The crowd stood and erupted in applause. Not only was Derek a celebrity, he was a local hometown hero.
Derek walked out into the center of the court and waved. He appeared pleased, yet seemed to scan the seats, as well. Natalie assumed he was looking for his father. She wondered if he wished Pops was there, watching the town greet him so openly, so happily, while all his father did was slam the door.
The buzzer sounded and the game was about to begin. The players for both teams moved into position on the floor.
That’s when Natalie spotted Derek’s father standing just under the bleachers at the farthest corner of the court near one of the doors.
Immediately she thought of the promise she’d made to Derek earlier. If Pops was there, they were supposed to leave. She looked at Derek, at Janet, who seemed deeply engrossed in the game, then back at Pops.
Should she tell?
She squinted at the man, and she thought she saw Pops shake his head, as if he’d read her mind. But that was highly unlikely, he was just too far away. Besides, they’d never even met. She wasn’t even sure he knew what she looked like to even pick her face out of the large crowd around her.
Still, this was the opportunity she’d hoped for. A second chance for a reunion between Derek and his father. But something told her that the timing wasn’t right, and if she interfered now, she could lose Derek forever.
So she turned her eyes away from Pops and back onto Derek, where they belonged.
* * *
At halftime Natalie realized Derek’s father was gone from under the bleachers. She’d tried to keep tabs on him throughout the game, but it was difficult because she didn’t want to call attention to him. Although she didn’t know exactly when he’d disappeared, she estimated it was midway through the second quarter.
She felt Janet nudge her arm. “Let’s go and meet the guys.”
They made their way down the stairs. Music blasted through the loudspeakers. Baker’s Falls Academy led their rivals 65–44 and the crowd was pumped with energy.
At courtside Derek put his arm around her and whispered, “Let’s get out of here.”
She nodded with relief, more than willing to escape the noise that was starting to give her a headache.
He took her hand and led her through another door into an empty auditorium.
“Come on, I want to show you something.”
She followed him through another door into an empty hallway. Her high-heeled shoes clicked on the polished floor.
“Shh... Take those off,” he instructed.
She looked at him oddly, but obeyed.
As they walked down a shadowy corridor, Derek began to point out different rooms and she realized he was taking her on a tour of his school. A peek into his past.
Even though no one was around, they spoke in hushed tones, which only accentuated their secretive prowl.
“Room 228. Homeroom. I got my first detention from Mrs. Parker.”
“For what?” she asked.
“Being late!” he replied dryly.
“I should have guessed,” she said, giggling quietly.
They proceeded down the hall, holding hands, and for a second Natalie imagined what it must have been like to be Derek’s girlfriend way back then.
“Room 235. Algebra. The only thing good about that class was the teacher.”
She peeked in the glass window. “Oh, was she well qualified?”
“No, but she was well stacked!” he said, cupping his hands under his chest.
She turned around. “Are you trying to make me jealous?” she asked, only half kidding, and attempted to punch him in the arm for his juvenile humor. But he dodged out of the way and ran backward down the hall.
She wanted to throw her shoe at him, but was afraid it would make too much noise.
When she caught up to him, she tugged on his locks. “Any other rooms you want to show me, handsome?”
He nodded, and even in the shadowy light, she could see the devilish glint in his eyes. “As a matter of fact, there is.”
They turned down another shorter corridor lined with lockers. Derek stopped at the last door in the hallway.
“Here we are. Room 257.”
He pulled out a credit card, bent and started to pick the lock.
She leaned against the wall right next to him and stroked his hair as she watched.
“Hmm... Another one of your talents?”
Derek looked up at her and she raised her eyebrows, tilting her head in mock disapproval.
He winked. “I’ve got a lot of talents, honey.”
She pecked him on the lips. “So I’ve learned.” And felt.
He jiggled the handle a little and the door opened.
“Voilà!” he said triumphantly.
She linked her arms around his neck as he pulled her into his arms. “So what room is this?”
“Chemistry,” he whispered.
His lips never left hers as they stumbled inside. With one arm clutching her waist, he reached behind them, closed the door and turned the lock.
Natalie flicked her tongue into the small concave at the base of his neck, enjoying the vibrations of Derek’s groan against her flesh. She loved pleasing him.
She dragged her fingernails along the smooth ridge of his collarbone. He pressed his torso to hers and moved slowly against her body. The length of his need for her was deliciously hard against her belly.
The room was dark but she could still see the lab tables scattered around, some of which held scientific equipment. There was a huge chalkboard on one wall with formulas scribbled all over it.
“I used to hate this class,” he suddenly blurted.
She broke away from their embrace and stepped back. “Oh, really. Why?”
“Because I was so bad at it,” he replied. “It was one of my worst subjects.”
She took his hand, turned it upward and kissed his palm.
“Well, it seems like you’re acing it now.”
