On Friday night, after the game, I walk through the locker rooms and congratulate the team on their win, giving each of them individual feedback on their strengths and weaknesses.

Fin has a weak knee and I tell him to get his ass to physio this week so I don't have to bench him. Judd needs to make his laterals count instead of fucking fumbling the ball.

Mitch— where the fuck is Mitch?

Judd, who is comfortably dressed, kicks his locker shut while he tightens the draw string on his sweats.

"Where's Mitch?" I ask.

Judd gives me a shrug, shaking out his thick blonde hair. "No idea, Coach. Fucked off as soon as we left the field."

Clutching my clipboard tighter, I mutter a curse under my breath because I bet I know where that little dick slinger is. Hiding out with his girlfriend. Fuck, whatever.

Wyatt comes out of the showers with his towel on and brightens when he sees me. "Coach, dad wants me to tee up a meeting soon so we can go over a game plan."

Wyatt has a proactive dad who's had scouts watching him since junior. Last April he, along with a couple of other students were given a tour of Denver's campus and I had calls all through January doing the basic check in's, asking me for honest opinions on their top choices for a scholarship. A lot of the team have choices coming to them, some don't.

Mitch is one of our most sought after team members, Wyatt a close second. It's getting into the final weeks of the season and I know the team are feeling the pressure to perform their best.

"Send me an email, Wy," I scrawl a note down on my clipboard to remind myself to keep an afternoon clear next week. "We'll catch up. Great game tonight, fucking beautiful wide."

"Thanks, Coach!"

Slipping out into the office, I check my phone, walking head down. There's a text from Gabrielle letting me know that Lydia is doing well and the pain relief is working. That's a relief. To be honest, I can't wait to get home and see them both.

Working has seemed easier in the past, before I had other commitments. Now, I'm dealing with a team, the full time work it takes to get the them prepared for college, meetings, phone calls with scouts. And now, coming home to Gabrielle and Lydia, who I want to spend time with, rather than continuing admin on my computer.

I'm cramming to get all of that shit done before I get home and it's harder than I expected. Kudos to working parents.

I'm heading to my office when I hear some raised voices from down the hall. Slipping my clipboard onto the hook beside my office door, I do a slow walk toward the gym, listening out to whether I have students who need to be split up or not.

It wouldn't be the first time there's been a lame brawl on the school grounds after a game. The adrenaline gets some of these dickheads fired up in the worst way.

It should be quiet in the gym, it's not in use this late and the team has locker rooms that are separate from the general change rooms the rest of the school uses during class. I quietly push through the swing doors, out into the foyer where the voices become clear.

Mitch is one of the students around the corner, that much I'm sure of.

It's the older voice going off at him that I don't recognise.

". . . warning. I'm not sure how many fucking more times it has to be said you little prick. Leave her alone."

What the fuck?

There's a sobbing girl's voice next, a plead. "Dad, leave him, please. He's—"

"I haven't fucking done anything wrong," Mitch snaps, his voice tight and even though he stands his ground, there's a hint of fear.

"You were told to stop sneaking around with her," the older man seethes, a thud, like someone hitting the wall sounds out. "I know you're sleeping with my daughter and I told you I'd wreck your chances of college football if I caught you near her again. Didn't I? You want those fucking knee caps blown out?"

"Get fucked," Mitch spits, Kira sounds distressed, whimpering, begging them to stop. "She can be with whoever she wants. You can't do shit to me."

Kira lets out a loud garbled sob at the sound of thudding and I finally decide that's enough. Rounding the corner, I find this asshole with Mitch pinned against the white brick wall, his arm across his throat.

He doesn't even see me before I'm grabbing him by the throat and shoving him against the wall. He might be big enough to intimidate a teenager but he can't fight me off.

"You fucking threatening a teenager?" I ask, squeezing tighter when he tries to move my hand off his throat.

He's older, balding and he's wearing a dark green scarf that I think about strangling him with.

"Listen here, you pompous fuck," I lean in close. "You threaten one of my students, put hands on him, he's not going to deal with it on his own, I am. And I'll do horrendous violent things to ensure my students are safe."

When he pushes against me again, I let go and step back, still lingering close enough that I could drop him if he came at Mitch. He clutches his throat, breathing hard.

"He is sleeping with my daughter. I'm protecting her."

I look at Kira, Mitch keeping her tucked into him. "You being taken advantage of?"

Her wet lashes flutter as she blinks and shakes her head, not looking at her father. I remember catching them in the office not long ago and now it makes sense that these two are getting their kicks at school, perhaps it's too fucking unsafe to do it elsewhere.

"This sex consensual?" I point between them and she nods, her fingers tightening on his grass stained jersey. "You're seventeen, right?"

