I clicked the power button off and tossed the remote onto the coffee table. I could hear the shower running in the other room. I’d taken one in the locker room, but I felt the urge to slip in and help Whitney with hers. I slid off my shorts and pulled my t-shirt over my head. My erection was about half-way there, and as I pulled open the curtain to her beautiful, soaking wet body, it peaked to its full potential.
She wasn’t receptive at first, but as I took over washing her with the loofah, slowly running it over her smooth skin, she let out that familiar soft sigh. I knew that meant she was happy. She didn’t even know she was doing it, but it only happened when she relaxed from something stressful.
Before long, I was inside her, her body arching back against mine. All the stress of the day, of the week, it was gone as the toxins exploded out of my body and hers and onto the shower floor. I held her tightly in my arms as the drain washed away our stress. Gentle kisses against her neck made her twist and turn in my arms for a loving hug. In that moment, I couldn’t imagine living my life without her.
I dressed and slicked back my hair within a few minutes, leaving me plenty of time to catch up on more sports news. Thankfully, they had moved on from debating me and were now onto other new players. As Whitney called into the living room to tell me she’d be ready in ten minutes, I noticed Ace’s face on the screen.
“Is the biggest player in the league ready to settle down?” a female reporter asked.
Another picture popped up on the screen with him holding Holly’s hand as they walked into his large condo. I quickly shot a text to my hired driver and let him know we would be ready to roll in ten and shut the TV off. I’d save this information for later; God, I hoped he hadn’t seen it yet, I would love to be the one to tell him what everyone was saying.
Whitney finally exited the bedroom. She was wearing a cute white sundress with a light pink shawl draped over her shoulders, a pair of pale pink flat sandals and carrying a matching purse. I immediately wondered how much this new get-up would cost me before pushing that thought from my mind. Whatever the cost, if it made her happy, that’s all that mattered.
I gripped her around the waist and gently pressed my lips against hers. Her face wasn’t caked with makeup, and her hair was simple, brushed to flow over her shoulders. She looked like the girl I fell in love with, not the one Holly was trying to create with their shopping sprees.
“You look absolutely adorable,” I said, meaning it.
“It’s not too casual?” she asked, looking down at her shoes.
“No, it’s perfect.”
I took her hand and guided her out of the apartment and down the stairs where our driver was waiting with the back door open.
Whitney got her first peek at Ace’s bachelor pad, at least the outside of it as we pulled up. I had been there once, just for a minute after practice one day, so I was grateful they were headed out the front door as we arrived. If Whitney got a peek inside his party pad, she certainly would have more reason to complain about him.
The girls immediately started chattering, something about how cute one another looked, how they would miss each other, blah, blah, blah. I reached into the mini bar and opened two beers, handing one to Ace, smirking as I waited to see if he knew about the press. It didn’t appear he had heard anything.
“What’s wrong with you, man?” he asked.
“Nothing,” I said casually. “Just wondering how you’re doing.”
“I’m great. You, on the other hand, are acting like a freak.” He gave a nervous laugh.
I managed to keep my mouth shut as we enjoyed a nice dinner, but when a large busted blonde came up to our table and asked for his autograph, I leaned in and whispered in his ear, “You’re not a single man anymore my friend, better be careful.”
The look he gave me was dangerous. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
I lifted my glass to my lips, making him wait while I took a long drink. “You need to start reading the news or turn on your TV in between your little fuck sessions.”
He began scrolling through his phone, and when his face turned pale, I leaned over to check that he had found the photo of he and Holly. “This is bullshit!” he said, a little too loud for the quiet restaurant.
“It’s no big deal,” I told him. “She’s leaving tomorrow. You can get your bad boy reputation back in no time.”
I knew he hadn’t settled down with Holly. He had bragged to me repeatedly about his conquests in the men’s room, in the lockers after everyone else had left, and of course, the cleaning lady he banged one morning while Holly was in the shower.
I immediately regretted opening my mouth in the middle of dinner because everything went downhill quick. Ace’s mood darkened and he withdrew from the discussion. He snapped at everyone who came up to him and ignored Holly the rest of the evening.
Camera’s flashed, and paparazzi tossed questions at us so quickly it was impossible to respond. Whitney pulled my hand towards the car and out of the limelight, once again pissed at the attention. Ace seemed uneasy in front of the cameras for the first time, pulling his hand away from Holly’s and simply putting his hand on her back to guide her to the car.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Calvin
I stood at the airport security line where Whitney was saying her last goodbye to her best friend. Tears ran down their faces, their arms gripped around each other’s waists tightly. You would’ve thought they were never going to see one another again. I didn’t understand women and their heightened, and what I felt irrational, emotions.
Ace didn’t even come with us to see her off, so why did I have to?
“Keep Ace out of trouble for me,” Holly said as she made her way to the long line.
Yeah, right!
I waved, smiled, and gripped Whitney’s arm to pull her away before they clung back on to one another again. I managed to get her out of the airport and into the car before she fell apart for the twentieth time that morning. “She’s coming back soon,” I assured her.
I was happy to have Whitney back to myself, no more sharing her with Holly, but the thought of Ace pulling me back into the nightlife was lingering in my mind as well. Things would’ve been so much easier if she had never come.
“She really likes him,” Whitney said, her voice still shaky from her earlier meltdown. I pulled up to the parking attendant window where a young redhead with tattooed arms and a piercing in her nose chomped on a piece of gum. She lit up when she noticed who I was, her hand pausing on mine as I handed her the pass.
“Can I get your autograph?” she said in a soft tone that didn’t match her tough exterior, pushing a blank parking pass in my direction with a pen.
“Sure,” I agreed, scribbled my name and then winked at her as I handed it back. She was a hot little number with beautiful green eyes and thick red lips. I wondered what else she had pierced as Whitney slapped my arm.
“Did you hear what I said?” she snapped. Shit, no, I hadn’t listened to a word of it.