Blur: A Sports Romance

by Piper Page

  How could I explain it to him? “I’ll uh, introduce you later, at the after party.”

  Emmet shook his head and laughed. “Great game. Glad you got back in there.”

  “Thanks man. You did amazing.”

  “You coming?”

  I nodded. “After I shower up, I’ll be there.”

  “Okay.” Emmet walked out the door, along with the majority of the team. Cameras and reporters were waiting for them all.

  The hot water felt amazing. The showers were empty, and I thought about how when I did get out and towel off, the last of the guys would be out, and I could think for a moment in peace. I needed to let myself absorb what had taken place in the last half hour. We had won the game after a devastating first half. It secured our place and put us on a straight road to the Super Bowl. Mallory got to see a super exciting game…and I may have just singlehandedly put her life in jeopardy.

  I towel-dried my hair, pulled on a fresh pair of jeans and socks, and tied my shoes before pulling on a hooded sweatshirt. I was rummaging through my gym bag for my keys when I heard the locker room door swing open and closed. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and my fingers moved to what I’d stowed at the bottom of my bag.

  My fingers gripped the cold metal handle of a gun, and I turned pointing it out away from me at G.

  I knew he’d be here. I knew that once I made my decision to win that he’d show up, and deep down, I knew this was the decision I had always planned to make, which is why I’d brought the pistol. What I hadn’t expected or planned for was how I would feel, staring down the barrel of his pistol that was poised and pointing back at me.

  “You fucked up, Maxwell. Royally.”

  I didn’t say anything, I held my gun steady.

  “I don’t have a choice now, Adrian. You left me no fucking choice.” His own gun shook with nerves, or anger, or pure frustration, I didn’t know. But it was clear he was agitated. “I need you to follow me out and go for a ride. I’m not asking.” He waved the gun towards the door. “Move. I’m on the hook for a lot of money here, and I’m not paying for your poor judgment.”

  I didn’t move.

  After a moment, G clenched his teeth and adjusted his grip. “Man, why do you have to fight all the time? Listen you can come with me now, or I send Nick and Luca over to your M and dad’s place over on Wildwood. Yeah, we know where they live—cute place. Too bad it’s gonna be a crime scene soon.”

  I tried to keep my cool. “Listen, G, do you have a name, or is it too hard for you to remember more than a letter?” I reached back in my duffle bag.

  “Hey hey, stop right there!”

  I kept my gun on him and lifted my cell phone into the air with my free hand. “Easy, G. Just grabbing my phone here, the same phone I had in my pocket the other night. You know, the night I mangled your friend’s face. How’s he doing, by the way? I hear make up works wonders for dual black eyes. Think the nose is a lost cause, sorry.”

  G scoffed a laugh. “I can blow that and all your fingers off right now. No more recording, buddy boy.”

  “Yeah you could. Where are your boys now?”

  “On the way to your childhood home.”

  I smirked. “You’d think that, but I’m one step ahead of you, G. See, I’ve already turned this recording into the police, and your little posse of mobsters are now on their way to the police station. Nick, Mr. Luca, Nicky Belini, and Johnny “Mugs” Marcciano, all apprehended as they walked out of the stadium. Think they might have cars waiting for your grand exit now too.”

  His face had changed from flustered flush to lighter than pale. “Fuck.”

  “Sorry friend, the gig is up. You lose, do not pass go, do not collect a single damn dime.”

  “God damn it, why didn’t I listen to her?” He blinked sweat out of his eyes, knuckles white on his gun.

  “Excuse me?”

  “My sister, why didn’t I listen to her? It had to be you, you had to do this, you had to not only destroy my plan, my job, my fucking life, but you had to steal my sister from me too!” His voice was cracking.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Mallory! My sister, Mallory!” he yelled.

  Now it was my turn to turn white, and his words hit me like a sack of bricks. “G…you’re, you’re Giovanni? Oh, Christ.” The man who’d been harassing me this whole time was Mal’s own brother.

  “She told you about me?”

