We had become so close that I understood her clinging to me like that, but I knew she was strong and independent. She just needed to remember it. I wrapped her up in my arms, telling myself, Believe in the Wards’ words. Trust…
I told Lilah, “We’re trying this first so we have a chance to have our forever. Look at me.” She hid in my chest. “Lilah, look at me.” Wet brown eyes found mine. “I love you, girl. I’m only blocks away.” Her arms tightened, and I knew I wouldn’t—couldn’t—force her to let me go. So I was internally preparing for a battle with her brother and father when, from the other side of the room, I heard, “I’m scared, too, if that helps.”
Delilah’s new roommate, Sadie, was sitting on her bed, witnessing our emotional attempt at good-bye. Lilah sniffled and, without letting me go, looked behind her. She nervously giggled. “I’m usually stronger than this, but this town is huge compared to home.”
“I’m from a tiny town in Kansas.” Sadie looked around as if the boogey man was going to snatch her up. “And I believe this city may eat me alive.”
Slowly, Lilah let me go, nodding. I kissed her cheek. “That’s my girl.”
Delilah grasped my hand. I felt her trembling when she pleaded, “Call me tonight?”
“Of course, beautiful.”
She turned and gave hugs to her dad and Tuck. “I love you, Daddy. Tuck, watch over him.”
As the two girls began chitchatting and unpacking boxes, John, Tuck, and I reluctantly left. With the door shut behind us, we all stood quietly in the poorly lit hallway. I pointed to the Ward men. “You two better be right, or Tucker’s getting a black eye.”
“Fair enough.”
“Dad! What the fuck?”
My college roommate was nowhere near as sweet and calm as Sadie. He practically chest bumped me with excitement as I entered our dorm room. “Name’s Pete! You Maverick?” His accent was so strong I wasn’t sure if we were going to be able to communicate. Pete was from Africa—a six-foot-four wall of muscle from Nigeria—and a hell of a boxer. I didn’t even know people boxed in Africa! They did, and Pete was an excellent sparring partner.
Life did nothing but pick up speed like a train on the tracks—downhill—with no brakes. Delilah and I did our best to hold on, but everything was overwhelming us. Classes… boxing… our relationship…
Before I knew it, we were both nineteen, and our relationship had become passing kisses and quick rendezvous. We fought it, but my fights in the ring were taking over my life. I was in better shape than I had ever been and was winning every match. Lilah was sinking and turning to partying. Newspapers and other news media were interviewing me, saying I was helping bring boxing back to more colleges. Lilah attended one rager after another.
One night, with a big fight coming up, I was trying to get some much-needed sleep. I was succeeding until someone knocked on my dorm-room door. Pete rolled out of his sack and scuffed his tired feet toward the noisemaker. When he opened the door, he said, “Delilah! What’s wrong?”
I woke up completely after hearing her name and rushed to the door, opening it wider to see my baby crying. Pulling her to me, I asked, “Lilah, what is it?”
I could smell her intoxicated scent as she slurred out, “I’m lonely.”
Now? We have to do this now? Guiding her to my bed, I said, “I’m sorry. Just got a big fight coming up.” Then I went to my dresser and dug through a drawer, asking Pete, “Your eyes closed?”
“And ears,” Pete answered, already snuggled back in bed.
I undressed Lilah. “You gonna get sick?”
Sniffle, sniffle. “No.”
Pulling one of my T-shirts over her head, I said, “Okay, lie with me.” I knew if I could get her in the horizontal position, she would pass out in seconds flat.
But Lilah wanted to kiss, and of course, my young body was game. Our kiss deepened, me not minding the hint of rum on her tongue. Pete joked, “Ears aren’t that closed.”
She giggled. “Sorry, Pete.” Her head finally rested on my chest, and she passed out a few moments later.
Lying there, staring at the dark ceiling, I was completely torn. Boxing was pulling me in one direction, Lilah in another. I had even reached out to her brother. Tuck had visited her, and I thought she had been bouncing back, but I now realized I was wrong. With so much work already invested in boxing—and the proud ghost of my dad—it would’ve truly sucked to walk away, but with the one I wanted forever being so damaged over it, I knew I would have. I’d have walked away from it all for Delilah.
