The Wrong Quarterback (The Wrong Player #1)

Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30

PARKER

I cracked some eggs into a bowl and then added some salt and pepper, setting it aside to dip the chicken in as soon as I pounded them down. I paused for a second, listening to hear if Casey had stopped screaming and banging on the basement door yet.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Nope. Not yet.

Would it make the situation any better if I told her that the basement setup was pre-existing? The house was meant to be rented out to four students, with three bedrooms on the main floor and another apartment in the…basement.

Had it come in handy when she tried to leave me? Yes.

But I hadn’t prepared it for her, like a serial killer. That should mean something, right?

I had no idea when I’d joked with my brothers about having someone in my basement a few months ago that I’d find myself here.

Sounded a little like fate if you asked me.

I heard the unmistakable sound of a key turning in the front lock. Before I could even register the thought of visitors, the door swung open, and Jace strolled in like he owned the place, holding a gallon jug of milk in one hand and a corn dog in the other.

“’Sup, QB,” he said around a mouthful, nodding as he gave the milk jug a casual shake, as if that justified his sudden entrance. He took another bite of the corn dog, completely unfazed by my silence.

I raised an eyebrow, resisting the urge to look at the door that led down to the basement. “A corn dog and milk? Really, Jace?”

“Protein and calcium, my man,” he said, holding up the corn dog like it was some sort of winning lottery ticket. He plopped himself down in a chair, and took a swig straight from the milk jug without missing a beat.

“It’s actually not a good time,” I began.

“Ooh, are you making chicken parmesan?” he said, excitedly hopping right back out of the chair.

“Get out,” I huffed, pounding on the chicken so I could get it the right thickness. When I’d found out that Olive Garden chicken parmesan was Casey’s favorite, I’d looked up every copy-cat recipe I could until I’d perfected it. All the flavor and none of the bad chemicals.

Hopefully it would soften her up.

“You have to give me some of that. Otherwise, I’m going to eat this corn dog over the sink like a fucking rat,” Jace begged.

Casey chose that moment to scream. I froze, the meat mallet clenched in my hand.

I really hoped that I wasn’t about to have to use this on my best friend.

Jace was frozen as well, the corn dog halfway to his mouth.

Casey banged on the door…and then screamed again for good measure.

It was a testament to her lung capacity that she could keep going like that. Probably one of the factors in why she was incredible at giving head.

“So…QB. You and your lady playing hide and go seek, and Casey just forgot the rules?” Jace asked.

I thought for a moment. “Yes, that’s definitely it.”

Jace tapped on the counter and took a long, exaggerated gulp of his milk.

“Is there a reason you have your girlfriend locked in the basement?” he finally asked after he’d set down the milk. “Or have you officially lost it, and a meat suit really is next.”

I snorted. Jace was perhaps the only person who could make me even think about laughing at the moment. “Her ex decided to give her information about some…of my more questionable activities, and she’s a little bit upset. So I’m giving her some time to get used to that.”

Jace scoffed, taking another huge bite of his corn dog before he responded, his mouth still full. “She tried to leave you.”

I set the mallet down since it seemed like he wasn’t going to run and go try and free her, and nodded. “She tried to leave me,” I confirmed.

Jace nodded, like he was thinking harder than he ever had in his life.

“So, uh, how long are you going to keep her down there, exactly? And what’s your plan to make her…not want to run away?”

I dropped the chicken into the egg mixture and made sure it was coated before moving it to the seasoned breadcrumbs.

“For however long it takes. And I’m still thinking,” I murmured as I lowered the chicken into the oil-filled pan.

And she screamed again.

“Alright, well I’m going to go check my stocks.”

I eyed him. Jace barely passed most of his classes, but for some reason he was literally a genius at stocks. He managed both Matty and my portfolios from the endorsement deals we got, and he’d tripled what we had.

But not what I’d expected him to say.

“What? That’s your response to me telling you I’m keeping my soulmate in my basement?”

He blinked at me like I was stupid.

“As a fellow No Drama Llama member, I need to be prepared in the inevitable event that I have to bail you out. Which means my stocks need to be better.”

He walked out of the room, taking his milk and corn dog with him.

“I didn’t vote for that name,” I called after him, a smirk on my face as I flipped the chicken.

“I’m going to call some lawyers too…just in case. Can’t let my fellow Pussy Posse member down, “ he added as he opened the door.

“I’m not going to need one,” I yelled to him, but he’d already left.

I sighed as Casey banged on the door again, and I plated the chicken, arranging her favorite caesar salad on the plate. Usually she would be in the kitchen with me, and I missed her. I needed to figure out a way to fix this soon.

I brought our plates down the stairs, and she didn’t soften at all, refusing to eat even a single bite.

As I walked back up the stairs, I was thinking I was going to have to work really hard to make sure Jace didn’t need to get that lawyer.

Losing Casey’s heart wasn’t an option.

“What are you doing?” she growled at me later when I came down for bed.

“Going to bed,” I replied calmly.

“You’ve got to be shitting me. You are not sleeping with me,” she snapped. Her eyes were red, and her hair was a mess. And as usual, she was the most beautiful fucking girl I’d ever seen.

