Love In the Red Zone (Connecticut Kings Book 1) (36 page)

That admission was packed with more than he spoke, but I got it. Lex had my man by the balls. Who was I to clown him about it? Apparently, mine were in vise grips, too.

“A’ight, man. I’mma let you go. Plus, I gotta get home before I find myself on freeze with her.”

Ezra stood and we slapped hands before parting ways. It was always good getting it all off my chest with him. He never judged or belittled and he’d always inconvenienced himself for me. And for that, I was crazy grateful.

When I turned into the kitchen, I heard Kyree speak first.

“Told you he was coming home soon, Mom.” He scooped his fork in the little bowl, twirling pasta around in it. “Plus, he don’t want no Madden problems with me.”

I chuckled at that stolen phrase. I also noticed Jade didn’t look my way. Across from her was a plate set for me. She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly as she repeated the same act as Kyree, sitting on her one leg. She wore gray leggings and a pink fitted t-shirt. That’s when it hit me.

“Spaghetti with shrimp and sausage?” My stomach growled. “That’s what’s up.”

Slowly, Jade turned her neck and finally offered me nervous eyes.

“Yup!” Ky garbled with a mouthful. “And my favorite: garlic biscuits! MmmMmmMmm!”

“Yeah, buddy!” I shouted, matching his excitement. “Let me get cleaned up for some good grub.”

It really was sincere. Jade had made a statement with preparing my favorite meal, but instead of me viewing it as manipulation, I decided on gratitude. She made it with me in mind. Kyree pumped his palms in the air while I headed for the nearest powder room to wash my hands. By the time I returned, Jade was up spooning meaty tomato sauce with thick chunks of tomatoes, shrimp, and sausage over a pile of pasta. My mouth watered.

“How was your day, big guy?” Kyree asked before biting into his biscuit.

I froze, eyes flew to his mother. Had he been listening to Jade’s nickname for me? Should I have been embarrassed and grossed the hell out? I mean… Yeah, I was the big guy of the house. Bigger in size than everyone in it, but that name had several meanings. Jade placing the plate of pasta before me at the table, broke my concentrated gaze from Kyree, who was more engaged in his bread than his reference to me. When I looked to her, she covered her mouth, softly snickering. Again, I decided on another thought.

“It wasn’t all that great until my ride home when I texted my coaches and told them I’m finally taking off for a few weeks like everybody else.” Ky’s face wrinkled as he chewed. Jade’s eyes stayed fastened to me for the same reason. “We’re going on vacation,” I finally clarified.

“Vacation?” Kyree gasped. “Where?”

Jade’s wide eyes were filled with the same excitement as his. She was just better at containing it. I’d surprised myself with the idea so quickly after kicking it with Ezra.

I shrugged. “Maybe somewhere in Florida for a long weekend. You,”—I pointed dramatically to Kyree—“have school. So, somewhere that’s sunny to give us a break from this weather, but close enough that we can get in and out without long travel.”

I immediately went to praying over my food, partially hearing Kyree shout about what would be his first time on a plane. That reminder warmed something inside of me. It made me even more excited about the prospect of going away with them. I had no excuse now with a steady income. I was cheap, but knew I could do something special with these two who had grown to be like family. Something more, even.

I devoured my plate and blissfully had a second. After playing a game with Kyree and reading him a story, I got ready for bed myself. Just when I expected Jade to play the sneaky horndog, I learned I was wrong. It had been almost an hour since Kyree’s lights went out. She
did
come into my room, but sat at the end of the bed, cross legged with her laptop, looking up flights to Florida.

“You have to do that now?” I asked with my fingers laced behind my head as I leaned on the headboard.

With her back to me, she mumbled, “It’s last minute and I know flights are going to be high now. I don’t want you spending too much.”

Jade understood I was cheap, which for once, didn’t make me feel good.

“Man, put that away.” I sat up, snatching the laptop to place it on the other end of the bed. Then I grabbed her, lifting her little ass up in the air before placing her on my lap. “We’re good. I know it’s last minute, but I can afford it.”

Jade didn’t fall into the giggling fit I’d been anticipating.

“I just don’t want you to spend much on us. I can cover food for the three of us, I think,” she spoke with somber eyes.

“Jade, I got this. I’m not broke.” My face hardened. “Never was, now that I think about it.”

“I know. It’s just that I don’t want to…”

My hands were cupping her chin, forcing her to look me in the eye.

“I’m good. I need for you to be good with that.”

Licking her lips with narrowed brows, Jade nodded her head. I knew it was my fault she turned uncertain about our friendship. I’d made her feel insecure when she was simply defending me against an unfair, long term opponent. I pulled her into my arms, squeezed her, and rubbed her little back. I could hear whimpers from her quiet tears. But I deserved all of it. I made a bad call, and learned from it. Moving forward I would learn to trust her more. It wasn’t her fault I had trouble with the concept in the first place.

