The Relationship Pact (Kings of Football, #3)

by Adriana Locke

I stand on one side of the box. Hollis stands on the other. He stands with his legs shoulder-width apart and rubs a hand down his cheek. He never takes his eyes off me. Watching him watch me and knowing that he’s thinking about what he’s going to do to me in a short matter of time has every cell in my body short-circuiting.

“Where did all that mouth of yours go?” he asks, grinning. “Where’s the Larissa who was goading me earlier? Huh?” “She’s trying not to come all over your fingers.” He sucks in a breath. “Fuck.”

“Sit down. All the way back.” I shove his chest until he’s sitting in the spot I just vacated. “Now what?” he asks me. “Enjoy the ride.”

“That’s all I can take,” I whimper, the pinch of pain so delicious that it almost topples me over the edge again. “Just keep doing that,” he says through gritted teeth. “Oh, my god.”

“Hollis!” I shout, unable to contain the rush of pleasure coursing through me. “Don’t stop.” He moves my hips up and down as he continues to milk the end of his climax.

“I did,” he says, still inside me. “You did what?” “I enjoyed the ride.”

He’s a good man. A sexy, good man.

I’m a method to end the madness in her life, a screw in her toolbox, so to speak. That’s it. And that’s fine.

Why in the world would I even entertain the idea of juggling someone like Larissa when I can’t keep myself in the air? I had enough dropped passes this year to prove that.

“Look, maybe this was the universe trying to tell us something. Maybe we … made complete asses out of ourselves on the field so we could look beyond the goalposts.”

“Life isn’t about anything we’ve been working for, man. It’s not about statistics and ratings and scoreboards. Who cares about that shit?” I wince. “Well, you did until your period of enlightenment.”

This is why I called River and not Crew. I needed his raw and unedited truth. But maybe I should’ve called Crew. He would’ve used lube.

“I’m just being a good hostess,” I affirm. “I’m doing the Lord’s work here.”

Give me a smoking-hot man who has raw edges, a kind heart, and a vulnerability that needs protected, and I’m done. I’m such a sucker.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Hollis bites out. “We’re having an adult conversation,” Sebastian says. My mouth hangs open. Sebastian either doesn’t read the room, or he wants to die.

“You know what’s sad?” Hollis says. I look up at him. “No. What?” “Someone is gonna crack that motherfucker one of these days, and it’s probably not going to get to be me.”

“The truth?” he asks. “I can’t be trusted to take care of another human. I’d be afraid to get a fucking dog.” “But you’d want a dog, right?” “I’d love a dog. A black lab, actually. But I’d forget to feed it. I forget to feed myself half of the fucking time.”

“I think you sell yourself short,” I tell him. “Oh, really?” “Really,” I say, smiling at him. I think back to what he’s said about his mom and Philip and Kim. “I think … I think you think that people always give up on you.”

“I think you pick guys that you think won’t work out, so you don’t have to settle down.” “What? You’re crazy,” I say. “You’re wrong. So wrong.”

“Why else would a smart woman like you pick someone like Sebastian? Or me,” he adds. “It doesn’t make sense. The only thing it can be is that you know both of us are fuck-ups. You’ll have an out if you want it. You just have to wait for it.”

“There is one thing you could do to make the sex be number one,” I tell him. “What’s that?” “Show me those abs, baby.”

My eyes widen, and I let them. I don’t even pretend not to be impressed. Downplaying something that was clearly chiseled by an angel seems like a disgrace.

“Can I touch it?” I ask. “Or, better yet, can I lick it?”

I love her bc she doesn’t try to act unaffected and she says what she wants without embarrassment.

“I think you think that no one would ever stick out the hard times with you. That you’d never be the first pick.”

“Can I wear jeans to this thing?” She bursts out laughing. “Clearly, you haven’t seen your ass in jeans, or you wouldn’t be asking me this question.”

My eyes open, and I feel the burst of energy that always comes when I get too comfortable in a situation. I learned in a football lecture once that the shock of energy is my Fight or Flight instinct. It happens when you feel like your life might be in danger.

Of all of the guys in this series, Hollis’ issue and reasoning for it is the easiest to understand and identify with.

I don’t even know if it’s safe to hope. Every time I’ve wished for something, it bit me in the ass. The last time I almost believed that things were going to work out, I watched Philip and Kim’s car pull down the street without me. Maybe this could be different?

We kiss more than we fuck. We touch more than we come. We laugh and tickle and take our time. I’m not sure what to call this, but it isn’t fucking. It isn’t sex. But it is the best. Because it’s with her.

