Fair Catch (Love and Sports Series)

  Maria pulled Lexi in for a big hug and then got up. Leaving Lexi on the couch trying to process everything her mom just said to her. Her mom walked toward the door and turned around.

  “Thank you for letting me in and being there for me when I needed you the most. It seems like you have a wonderful life here and wonderful people around you. Just remember, you’re meant to do something big and standing in a man’s shadow is not in your future. Don’t be me, learn from me. I love you, sweetie. Call me if you need anything.”

  Once her mom was completely gone, tears instantly fell down Lexi’s face. Was her mom right? Was Lexi following in her mom’s footsteps? Lexi never gave thought to what might happen if her and Jake ever broke up or if Jake got sick of her and tested the waters with other women when he was out on the road. That would be a typical move her father would do. Would Jake turn into her father? She always heard that women chose to fall in love with men who resembled their fathers. Was she one of those women? Jake had never been physical with her and he always supported her, no he couldn’t be like her dad.

  Although, he was quite demanding when it came to her not having a job. He only wanted her to be there for him, nothing else. Was he trying to control her? She shook her head, no. He loved her and just wanted her to be with him at all times like she wanted to be with him.

  She thought about Jake and how he left her, without the slightest bit of love radiating from him. She didn’t like the way he looked at her this morning, was that a sign for things to come? She felt so confused she didn’t know what to do so she walked into her room, shut the door and buried her head in her pillow so she could cry her eyes out. One thing was for sure, she didn’t like how she left things with Jake this morning and if that was any indication that she loved him and wanted to be with him then she didn’t know what was. Everything would be fine, she needed to stop letting people spook her about being with Jake and their plans for after college.

  She needed to forget all the negative comments and nay-sayers and move forward. She needed to work on letting Jake know how much she loved him and how sorry she was about not telling her parents about him. She needed to make it up to him because she couldn’t bear to think about not having him in her life. That was not an option. She needed him. He was her future.

  Chapter 15

  Lexi paced back and forth in her bedroom worrying frantically about Jake. She had not heard from him since he left her place earlier in the morning. She called him too many times to count and sent way too many nagging girlfriend text messages. She even resorted to trying to get in contact with Mason but he didn’t answer his phone either.

  Lexi stole a glance at the clock on her cell phone and noticed it was almost midnight. This was not like Jake. He would have come over by now or at least contacted her. She felt a heavy knot form in her stomach. She knew she was wrong for not mentioning Jake to her family but she didn’t think that it would be that big of a deal where he wouldn’t talk to her. She thought they actually had a semi-pleasant morning with her mom after they got past all the initial awkwardness of the situation.

  Margo berated Lexi later on in the day about keeping Jake a secret. She was disappointed and Lexi was disappointed in herself as well but it wasn’t like she was keeping him a secret, she just failed to mention she was in a serious relationship with the next possible NFL star.

  Rubbing her eyes, she decided to hell with it, she was going over to his place. She should have done that a while ago. She grabbed her keys and purse and headed out into the breezy night. The walk to Jake’s apartment wasn’t very long but she didn’t like the eerie feeling the night air carried. Shadows played with her mind as she walked through the buildings causing her to quicken her pace.

  Loud music was beating from one of the apartments and when she pulled up to Jake’s door place she realized the music was coming out of his place. Confused, she pulled out her key and let herself in. She instantly was smacked in the face with cigar smoke and the blasting music. Jake, Mason and a couple other guys from the football team were sitting around the dining room table playing poker. Jake glanced up at her and then looked back down at his cards. He didn’t even give her the time of day. She had never been so shocked in her life.

  Lexi just stood in the entry way of his apartment and watched Jake push all his chips to the center. One of the guys, Dex she thought was his name, was already out of chips and was smoking a cigar watching the guys interact. All the other players put their chips in and revealed their cards. Jake smirked and announced his hand of three queens. The other guys threw up their hands and pulled away from the table.

  Not a single guy acknowledged her as she stood in the entry way of Jake’s apartment. Jake must have told them some story to make them be so turned off by her presence. The only person that truly made eye contact with her was Mason as guilt flashed across his face. She was about to walk up to Jake and pull him in his room when a girl popped out of his bedroom wearing one of the skimpiest dresses she had ever seen. She slipped on her heels and gave each guy in the room a peck on the cheek. She folded up a wad of ones and said, “Thanks boys. You all have been lovely.”

  They waved bye and Dex got up to walk her to the door. The girl looked Lexi up and down and smiled at her as they walked past her. Lexi felt like she just swallowed a glass of one hundred proof alcohol, her throat burned with fury while she tried to hold back her anger and tears.

  “Jake?” Her voice squeaked out as she turned down the music.

  The guys all looked at each other and got the picture, they gathered their items and gave Jake a pat on the back as they all walked out of his apartment, leaving only Jake and Lexi left in the room.

  “What are you doing here?” He asked while he picked up the chips from the table and stacked them back in the silver case they came in.

