by Kira Blakely
“This party is boring. We’re gonna split,” Sean said.
“Oh, don’t worry. I got that covered,” Ariana replied before pulling out an electronic card from her purse. My heart sank as I realized what that meant.
“Sean, no,” I gasped, and for a moment, his face turned sorrowful before switching back to a dull stare.
He turned around and pulled Ariana alongside him, and I couldn’t watch them walk away anymore, so I did the only thing I could think of as the tears fell from my face.
I ran away.
***
Sean
Man, I’m racking up my sins tonight, huh?
The look on Charlie’s face, seeing her completely crushed as she saw that key card…
Even if my objective for agreeing to go with Ariana’s plan was met, and I now know that Charlie cares about me a lot, I don’t think it was worth it anymore. Hell, I never thought it was worth it, but my stupid self didn’t listen.
Ariana tapped the key card on the lock and it opened automatically. She gave me a suggestive smirk before opening the door and walking directly toward the bed. I followed her inside and stopped by the edge of the mattress, her feet grazing my thigh. She bit her lip as she raised her foot higher until it brushed against my crotch.
“Well? Aren’t you going to join me?” she asked, her voice low and sultry as her eyes fluttered.
I lowered my body over hers, keeping my head mere centimeters away from hers, and opened my mouth.
“No.”
The shocked look on her face was priceless. I got back up and hurried out of there, ignoring Ariana as she called me back. She was not the woman I wanted to be with; no other girl would do. And I’d just realized that now.
I was so hung up over this one girl that I never understood what I was really feeling for her. As much as I knew it made me sound like a girl to say it, I’d realized that I was in love with Charlie Jameson. And I needed to tell her before someone else managed to steal her away from me.
I made my way back to the party, running like I’ve never ran before. I asked around whether they’d seen her or not, and someone told me that he saw her running toward the veranda. I thanked him and ran over there, thinking about what I was going to say once I got there, thinking of the best way to tell her that…
…I stopped in my tracks. My heart shattered as I witnessed the scene before me.
I was too late.
***
Charlie
I couldn’t stop swiping at my eyes as the tears continued to fall. I also couldn’t believe that I let myself fall for someone as cruel-hearted as Sean West.
I felt a hand rub my back comfortingly, and I continued to sob, knowing that it was my best friend.
“Charlie…” Parker trailed off, but I could hear his pity in that single word.
“I know,” I said. “You don’t have to say, ‘I told you so.’ I’m the idiot who didn’t take your word for it and ended up falling in love with a guy who’s incapable of the feeling.”
He shook his head lightly. “It’s his loss, Charlie. You shouldn’t cry over him. Guys like him don’t deserve it.” He held me by my shoulders and turned me to face him. “You need a guy who can love you the way you deserve. A guy who listens to you. Charlie, please let me be that guy.”
I looked at him, confused. “I don’t understand.”
“Let me show you then,” he said, before taking me by the chin and giving me a soft kiss.
I could feel his lips were soft and tasted like wine. I could tell his kiss was gentle and innocent. I felt… absolutely nothing.
He probably realized it, too, because he pulled away as soon as the kiss began, and then I heard a twig snapping. I turned toward the sound and saw Sean standing there, looking at us, a shocked look on his face.
“Sean, I–” I tried to call him, but he hung his head down and walked away.
Chapter Fourteen
Sean
I hadn’t spoken to Charlie in a while, but that didn’t stop me from thinking about her when I was awake or dreaming about her once I closed my eyes.
I’d been working on my attitude a little, not because I thought it would help me with Charlie – I knew it was too late for that – but because she had a point. I was a cocky son of a bitch, and if I was on the receiving end of my own spiels, I’d have socked me in the face, too.
I apologized to all my teammates and told them I was trying to tone my confidence down, and they all looked at me like I was from another planet at first. But gradually they saw that I was serious and accepted me back into the group.
Parker wasn’t at practice the day after the party, but when he came back, I still couldn’t bring myself to talk to him or congratulate him for getting the girl. I said I was trying to become a good person, not a saint.
“Okay, dude. Enough already. When will you get back to normal?” Evan asked. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. The humble Sean is great, too, but you don’t sleep, you barely eat. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
I shrugged. “Nothing.”
“Bullshit,” he said, and I rolled my eyes. “How’s everything with Charlie?” he asked.
I froze at the mention of her name and he smirked, hitting the target.
“Nothing is going on with Charlie,” I said. He looked at me and waited until I finally cracked and sighed. “I saw Parker kiss her at the party. It’s over. He won. He got the girl.”
“See, I don’t believe that. If Parker and Charlie are together, then why does Parker look like shit, the same way you do?” Evan asked, and I looked at him in confusion. “Actually, he looks worse than you. Don’t you think he’d be fucking ecstatic if you were right?”
He had a point there.
“Look, man, you and Charlie probably got off to a rocky start, but she’s brought out the best of you, and now that you’re turning into an even better version of yourself, it is the perfect time to man up and tell her you love her!” he exclaimed.
