The pounding of my feet on the wide, rotating belt is drowned out by Weezer's "Hash Pipe" blasting in my earbuds. Sweat pours down my face and chest, and I take a careful moment to grab the gray T-shirt I had taken off and laid on one of the support bars before starting my run, and give my face a mop-up.
And for what seems to be the millionth time today...something occurs that has never happened before in my life. I think about the woman I fucked last night.
No, correction...what Olivia and I did last night was something different from just impersonal fucking. I knew that it was going to be different when we kissed in the stairwell of the parking garage. I didn't know it was going to necessarily happen last night, but I knew when and if it happened, it was going to be different. It's why I had resolved last night, when I dropped her off at her apartment, that we wouldn't have sex and that I would indeed ask her out again...and again...and again, if that's what it took to get between her thighs.
Turns out...it did, in fact, happen last night, and I'm not regretting that at all. How could I when I had some stellar sex with a beautiful, intelligent, and funny woman who seriously pushes every one of my sexual buttons?
And pushes them hard.
I suspect there was something driving Olivia last night, because in the span of about ten hours she went from proclaiming that there would be no sex on our date to telling me that she "needed it." It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that something happened in that time period to change her mind, and I'm insanely curious to find out what it is, but whatever the reason...I'm not going to argue about it.
I'm young, and yeah, I've been with a lot of women. It's not a prideful thing for me to say that, but merely a way to put it in perspective for the jaundiced eye that looks at me with a bit of skepticism when I say that last night was beyond fantastic. I didn't do anything with Olivia that I haven't done with another woman. I've gone down on plenty, but none tasted as sweet as her. Their moans, and gasps, and tightening of their legs against the sides of my head as they came never made me as turned on as I was last night. I swear...I almost felt like I could orgasm just by making her come.
And I've certainly had plenty of women ride me to fucking oblivion before, but none like Olivia. No woman had ever told me before that she wanted to make me feel as good as I made her feel. No woman felt as sweet or as warm when she sank on to me, and no woman looked as erotic as Olivia did with her caramel-colored hair swaying all around as she rode my cock.
Okay, dial it down a notch with the erotic memories, Samuelson, or you'll end up with a boner flopping all around on your run.
God...I think I may be going crazy with this obsessive thinking about her. I ended up staying at her house all night, which again...nothing I haven't done before. I don't do it often, and it's usually because I may have had too much to drink and don't want to drive, but I've done sleepovers before. Of course, my idea of sleeping in a woman's bed is for her to sprawl on one side, and me to sprawl on the other so I can get a good night's sleep.
But last night, Olivia curled herself in close against me. My arms automatically tightened around her and it just felt...right. Her hair felt amazing against my skin and her breath like silk as it fanned over me. We talked for a while, about silly stuff. She told me more about her friendship with Stevie and I told her how he kissed my knuckles, which made her howl with laughter. Another first...laughing like that with a woman. So weird. So right.
I'm not even sure who fell asleep first. I just know one minute we were cuddling, talking, and laughing, the next minute her alarm was going off on her bedside table, and we were in the same exact position we had fallen asleep in, wrapped up in each other.
Olivia raised a sleepy head and smiled down at me before crawling over my body to slap at the alarm. Her body was warm as she slid across me, immediately causing my cock to wake up in a very perky mood. Unfortunately, Olivia kept crawling right out of bed, and even though I made a grab at her with my hands, I was grabbing nothing but air, she was so quick.
"Come back here," I grumbled, because morning sex sounded fucking awesome. Usually, if I stayed the night with a woman, I was trying to slink out of the bed without getting noticed so I could make it out the door without any awkward conversation.
But not this morning. No, this morning I wanted Olivia to get that fine ass back in the bed and let me go down on her again. Or maybe I could just fuck her in the shower. That would be an awesome way to start the day.
"Sorry," she said as she rummaged through her drawers for some clothing. "I've got an appointment this morning and I can't be late."