Jade, Kyree, and I took that mini trip to Disney World the first week in April where I lived vicariously through him. Poor Jade had two kids to calm and scold when things got out of hand. We didn’t spare a dime on the resort, food, and/or activities. We lived it up with the freedom of enjoying each other’s company. It was the same vibe Jade and I shared as we continued to date while running scrimmage at learning to trust one another.

In May, I invited them up to Connecticut for a weekend, toured the
Kings’
grounds, and did the local tourism thing. Jade finally got to peep the condo the
Kings
made available to me, though I rarely used it, opting to commute back and forth, seeing the drive was only about an hour and half without traffic. Spring turned into summer and we found ourselves going away again once Kyree was out of school. We hit up the Maryland shore for a week in July, having a blast once again. I resumed work with the
Kings
in late July, still disgruntled, but grateful for the distraction of having Jade and Kyree on the home front.

They jiggled after they bounced…

Perfect oval shapes with a sensual curve in the lower halves. The peaks, a russet shade with a small mole planted on the areola of the left one. I tried focusing on it, but my greedy eyes wanted to see the big picture. Her tits were perfect…and real. I’d been with enough women to be well versed with artificial boobs. But goddamn, Jade’s were lecherous in size and sinful in functionality. When my dick was wedged in between them last night they cushioned me, packed me in with a grip tight enough to have me busting on her chin when she didn’t move fast enough to catch me in her mouth.

My phone rang on the nightstand next to the bed while I watched with heavy lids in the early morning hour as Jade rode me into a drunken haze. She never got tired, like a damn battery was attached to her spine. My girl loved to fuck. It was a pastime I had to grow comfortable with. She said she did it for me and only me, but her enthusiasm for it made me wonder if she shared the same level of zeal with another man. We fell asleep rubbing against each other. My last thoughts were how my wood was still lodged inside her, while she softly snored, her arm slung over me to make sure I didn’t move. She was still at it this morning.

I woke up to her little hands and naughty mouth all over my chest and abs. When I opened my eyes, Jade was on top of me, riding shot gun. Her wavy hair hung low against her back and shoulders, framing her breasts as she wore a
Kings
baseball cap tilted to the side. A black satin robe swathed her naked frame, giving her a costumed appearance. Jade was extreme and expressive with her body. What she believed to be a method of keeping me faithful to her, was a worthless attempt at best, because after experiencing her passion, my ass was done. There was no way I could view sex the same. She used sex to trap me, but not for my wallet or my potential to fatten my wallet. She used sex to create a special place in my heart. To connect with me on a level she feared someone else might be doing. Like now, as we played a game of me holding out from blasting off until she told me she’s done, she said I couldn’t use my hands. These are the types of games she played. And while I knew her motive was to fuck me to exhaustion before I left for Connecticut, I couldn’t deny her petty head trip. I wanted it. Wanted her. I realized Jade was a damn temptress and I’d become addicted to her beyond her fervent twat.  

She moaned, tightening around me. Her pussy creaming even more.
Another one
. I bit my lip, preparing to intensify her take off. I swung my hips upward to have her lift and bounce on my pulsing cock. She bit into her glossy lips—of course she got dolled up before waking me for sex—and hummed. My phone rang again. No way I could answer it. Her tits slapped against her rib cage and as much as I needed to close my eyes from the sensual sight of an enthusiastic lover riding the shit out of my dick, I couldn’t help but take in all of her. Jade swung her head back and sang my name in a higher note than the last time. The sounds from her juicy pussy squeezing me and slamming against my pelvis drove me fucking wild. I found myself biting my own damn lip to keep from blasting the hell off. 

“Trent…
tin
!”

Damn, I loved it when she called me by my government while exploding on me. It shot me high into the stratosphere, only thing left to do was blast off to join her. Her arms rose to grip her cap as her belly folded and then shoulders yanked back as she came. That combo act went on and on while she rode out her orgasm. What a sight it was.

The phone rang again. Again, I ignored it, captivated by the sight before me.

“You ready?” she breathed, giving me permission to explode. I nodded. “Okay,” she purred. “But still no hands. I wanna see if I can drive you crazy without your help.”

Damn
…

When she challenged me like that, my pelvis lurched slightly, my dick ready to go. Jade switched positions, bringing her feet astride my hips, and resting her hands on her thighs. My mouth dropped when she started to twerk on my dick. She gave me a view of where we connected. Her fat lips lifting from my throbbing cock, slimed by her excitement for me. Jade bounced up and down rhythmically, giving me a view of her rear cheeks when they rose on my stick. Her slanted eyes rolled up to meet mine. All I could think was this shouldn’t be free. I shouldn’t receive this type of pleasure from a woman who I didn’t lock down in a manner that would make her unavailable to another man.

Then she crowded me by reaching up to curl her tongue in my mouth. I accepted it greedily, tasting the mint from her earlier brushing while I had been sleeping, reminding me of how she prepared for me. That was Jade’s manner of care for me: she anticipated my needs, precipitated my pleasure all to keep me. If only I could get her to understand she was in a place no other woman ever dwelled, not even my mother. Jade was everything to me, and as her soaked pussy gripped me and her tits slapped against my chest, I pumped into her core until exploding inside her, losing control of the rhythm of my tongue against hers.

