Corbin grabbed my face and joined our lips.
He tasted like coffee and his own familiar taste, and I swirled my tongue with his, feeling like my heart was about to burst. With love, joy, excitement. All of it. He hadn’t said yes, but his actions said it for him.
“Damn you,” he muttered after breaking our lip lock, staring down at me with playful anger. “I wanted to propose to you. You devil.”
“Too bad, so sad,” I said and grinned when he snarled his upper lip. I met him for another slow kiss, and I ran a hand up his bare chest, loving the warmth of him. “So on our wedding invitations, it should say, ‘you are invited to witness Cunter’s union,’ because we might as well take advantage of our awesome ship name.”
Corbin laughed, and my stomach fluttered at the sound. I wanted to spend the rest of my life hearing that sound.
“I thought the invitation could say something like this,” Corbin said before clearing his throat. He focused on me with a serious expression, but I noticed his lips twitch a little. “Two households, both alike in dignity—”
“Hell no,” I said before shoving his chest. “You ass. We are not having a Romeo and Juliet wedding. Forget it.”
“Ah you killed my dream. Killed it, I tell you.” Corbin grabbed his fork and held it upward, staring at it with a gleam in his eyes. “This is thy sheath,” he quoted from the play. He brought it down on his stomach. “There rust, and let me—”
“Stop being a drama queen,” I interjected, but seeing his dead face—tongue sticking out and his eyes closed—I busted out laughing.
It was those small moments in life that made me step back and appreciate them for what they were: memories I’d hold onto forever because they told of a time when we were happy and in love.
Small, seemingly insignificant moments that would end up meaning the most.
Chapter 28
Corbin
Leaving Hunter was difficult, but knowing I’d be seeing him again soon helped dull the ache. I was heading back to Kansas City for offseason workouts, and in two weeks—maybe sooner—Hunter would join me there.
As I walked toward Austin and some of the other guys on the team, I tried not to let my exhaustion show. Knowing it’d be a bit before we saw each other again, Hunter and I had stayed up all night and into the early morning fucking each other’s brains out. Even though I was tired, I didn’t regret a minute of it.
That was until we started working out, and I did squats and wall-sits. Yeah, anyone who said bottoms were weak needed a fucking reality check. It wasn’t exactly a walk through the damn park to have a thick dick up your ass. But then that thought got me thinking about Hunter and said thick dick, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from pitching a tent in front of all my teammates.
“Anyone giving you shit yet?” Austin asked after we finished cardio. We were done for the day. He wiped the sweat from his brow before running the towel through his glistening blond hair.
“Not anyone I know,” I answered, grabbing my water bottle. I took a drink and sat on the bench. “Just the usual social media trolls. Guys on the team seem okay with it. Why? Have you heard anything?”
Austin shrugged. “Nah. Basically just what you said.” He fist bumped my arm. “If anyone on the team was giving you shit, I was gonna set them straight. No one messes with my boy.”
“Better watch that kind of talk,” I said, arching a brow. “People might think you’re my bitch.”
Austin laughed and shoved me before walking toward his locker. “Man, everyone knows you’d be my bitch.”
I rolled my eyes and grabbed a towel, walking into the showers.
It was then I noticed it—the way some of the guys looked at me as I entered the room. Brian, one of the linemen, shot me a look before turning his body away from me. Another guy, Anthony, didn’t shield himself or anything, but he kept an eye on me as I passed him. I tried to hide the hurt I felt and went to one of the showers.
No one said anything bad to me, but they didn’t have to. Their behavior was just as big of a slap in the face.
The days passed, and as they did, the guys on the team stopped being so weird around me. Not all of them, but most. Brian still gave me strange looks and acted like I was going to jump him sometimes, but the other guys began treating me normal again.
Hunter and I talked every night, and we had cam sex a few nights a week. I missed actually being with him, though, and I was counting down the days until he was with me.
I thought about how that could’ve been our lives for the past seven years: if he hadn’t dumped me over the phone and we had tried to make it work. However, we’d been in different mindsets back then, and maybe if we would’ve stayed together, we would’ve fucked it up beyond repair.
I was a firm believer in everything happened for a reason. Hunter and I had gone through hell so that we could come out on the other side, stronger and more in love than we’d ever been.
“Is it May twenty-fifth yet?” I asked over the phone, laying on my side on the couch and staring out the balcony window.
“Be patient,” Hunter said. “How’re things going? Are the guys still acting weird around you?”
“Nah, they’re cool now.” I flipped onto my back and stared up at the ceiling. “They wanted me to go out and party with them tonight, but I said no. How’s Daniel doing?”
“Better,” Hunter answered. “Things seem to be going great with his mom. All of the kids miss you.”
“Yeah, they probably just miss you being mean to me in class.”
Hunter laughed, and I held the phone closer to my ear. I was so lovesick it was ridiculous.
“Veronica called me the other day,” I said, saying whatever came into my head just so I could keep talking to him. It was late, but I wasn’t ready to say goodbye. “She met some guy in Paris named Raoul and I guess things are getting serious between them.”
