Sidelined: A Wilde Players Dirty Romance (13 page)

Still laughing, he says, “I can be turned.”

“Renegade bastard.” We both laugh this time.

“I gotta get back to my desk. I’m so behind on paperwork, it sucks.”

“I don’t envy you.”

“Hey, one day when you can’t throw anymore, you’ll be stuck behind some giant desk, too. Then you’ll see how the poor people live.”

“You are so full of shit. Poor, my ass.” Mark is one of the biggest brokers in the area and does extremely well.

“Compared to you.”

“I don’t spend. I save, so when the day comes, I won’t be broke like so many pro athletes end up.”

“Don’t I know.” He says that because he’s my broker.

We part ways with promises to catch up later. When it’s time, I head over to Cassie’s office to follow her home. We stop at her house so she can pack an overnight bag, but I encourage her to bring enough clothes for several days. And then we head out to my place. Boomer and Brady almost knock her down because they’re so excited to see her.

“Didn’t I tell you they missed you?”

“Do you ever pay these guys any attention?” she asks.

“Of course. They just love a pretty woman, like I do.”

I start to pull a bunch of stuff out of the refrigerator.

“What are you doing?” she asks.

“Preparing dinner.”

“You?”

“I’ve lived alone for quite some time. While I don’t enjoy cooking, I know how to do it.”

“Hmm. This will be interesting.”

I walk outside to turn on the grill. While it’s heating up, I chop up the vegetables for the salad and check on the potato casserole that’s been in the oven since I went to pick her up. It looks about ready, so I turn the oven off and let it sit in there to stay hot.

When the salad’s finished, I take the beef filets out to the grill to cook. On the way, I ask, “You still like your steak medium rare?”

“Yes, thanks.”

When the steaks are cooking, I set the table and pour the red wine that’s been uncorked and breathing.

“Wow, Fletch. This is impressive.”

“Can you light the candles, please?”

“Sure. Where are the matches?”

“Over by the fireplace.”

She takes care of that while I pull the steaks off the grill. I plate everything and place it on the table, along with the salt, pepper, and salad dressing.

“Dinner is served.”

I seat her and then myself. When she cuts into her steak, I watch to make sure it’s cooked properly. Overdone beef is not acceptable. She eyes it and then declares it’s perfect so I am satisfied. The deal is sealed when I taste mine.

“This is really delicious, Fletcher. Thank you.”

“Glad you approve.”

“You’ve been holding out on me.”

“No, not really. You haven’t been around much or you would’ve discovered this sooner.”

After we both finish eating, I ask, “Cassie, why didn’t you ever tell me?”

We know each other so well that I don’t have to explain my question. She places her napkin onto the table and says, “It was … difficult on me.” Her eyes are focused on her lap, and I’m not sure if she’s afraid to show me what’s in them or if it’s because what she’s about to share with me is too painful to say to my face. “I would see you on TV and—” She holds up her palm toward me because I get ready to interrupt her. “Hear me out, Fletcher.”

“Okay.”

“You say it was a media thing. But it wasn’t to me because I didn’t know that. I
couldn’t
know that. What I saw was you surrounded by all those beautiful women, hugging you and draped all over you, and you standing there acting as though it was the coolest thing ever. It crushed every piece of me. After the first time, I told myself it was for publicity, like you said, but then it kept happening, and the whispers around town every time I walked into a room, it was—” She shakes her head as though it were the most distasteful thing in the world. “Can you put yourself in my shoes even for a minute?”

Jesus.
After I clear the knot out of my throat, I say, my voice gruff with emotion, “Yeah, I can and it feels damn shitty.”

“So for a while, I watched you from a distance. But then I stopped. I had to. It was like mourning the death of a loved one, if you want the truth. Calvin didn’t lie. He’d come home a couple of times and caught me crying like a baby over some replay from one of your games on ESPN or some stupid news release of you on TMZ. I was an absolute mess until I decided to focus on work. I poured everything I had into it. Which leads me to where I am right now. And why you and I are on parallel roads to nowhere, because they will never intersect, Fletcher. Not anymore. It’s too late for us.”

“You can’t know that. And why do you say we’re on parallel roads? I refuse to believe that!”

