Chapter Fifteen

Darius

I sip my protein shake and lean over the railing on the back porch as I watch Leah, Katie and Cody practice their dance. I don’t know what the fuck any of the moves are called but I do know Leah looks fucking good doing them. The three girls are standing around in a makeshift circle having a water break. Leah throws her head back and laughs at something Katie says. I watch her body tense and her laughter die off as she peers over shoulder at me. I smirk, I knew she would feel me watching her. She always said that she could pick me out in a room full of people blindfolded. What she doesn’t know is the same goes for me. Her eyes twinkle in delight at the sight of me shirtless and wearing low-slung basketball shorts.

She’s going to pay for letting me wake up to an empty bed. I’ll admit, the moment I woke up and felt her side empty I panicked until I heard laughter and peeked out the window to see her outside with her friends. I decided to work out in the basement while she trained. We didn’t get much sleep last night but fuck, I’ve never felt so alive. She shoots me a wink before turning back to her friends who both shoot her a knowing look. She shrugs and the three of them laugh before dropping their drinks and getting ready to go another round.

“You’re playing with fire.” My shoulders slump and my good mood sours at the sound of Beckett’s voice. I know he is only trying to watch out for Corvin and me in his own way but I’m a big boy and know what I’m doing. He slides up beside me and mimics my position, but instead of a protein shake, he sips a coffee. When I see him in a pair of sweats and shirtless, I quirk a brow.

“I know you didn’t work out, which means your lack of dress is because you just walked your pussy out the front door.” He pins me with a dirty look, I return it.

“At least she wasn’t one of our best friend’s sisters.” I grimace, then turn back to watch the girls as they slowly lower themselves to the ground and then push their hips up and down while punching the ground, it looks fucking hot. “Stay away from her.” I look back to Beckett and shake my head.

“We agreed, her and I have until Monday night when Corv gets back. Give me this, Beckett, Corvin will never know,” I plead.

“She isn’t some random girl, Darius. She is part of our… family.”

“You don’t think I know that?” I snap. “I wish she wasn’t his sister but I can’t help that I lo…” I clamp my mouth closed and curse as I turn away from him, drop my glass on the table and march over to the girls. They don’t hear me coming, thanks to the music blasting from the JBL speaker. I creep up behind Leah and wrap my arms around her waist. She screams in surprise but I don’t allow her to recover as I spin and rush toward the pool.

“Darius, no!” she shouts but it’s too late, we’re already soaring through the air then crash through the surface of the water. She pushes away from me as she swims to the surface. I break the surface and laugh at the angry look on her face. “You are such a dick!” Her words pack no heat, so I swim over to her and push the loose strands of hair from her face, grip her waist and lift her. She wraps her arms and legs around me as she melts into my hold.

“You looked hot, I thought I would help you cool off.” She throws her head back and laughs.

“You are such a dork,” she says with a smile. I press a chaste kiss to her lips and shoot her a wink.

“Throwing you in the pool was my form of revenge for letting me wake up alone!” Her features soften and now she is the one placing a kiss to my lips. She pulls back and ghosts her lips over mine.

“I’ll make it up to you tonight.” I growl my approval, but before I can kiss her again, she turns to her friends and waves them over.

“Leah, I think I just got pregnant from watching that display of raw sexual need.” Leah and Cody both break out into a full-on belly laugh at their friend’s crazy ass. At the sound of pounding footfalls. I snap my gaze to the other side, but I’m too late to cover my face from the splash as Beck leaps through the air yelling.

“Toron Amo!”

“Motherfucker!” I snarl as water drips down my face. Leah laughs and wipes the water off my face, kisses me once more before wigging free of my hold to go hang with her friends. I’ve decided at this moment, I don’t like her friends, they are taking up too much of my time. All her time should be spent with me, not them.

“Glare any harder and your face will crack.” The sarcasm is thick in Beck’s voice, which just grates on my fucking nerves.

“Shut up,” I snap as I swim to the other side of the pool. Beck follows and we lean against the edge and watch the girls laugh and splash each other. Seeing Leah happy brings a smile to my face. The longer I look at her, the more I wonder, how am I going to let her go?

“You need to end whatever this is before it goes too far.” I lull my head to the side and stare at Beck. His gaze is on the girls. I study him for a moment and watch as a small smile twitches at the corner of his mouth when Leah begins to laugh at something Cody said. My eyes widen as I push off the wall to block his line of sight. He frowns when he sees the look on my face, I can’t fucking believe this. “What?”

I shake my head annoyed at myself for not seeing this earlier, how the fuck could I have missed it? “You noticed everything about what I was up to with Leah years ago because you were watching her too! You care so much about what I do to her because you want to be the one doing it to her as well.” Beckett’s face hardens, his upper lip pulls back in snarl. “Now, how long have you been in love with my girl?” He pushes off the wall of the pool and gets right in my face, pushing his forehead into mine. The conversation behind us stops as the girls focus their attention on us.