  “Yeah man, of course she did! You’re an asshole. Do you have any idea how wonderful your sister is? How much she cares about you? Damn it, why do you have to be her brother?” My head was swimming with emotions. Why did he have to be part of her? I’d wanted to know him someday. I’d set it up in my head when she told me about him that he and I would have a commonality through her. That I would like him because she obviously did, in spite of his faults.

  I actually thought I might have another chance at a second brother figure, and now he had ruined it, shot it all to shit.

  “You knew about me and Mallory—how could you do this to her? She’s your sister, your only family, she loves you! How do you do this to someone you supposedly love? You could have ruined her life. Can you live with that?”

  I watched Giovanni’s gun drop and his shoulders slumped, eyes rimmed with red. “Fuck, of course I love her. She’s my sister. And she must be in love with you—I mean, the way she put me in my place the other day, she must. Damn it.” He rubbed his hands over his face. “She’ll be better off with you. I can’t give her anything good anymore, not now.”

  I was beginning to feel sorry for him, honestly. I knew this because of Mallory. She cared for him, I knew that. How would she feel about me turning him into the police? Would she hate me forever? I’d still lost her. Giovanni had won, I had lost. There was no money and no Mallory for either of us. I lowered my gun. Instant relief flooded my tense muscles. Giovanni stood there, looking sorry for himself as much as I felt sorry for me.

  “Listen, there’s a door out of here from the steam room. The police are probably looking for you to come out the front or one of the side gates. Go down the hall, two doors, past the sauna, and out the emergency exit. It should take them a while to realize you aren’t here anymore. Get out of town. Stay out of town. Don’t call, don’t text, in fact, don’t even get a cell phone. Find an honest job, learn a fucking trade that doesn’t involve gambling, extortion, or beating the crap out of people.”

  “Now you’re going to tell me what to do, like you know my life? Like you have all the damn answers?” His face was red again. He raised his gun and aimed at me again. I stood there my hands in the air. He could shoot me, but I wanted to believe he wouldn’t, for Mallory’s sake. We stood there for what seemed an eternity.

  Then Giovanni dropped the gun and ran from the locker room, leaving me alone with the cleanup of all that had occurred.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Mallory

  My head fell backwards as I laughed. Adrian poked at my sides, tickling me as he carried me in his arms across the threshold of the hotel penthouse suite. We were both a bit tipsy, having indulged on tall glasses of celebratory champagne. The whole team, Coach, and spouses, dates, and close friends, including Robbie and Leslie, gathered at Hooligans, a local establishment that had been reserved to celebrate the Mavericks’ victory. We danced and sang for hours, replaying the game, planning for the next and enjoying each other’s company. I finally got to meet Emmet when Adrian introduced me in a whisper, telling Emmet that he’d like him to meet his kitten. Emmet coughed and choked on his drink.

  “A pleasure to meet you. For the love of god, make him win every game like that from here on out.”

  I blushed deeply.

  “Hi there, stranger.” Leslie placed her knee in the back hollow of my own and made me stumble backwards as she laughed. “Who’s your friend?” she asked, knowing full well exactly who he was.

  I played along for her sake. “Why, Leslie Martino, this is Emmet Dawson. Emm
et, I’d like you to meet my oldest, dearest friend Leslie.” I watched as she placed her hand in his with an alluring smile.

  “Hi, Emmet.”

  “Hi, Leslie. Hey, have you ever considered coloring your hair blonde? I bet you’d look like a supermodel with blonde hair.”

  Adrian laughed a hearty laugh and raised his glass to the two of them. “Have fun.”

  My eyes searched for Robbie. I wondered if he had witnessed any of that. It wasn’t hard to locate him—his tall, lanky frame was a stark contrast to the majority of jocks in the room. To my sheer surprise, he was standing in a corner drinking a beer with a tiny ginger-haired girl. She was sporting a cool pair of emerald glasses and an oversized X-men t-shirt. All my heartache and doubt about how he would take Leslie’s new interest vanished. It turned out to be an excellent after-party, and now we were here, me and Adrian, all by ourselves continuing the celebration.

  I kissed his mouth, holding his face as he stood me up on my feet in the middle of the expansive and expensive room. “You remember our promises?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Good. Don’t move.”

