Strike (11 page)

“I’m sure you can manage on your own, buddy. I’ve kinda got a thing going with a girl.”
If she doesn’t string me up alive tonight.

He chuckles.
Fucker.
“Well I’ll be danged. Are you serious?”

“Yeah. This one is something special.”

“No sharing?” he asks. My jaw tenses at the thought.

“No, mate.
Definitely
no sharing.”
I’m prepared to throat punch anyone that looks at her sideways.

He laughs. “Well, you enjoy this
thing
you’ve got goin’ on. I prefer to be the only cock in the room anyways.”

“Ha, yeah. I’ll catch you later.”

“Yeah, man.”

****

Arriving at April’s apartment building, I take her stairs two by two to her level. When I reach her door, I breath in deeply and tap a tune with my knuckles on the solid wood.

A moment later the door swings open. April is wearing skinny jeans and a tank top. Casual, yet sexy. Very sexy. Man, am I glad to see her. But she’s not smiling. April grips the door with one hand, the other is placed firmly on her hip.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the manwhore of motocross.
Please
, do come in.”

CHAPTER SIX

* SPENCER *

I’m standing frozen in her doorway and my mouth won’t work. Might have something to do with the fact my jaw is now making friends with my shoes.

I know I’ve got a reputation, but no one has ever had the guts to say it to my face. Not like that. April just about smothered me with the words, leaving me numb, but more than that, ashamed.

Of all the people to throw it at me why did it have to be her? Should I just leave? Is she going to rip me to shreds? Are we over before we even really got started?

Fuck.

“Get your pretty boy arse in here, Spencer,” she says, her lips moving from a scowl to curl ever so slightly.

I slowly enter, trying not to make any sudden movement.

I wanna know who the fuck said something. Was it Aidan? Billy? If that little shit Billy dared to spill any of the details he regularly pumps me for, I’ll kill him.
No question .
I know he doesn’t get much action, and living vicariously through me is sometimes the closest he gets. Did Billy spill so he’d look like fucking Prince Charming next to me? So he could take a shot? I don’t fucking think so.
April is mine.

“Aren’t you even going to say hello?” she asks. The door closes and she stands with her hands on her hips.

“Hey,” I manage.

I move closer and link my arms around her waist and kiss her softly on the lips. Her stiff stance relaxes, but not as much as I’d like. I lean into her ear. “Am I gonna need some sort of protection?” Maybe one of those padded suits the police use when training their dogs?

“I’m not sure yet,” she says, leaning back and taking my face in her hands. “Depends how good you are at talking, and if I like what you say.”

“Fair call.”

“Come on, I made burritos. Let’s eat.”

There’s hope yet. She hasn’t kicked my arse. Or maybe she’s just decided to feed me first. I might not put up the same fight on a full stomach. Especially if there’s a dose of chilli involved.

I let out a long breath through my nose, and wipe my hand across my forehead. Damn. She’s literally making me sweat. I follow her into the kitchen.

“And then my little manwhore is gonna do some talking,” she says with a nod. Half a grin tickles at her soft lips, lips I wanna ravish until the early hours of tomorrow.

A low chuckle escapes my mouth. At least she’s talking about me like I’m hers.

“Okay. Whatever you say.”

****

We barely say a word to each other over dinner, but it looks like we’re just as hungry as each other. I give April the occasional soft smile. I just wish I knew what was going through her head. Some clue.

“What are you thinking, April?”

“A fair bit.” She rubs her hands on a napkin and sits back in her chair. Her scrutinising gaze has me pinned to my seat. It’s like I’m a puzzle she’s trying to solve. “If you want us to work, you’ve gotta spill. And I mean spill. The you’re-not-done-talking-until-you-fall-asleep-from-exhaustion kinda spill.”

“Okay. Let’s talk.”

****

I pass April a glass of wine, and sit back into the lounge and take a sip from my glass. That bottle isn’t gonna be enough. I can tell this is going to be a long night.

“You didn’t even tell me you could ride a bike, for God’s sake,” April says, wriggling her painted toes under my leg.

I’ve got to get my arse into gear. She’s right, I’ve gotta spill, because I want this to work.