“Because we are. My life is here, especially since I just bought the practice, and yours is in Oklahoma with your team.”

“Cass, we can make this work. I know we can.”

“How? You’re on the road a lot, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“So, when will you ever have time to get back here? A couple of months every winter? And I can’t up and leave at the drop of a hat. I have a practice and patients to see, too.”

I want to sling my wine glass across the room, but I don’t because it will only create a pile of broken glass I’d have to clean up and wouldn’t solve a single thing. When I look at it from her perspective, she’s dead ass right.

“Then what do you suggest we do, because I don’t want to give up on us. I love you, Cass. I’ve never stopped loving you, and I know in this heart of mine, I never will.”

“Never is a long time, Fletch.”

“Look at us. After all this time, I feel every bit the same about you as I did the day I first laid eyes on you. I knew it then, and I know it now. I was young and naïve back then. But I’m not anymore.” I pick up her hand and bring it to my lips. Right before I do what she thinks I’m going to do, I turn it palm facing up, and press my lips there. “You’ll never find anyone who is more loyal, loving, caring, trustworthy, and who will protect your heart for the rest of your life like I will. I promise you that.”

“I know, Fletcher. That’s what makes this so damn difficult.”

“Then say the word. Please come back with me.”

“I can’t. You know I can’t.”

“Yes, you can.”

But I know by the sadness she holds in her eyes that she won’t. She’ll come with me for my demonstration, but that’ll be it. I’m going to have to find some other way to persuade her. What that is, I have no idea.

Cassidy

With his brace off, Fletcher stands before me bending his injured knee in a lunge position. I watch like a proud mama. He bends a little further to pick up the football at his feet. Next thing, he’s sending the ball in a beautiful spiral my way. I catch it, wanting to jump up and down in excitement, knowing that I’ve done all I can for him. He will either prove his worth to his team or I’ll look like the worst physical therapist ever.

His eyes dance as he stalks toward me. “Am I good, doc?”

Tears threaten to fall. “You’ll do well tomorrow.”

“All thanks to you. I’m not gonna lie. These past few weeks have been brutal, but I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. We should pack.”

Pursing my lips, I give a slight smile. “You should. I’m not going, Fletch.”

His face falls. “Cass—”

I hold up a hand. “Let me explain. While I’d love to go with you to watch you crush it…” He smiles. “I have appointments. I don’t have someone to take my clients in-house. If I send them somewhere else, I risk losing them to my competition.”

“You could have told me.” His tone carries an accusatory ring, and he’s right. I could have.

“I tried to see if Cory could work his schedule in my favor, and he couldn’t. You were so happy about me going, I didn’t want to say anything until I’d exhausted all my options. I’m sorry. Really I am.”

And it’s not the whole truth. He doesn’t know how much I’ve agonized over how to make this work between us, the distance. How we could both have our careers and be together. And I came up empty unless I give it all up.

I squeal when he scoops me up into his arms. “If you’re not going with me, then I have to get my fill before I go.”

He jogs up the porch stairs into the house and doesn’t break stride, with the exception of opening and closing the door. The dogs think it’s a game and make chase. But once we reach his room upstairs, they aren’t quick enough before he closes the door on their excited faces. I almost feel bad until he dumps me onto the bed.

His shirt is off in one swift motion. Then he hooks a thumb in the waistband of his shorts, making my mouth water.

“See something you want?”

I mumble a yes.

“Show me that pretty pussy of yours, Cass.”

Damn, if he couldn’t make me wet by just talking. I squirm out of my workout pants under his lingering stare.

“No panties, Cass?” His brow arches.

I shrug. “I didn’t see a point.”

“Fuck, if I’d known that, I wouldn’t have finished that workout.”

“But now you can finish me off.”

“I want to taste that sweet pussy. Face down, ass up, Cass.”

Like a wanted woman, I get in that position, feeling vulnerable, but safe at the same time. The bed shifts, and then his hot mouth tastes me, making my eyes roll back. His tongue slides through my folds but goes a bit higher, and I shudder.

“Fuck me, Fletch,” I beg.

“And what do I get if I get you off?”

“Whatever you want,” I say mindlessly.