“I never said I loved her,” I said, and he glared at me.
“Lie to me one more time, and I swear to God, I will clock you,” he said menacingly and I chuckled. “So, what the fuck are you waiting for? Call her!”
***
Charlie
I knocked on my dad’s study, still feeling a little awkward despite our growing closeness with one another. The door opened and although he looked surprised to see me, he waved me in, and I stood in front of his desk.
“What’s the matter, Charlotte?” he asked. I still couldn’t get him to call me ‘Charlie’ no matter how many times I tried.
“I just want to say two things,” I started, and he sat on his chair and waited patiently for me to continue. “I want to stop with the training lessons. Obviously, no matter how hard I try to be different, I’ll always have that ‘peasant’ vibe that Ariana’s always going on about. I can’t change me, and I refuse to try anymore. Ariana can have the title for being little Ms. Perfect. I don’t care. If I’m going to be a part of this family, then I’d like you to accept me for me, one hundred percent.”
“I never wanted you to change, Charlotte,” he said. “I just wanted to give you another kind of skillset so you can know how to deal with people you will commonly be in contact with, living in a world like ours.”
“So, all that training wasn’t to change me, but to upgrade me?” I asked, and he shook his head, chuckling.
“That is exactly the brand of humor and sensibility that I loved about your mother. It really is uncanny how much you two are alike,” he said, and I was surprised because this was the first time he had ever brought her up. “Charlotte, what I want you to understand is that I will never pressure you into doing anything you wouldn’t want to do. I only want to start becoming a father to the daughter who had it long overdue.”
I got teary-eyed from his explanation, so I looked up, trying not to cry.
“What was the other thing you wanted me to know?” he asked.
“Huh? Oh, I ju
st… I just wanted to tell you I love you, that’s all,” I admitted, and my dad smiled.
After talking with my dad, I left his study to look for my next target. Fortunately, I saw her come out of the next room and glare at me before walking away.
“Ariana, wait!” I cried, catching up to her.
“What do you want?” she grumbled.
“I want us to stop competing with each other. I don’t even remember how this started, or why it even began, but I want it to be over,” I told her.
“If you didn’t want this to happen, then you shouldn’t have accepted Dad’s offer for you to live here! He already cares about you more than me, why should you get to live in my world, too?!” she cried out, and I blinked.
“He doesn’t. What are you talking about?” I asked.
“I know that Dad loved your mother more than he does mine. I went to his office once, and I found a picture of her on his desk, right next to a picture of me. At first, I was okay with it, because at least I knew my dad loved me as much as her, but when I opened one of his desk drawers and I found not just one, but probably hundreds of pictures of you from different ages inside, I knew that he cared about you more than he does me.”
“That’s not true, Ariana. I’m sure there’s a valid explanation for all of that, but that’s something you have to discuss with Dad, and not take your frustrations out on me. I never did anything wrong to you, and I’m sorry you feel that way. But I am telling you, the only thing I want from this family is to be accepted, and that’s what I’m asking from you now,” I said, my eyes begging for her to understand.
She was quiet for a few moments before she clenched her fists and nodded. “Fine. I’m sorry for how badly I treated you. I should’ve discussed things with you civilly, and made my sentiments known to our father instead of getting mad at you, and I apologize,” she said formally while looking anywhere but at me.
I nodded, smiling a little at how awkward she was.
“And I’m sorry about asking Sean out. He left me before we did anything, so don’t worry about it,” she said, before strutting off toward Dad’s office.
I stood there thinking about what Ariana said about Sean leaving her at her hotel room. I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but maybe…
I fished my phone out of my pocket and called the only person who could set it straight.
“Sean? It’s Charlie. We need to talk.
***
Sean
We need to talk.
Those are the four most hateful words in the English language, in my opinion. They’re always the opening line to a bad breakup, a death, or just about any bad news you can tell a person. It made me wonder what Charlie was going to tell me that would prompt her to use those four words.
I couldn’t fucking wait to be disappointed.
We agreed to meet up at the coffee shop near my place, the main reason being that if she was going to wreck my heart, it would only be a short crawl back to my apartment.
She was already waiting for me when I got there, her hair tied up in a nice little bun as she sipped on her cup. She saw me enter the shop and waved me over, like she thought I didn’t see her or something. I walked over and sat down across from her before picking up the little menu.
“So, what did you want to talk to me about?” I asked, not bothering to beat around the bush. I’d rather she rip off the Band-Aid with one go than pick it off slowly.
“Two things,” she said, raising two fingers at me. “First, why did you go with Ariana?”
“She needed a date, and I said yes. Nothing more,” I told her.
“But you went to her hotel afterward. Why would you do that?”
I raised my eyebrows at her. “What do you think?”
Hurt flashed into her eyes, and I felt guilt creeping up my chest. I couldn’t help but be cruel to her right now, knowing she was going to hurt me anyway. I put the menu down and stood up. “Look, it’s been fun. But if we don’t have anything else to talk about–”
“Ariana told me nothing happened between you two,” she blurted out, and I fell back to my seat, scowling. “Why did you stop it?”