She nods again and I turn back to her dad, throwing my arms wide. "It's all above board, asshole. You can disapprove of your daughter's behaviour all you want but she's a legal, consenting individual who can be with whoever she wants. You have no fucking right to get violent or threaten a student over it."

It looks could kill, I'd be six feet under. Stepping closer, I straighten his scarf, smiling at the complete and utter rage rolling off him. He could swing, I know he wants to. I'm confident enough to know he'd be on the ground in less than two seconds if he did.

"Come here again, threaten him again, I'll hang you with this scarf. Got it, motherfucker?"

He attempts to knock me back as he storms past but all he does is grunt at the impact of hitting me with his shoulder. He doesn't even acknowledge the daughter he was protecting as he storms out into the dark, cold night. Parents are so fucking unhinged sometimes.

Bringing my attention to Mitch and Kira, who are snuggled together, I level them with a flat stare and sigh.

"Thanks, coach. I—"

"Shut up," I turn around, opting to leave because I almost beat the fucking piss out of someone and I'm a little amped up.

Swinging the door open, I hold it and look at Kira. "You gonna be safe going home tonight?"

Mitch straightens, his shoulders lifting. "She's not going home tonight."

I pinch the bridge of my nose and sigh. "Whatever. Just be careful, for fucks sakes."

I'm not paid enough for this shit.

                       Two weeks later, Lydia is brand new. Her hands blistered, healed and the scarring is improving with the help of vitamin A ointment. Gabrielle bathes her in it twice a day, but she's confident it'll fade to nothing soon enough.

We're still sharing a bed at night, separating in the morning and Gabrielle is tutoring three different students, cleaning and filling out college applications when she gets into bed at night.

She doesn't want to go out of town, or to a college that'll cost her a fortune in student loans. So she's doing an online course in English, Creative writing and Literature at the Arapahoe community college here in Castle Rock. A new semester starts in August. She has time to get her applications in before the cut off date.

On Friday night, I walk into her bedroom to find her cross legged on her bed, laptop open, glasses sitting on her beautiful nose. Her face is set in a serious expression while she reads.

"I'm about to head out," I tell her, hoping she'll change her mind and let me hang around.

Her head snaps up and she smiles. No, fuck, not that smile. Now I really don't want to go.

"Have fun," she slips her glasses on to her head, pushing her curls back to reveal the sharp angles of her face.

"Please don't make me go."

"Nathan," she pushes her laptop off her lap and another wave of anguish crashes over me because her legs are bare and I want to spend the night between them. "Your friends miss you. You have to go and have a night out with the boys. You'll come home and I'll be waiting."

"I'll be back in half an hour."

"No."

I groan, tipping my head back.

"Eleven at the earliest."

I recoil, staring at her like she's lost her fucking mind. "Eleven? Fuck no. That's outrageous. I'm an old man. I'll be back at nine."

"Ten thirty."

"Deal."

She laughs and stands up off the bed, sauntering toward me like a seductress. But she's not even trying. It's effortless, her prowess, the things she makes me feel.

Wrapping a hand around her waist, I draw her in. "Move in with me?"

She tilts her head. "As opposed to—"

"I want you in my bed in our bedroom."

Her fingers do a little walk up my chest and she tiptoes to kiss me. "That requires us to have the talk with Lydia."

"I'm ready when you are."

"Tomorrow."

I kiss her again, deepening it, sliding my tongue inside of her mouth and giving her a rough tug into my chest, reminding her that if I don't leave we can have a much better night together.

I used to imagine it would be impossible to find a woman that would force me out to the bar, but here she is, telling me that I've been a neglectful friend ever since we started hooking up. It's not my fault I can't get enough.

"Go," she pushes me, forcing me to step back.

As she does a slow walk backwards to her bed, she lifts her shirt up, higher, higher until the underside of her breast is peeping out from the fabric. "I'll be here waiting."

Fuck me, the sooner I get this shit over with, the better.

                 "Wait, wait," Luke shouts over the bar music, his hand clutching a beer as he leans over the table toward me. "The girl who was with Hols a couple of weeks ago, the one I gave a ride back to your place, she's the one keeping you out of the bar?"

I drain the rest of my cup and stare into the bottom of it. I've made one drink last two hours and it tastes warm and fucking gross but I'm not going home with limp dick because I had too much to drink. Cain and Matt sit on either side of me, all on their third or fourth drink.

"That's her," I confirm, looking up and meeting his face with a shit eating grin. "Gorgeous, right?"

Luke quirks his brows up, shrugging. "I mean, sure. But, I'm just confused. You're in a committed. . . relationship. You?"

"Well fuck, Luke. Don't sound so surprised. It wouldn't be the first time I've had a girlfriend."

Cain chuckles, patting me on the shoulder. "Would be the first time a girlfriend has kept you home though."

I sit back in the booth, rubbing a hand across my jaw. "She doesn't keep me home. That's where I want to be. Nothing else seems as good if I'm being honest. No offence fuckers."

