I laughed. “Mel?” when he nodded I sighed. “She’s a pain in the ass and she will argue with me until hell freezes over.” I told him.
He chuckled. “I like her she keeps your ass in line.”
I rolled my eyes. “No she doesn’t” I muttered and I could hear his full on belly laugh as he exited the gym.
Mel strolled over to me and offered me a hand to help me up. “Ready to go home?” she asked.
My eyebrows flew up. “Home?” I asked.
She shrugged and her cheeks went pink. “You know what I meant it was just a slip of tongue and all relax.”
I took her hand and pulled myself up. “Shut up it’s not that. I just never heard you refer to it as home before its fine…” I snatched her water bottle because I was still extremely thirsty. “Let’s go home.” I told her.
We trained fucking hard and the next thing I knew I was in the locker room getting ready for my first game back. I was nervous as hell; the last time I was on the court I fucked my ankle. I know that I would be under a lot of scrutiny about my performance tonight and I needed to make sure that I showed I’m worth it. We went out on the court and began running drills and it felt like everyone’s attention was zeroed in on me. Just before we began playing I heard a little voice that stood out amongst all the noise in the crowd.
I turned around and spotted Shakira waving her hands frantically. She was sitting with Mel and they were on the sideline behind the coach. He wanted Mel close so that she could basically babysit me and make sure that I don’t do anything stupid. “Go daddy!” she screamed and I waved.
Coach’s head snapped back to her and his eyes swung to meet mine. I gave him a shrug and a nod in acknowledgment and got into the game. Coach while he could be a pain in my ass, was a good dude and he treated his team like family. Sure he found out my secret, but everyone else around us was too preoccupied to notice her or the exchange. He would know, but wouldn’t say shit. That’s one of the reasons I respected the hell out of him.
When she cheered again it was like everyone else melted away and I was playing this for Shakira. I wanted her to see how good I was and be proud I was her dad. With that thought in my mind I got into the game and I went hard. I was conscience of my ankle but there was no pain, it felt better than ever. After the first quarter I was comfortable in my own skin. I would glance and wave at Kira any chance I got and her eyes lit up each time.
When the game was over I was completely exhausted but we had scraped the competition. I made 58 points and I felt great. I showered and got myself dressed eager to see Kira. She and Mel were waiting by the car when I came out and she jumped into my arms. “That was the best game ever!”
I smiled. “Thanks, I played for you.” I told her and she grinned.
We loaded her up into the car and headed back to the house. Shakira was out for the count when we got home and I’m grateful that coach made sure she had some franks and popcorn and shit at the game so she wasn’t hungry. He knew that Kira was Mel’s daughter but it wasn’t until she shouted for me did he get it. I went to my room and got things setup. When I was satisfied I went to Mel’s room and knocked on the door.
“Yea?”
I let myself inside. “Can you come over here for a minute?” I asked.
She looked at me confused but complied. I went into my room first and tugged her inside closing the door softly behind her. She gasped and looked around. “What is all of this?” she asked.
I shrugged. “Dinner.”
I had brought up one of the tables and two chairs from the patio and put a white sheet over it. There were two covered plates to the side along with a bowl of salad and desert. There was a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket. There were two long lit candles on the table and the silverware. I grabbed her hand and pulled her further inside while I dimmed the lights. “I can see the food but what’s all the rest of this?” she asked.
I sighed and made her sit before grabbing the single rose I had to the side along with the salad. I filled our bowls and took my seat. “This is my way of saying thanks for everything you did for me.” I admitted handing her the rose I was hiding from her view.
She gasped at the sight of the flower and took it from me with the corners of her mouth tilted slightly up. When her eyes went to the salad she frowned a bit. “What did I do?”
I smiled. “You fixed my ankle and you did a hell of a job. It’s been seven long months and I never told you that and I just thought you should know. Also you finally brought me Shakira she’s amazing and you did such a great job raising her.”
She blushed. “Nick you didn’t have to do all of this.”