“You okay, champ?” Pete quietly asked in the dark.
“If I give up boxing, I give up my free ride to school. What can I offer her if I don’t finish school?”
Rolling over to face me, he whispered, “Whoa, whoa. No one is giving up anything of the sorts. Sadie will watch over her while we’re out of town.”
I chuckled at Pete’s unlikely match with Lilah’s roommate. The tiny country girl from Kansas had fallen head over heels for my huge black roommate from Africa. The affections were reciprocated heavily. Sadie had Pete wrapped around her pinky, with me hoping no one ever fucked with her because then I would be bailing Pete out of jail for sure.
“Pete, how the fuck did you get your name, being from Nigeria?”
“Long story, my friend.”
It was late, dark, and cold, and we were heading back to school in a van full of exhausted fighters. I was sleeping next to Pete when his cell phone started ringing, lighting up our seats. He woke and answered. I became wide awake when I learned that Sadie had asked us to show up at the party she and Delilah were attending. She was worried because there were guys trying to cash in on Lilah’s sadness. When guys detect weakness, they’ll claim they want to mend a broken heart, but truly, they just want in a girl’s pants. Sorry, the truth hurts.
I waited, not so patiently, for the van to park back at school. “Fuck. I’m pushing her too far,” I told Pete as I jumped out of the van and rushed toward my truck.
Pete was throwing his gym bag in the back of my truck. “Pro, Maverick. You’re saying good-bye to a career in boxing if you walk away for her.”
When we pulled up to the front of the modest duplex, music was kicking and alcohol was flowing freely in the double front yard. Pete and I found Sadie in the living room of one of the adjoined homes. There was a keg, and drunks were everywhere. I hated that Lilah had been in that kind of environment without me.
Sadie gestured to a small crowd in the kitchen. “She’s not settling in like I did, Maverick.” Sadie looked pained. “You’re losing her, big guy.”
A knife. It felt like a knife was stabbed into my chest ’cause I knew she was right.
Entering the kitchen, I saw Delilah talking with two guys who looked practically willing to take each other out for her. Jealousy instantly grabbed hold of my ego and demanded I win my girl back.
Delilah was smiling and having a good time until she saw me. Her face contorted grotesquely, shocking the shit out of me. I understood sadness, but anger? That brought about my own anger. I was willing to say good-bye to a dream for her and didn’t appreciate the attitude.
“Lilah, I need to talk to you.”
My liquored-up girlfriend greeted me. “Sorry, I’m busy.”
“That’s not even close to being fair. Talk to me.”
“I’m having conversations elsewhere at the moment.”
One guy said, “Yeah, she’s a little occupied.”
Breathe in and breathe out, Maverick.
“Delilah, I’m tired as hell and don’t want to argue with you, but—”
The other guy who had been talking to her actually had the balls to say, “Maybe you should head home for a nap.”
Patience? Gone. My jaw tightened as I looked at the dumb fuck. “I am two seconds away from—” Inhale. Exhale. I looked at my girlfriend in warning. “Lilah, I’m going to talk to you—here, with consequences to strangers, or in that pantry for some privacy. Your choice.” I pointed to
a walk-in pantry with open folding doors.
Delilah looked at the two guys, who were unaware of whom they were fucking with, then wisely said, “Pantry.”
“Thank you.” I gestured for her to lead the way. We walked into this pantry-laundry room, and I shut the doors behind us. Then I spun her to face me. “What. Are. You. Doing?”
“Trying to be a college student. Problem?”
“Yeah. Fuck yeah, if it includes another guy.”
“What’s the matter, Maverick? Jealous?”
“Do I have something to be jealous of? You fucking around on me?”
Slap! She smacked me right across my face. What the fuck?
She pointed her angry finger at me as she circled me in order to get closer to the doors. “You moved me out here and then left me to—”
I followed her, circling in place. “No! You moving here was your choice!”