I grunted with paralyzed lips as she continued to lap inside my hanging mouth. She slayed me with the creativity of her body and ability to zone in on me with her mind. I was done: literally and figuratively. My ass hung in the air as I shot my blasting cum into her hungry little cave, and Jade vacuumed it all, the way I liked it. She stayed at it until my ass collapsed back on the mattress.

When I was able to crack my lids, I saw a rouge smile on her smeared lips. A chuckle launched from the back of my throat. She was clowning my post blast off state. She knew she’d worked me over and wanted to gloat.

“You did it,” she whispered, out of breath.

You did it
…

“You and these damn challenges.” My breaths were ragged. “Who comes up with this at…” I glanced over to the clock on the nightstand where my phone rang, ignored again.

“Six,” she answered for me, giggling.

“…in the morning!”  

“Mmmmm…” she pouted her lips contemplatively, gazing into the distance behind me. “A woman who hasn’t seen her guy in days because of his job, and won’t see him for a few more days for the same reason. Coming home only one night to take me to a movie and dinner isn’t enough.” A lazy smile brightened her face.

“Jade…” I groaned, rolling my eyes, believing she was going to hit me with grief about my long  hours in training camp.

She captured my face with her hands and kissed me tenderly. “I know. Big girl panties over here. You just don’t complain about how I choose to spend the little time offered with you. Step your stamina up, bruh,” she mocked me before winking and lifting from over me. “I’m going to get washed up real quick to fix you breakfast before you hit the road.”

After disconnecting from me, sucking in a breath while doing it, Jade wrapped the robe around herself and left the bed for the bathroom. My chest tightened with each step she took away from me. My lids collapsed at the rising emotion within. Jade had become something more to me than I bargained for when I agreed to this. I didn’t want to fuck up things with her or disappoint God by mishandling her. She deserved more than what I gave her.

My phone rang again, this time a distinctive tone I set up last fall after signing with the
Kings
again.

Shit!

I leaped from the center of the bed and reached to my right for the phone.

“Eli…” I answered out of breath.

“Everything all right?” He sounded concerned.

My eyes went wild. I was out of breath, but I couldn’t exactly tell my boss I’d just finished blowing my load into my girl. “Nah. It’s gravy. What’s good?”

I tried calming my lungs, but his call had also alarmed me.

“Okay,” he delivered with reluctance. “If you’re sure this isn’t a bad time—”

“Nah… Nah… We’re good. Everything all right with you, big man?”

“It is—or should I say it would be if what I’m about to share will sit right with you.” My brows hiked. “The paperwork has just been faxed over to Chesney. We’re offering you third string, Trent.”

My lips pushed into a thoughtful pout. That was the last thing I was expecting.

“What happened to Krimmer?” He was the third tier the season before.

“Let’s just say he isn’t the best fit for the 2016 roster. And of course, this opens a spot for you.”

I didn’t speak because I didn’t know what to say. How do you respond to that? I could tell by the span of time Eli allowed, he was curious about my reaction.
I mean
… It wasn’t what I wanted, but I didn’t feel the venom of betrayal and anger I did from last fall’s offering. Call it post orgasmic fog, but I didn’t feel the twisting of the knife in my back as I’d expected from the mediocre offering. That led me to quickly wonder why.

I’d been heavily and impossibly distracted by a force bigger than my beloved football. I mean, don’t get me wrong, not much could top football in my world other than my God. But the past ten months introduced and warmed me to the concept of the world being bigger than the ball, score, endorsements, and surviving the enticing storm of fame. One of the subjects of that force toed from the bathroom, heading to the doors of the master suite in boy shorts and a stingy tank. My world hadn’t ended since I’d been off the field. Though I needed it to feel purposed and charged, I had far more stable factors making me feel secure and whole when the field showed no love.

That revelation hit me with an alarming blow. With parted lips, my head rocked back.

“Trent,” Eli called out. “You still there? Instead of you thinking I’m being malicious or punitive about this, I hope you view it as me warming you for your rightful place. You’re on the right path, son. Things are shaping up for our team and you’re preparing for your return—”

“Nah!” I spoke with widened eyes. “I’m good, Eli. I appreciate this opportunity. I…it’s just…” I exhaled. “I wasn’t expecting this call.”

“I know it. I was supposed to wait for Pete to call you or Jerry, but…” He hesitated again. “This is personal to me. I want you to understand that.”

I swallowed hard. “Yes, sir. I do. Thanks. I ‘preciate that, sir.”

“I believe you do. Thank
you
for your patience with us, Trent. Thanks for believing in the invisible vision. But trust me, son, it’s there. Hang on in there with me…you and JJ.”

I nodded, stunned. “Yes, sir.”

“I suspect you’ll be headed up soon. I look forward to seeing you this week. Let me know if you need anything.”