He closed his eyes, and she reached up and slipped his suit jacket from his broad shoulders. It fell to the floor with a whoosh that sounded louder than it actually was.
“But if you’ve forgotten some key facts,” she continued, running her hands lightly down his chest, “I’ll be happy to refresh your memory.”
He began to breathe heavily as she unbuttoned his shirt, planting kisses, keeping her lips buoyant and light, all the way down his chest. Finally she tugged the material out from the waistband of his pants.
Her mouth watered at the sight of the lengthy bulge beneath the blue-jeaned fabric and she started to undo his belt. But before she could, Derek shrugged out of his shirt and seconds later, she was in his arms.
He palmed her face and looked into her eyes.
“I know what chemistry is,” he whispered.
Natalie’s face went hot at the physical need and caring she saw there in his gray eyes.
He stroked her cheeks lightly with his thumbs, which made her whole body shiver. “It’s chemical reactions and bonding and transformation.”
She closed her eyes as his lips roamed over hers, sucking and tasting, claiming them as his own. And, oh, how she wanted to be his forever.
“It’s you and me,” he said between kisses. “It’s us.”
He broke the embrace and they clung together, both breathing hard. Both needing the other and not wanting to let go.
“I’m falling for you, Natalie.” His voice was low and sexy in her ear.
Her eyes widened in surprise and she felt her heart balloon with happiness at his words. And when she looked into his eyes, she saw love there. For her.
She kissed him first this time, their tongues playing games where the only rule was pleasure. Both now drowning in
the heat of their desire.
And when she unbuckled his belt and dragged down the zipper, he didn’t stop her, but kicked off his shoes instead. Her smile was wicked as she slid his jeans, then his briefs, down to the ground.
His length arrowed forth, hit the cool air. Derek grunted in response and the two bulbs of flesh that hung beneath bobbed.
She stepped back and let him watch as she removed her top and unhooked her bra. He reached for her breasts, eyeing the bare flesh hungrily, but she shook her head and started to take off her skirt.
“Leave it on,” he commanded.
She complied, with a smile, and dropped to her knees in front of him. Every part of him was beautiful. But this part, she thought, was absolutely magnificent.
The long core of skin was thick and tight as she closed her lips around him, moving slowly down to encapsulate his entire shaft. And when she began to suck, Derek’s guttural moan reverberated in her mouth and she felt her own loins moisten pleasurably.
To have him like this, under her complete control, made her feel intensely powerful. She wanted to love him, needed to love him, in every way possible.
“Natalie,” he gasped. His hands cradled her head, guiding her mouth, and she took him in and out, leisurely tonguing him from base to tip. “Oh, girl, what are you doing to me?”
She held on to his thighs. The muscles were tense with pent-up energy, and when they began to shake she knew he was close to release.
He lifted her chin, slipped away and helped her to her feet.
“I need you, Natalie.”
His hands slid up under her skirt, removed her underwear and stroked her wet flesh. She moaned. And when he picked her up, she wrapped her legs around his waist and held on tightly.
He walked them over a short distance and she gasped when he pressed her against the cold chalkboard.
Kneading her buttocks, he stepped away slightly and bent his head to one breast. She cried out as he nibbled on the supple, stiff tip. Her thighs pulsed and throbbed and she clamped them around his waist even harder.
“Derek?” she moaned, watching him suck on her nipples. “Why did you act like we were a couple when we really weren’t?”
He lifted his mouth from her skin and palmed her face. His steel-gray eyes glazed with need. “Wishful thinking, I guess.”
She gyrated her inner lips, allowing them to slide and mesh and mold against his long, hard core. It felt like a rod of fire against her wet flesh. “You don’t have to wish anymore.”
“I know,” he moaned, and his hands lifted her up again.
And at that moment, he slammed into her.
Chalk dust flew into the air as he penetrated and released, coveted and gave, again and again. Their lips tasted and their tongues clashed in each other’s mouths. Her spirit soared higher as her hands urged him on, faster and faster, until her whole body shuddered with pleasure and she covered her screams by biting his neck.
The swell.
The crest.
His exuberant release.
Her tears of joy.
Chapter 9
“Woman,” Derek gasped against her shoulder. “That was some chemistry lesson.”
Natalie laughed, twirling one of his locks around her finger. “Just wait till I show you what I have in store for home economics,” she teased.
A couple of seconds later red lights slashed into the room and danced on the walls, followed by the chaotic whine of sirens.
Her heart dropped when she suddenly realized with horror that the chemistry room was at the front of the school building. Even though it was already dark outside, what if someone had walked by and seen them making love and had called the cops?
They dressed quickly and Derek looked out the window.
“There’s an ambulance and a couple of squad cars,” he reported. “We better see what’s going on.”
Natalie nodded and held on to the lab table to steady her wobbly legs as she slipped into her shoes.
