lose my job,” she whispers. The sob that accompanies the statement rips at my heart.

  I have no idea what I’m supposed to do or say. I fear saying anything will have Cassie blaming me, which…Well, she should blame me. If it weren’t for me giving in to her last night, she wouldn’t be in this predicament. If we hadn’t fucked like rabbits for most of the morning, she would have been giving her speech.

  “Chase?”

  Looking down at her, I notice she’s staring at me, her eyes wide. When a single tear falls down her cheek, I pull her to her feet and wrap my arms around her. I know this seems like the end of the world for her right now, but it’s not. However, I can’t exactly tell her that because I’m not a dumbass. It would be the absolute wrong thing to say.

  I let her cry as I hold her. It’s something I’m familiar with. I’ve held Cassie while she’s cried many times over the years. When her grandfather passed away, when she watched A Dog’s Purpose, when she found out one of her friends from college had cancer. The woman is not a stranger to tears, but no matter the reason, it always rips me up to see them.

  With my eyes closed, images of last night and this morning come rushing back and I feel my heart kick in my chest. I can’t believe I fucked my best friend. More important, I’m not even sure where that leaves us. Do
es she hate me for what we did? Are we still friends? Friends with benefits? Will she ignore me once this all blows over and she can think straight?

  Or—something I’m not even sure I can fully comprehend right now—is it possible that we can have something more?

  Minutes pass before she finally pulls back. I’m reluctant to release her, so I allow my hands to slide down her arms. When she looks up at me, I can see the pain in her eyes.

  That’s when it hits me that we’re alone. When I went to take a shower, Natalie and Mark were here. That doesn’t appear to be the case anymore. “Where’s Natalie?”

  Cassie shakes her head. “I made her leave.” Another sob bubbles out of her. “I blamed her.” She’s still shaking her head. “I know I shouldn’t have, but she was here and I was so upset….I can’t believe I let this happen.”

  I pull her against me once again. I don’t whisper platitudes, because Cassie wouldn’t appreciate them. We’ll get through this, but it’s not going to be easy.

  “What makes you think you’ll lose your job?” I ask when several minutes have passed.

  Cassie pulls away completely and heads to the coffeepot. “I called Tom.”

  “And?”

  “Let’s just say he’s really pissed.”

  I can’t say that I blame him, but again, I keep my mouth shut.

  “I asked to meet with him, to explain what happened, but he declined.” She turns to face me from the other side of the island. “Said we’d talk when we get back to Texas.”

  “That doesn’t sound like you’re fired,” I say.

  Her eyebrow arches slightly. “This was a big deal, Chase. A really big deal. I flaked on them, left them in the lurch. I had one responsibility and that was to be the keynote speaker for the biggest rollout my company has seen in years. I let them down in a big way. I failed. Epically.”

  When she puts it that way…

  “I’m sorry,” I tell her.

  Her head snaps up and her eyes meet mine. “What are you sorry for?”

  “For making you miss your presentation.”

  She snorts, but there’s no humor accompanying the sound. “This isn’t your fault, Chase. It’s mine. I should’ve declined going out last night. I fucked up. Royally fucked up.”

  For a woman who doesn’t usually lace curse words into her sentences, she sure is using some of the big ones this morning.

  Cassie pours coffee into a cup, then starts back to her bedroom. “I need to call Natalie.”

  “What can I do, Cass?” I know once she closes that door, she’s going to shut me out completely.

  “Nothing, Chase. I need…” She sighs heavily. “I just need to be alone for a while.”

  Gripping the back of my neck with both hands, I nod, but she’s not looking at me, so she doesn’t see it.

  “And Chase?”

  I look up to see her paused by the door, her back still to me.

  “Yeah?”

  “About last night.”

  “Don’t say it, Cassie.” I turn and head to my room, anger suddenly flooding my bloodstream. “Don’t fucking say it.”

  And before she can tell me that it was a mistake, I slam the door.

  A lot of things are fucked up right now, and plenty of things have gone wrong, but last night was not a fucking mistake.

  And I’m not going to let her use that as a cop-out.

  After all, we can only deal with one epic fuckup at a time.

  Cassie

  I’ll admit that I probably shouldn’t have brought up last night, but I thought something needed to be said. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to deal with Chase right now. I don’t have time to think about what we did or the repercussions of our actions. Right now, I feel as though I’m fighting for my life.

  I feel completely hollow in so many ways. I’m numb, which is probably the only reason I can function. The good thing is that my hangover is the least of my worries and the headache is minimal compared to what it could have been. Then again, it’s possible my head is pounding, but the only thing I can think about is how I missed the keynote presentation this morning.

  Completely. Fucking. Missed. It.

  God, how could I do something so stupid? So selfish?

  When I told Chase about my call with Tom, I didn’t tell him everything. At least not in detail. Tom is definitely pissed. More than pissed, actually. And yes, I am going to lose my job. There’s no doubt about it. It was clear as soon as he mentioned board members, shareholders, stock. He did say we would meet when we got back to Texas, but he also told me that he would call me in when he was ready.

