Endless Abduction

by Gloria Martin

  “It’s embarrassing. Really. Don’t look it up,” Adonis said, and glanced at me as I found the cologne ad where he was in tight leather riding pants, shirtless, with a cowboy hat on and holding the bottle of cologne in his hand. I laughed so hard and then showed the picture to Adonis, who groaned.

  “It’s not that funny,” he said.

  “It is a little bit, because I can clearly tell you aren’t happy with what you’re wearing,” I said, and looked at the face he was making in the photo.

  “The photographer loved it, he said I had a sexy ‘intense’ gaze,” Adonis said, making me laugh all over again. Spending the morning with him was pretty great. Adonis was funny and didn’t really have a filter, in a silly way though. He was genuine and I was not expecting any of it, which meant that I was definitely in trouble.

  *****

  Adonis

  For a couple of weeks now, Emily and I have been pretty much inseparable. I didn’t understand my need for her, but I wouldn’t question it because I knew she had feelings for me too. Otherwise, things would have petered out after that afternoon at my place. Then to add to my complete weakness regarding Emily, she even gave me new workouts to do that strengthened my arms and helped me throw better. I was pretty sure she would get a raise for it too.

  “So do you feel good? You ready for the game tomorrow?” Emily asked me as we finished a session in my gym at home.

  “Yeah actually, I feel really good. We’ll beat New York easily and then be right on track for the play-offs and then the super bowl,” I said confidently and Emily laughed at me.

  “Don’t go getting too confident, you know that’s bad luck,” she said.

  “You’re right, you’re right. But you know what will be good luck?” I asked her and she looked up at me curiously as we climbed the stairs to the main level of the house. “If we shower together and have sex,” I said frankly and she laughed at me.

  “Oh is that so? Has this method for good luck been proven?” she asked and I snorted.

  “Of course, why do you think I would suggest it in the first place?” I asked and she giggled.

  “Well, if you think it’s good luck, then by all means we should do it,” she said and I grinned at her before I scooped her up in my arms and pressed a wet kiss to her lips. She giggled again as I sprinted to the shower with her. About an hour or so later we were in bed and I could hardly keep my hands off Emily.

  “You know, we have to eat. Especially you; before game regimen,” Emily said sternly, though she smiled at me when I gave her the baby face I knew she melted over.

  “You’re my food, I only need you before the game,” I said and she smiled at me almost shyly.

  “Stop…” she said bashfully and I nuzzled her neck.

  “I’m serious,” I said and she looked at me for a moment, but I couldn’t really read her expression.

  “Come on, I’ll cook you something,” she said and I let her pull me up from the bed and she walked into my closet and came out wearing one of my t-shirts and nothing else. I smiled as I watched her walk in front of me towards the kitchen, she had an amazing sway to her hips, not to mention a full round ass.

  “Stop looking at my butt,” she said, as if she had eyes in the back of her head and I looked up at her head in surprise. She glanced back at me and laughed.

  “I felt your gaze like a laser, sheesh,” she said and I laughed. Emily made me some healthy steak and veggies with pasta that was pretty damn good. After we ate we relaxed and she slept over again. I had to say that I liked it when she stayed the night with me. It had been a while since I had someone sleep in my bed. Emily wasn’t just anyone either, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t like anyone else sleeping in my bed after her.

  Come morning we rode to the stadium together, it was a relatively early game that Sunday, but I didn’t mind. It was getting cooler already in Boston and playing at night when the temperatures were even lower would be kind of annoying in trying to keep my muscles warmed up.

  “You’re really quiet, what are you psyching yourself up or something? You’re usually way too excited and talkative before a game,” Emily teased me and I smiled.

  “I’m just focused; I don’t know I think I’m feeling the pressure of winning this game, you know?” I said and Emily rolled her eyes at me, which of course made me smile. She was no nonsense, exactly when I needed her to be. She reminded me of my mom in that sense.