I rolled my eyes. “Just shut up and enjoy it.” I scolded her.
She smiled and dug in. I tried not to stare at her but I couldn’t help stealing glances. It was true I could’ve taken her out or did something a lot more casual, even just came out and say it like I just did but a small part of me wanted this. I wanted to give her something special that we could enjoy together. When the food was done she put a hand to her stomach and groaned. “I’m stuffed.” She complained.
“You have to eat dessert.” I argued and she shook her head. I got up and got the strawberry cheesecake. When she saw it she moaned.
“You don’t play fair. You know that’s my favorite.”
I shrugged. “You know you want some.” I urged her. She shook her head and I scooped some onto the fork. I waved it in front of her face teasing her as she scowled. “Go ahead you know you want to.” She sighed and leaned forward to take a bite. She moaned in appreciation and I felt it down to my dick.
“Mel?”
“Yes?” she answered with her eyes still closed.
“Can you stop that?” I asked impatiently.
Her eyes opened and she frowned in confusion. “What?”
“The moaning and groaning and shit.” I fussed.
Her eyebrows hit her hairline. “What are you talking about?”
Now I groaned. “When you eat food you like, you make this noise like you’re totally turned on. It’s not working for me.”
She blushed. “Nick…”
I shrugged. “It’s true, you do that.” I pointed out.
She ducked her head to try to hide her embarrassment. She cleared her throat, “is this supposed to be a date?” she asked quietly.
I shrugged. “Honestly I don’t know. I just wanted to do this.” She nodded. “If this was a date what would come next?” I asked.
“A movie?” she asked. I got up and took down all of the dishes. I tossed the remote on the bed and gestured to her.
“Pick something while I move this table and stuff.” I told her. When I came back upstairs she had it paused at the beginning of some scary movie and she had already climbed in my bed. I blew out the candles and turned the lights off completely. I got in the bed beside her and pressed play. By the time we got halfway through the movie she had practically crawled on top of me. I wanted to laugh at her, I don’t get why she chooses to watch this shit knowing it’s going to scare her to death. It was a few times where I felt her actually shiver.
“Nick tell me when it’s over.” She said covering her eyes.
I rolled my eyes. “Why did you want to put this on if you aren’t going to watch it?” I asked.
“I am watching it.” she said and I saw her peek through her fingers at the TV and shut them back.
“You’re covering your eyes Mel. That’s not watching it.”
“That’s a scary part it doesn’t count. I’m going to watch when it’s over.” She pouted.
I couldn’t resist myself. Her bottom lip was poked out right into my face so I bent my head and nipped her lip. She sucked it into her mouth and gently released it. Her mouth was slightly opened as her breathing sped up. I felt it fan across my face and I kissed her full on the mouth. She moved her hands and gently pushed on my shoulders. I backed up off of her and met her eyes. She searched mine and I don’t know what she found but she brought
her arms up and wrapped them around my neck and pulled my head back down. My hands ran down her back until they were gripping her ass and she moaned. She tugged on my hair and I scooped her up putting her on my lap. She got comfortable and kissed me harder applying pressure for me to lean back. I lay flat on my back and she continued to straddle me. Her hands roamed down my chest until it reached the hem of my shirt and her hands crept underneath. She began feeling the lines of my abs and I shuttered in response.
I flipped us around so that I was on top of her and began kissing her from her chin and worked my way down. When I reached the neckline of her shirt I sighed. “Mel?” she didn’t answer and she wiggled beneath me. “Melanie.” I growled.
“Nick.” She said on a breathless whisper.
I groaned, “Fuck Mel!” I leaned down and kissed her lightly on her lips before falling to my side.
“I know Nick.” She whispered. She rolled off of the bed and stood up. She looked nervous and was trying her hardest to avoid looking at me. She wrung her hands together and cleared her throat. “Thank you for dinner and you know the movie and everything. I’m going to head to bed now.”
“Goodnight Mel.”