“Can you honestly say you’re going to sleep well without me?” I asked, sliding into the bed. She tried to get out, and I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her against me.

She only kicked me twice before she gave up and laid there quietly.

That was a good sign, right?

Except a few seconds later she started crying. I pulled her into my chest and stroked her hair.

“I can’t believe you did this,” she whispered. I squeezed her closer.

“I can’t believe you didn’t know I would.”

She sniffled again.

“I told you that we’re endgame, Casey. I’m going to help you remember that.”

“You can’t keep me down here forever,” she answered.

And I didn’t say anything after that…because I was pretty sure she wouldn’t like my answer.

I held her close to me all night.

“Tell me a story about Ben,” I murmured as I held her in bed the next night. I was hoping that this question would lower her defenses a little. This was something we’d done the past weeks, tell stories about the two people we’d lost.

She was still mad at me, but at least she’d eaten tonight.

So that was progress, right?

I’d made sure to get all of her schoolwork by telling her professors that she was sick, so she’d be able to keep up on her assignments while we were in this…stage.

She’d tried to hit me with one of her textbooks when I’d given it to her, but it was so cute that I’d laughed.

Which had then made her refuse to talk to me.

“Well, he definitely wouldn’t have approved of this,” she snarled, sounding more like a cuddly kitten than the terrifying monster I was pretty sure she was going for.

“Noted. Now tell me another story,” I said, softly stroking her hair.

She huffed, but her body relaxed against mine. “He was a star, like you,” she said softly. “He was offered a spot on Tennessee’s basketball team, and he was so ready to shine. Ben was the first person in our small town to get an athletic scholarship like that, and everyone was so proud.”

“They weren’t proud of you with your piano skills?” I asked.

She hesitated. “Not like they were with Ben,” she finally said. “That’s why I came to Tennessee, though. He didn’t get to come here, and once I knew my dreams of playing at Julliard weren’t going to happen, then at least I could live a little part of his dream.”

“You know I would do anything to help with your dreams. Your brother would want you to shine. I don’t know him, but I know that much,” I told her, my mind racing as usual with ways that I could help her make her dreams come true.

Casey turned in my arms. Her eyes were less red-rimmed and more…resigned. I wasn’t sure I liked that either.

“When are you going to let me out?” she asked softly.

“When you promise not to run, and I believe you.”

“And what if I did run?”

I laughed softly. “Then I would spend the rest of my life chasing after you. As you know, though, I’m pretty dedicated when I want something. I don’t think you’d be able to run far.”

She rolled her eyes, the ghost of a smile on her pretty lips.

Don’t think about her lips , I told myself, shifting my dick away from her since it was starting to harden from just that.

“You know, I kept telling myself you were too good to be true. And I guess, I was right,” she whispered as her smile faded.

I brushed a kiss across her lips before she could jerk away.

“Everything I’ve done is for you,” I said. “I love you more than life itself. There’s your truth.”

She sighed, but her forehead was scrunched, like she was thinking hard.

I was wearing her down.

I woke up from a really great dream, to something even better…Casey naked on top of me, sliding onto my dick.

“Don’t talk,” she whispered when she saw I was awake. “This doesn’t mean I don’t hate you.”

“Of course not,” I answered, even though that’s exactly what it meant. I grasped her hips and helped her work me all the way inside her.

I couldn’t help but groan when she sank all the way down, taking every inch of me like the good girl she was.

Her hips tilted, and she rocked up and down. I pulled her forward, changing the angle to the one I knew she liked best that also rubbed her clit.

“I love you,” I murmured, nuzzling into her hair. She stiffened for a second but ignored me, her pace increasing as I grasped her hips and fucked into her.

It had been forty-eight hours since I’d been inside her. Absolutely unacceptable.

I was addicted to her, and even a few hours felt like eternity. I was glad that my efforts to train her body to feel the same way had evidently worked.

“We’re never going to talk about this. I should be biting your dick…not riding it,” she murmured unsteadily as she pushed her hips all the way back and then slammed forward.

“Mmmh,” I answered, pressing down on her lower back so her clit rubbed against me harder.

She was close. Her breath was coming out in gasps, and her cunt was tightening around my dick.

“Yes, yes, yes,” she breathed as she rode out her orgasm. Her head thrown back, her chest flushed, her nipples beaded into hard, rosy points. It was the most erotic sight I’d ever seen.

And then she flipped off of me.

“What?”

“This is a reminder that I’m mad at you,” she said, her gaze trained on my cock as I started feverishly stroking myself.

“That’s fair,” I grunted, even though I wasn’t happy about it. I came, cum splattering all over my stomach, my moan echoing around the room.

Her eyes were dilated as she continued to watch me.

“Want a taste, baby?” I said, sliding my finger through the mess and bringing it up to her lips.

She bit my fucking finger, hard, before her tongue lapped up my cum.

“You love me too much to stay mad at me forever,” I told her after I’d cleaned off my stomach and came back to bed.

“We’ll see about that,” she responded, but I didn’t worry about that.

Her body was already back on my side, and with a little more work…her heart would be too.