  “What pressure? This is just a regular game Adonis. Throw the ball like you would any other Sunday. Then afterwards you can look forward to coming home to me,” she said with a grin and that made me smile.

  “You know you should just move in with me and be my personal sex slave slash physical therapist,” I said and Emily cracked up.

  “I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that,” she said and I chuckled. We reached the stadium and once we walked from the parking garage we pretty much had to go separate ways. I kissed Emily in the elevator and once the doors opened on the floor where the locker rooms were, I left her to go and get ready for the game. I don’t know why I was feeling like the game would be any different than other games I’ve played. The team has beaten New York a few times so there shouldn’t be anything to worry about.

  *****

  Emily

  While I sat in the locker room with a few of my coworkers in the med quarters, I watched the game on one of the screens. Everyone watching the game intently. Ready to run, if a player got injured. There was only about five of us not on the field.

  It was just before half time and the Calvary were up twenty-four points. Adonis was being all nervous for no reason earlier. He was playing great, like he always did.

  “Hey Em, you want some jalapeno chips?” one of the other PT’s, Jerry, dangled a snack size bag of the chips. I nodded. He dropped them to me and then his eyes widened as a few of the other guys in the room gave a collective, ‘oh!’ I turned around and looked up at the TV just in time to see Adonis running to the sidelines, clutching his shoulder.

  “Shit. He got hit hard. I can’t believe he got back up so fast,” Jerry said, and my heart lodged in my throat as the camera zeroed in on the pain etched across Adonis’ face.

  “That’s his throwing arm, shit,” I said. Then we were getting ready for Adonis to be brought back so he could get assessed. About six minutes later, he walked into the locker room followed by one of the doctors and a couple officials. Adonis’ eyes met mine and locked on. I just wanted to hold him from the pain etched in his gaze.

  “Alright, let’s see what we have,” the doctor said. He started to assess Adonis’ arm. I walked over to the table and stood next to him. His eyes were on me while he let the doctor work and I didn’t say anything, because I could tell what the doctor would say as he moved Adonis’s arm this way and that.

  “How bad does it hurt Adonis?” the doctor asked, as he discreetly got ready to pop Adonis’s shoulder back into place.

  “Like an eight,” Adonis said and then without warning the doctor pushed his shoulder back into the socket. Adonis let out a string of curses as the doctor massaged away some of the swelling that was already starting up around his shoulder joint.

  “We can get you some pain meds. If you’re in that much pain, I don’t think you can go back out and play,” the doctor said and Adonis cursed. It was half time by then and the score had changed, it was twenty-four to seventeen, which wasn’t good at all. We could all hear the team coming towards the locker room and the coach headed the pack and went straight for Adonis.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked him first and Adonis just shook his head. “We need you back on the field. How do we do that?” the coach turned his attention to the doctor.

  “We can give him some pain meds and anti-inflammatory, but his Labrum was torn so any wrong movement of the shoulder and it could pop right back out of place,” the doctor said and it was Adonis’ turn to sigh heavily.

  “So we’ll give him the meds and one of the PT’s will work on
him. Can you guys have him ready by the third quarter?” the coach asked and the guys kind of mumbled in response to the coach’s question.

  “Well we can try for the fourth quarter,” I said. The coach looked at me and nodded once.

  “Fine, we need him back in the game, so don’t give me empty promises,” he said, before he went over to the rest of the team to debrief them on the game thus far and what they had to do to stay in the lead.

  “I need you to work on my arm Emily. We’ve been working together and you know what I respond to,” Adonis said as the doctor gave him two shots in the arm.

  “All right. We’ll get you patched up enough to throw at least two more touchdown passes,” I said and he smiled a little.

  “Let the woman work. The meds should kick in shortly,” the doctor said and then I was pretty much left with Adonis.

  “So how did you get hit? I looked away from the TV for five seconds and then you were jogging off the field,” I said and he shook his head briefly.

  “Shoulder to shoulder tackle, the guy hit me hard,” Adonis said and then he started to experimentally roll his shoulders.

