Bottomed Out

by Brooke May

  There is mirth in her glimmering eyes. It fascinates me so much so that I nearly forget what we are doing here and how the hell I’m going to be able to play.

  That hoodie is too big to be one she owns.

  Voices draw my attention away from her and my thoughts of who she got that hoodie from as well as my need to replace it with one of my own.

  She’s here as a friend.

  For now …

  Holy shit.

  Everywhere around us are men and women just like me. Wheelchair, electric and manual, surround us along with people walking around and visiting with them.

  “What kind of place have you brought me to?” Staring at the people, I tilt my head back to ask her.

  It isn’t like I’m never around others who use wheelchairs. I speak at schools and address groups of people who have recently found themselves in the permanent seated position and do my best to boost them up and give them hope that they can still lead adventurous, great, and influential lives.

  But this is something entirely different. None of them look like they need some motivation to go on with their lives. They are already there.

  “Hey, everyone, this is Jax.” Cheers and greetings chorus around the room, nearly overwhelming me. “Jax, this is the Paintballers on Wheels.” She introduces me. “I thought you would have a blast with them and me.”

  I have mixed emotions right now.

  I’m excited because she thought of me for something like this, but at the same time, knowing that this is more of a friend date, I’m worried she is trying to hook me up with someone in a wheelchair.

  I hope not.

  Not that I have anything against women in wheelchairs, it’s just that I’m really into Len.

  “Hi.” I wave to the group as they close in around us.

  “Hi, Jax. I’m Banner. I guess you could say I’m the fearless leader of this group.” An older man wheels up to me, extending his hand. “And I’m guessing by the slightly confused look on your face that you’re wondering what is going on.”

  “Yeah, I hate to say so.” Scrubbing the back of my head, I feel embarrassed. Len didn’t prepare me at all.

  “No worries.” Pushing himself backward, he waves to the crowd. “I used to be an avid hunter, and after my accident left me bound to a wheelchair, my son,” he pats a young man decked out in paintball gear on the arm, “got me into paintballing. I thought why couldn’t we have some fun? So, I started this league. Each shooter has someone to push them around the course. The person pushing isn’t allowed to be shot, but they still wear protective gear just in case.”

  I’m taken aback. I never thought of it that way.

  “That sounds … awesome.” A thrill shoots through me. Looking up at Len, I beam at her with her thoughtfulness. “This is really cool.”

  “I thought you would say that.” When she bends down, her scent hits me square in the chest once more. It’s like the best kind of sucker punch ever. And to my shocked delight, she kisses me on the cheek and whispers, “I’m your partner, so let’s do this.”

  “Hell, yes!” Turning back to Banner, I say, “Gear me up and let’s get this party started.”

  “That’s just what I like hearing,” he cheers. “I’m assuming you know how to shoot one of these?”

  “Yes, sir. I used to best my friends in high school all the time.” I’m unused to someone pushing me, so my hands nearly catch on my wheels when I go to move myself over to the gear and guns laid out.

  Len’s lips graze across my ear, sending shivers up into my skull. “I have you, hotshot.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  An excitement of near childlike level courses through me as team captains are picked, and teams are divided. Len suggested making me a team captain, but I went against it since I don’t know how this is going to go down.

  I’m perfectly happy with just being a team member.

  As we are divided up, Len hands me a mask and gloves before picking up a gun already loaded with the right color for my team as well as a bandana.

  The hoodie makes sense now, and I’m glad I have a growing collection of them stashed in my van.

  “Are you ready for this?” Len bounces on the balls of her sneaker-covered feet.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be.” Placing the paintball gun on my lap, I feel confident with my ability to use it. I haven’t shot one since I was a teenager. Back then, when I wasn’t at school or on my bike, I was having a war with my friends and sister. “Are you sure you can handle pushing my massive ass around?”

  “Absolutely. You’re smaller than Owen.” Winking, she pulls her mask over her face and comes around behind me as everyone else starts to make their way out the back doors to the field that waits for us.

  Since I’ve paintballed in the past, there isn’t much they need to cover with me. I just needed to know what would be going on with Len as my partner. She would push me around the course while I do my best to take out members of the other team.

  Anxious energy begins to pulsate through me as everything comes together. My team lines up on the blue side of the course while the other team is somewhere across from us on the red side, thirty-two people in all.

  Holy shit.

  There are people like me who are not willing to give up on doing something they enjoy. This is fucking amazing.

  “Kick some ass, Jax.” Another kiss is placed on my cheek following her words right before a horn blows over our heads to signal the start of the match.

  I never thought of paintballing like this before. Len pushes me around the course, helping me dodge flying paintballs and being stealthy enough to sneak up on our opponents to take them out.

  Weaving in and out from the giant inflatable structures erected around us, we spend another ten minutes running and rolling around the soft grass before I’m tagged, and we’re forced to sit out. I forgot how much a single paintball stings. Even in my arms, the paintball stung, causing my arm to go numb the entire way over to the sideline.

  “What do you think?” Instead of taking a seat next to me, Len glides onto my lap like it is something entirely natural. And there is no way I’m going to complain about it because my now glove-free hands instinctively come to rest on her lower back and the other on her lap.

