Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 56257 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 281(@200wpm)___ 225(@250wpm)___ 188(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56257 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 281(@200wpm)___ 225(@250wpm)___ 188(@300wpm)
“Why not?”
“Because you’re… Mary,” she explodes passionately, her bracelets jingling as she flails her arms. “It’s not like you got bad grades.”
“It’s different for us,” I say. “You want to be a nurse. You’ve got a path. What’s the point of me going to college and wasting all that money when I don’t even know what I want to do?”
“That’s fair, but it’s not just college. What about boyfriends, hobbies, projects, something? Sometimes—I’m sorry—but sometimes I feel like you’re scared to live when you’ve got so much to offer.”
I smile and shake my head, trying to show her the face I show to everybody else. Mary, sometimes with a joke, mostly with a smile, is content to do her work and then go home and watch videos of her mother—the same ones, sometimes several times a day, with her beautiful halo of golden hair and smile.
“Don’t be a sinner, no matter what anybody says.”
It’s not healthy. That’s the worst part. I know it isn’t. I’ve promised myself I’ll stop so many times.
“It’s okay,” I tell Chrissy. “I’ll get my act together. You’ll see.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Seriously, I get it. You don’t have to explain.”
Tonight, I’ll delete the videos, but that’s a lie. There’s something sickly alluring about them, as if my mom’s voice and teachings guide me through life’s confusion. But what if Chrissy’s right? What if, because of them, I’m not living life at all?
CHAPTER
THREE
RUST
“You had a falling out or something?” Marquis asks over the phone.
I’m thirty thousand feet in the air, my feet reclined on the private jet, looking down at the clouds. “No,” I tell my head coach.
“Then why the sudden reluctance?” he says in his French-Canadian accent.
“I just said I’m not sure how much benefit it has.”
“That’s a silly thing to say, Rust. Let me tell you because you obviously don’t need me to explain your own career to you. Right, my friend? You couldn’t possibly need me to remind you that you went to be with your friend after your first and only career loss. You found peace, and you came back as a warrior. No? Hello?”
Marquis’ douchey tone is almost enough to make a man smile. “I get your point.”
“And I don’t need to explain that—”
“I get it. Cain Cruz beat me once before. Now, he holds the title. It’s more important than ever, but Cain beat me because he was better than me. He started training in wrestling when he was a kid. I’ve improved since.”
“Yes, and this has been a part of it!” Marquis snaps. “So you go. That’s it. End of story.”
“Relax. I’m on the plane.”
“A few days. Come back a warrior, ready for training camp. Eight weeks of hell. Then we restore your dignity against Cain Cruz.”
I hang up, running a hand through my hair. I’ve only started doing that recently since looking up and seeing her there, Mary, suddenly a woman, like it happened overnight. Not even that. It’s as though she walked upstairs the quiet, shy, respectful kid and came down all curves and flushed cheeks and promises of claiming her young, juicy ass.
Oh, fuck. I’m getting hard again. I try to think of Brad and remember the lake. I’m so much older than her. I’ve known her pretty much all her life. I shouldn’t let myself think about her this way, but I can’t think of anything else. My biggest advantage as a fighter has always been my mind. I’m clear-headed. I use the time outside practice to rehearse technique mentally.
None of that works with Mary dominating my thoughts. I stand and go into the bathroom, knowing it’s so damn wrong, but I’m hungry in a way I’ve never been before. It’s like my arousal is going to explode. Locking the door, I close my eyes, feeling like I’m possessed, as I free my dick from my pants.
I’m not on the plane anymore. I’m nowhere near this place. I’m completely in the fantasy, back in the kitchen, but Brad’s not here this time. It’s just me and Mary and those denim shorts with her juicy legs hidden in those tights, a gift waiting to be unwrapped.
Stroking fast, I’m almost losing it right away. My fantasy flits to a new scene, skipping all the things I’d take my time with in real life, kissing her body, licking her needy clit, owning her. Now, she’s on her back, her big tempting tits in her hands, bouncing up and down as she stares at me with lust in her eyes. Or desperation, desperate for me to stop, to save Brad, and desperate for me to keep going. To fuck her hard. To fuck her deep. To fuck her so she never wants to feel another man’s dick. Just mine.
After taking some photos with fans, I rent a car and drive through the pine forest of Wrexley. It’s only sixty miles from our hometown. Brad chose to come here because the schools were better. As usual, everything he did was for his kid sister, who I pleasured myself thinking about on the flight. That’s ten, twenty, thirty times I’ve made my loins burn thinking about her.