  I tried not to wobble in my tipsy state.

  “Lift your arms up.”

  I gave him a sultry look and slowly raised my arms up high.

  Adrian slid my sweatshirt up over my head. He tossed it to the floor, then repeated the actions with the t-shirt underneath. I was happy for the false warmth in my body. Adrian circled around behind me, and I felt his mouth between my shoulder blades. He took the length of my ponytail in his hand and firmly used it to turn my head to the side and angle it so that the side of my neck was fully exposed to his greedy mouth. He sucked and bit at my skin, leaving marks along the chords of my neck. It felt amazing, and I pouted when the intensity of it stopped.

  “You like a little firmness, don’t you kitten?”

  “Yes.”

  “Call me ’sir.’”

  My mouth dropped open.

  “What, why?

  “Because the first day I laid eyes on you and heard that word come out of your mouth, that’s when I knew I wanted to fuck you.”

  My knees went weak.

  He bit down on my shoulder and spoke through the skin lightly clenched in his teeth. “Say it, please, kitten, say it.”

  “Yes, sir. I like it.” I moaned, and so did he. I wanted his mouth and his hands all over my body. I wanted to learn everything with him, tonight, now.

  My hands were still up in the air, and Adrian’s fingers moved to the clasp at the back of my bra. The weight of my breasts fell free from the material. Adrian added it to the building pile of my clothes. His hands trailed over the round mounds of flesh, twisting my nipples into hard nubs. I leaned my head back against his chest and lost myself in the feeling he was drawing from me with his touch. His hands slid down the soft roundness of my stomach and dipped beneath the waistband of my jeans.

  “These have to go. Take them off.” His whispered commands were demanding, but not mean.

  I let my hands drop to my pants and unbutton the brass button before pulling the zipper open and popping off my shoes. I bent over to pull the denim material from my legs, and Adrian swatted my silk clad bottom. I yelped and jumped forward. He watched and waited to see what I would say. I pulled my legs free, edged my panties down and kicked them away with my bare feet. With a swing of my hips and my inhibitions gone, I sauntered up to him, putting my face right up to his. “Do it again, sir.”

  Adrian grabbed me, and I screeched. He yanked back on my hair and attacked my mouth with his. His free hand smacked my bare ass again, and I yelped into the cavern of his mouth. The sting circulated from my lower cheek directly to the space between my legs. Who would have ever imagined little innocent Mallory liked it rough? “Are you going to fuck me now, Adrian?”

  He bit down hard on my bottom lip, and I cried out. “Yeah, kitten, I am.”

  I quivered.

  “I’m going to fuck you hard and long, and make you beg me to never stop, kitten.”

  I could feel the rush of moisture coat me.

  “Please,” I whimpered.

  Adrian was crazed with my pleas.

  He pulled me toward the couch, and I moved to lie down across its leather cushions. “No,” he intoned suddenly.

  I froze. “No?” I pouted.

  “Over here.” Adrian moved behind the back of the couch and patted the top of the back cushions. I slipped over obediently. He ran his fingers over my spine, and I arched my back. His hand clasped around the back of my neck, and he eased me forward over the back of the couch so that my bottom was poised in front of him. I placed my hands on the bottom seat cushions. Adrian used his foot to part my feet, opening my thighs to the cool air of the room. Maybe it wasn’t cool, maybe my insides were on fire and hot tea would feel cold on my skin right now.

  Adrian snapped his hand over my backside once more, and then I felt his fingers part the wet folds between my legs. He rubbed me to climax, then slid his fingers deep inside me. I thought I would pass out. Was it possible to faint with pleasure? His body moved behind me, and I gasped when is fingers were replaced with a hardness that I tightened my inner muscles around. Adrian dug his sticky fingers down my bare back and growled. His hands found my hips, and soon, he was pulling me hard back into him. I rocked on my toes as my torso pressed into the soft leather under me. Adrian groaned and pulled away with a sudden step backward. I thought he might have tripped and fallen over from too much champagne. When I looked back, he was trying to regain control. I took the opportunity to try something I’d been toying with in my head. I walked to him and dropped to my knees.