She walked to the door and looked back over her shoulder. “Goodnight Nick.” She whispered.
I was pissed the hell off when the door closed. I was strung so goddamn tight that I didn’t know what to do with myself. I had a massive hard-on and the girl I wanted was under the same roof as me. I picked up my phone and began scrolling through my contacts looking for a girl to get on top of. I looked at each name and I didn’t want one of them. I growled and threw my phone down on the bed. I changed to something funny and willed my body to cooperate with me and relax. It took more time than I would’ve ever thought but eventually my body complied and let me get sleep.
The next morning I got up and hopped in the shower. I packed a bag of clean clothes to throw on after practice and hurried to get ready, we needed to leave soon to get Shakira to school and me to practice and I didn’t want to miss breakfast. I threw on some sweats and a t-shirt and made my way downstairs. Mel was dressed in some yoga pants as she stood at the stove.
“What you cooking?” I asked.
She jumped and spun around. “Oh I’m making some bacon and eggs. It’s ready so we need to eat now.”
I took a seat next to Shakira. “Yes ma’am.”
“Hi daddy, do you have another game today?” she asked.
“No muffin, I only have practice. I don’t have a game every day.” I told her.
She frowned. “Can I go to practice?”
I laughed. “No, you have to go to school and I’ll be in practice until you get out.” I explained.
“Oh.” Was all she said as Mel brought over a plate filled with bacon and the pan with eggs. She placed the food on the table and grabbed plates. She gave Shakira her kiddy portion and put some food on her plate then loaded mine up with the rest.
“Thanks Mel.” I told her gratefully as I began to shovel eggs in my mouth. Her cooking was definitely better and I enjoyed having meals with my two girls. I paused mid chew as that thought ran into my head again. When did I start thinking of them as my girls? Shakira was but Mel wasn’t.
Mel scoffed. “I didn’t really have a choice. If I hadn’t fed you, you would’ve just eaten mine.” She told me confidently.
I chuckled. “So?”
She shook her head. “You eat… a lot Nick. I know better than to starve you.” I could only laugh.
“Mel?”
She looked up and met my eyes. “Yes?”
“Can you pick me up from practice?” I asked.
Her eyebrows raised and she looked at me confused. “Yea…” she trailed off.
I chuckled. “I want to still ride with you to drop off Shakira, but I will need to go straight to practice from there. If you drop me off I won’t have a car to get back home.” I explained with a shrug.
She smiled. “Yea, no problem.” She took a few bites before she spoke up again. “Do you mind if I hang around practice with you?” she asked.
I returned her smile and shook my head. “No worries, and it’s your job anyway woman.”
We dropped off Shakira at school and headed to practice. She followed me in and I went straight to the locker room. Just before I entered I spun around on her, “Mel can you meet me on the field?” I asked.
She looked up and saw that we were right outside of the locker room and she blushed as she nodded. “I’ll be out there waiting.” She confirmed and walked off.
I changed quickly and made my way to the court. The guys were standing around waiting to begin practice while coach was chatting up Mel. I noticed that most of the guys were checking her out and I felt my blood boil. “Mel!” I screamed.
She spun around and met my eyes with her eye brows arched. “Nick?”
I pointed to the empty seats to the side. “Over here.” I told her.
She said something to coach and he just smiled as she made her way to where I directed her. I sat down and she followed my lead. “What’s wrong? Your ankle isn’t bothering you is it?” she asked concerned.
I scowled. “No I want you sit here while we practice is all.” I told her.
She rolled her eyes. “There’s a ton of seats here, why do I need to sit here?” she asked.
“Because I said so!” I told her and got up and made my way back to the court.
We have been practicing for two hours and we were all sweaty and exhausted. I saw Mel get up so that she could go to help coach get the drinks ready. Most of the guys ran over to them right away but I took my time. I’m not sure why, but I wanted a minute of Mel to myself. I waited until the area was mostly clear and made my way over.
“You have anything left for me?” I asked.
