Chapter 24

CHAPTER 24

Windy

I'm mostly done shivering by the time we pull up to Deke's house. It helps he's had the heat blasting and all the vents turned my way the whole ride here. After we left my dorm and I saw the small crowd of people gawking at Coach's truck right in front of the doors, I gave up trying to hide how glad I am that he came for me.

I'm really glad he did because I'm no closer to figuring out a way to deal with Director Franklin's blackmail on my own. That Deke already knows most of the crap that's going on makes it even better. Him finding out and thinking I was the type of girl to use drugs has been weighing on me so heavily it's been making my stomach too sick to keep food down.

"When's the last time you ate?" His concern is obvious, and I realize he must be able to hear my stomach pitching a fit even over the blowing of the truck's heaters.

"Umm, Coach Michaels sent me home early because I was playing like hot garbage at practice. So I bought a sandwich from the Monarch-Mart at the dorms." It's not lying. Not technically if I skirt the subject, right?

"Bought isn't the same as ate, little lush. Fibbing to Daddy is only going to add to the punishment you've already earned. Do you want to try that answer again?" The way his brow lifts and the little smile lines around his mouth tighten in displeasure sends a shiver of nerves through me.

I liked the spanking thing we did that first night when he brought me here. Somehow I'm positive I won't like the kind of spanking he's planning to give me this time nearly as much. My stomach gurgles again and Deke clears his throat expectantly.

"Umm, maybe yesterday I ate some granola and yogurt?"

"You asking me, or telling me?"

Yup, he's mad.

"Telling. Yes, I had yogurt and granola yesterday afternoon. Oh, and a banana! I had a banana last night, too." Bananas have a lot of potassium in them, which is great for sore and crampy muscles. They're also a chill food that's easy to keep down when stress has my tummy tied in knots.

"Dammit, Windy. You've done a shit job taking care of yourself the past few days. No more, you hear me? From now on, you're going to eat proper meals and not skip them even if you're upset." There's no negotiation to be had. Just final, definite demand.

The moment the garage door closes behind his truck after he pulls in, Deke's out of his door and rushing to mine. I wait for him to open it, not just because I'm practically a burrito swaddled in blankets the way I am. Also because I know Deke takes his Daddy job seriously and likes to be the one to unbuckle and help me down from the lifted truck. I learned that the first time he took me out to eat.

"Daddy?" I'm not sure what I want to ask, I just know I have to break the silence. Instead of carrying me through the house to his bedroom, or even the kitchen since he seems to be obsessed with feeding me, Deke hauls me straight through the house and out the back door.

"Hot tub time for you, sweetheart. Loosen those chilled muscles back up and make sure your core temp is adequate."

But rather than undress me and get me in the water, he settles me on a comfortable padded chaise and pulls another blanket out of the storage bench next to the railing of his deck. It's a fuzzy, warm blanket and I don't complain when he tucks it all around me even though the evening air isn't all that cool.

"Wait here. Do not move an inch," he commands. As if I would. This is the best I've felt since the last time I was in his home. Cold toes and all.

Deke disappears into the house and I hear him rummaging around the kitchen before he comes back out with a tray of snacks balanced in one hand and a first-aid kit in the other.

"I'm not hurt, Daddy. Just cold." Guilt swamps me for all the worry I'm putting him through.

"First aid's not just for booboos, little lush. I want to get an accurate temp taken so we know what we're dealing with here." He pulls out a fancy thermometer like doctor's offices use. The kind that will say my temp out loud after reading my forehead.

"Oh. Okay," I agree. I tip my head up so he can aim the machine at my head.

"Sometimes I'll take your temperature this way, but sometimes Daddy will use a mercury thermometer that gets the most accurate reading in your little tush. This one will do for tonight."

My cheeks heat with the blush from imagining him holding an old-fashioned glass tube filled with mercury in my bottom hole. I can't say I dislike the fantasy.

"Thank you, Sir." I want to show him I remember the rules. That I can be a polite little good girl.