“That’s great,” he responded before yawning. “She deserves to be happy. When does the magazine come out? The one y’all did in Florida.”
“Next week,” I answered.
We talked for about ten more minutes before the poor guy started sounding all raspy and tired. As much as I didn’t want to, I told him goodnight and we got off the phone. The silence of my house was deafening, and the loneliness was suffocating.
After getting off the couch, I plugged my phone into the stereo before selecting a music playlist and hitting play.
I loved a variety of music, so it played Five Finger Death Punch and then right after a Johnny Cash song came on. I lay on the couch and was almost asleep when I heard the next song start to play. And just like that, my eyes started stinging, and I flipped to my side, hugging a pillow to my chest.
Tangled Up In You by Staind.
Back in high school, it’d been mine and Hunter’s song. One time when we’d been making out in my truck, pulled off on the side of the road like we used to do all the time, it had come on the radio. I’d sung it to him under my breath as he laid his head on my shoulder.
After we’d had our falling out, it had seemed to play everywhere, as if reminding me of what I’d lost.
Little did I know how much those lyrics would actually come to be true. Seven years without him, and I was still completely wrapped up in him. Today, tomorrow, and until my heart stopped beating, I’d always belong to him.
***
Nearly two weeks later, I received some news that had the potential to change the course I’d set for my future. The plan had been to play one last season and then meet the degree requirements to coach high school football. To settle down with Hunter and live the American dream—well the dream I’d come to realize I wanted. One of a small town, spending each day with the love of my life and growing old with him.
And then those plans sort of did a one-eighty on me.
I was offered three more years with the Raptors, and that included a four million dollar signing bonus.
“You don’t have to accept right no
w,” I was told. “We need an answer by June, though.”
Hunter was on his way to Kansas City—he was driving instead of flying since it was only a five hour trip—and I sat outside on my balcony, waiting for him. And yeah, stressing out a little bit.
Once again…something was threatening to get in the way of our happily ever after.
When I’d made the move to Willow and started planning out a different course for my future, I’d really believed I was going to be released from the Raptors. That my contract would run up, and I’d do something else with my life. I never thought they’d want to extend that contract.
It was as if I was being tested or something.
I had a flashback of the day by the lake when I told Hunter I was going to attend USC. That I was leaving him behind. More than anything I wanted to erase the memory from existence, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t forget the hurt in his brown eyes when I shoved him to the ground and told him he’d never make anything of himself.
He might’ve been the one to break up with me over the phone, but I’d been the one that set it all into motion. The spark that had ignited the flame.
My phone vibrated, pulling me from the past.
Hunter: Hey you. I just pulled in.
Reading his text, my worries went to the back of my mind, and I jogged outside to meet him. He’d just gotten out of the car when I neared him and wrapped my arms around his waist, drawing him to my chest.
“Cor, what—”
I kissed him, cutting off his words, and the piece of me that I’d left with him was finally back in place. Whole once more.
Hunter moaned against my lips and tangled his fingers in my shirt, holding me close. He hadn’t shaved in a few days, and his stubble tickled me as I moved from his mouth and kissed along his jaw.
Leaving his luggage in the car, we went into the house before working our way to my bedroom. We bumped into the furniture along the way as we grabbed at each other’s bodies and kissed.
I needed him too much to think of anything else, and by the way he attacked my mouth and pulled at my clothes as we went down the hall, I knew he felt the same.
Once we got to the room, we wasted no time before stripping out of our clothes and collapsing together on the bed. I’d wanted to make love to him and not rush the moment since it’d been so long since I’d seen him, but I was too fucking horny.
Thank god he was too.
“Fuck me, Cor,” he demanded, digging his fingers into my hip as I settled between his spread legs.
“I like it when you’re bossy,” I said with a grin before grazing my teeth down his neck and farther down to his chest. I swirled my tongue around his nipple while I tweaked the other with my hand. “And when you moan.”
He arched his back and flung his head back on the mattress, giving me a delicious view of his Adam’s apple and strong neck. My gaze moved from his throat and to his toned chest, and I smoothed my hand down his ribs as I watched him writhe beneath me.
I stiffened even more at the sight and knew I wouldn’t be able to tease him much longer before fucking him senseless.
My mouth watered at the thought of tasting him, so I slid farther down his body and took him between my lips. His dick twitched at my touch and his hands entwined in my hair. He whimpered as I flicked my tongue against his slit, and it was a sound that went straight to my balls.
“You’re so fucking sexy, Hunt.” I stroked his shaft as I peered up at him.
“What do you want to do about that?” He tilted his head to watch me, and his half-lidded eyes mixed with his messy brown hair and muscled torso made him the epitome of seduction.
I sucked him more, bringing him so close to the edge before pulling off his hard cock and squeezing his base to prevent him from coming. The moans had turned to frustrated growls, which pleased me just as much.
But soon, I couldn’t deny him anymore.
After finger fucking him and getting him as relaxed as possible, I used some lube and slowly pushed into him.
“Damn.” Hunter gripped the bed sheets and looked up at me with both pleasure and pain in his gaze.