“What if I want to share you, Cass?”

Before I can answer, he shoves into me, and his thrust makes any questions disappear off my tongue. But he isn’t done.

“Have you ever been fucked by two guys?”

His hand is on my shoulder, pressing me to the mattress. I’m barely able to shake my head as the idea makes my pussy quiver. Then I feel the invasion as he presses a finger inside me.

“Imagine it,” he says as his strokes become ruthless and punishing.

And I do. The faceless guy in my head stands before me in my imagination as Fletcher fucks me from behind. That’s all it takes to push me over the edge screaming because his thumb finds my clit at the exact moment.

A couple more punishing thrusts and he empties himself inside me. He collapses on top of me, flattening me to the bed. I don’t mind. His warmth envelops me as the heat on our skin slowly cools.

“Don’t get any ideas, Cass. I’ll never share, even if the idea intrigues you.”

I say nothing because it does, though Fletcher has no problem getting me off.

When I wave goodbye to him the next day, I try to convince myself the only reason I agreed to stay at his parents’ place is for the dogs. But the truth is, I feel safe in his sheets on the bed the two of us shared.

“What do you say, guys? Up for a walk?” I say to Boomer and Brady as their tongues hang from their mouths. I toss the stick, and they take off.

Fletcher is only supposed to be gone for a few days, and I’m already lonely without him. I’m in the kitchen filling the dogs’ bowls when the call comes.

“Mrs. Miller?”

An hour later, I’m still shaking as I drive into Bransonville. When I pull into the inconspicuous shop, I have no idea what I’m in for. The office is staffed with a kind looking older woman.

“May I help you?”

“Yes, I got a call from my insurance adjustor about my car?”

“Are you okay, dear?”

I nod. “I’m Mrs. Miller.”

My name seems so ordinary as I say it, but it feels so foreign on my tongue.

“Ah, yes. Would you like to see it?”

I give her my silent agreement. The car isn’t mine, and I’d almost gotten exasperated with my agent trying to explain that the car didn’t belong to me, but my ex-husband. After he explained why the car was in the shop, I had to see for myself.

“Here it is.”

And there it sits. The breath rushes out of me as I stare at the thing. The hood of the car holds a large dent, and the windshield is splintered with a million cracks, yet holding together. The kicker is the huge dent in the front near the radiator that easily resembles the straight shape of a leg at impact before a body would be tossed in the air to land hard on the windshield.

“This is your car?” the woman questions.

We trade a few more questions and answers before I leave.

Rage clouds my rational mind as I drive home. That isn’t exactly my destination. I make a call before I pull up at Calvin’s last known address. I have no desire to talk to his girlfriend and have managed not to do so until now.

The door opens a crack, and a woman with hair that looks bleach fried answers the door. Her face withers into hate when she recognizes me.

“What do you want?”

Never could I understand what Calvin saw in her. He can talk circles around her. What do they talk about at night? Then again, my ego isn’t seeing the bigger picture. She’s better in bed than I was. At least that’s his excuse to me.

“He ain’t here, if that’s who you are looking for.”

There isn’t a reason to debate. “Where is he?”

“Don’t know. Don’t care.”

The door closes in my face. I have no choice but to leave, so I drive back to Fletcher’s place and let the dogs out. I fill their bowls before getting into my car and going back home. I check the streets for cars I don’t recognize before I get out. My keys rattle in my hands because I’m still reeling over the news. I close and lock the doors, leaving my purse on the table by the door before heading into the kitchen.

“There you are.”

Calvin’s arm is a steel band around me, pinning my arms at my sides. And the metal at my neck tells me I’ve been wrong about him. He is very capable of hurting me, and this time he means me harm.

“I’ve been waiting for you to show up. Have you been with him?”

He actually gives me a sniff, which makes my stomach revolt.

“What are you doing?” I ask, sounding calmer than I feel.

“Cassie, I never wanted to hurt you, but I have to choose my life over yours.”

Spikes of fear stab at my chest. “What does that mean?”

He edges me toward a chair that looks as though it’s been waiting for me. I’m shoved in it, landing hard and awkwardly. I turn to straighten myself out so I can see what’s happening.