She rolled her eyes. “No, you have to remain dehydrated sorry.”
I reached around and pinched her butt. She yelped and jumped. “Nick what the hell?”
I shrugged. “Stop being a smart ass and give me something to drink woman.”
Her eyebrow flew up and she turned around. She grabbed a cup and filled it with ice water and walked towards me. She stopped in front of me and lifted the cup to her lips. “Mmmmmm.” She teased and then gave me a shit eating grin.
I scoffed and reached out and snatched the cup out of her hand before she could take another drink. “I said fix me something not you. I think I need to fire your ass.” I complained.
I polished off the cup and had two more before I returned to the court. “Yo Nick, I’m considering hurting my dick so that therapist of yours can heal it. She’s fucking hot as hell.” Pat commented and Kevin high fived him. I instantly felt my blood boil and I grunted. We were about to run our next play and I got into position. Kevin was on the other team and it was their ball. I waited for his eyes but he was distracted. I followed his eyes to see that he was busy staring at Mel as she bent over to pick something up. I threw the ball hard and caught him square in the forehead.
His hands flew up to his head and he groaned. “Dammit Nick!” he called out.
I shrugged. “My bad I was just giving you the ball.”
“At my head?” he asked incredulously.
“Sorry I was a bit distracted, you understand.” I told him. “We can try that again?” I suggested. Someone passed me back the ball and I was tempted to clock his ass again but I was able to refrain. We began playing and Kevin came up to play defense. I was still pissed off at his earlier comment so I fainted like I was moving to my left and stuck out my foot to trip him. He tripped over my foot and held out his hands trying to maintain his balance but it was no use. He hit the floor and slid. Coach blew his whistle.
“Nick, get your ass over here!” he bellowed.
I jogged over to him. “What’s up?” I asked.
“Are you trying to injure my entire team?” he asked.
I shrugged. “They were being dicks.” I wasn’t going to lie about it.
“What the hel
l is that supposed to mean?” Coach asked frustrated.
I let my annoyance show as well. “They were making dumb ass comments about Mel.” I said gesturing to her.
She rolled her eyes. “So you’re just going to beat on them?” she asked.
I shrugged and nodded. “Probably.” I admitted.
“Cut your shit and just play.” Coach said completely put out.
I crossed my arms. “That shit isn’t cool.” I argued.
Mel put a hand on my arm. “Nick get over it, it’s just talk. Stop being a bully and just practice.”
“So I’m just supposed to let this go?” I asked and she nodded. I grunted, “No.”
Mel sighed in frustration. “Ok, how about you get your ass out there and play the goddamn game or else I’m taking your ass home now.” She demanded.
I scoffed. “You’re not the boss of me Mel. There’s this new invention called Uber.” I said sarcastically.
“I don’t need to be Nick. Stop acting like a goddamn brat and do what you came here for. Do you really want to fight with me in front of all of your teammates?” she asked.
I sighed, and she had triumph in my eyes. An argument with Mel can go either way, and I damn sure didn’t trust her not to embarrass me with that veiled threat. “You’re a pain in my ass girl I swear.” I muttered.
“No that’s you.” She said defiantly.
“You like them looking at you and wanting you?” I asked her.
She rolled her eyes. “I can’t hear them and I’m not really paying them any attention so it doesn’t bother me. That is why you need to just let it go.” When I continued to just stare at her she sighed. “Fine. I’ll cook that stew chicken you like so much?” she offered.
I threw my hands up in the air. “Ok Mel, you win!” I started to walk off and turned back around at the last minute. “And you’re making yellow rice tonight.” I threatened. She rolled her eyes and nodded.
Practice was running over so Mel left to pick up Shakira and bring her over. When they got back, she kept Shakira away while we played for another half hour before calling it a day. After I showered and came out, everyone was gone and Kira was standing with Mel talking Coach up. “Daddy.” She squealed when she saw me and ran over.
Needing Her (The Lexington Series Book 3) Page 9