Slap!
Jesus! I sneered, “I guess the truth hurts.”
Slap!
Or just my face.
Lilah was pissed. “How dare you say that to me when you have been ignoring me?”
I thought she had understood. “I’m not ignoring you. You know I’m preparing for fights.”
“Prepare for this fight.”
Slap!
I slowly pulled my head back on my shoulders. “I never asked you to—”
Slap!
So this is how it’s going to go. Growling, I asked, “What is it? You want out? You want those guys?”
Slap! She growled back, “Don’t talk to me like that.”
Every hit had Lilah intently studying my face. It was as if she were looking for some hidden meaning in my reaction.
Being in love with Delilah had always been simple. Loving that woman came naturally to me even with the challenges that we faced from time to time dealing with issues of my dad, Mom, and Kenny. But school was just as hard as Tuck and John had claimed it would be. Now Lilah and I had to decide what to do about it because a firestorm had been lit between us. Our frustration with not being together enough was looking for an escape, a way to be released, and we both knew it.
What we hadn’t known was how far we would fall before we caught ourselves. With my jealousy of her talking to other guys and her jealousy of my boxing career, Delilah and I found ourselves in unchartered waters. We were reacting to emotions we’d never experienced before, and we were not responding with the maturity needed.
Having Delilah in close quarters with me had me smelling her and reminding my hormones of what they desired most: Delilah. Blood started to flow and boil with my many needs. I’d missed Lilah—every part of her—something fierce, and I wasn’t willing to let any other guy near her. Now, all I had to do was remind her of how much she desired me too.
I grabbed her wrist as she went to smack me again. Then I said through gritted teeth, “What if this new guy can’t touch you like I can?”
Slap! Her free hand had found the other side of my face. Delilah didn’t have an ounce of the strength I was used to being clocked with. In fact, her smacks felt more like love taps, and she was turning me on. I let go of her wrist and grabbed the nape of her neck, pulling her close so she could feel me hardening for her. She got the message. Her plump lips opened with a slight gasp.
“That all ya got, little girl?”
Slap!
I’ll take that as a no.
Delilah’s body and actions were betraying her, telling me she was getting turned on too. She began to pant while snaking that sweet tongue out and licking her lips, waiting for my next move. Not being able to stop myself, my other hand was suddenly searching under her skirt for her core. Face to face, I told her, “Have you forgotten who taught you how to come?”
She slapped my chest but didn’t move my hand, which was finding its way under her dampened silk. I smirked. “You’re wet, baby,” I said before forcing a brutal kiss that caused her to moan. Then I whispered close to her ear, breathing her in, “You can play this game that you don’t want me anymore, but”—I slid a finger inside her to enforce my point—“your body says you’re lying to me.”
Her lids went heavy as her body went limp. Her fight was fading.
“Do you want to come now?” My thumb rubbed her clit. Her nod looked drug induced. “Only one way you’re coming tonight,” I warned her. “With me inside you.”
“Maverick, I—I need—” Her breathing was becoming too labored to talk.
“That’s the thing. I know exactly what you need, and now, you’re gonna know what I need. You.” I leaned back my shoulders, which she was holding onto. “Unbuckle my pants.”
Desperate for release, she groaned, “Maverick, please.”
I was possessed and needed to stake my claim like a jealous bastard. If she was going to deny me, I was going to deny her. I started to pull my fingers from her.
Delilah whimpered, “No, please.”
I coyly asked her, “No?”
Her head weakly fell to my shoulder. “No.”
I slid my finger back in, with another joining it. She groaned in relief, her body melting to mine. But I kept on, “Un. Buckle. My. Pants.”
It was wrong…
It was disrespectful…
But I couldn’t stop. I was exhausted from training and fighting, and I wanted to be where I considered home and safe: inside Delilah.
Her hands shook with need as she pulled on my jeans’ button and zipper. Delilah was rubbing her needy core on my palm, seconds away from a release. When my dick sprang free, I didn’t waste a second. I grabbed her juicy ass, pulled her G-string to the side, and lifted her, hungrily growling, “Up and over, girl.”