  “Mmm.” Placing the water bottle back in the pocket attached to the side of my chair, I nod my head. “This is fun.” Looking around, I find far more of my teammates on the sideline than the other, but that doesn’t matter. I’m having a blast.

  What matters is Len thought of me for something as fun as this. The woman is thoughtful, fun, pretty fucking hot, and still, it isn’t enough. I want to know her better, and there is no way I’m settling for us just being friends.

  “Why hasn’t Owen ever wanted to do this?”

  Averting her gaze, she begins to draw random patterns on the top of my hand. “Owen was always super focused on his goals, and once they were taken away from him, he became even more boring than he was before. Nothing has ever been fun enough for him since. All he does is workout and sit around his apartment. No one is allowed to live with him. I’ve tried to get him to join a baseball league he can be a part of, but that set him off.”

  “Sounds like Axle.”

  Her gaze returns to me. “How so?”

  “Axle was in the same accident I was. He blames himself for causing it when it was a squid. When we learned I wouldn’t be able to walk again, it’s kind of taken a toll on Ax. He hasn’t been on a bike since.”

  “That sucks, but it didn’t seem to bother you?”

  “No.” I snort. “I didn’t give up, and I’m still not. I wish every day I could get on a bike again, so it kind of pisses me off that he gave it up.”

  “Is that why you work for Double X?”

  “It’s as close as I can get to being on a bike again.”

  “You know, you could see if you are capable of racing quads.”

  Levi’s words slap me on the back of the head. “S-So, what about
you? Do you do things like this often?”

  “I love paintballing. I’m a part of a women’s league with Banner’s daughter, and as for motors, nothing keeps me from riding, but I prefer working on them or anything else with a motor.”

  “Is that how you came to work for Paige?”

  “I was …” She trails off, her gaze going back to her fingers that are still drawing on my hand. “I was the first and possibly only friend Paige made after she … erm … moved here.” She doesn’t add to that. I don’t want to pry about their friendship, especially if Axle is interested in Paige.

  “Okay.”

  Something fills the silence around us, and it isn’t the sounds of paintball guns being shot or the people talking around us. Whatever it is, it has Len turning to face me, my hand slipping off her lap while the other falls to the swell of her small yet firm ass.

  Her small, pink nail-tipped hands come to rest against my chest. They curve slightly over my strong chest muscles. Heat seeps through the layers of my clothing, but I can’t pull my gaze away from hers to look down at our connection.

  And then words flood out before I can filter them.

  “I’m not letting you leave without a kiss.” And a promise for more.

  Her mouth parts to say something, but I cup her beautiful face and bring her lips to mine. Sweetness at the touch of her slightly chapped lips quickly turns into something far more heated than I even thought I would experience.

  This is different from all the others who litter my past.

  Her hands curve more, digging into the fabric of my hoodie and shirt, barely brushing against my flesh underneath. It is enough to give her something to grab hold to pull me securely to her.

  It doesn’t matter that we are surrounded by others. I don’t really know any of these people. This is something more than the friends date she was suggesting, and I’m so glad she isn’t pushing me away.

  Head tilting, I slip out my tongue to press against her sealed lips. A moan flutters from her chest and out her mouth as she opens for me.

  Sweet heaven, she tastes amazing. Heavenly perfection greets my tongue. Sliding my hands down to her shoulders and then around her back, pulling her closer. As I exhale, she inhales, it feels like we are joining so much more than just our lips.

  But hell, I’m deprived, so what the hell do I know?

  We meld together as our tongues lap against one another. Her hands stay anchored to my chest while mine slowly work their way down to the hem of her hoodie. We have forgotten where we are.

  “Hey, you two?” Though my lips slowly pull away from hers, my eyes snap open much more quickly as we both turn to look at Banner. “Want to grab a hot dog or two?”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Three dates, three fucking amazing dates that even if we have to sneak around to meet up on them, I’m still thrilled that I get one right after another.

  Now that I get to see Len on a regular basis, I can focus better at work. I’m still finding myself digging my phone out of my desk to check it far more often than I have in the past. I feel like I’m in high school again, and when I’m supposed to be concentrating on a lesson or some shit, I’m checking my phone in the hopes of having a text from the girl I like waiting for me.

  I feel like I’m living on the rebellious side of life lately, and oh, how I’ve missed it.

  Yeah, you’re a total badass, Jax.

  Huffing silently to myself, I push the weights over my head for another rep.

  With each evening spent together over a meal, the heat and sexual charge strengthen between us. Five cold showers and countless times beating off have done nothing to curb the need I have pulsating for Lennox.

  I’ve turned all my pent-up energy toward getting everything finalized for the bonfire. I’ve visited the site, confirmed vendors—mainly alcohol—and checked every single signature to make sure it is all legal. And when I still have something left in my tank, I’m pushing myself harder at the gym. That hasn’t done much good, though, because the moment I’m finally feeling drained enough to head home, my body is hyped up all over again with a simple call.

  My arms feel like rubber as I lift the weights over my head one final time before I return them to their cradle. No matter how much I try to wear my body down, I can’t seem to get it to the point where I am dragging myself back to the apartment, in the shower, and then force myself to eat something before I go to bed.