  “What am I doing here?” Lexi asked, rage boiling over. “I wanted to see if you were ok since I haven’t heard anything from you since you walked out on me this morning.” She gestured around the apartment. “Apparently, you’re just fine.” She got in his face and shoved his chest. “Who the fuck was that girl?”

  Jake shrugged. “Just a little entertainment.”

  Lexi could not believe what she was hearing. “You hired a stripper? What am I not good enough for you? You have to go somewhere else to get your jollies?”

  “Dex brought her.” Was all he said.

  “Oh ok, so that makes everything fine then. Did you watch her as she took her clothes off?”

  “Well I sure as hell wasn’t going to tuck my tail between my legs and wait in my room until she was done.”

  Lexi slapped him across his face so hard that she thought her hand would never recover from the sting that was radiating up her arm. “You’re a fucking bastard, you know that?”

  He grabbed her wrist and held her tightly. “Hit me again and you won’t want to see what happens next. “

  “Is that a threat? Maybe my mom was right, maybe you are just like my dad.”

  That comment brought out the anger in Jake’s eyes. She thought she might have seen hurt cross that beautiful face of his but only for a second because all that was steaming off him right now was pure anger. She tried to pull away but he didn’t let go.

  He gritted out. “Don’t compare me to that ass-hat of a man you call dad. I am nothing like him and never will be.” He let her hands go and strode toward his kitchen where he threw empty beer bottles in his sink. She watched as some of them broke and shards of glass flew in the air. “How would your mom even know what I was like anyway? She had no clue I even existed.” Jake put his hands on the counter and looked down into the sink

  Lexi was mad at Jake but a part of her heart tore at the sight of him. He looked so incredibly sad that she neglected to tell her family about him. But did that give him the right to ignore her all day and have a drinking party with a stripper? No, it didn’t.

  “I didn’t want you to be exposed to my family. I’m sorry I never told them but fran
kly I didn’t care if they knew because I don’t really talk to them much.”

  “Do you know how lucky you are that your parents are actually around? I would give anything to have my parents see me right now.” Jake screamed. “Yea, your family life sucks but your mom’s not too bad and you could have least told her that you were practically living with me. Do you know how embarrassed I was that she had no clue who the hell I am?”

  “You don’t understand.” Lexi said under her breath.

  “You’re damn right I don’t understand. Are you ashamed of me?”

  Still standing in the middle of his living room, she felt incredibly awkward while he stood in the kitchen dabbing at something with a paper towel, most likely beer from the bottles in the sink.

  “I’m not ashamed of you, I’m ashamed of them. If I told them about you they were going to want to meet you and I didn’t want you to meet them and then leave me because it was too much to deal with. I didn’t want to lose you.” Lexi tried to keep her voice at a normal level and not shout, like they always did but it was hard when she kept envisioning Jake watching that girl strip. She ran her hand through her hair and said, “I can’t do this. I need to leave.”

  “Perfect.” He screamed. “I’m the one who is hurt and you turn the situation around so you’re the victim. Fucking perfect.”

  “You watched another woman get naked tonight and ignored me all day. For all I know you went back to your wild ways and fucked her on the same bed we made love in the other night.” Lexi’s voice was no longer at normal conversation decimals. It had risen to shouting level.

  Jake covered the distance between them in the matter of seconds. He got right in her face. “You know I would never cheat on you so don’t make me out like I would.”

  “But you did. Looking at another naked woman is cheating Jake.”

  He ran his hand through his hair and that was when she noticed his hand was bleeding, a lot. Shocked, she ran to the kitchen, grabbed some paper towels and tried to soak up the blood that was coming out of his forearm. He tried to pull away but she wouldn’t let him.

  “Let go of me.” He growled.

  “You’re fucking bleeding you lunatic. Let me at least apply pressure.”

  He ripped his arm away from her along with the paper towel. “Like you care.”

  “I do care you ass. For some god-for-saken reason I actually care about you.” She paced in front of him and sucked up her pride. “Listen, I’m sorry about my parents. I was wrong. I should have told them and I’m truly sorry that I hurt you.”

  The frown that was on his face ever since she walked in his apartment and spotted him playing poker with his buddies started to fade. The tension that was bunching up his shoulders had eased. He pulled her onto his lap and nuzzled her neck.

  “Jesus. I’m sorry, Lexi.”

  Lexi felt her toes start to curl from the way his lips were making pathways up and down her neck.

  “What are you sorry for?” She asked while she gave him more access to her neck. Their relationship had always been like a very old shower; one minute they were incredibly hot and then the next moment they were cold and bitter.

  “For ignoring you today. I was an idiot for worrying you. I just wanted you to feel as bad as I did.”

  Lexi went stiff on his lap and pulled away so he couldn’t do magical things on her neck anymore. She got off his lap and sat next to him on the couch. He reached out for her but she didn’t let him hold her.

  “Is that why you had a stripper here? To get back at me? Is that what our life is going to be like? I don’t know if I can trust you Jake to not cheat on me if you’re going to turn to the next pair of sloppy tits to get back at me.”