Matt clinks the neck of his bottle on my empty glass. "I for one, think it's great. Hols loves her, thinks she's perfect. Her daughter is super cute—"

Luke practically flings himself across the table. "She has a daughter?! You're a step dad?"

"Shit, how long has it been since we've seen each other?" I laugh. "I'm surprised one of these two didn't spill the beans. Yeah, uh, Lydia. Gab's daughter. She's fucking cool, man. Cute. Real smart and funny. You spar with this kid and she's going to win. Hands down."

Luke blows out a breath, some girl walks past our booth and bumps the table with her hip, slurring apologies. She looks back at me, doing a slow once over.

Not a thing, not one ounce of interest. Not that I'm surprised. I'm not incapable of being faithful. I'm just used to being a dick brain.

Cain pushes his glasses further up his nose and opens his palms face up on the table, as if he's getting into debate mode. "I think this is what you've been missing, Nathan. The right woman to come along and make you feel safe enough to settle down. It's about time."

She is the right woman. I twist a ring around on my finger and think about how she'd told me she loves these rings when I wore them for the first time in a long time a couple of weeks ago.

I can't wait to go home and watch this ring meet her folds while I bury my fingers inside of her.

"I have to go," I bite the inside of my cheek, warring with a hard on begging to appear. I'd rather it didn't right before I stand up. "There's a drop dead gorgeous woman waiting for me at home."

Matt clacks his tongue, disapproval in his subtle head shake. "You were told to hang around until ten thirty, Nathan."

The big clock shaped as a beer cap on the wall above the stage alerts me to the fact that I have another hour. Fuck that.

"Eat shit, Matt. I'm out of here. I have legs to bury my face between."

Cain sighs. "Come on, man."

I slide out of the booth and drop a few twenties onto the table. "Next round on me."

Their protests come across the crowded room as I move through the people toward the door. Throwing up a hand, I wave peace and don't bother looking back. As soon as I'm out in the parking lot, my phone chimes and I slide it out of my back pocket, along with my keys and see a text from Gabrielle.

Nathan, we had a deal. Go back inside.

"What the fuck," I look around, wondering if she can see me, but then I remember she's all buddie bud with Matt and Hols.

That son of a bitch.

Suppose I didn't ask much about them. What's new? How's work? I spent most of the time talking about the love of my life.

With a disgruntled sigh that has white cold air billowing into the dark night, I turn around and go back inside. Matt grins with triumph as I storm back toward the table. Mother fucker's.

                                 The lights in the house are all off when I get home, Gabrielle is probably asleep with a book in her hand. Or her phone. It happens once in a while. She gets into bed with me, snuggles up and starts reading. The next thing I know, her phone is sliding out of her hand and her lips are parted on sleepy breathing. 

I lock the front door behind me, shrug out of my coat and shoes and see a dim light glowing from under my bedroom door in the dark hall. 

Gabrielle is sitting on the bed in a lilac purple set of lingerie, a couple of candles are lit on the dresser and her hair cascades down her shoulders in soft waves. I kick the door shut behind me and stare at her, speechless. The bra is lace, a little butterfly dangling from the middle of the underwire. Her nipples are visible through the fabric. The strap of her thong sits on her hips, her long legs smooth and silk like. I palm my jaw and grasp for the right words to compliment this woman. 

How she's sitting there, looking like that, for me, I don't know. 

She stands up and smiles, doing a slow spin. My dick aches just looking at her. When she faces me again, she raises a brow.

"What do--"

Before she can finish that sentence, I close the distance between us and cup her jaw, giving her a long hard kiss. When I lean back and see her on her tiptoes, I groan. There's something so damn adorable about her desire to get as close as possible. 

"Don't ask me what I think," I caress her jaw. "You should never have to ask me that. You look. . . fucking sensational. This for me?"

She tilts her head, smiling up at me as her hands go into my hair. "I want to be worth coming home to."

My heart lurches. "You are always worth coming home to. No matter what you're wearing, baby."

She ducks her head, fiddling with the small buttons on my henley neckline. I put a finger under her chin and tip her head back up.  

"You could've been fast asleep with a book in your hand and I still would've been over the moon to be climbing in beside you."

She tightens her hold on me and kisses me again, this time it heats up fast. Our tongues clash and our breathing deepens and my hands roam her hips and the outer edges of her ribs. My thumbs glide across her nipples and she moans into my mouth. 

"I had an idea," she murmurs against my mouth as I walk her backwards toward the bed. "I have a little bullet vibrator you gave me."

We part and I tear my shirt over my head, discarding it while I watch her and wait for this idea. I like the sound of it. 

"You said you know how to use one."

"Oh, I'm familiar."

She bites down on her lip. "Show me."

"Whatever you want," I grip the back of her thighs, lift her and collapse onto the bed. 

