Jockblocked: A Novel (Gridiron Book 2) (30 page)

“Now,” she orders. Yup. No waiting for her.

I guide the blunt tip to her opening and slide in, slow and gentle so I don’t hurt her. Her bare walls grip me tight, eroding my control. The impulse to jackhammer inside her until the back of my head explodes takes over. My hips start thrusting as I work my way into her hot passage.

“Sorry. Fuck.” I mutter incomplete phrases, hoping she understands that she’s just so fucking hot, I can’t stop myself.

She laughs, a breathy sort of chuckle, and grips my face in both hands. Her brown eyes are full of happiness and love. She bares her teeth and squeezes her cunt so hard I nearly pass out. “I want you. I want you to fuck me as hard and fast as you can, Matty. ”

Oh, God. Her permission makes me wild. I palm an ass cheek in either hand and do exactly what she told me to because, as she is my girl, I am totally, completely, irrevocably
hers
.

O
ur victory fucking
doesn’t last near long enough. As soon as we exit the bathroom—disheveled but blissed out—Hammer jumps me.

“We got to jet, brother.”

Reluctantly, I nod. We were hours past curfew and all of us were going to be toast for tomorrow’s spring game.

“I’ll see you back at Western, Goldie. Love you.”

“Love you, too.” She rises on her tiptoes to give me another kiss but Hammer drags me away before it lands.

“You kiss her again and you’ll be back in that bathroom stall for another fifteen minutes,” he grouses with his big hand on my shoulder, pointing me in the opposite direction of Luce.

He’s not wrong.

As it turns out, we don’t even play because when we pull into the Playground, the entire staff of coaches is lined up on the sidewalk waiting for us.

Coach Lowe wastes no time delivering his pronouncement.

“You’re all seven hours late for curfew. None of you will play in the game tomorrow. You are all benched. You and you,” he points to Ace and I, “are suspended for the first game of the season. This is my team.” He paces in front of us. “Not yours. Mine.” He stops in front of Ace. “Have you made a decision yet?”

The implication is that Ace better have made a decision and it better be the right one.

Ace has no sense of self-preservation. “I’ll know at the start of summer camp.”

Coach swings narrowed eyes in my direction. “And you—where do you stand on this?”

I step up next to Ace and put my hand on his shoulder. “With my QB. We play, sir, for each other. You call the plays. You help us train. You keep us in top athletic form. Our minds sharp. But we do all this because of our brothers. When we’re on the field, the only people next to us are those wearing helmets and pads. Ace is our teammate. Barr, he has yet to earn the gold and blue. Maybe he will. We’ll definitely give him a chance, but for now, Ace is our QB.”

It’s dead silent as Coach Lowe absorbs the loss of his team. We may have been his team at the end of the season, but he lost us in his pursuit of revenge or job security. I don’t know what’s going to happen this fall, but when we hit the field, it won’t be with Lowe on our minds. We’ll be doing it for each other.

That feels right, no matter how many games he decides to suspend me for.

“
C
oming
, Matty?”

“Nah, I think I’ll hang here.”

“Fuck that. She has your balls in your purse now?” Sophomore linebacker Hank Coleman mocks.

I cup myself. “Nope. Still here. You can get on your knees and check it out for yourself if you’re unsure.”

Hammer smacks Coleman on the back of the head. “Go get the cab for us, rook.”

“I’m not a rookie,” Coleman protests.

“First year starter? Sounds like a rookie to me.” He shoves Coleman toward the door. Bishop comes up behind me.

“We’ll watch out for you,” Bish says in low tones. “No pictures. No random jockeys.”

It wasn’t pictures that got me into trouble before, but it’s hard to explain to Bish or even Hammer because they’re still in nail-anything-that-moves mode, which is fine. I totally respect that. I enjoyed that time in my life, but I don’t miss it. Not one bit.

“Nah, I’m good.” Tonight is the first night of summer camp. We’re holed up in some monastery five hours north of the Western campus. The town is small, but there are a few bars. I have zero interest in going out.