“You don’t know what the fuck you are talking about,” he seethes.

“Why the fuck do you care so much if you don’t have feelings for her, big man?” I taunt, his gaze searches mine for a second.

“Fuck you, Darius, you stay the hell out of my business!”

“I’ll stay out of yours if you stay the fuck out of mine and Leah’s. You think you can get her to notice you?” I scoff like an arrogant son of a bitch before continuing. “I’ve always been the center of her world and her attention will always be on me. You will never have a chance where she is concerned.”

“You are such an asshole!” I spin away from Beck to see Leah and the other two girls looking at us with looks of disgust, anger and the one that cuts me deep is the look of betrayal on Leah’s face. I push away from Beck to go to her but the three of them scramble to get out of the pool and away from me. I reach the edge of the pool, grip the side ready to jump out but the look she pins me with has me pausing. “I don’t know what is worse, the fact that I can let a guy who ghosted me for years back into my bed without thought, or the fact that I was stupid enough to ever believe that you would ever see me as anything more than your dirty little secret.” I grind my teeth so hard they begin to ache. She thinks she can stand there and look down her nose at me after what she fucking did!

I push out of the pool, move into her space until my chest is against her. She cranes her neck back to meet my angry stare. My fists clench and unclench at my sides as I battle within myself to try calm the anger that is coursing through my body like wildfire. The sound of Beckett getting out of the pool and heading around to us makes the decision for me, my anger wins out.

“You stand there like you’re the perfect fucking Virgin Mary and yet you’re the whole fucking reason I do what I do now!” I scream in her face. She stumbles back a step with wide eyes, fear flashes through them. “Miss fucking perfect thinks she can come here to my house and have a right to be pissy with me?” I laugh but there is no humor to it. I close the space between us again, grip the back of her neck, bending down so we are eye level, then deliver the final blow that I know will break her. “I knew fucking you again would be easy because a girl like you spreads her legs for anyone.” Her hand strikes out so fast I don’t have time to block the hit. My cheek stings from her hit but I don’t try to soothe the ache. Her gaze spears me, her green eyes burn with hatred.

“You love to call me a slut and whore but let’s not forget who is the one with the track record here, halfback. ” Hearing my old pet name from her roll off her tongue with such venom has me stilling. “I never left you for anyone, you left me, remember?” I push in closer until the tips of our noses are touching. I can feel her breath fanning across my lips.

“Nah, you just like to get fucked at a party by my worst enemy because you’re a deceitful bitch like that and like to play offside, don’t you, Goldie?” Her eyes are so wide they remind me of dinner plates. I pull back and stare down at her pale face and shake my head in disgust when tears fill her eyes as her body begins to tremble. “Oh, baby, don’t act so shocked. You didn’t really think you were different, did you?” I tsk like an asshole. “Goldie, you were a phase, the forbidden fruit if you will and fuck, did I love destroying your innocence,” I say as I bite my lip and run my gaze up and down her body. “But now, you’re nothing but a used up, cum dumpster for the team to hit when they feel the need.”

I expect her to fight back, scream, shout, or even hit me but what I don’t expect is for a gut-wrenching sob to tear from her as tears pour down her cheeks before she takes off… running. I watch as she runs through the gate around the side of the house, soaking wet with her two friends chasing after her and shouting her name, for her to come back. My breaths are coming in short rapid pants as my anger continues to ride me. She fucking had it coming! I repeat that over and over in my mind until a pissed off looking Beckett comes into view.

“Go,” I snap and do a shooing motion with my hand. “Go chase after her and be her savior. Now’s your chance to finally nail her, Beck. Believe me, bro, the girl can suck dick better than Jesse James .” The words have barely left my mouth before his fist connects with my jaw, sending me sailing through the air and crashing through the surface of the pool water. I push off the bottom of the pool and swim to the top, the moment I break the surface his angry shouts await me.

“I don’t like her like that. Leah reminds me of someone I fucking lost, you dumb fuck!” My brows raise, I’ve never heard Beck talk about someone from his past before. “You think she cheated on you, is that it?”

“Stay out of it,” I growl.

“You’re a fucking pussy, Darius. Leah is everything you aren’t. That girl has loved you since she was a child. Anyone with fucking eyes can see it. How Corvin hasn’t noticed beats me. You are a fucking idiot. Just to clarify shit for you because you’re a fucking dumbass, I am going after Leah, but it isn’t to get in her pants. It is to make sure our best friend’s little sister is okay!” Before I can think of a witty retort he is running toward the house. I punch the water and growl out in frustration, fucking Leah! The girl is like a poison I can’t seem to get out of my fucking system. Truth is, I don’t know if I want her out of my system.