Page 79 of Playboy Pitcher
Digging my nails into my palms, I stomp across the matted floor. Well, fuck him. He doesn’t get to throw a grenade and then just walk away. I deserve some answers, and he’s going to give them whether he likes it or not.
Just as I reach for the rear door, Kyle lays a heavy hand on my shoulder. “Back off,” I hiss. “This doesn’t concern you.”
He relents but doesn’t budge. “Go easy on him, boss. Last night was rough on him.”
I stiffen, my hand tightening around the horizontal metal bar running across the door. “Why did he do it?”
“Prescott or Ben?”
“Either.”
He stalls for a beat or two before dropping his hand from my shoulder. “From where I stood, the answer to both isyou.” With that, he steps back, rejoining the rest of the team.
I’m not sure why I bothered to ask. I’m not shocked at the answer. Not when I already knew the consequences of my actions. It’s like walking into traffic and being shocked when you get hit by a car.
Pushing through the door, I make my way toward the locker room, but not because I have some ridiculous gravitational pull toward Ben. It’s simply the only place he could go.
Opening the door, I’m hit with an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. It seems Ben and I are determined to keep recreating our first moments together. Which now seems like a lifetime ago.
One week.
I almost laugh out loud. It’s been seven days.
Jesus Christ.
Scrubbing a hand over my face, I find him facing his locker with his back to me, once again standing bare assed in nothing but a jockstrap. Maybe this is the universe punishing me for the stunt I’m pulling. Maybe the next week will be nothing but a continualGroundhog Day,only with a shittier and shittier ending.
“This is the second time you’ve barged in here, Miss McBaine,” he says, shoving his sneakers in the top cubby of his open locker. “I could file a sexual harassment lawsuit, you know.”
“How’d you know I was here?”
Gripping the wooden base of the cubby, he bows his head. “I can smell your perfume.” Leaning inside his locker, he snatches a towel off a hook and glances at me over his shoulder. “Did you need something, or are you just here for the free show?”
He’s lashing out. The old Willow would have already been halfway to the car by now, but the new Willow is still riding a high from earlier. I know I deserve his anger for pushing him away, but there’s too much at stake to allow him to do the same.
“Why did you tell Hoyt not to tell me you got arrested?” I ask, standing my ground.
“Would you have cared?”
“Are you serious? Of course, I would’ve cared!”
“Because you were worried about the team, or about me?” Smirking, he pulls his jockstrap down his legs, and a rush of heat licks up my neck, turning my face into a furnace. With my pulse pounding a violent cadence in my ears, I quickly look away.
“Both,” I stammer. I’ve seen Ben naked. Not only have I touched his cock, I’ve felt it thrust inside me with a power that’s more machine than man. But standing here fully clothed as he taunts me, daring me to not look, to not salivate at the beauty of his thick, long, already half-hard cock, is the cruelest punishment.
“Both, huh? Sorry, not good enough,” he quips with a sarcastic chuckle. I watch out of the corner of my eye as he kicks the jockstrap into his locker. “You can look now, Puddles.”
Clearing my throat, I ignore the tiny towel wrapped around his waist and grab onto what dignity I have left by looking him in the eye. “What the hell is your problem, Ben?”
The condescending smirk disappears from his face, and he lifts his chin as if stunned by the audacity of my question. “You, Willow,” he growls, charging toward me. With every step he takes, my bravado sinks, and I stumble until my back hits the wall. “You’re my problem. Everything was fine until you showed up. I was normal. I didn’t start brawls in bars. I didn’t get arrested for assault.” I flinch as his palms smack against the wall on either side of my head, our foreheads so close I can feel the heat radiating off him. “You changed me, and I want the old me back. Why can’t you just go the fuck away?”
I’ve been hurt so many times, I’ve lost count. Words that used to cut deep no longer even break the skin. But his words are more than a sharp knife. They’re a sword to the heart.
“Don’t worry,” I say flatly. “I’ll be gone soon enough.”
After all, sooner or later, everyone leaves.
This time I don’t duck underneath his arm. I push it out of my way as I head toward the door. I only make it a couple of steps before Ben grabs my hand. “Damn it, Willow, wait. I didn’t mean that.”