Olivia moved from the dresser over to the closet, gloriously unabashed in her nakedness, and fuck...she was so freakin' beautiful with her hair all messy and her breasts and hips swaying with her movements.
"Hey," I called out softly, and for a moment she stilled and turned her head toward me. "Can I see you tonight?"
Her face was blank for just a moment, then she broke out into a wide smile. "Sure. I'd like that. Can we do eight o'clock, though? I'm going to have to work a bit later tonight."
"I'll pick you up at eight," I told her, and then she was gone, disappearing into the bathroom for a shower.
I got dressed and waited for her to come out. There was no long kiss goodbye, no overt flirting from her or wishful words of how she couldn't wait to see me later. No batting of eyelashes or sexual innuendos. No, I was pretty much forgotten, and she was already attacking her day. She was a dynamo flashing by and she left me a little dizzy.
Alex reaches out and swats at my arm to get my attention. I look over at him and he points down at the digital readings on the treadmill. I've gone over five and a half miles and hadn't even realized it.
Nodding at him, I slow the machine down so I don't propel myself off with a quicker stop and grab the T-shirt again, giving it a swipe across my face. Alex practically mimics my actions, and when he pulls his own earbuds out, I do the same.
"Dude...what's gotten into you? You were flying," he grumbles as our machines come to a complete stop and we step off. "I about killed myself trying to keep pace."
Shrugging, I say, "No clue. Just energized, I guess."
Yup...energized up on some Olivia Case.
Alex snorts. "Well, whatever it is...I want me some of that. You killed it at practice today and shredded the weights during our workout. Now you're running practically Olympic-paced miles. Sign me up for some of that."
Yeah...no fucking way is Alex getting some of that. No other man is, if I have my say-so about it. I may be the king of one-night stands, and I may not go out with a woman more than once or twice, and I may be totally full of shit right now, but I can tell you this...I am not done with Olivia by a long shot, and if that means my old, anti-monogamous ways are wearing thin, so fucking be it. I'm not adverse to change...I've just never found a woman that made me want to consider it before.
"So, what do you want to do tonight?" Alex asks me as we head toward the locker room.
I look back over my shoulder at him to tell him I'm not doing a damn thing with him tonight when I crash into something warm and soft. My arms immediately go out to catch whomever I just plowed into and I get a big handful of breast even as my head swings back around.
"Oh...shit...I'm so sorry," I say as I release her breast, and my hands reach out to balance her by her shoulders.
A beautiful dark-haired woman laughs and stares back at me with big gray eyes. "It's okay. It's not every day I get plowed over by the Garrett Samuelson."
I give her a grin and let my arms drop from her. Ordinarily, I'd use this opportunity to continue touching and ramp up my flirting, but this woman before me holds no interest.
"Maybe you could buy me a smoothie to make up for it?" she suggests in a confident manner, and normally that shit would turn me on. No coy flirting, no guessing games. Let's go get a smoothie...and, hey...let's fuck too.
"As tempting as that sounds, I'm on a tight schedule. But I am sorry for al
most knocking you over," I tell her with an apologetic smile.
"Sure, no problem. See you around," she says with disappointed look, and then she's forgotten.
I head off toward the locker room, but Alex's hand on my shoulder stops me. "What the fuck was that?" he asks in astonishment.
"What?" I ask, bewildered, as I shrug off his hand and sit down on the bench in front of my locker.
"Turning down that woman. She practically invited you out for a quickie," Alex said pointedly.
"So what? Not the first time that's happened. Sure it won't be the last," I tell him blandly.
"Yeah...but that is the first fucking time you've turned a woman down."
Snickering to myself, I understand Alex's befuddlement. And I feel absolutely no need to enlighten him at this point. It's sort of fun watching how this confuses him.
"Big deal," I tell him nonchalantly, and I try hard not to laugh over the look on his face. Opening my locker, I take out my toiletry bag and towel, and head toward the showers.