“I like this with you,” he says softly. “Do you think that’s okay?” “I think that’s very okay. That makes me happy.”

He came into my life like a whirlwind and flipped every script I had. When I look into his eyes, I can see … a future. Together. The kind of life that Siggy and Rodney have.

The happiness in his eyes from earlier is gone. It’s replaced with a heavy dose of dark and hard and desolate. I don’t know how he carries all of that around. My heart breaks for the beautiful man in front of me.

Eventually, they’d see me for who I am. A guy with nothing to offer, with no plans or an idea of where to even start. They’d get tired of dealing with me, of having to make excuses for me, and it would hurt a hell of a lot worse for them to walk away from me than for me to do it. I’m saving us all trouble, really. Even if it’s the most painful thing I’ve ever done.

“Do you know how hard it is to know that no one wants you?” I ask her. Her eyes go wide, but she doesn’t say anything. “I’m sure you don’t because you’re a great person. But I’m going to tell you that I’m not like that. I’m not the guy that people keep around. And that’s cool. I’ve accepted it about myself. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt like a motherfucker.”

Omg my heart is shattered for him bc I’ve seen this pain in real life....man this is hard

“I’m like a pet that is left on the side of the road when the family moves, Judy. And that’s fine. But it’s a whole hell of a lot easier to just stay alone than to watch that car drive off.”

“I can’t imagine what it would feel like to watch Riss leave me,” I say, my voice wobbly. “I’m sure I wouldn’t survive it.”

I wanted him to have fun. I’d hoped we could start the year off in an amazing way with karaoke with Coy and the water gun fights that always happen before dawn. He didn’t get to experience all those things, and I think he’d really have liked them.

I love how she just wants him to experience happiness with her. She wants him to see he can have a good life with people that want him.

“I hate to say this,” I tell my best friend. “So don’t let this go to your head, but you’re a genius.” “It’s been said.” “And you’re so humble,” I say. “That’s … never been said.”

“A party you were invited to,” I point out. She scoffs. “I’m sorry I don’t party with Satan.” I burst out laughing as I pull the sweatpants on. “A little dramatic, don’t you think?”

Since I’ve never read anything by this author before I’m not sure what characters have already had books and which ones haven’t, but if she’s planning on doing a series with Larissa’s cousins and that includes Boone as well as playing this whole hate to love thing that will be Bells and Coy.....I’m 100% IN!

“What else do you want?” “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe for you to be the man I know and love.”

“Don’t cry,” he begs. “Why not? Because it makes it harder for you to face reality? That you’re walking away from someone who loves you?” He groans. “I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t want this.” “We don’t ask for a lot of stuff in our lives, Hollis, but we have to deal with it.”

“Watch it, Riss.” “Or what?” I say, my voice rising. “You’ll leave? Because you already are, and if you’re going to leave, then I’m going to make sure you do it and know what you’re leaving behind.”

“Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve wanted some man to love me madly,” I say, my tone softening. “I wanted a safe place to create a little world where I could garden and make dinners and raise kids.”

“I wanted someone to look at me like I was the most important thing in the world to him. That would tell the whole universe that I was his girl,” I say, wiping my cheeks. “That’s all. I didn’t want money or cars or fame. I just wanted to find my best friend and to create a beautiful corner of the world just for us.”

“And I found you,” I say, the words so muffled that I don’t know if he can hear me. “And you don’t want me.”

I cry for me, for him, for a life we could’ve figured out. Together. I’m sure of it. I’m sure we could’ve made something work. It’s too good between us to have failed. Only it did. The realest thing I’ve ever experienced is over.

“Eventually, you’ll realize there are people in the world who love you,” I whisper. “And you pushed them all away. Just remember that I was one of them.”

That man is filled with so much goodness, strength of character, loyalty, and … well, love. I’m so afraid he’ll always be alone because he refuses to see all that. He won’t accept it. It’s not right. It’s so terrible. But there is absolutely nothing I can do.

I roll over onto my side. A spring I can’t escape stabs me in the hip. Even the bed is pissed at me. “I hate you, too,” I tell it.

It’s not my fault things are this way. I’m just really glad I understand the reality of shit so I can act accordingly.

Okay now he’s pissing me off

“Have you learned anything from me?” I don’t know what she means by that question, so I don’t answer her. There are so many directions it could take. “Larissa, darling, listen to me. You have to fight for love. If your heart is hurting, and I know it is, that means something is worth your time to fix it.”