Off the Field: Bad Boy Sports Romance by Heidi Hunter, Bad Boy Team Page A

him being my stepbrother, I would have made him mine as soon as he turned eighteen years old.
    At twenty-one, he had his life in front of him, while at twenty-five, I was an old maid – at least in my mind. Ever since he went away to college, we hadn’t spent much time together. And the more we were apart, the more I desired to be around him. If anyone could break my bad boy habit, it was him. The only problem was he didn’t feel the same way about me.
    While I sat and thought, a phone rang. It wasn’t mine either. I stood up and looked on the floor where Mack had been pacing. His cell flashed a green light in the corner and rang again. I stepped over the coffee table and scooped it up. The number on the display wasn’t one I recognized, which made me even more curious. I answered.
    “Hello? Who is this?” I asked.
    “Who the fuck is this?” a female yelled. “Where the fuck is Mack?”
    “This is his fucking fiancé, bitch. Why you calling his number?”
    “He left something here last night and he needs to come and pick it up.”
    Is this who he was with last night? I wondered.
    “You still there? Put him on the phone,” she demanded.
    “Fuck you, slut.”
    I disconnected the call. After staring at it in anger for a moment, I threw it against the wall.
    “Mother fucker,” I muttered under my breath.
    Even though I was pretty sure he cheated on me, I finally had proof. It didn’t make me as happy as I’d imagined. As my anger subsided slightly, I came up with an action plan. Knowing he could be home at any time, I rushed upstairs and got my suitcase out of the back of the closet. My mind wandered in a million different directions at once. I couldn’t concentrate on any single thought.
    “Fuck!” I screamed in the empty house.
    I took a deep breath. Get some clothes. Just get away. When Mack saw I’d broke his phone, he would go ballistic on me. While he’d never hit me yet, he’d come close on a few different occasions, including earlier in the day. Just get away… I told myself as I packed a few changes of clothes into the battered suitcase. Before it was full all the way, I headed to the shoebox in the closet.
    When I found the stash of cash a week earlier, I wasn’t sure what to think. Gradually, everything clicked in my mind. He was a pretty big time dealer. I should’ve known better, but I was so fucked up on drugs most of the time, I didn’t pay attention to the small details. Once he realized I had the money, he would be pissed, but he owed me for everything he’d put me through. I packed it under my clothes.
    If he apologized to me nicely, I planned on giving the ten grand back to him. My first thought was to head to the parents and hide out for a while. The downside was that they’d undoubtedly ask me questions. And when I didn’t answer, they would lecture me like I was a teenager not a twenty-five year old woman. I carried the suitcase downstairs and out to my car.
    A neighbor stared at me as I put it in the back of the car. He continued staring as I got in the driver’s seat. I started the car. The only person I could count on was Cory, my stepbrother. All my so-called friends were people I’d met through Mack. None of them were the type of people to give a fuck about anyone other than themselves.
    All I wanted was to hide out for a while without having to worry about Mack getting upset over his phone or the fact I was leaving him because he cheated on me or that I’d taken the ten grand he had stashed in our shared apartment. Taking the illicit drug money was probably a bad idea, but at that point, I wasn’t thinking clearly anymore.
     

 
     
     
     
     
    Cory
     
     
    After two straight days of studying, I needed a break. Going out to a bar or house party to find someone willing to fuck me would take too long. Like most men, I turned to my old standby. On the screen in front of me, a scantily clad woman slowly seduced a guy out of his clothes. I preferred the type of porn