by A. Aubry
“What are you doing here, baby? I thought you were heading to the office,” I brushed my hair out of my face with my hand then wiped my hand on my pants. I was a little bit sweatier than I thought.
Julianna’s eyes got dark with lust before she shook her head and showed me my phone in her hand, “Been looking for something?”
Did she steal my phone just for an excuse to come see me? I had literally thought I lost it all damn morning.
“Holy shit. Where was it?” I took it out of her hands and looked at the screen.
Mom had called me a few times, that was normal for her. She was probably calling because I didn’t call last night. I didn’t call because I was buried deep in my girlfriend. Something my mother would never know.
“It was on the couch, it must have fallen out when we uh…were watching TV.”
I looked up and Julianna was side eyeing Bo who was grinning at us. He knew we weren’t watching TV. We were fucking for a couple hours on her couch if I was being honest.
“You do know we are all grown adults here. Everybody on the team knows you’ve fucked,” Bo replied to her.
Seriously, man?
I reached over and hit him in the head with an open palm, “Dude, what the hell? You said there was a bro code.”
I couldn’t believe he told her that I told him and the team that we had sex. It was something I didn’t exactly think she wanted me to be advertising. Julianna looked exasperated and I snaked an arm around her waist, bringing her closer to me.
“I’m sorry, Julianna. I didn’t know that this asshole was going to sing like a canary,” I gestured to Bo with my head.
Bo laughed, “Maybe you shouldn’t wear it so plainly on your face, Finn.”
He ran off back to practice before I could retort. Wise choice Bo, wise choice.
“What, was our sex so good this morning that you couldn’t wipe the smile off your face?” Julianna giggled, putting her arms around my neck. I could feel her fingers playing with my hair like they always did.
“All of our sex makes me smile as big as I was this morning,” I replied, leaning against her to close the millimeters of space between us.
Her lip pouted out and damn that look did things to me, “I wish there was time to have more before you leave tonight.”
“Me too. It’s gonna be torture for the next week,” I smirked as my hands found their way to her ass, giving it a light squeeze.
Julianna gave me the sexiest smile that I had ever seen, “All that time and no sex. You will be one frustrated man.”
“So fucking frustrated,” I answered, moving closer to her for a kiss.
“How are you going to survive?” She asked softly, her mouth was so fucking close.
“Not a clue,” I groaned, finally taking the kiss that I wanted.
Her hands threaded through my hair as her lips opened easily for me. I could taste her toothpaste from when she brushed her teeth, the minty flavor a little refreshing after having my coffee earlier. My team was loudly calling out behind us, but I couldn’t give a fuck. I needed this more than I needed to practice. One week was a hell of a long time. When I was with Natalie this time last year, I never felt like this about leaving her. Was I addicted to Julianna? I took her bottom lip between my teeth and gently tugged, earning a moan from Julianna. Yeah, I needed a break, a sex break, after that sound.
“Okay, McAllister, that’s enough,” Coach Thompson yelled out.
Fuck.
I ended our kiss immediately after he spoke. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Coach Thompson standing there watching us. The look was a mix between annoyance and anger that I was wasting my practice time to make out with my girlfriend. Well, maybe if he was married or even had a girlfriend, he’d know what it was like to have to suffer through a week without the person you loved. Julianna hid her face into my chest, she wasn’t used to being this vulnerable in front of others.
“Can’t we take five, Coach?” The question was out of my mouth before I could stop it.
Yeah, five minutes would be more than enough time.
“Ow, ow!” Simon called out from the field, followed by many others on my team.
Sometimes they really pissed me off with their immaturity.
“Pretty sure you need more than five minutes,” Bo loudly answered my question as the team burst out laughing.
I narrowed my eyes at him. Maybe he would need more than five minutes, but I could probably blow the second I thrusted into Julianna right about now.