  “The meds kicked in?” I asked and he nodded. I had him do a few light shoulder exercises to test his range of motion, which seemed pretty good. Nothing popped out of place when I had him do a few tougher exercises and by the fourth quarter he was confident enough to go back out on the field.

  “Thank you baby, I’ll rub your feet for the next month,” he said and gave me a quick kiss before he went back out onto the field with the officials.

  “You and Adonis are dating?” Jerry asked me and everyone left in the locker room looked at me, interested in my answer.

  “Ah, yeah, yeah, we are,” I said and everyone took the news kind of silently. I wondered what that meant, but didn’t dwell on it because I was distracted by the game. Adonis threw two more touchdown passes and the Calvary ended up winning by one touchdown.

  “We won! We won!” Adonis ran into the locker room after his post-game interviews. Most of the team was already back there and I was just about to leave before the smell of sweaty football players got too strong for me.

  “Yeah you did it!” I said and he picked me up with his good arm and held me tight against his body as he kissed me deeply. There were a few catcalls, but Adonis was such a good kisser that I often got tunnel vision when he kissed me and saw only him.

  *****

  Adonis

  “I couldn’t have done it without you…or pain medicine,” I said and she laughed. “Will you wait for me? I’ll shower and then be right out,” I said.

  “Yeah, I’ll be out by the press conference room eating,” she said.

  “I love you,” the words just fell from my mouth and it caught both Emily and me by surprise. “Um…I…ah…” I didn’t know how to recover and just then a huge linebacker breezed past us and she scrunched up her nose.

  “It’s kind of toxic in here,” she said and I laughed a bit nervously.

  “Yeah, I’ll find you soon,” I said, and she nodded before she quickly left the locker room. I hope I didn’t just screw up big time. It’s not like I didn’t want to say the words, they were just a complete accident.

  I quickly showered and dressed. I was given a sling for my arm and would have to go to the doctor to get an x-ray to follow-up and make sure there wasn’t any permanent damage.

  I found Emily after leaving the locker room. “Hey, can we talk?” I asked and she nodded. From the look on her face, she knew exactly what I wanted to talk about.

  “You want to take it back…don’t you?” she asked as we left the stadium and headed for my truck. I didn’t answer right away. I didn’t want anyone around us to listen in. I got to my truck and closed ourselves inside. I turned it on but didn’t pull out.

  “Of course not, I’ve been trying not to say it for about a week now,” I said and she looked at me in surprise. “I didn’t want to scare you away by saying it too early…but I do love you…I’m in love with you, whatever, all of the above. I’ve never felt this way with any other woman before and I don’t think I will, nor do I want to,” I said and then waited for Emily to say something, anything. All she did was stare at me with wide eyes and then she took a deep breath.

  “You…Adonis, you surprise me with something new about yourself every day and there’s never been a moment where I haven’t…loved being with you,” she admitted and then she looked down at her fingers, but I lifted her chin so that she could look at me.

  “I mean who else crashes into someone’s car, causes it to catch fire, and then makes that person fall in love with them? Only you,” she said and I smiled.

  “So you do…? You love me back?” I asked her and she laughed at my phrasing.

  “Yes, I love you back Adonis, I love you back,” she said and I couldn’t help but let out a whoop and then reach across the console to kiss her. She laughed while I kissed both corners of her mouth and then her lips once more.

  “So what do we do now?” I asked her and she pointed to my arm.

  “We go to the doctor remember?” she said and I sighed.

  “You already made it feel better, I don’t know why I still have to go,” I grumbled and she laughed.

  “You know, I think I should be driving come to think of it. You were given pain medication a few hours ago,” she said and I looked at her dubiously.

  “Are you sure you can drive this?” I asked her and she snorted.

  “Of course I can…in my dreams. Come on, we’ll use one the team’s car services,” she said. I cracked up as I took the key out of the ignition and got out of the truck. “That thing is huge, I don’t even know how you drive it. Don’t you have to get a whole other class of license to drive that?” she asked and I laughed again.

