by B. B. Hamel
“I said I’m not doing it.”
“Yeah, I know what you said. But if you don’t do it, I’ll leak our little secret to the media, and maybe I’ll break your fucking knees for good measure.”
I stared at the man named Rafa, surprised by the anger rising up inside me. This man was dangerous, probably a killer, but the only thing I wanted to do was beat his ass down into a bleeding little pulp. I figured I could do it, too, though I wasn’t sure if he’d actually kill me or not.
I didn’t have to make that decision. I heard someone come up the stairs and stop at the top. I looked over, and Avery was staring at us.
Rafa looked over at her and then back at me. “Consider my proposal, Gibson,” he said. “Decide fast.” Rafa walked away, nodding at Avery as he passed.
Avery watched him go and then looked at me, confused. “Who was that?”
I sighed, shaking my head. “You don’t want to know.”
“Gibson,” she said, sounding worried, “tell me.”
“That man was from the mafia,” I said. “He wants me to throw a game for them or else he’s going to expose me and maybe break my knees. I don’t know. The threat was a little vague.”
“Gibson,” she said softly.
“I told him no,” I said. “I’m not getting involved with them anymore, Avery.”
“Do you have a choice? You can’t risk them exposing you.”
I smirked at her. “What happened to you wanting me to stay far away from them?”
“Of course that’s what I want, but I also don’t want you to lose your entire life because of me.”
“It’s fine,” I said to her, shaking my head. “I’m not doing it. I’ll figure something else out.”
She looked terrified, but I gently got her into the apartment. “We’ll talk more about it later,” I said softly to her. “I have to get going soon.”
She nodded and went through the routine with me. She wrote down her data in her notebook while Hynes cracked jokes.
She laughed with Hynes, but I could see the fear in her eyes. She was terrified of what I had gotten myself into, and I didn’t blame her.
I was in deep. The mafia clearly wasn’t going to let me go so easily.
I had to figure something out, and fast.
28
Avery
The look that man gave me as he left Gibson’s apartment building was burned into my mind. It was sly and cocky but full of malice. Frankly, he terrified me, and I knew instantly what kind of man he was.
Gibson didn’t try to deny it. I was happy that we were past trying to lie to each other, but I was terrified about the implications of that man’s visit. Gibson tried to downplay it, of course, but I knew what was going on.
As soon as he got involved with the mafia, they had him. They could do whatever they wanted with him, including blackmailing him, just because he had done that thing for them. They had nothing to lose by going public, and Gibson had everything at stake.
And that terrified me. He had made this life-changing decision, and now he was thrown into this horrible situation. I didn’t know what he was planning on doing about it, but I was afraid for him.
It was Tuesday morning and I was over at his apartment again, in a sleepy haze of no coffee and pregnancy aches. I took his vitals and said hello to Hynes before walking with him back to campus.
“What are you going to do with all this data anyway?” he asked me as we headed down a thin path between buildings.
“I’m not sure yet,” I admitted. “I need to get some control data, someone who isn’t a top athlete.”
He laughed and gestured. “Plenty of that around.”
“Good idea. I’ll just go up to random guys and ask if I can study them.”
“That’ll work, but not in the way they hope, I bet.”
“Oh I’m sure they’d want me to study them right in the middle of campus.”
“You’d be surprised. You’re a good-looking girl.”
I laughed, shaking my head. “Why do you think all guys only want to fuck me?”
“They do,” he said. “I mean, more or less. If you wanted to sleep with almost any guy on campus, you could probably make that happen, assuming they’re all single at least.”
“So I can have sex with any single guy I want?”
“Exactly.”
“That’s just dumb.”
He laughed and shrugged. “Yeah, probably. You should do a study about it.”
I rolled my eyes and he laughed again as we stopped at a fork in the path. He needed to go right, and I needed to go left. We split up at this point every day we walked together, and every day I wished I had a few more minutes with him.
Today, instead of nodding and grunting goodbye, he pulled me against him. I was so surprised, but I didn’t offer any resistance. He kissed my lips, and I was positive people were staring.
When he was done, I put my hands on his chest. “What was that for?”
“Marking my territory.”
I hit him gently, smiling. “Come on, seriously?”
“No, not seriously. But this is my territory, isn’t it?”
I shook my head. “Nope. I’m not a piece of land or something.”
“Fine.” He kissed my neck. “You’re not my territory. You’re just mine.”
“Okay,” I said. “That’s better.”
He kissed my lips again and then let me go. “See you after practice, science geek.”
“Later, jock.”
He grinned and then started walking again. I stared after him for a second, breathless, before finally heading off to class.
I moved through the day in a light daze, mindless and smiling to myself. That hadn’t exactly been some big profession of love or whatever, but he’d admitted that he wanted me.
I finished up class and then headed over to Gibson’s apartment. He had already gone through his afternoon practice while I was sitting through a biology lecture. I knocked and Hynes answered.
“He’s late,” Hynes said.
“What?”
“Gibson’s late. Come on. You can wait inside.”