“I know. I’m sorry. I wanted to. I just held onto it … longer than I should have.”

“You always asked things of me, listened to me, but never volunteered anything about yourself unless I specifically asked.”

“I wanted to get to know
you
.”

“What are you afraid of, Spencer?”

Many things. Losing you, top of my list. If I’m completely honest with her, will she want to have anything to do with me? I can’t lie to April; I don’t want to. I want to be honest with someone, and share things. I no longer want to be alone.

I take in a deep breath.

“That people won’t see me. See Spencer. For so long, girls have just seen me as Jones, the motocross rider. An image¸ not a person.”

“Take some responsibility, Spencer. You’re in charge of what people see. You just need to be more discerning with which ones you let in. If people saw the worst in you, you let them.”

Ouch.

“Fair call, but I guess it was easier to go with it.”

We sit in silence while I mentally beat the shit out of myself. She’s right. I took the easy way out. Why the fuck did I?

“I had a nice dinner with Aidan and his family last night,” April says, changing topic.

“Cute boys, huh? Eevie brought them around after you left the track yesterday.” I’d chased one of them, Grady, I think, and he’d giggled like crazy when I caught him and tickled him. It was kinda cool.

“Yeah. They are.”

“Do you want kids?” I ask, wondering if I’m ready for the answer. I’d never,
ever
asked a girl that.

“Of course, one day.” She shrugs. “You?”

“Yeah. One day.” My mother regularly reminds me that time is ticking away, but I keep brushing it off, thinking that day is a long way off. Getting married and having kids seems like it happens in some faraway place, and that’s not the direction I’m headed. Still, years just happen to fly by, and twenty-eight wasn’t that far away. Fuck. I hate getting old.

“And this whole ‘manwhore’ business—I wasn’t entirely shocked that you get your fair share of action, but what I’m worried about is how people see the way you treat women.”

“I have a past. It’s not exactly something I’m proud of.”
Not since meeting you
. Yeah, I used to brag about my sexcapades, but it’s not like I didn’t know I was using girls. I have a conscience buried somewhere.

“Who told you?” I ask as I fill both our glasses.

“Eevie.”

At least Aidan didn’t open his mouth. “What did she say?”

“She said Aidan doesn’t like you around her, especially after something you said about
sharing
.
”

Great. Aidan doesn’t trust me.

A couple of years ago, if I’d had the opportunity to talk to Eevie again I might have tried to talk her around. She’s smart, funny and a natural beauty, much like April, but she’s no April. I want April.

“I have
some
boundaries. I’m not a total arsehole. Aidan is my teammate. I just tried to rile him up. It was the first time I’d met her. Aidan was so over-the-top protective it wasn’t funny. He’s married now, with kids. I wouldn’t do anything to ruin that.”

“Why not try for something? Why one one-night stand after another?”

“You know it wasn’t all one-sided. Sometimes I was just treated as a ‘pretty face’. I was a novelty. It became a habit and people expected it from me. But in all honesty, I haven’t wanted to try for something … until you. You changed that, and made me want something …
more
.”

“Is it because I haven’t slept with you yet?”

“Truth?”

“I’d prefer it.”

“Maybe. But as much as I’m crawling out of my own skin wanting to, in a way it’s good we haven’t. You are the kick in the arse I needed. It was no life and I’m tired of it, but I don’t know any other way. It’s a lonely business, and when everyone around you is settling down and having kids, it’s scary as shit when you don’t know the first fucking thing about dating. Getting to know you … for the first time, I see a future with someone.”

“Really? You see that with me?” She grips my hand and I squeeze back.

“Yes, April. But you’re gonna have to make some allowances for me, because I really have no clue how ‘dating’ works.”

“Have you had any kind of long-term thing?”

“Not since college. It lasted about three months.”

“What was she like?” Lisa.
A wolf in sheep’s clothing.

“She was nice. Just a regular girl. Attractive, intelligent, but —”

“What happened?” she says in a tone that implies it was me who ended things.

“
She
got trashed at a party and slept with a mate.”

“Oh,” April says, her mouth forming an
O
.

“Yeah.
Oh
.”

