Chapter Four

Quinn stared at the box on his kitchen table. He was finishing his third beer so he figured burning things may not be the best idea in his current state, but the trash can was sitting next to him and it was hungry for the crap in that box.

He should just take the top off the box and dump the whole thing in, and there were several times tonight when he was about to do just that before stopping himself.

But this time was it. He was ready.

Except his beer was empty.

Quinn got up and put the can in the recycle bin with his other empty beers. Michigan's ten-cent deposit on cans and bottles was no joke and he could get a few bucks when he would actually remember to take them in.

On top of the recycle pile were the two boring beers from his fridge and that Oberon Ale from Ella.

Perhaps it was just because Ella was a new face to him or she had superior taste in sofa slipcovers and beer, but there was something about that woman that made his breath catch in his throat when he first saw her. It wasn't just the fact that she wasn't Jaclyn. It was that she was different. Who offers a beer to a man she never met before when he shows up at her door looking for his ex-girlfriend's box? And what kind of woman gives him a good beer like an Oberon from her fridge? Seriously, Quinn was thinking about knocking on her door again to get another one of those instead of the crap he had sitting in his fridge.

Although he did have to wonder why she seemed a little disappointed that he was there -- or maybe she was a little disappointed that he took her beer. She likely expected him to politely decline an offer for a good beer that belonged to her.

Quinn had to get it together. Beer four and the top was still on that box. The situation needed to be finished. It was going to be fine. Just a few things that needed to be trashed and it would all be over.

He put the beer on the kitchen table and sat down, staring at that stupid box again. Quinn's fingers barely brushed the edge of the top but it was enough to flip the lid off so it could land with a soft thud on his kitchen floor. The power of an athlete's body at its finest.

He took a deep breath and peered in, thinking he would find some note from Jaclyn or a concert ticket stub. But instead, he was greeted by a dick pic.

His dick pic.

Quinn's eyes narrowed as he stared down at the photo. What the hell was it doing on the very top of the pile? He remembered the night that Jaclyn took that photo. He walked over to her place right after his game and left his uniform on thinking she would like it, and it seemed like she did -- at least at first. She put his jersey on with just the bottom two buttons done and nothing underneath. It was quite the turn on and he took a picture on his phone to remember it.

It was such a turn on that he couldn't help but pose himself on her bed, let her see for herself what she was doing to him. Zipper undone, pants low on his hips, cock framed perfectly.

It was dirty and artistic and he figured it would give her ideas the way her photos gave him ideas. So he actually bought a little photo printer to attach to his phone and printed it for her. Something to always have on hand if she needed a little inspiration.

She wasn't impressed, said they were just fooling around and she didn't want that photo of him. He watched her throw it in the box and that was it.

He tried not to feel bad any time she tossed a concert ticket or some trinket in the box on top of that intimate photo of him.

So how did it end up on the top of the pile?

He took it out and looked at it. Was it wrong for him to think it was a great picture? Maybe he should keep it to look back at when he was old and wrinkled.

Quinn grabbed his beer from the table and took a sip, wondering....

Oh, fuck.

The beer reminded him of Ella. The woman he met when he went to pick up the box. She seemed reluctant to see him leave and he thought it was because he took her beer.

Now he wondered if maybe it was the photo. Did the photo end up on the top of everything else because she had put it there? He could feel his pants tighten at the thought of her being inspired by that photo. At least someone appreciated it, and even better that it was the gorgeous woman with the beer in his ex-girlfriend's apartment.

He needed to get a grip and not on his cock. That's not what happened. It probably just ended up on top by accident or was shaken around when he was walking home with this stupid box that needed to be sorted and trashed.

If he could stay focused, he could get this over with soon. Maybe the reminders of his ex-girlfriend would also ease the raging hard on in his pants.

So he set the photo aside and started pulling other things out. A ticket stub for that band Jaclyn loved. They turned out to be awful live, but she couldn't stop raving about it. The keychain he got her from the Blake Bettinger Keychain Night. Why did she keep a keychain honoring his teammate but couldn't come to Quinn Thatcher Bobblehead Night? Whatever. He was going to hold on to the keychain anyway so he could tease Blake with it some more.

Photos of them that Jaclyn actually liked from that fancy dinner he took her to one night and the time they got drinks at The Monarch Club for their anniversary.

A Polaroid of some guy he had never seen before. Maybe Jaclyn's husband? Another photo of that dumb guy, a picture of leaves changing color in the autumn with a waterfall, Ella skinny dipping in a lake, a picture of --

Wait, what?

Quinn pulled the photo off of the discard pile he had carelessly tossed it on. It was a Polaroid of Ella in what looked like a lake, the sun setting behind her, a wanting look on her face, the water skimming the top of her breasts.

She looked stunning.

There were so many questions he wanted to ask her. Was the dumb guy in the photos her ex? Maybe that's why she had tossed her photos in Quinn's box. And where was it taken? Who took it?

What did she look like under the surface of the water?

Quinn closed his eyes tight and took a deep breath. That hard on he had was raging even more now. He knew that she had seen him naked and that photo of him on the top of the box was because of her. He knew she saw it. He wondered if it had inspired her. If it turned her on in the same way the photo of her was making him so hot right now.

It already seemed that Quinn had an effect on her with his photo. He shouldn't feel guilty about using her photo in the same thing.

Quinn put the beer bottle down and quickly unzipped his pants, freeing his cock from its confines. It felt so good to wrap his hand around it and let himself go with thoughts of her pushing him on. His free hand grabbed Ella's photo from the table and he stared at it as his hand sped up. Her eyes seemed open and enticing, urging him on, wanting to satisfy him.

"You're so fucking gorgeous," he murmured between his clenched teeth.

He closed his eyes while his hand sped up, but he could still see Ella's photo in his mind. He wondered how soft that bit of skin above the water would feel like under his touch, how she would moan as his hand dipped beneath the surface to touch her body under the water.

This wasn't going to take long. Her photo was too beautiful, his cock was too hard, and he just needed a little bit more until he sent himself over the edge of ecstasy at his kitchen table.

Fuck, that felt so good.

Quinn sat there quietly with his heart beating loudly in his ears, his breath only starting to slow down from what he did.

He finally opened his eyes to see his shirt was a mess but at least that looked like all he really had to clean up. He got up and pulled off his shirt, tossing it in the hamper in his bathroom before washing his hands. His reflection in the mirror was a mess. Hair disheveled, pupils still dilated, his belt buckle hanging loose. If this is what Ella did to him with just a photo, what could she do to him in person?

Quinn headed back to the kitchen, the contents of the box still spread out over the table with Ella's photo right on top. He understood now why that photo of him was the first one in the box after it had been in Ella's possession. Tit for tat, although he would've liked a little more of that first one when it came to Ella.

The lid was still on the floor and Quinn picked it up so he could toss some things back in while making sure Ella's picture stayed on top.

He would have to go back to her apartment and see her again so he could return those photos to her. It would be the gentlemanly thing to do even though he had been very ungentlemanly with that Polaroid of her.