I knew people liked to talk about how there were a million fish in the sea and to lose one was merely the opportunity to catch the other million or so, but that missed a fundamental irony to being famous: access to low hanging fruit was so easy, but access to the highest, ripest, best fruit seemed to move further and further away from me. Privacy, anonymity, and all of that were mere fixtures of the past, or perhaps something I’d never even had with my last name.
And even if that weren’t the case, Izzy had just sparked something deep within me that was hard to describe. I didn’t necessarily believe in the concept of soul mates, but Izzy certainly made my soul soar like no other girl had since…I didn’t know, high school maybe?
“I got one question.”
Somehow, in all of the chaos above, someone shouted loud enough that I could hear them through the floor.
“Where the fuck is Nick Ferrari?”
I couldn’t hear the ensuing responses, but I knew it was now only a matter of time. And sure enough, just a couple minutes later, I heard a knock on my door. I shuffled to the door, took a breath, and opened it to see Marcus with two very curvy women hanging off of him, both of them wearing seductive grins.
“I know you aren’t going to be a pussy and stay in all night,” he said, his speech slightly slurred. “You ain’t married yet; you ain’t got no kids. There’s a reason all the single boys got their own hotel, and it’s not so we can stay in and read some fucking scouting reports.”
I didn’t even try to make up an excuse.
“I’ll be there in five,” I said.
“Good man,” Marcus said. “But just to be safe, man, I’m gonna leave you with some company. Reanna?”
One of the girls slid off of Marcus and walked up to me, shamelessly entering my room and taking a seat. She had on a red cocktail dress that revealed all but her naked body. I was pretty sure that I recognized her from years prior, but I wasn’t sure if I’d ever slept with her. It wasn’t to sound arrogant, just a reality that being an athlete gave you; like I said, low-hanging fruit that was more like ground-level fruit.
“See ya up there, boss,” he said. “Soon, but hopefully not too soon.”
He cackled to himself as he left, letting the door’s weight bring it shut and giving me some privacy.
Unfortunately, with another woman in there.
And damnit, as bad as it was to admit this, Izzy’s lack of communication and the doubts in my mind about whether this was legitimate or not were causing me some problems.
“Not too soon, he said,” Reanna said, crossing her legs and revealing some smooth, well-defined thighs. “You know that means there’s no rush, right?”
Goddamnit, every part of my body wanted this woman. I had held myself back from having sex out of a feeling of wanting not to sleep around while I was trying to pursue Izzy, but if that was a one-way chase…I hadn’t had sex in nearly a month and a half, which was the longest I’d gone since I graduated high school. College was college, and the pros were the pros; it took more of an effort not to get laid than it did to do so.
And now, I was fighting the very thing that I’d done so often.
“I know,” I said. “But that’s my brother up there, and I don’t want to keep him waiting.”
“Really?” Reanna said, tugging at her hair and her dress. The longer you stay in here, the more likely you are to make a dumb decision. “I think if he’s your brother, he’d understand if you were just a little late. Say, twenty or thirty minutes late.”
She uncrossed her legs, and the flash was long enough to show that she had no underwear on. Reanna had never come to make small talk, but the audacity was a little ridiculous. Thankfully, in a weird way, it was making me less attracted—something this easy wasn’t going to be as fun as someone who at least pretended to make it a little challenging.
But biology and sex drive didn’t care about ease. They just cared about release. I had to turn away from looking at her, ostentatiously so I could get myself a bottle of water.
And then, I heard her get up. I heard her walk over to me. And then I felt her curves press up against my body and reach around my stomach. She didn’t touch my crotch, but she made it very clear with how close her fingers came that she wasn’t touching me to let me go.
“You make this so hard, Nick Ferrari,” she said. “But that’s OK. I want it as hard as possible. I want it so hard.”
Jesus Christ. I whirled around and came face to face with a girl whose lips were inches from mine. Her hips pressed against my stiffening cock. I was at the ultimate make or break point.
I could have fucked her right there. Izzy seemed to be passively stating she wanted nothing with me, and even if she did want something with me but was just having a rough time, there was nothing wrong with me fucking Reanna, right? It wasn’t like Izzy and I had become committed partners. We were single, and single male athletes had opportunities others did not.
But…
“I’m sorry,” I said. “Let’s just go upstairs to the party.”
“Oh, baby, the party’s right here.”
I just pushed—gently—Reanna aside, grabbed my wallet and phone, and left her in the dust. If I hadn’t been so bold—perhaps so rude, better said—I wasn’t sure that I could have lasted much longer.