“Hurts, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, it did. I was just pissed I didn’t see it coming. Apparently they’d had a thing before we’d gotten together, but neither of them told me about it. I didn’t find out what happened at the party straight away. They both tried to pretend they were innocent, but I knew something was up. They were weird around each other, around me. When I asked Lisa about it, she told me she’d slept with some random guy, but I didn’t believe her. I confronted my mate, and when he admitted it I beat the crap out of him.”

“Did you love her?”

“No.” I’m pretty sure I would have known if I did. I’ve never been in love, and hadn’t put myself in a position since where that might happen. The way people carry on about love, his or her ‘other half’, it’s as if you can’t breathe without that someone. I’ve never had anything remotely like that. Lisa and I were young. And I was dumb. “After that I wasn’t interested in a relationship.”

“Yeah, I get that. Anyway, enough. Tell me about your very first kiss.”

****

* APRIL *

A cheeky smile spreads across his face. “I started young,” Spencer says, running one hand up the inside of my leg from my ankle to my knee.

I try and pretend, that even though I’m still kind of annoyed at him, that his touch doesn’t send a shiver through me, making me all hot and needy. By the look on his face, he’s noticed.

“How young? Kindergarten?”

“Ha, give me some credit. Third grade, but it wasn’t your run-of-the-mill kiss.”

I giggle. “Don’t tell me you French-kissed in third grade? No wonder you kiss so good. You’ve had nearly two decades of practice.”

“I kiss good, huh?” Spencer smirks. He sits his glass down on the table and leans his chest into my knees.

“Yeah. Don’t get a big head, but you’re a pretty fucking good kisser.” I run my tongue over my bottom lip and watch his smirk turn into a heart-stopping smile that has me squirming.

“Why wasn’t it a run-of-the-mill kiss?”

“Because there were three of us.”

“Of course there were.”

“I took turns between two girls, but there was no French kissing.”

I shake my head, and a giggle bursts from my mouth. “Come on. Show me how you kissed.”

Spencer pulls my legs into his lap, and slides my body along the couch. He swings his leg over me and I wriggle beneath him, his chest hard against my boobs.

He pecks me, ever so briefly on the lips, his mouth glued shut. “Do it again,” I whisper. I laugh against his mouth this time, and he pulls away and chuckles.

“A regular Casanova,” I say and smile. I run my hand through his blond hair, tempted to tug on it.

“Yeah. Has ‘em swooning every time. What about your first kiss?”

Certainly not that exciting.

“Ha. I think boys were scared of me. Mac would drop me off most days, and any boy that came near me he’d burn holes through. Maybe that’s why it took until seventh grade. When I started taking the bus.”

“How was it?”

“Horrid. I went behind the science block with … Toby, I think his name was. The kiss was all tongue and slobber. My dog could’ve kissed better.”

“I won’t ask you to replicate it then.”

“Good idea. Hey, Spencer …?”

“Yeah.”

“Why don’t you kiss me … like you did that first night?”

He grins with the challenge, and leans in close. “Did you like it?”

“I texted you, didn’t I?”

The smile that spreads across his face, is smug as anything.
Arse.
Spencer lifts my legs, and swings them off the couch. He gets up and takes both my hands, pulling me to my feet.

“Where are we going?”

“Come on, beautiful. We need to be standing for the full effect.”

Spencer leads me to the nearest wall and pushes me up against it, pinning me in place with his warm body. He presses his lips softly against mine and then tugs at my bottom lip before his hot tongue melts into my mouth, traces of red wine adding to the sweetness. His kiss grows from soft to more urgent and my knees jitter, warning me they’re ready to buckle.

He pulls away, just like I imagine I did.

His sapphire-blue eyes zero in, and he rests his forehead against mine. “Tell me what you want, April. How can I prove myself to you? Name it.”

I slide my hand under his shirt, over the firm lines of his toned torso. My eyes are desperate to feast on his naked body, so,
so
bad. But not until I know he’s in this for real.

Spencer’s whole body shudders when I rest my hand over his thumping heart.

“What I want is in here, Spencer. I’ve never known Jones. But I’m beginning to think I know Spencer. That first night, you were Spencer and I liked him, a lot. Almost enough to take him home and do naughty things to him, but—”