  Which I took to mean that I’m officially jobless.

  Setting my coffee cup on the nightstand, I rub my chest. There’s an ache where my heart is. I can’t believe I did this. I can’t believe I let my company down. My entire life I’ve spent focusing on the end goal, never letting anything get in the way of that.

  I grab my phone and punch the button to pull up Natalie’s contact information. Reluctantly I tap the screen to place the call. I was a royal bitch to Natalie this morning and she absolutely didn’t deserve the things I said to her, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she doesn’t answer.

  The phone rings once, twice.

  “Hello?” A sob accompanies Natalie’s greeting.

  “Hey. Look, I need to apologize for—”

  “No. You were right. This is entirely my fault. I’m your assistant. I should’ve been focused on the job, but I wasn’t. I let my personal life interfere, so it’s—”

  “Natalie. Stop.”

  When she stops rambling, I take a deep breath. “This isn’t your fault. It’s mine. I’m going to make sure that Tom knows that.”

  I can hear Natalie crying.

  “I’ll do everything I can to ensure you don’t lose your job too.”

  “Oh my God.” Suddenly she sounds sober. “Is your job in jeopardy?”

  That ache in my chest is back. “Natalie, I don’t want you worried about me.”

  “Did you talk to Tom? I know if you tell him what happened he’ll understand.”

  I snort. “What do I tell him, Natalie? That I went out last night with my friends, got totally wasted, and ended up—” I cut myself off, not ready to explain what happened between me and Chase.

  “I’m so sorry,” Natalie say softly. “I shouldn’t have pushed you to go out. I’ll talk to Tom. I’ll tell him this is all my fault.”

  “No.” I don’t want anyone talking to Tom. I’m going to take my punishment like a grown-up. “Leave it alone, Natalie. When you get back on Monday, I want you to go to the office like normal. They’re going to have to hire a replacement for me and that person will need an assistant.”

  More sobs echo in the phone and I can visualize Natalie falling apart on the other end. I hate that this has impacted her. She had absolutely no obligations this weekend other than what I needed her for. It wasn’t her responsibility to get me to the conference. That’s entirely on me.

  “What are you going to do?” she finally asks.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Can I stop by later? To talk?”

  “Let’s play it by ear. I need some time to think, to process what I did.”

  “Okay. I’m so sorry, Cassie.”

  Rather than tell her not to apologize again, I whisper, “Thank you,” and disconnect the call.

  Twisting, I look down at the bed. The pillows are strewn everywhere, the blankets haphazardly tossed on the mattress, half-on, half-off. Although I had far too much to drink last night, I remember every single detail of what Chase and I did. All the ways he touched me, the mind-altering kisses, the earth-shattering orgasms. I remember it all.

  Although it would be so easy to blame someone else—Natalie for wanting to go out, the waitress for continuing to bring drinks, Marky Mark for paying for them, Chase for spending the night with me—I know that this is entirely my fault. I’m sure once I get back home I’m going to fall apart. Maybe I won�
�t even wait that long. My emotions are building inside me; I can feel them. My chest feels tight, my sinuses burn with unshed tears. I want nothing more than to curl up and close my eyes. Then I want to wake up and find out that this is all a bad dream.

  But I know that won’t happen.

  “God, what am I going to do?” I whisper to the empty room.

  I have no idea what my next steps are, but I do know this:

  I don’t blame the alcohol.

  I don’t blame the kiss.

  And I certainly don’t blame Chase.

  Nope. This one is all on me.

  Chapter 20

  Chase

  “This is bad. So bad,” Natalie mumbles.

  When she texted to see if I would meet her and Mark for coffee this morning, I agreed. Of course, I thought Cassie would join us, but she ignored my knock on her door. Rather than try to hash this thing out between us, I figured I would give her some space. Then again, I gave her all of yesterday, so at some point today we are going to have to talk.

  “What time does your flight leave?” I ask, trying to change the subject. I know Natalie feels bad about this, but it really isn’t her fault and quite frankly, I’m tired of hearing about it.

  “In three hours. We’re gonna have to head to the airport soon.”

  I sort of wish I was joining them. Unfortunately, we are here in Vegas until tomorrow, which means I’ve got another full day to sit around with my thumb up my ass.

  “You don’t think they’ll really fire her, do you?” Natalie’s eyes are wide as she asks me this.

  I know what she wants to hear, but she’s not going to get it from me.

  “She’s an executive, right?” Marky Mark asks, looking between the two of us.

  We both nod.

  Yeah. We all know what that means. She’s not some hourly employee or midlevel manager who can get away with getting drunk in Vegas and shirking her responsibilities. What she does and doesn’t do impacts the financials.

  Natalie sits up straight and draws in a deep breath. “Okay. Then we have to figure out how to help her.”