“Oh,” I said, and headed in. Hynes nodded at the couch and then disappeared back into his room.
This was unlike Gibson. He didn’t normally run late. He had only a few minutes to himself after practice and before tutoring, and he normally used that time to scarf down some food while I hovered around him.
He showed up a few minutes later, a little out of breath and sweating.
“Hey,” he said. “Sorry.” He threw his stuff down. “Let’s do this.”
I guided him to the couch. “You okay?”
“I’m great,” he said, grinning. “I have a little surprise for you actually.”
“What’s that? There’s not a ring in your pocket or something?”
He laughed. “No. Not yet. Maybe after I get drafted or something.”
“Oh great. Now I have something to look forward to.”
He grinned at me. “How would you like to watch me lift weights?”
I sighed as I went through my vitals routine. “I don’t know. Sounds boring.”
“For your study.”
“Ah,” I said. “Well then. Maybe.”
“I got us some time at the gym after closing, for real this time. No sneaking in the back door.”
“Seriously?”
“Yep, seriously.”
“That’d be really good for the study,” I said slowly. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.” He took my chin and pulled me close. “Now say thank you.”
“Thanks,” I said, smiling.
He kissed me. “Anything, anytime.”
I finished up his vitals and he got up. “All right, I’m going to rinse off and then run the hell out of here. I’ll see you later?”
“Sure. See you later.”
“Same time as last time.”
I nodded, grabbed my bag, and then watched him disappear into the bathroom. I
wished I could follow him in there and watch the water run down his body, but instead I turned and reluctantly left.
A few hours passed, and I found myself standing outside the gym again.
It felt pretty familiar, standing there alone in front of the closed gym. This time, though, I had a pretty good idea of what was actually happening.
Gibson showed up a few minutes later. He smirked at me as he approached. “Ready to see how a real man lifts?”
“Can’t wait,” I said, sarcastic.
“Come on.” He opened the front door and I followed him in. A man was standing behind the front desk, and he nodded at Gibson as we approached.
“Thanks for this, Jim,” Gibson said.
“No problem. Just lock up on your way out.”
“Will do.”
The man smiled at me and then headed out, carrying a bag.
“Who was that?”
“The manager here,” Gibson said. “He’s a friend of the football team.”
“Everyone is around here,” I said.
“That’s true.”
I followed Gibson into the gym. We headed right over to the back part of the space. He shut a pair of heavy double doors, closing us into the room together.
He took off his shirt and I got out my equipment. I strapped him up to the Holter monitor again and started getting his baseline vitals before we began.
“So, how much weight should I lift?” he asked.
“We’ll start out small.”
“Aw, come on, let me show off these guns.” He flexed, smirking at me.
“Right now, I’m the scientist. You’ll do as I say.”
“Damn, girl. I think I like that.” He laughed.
I blushed. “Cut it out. This is professional.”
“Yeah, right.”
I finished setting him up and then he went and began his lifting routine.
“I’m keeping it light at first, as requested,” he said. “The lifting coach gave me the green light to do this routine for you, so don’t worry about my training.”
“I wasn’t worried,” I said.
“My body is a machine, you know,” he said. “Any change could throw me off.”
“Oh yeah. You’re such a machine.”
He smirked and kept lifting his weights. I tried to concentrate on the data streaming into my laptop from the heart rate monitor, but I kept glancing up at his muscles. He was clearly enjoying himself and was playing it up for me, lifting slowly and making faces.
I couldn’t help but smile. I wasn’t used to this side of Gibson. Normally he was so serious, but he suddenly seemed like he was letting down some kind of guard. He was actually really funny and lighthearted when you got past all that other crap.
And I was realizing more and more that everything else didn’t matter. I was pregnant with Gibson’s baby, and Gibson wanted me. As far as I was concerned, everything else was just a circus. All of the pressure he was under, the money and the fame, it was irrelevant to me. The only thing I cared about was him, the man in front of me lifting weights and making jokes.
That was the man I wanted. That was the only man I wanted, the one who made my heart skip beats in my chest.
He finished his initial routine and went through another one. I watched and took notes, taking down my data. An hour passed that way, and by the end Gibson was sweating and tired.
“Okay,” I said finally. “I think we’re done here.”
“Are you sure?” he asked. “I was just getting started.”
“I’m sure. I wouldn’t want to mess up your machine.”
“Good point. My coach would be very annoyed with you.”
“I’d get chased off campus with pitchforks and torches.”
He laughed. “Probably. They’d burn you as a witch.”
“This is Mater Dei after all.”
He was sitting on the bench press as I took the electrodes off his skin. My fingers pressed against his chest, and he reached up, taking my wrist.
“Did I hurt you?” I asked.
“No,” he said, looking at me with an intense expression I recognized. “You didn’t hurt me at all.”
“Gibson,” I said, but it was too late. He pulled me against him and kissed me hard.
I knew this was coming, and I could have been prepared, but as soon as he touched me, I was completely lost, taken by him. He had a way about him, and I couldn’t resist it.
He kissed me hard and began to unbutton my jeans.
“Someone could come in,” I said, shaking my head.