  A cool breeze brushes across my heated ear as one side of my headphones is removed. My earbuds took a shit on me, so I was forced to go back to my headphones until I can get to the store. The brush of a lip sends shivers of apprehension through my body before the familiarity comes to me. It’s Len’s lip brushing against the shell of my ear as well as her breath.

  “You’re pushing yourself pretty hard there, handsome.”

  Grinning, I turn to face her. My headphones drop to nestle around my neck as I grab the back of her lowered head and bring her lips to mine. I don’t give a rat’s ass if Owen is near, but I know he isn’t. Len wouldn’t be standing here, letting me kiss her if he was.

  “What brings you here?”

  “Hmm.” Kissing me in return, she slides onto my lap. “What are your plans for the evening?”

  “Nothing unless you want to change that.”

  “You’ve read my mind. Ready to go? I dropped my car off at your place so I’ll walk with you.”

  She knows where I live?

  I’m about to voice it when another question comes to mind. “Owen isn’t going to freak?” She’s told me she can’t be gone for long without Owen blowing up. Paige covers for her for the most part, so I’m thrown a little by her willingness to go to my house.

  “He’s with my parents for the evening. They wanted some one-on-one time with him. So I’m free,” she sing-songs.

  So much for exhausted arms.

  Pushing us backward, I carry the both of us out of the gym and into the sweltering heat of Utah’s evening. But the high temperatures out here are nothing compared to the passion sizzling between us.

  Getting to know this woman is something entirely new to me. I’ve never seriously dated a woman until now, even if we haven’t defined the terms of our relationship yet.

  “I bought us dinner, but since you weren’t home, I left it in my car.”

  Biting down on my lip, I keep myself from groaning as she shifts on my lap.

  “I hope you like barbecue?” When she shifts again, my dick stiffens under the small swell of her ass, and I clench. “I got some potato salad as well.” She shifts again, and I swear I’m going to break a fucking tooth. “And some biscuits I’m sure are still warm.”

  By the time we make it back to my place, I’m nodding or shaking my head to answer her since it has gotten difficult to speak.

  “Wait, let me grab the food.” She attempts to spring off my lap as we get to her car, but I have other plans.

  “Fuck the food.” Rolling past it, I don’t stop until I get through the front door and well into the apartment, not stopping until we reach my bedroom. Axle isn’t home yet, giving me this perfect opportunity.

  “Fuck the food?” There is amusement in her voice as she turns to face me. Warmth hits my face as she looks at me, her arms wrapping around my neck and resting on my shoulders.

  “Yeah.” Looking at her lips, I slowly drag my gaze up her face. I’m mesmerized by her. “Fuck.” I wrap my massive hands around her waist, lifting and turning her to face me, her legs falling to either side of mine. “The food.” It’s a snug fit, but she is small enough to make it work.

  “Oh.” Small hands find their designated place on my chest as her eyelids droop. The heat of her core has my aching erection needing her.

  “Yes.” Pulling her against me, I capture her lips in a frantic hunger. Melding to her, I work my hands up the back of her shirt, exposing her cool skin to me. It drives my hunger deeper. Pulling her shirt over her head, I pull my lips from hers and finally allow myself a good
look at her porcelain skin and the tattoos that decorate her magnificent body. Her nipples strain through the sheer pink fabric of her bra, begging me to give them the attention they deserve.

  Moving my hands up her soft sides, I press my thumbs over the tight buds, making them harder. Her back arches instantly.

  “I want you, Len.” My breath ghosts across her chest. Reaching forward, I lick and then nip at each nipple through the material well before she rushes to get rid of it.

  Hungered touches give way to a frantic need to remove every article of clothing between us. The only hang-up is when it comes to my shorts and boxers, but like a pro, Len pulls them clean off my body before I move myself over to my bed rather than stay in my chair.

  My back barely has a chance to touch the cooled wood of my headboard before Len is back on my legs, straddling me and waving a condom wrapper in front of her. But the waving is overlooked as my gaze locks on her tits, down to the neatly trimmed apex I’m ravenous for.

  “I’m glad I came prepared.” She comes closer, brushing her nipples against my chest, and something jerks deep within me as well as my dick is now imprisoned between our heated bodies.

  Swallowing the lump in my throat, I dart up to her gaze. “I see how you are, seduce me with wiggling that fine ass on me, entice me with barbecue, and then have your wicked way with me?”

  “Possibly, but you caught on and changed the game plan.”

  “I’m very glad I did.” My hands go with her as she straightens up and rips open the foil. With skilled hands that make the feeling parts of my body quake with need, she slips it over my dick.

  “I think we have enough pent-up tension and kisses to state that we are good with foregoing foreplay.”

  Typically, I’m not one to ever turn down foreplay, especially if that means she’ll sit on my face, but right now, I agree with her.

  “Fuck, yes.” I know she isn’t asking, but I’d give her all of Midas’s gold if I could right now. The desire to watch her tiny body take me in is only broken by watching her expression of pure ecstasy take hold of her fascinating eyes. Her mouth, like mine, slowly opens as our heat blends together.