My dick is hard behind my zipper and I grind down onto her center. My arms on either side of her head keep my weight off and she wraps her arms around me, scratching my back as I press down on her pussy. Her soft little gasps and mewls have me on the edge of becoming animal. I watch her face as I grind, those soft lips parting on euphoria. I love her face. I love looking at her. 

Tugging her bra strap down, I uncover her breast and lower my head, flicking my tongue across her nipple. Her legs tighten around me, her fingers getting more frantic as she spurs me on with little pleads. 

"Fuck, yes, keep doing that," she begs, her breathless voice barely a whisper. "I'm so close."

I go for a moment longer, thrusting my rock hard cock against her while I suck on her nipple and then when she sounds like she's about to let go, I stop, sitting up. She cries out and watches me reaching for her side table. 

"Nathan," she pants as I move a few bits and pieces aside until I find the little bullet in a small velvet bag. 

"I've got you, baby," I can't help but grin at how disheveled she looks, her hair in a mess around her head, her chest rising and falling on harsh breaths. She's so beautiful and I will get her there. 

Eventually. 

My dick is getting painful being zipped up, so I pop the button on my pants, undo the zipper and sigh at the pressure being relieved. Gabrielle leans up on her elbows and watches me, sucking her bottom lip in. I straddle her legs, kneeling to keep my weight off. Leaving her underwear on, I shift them to the side and switch the bullet on. 

"These panties are too beautiful to throw aside," I tell her,  swiping the bullet through her wet heat before moving it up onto her clit. She collapses onto her back and convulses. Yeah, I knew this would be fun. She tries to close her legs so I lower a little bit, adding enough weight that she can't bring them together. 

I watch her respond as I move the bullet ever so slightly. A little up, a little down. 

"How does that feel, baby? You wanna come?"

In the right spot, she practically levitates off the bed and slaps a hand across her mouth to keep from screaming. 

"There it is," I reach into my boxer briefs and palm my cock, stroking it, so fucking hard at the sight of her falling apart. She looks down, her entire frame writhing. She sees me fucking my hand and moans a little too loud. 

"Keep it down, baby," I whisper laugh at her reaction. "You close?"

She nods, clamping her hand even harder across her mouth and then I take the bullet off her clit. She sits up so fast I wonder if she got head rush. A sheen of sweat coats her forehead. 

"What the fu--" 

I put a hand on her chest and push her back down onto the bed before sliding down between her legs and licking the outside of her wet panties. She's soaking and I'm having a damn good time getting her to the edge. When she does come, she's going to fucking explode. Her legs come up and I push the inside of her thighs, spreading them. 

After a few moments of keeping the area stimulated, I straddle her again, putting the bullet into her underwear. Instead of turning it on, I reach into my boxer shorts again and start palming myself while she watches. She looks starved and I spot her hand coasting down to her underwear line. 

"Uh, uh," I grin. "Don't touch."

"Nathan," she whines, her voice ragged and spent. 

My thumb swipes the tip of my cock, collecting a bead of pre cum. Leaning over, I bring it to Gabrielle's lips and she parts them, sucking my thumb into her mouth. Her cheeks hollow out and I almost give up this game right then and there. All I want to do is bury myself in her and fuck her senseless. 

Her lips pop when I take my thumb out and go back for the bullet, shoving her underwear aside, I start up again, finding her sweet spot even faster. It's no wonder when she's so wet and an orgasm is practically rippling under her skin. She doesn't tell me when she's close this time, she's realized what I'm doing and as hard as she tries to hide it, I know her too well. I know how her breathing kicks up into a pattern of chaos, how her finger tips turn white gripping the bed sheets, how her torso tenses up. 

I pull the bullet back again and she cries out. 

"I imagine this is a little how it felt when I was trying to leave the pub earlier and got told to turn around and go back inside."

Her eyes fly open and I've never seen her look so close to rage. "What?!"

I put the bullet back and her shoulders roll forward on a shudder. "If I say I want to be at home with you, baby," I find her spot and smile, watching her moaning pants get stronger. "I mean it. Now, come for me."

I see her through, not taking the bullet off as she reaches her climax. She grabs a pillow and throws it across her face, screaming into it. It was fucking worth it and I know she thinks so too. She doesn't get a chance to breathe before I get my pants off, shove her underwear down her legs and slide inside of her. Throwing the pillow off, I kiss her mouth and slam into her, over and over, harder and harder. She bites my shoulder and I slap her thigh, pulling it up and around my waist as I drive into her like a fucking mad man. 

We fuck like rutting animals, her nails could be drawing blood on my back for all I know, I don't care. I love it. I come, spilling inside of her and our movements start to slow, both of us breathing hard and fast. We look at each other and smile. Tired, spent smiles. 

I kiss her throat. "I love you, baby."

"I love you too."