Long: A Secret Baby Sports Romance(38)

I pulled back, breathing heavily.

“Don’t stop,” he said to me.

“Answer it,” I said. “It could be important.”

“It’s not.”

“Answer it. I’m not going anywhere.”

He frowned and then grabbed his phone from his pocket. He answered it.

“What?” His expression was annoyed, but a second later he went completely blank. “Okay,” he said. “I know where that is. When?” He paused to listen. “All right. Fine.” He hung up the phone.

“What was that?”

“Listen, I need to go.”

I frowned. “Really?”

He sighed. “Avery, believe me, leaving right now is the fucking last thing I want to do, but this is important.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a business thing.”

“At ten on a Saturday?”

“Yeah.” He stood up and grabbed his shirt, pulling it back on. “I’m sorry. I really am.”

“It’s okay,” I said. He buttoned up his shirt, and I wished he wouldn’t. When he was finished, he pulled me up toward him and kissed me again.

“I promise, if this weren’t incredibly important, I wouldn’t go.”

“I believe you,” I said, and I did.

“Good. I’ll see you later.”

“Okay.”

He let me go and then turned and left.

I stared at the door for a second before the frustration really hit me. What awful fucking timing.

Why the hell did I tell him to answer that phone?

I sighed and slowly put my equipment away. I was still soaking wet and frustrated, but I was going to have to wait. At least I’d finally kissed him, finally given in to what I really wanted.

That was better than nothing, at least.





17





Gibson





I had the worst fucking luck.

I looked around the parking lot of the abandoned high school, but I was still alone. It was ten thirty and I was right on time, but it looked like the guy was running late.

The high school used to serve the whole town around MD, but that was a long time ago. It closed down when the steel mills started to disappear. Now it was just a hangout for druggies and homeless people. There was trash littering the parking lot, and the windows were all busted out from the buildings.

First it was the janitor that cock blocked me. I knew she wanted it that night, and I had been about to take what I needed. Now it was the damn fucking mob trying to give me my money.

I almost wanted to tell the bastards to wait. Almost. If I weren’t doing this for her benefit, I just might have rescheduled.

But this money was for her. I wasn’t going to touch a dime of it, not until our baby was born. Maybe five grand wasn’t enough for us to live on, but it was definitely a lot of money, enough to get started at least.

I saw a pair of lights approaching down the road. A black car pulled into the parking lot. It slowly came to a stop across from me. The engine shut off and a door opened.

A tall man got out, a man I didn’t recognize. He walked toward me carrying a black duffel bag.

“Gibson?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said.

He nodded. “I recognize you. Good game, kid.”

“Thanks. Who are you?”

“My name is Rafa,” he said. “I’ll be handling your shit from now on.”

“What happened to the other guy?”

“Nothing happened to him. It’s just that he’s a small fish. I’m a much bigger fucking fish. Get it?”

“I get it.” I nodded at the bag. “Is that my money?”

“It sure as fuck is.” He tossed me the bag. I caught it and opened up the zipper.

It was full of cash.

“That’s five grand,” he said.

“Good. Should I count it?”

He laughed. “You can trust me.”

I frowned at that. “I don’t owe you shit,” I said. “And I don’t trust you.”

“I hear you. But we should try and be friends.”

“Okay then. We’re friends. That all you needed?”

“Hold on now, Gibson.” Rafa grinned at me. He was about my height and my size, and there was something dangerous about him. The first man I’d met so far had seemed soft, but there was an edge to Rafa. I wasn’t afraid of him, but I was cautious. “I have a proposal for you.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’m listening.”

“You did a real good job. We made a nice little profit from this. I believe we could have a beautiful relationship going forward.”

“I don’t want a relationship,” I said. “I just need money. I wanted a fucking loan.”

“Fuck the loan,” he said, waving a hand. “The loan would be garbage. We’d gouge you like crazy, never let you go. Fuck the loan.”