  “Oh my sweet, sweet, hungry kitten.” he growled.

  I stared up at him with greedy eyes. My fingers pressed at the top of his pants, moving all the material down off his massive thighs, down to his feet where he stepped free of the restrictive clothing. He pulled his shirt from his torso, and now we were both completely naked. I devoured his body with my eyes and my hands. I took a deep breath and opened my mouth. The taste of myself and his taut flesh was astounding, and I moaned around the fullness in my mouth. Adrian tangled his fingers in my messed-up hair. He guided me in the rhythm and motion he wanted. I felt the pooling of spit and wondered what I should do.

  “Swallow, kitten.”

  I obeyed, and he took the opportunity to move deeper into my throat. My gag reflex kicked in, and I pulled back. Adrian laughed and lifted me to my feet. “We’ll work on that another time. I need to be inside you right now.”

  He lifted me off my feet and carried me to the king-sized bed. I watched him crawl over me and felt him slip with ease back where he had been minutes before. I clawed at his chest. “More,” I begged.

  Adrian picked up his pace. A light sheen of perspiration glistened on his shoulders. He was working hard to hold back, or to drive deep—I didn’t know or care. My body was in a new zone of bliss. The rolling sensations had started, and they didn’t show signs of stopping. I felt my body thrashing beneath him, heard my voice cry out and plead with him. Felt his hands hold my legs up above his shoulders as I trembled on the strewn covers of the bed. Adrian yelled, cursed, and finally dropped his weight on top of me as his orgasm ripped through his body. I had never experienced anything as intense as this moment, and I didn’t know how we’d top it, but god, I hoped we’d try.

  I thought we both fell asleep for a short span of time. Our bodies were utterly depleted of energy. When I opened my eyes again, Adrian had moved to the side of me. We were tangled in sheets and blankets, and I wasn’t not sure how we managed to unmake the bed. I tuned to my side so I could look at his sleeping form better. The windows were still wide-open and the moonlight streamed in and created a silver highlight over his hair and skin. I traced the line of his arm and his shoulder without touching him. How did this happen? How did I find this magic man?

  His eyes opened. “Hi gorgeous.” He smiled and reached out to brush a strand of loose hair from
my face. “It wasn’t a dream.”

  I tried to bite back my smile. “No dream, but it was as amazing as one.”

  “Do you want a drink?”

  “Water?”

  “Mmm, yes, perfect.” He rolled to his side, and I watched his naked body walk across the room. He opened the mini fridge and took out two chilled bottles of water before he crawled back up to me from the foot of the bed. I propped my body up on the numerous pillows and sipped at the refreshing liquid.

  “I saw my brother at your game today.”

  Adrian’s muscles stiffened next to me. I don’t know why I brought it up. But I needed to be honest with him. I needed to tell him everything. And I needed the same from him, especially now that I was positively in love with him.

  “Did my brother and his so called friends give you that black eye?”

  He hesitated. “Yeah.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief because he was honest. I knew the answer already. “I am so sorry. Giovanni’s an asshole who’s far too protective of me. I didn’t think he’d go that far.”

  Adrian sat straight up. “Mallory you think this,” he pointed to his eye, “is because I’m dating you?”

  “You just said…”

  Adrian took my hands. “We need to talk.” I listened to him tell me how Giovanni asked him to throw the game. He told me he didn’t know that Giovanni was my brother. He said that he never connected us, but now, he understood why the first time he saw Giovanni that he thought he looked familiar, because we look alike. It wasn’t evident when we apart, but now that he knew us both and made the connection in his mind’s eye, it was quite clear.

  He went on to explain the meeting at the gym and how he thought his prick of a team owner was involved, except it turned out that this Mike Richardson was just that—a rich prick, nothing more. He told me about how Giovanni tried to blackmail him with pictures and his past trouble with the police. We’d have to revisit that later. Then he talked about the night of our “dessert” in the park, Nick and Luca were with Giovanni after he watched me drive off. They tried to fight him, unsuccessfully, and Giovanni threatened to hurt people around him after Adrian had kicked both Nick’s and Luca’s asses.