Alex blinks as if to clear his head, opens his mouth as if to argue with me about my apparent lack of interest in women, but then snaps it shut as he follows me into the showers.
I step up and turn a nozzle on the long row of showerheads protruding from the walls. Alex takes the one next to me, and does the same.
I briefly consider doing a quick shave while I'm in the shower, but last night Olivia had admitted to me during our postcoital glow that she loved the scruff on my face. So I decided to leave it for now, even though it scratches like hell and is uncomfortable in the summer heat.
"So, anyway," Alex says as he lathers up his head with some shampoo. "What do you want to do tonight?"
"Tonight?" I ask dumbly.
"Yeah...I told you Shelley was coming in to visit Sutton for a few days, and they're going out tonight with some friends. Remember? We were going to hang. Maybe go on a pub crawl or something."
"We made plans?" I ask blankly, because I seriously can't remember this.
"Yeah, dumbass. Remember, because we don't have practice tomorrow since we're scrimmaging in the afternoon, so we both figured we could go tie one on tonight and sleep it off in the morning?"
Okay, I am now having a vague recollection of this, but doesn't matter...my plans have definitely changed.
"Can't," I tell him while I step under the spray to rinse off the body wash I had been soaping over my skin. "I've already got plans tonight."
"Damn right you do," Alex growls. "With me. We made these plans last week."
"Sorry, girlfriend...I'm going to have to break up with you. I have someone much prettier than you that I'm going to see tonight. I hate it if I'm breaking your heart," I tell him with a grin.
"No fucking way," Alex snarls, and throws a bar of soap at me. It pings harmlessly on the wall behind me. "I'm getting stood up for one of your one-night stands? You can get that anytime."
I know Alex isn't really that angry, and I know he thinks that I'm going out for my standard, par-for-the-course pussy banging, but the fact that he is wrong and he's talking about Olivia that way causes me to grit my teeth a little.
"It's not like that," I tell him as I turn the water off and grab my towel to loop around my waist.
"Then how is it?" he asks me curiously, because apparently my tone of voice told him that something unique and different must be going on with me.
"I'm actually going out on a second date with someone. We went out last night and there was a connection."
Alex laughs and punches me on the shoulder. Turning off the water on his own shower, he chuckles. "Good one, dude. No, seriously...what do you have going on tonight?"
"I'm serious, man. I went out with a woman that I really like, and I expect tonight's not going to be the last time I see her either."
"Holy shit!" Alex exclaims. "I can't believe it. The great pussy master Garrett Samuelson has fallen for someone."
"I haven't fallen," I say carefully. "But I do like her. She's really great."
Alex steps by me and his voice loses every bit of teasing and male crudeness. "If that's the case...I'm seriously happy for you Garrett. So, how did you meet this woman?"
My mind goes blank, because I really didn't think Alex would want to hear any details. I mean...we don't talk about shit like that. I never really asked him personal shit like that when he had started dating Sutton, and I didn't think he'd ask me. Dudes just didn't talk about stuff like that. At least I don't think they do. I've never had a woman that I've wanted to talk about, so I could be completely wrong about this.
And I have no clue how to go about telling Alex that the woman I'm interested in is Olivia. I had been warned well to stay away from her by Sutton, and I know when it boils down between me and Sutton, Alex's allegiance will always be with her. So if Sutton is protective of Olivia, Alex is going to be as well.
"Son of a fucking bitch," Alex says in understanding, taking my lack of an immediate answer as guilt. "You went out with Olivia, didn't you?"
"So fucking what?" I grumble as I walk back into the locker room and take out my clothes to dress.
"Sutton is going to be so pissed," Alex says. "I'm going to have to smooth some ruffled feathers."
"It's none of Sutton's business," I say, getting angrier by the moment over Alex and Sutton's interference with my love life.
I mean sex life.
"Did you fuck her?" Alex asks in a low voice, and I lose it.