“You can walk her to her car then come back,” Coach Thompson called out and then blew his whistle to quiet everyone down. He used that thing when he wanted to tell us that he was serious.
Sighing with disappointment, I laced my fingers with Julianna’s and she led me in the direction of her car. When we got there, she rested against her car and tugged me closer.
“You gonna miss me?” She whispered.
“Of course I’m going to miss you. You’ll be the main thing on my mind,” I answered honestly, resting my forehead against hers.
“After soccer you mean.” She smiled, “Get your head in the game.”
Oh no, not that movie quote.
“Did you just quote High School Musical to me?”
“Don’t make me start singing the song to you, because I still know it by heart.”
She would know that song by heart. I chuckled and shook my head.
Bringing my free hand up, I caressed her cheek with the back of my fingers, “Are you going to miss me, Julianna?”
To my knowledge, I had never asked a girl this before because I had never had this type of goodbye before.
“Very much so,” she giggled quietly, “Who’s going to keep me warm at night?”
What the fuck kind of question was that? The answer was a big fucking nobody, that was who.
“No one better be keeping you warm at night while I’m gone,” I narrowed my eyes at her playfully.
She dramatically sighed, “I guess I will just have to double up on blankets. Or maybe I’ll go to your place and use your comforter while you’re gone.”
Fuck…Julianna in my bed? I’d like to see that right about now.
“Now I’m thinking about you in my bed.”
“You are just going to make me want you even more than I already do if you keep looking at me like that,” she confessed as she bit her lip. She knew what that did to me.
“Have you ever had sex on FaceTime?” Oh, shit. That was not supposed to come out.
She rolled her eyes as she thought about my question, “Think carefully about that question, Finn, and consider my self-esteem levels.”
Fair enough. “I’ll rephrase that, would you ever have sex on FaceTime?”
Her eyebrow raised, “You want me to have sex on FaceTime with you is where you are going with this, isn’t it?”
Yes, baby. That is the only way I will survive this next week.
“Please, Julianna. You’re telling a guy to go a whole week without sex. Your body is like my drug.”
She raised up her index finger in between us, “One time. We will see how it goes from there. If it’s terrible, it’s never happening again.”
Fuck yeah! “You got it.”
I kissed her deeply, pushing her up against the car and just wishing that I could have my way with her one last time. Reluctantly, I released her and let her go to work, knowing I’d get an earful from coach the second I got back. I watched her drive away before returning to the field.
When the team and I took off to the airport, and we had to wait for our flight to board, I spent the two hours before I boarded texting with Julianna. She was at work, but it must have been a quieter day because she answered rather quickly. It also could’ve been the fact that I was sending her some rather X-rated text messages. Our FaceTime date couldn’t come any faster.
“Bo, for the last time, please get the fuck out,” I groaned, exasperated that he was procrastinating on going out with some of our other frien
ds.
We had a great game, winning by a few goals. Now we had a couple days off, and tomorrow morning I would be going to visit my family in Atlanta since I was finally close enough.
“Your girlfriend hasn’t even called you yet,” Bo replied from his bed a few feet away.
“And? I’m not gonna wait for your lazy ass to get up and leave once she does call.”
He sighed, “Fine, I’ll see you later.”
Grabbing his phone and his wallet, he left the room. It was the least he could do for me. Yesterday, when I FaceTimed Julianna, she had just gotten out of the shower and things took off rather quickly from there. God, the thought still made me hard.
“Look at you, all prepped and ready for our FaceTime date,” I teased.
Julianna’s beautiful face lit up my screen, her hair went and straight from her shower, a towel tied around her body…her cleavage looking extra good.
“Finn, I was going to call you as soon as I got dressed,” she rolled her eyes at me.
“And yet here we are. You, naked except for the towel that covers your body and me, wearing way too many clothes.”
Her tongue traced her lips, “You are wearing too many clothes, why don’t you take some of those off?”
“Of course,” I laughed quietly, quickly getting out of all of my clothes except my boxers.
