“Chelsea, let me go. Someone’s knocking.” I clicked off and hurried to the door.
Carter leaned on the door jamb with a sly grin. “So, this is what you look like at night?” His dark eyes traveled my barely clad body. The Pink pajama set he bought didn’t leave much to the imagination—thin straps and soft material that hugged my breasts. The shorts left some of my ass cheeks out. “Hmmm...maybe I can reconsider you leaving old dude and moving in with me if I get this vision every night.”
I felt this stupid, cheesy grin on my face, and I didn’t care. Being in Carter’s presence made me smile. He gave me good vibes. “I didn’t think you would actually see me in this.”
“Not even this weekend?” He lowered his head to kiss me slowly, our tongues mixing before he pulled away. “Then again, I want you naked. Don’t bring anything to sleep in.”
I tugged on his goatee. “Surprised you didn’t request no clothes the entire weekend.”
“Well, if you want to go nude when I take you out Saturday night, go for it.”
My birthday. This weekend couldn’t get better. I smiled up at Carter. “Where are we going?”
He kissed me again before moving me backward and closing the door. “A surprise.”
I put my hands on his chest before he kissed me again. “Nope. Not having sex with you when your mother and brother are in the same house. I can tell your Mama doesn’t like me. I don’t need her to add disrespectful heifer to her list with my name on it.”
“’ Disrespectful heifer?’ Sounds like Mama.” He chuckled before moving my hands. “I’m not trying to have sex for the same reason. She purposely put you in the room next to hers. I’m only here now because she’s on a business call, and my brother is in the pool. Wanted to hang.”
I pulled the blanket over my thighs after we climbed into bed with our backs against the headboard. “I really think I should catch an Uber to campus tomorrow morning, so you don’t have to get up early to take me.”
“Why do you keep insisting on taking an Uber? Are you trying to get back to him?” A hint of anger tinged his voice.
“No. I appreciate you being there for me. Now it’s time for me to deal with whatever I need to deal with. Your family came to see you, and I don’t want to intrude anymore. It makes no senseto leave here when you don’t have classes tomorrow.” I leaned my head on his shoulder. “Besides, you’re avoiding something.”
“Yeah.” He grew pensive and sighed.
“You can tell me it’s none of my business, and I swear I won’t get offended.”
Carter nodded.
“Why do they call you Stank?”
He burst into laughter, and his eyes crinkled, and I remembered the first time I saw him smile in class while he did a presentation. My breath caught in my throat because I’d never seen him smile. He usually appeared serious, mysterious, actually. Now that I’m up close and personal, I only wanted him more. Friday couldn’t come fast enough.
“Darren, you’re kicks, you know that?”
“I try...seriously, why is that your nickname? It doesn’t fit.” And it didn’t. He always smelled sexy. Fresh. Clean. Even sweaty, he didn’t appear to have an offensive odor.
Carter rested his head on mine. “If I ever hear this outside of this room, we are forever enemies.”
I pretended to zip my mouth.
“When I was a baby, my shit was so foul that family and friends didn’t like keeping me. My mother breastfed, and something in her diet messed with me. I used to be called ‘Lil Stanka”, then I graduated to Stank in high school.”
“Okay, this weekend...make sure when you need to really use it, go to the lobby,” I teased.
“Un...huh. You take me as I am. The good and the funky.” He chuckled, and again, I was surprised by our ease with each other.
Much like he did on the beach, he started confiding in me, “Told my brother the other day that I didn’t want to play football anymore. He got worried and told my mother. They’re here to talk sense into me.”
“Why don’t you want to play? Thought NFL was the dream?”
“Been playing since I was six. Being talented so young, all anyone cared about was me playing football. I was in the community league and then school. Always the star player. All eyes were on me, and I hated it. Still hate that I’m the spokesperson for the team, even though I’m the captain. Practice. Rest. School. More practice. My life since I was a kid. I never brought a girl home because I never had time to develop a relationship. I’m mad digging on you, and we haven’t seen each other in three weeks. I can’t tell you the last time I spent time with anyone outside of my teammates, and my life will only get crazier if I stay in football. I want normal. I want to attend class, finish my degree, get a job, and have a family one day. Give my children and their mother something I never had. A father and a husband. My mother probably blames you.” He snickered, “Okay, she does blame you. Think I’m whipped or something.”
“Great. I’m not even girlfriend status, and she hates me.”
He raised his head to look at me. “She doesn’t hate you. She’s convinced you’re the reason I don’t want to play. She doesn’t get that I’m tired as fuck, and that has nothing to do with you. We had words, though it wasn’t as ugly as we’ve been in the past. She and I are alike, and we butt heads. They’re probably talking about me now. I don’t blame them. The three of us have talked about me going pro for so long, and for me to tell them I no longer want the dream we all shared is devastating.”
