The Wrong Quarterback (The Wrong Player #1)

Chapter 31

CHAPTER 31

CASEY

I woke up furious with myself.

Furious that I’d been so weak and that I’d been the one to instigate last night’s sex session—no matter how hot it had been.

It’s just he’d been having some kind of sex dream, moaning my name as he rubbed his hard, perfect length against my ass.

A girl was only so strong.

I told myself I was just using his body to get off. But that had been a huge lie.

He was too tangled up in my heart for sex to ever not be more .

And I hated that.

The fact that I was so conflicted over what was happening could only be because of my upbringing. Parker had been the first person to ever make me feel seen. Like I was more than a shadow, more than a nerd, more than…

Ben’s sister.

I really was fucked up.

There was a part of me that craved Parker’s attention…that needed it. After a life of not being seen, I didn’t know if I could go back to that.

Parker had made me addicted to him, and he wasn’t giving me a chance to get him out of my system.

I also didn’t know if I could, even if he gave me that chance.

“You’re going to have to let me text Nat. She’s going to get worried,” I told him as I watched him pull his shirt down over abs that were so perfect they almost looked fake. He’d brought a bunch of his stuff down here, so he was with me constantly when he wasn’t in class or practice.

“I’ve been texting her from your phone,” he said calmly, as if that wasn’t a big deal at all.

My eyes widened, but I couldn’t honestly say I was surprised. Every time my defenses started to go down…I would be reminded again…my boyfriend’s a psycho.

And yes, I would examine later why I was still calling him my boyfriend in my head.

“If I promise not to run away, can we end this hostage situation?” I sighed, still not believing that I was saying that.

He snorted. “I prefer the term ‘basement timeout.’ And yes, I know you won’t run. But I’m still not letting you leave the house until after my game tomorrow.”

“How do you know I won’t run?” I asked, offended that he’d think I’d be won over so easily.

Parker stared at me for a moment, a piece of his dark hair falling into his face. I still didn’t understand how he could have put me down here. How he could have done that to Gray. Everything else about him was so perfect, so…beautiful.

It was that unsettling beauty, though, that left me feeling the most confused, because I couldn’t reconcile it with everything he’d done. A villain shouldn’t be allowed to have a pretty face.

“Because you love me too much,” he finally murmured, his tone perfectly confident.

And I couldn’t argue with that.

Parker’s face softened. “Do you need anything while I’m gone, baby?” His voice held that low, easy tone, the one that usually made me melt.

“For you to let me go,” I immediately said, more to myself than to him. He flashed a quick grin, that irresistible, boyish charm trying to batter at my heart.

“Impossible.” He moved closer, his fingers lightly grazing my cheek as he brushed a stray hair from my face. The gentle warmth in his touch sent a pang of doubt spiraling through me, tugging me in two different directions.

I didn’t know how he could be both the protector and the affectionate lover while also being the man who could trap me in a world of his own making. It was like there were two people beneath his skin, and I wasn’t sure which one would come to the surface next.

I wanted to ask him, to see if he could explain the pieces that didn’t fit. But as his hand lingered, and he leaned down, pressing a soft kiss to my forehead, my questions tangled up in my throat.

“I don’t know how I’ll ever forgive you for this,” I whispered, a tear sliding down my face. “I thought you were my hero and now…”

“There are villains and there are heroes, and then there are men who are in between,” he said idly, softly stroking my cheek as he stared at me like I was his whole world.

“And which one are you?” I whispered.

“Depends on what your answer is, Casey,” he mused. “Because there’s no world where you’re not mine. Whether you give me you…or I have to take you, it doesn’t change the outcome.”

“Which is?” I asked, even though I was quite sure I knew the answer.

“That you’re going to be mine until the day we die and for all our lifetimes after that. There’s no me without you.”

“That’s crazy,” I told him in a hitched voice, a swarm of mixed emotions in my chest because I was pretty sure I should be running.

He smiled, and the swarm of mixed emotions took on a glittery haze, something that always happened when he looked at me like that.

“No baby,” he finally murmured. “That’s called true love.”

And I wasn’t sure I could argue with that.

“Don’t leave the house,” Parker cautioned me that night when he’d let me out of the basement, and he was about to leave for the hotel that the team spent the night in before home games to make sure no one got in trouble.

“I have cameras at every entrance…and watching the windows on the side. I will leave my hotel to come find you.”

I scoffed. “And what if I tell someone before you do.”

He grinned, and he didn’t have to speak the words out loud for me to understand him.

Who would believe you …

What did it say about me that a little thrill went through me at his confidence…that he had everything planned out…a way to handle every circumstance.

I was becoming more and more convinced that leaving him was not really a possibility.

I was also becoming more and more convinced that…I liked this. I actually liked this twisted game of control. To see the depths he’d go to keep me.

For my entire life, I’d wanted someone to see me. I hadn’t expected it to come in this form, though.

But maybe broken things needed extraordinary measures to fix them.

Maybe Parker Davis was exactly what my broken soul needed, because he’d hold me tight enough that all my broken pieces would come together again.

“Make sure you watch the game tomorrow,” he ordered, dragging me out of my thoughts before he pulled me in for a breath-stealing kiss.

“I’m not going to,” I called after him as he strode to the door. He threw me a dazzling smile over his shoulder.

“Beautiful little liar,” he said.

And then he was gone.

I didn’t leave. Instead, I tossed and turned all night, the empty space next to me feeling like too much without him.

It got so bad that I even picked up when he called after his team meetings.

“Hi,” he murmured, his voice warm and sleepy and delicious. “I miss you.”

“I—I miss you, too,” I said after a moment, his absence clearly affecting me.

“You look beautiful right now.”

I blinked, and it took me a moment to understand what that implied.