If she wasn’t going to get all the way naked yet, neither was I.
“Take off your boxers, Finn.” Her voice had a husk that I could hear through the phone.
“Take off your towel, Julianna.”
Her eyes went wide, “On three?”
“One…” I started.
“Two…” She practically moaned.
“Three.”
Her towel dropped out of frame and my boxers ended up on the floor with my other clothes. What a fucking gorgeous sight.
I picked up my phone excitedly and sent a text message off to Julianna. She had been having a girl’s night with Angie and I hadn’t wanted to interrupt, but now I was just getting too anxious.
Me: We still on for our FaceTime session tonight? ;)
Julianna: You aren’t too tired after your game?
Such a tease.
Me: Too tired for you? Fuck no.
Julianna: Good ;). I’ll be ready in five.
Damn, I hope she wears the towel again.
Me: Wear something sexy ;)
Julianna: How about…nothing?
My cock almost stood at attention at the sight of that text message.
I got up, making sure the hotel room door was bolted shut so that nobody, not even Bo, could come and interrupt us. Stripping down to my boxers, I reclined back on the bed and watched the clock a little too closely. Five minutes on the dot, and I hit the button to initiate a FaceTime call with the love of my life.
The phone quietly rang as I watched myself in the front facing camera view. What would my Julianna be wearing for me this evening? Just as it was ringing for what felt like a million times, the call stopped trying to go through. That was odd, maybe the Wi-Fi had poor connection. I tried again, but it immediately bounced back that FaceTime was unavailable. Oh well, I’ll just call her until the internet decided to work again.
Pressing her name to start a phone call rather than FaceTime, her phone went right to voicemail. Did she let it die on accident? Maybe it just needed to be charged for a short while. I waited ten minutes, thinking that was a sufficient amount of time, and tried to call again. Straight to voicemail. What the fuck? This was very unlike Julianna.
I redressed myself and paced my room, repeatedly trying to call her phone and always getting voicemail. There was a small voice in my head telling me that something was wrong. No, there couldn’t be anything wrong. Michael was out of the picture, she was safe now. For hours, all I got was her voicemail.
My phone started to buzz with a number that I didn’t recognize, maybe something happened to Julianna’s phone and she was using someone else’s.
“Julianna? Is that you?” I asked quickly, praying to hear her voice.
“Finn, it’s Angie…Julianna is in the hospital,” I could hear the sadness in her voice as she sniffled hard.
No, that wasn’t right. We were going to FaceTime, she had told me five minutes…
“Why is she in the hospital? Is she okay?” Julianna tended to be on the clumsy side, she probably fell or something minor.
“Mi—Michael went to her apartment. He attacked her. Finn, she won’t wake up,” Angie began to cry.
How the fuck did Michael get to her? The restraining order was good for thirty days before it could be reviewed by a judge again. There must’ve been a mistake.
“What do you mean she won’t wake up, Angie?” I blurted out.
“He beat her up pretty bad. The doctors said she suffered from some sort of head trauma? There’s bruises on her neck, Finn you need to get here…Jules needs you.”
I grabbed the overnight bag that I had packed separately for my trip to Atlanta. Yes, I wanted to see my family, but my girl needed me more. I picked up my wallet, yanked my phone charger out of the socket, and went in search of Coach Thompson’s room.
“I’ll be on the next flight out. Let her know that I’m coming for her. Thank you for calling me, Angie.”
We said our quick goodbyes and I pounded like hell on Coach Thompson’s door until he answered. His eyes got wide when he saw my duffle bag slung over my shoulder.
“Coach, I know that you said I could go to Atlanta. But there’s an emergency with Julianna, she’s in the hospital back home. I need to go to her…” I said out of breath.
He nodded, “You can go, Finn. Just be back in time for the other preseason games.”
“Yes, I know. Thank you so much.”