“You okay?”
He nodded, and I kissed his slightly trembling lips as I moved farther inside him.
I tuned into his body, paying attention to his breathing, the tightness of his hold on me, and the soft sounds he made. Breaking our kiss, I looked at him as I went even deeper. He winced, and I nuzzled the side of his head, hating that he was hurting.
However, then the sting of it lessened, and he gripped my back with more purpose. I pulled out of him before driving my hips forward and pumping back into his heat, drawing a moan from both of us.
“I missed the feeling of you inside me,” he said, staring up at me with fuck me eyes. He parted his lips, and I captured his mouth, fusing our tongues as I continued fucking him.
The bed squeaked as I picked up my pace, pounding into him harder. When he dug his nails into my ass cheeks and moved his own hips upward, meeting each of my thrusts, I groaned and hung my head on his shoulder.
“Fuck.” I bit the base of his neck as he shuddered beneath me. “That’s it. Milk my dick, baby.”
Hunter gasped as I bit him, and his nails dug into me deeper, probably drawing blood but I didn’t give a fuck. “Mm. Don’t stop. Right there.”
I was in heaven as I fucked him, feeling his ass tighten as his orgasm took over. I reached between us and grabbed his dick, jerking him as cum shot onto his abdomen. And then I let myself go with him, coming so hard I nearly blacked out.
After rolling off him, I pulled him into my arms and pressed my lips to his forehead. My heart raced so fast that I heard the blood rushing in my ears. A damn weird feeling. Or maybe I was just so attuned to it because my body was crashing and I was sensitive to everything.
“We should be apart more often,” Hunter said, wrapping an arm around my waist and cuddling into my chest. “That was one hell of a reunion.”
I laughed and rested my cheek on his soft hair.
An ache tore through my chest, though. If I accepted the offer for three more years, that’d definitely happen: more time apart and postponing our plans…again.
I held him tighter.
“Everything okay, Cor?”
“Yeah,” I half-lied. “Just tired.”
I’d need to talk to him soon, but for now? I was going to put all of that shit out of my mind and make the most of my time with him.
History had a way of repeating itself, and as I lay there holding Hunter, I feared it might be true for us too.
Chapter 29
Hunter
Corbin was hiding something from me. There were moments when I caught him staring out the window or zoning, and when I’d get his attention, he’d look like a deer caught in headlights as he tried to remember what we were talking about.
Being a natural born worrier and pro at overthinking, the possibilities I kept coming up with did nothing to ease my anxiety.
Had he cheated on me before I got there?
No, don’t even go there, I told myself, knowing Corbin would never betray me like that.
Was he second-guessing us? Maybe me proposing to him freaked him out. Or perhaps, it had nothing to do with me or us, but rather something that happened to him.
“See you later, babe,” he said before hooking his arm around my waist and kissing my cheek.
I took the second to lean into him, already missing him. “Can we go out tonight?”
“Anything you want.” Corbin looked down at me with a smirk. His gray eyes were lighter that day, maybe because of the blue shirt he wore, and his dark blond hair stuck out a bit from his KC baseball cap. After kissing me quickly on the lips, he turned and grabbed his keys before heading toward the door. “I should be home around five.”
Then, I was alone.
His house had that modern, sleek appearance and was only two bedrooms. Nothing too huge, but the high vaulted ceilings and plethora of windows gave it
that hint of extravagance. Most of his stuff had been moved to Willow, so the place was a little bare.
Thank god I’d packed some books to help pass the time.
Hours later, I was most of the way through A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara and crying my eyes out, when there was a knock at the door. After marking my place in the book and wiping at my eyes, I cleared the lump in my throat and went to answer it.
The man standing on the other side of the door was beautiful. Intimidatingly so. He was an inch shorter than me and had dark brown hair, even darker eyes, and the kind of perfectly symmetrical face and soft features that most people—men and women—would’ve killed to have.
“Can I help you?” I asked, feeling drastically inadequate in my tattered jeans, uncombed hair, and baggy shirt.
The man’s brow narrowed as he gave me the up-down. “Oh. It’s you.”
The sneering way he said you gave me a great idea of who he was. Corbin had told me about William after he was outed, but the picture on William’s article didn’t do him justice. And I hadn’t really looked long at it, because jealousy had reared its ugly head.
That was normal, though, I supposed—getting just a little bothered at seeing your man’s irritatingly attractive ex.
I had the urge to slam the door in his face, but I inhaled and refrained from doing so. “Is there something you need? Because last I heard, Corbin was done with you.”
William squared his jaw. “Is he here?”
“No,” I answered, holding the edge of the door a bit tighter. Don’t slam it in his face. Don’t be that guy. “And even if he was, he wouldn’t want to see you.”
William’s gaze trailed to my neck. “Looks like our Corbin still likes it rough. He was always leaving hickies and bite marks all over me too. Made it such a pain in the ass sometimes to cover up.”
Oh, you shady mother fucker.
Don’t take the bait.
“Have a nice day, William,” I said, closing the door.
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