“You really want to rub it in my face? Fine. I like you. I fucking like you a lot. I couldn’t do it with your sister because I knew that would hurt you. So, I stopped it. Happy? Now, since you’ve already gotten what you came for, you should probably run off to your precious quarterback and hump him sideways till Monday while I go beat the shit out of myself back in my apartment for letting you fucking trample all over me,” I said before stomping my way out of there.
“Parker and I aren’t together,” she cried, and I froze. Of all the things she could tell me, I was not expecting her to say that. I turned to face her in disbelief, and she continued. “That kiss you saw the other night. It was nothing. Well, it meant something to him, of course, but I’ve set him straight. Parker and I aren’t dating,” she explained.
I coughed a bit and tried to play it cool.
“And you’re telling me this because…?” I asked, swallowing.
“Because I fucking like you, too, you idiot,” she said.
It was all the answer I needed. I crossed the space between us and pulled her toward my body, engulfing her lips in a kiss I’d been dying to give her.
Chapter Fifteen
Sean
Instead of crawling back to my apartment alone, I ran back home, dragging Charlie with me. The sweet taste of her lips made my blood run hot, and I couldn’t get enough of it.
As soon as we entered my place, Charlie pulled my head toward hers and gave me a deep kiss, sending my senses into overdrive. I wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her close to me, her body hugging mine in all the right places as I placed my other hand under her chin and angled her head as I gave her what she wanted.
We slowly made our progress to my bedroom, our hands traveling over each other’s bodies and touching through our clothes. She caught the buttons of my shirt and started to remove them, and my hands slowly went down to her hip and found the hem of her shirt. I pulled my mouth away from hers as I pushed her shirt up and over her head, making her raise her arms up to help me. Her black-laced bra covering her supple breasts was sexy as hell, and my hands ached to grab her. She surprised the hell out of me by taking my hands with hers and putting them on top of her breasts.
“Don’t stop and keep touching me,” she ordered, and my pants felt tighter as my dick grew hard from her command.
“Yes, ma’am,” I growled, and I squeezed her breasts through her bra, making her moan. That sultry sound she made shot straight to my dick, and I wanted to hear it more. I pushed my fingers underneath her bra, feeling her skin and tweaking her nipples. Her legs almost gave out. She caught her balance and was able to undo the last button of my shirt.
We continued to pull each other’s clothes off as I navigated her to my bedroom, and when she was near my bed, I pushed her back so she fell on top of it. I quickly crawled on top of her and started kissing her neck, licking a trail from her shoulder blades to the side of her jaw and to the spot behind her ear, making her gasp.
I tensed up as her fingers brushed against my right side, tracing the words I had tattooed there.
“What do these words mean?” she whispered.
“To strive and persevere,” I whispered back.
I didn’t want to explain the reason I had them on me, even though her eyes told me she was dying to know. I distracted her instead by cupping her between her legs and rubbing my fingers at the center where I knew her clit would be. She cried out, placing her hands on my arms and raising her hips, pressing my hand closer.
I bit my lip and unbuttoned her jeans so she could slide them down her hips. I pulled them off all the way, and I groaned at the sight of her black-laced panties.
“Were you expecting this to happen?” I asked her, my voice sounding raspy as I was slowly overcome with the need to take her.
She fluttered her eyelashes and bit her lip as she
drew circles on her stomach with the tip of her forefinger, going lower and lower until it was brushing against the top of her panties.
“I was hoping for it,” she admitted, her voice low and seductive, and I growled once more. I stood up on the edge of the bed and took my jeans off, smirking as I saw her eyes widen while she stared at my cock.
I crawled over her once again, licking my lips as she hurriedly unhooked her bra and threw it across the room. I pushed her back down on the mattress as I kissed her, forcing my tongue inside her mouth and sliding it on top of hers. She kissed back, and our tongues battled for dominance as our hands continued to explore every inch of each other’s skin, my fingertips tingling from how smooth and supple hers was.
I give her one last kiss on her lips before moving downward to explore her body more thoroughly with my mouth, my tongue tracing the valley between her breasts before sucking on her nipples hard, forcing her to arch her back from the pleasure. I bit the nub softly before soothing it with my tongue, swirling it around the areola while I caressed the other with my hand. I switched my mouth’s attention to her other breast, and my ears started ringing from those sexy noises she was making again. I swear I could feel my cock getting harder than ever, begging to get inside her sweet body and give her the ride of her life.
I couldn’t handle it anymore. I needed to be inside that wet heat, like yesterday.
I crawled over her body so I could reach my bedside drawer. I took out one of the packets and tore it off with my teeth. I was about to suit up when she took it from me. I opened my mouth to ask what she was going to do with it when she grabbed my cock suddenly and I hissed. She put the condom on me and then lowered herself back to the mattress.
She kept surprising me with the sudden bouts of control, but I’d be damned if I didn’t like it.