I didn’t even wait to hear his response as I took off down the hall. I bypassed the elevator, running down the several flights of stairs to the lobby. The concierge hailed a cab for me who sped us as quickly to the airport as the driver could manage. Getting on the very last flight of the night, I had never been on a flight that felt like it took forever to get from point A to point B like this one was.
Please, Julianna, be okay.
Chapter Seven
The second that I saw Julianna, I couldn’t help but break down. I had just gotten off the plane, got the first Uber that I could book, and made it to Regions Hospital in record time on a Saturday Night. Angie had to come down and tell the receptionist at the front desk to let me up, that I was Julianna’s boyfriend and that she would’ve wanted me to be there with her. It took her a few minutes, but she finally decided to let us get our way.
Angie told me she was going to go down to the café and give me some time alone with Julianna who was hooked up to so many tubes and wires that I didn’t know what went to which machine. The doctor had stopped us on the way in and told us to talk to her as much as we could, that she could hear us even if she wasn’t awake. I sat in the chair that Angie had put next to her bed and took Julianna’s hand in mine. Large round bruises in the shape of fingers wrapped around her arm, the same ones dotted her neck, a cut on her cheek looked as though it had just clotted, but even battered and bruised, she was still gorgeous. How could anyone want to hurt her the way that Michael did?
I pursed my lips, deciding to do what the doctor told me, “Julianna, if you can hear me, and the doctors say that you can, I just want you to know that I am here, that I came back for you.”
I will always come back for you.
Her eyes didn’t open, her heart rate didn’t spike, her hand didn’t squeeze mine…she just laid there, unresponsive. I couldn’t lose her, not like this. We hadn’t been together long, but I loved her more than anything in this world. Not just because of the intimate closeness that we shared, but because of her laugh, her smile, her fucking sassy attitude.
I kissed the back of her hand, then I felt the need to kiss away her pain, even if she wasn’t in any at this exact moment. Standing up from my chair, I kissed each l
ittle circle on her arm. The overwhelming pain in my heart caused a tear to escape.
“Oh baby, I’m so sorry that I left. Please forgive me.”
My lips moved to her neck, kissing the finger shaped bruises that lined it. I traced my fingers over her bruises, only a crazy person would do this to someone like Julianna. She didn’t deserve this.
“This is never going to happen again, I will protect you from this monster. Even if I have to spend my whole life fighting.”
I choked out the last word as my sobs finally decided to escape. I kissed her forehead, repeating how sorry I was for leaving. When I was all cried out, I took my seat once more and held her hand in mine.
“I love you, Julianna. More than I have ever loved anybody in my entire life…there’s never been anybody like you.”
“Finn?” Angie’s soft voice called out into the room as she came in, a very familiar woman walking close behind her.
I stood up, forcing myself to release Julianna’s hand.
“This is Julianna’s mother, Deborah. Deborah, this is Julianna’s boyfriend, Finn,” Angie introduced us.
I held out my hand for Julianna’s mother, “I wish we were meeting under different circumstances, but it is nice to finally meet you. Julianna talks about you all the time.”
She shook my hand, “You’ll have to forgive me, but I didn’t even know Julianna was dating anybody.”
Julianna had explained a few nights prior that she was worried about what her mother would think about her if she admitted to dating someone so soon after breaking up with Michael. I told her to take all the time she needed, thinking we had more time together.
“I understand, Julianna had said she hadn’t told you yet. I’m sorry this is how you found out,” I frowned and looked back at Julianna.
Her mother sniffled from behind me and went to stand next to Julianna, brushing her hair with her fingers. She whispered that she was there. A short while later, the doctors had been periodically coming in trying to get me to leave because her mother was there. Angie had left after the nurses asked her, knowing that she didn’t want to cause any stress in the environment. I, on the other hand, was refusing to leave. Her mother stepped in and told them that I could stay, telling them that she knew what was best for her daughter. I could see where Julianna had gotten her stubbornness from.