When her centered warmth blanketed my cock, tension instantly began to ease, only to send me into a whiplash of emotions. Every thrust into her was a plea to never have to live without her. I begged, “Don’t leave me, Lilah.”
Not able to play the game anymore, Delilah bit down on the meat between my shoulder and neck. I understood what she was doing. She was angry that I had scared her. I could feel how lost she was without me, and it broke my fucking heart. I growled, “Harder. Fuck! Fucking mark me. I’m yours, Lilah.” Her teeth sank into my flesh.
Bottom. We’d found the pit of our desperation to be together.
I held her to me while we fucked hard. “I’m yours, Lilah. That’ll never change, baby, so bite. Take what’s yours.”
Teeth still in me, she tried to say, “I can’t—I can’t live without you.”
I slammed her body down on my erection, over and over. “Never. You’ll never live without me.” Delilah released my skin then cried out in ecstasy, telling me she’d just fallen off the cliff. The folding doors swung open, and her new friend was slack jawed as he got an eyeful.
Needing to explode inside Lilah, I warned him, “Get. Out.”
He stared at Delilah in disbelief. “But she—she screamed.”
Delilah slowly leaned back in my arms to look at him upside down. Her heavy eyes were intoxicating for any male to witness. She softly moaned, “Didn’t hurt me… made me come.”
I watched a bead of sweat roll from her chest and down her neck to her chin as she looked at him. Her looking sexy as hell was a side of my Lilah I was not willing to share. Being completely caught up in emotions had my girl raw and exposed to a stranger. “What are we doing?”
Delilah’s head rolled, coming back to my shoulder, still lost in intoxication and leftover sexual release. I was ashamed of myself. I told the guy with regret, “Give us a minute, please.”
The guy seemed stupefied but nodded and closed the doors.
I put Delilah on her feet and fixed her clothes. She was waking up and nervously asked, “What’s wrong?”
“You deserve better than this.” I buckled my pants and opened the door. The kitchen had been cleared; only the one guy who’d found us remained. Delilah sounded sad and lonely as she stood motionless, still in the pantry. “I love you, Maverick.”
I spun
to her in a hurry, needing her to hear how much I meant what I had to say. “I love you so fucking much that I will walk away from it all for you.”
She began crying, probably in relief.
“Do you understand what I’m saying?” I asked her with urgency.
Lilah kept crying but walked to me. “Yes, but don’t. We’ll find a way.” Her arms hugged my waist.
Clutching her face, I said, “No more, Lilah. I promise. I will never make you feel this desperate again. We tried your dad’s way. Now, we do this our way. Living separately is not working.”
Wet eyes gazed up at me. “If I can just have you most nights, I know I can handle your schedule.”
I wrapped her up and rocked her. “I know. God, I’m so sorry.” I glared at the stranger, who was looking on sympathetically, and told him, “I beg you not to speak of what you just witnessed in there. We got lost.” I held her head to my chest, trying to shield her. “This is going to be the mother of my children someday.”
Lilah began to sob. “Maverick.”
“And she doesn’t deserve a bad reputation because of what I’ve done to her.”
The guy held up his hand. “Say no more. You obviously love her.”
I kissed her hair. “You’re staying with me tonight. Tomorrow we’ll find a place to share. Don’t worry. Tuck and I have been talking.”
Maybe my coach knew he would lose me if I wasn’t settled with Lilah. He gave me two days off. Mr. Ward and my mom overnighted money so Delilah and I wouldn’t have to try to hold down jobs on top of everything else. Their support was critical for the two of us staying in school. Our passion for each other had almost ripped away any hope for a future together.
Delilah and I found a dump of a place with old, huge warehouse windows looking out from the third floor. And—wouldn’t you know it?—it was right next to an active railroad track.
“Damn! That will never get old to me,” I panted, rolling off Delilah, hearing the train disappear.
Steal Me (Haunted Roads Book 1) Page 17