Spinning on him, I bring one forearm across his chest and the other against his throat, and push him back hard into the lockers, which shake with the force of the collision with his body. Pushing my face right up into his, I snarl, "That's none of your fucking business."
Alex's eyes are wide with astonishment, then the fucker starts laughing at me. He can't move, because I have him pinned by the chest and throat, but the fucker just laughs, and laughs, and laughs.
Frustrated, I release him and step backward, glaring at him. "What is so fucking funny?"
"You are," Alex says between wheezing gasps. "You've got it bad."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean...I've asked you dozens of times if you've fucked a woman that you've gone out with, and you always admit that you did. You may not kiss and tell all the deets, but you share with me and anyone else that cares to listen. But this time...you wigged out. Went all caveman, protective of Olivia. Dude...doesn't matter if you fucked her or not...it's clear you don't want anyone even thinking about her in that way. You just told me all I need to know. You've got it so bad."
"Fuck you, Crossman," I grit out, and turn my back on him. But I can't help the tiny smile that comes to my face, because, yeah...I think I might have it a little bad for Olivia.
Chapter 8
Olivia
"Are you nervous?" Stevie asks as he holds my hand in a death grip. He's gone overboard in his attire today, wearing a white V-neck T-shirt, denim cutoff shorts that are cut so high the pockets stick out at the bottom, and a pink sequined vest with fur around the collar.
"No, but clearly you are," I say as I pull my hand free and give it a shake to get the feeling back into it. "The Ativan seems to be working."
Thank God.
Dr. Yoffman had prescribed me the antianxiety drug to take before the bone-marrow biopsy this morning. Within about twenty minutes, I felt a peacefulness come over me and wasn't too wigged out by the fact he'd be punching down into my bone soon.
"I'm cool," Stevie says, but I can see the wrinkles in his brow from worry. If I told him that, he'd have a major freak-out that he had wrinkles showing, so I hold my tongue.
I'm so grateful Stevie is here with me. I'm so fortunate to have him and Sutton taking turns...going through this process with me. I had a long talk with my mom last night and she's really upset that she can't be here with me. She has some vacation available and wanted to come right away, but I urged her to wait until after I started my treatments. I figured that's when I'd really want her with me.
"Miss Case," I hear from the doorway. Turning toward the sound, I see Dr. Yoffman's nurse standing there with a chart in her hand. My pulse picks up a little, but I don't feel the constricting pressure in my chest I had this morning as I stood in the shower.
While I got ready this morning, I tried to keep my thoughts occupied with Garrett. Last night was far more than I ever expected it would be. Sex for me will never be the same, and I never had a moment's hesitation when Garrett asked me out again for tonight.
Well, maybe a moment's hesitation. Part of me felt slightly guilty that I was using him to fill my mind with something other than cancer, and another part felt guilty that I wasn't even sharing this fact with him. But most of me felt giddy that I would be seeing him again, so as I stood under the hot spray of the shower, when that panicked feeling started to hit, I just closed my eyes and remembered what it was like to have Garrett inside me last night.
I'm slightly shocked he asked me out again. When I made the bold decision to have sex with him, I fully expected it was going to be a one-time-only thing. Joy coursed through me when he asked me out again...but I tried to temper it with the knowledge that Garrett has gone out with a woman more than once. Since three times seems to be his limit, I might have one...maybe two more nights with him, and I'll take it. And just as I have no problem seeking dependency on Ativan to calm my nerves, while it lasts, I'm going to take advantage of the distraction Garrett provides me from my worries.
We'll just consider him to be a drug for me.
Standing up, Stevie and I follow the nurse back to an examination room. I notice a tray of instruments laid out on a blue paper cloth next to the exam table: a large needle and a long spike-looking thing with a blue plastic handle.
Okay...blood pressure escalating right now.
Taking a deep breath, I let it out slowly and try to fill my mind with images of Garrett. It works for a moment, then the nurse distracts me by handing me a large paper sheet.
"You'll need to get undressed...everything from the waist down. You can wrap this around you."