Bish tilts his head. “Between you and Masters, I’m wondering if I’m missing something.”

“What can I say?” I spread my hands. “It’s good.”

It’s been better than good. Classes finished up and Luce and I spent a month just hanging around before I had to come back for summer school. She worked, and I met her dad. He likes to play golf in his downtime, which is cool. I’m not much of a golfer, but he was a patient tutor and didn’t give me a hard time for being Luce’s boyfriend.

I even met her mom, who came off as sad more than anything. She asked about Ace’s dad, and Luce and I left shortly after. I took her home to Colorado Springs to meet my parents. We hiked on Pike’s Peak where I gave Luce my second present.

It wasn’t a piece of jewelry this time. It was a twenty-four-hour glucose monitor. The thing was more expensive than a diamond, but the features are amazing. Through a little needle pack stuck to her stomach or arm, it constantly monitors her blood sugar level and feeds the information to an app on her phone. If the numbers are off, she’ll get an alert.

Okay, so maybe the gift was just as much for me as it was for her, but her eyes glowed so bright, I thought she might explode. Safe to say she loved it. Better than a piece of jewelry, in my opinion, although I like seeing my necklace around her collar. Every time I look at it, I think
I bought that. She’s mine.

The guys go off in search of town strange, and I wander back into the hotel.

“Come on.” Ahmed pulls me toward a conference room.

“What the fuck is this?” Inside the double doors are a few couches arranged around eight televisions and several game consoles. I see a number of guys there…Jesse shoves me onto one of the cushions and hands me a controller.

“Who do you want to be?”

I check out my options. “Princess Daisy.”

“Alright.” He picks Bowser.

“What is this?” I ask him.

“
Mario Kart
.” He gives me a
you’re an idiot
look.

“I know what the game is, but what is this?” I wave the controller around the room. “And how did I not know about it before?”

“You didn’t want to know about it before.”

And it occurs to me that this is why the guys who have serious partners are not out getting photographed with a bunch of girls hanging off of them. I shrug and settle in for a hardcore game of
Mario Kart
, and I have as much fun at summer camp as I can remember.

“Hey, Ace.” I only open the door a crack when I see him standing on the front porch. Matt’s out back grilling, and I don’t really want my Fourth of July to be ruined by a fight between them. Dad’s working today to get the double-time pay but will be home tonight for fireworks.

“Can we talk?” He reminds me so much of that sad little boy I found on my steps crying because his dad left. All I knew at the time was that my mom made him sad, and I wasn’t going to hurt him like my mom had.

But so much time and so many things have gone on since then, I’m not sure what kind of friendship I can have with him anymore. Still, I can’t close the door in his face.

“Sure.” I step out onto the porch.

“I…I want to apologize for what happened between us.”

A little tension seeps away. “Thank you.”

“I’m not going to be seeing you much.”

“Oh?”

“You heard of MU?”

I shake my head. “No, can’t say that I have.”

“It’s a football school in Kentucky. Knox Masters' brother goes there. Plays Defensive End.” There goes Ace again, getting into the weeds of football talk. I try not to let my eyes glaze over. “Anyway, their quarterback got hurt last season. Tore his ACL and he announced he wasn’t coming back. Guess he’s a med student and decided that he’d had enough. They’ve contacted me and offered me the scholarship. No guarantee at starting, but I can compete for the job.”

“Oh, Ace. I’m happy for you.” I reach out and grab his hand.

“I know it might be a stupid decision. That I might be throwing away a chance at the pros by not going to safety, but I’d always regret not trying to follow my dream, particularly when one of them closed here.”

I don’t know if he’s talking about me or the team, but I don’t ask. It’s a question that doesn’t need to be asked. But after this past semester, I fully believe in the
try it, what’s the worst thing that can happen
philosophy because oh, Lord, the rewards are so good.

“I’m going to miss you, but if this is your dream, I fully support it.”

“Thanks.”

“Hug?”

“Yeah.”