“Parker Fucking Davis, are you watching me on camera right now?” I finally screeched, jumping out of bed and frantically searching around the room for a device.

“It’s like FaceTime ,” he laughed. “What’s the big deal?”

I opened my mouth to argue, until I realized I had that confusing, warm feeling inside me again. The idea that he was so obsessed with me that he wanted to watch me when he was out of the house was…hot.

Psycho, but hot.

Fuck. I needed a therapist.

I gave up on finding where he’d hidden the camera and crawled back into bed.

“That’s my girl,” he murmured, and I tried to snarl at him.

Which only made him laugh at me more.

“Tell me that you love me,” he finally said.

And my reply was instant. “I love you. I love you, even though…I shouldn’t,” I admitted.

“There’s no shouldn’t involved. No one gets to say how the greatest love stories are told. We can make our own rules.”

I didn’t have anything to say to that…because I was beginning to think he was right.

“Put the phone down next to you, but keep the line connected,” he ordered.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because I want us connected all night. Just keep the line open, even while you’re sleeping. That way, if you need anything…I’m here.”

Ugh. Why did he have to be like that, already anticipating that I wouldn’t sleep well without him? Why did he have to make me feel like I was the center of his world?

“Okay,” I whispered, tucking my phone next to me on the bed, a warmth settling over me. I put the phone on speaker so I could hear him.

Because if he was going to be my stalker…I wanted to be his stalker, too.

“Good girl.” His voice softened, filling the empty space between us. “Sweet dreams, baby. I love you.”

I fell asleep listening to the sound of his breaths.

Watching him on the screen the next day, my chest felt tight, like I could barely breathe. Tennessee had won, and then Parker stood there with the announcer, sweaty and triumphant. His eyes were still blazing with that fierce focus that seemed to power him through everything.

When he leaned into the mic, his gaze was steady, his voice firm. “This win…” He paused, almost like he was gathering the right words. “It’s for someone special. My soulmate’s brother, Ben Larsen. A man I never got to meet, but wish I had. I respect him immensely, and I know he’s watching out for her and us, wherever he is.”

Hearing those words hit like a punch, softening me in a way I hadn’t expected. Ben. He’d just said Ben’s name on national television, dedicating his win to him. The respect in Parker’s voice was real, solid, and the whole world was watching him honor my brother in a way that made my heart twist and ache. No one else had ever done that, no one else had ever thought of Ben like this—not even Gray.

Beneath the warmth swelling in my chest, there was a crack, something uncertain and heavy.

I closed my eyes for a second, feeling a confusing mixture of emotions—pain, warmth, anger, and a strange sort of gratitude. I wanted to hate him, wanted to believe he was as twisted as Gray insisted he was. But he did things that no one else had ever done for me. He fought for me. Protected me. Every move he made seemed to be about giving me the best, even if his methods were sometimes…unhinged.

I realized right then, I loved him. He was willing to be unhinged for me, to do whatever it took to have me.

I opened my eyes again, the screen still frozen on his face, his expression soft and serious. It was like he was looking right at me, saying things that I was finally hearing.

The lengths he’d gone to weren’t conventional. They weren’t even right , but maybe it didn’t matter what the world would think. Because with that dedication, he’d just proven he knew exactly how to honor my heart.

And that’s when I knew…I’d stay.

I was waiting for him at the door when he got home. He dropped his bags and held out his arms…and I ran to him.

“Finally,” he murmured as he squeezed me against him, letting out a breath like he’d been holding it this entire time.

I lifted my head off his shoulder and held his face in both my hands.

“I think you’re crazy,” I told him as I stared into his blue eyes.

He grinned.

“Yes. Crazy for you.”

“And you are absolutely never allowed to put me in a basement again—or anywhere else—without my permission,” I continued.

His smile widened. “I’ll consider it.”

“But I love you,” I told him, my voice breaking. “I love you more than anything. You own my…soul.”

I watched as a tear slid down his cheek, the happiness radiating off him making me light-headed, like we now existed in our own little world.

“You’ve owned my soul since the moment I saw you, baby,” he finally whispered in a choked voice. “I’ve just been waiting for you to realize it.”

His lips brushed against mine once, twice, before settling against me. Our tongues slowly tangled together, our clothes coming off as he walked me further into the house.

“Casey,” he breathed as he finally pushed into me.

His touch was reverent, savoring, like he was memorizing every pass against my skin.

I cried as our hips moved together.

Parker completely enveloped me, so there was no space for any doubts or anything else to slip in. There was only him.

“I love you,” he moaned, his cock stretching me over and over as we moved in a slow, exquisite rhythm.

“It feels like too much,” I gasped against his lips, the tears streaming down my face as he pushed deeper. I didn’t know how to handle this feeling inside me. It was too encompassing.

I didn’t know how to exist in this new world where my soulmate was a living, breathing person that I couldn’t exist without.

I understood now how his mother could have faded away after she lost his dad.

If she’d had something anywhere close to this, how could she exist when it was gone?

I wasn’t sure that I could.

It was terrifying…exhilarating.

It was everything .

“I’ve got you, baby,” he murmured, licking my tears away, soft slides of his tongue that eased some of the ache. “Just feel me. I’m right here.”

His teeth bit down gently into my shoulder, and the slight pain centered me enough for my body to pull me into a deep climax.

“I love you,” I cried as my core squeezed him tighter.

“Keep saying it,” he said roughly, his hips jerking in a staccato motion before he pushed deep and held himself there, his cock jerking inside me as he filled me with his cum.

I wrapped my legs around him, trying to get as close to him as I possibly could.

“Mine,” he murmured as he rolled us over so I was cradled against his chest.

“Yours,” I agreed, letting myself drift off with him still inside me.