He pulled my jeans down over my hips, ignoring me. He kissed my stomach and slowly pulled my panties down.
“Gibson, remember the janitor?”
“How could I forget?” he murmured, kissing along my stomach and down toward my hipbones.
“He could come in,” I reminded him.
“He won’t,” Gibson said.
“How do you know?”
He looked up at me and grinned. “Because I gave him a twenty earlier and told him to ignore this room for as long as those doors were shut.”
I stared at him, shocked. “Gibson!”
He just grinned at me and pulled my panties down. I gasped and put my hands on his shoulders as his mouth found my pussy.
“Shit,” I said.
“Wet already,” he mumbled. “Just how I like you.”
“Oh god.” I bit my lip as he began to lick my clit, sucking at me. He wasn’t messing around as he ate me, starving and intense.
I couldn’t believe he had bribed the janitor. I shouldn’t have been surprised, since that was the sort of thing Gibson would do, but still. He had bribed a man because there was a chance Gibson would get my clothes off.
Or let’s be honest. There was more than a chance. As soon as Gibson took his shirt off and began lifting those weights, I was dripping wet and he knew it. There was no question that I’d be like putty in his hands, or his mouth.
Which was exactly what happened. He sucked and licked my clit, working me, his tongue rolling around my skin, and I just held on to his shoulders.
He tugged my jeans down to my ankles and I stepped out of them. He stripped my panties off and spread my legs wide. He grabbed my ass and pulled me against his mouth, kissing and sucking me.
I wouldn’t fight him even if I could. It just felt too damn good to try to stop it. His mouth knew exactly what I wanted and what felt right as he licked and worked me.
He suddenly pulled me down into his lap, my legs straddling him. He kissed my neck and my lips as I ran my fingers through his hair.
“You know what? All I do is think about how you taste,” he said softly in my ear. “All day long I think about it. I think about this pussy against my lips, the way you moan and squirm as I work you. I think about you slowly riding my cock.”
I reached down between his legs and found his cock, hard as hell in his gym shorts. I began to stroke him. “Oh yeah?”
“That’s right,” he said. “I think about every fucking inch of you.”
He stood up and moved me back. I watched as he stripped off his shorts and briefs. I pressed myself against him again, stroking his thick cock as I kissed him. I loved the feeling of his powerful muscles against me as his fingers moved into my hair. He tipped my head back and kissed my chin.
“I want to see you slide that pussy down my cock,” he said. “Right here, right now.”
He sat back down on the bench and pulled me back onto him. I spread my legs, straddling him again, but this time I slowly lowered myself down onto his thick cock.
I was soaking wet, and he easily slid deep inside me. I felt him press into me, every inch soaking and thick as he filled me. I stayed there, his cock deep inside me, and kissed his lips.
It was the most intimate and close I’d ever felt with someone. He stared into my eyes as I slowly began to ride his cock, rolling my hips up and down. I wrapped my arms around his neck as his hands helped guide my hips up and down, firmly cupping my ass.
It was absolute ecstasy. I took him in and out, our foreheads pressed together, his grunts in time with my soft moans. It was powerful as much as it was sexy, and thrills and waves of pleasure rocketed down my spine.
He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close, kissing my lips and pressing my hips down on his cock. He held me there, kissing me hard, before suddenly standing and lifting me. I laughed as he turned me, laying me on my back on the bench and spreading my legs wide.
He slowly pressed his cock deep inside me. “I need to come deep inside you,” he said. “I love seeing these legs spread wide for me, this pussy dripping wet.”
He began to fuck me like that, his thick cock sliding deep inside me, his skin slapping against my skin. I groaned as I took him, holding onto the bar supports above my head.
He began to work my clit with his fingers, fucking me on the bench press. His cock pushed harder into me, and I could feel my sweat rolling down my skin. Pleasure and desire rocketed through my brain.
He pulled back and took my hips, turning me around. I stood, straddling the bench, as he sat back and slowly pulled my hips back against him. I felt his cock slide deep inside me from behind as he began to fuck me.
I was totally lost in him again, completely out of my mind with the need for his cock. He pushed deeper and harder inside me, and I began to work myself back, sliding along his length, working his cock. I rode him like that, his hands rough on my hips.
He slapped my ass and I moaned. I could feel sweat dripping off my body as he fucked me and I rode him back, pushing harder and harder. I rode him wildly, letting his thick thrusts fill my pussy over and over again. He slapped my ass again and then slipped his hands around my hips to work my clit.
I could feel it coming. I could feel the orgasm inches away as I rode back, fucking him, slamming my body down against him.
“I’m coming,” I whispered.
“Say it louder,” he commanded.
“I’m coming,” I said again.
“Again,” he commanded.
“Oh fuck, Gibson, I’m coming.”
He took my hips and slammed his cock inside me, fucking me savagely and roughly as the orgasm hit me. I gripped the bench as he continued to fuck me and I lost control of my body. It spasmed and twitched, and I moaned his name, a smile on my face. I came hard on his thick cock, and he kept fucking me, working me.