  Jake placed his hand over her mouth to shut her up. “I didn’t invite her here, Dex did and I didn’t watch. Mason and I actually went to grab more beer when she did her routine. It wasn’t right to sit there and watch.”

  Lexi stared at him in disbelief. She had never been more furious with him in her life. “So you decided to torture me with the thought of me wondering if you liked her better naked?” Lexi got off the couch and grabbed her items taking off for the door. She opened it up but in seconds it was instantly slammed shut by Jake’s hand over her shoulder. “Let me out.” She screamed.

  He pulled her in tight and she fought him until she had no more fight left in her. She just stood there with her arms in between their chests as he held her so close she had no room to move. She sobbed into his chest and he rubbed her back with his strong hands.

  “Christ, I’m sorry baby. I was just so mad at you but I swear I didn’t watch her. Why would I want to watch her when I have the hottest, sexiest woman in my arms every night?”

  Tears continued to fall down her face as held her. She didn’t know when it happened but she found herself lying in Jake’s bed, wrapped up in his arms. He no longer was wearing a shirt probably because she drenched the one he was wearing with her tears. She finally pulled herself together and looked up at him.

  “Are you ok?” He asked.

  “Yea.” She wiped her nose with the back of her hand and Jake handed her a tissue.

  “Want to talk about it?”

  “Haven’t we done enough talking for tonight or at least shouting?” She rubbed her cheek against his bare chest and he brought her in even closer. “I hate fighting with you, Jake.”

  “I hate fighting with you too, baby.”

  “I feel like we’re either having sex or fighting.”

  Jake chuckled and she felt his chest rise and fall against her cheek, making her feel at home. Jake was her home.

  “Well that’s because after we fight, we always have makeup sex. Speaking of which…” He looked at a fake watch on his wrist. “It’s about sex o’clock right now and we are due for some mind blowing orgasms.”

  Lexi playfully swatted his chest and looked up into his eyes. “I love you, Jake and I’m so sorry about earlier.”

  “I’m sorry too, baby.” He cupped her face and brought his lips to hers. “I love you so damn much.”

  “Enough to never look at another woman’s naked body?”

  Jake groaned and grabbed the ticklish spot above her knee causing her to squeal and lean back. He took advantage of her position and covered her body with his. He now had his arms on either side of her face and was stroking her hair.

  “You are so damn beautiful, why would I want to look at another woman?”

  He kissed the tip of her nose and stared into her eyes as he laid there as if he was searching for something.

  “What is it?” She asked.

  He shook his head. “I just couldn’t imagine what life would be like if I never approached you at that football party.”

  “There would be a lot less fighting in our lives.” She said with a smirk.

  “Where’s the fun in that?” He kissed her forehead. “Do you ever think about our future?”

  “What do you mean? Of course I do, we’re going to live together wherever you get drafted.”

  He continued to stroke the hair that framed her face as he talked to her. He hovered over her so he didn’t apply any pressure on her body. That was when she realized he had been bleeding. She sat him up and looked at his forearm. There was a small gash from where pieces of glass must have nicked him. The blood that was coming out of him before was now dried up. She pulled him to his feet.

  “We should clean this up.”

  He stopped her. “Lex, do you ever think of our future past moving in together.”

  She just shrugged her shoulders because she didn’t want to talk about how she already had a Pinterest board set up online with ideas for her dream wedding with Jake.

  “Do you want a future with me?” He said in almost a whisper. He seemed so fragile and little when he uttered the words.

  She grabbed his head with her hands and looked straight into his eyes. “Of course I want a future with you. You’re it for me.”

  “You’re it for me too.”
He brought his lips down onto hers and pulled her in close. He had one hand on her lower back and the other one traveled south, cupping her ass. From his firm squeeze she let out a little whimper and melted into his body. He was practically holding her up on his own while he took control of her mouth, something he so expertly did. He made her feel light, like she could be floating on clouds.

  When he finally pulled away she instantly missed him. She wished they could make out for life. She would need a lot of chapstick but she knew she would die a happy woman if that was all they did. She grabbed the hem of her shirt and lifted it over her head and then un-did her bra. Jake’s gaze turned into passion as he took her in her naked body as if he was trying to commit the sight in front of him to memory.

  “God, you’re gorgeous. How did I get so lucky?”

  She pulled off his shirt and pressed her bare chest against his so she could feel skin on skin. It felt so erotic, so right that she needed him right then and there.

  “Take me Jake, please take me to bed.”

  He didn’t need any more asking then that. Even though their relationship ran hot and cold and seemed like an almost terrifying roller coaster, she would never give it up. There was a thrill in knowing they could scream at each other but then the next moment be so utterly connected like nothing ever happened. She lived for the moments where it was just her and Jake and the connection of their bodies.

  “Tell me what you want baby.” He said while pulling off her pants.

  “You, Jake. I want you.”

  ***

  Home. That was all he could think of when he looked at Lexi. She was his home, his safe place. He was a giant dick for not talking to her throughout the day after he left her apartment but he was so damn mad, he didn’t think he could talk to her.