When Deke's satisfied that my temp isn't a problem, he lifts me to my feet and quickly pulls my clothes off. Just as quick as he tosses everything onto the lounge behind me, I'm scooped up and deposited into the bubbling, steamy water.

"Eeep!" That startled squeal is all me. The water feels almost painfully hot on my still-chilled skin.

"Stay right there, don't you dare move. You could slip. Wait for me." Deke's overprotective bossiness shouldn't be the turn-on it is.

Shouldn't be.

Is.

He stands back from the raised ledge of the hot tub and begins to take off his clothes. I couldn't move if I tried, the sight of him taking everything off captivates me so completely.

"Daddy, you're…" My mind blanks, words escaping me.

He's just…

And I'm so…

Ugh. I think I froze all my brain cells. Or melted them. Maybe both.

He quirks a brow at me, waiting. The smirk on his face is a clue that he knows exactly what I'm thinking. Deke McCree is a tank of a man. Wide shoulders, barrel chest tapering to a thick waist that manages to be cuddly and somewhat cut at the same time. His body barely shows any sign that he's no longer a professional athlete, and I'm pretty sure he could give most of the guys on his team a run for it.

My fingers curl into my palms at the mental image of combing them through the soft looking salt and pepper fuzz on his chest. I've never been with anyone so much older than I am. It's so sexy the way he exists in his body, no artificial posturing or flexing to look like anything other than who he is. Time and hard work have worn away the soft edges of youth and left behind a ruggedly handsome giant of a man.

One rapidly getting naked right in front of me. The early twilight around us provides plenty of light, but the tall hedges and privacy fence ensure none of the neighbors can see us. I can see though. See and want. But I want to be his good girl. Please him. So I sit as still as possible while my eyes eat him up.

"What were you going to say, little lush?" he teases. I like the smile in his eyes much more than the flinty anger that had darkened the blue irises when he found me in that ice bath.

"Hot." How I stumble through a single syllable would be embarrassing in any other circumstance.

"What's hot? The water?" he drawls. He's having fun, and playful Daddy is almost as sexy as stern Daddy. Make that make sense, because I can't.

"You are! You are!" I practically shout.

He laughs and steps over the edge of the hot tub, sinking into the water like the steam rising from the surface is irrelevant. He's impervious to the heat and the cold, just focused on me. Deke picks me up from the submerged seat and I'm in the cool air just long enough for him to settle where I'd been sitting and pull me onto his lap. His arms wrap around my torso and I lean back into his chest with my head under his chin.

"Ready to talk?" The rumble of his deep voice vibrates through me everywhere we're pressed together.

A bratty urge to pretend I don't know what he means overtakes me, but I fight it back. I want to be taken care of by Deke, absolutely. It's still important that he knows I'm capable of being honest with him and facing important things head on. That doesn't mean it's easy to admit to the situation I've wound up in.

"Is Coach Vanderman mad at me?" Somehow that's the question that comes out, even though it's not necessarily what I'm the most worried about. But if Coach Vanderman isn't mad, then maybe Deke won't be, either. Yeah, that logic doesn't much track when I think about it like that.

"Oh sweetheart, no. He knows you'd never do anything bad. He's known you a long time now. In fact, talking to Paul helped me to know how much you needed me. I was giving you space because I thought that might be best, and he told me about how Franklin's been blackmailing players and not just offering them the Meldonium."

"You know everything then?" I'm not sure why it's so hard to admit. Maybe it's because I feel a little silly for winding up in a position where Director Franklin even could corner me and make his threats.

Or maybe it's because if Deke doesn't yet know the threats the director made, I don't know how he'll react when I tell him. What if the risk to his reputation and contract is more important to him than what we have? I mean, we only just met. There's no way being with me would be worth losing his job.

"Not everything. Not what he's holding over your head. Baby, whatever it is, I can protect you."

His assurance has the opposite effect. Instead of making me feel better, I'm more scared than ever.

Sure, he's willing to protect me against Director Franklin now. But what happens when he finds out being with me means having his reputation smeared and his contract terminated?

What then?