I wrap my arms around his solid waist and squeeze him tight. He holds me in return. I love this boy as the brother I never had and I try to convey that in my embrace. He gives me a kiss on my forehead and then releases me to walk down my sidewalk and out of my life.

A few tears fall as I re-enter my house. Matt’s just inside the door.

“He tell you?”

“Yeah.” I give him a watery smile.

“You doing okay?” He draws me into his arms and places his lips on the same spot Ace kissed.

“I am. I’m going to miss him. He’s been a big part of my life.”

“Yeah?”

There’s a little defensiveness in that word. I lean back and stroke Matt’s cheek, which is tenser than usual. “Yeah, but my heart’s not going with him. It’s here with you.”

He loosens up. “I knew that.”

“‘Course you did.”

Matty wraps his arm around my shoulder. “He’ll come back to you in a better place.”

“I hope so.”

“What’s this?” Matty leans over the table and fingers the LSAT application.

“I’m applying for law school.”

“You can still do that?” he asks excitedly.

My eyes shine with glee. “I can.”

“That’s fucking awesome, Lucy.”

“I know.”

He wraps both arms around me. “Where are you going to go?”

“I dunno. Part of it depends on where my boyfriend gets drafted. I’d like to attend near him.”

If it’s possible, Matty’s smile grows even bigger. “You have the best plans for the future, Goldie.”

“I have a good one for the present, too.”

“Please tell me it involves nudity and possibly a bit of whipped cream.”

“I was thinking more chocolate sauce and rope, but I can add in the whipped cream. The nudity’s a given.”

Matty’s already peeling off his T-shirt by the time I get my last words out. He looks over his bare shoulder, the action making his muscles bunch in the back. Had I at one time really said I wasn’t into muscles? I must have been doped up on some too-serious-sauce. “You coming?”

“I hope so. I really, really hope so.”

Then I race forward and jump on his back, and we tumble into my room, ripping off each other’s clothes and kissing each other like we haven’t touched each other in weeks.

Matty might have been my biggest risk, but he is sure as hell the best reward a girl could ever have.

D
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N
ational Signing Day
is generally the first Wednesday of February, but for the sake of the story, I pushed it back a few weeks. I also took a lot of liberties with how the mock trial tournament in college is run to make the final scene more exciting. I hope those familiar with both will forgive me these literary licenses.

I
f you can’t tell
from the book, I love football. The idea for this book grew out of the story of Braxton Miller from Ohio State University. Miller was a heralded quarterback for 2011, 2012, and 2013. He missed the 2014 season due to injury and when he returned, he had to compete with two other players for the QB position. In June of 2015, he announced he would move to wide receiver.

He handled the transition with such grace and aplomb that I couldn’t help but admire him. Plus, he made a kick-ass wide receiver. I hope I get to see him play in the NFL.

This book would not have been written without my family’s support and that of a few amazing friends. Thank you to Elle, Daphne, Jess, Meljean, Michelle, Mel, Nina, Nicole (an amazing assistant), Lea (wands up!), Lisa, and Robin.

Special thanks goes out to Nicole McCurdy and Joy Ann Jumaud who tirelessly recommend my book to others. Thank you so much, ladies!

And finally, a shout out to the ladies of the Locker Room, The Chroniclers, and all the amazing bloggers who share their love of books with others. The romance community would be lost without you. I know I would be.

And to all the readers who love books, I salute you!

K
nox Masters is
a quarterback's worst nightmare. Warrior. Champion. And...virgin. Knox knows what he wants--and he gets it. All American Football player? Check. NFL pros scouting him? Check. Now, he's set his sight on two things. The national title. And Ellie Campbell. Sure, she's the sister of his fellow teammate, but that's not going to stop him. Especially not when he’s convinced Ellie is the one. 

But Ellie isn't as sure. She's trying to start a new life and she's not interested in a relationship...with anyone. Beside it's not just her cardinal rule of never dating her brother's teammates that keeps her away, but Ellie has a dark secret that would jeopardize everything Knox is pursuing.