“I hope nothing happened to any of the players,” she said, recalling past news reports of young athletes being killed by a sudden heart attack.
As they rushed through the darkened hallways, Natalie couldn’t help but feel disappointed that their evening had been interrupted. On the other hand, she hoped no one was seriously hurt.
When they got outside, the air was cool and stars dotted the night sky. But the peaceful atmosphere was shattered by the fragmented shouts of police officers, the whirring red lights, the patches of crowds gathering and pointing and the sense that something was very, very wrong.
She heard the slap of heavy footsteps running toward them.
“Derek!” Wes shouted. When he caught up to the couple, he was breathing hard.
“You gotta come with me.” Wes coughed hard and spat on the ground. “Right now.”
Derek grabbed him by the arm. “What’s wrong?” he demanded.
“It’s Pops,” Wes said, heaving in large, desperate breaths. “They found him on the ground by his car.”
The blood in Natalie’s veins turned icy. “Oh, God.”
Derek’s head snapped up and he released his brother’s arm.
He looked around in confusion. “Here?” he asked with a combination of surprise and suspicion in his voice. “In this parking lot?”
Wes nodded, a little guiltily. “Yeah. He was at the game the whole time.”
Natalie gasped in surprise, then quickly covered her mouth.
Derek whirled toward her, his eyes clouded with pain. “Did you know about this?”
She swallowed back the huge lump in her throat. “I—I saw him near the bleachers. I meant to tell you at halftime, but he was gone.”
Both men widened their eyes at her confession.
“How is he?” Natalie asked, voicing the question Derek should have asked right away. Was his heart so hardened against his father that he no longer cared about his well-being?
A second later she rebuked herself because she knew that Derek did care about his father. He cared a lot. The man was just in shock. That’s why he was reacting this way.
“I don’t know,” Wes responded, pointing toward the ambulance. “The paramedics are working on stabilizing him before they transport him to the hospital.”
Derek seemed not to hear their conversation. “Why didn’t you tell me he was here?” he asked, posing the question to both of them, although she knew it was meant mainly for her. She’d made a promise and had broken it.
Wes glanced back at the ambulance and swore when he saw the medics shutting the doors.
“None of that matters now,” Wes barked. His voice was gruff and he seemed on the edge of tears. “They’re about to leave and take him to the hospital. We need to go! Now.”
Natalie saw Janet standing beside the ambulance, motioning frantically to the group.
Wes turned to Natalie. “Can you take Janet back home? The Red Hat ladies will be arriving back from the play shortly and she needs to be there to greet them. Derek and I will follow the ambulance to the hospital in my truck.”
Natalie nodded. “Of course, I’ll do anything I can to help.”
Derek wouldn’t even look at her when, for the second time that day, he handed her the keys to his car. Without saying goodbye, the two men took off toward Wes’s truck, got in and sped off.
She quickly located the Jeep, got in and turned the key in the ignition, wondering if she should have asked Derek if he wanted her to meet him at the hospital after she dropped Janet off at Belle Amour.
Her heart sank when she realized that right now he probably didn’t want to deal with anything or anyone—especially her. And after what she’d done to him tonight, she doubted he ever would.
* * *
No, not like this.
<
br /> For the first time in years Derek was alone with his dad.
He pulled a chair up alongside the hospital bed and felt like he was watching a nightmare. Tubes and wires were everywhere. A heart monitor beeped out a steady rhythm, while the man who’d raised him lay there in a medically induced sleep. His father had been knocked unconscious by the fall and until the results of testing came back, they wouldn’t know the extent of his injuries.
Derek’s eyes welled with tears. “Don’t die on me, Pops.”
They’d been an every-Sunday-morning churchgoing family, but Derek had never put much stock in faith when he was growing up.
“Lord,” he prayed, “I could sure use some help now.”
He glanced over at the door. Wes had just left to find the doctor for an update and to make some phone calls. He’d be back shortly.
Derek didn’t have much time.
Tentatively he touched his father’s hand, veined with age. It should have been easy for Derek to say the things he’d waited years to express. But when he opened his mouth, no words came.
At that moment he felt as frail and as helpless as his father looked.
He stared at the white walls, unsure of what to do next.
The anger he felt earlier, knowing that his father had been at the game and had chosen to ignore him, was simply gone. And in its place, the would-have, should-have pang of regret moved in.
He buried his face in his hands, wishing he’d gone after his father yesterday morning at his office and confronted him, instead of running away from the conflict, just as he’d done so many years ago.
He’d accepted the slammed door. The months, then years of estrangement. Time with his father that he could never get back.
And now, it could be too late.
Shame burned through the tears in his eyes.
The last words he’d spoken to his dad, on the day he told him of his decision to skip college and play pro basketball instead, were so cruel, so cutting.
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