  “No, it just made the class E criteria,” I said. I put my arms around her shoulders and we walked back into the stadium together.

  “Well, at least that car will never be hit and blown up by a little sports car,” she said and I smiled wide.

  “Right and the engine is loud enough to drown out someone’s smart mouth,” I said and she grinned up at me innocently. I bent down to kiss her and had to force myself to stop as photographers and reporters were still milling around and loving our open display of affection.

  “So since we’re in love and all, can I meet your family?” I asked her and she laughed out loud.

  “Actually, that’s not a bad idea. I think they will love you and finally stop giving me a hard time for not having a man in my life,” she said and I grinned.

  “See that’s what I’m here for, making you laugh and charming your family so that you have no choice but to love me,” I smiled at her and she gave me the cutest grin.

  “Stop. You’re making my cheeks hurt. We’re being too gushy,” she said and I laughed again.

  “You’re perfect, you know that?” I told her and she nodded as if she knew that full well.

  “I’m perfect for you and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she said. I gave her one more dramatic kiss where I swept her off her feet before we continued walking hand in hand.

  THE END

  Bonus Story 9 of 40

  Dragon’s Oath

  Brida's father and his people had been at war with their neighbors for as long as she could remember, at least the past twenty years if not longer, and things were not balanced in their favor. Lord Ulric had not seen fit to educate his daughter in the ways of war, but she knew her brothers well, and she had learned more than perhaps Ulric wanted over the course of her childhood. The last few battles had taken a particularly hard toll on their people, and one of Brida's brothers, Edmund, had been grievously injured. She herself had been moved from place to place in Ulric's constant attempts to keep her from the hands of his enemy. Now they had finally returned to their keep, but only because Ulric's troops had been decimated and he had recalled his men and his generals to the center of his domain where they could try and find some new tactic to
push back the invaders.

  Brida had been tasked with making sure that her brother was well taken care of, which consisted of her mostly tending to him herself and having the servants fetch her what she needed. He seemed calmest when she was the one at his bedside, and she hardly had anything else to be doing. Ulric had gathered all of his commanders in the great hall, including Edmund and Brida's eldest brother Eldric, and they had been in there for the better part of the day. Brida wasn't even sure they had eaten. She had bread and ale brought to try and get Edmund to eat something, but when he refused she ate it herself.

  She saw no solution, but perhaps she simply didn't have the same mind for military matters that the men in her family did. Still, to her it looked like the easiest thing to do would to be surrender and give the invaders what they wanted. Things were grim enough to start, and now there were rumors of tall fair-haired barbarians raiding along the shores in the south. It was hardly the time to be squabbling when simple diplomacy could resolve matters. After all, Ulric had the perfect bargaining chip. Brida was young still, and unmarried. There had to be someone her father could marry her off to in order to stop the hostilities before his people and his family were completely wiped off the face of the earth.

  Edmund groaned, his face contorted in pain, and squirmed on his bed. Brida shushed him and smoothed his dark hair back from his face. By the time he had been returned home infection had already set into the wound on his leg. The healer had done the best he could to treat it, and the wound was looking far better than it had, but he was in the throes of a fever, constantly in and out of sleep and in so much pain it made Brida's heart ache. She motioned for one of her ladies to bring the bowl of water and wet the rag that lay draped over the side, squeezing out the excess before dabbing sweat off of Edmund's brow. He calmed eventually, settling back into his restless sleep and feverish dreams.

  She sat back in her chair and muffled a yawn with the back of her hand. She had been awake almost all night making sure that Edmund's thrashing didn't re-open his wound and the lack of sleep was catching up with her. She hoped that her father's meeting would be over soon so that she could switch places with Eldric and let him watch over their brother for a while. By the way things had been going so far she doubted that would happen any time soon. Sure that Edmund was asleep, at least for the moment, she rose from the chair and stretched her aching back, bracing her hands and letting out a long sigh.