Page 8

Seven

DIMITRI

“ W hat’s up your ass?” I ask Knox.

“Don’t start with me right now,” he warns, his temper peeking through the cracks.

He has had an uncontrollable temper since we were in high school. It eased up a bit in college, but when he’s pissed, he’s pissed and he has to take it out on something. I point at the leg press, and he walks over obediently .

Knox just needs to burn it off. Throwing punches works better for him, but we don’t have a punching bag here, so we’ll have to wait until we’re set free and he can go to the boxing gym in town.

Jaxon’s eyes flick to the side door, and I follow his gaze as Hope walks in.

Her raven hair is barely tamed in a ponytail today.

Her eyes are nervous, her cheeks and nose red like she’s been crying.

It’s the same version of her I remember from college.

She rubs her shoulders, then one of the guys walks to her and she switches it off, or as much as she can.

She smiles, her deep blue eyes sparkling as she tries to make herself okay. She’s still a hot little thing. Not exactly petite anymore. She’s filled out some, and her curves are so much better than they used to be. Has it really been seven years?

I rub my jaw, and Jaxon exhales slowly. “Something’s different.”

“Years of difference, but she’s still ours,” I grumble. “No way she’s forgotten us.”

Jax doesn’t say anything to that. He focuses on working his legs out. Since he and Knox have been called for their evaluation and physical, I know I’m next.

After a few minutes, she calls my name, her eyes focused on me. There’s no fear like in the elevator. Her chin is high, her ponytail straight behind her neck, her Polo and khakis too loose for my liking. She has nice legs and a good body. She should show them off.

I saunter into the office and watch as she shuts the door .

She looks at her checklist. Is our little slut no longer looking for attention? When we found out what she was doing with her dad on a regular basis, saw that she never said no, that she let him flaunt it, video it, show us, we were more than happy to show her what we were capable of.

I think she needs a reminder. It’s been seven years and I don’t care how many relationships she’s been in. She doesn’t get to forget the night we made her ours.

“We need to do a physical. That means running some tests, having you complete a drug test, taking some blood, and—”

“If you want me naked, you know how to make that happen, don’t you? You still remember. Lie down on that table and convince me to listen to your recommendations,” I goad.

She doesn’t look up from her clipboard. “If you want to play, you’ll allow me to go through the checklist.”

“Maybe if you purr for me or scream my name, I’ll be more incentivized,” I say darkly.

I could tell her I know she lives on the fourth floor because she was too ridiculous and hasty thinking I wouldn’t watch where she went once I was out of the elevator. There’s plenty I could do or say to get her into the headspace I want, but she just looks tired.

Why is she tired? When we got here yesterday and I spied her from across the room, she looked happy to be working. Even this morning, she took her time talking with Jared. She smiled for him, teased him, gave him plenty of attention.

“The whole team is excited for you to join, Dimitri. Do it for them,” she whispers .

There’s a bit of pleading in her tone. My whole body reacts to her. I lick over my bottom lip and nod. She takes my vitals, but her light touch, not nervous but not exactly confident, makes me hard.

It’s almost pathetic. I’ve been with plenty of girls. Girls who know what they offer, are willing to do whatever I say without question, but Hope… there’s something about her that works me up even as she presses a stethoscope to my chest. I sit up taller and keep my eyes on her.

Her eyelashes are a little wet. Interesting.

Once she pulls out the stuff to do the stress test, I toss my shirt to the side. She doesn’t stare, just presses nodes against my skin.

“Are you dating someone?” I ask.

She looks up at me, her brows tugging together. “Why?”

“Because you look like you just got broken up with,” I counter.

She shakes her head. I don’t know what she’s saying no to, but I lift her chin as she places an electrode low on my belly. “If you want to touch lower, you know how to make that happen, don’t you? You can get on your knees and choke on my cock.”

She slaps my hand away, her blue eyes darkening in warning. “This is for a stress test—for you, specifically. It’s not to see how much trauma I can handle in one day.”

“Say whatever you want, sweet cheeks. You can pretend you don’t like me, but I bet you can’t stop thinking about that night we had together,” I purr.

She says nothing, only sighs and motions to the treadmill .

Hope used to have more bite to her, but I don’t overthink it. She’s a perfect little toy, and that’s all. She belongs to me, to Jax, and to Knox. We’re not going to let her forget it, not after working so hard to get to her.

She belongs to us and seven years, ten years, twenty aren’t enough to change that. Even if she were dating someone, we’d fix that quickly.

I complete the stress test, pee in a cup again , then give blood. I stand in front of Hope, and she motions to my pants. “Down to your boxers, please.”

“Say please like you mean it,” I tease.

Her eyes flick to mine. “Dimitri, please, just…”

I smirk and drop my pants. I’m not wearing boxers. Her face heats as she quickly glances away. “Any injuries?”

“None that haven’t healed well,” I comment. “None that are recent.”

She circles around me. Her hand strokes over a scar on my shoulder. I look back at her as my dick hardens again. “From a fight, unrelated to football.”

“If you get injured off the field, we’ll have a problem,” she murmurs.

“You’ll get so turned on that you soak through your panties?” I tease, and her eyes meet mine. “I remember how much you like fighting.”

She shakes her head but touches my chest. I catch her hand and slowly have her stroke over my chest, my abs, and hold her hand just above my hard cock. She doesn’t flinch, doesn’t do anything other than stare at my neck. “Another fight? ”

“Yes,” I breathe.

“You can get—” she starts, and my hand tightens on her.

“If I reached into your too-loose pants right now, would I find you slick for me? Would your pussy feel just as tight as it did last time?” I ask.

She rips her hand away and turns around. “You can get dressed.”

“We both know that’s not what you want,” I say as I walk up to her, pulling her hips back so she can feel how hard I am just looking at her. She squirms, trying to pull herself away, but I whisper in her ear. “How much does your pussy ache for me?”

“You should wear boxers when it comes to working out. Someone will see up your shorts,” she whispers. “I have to turn in the results so you get approval.”

“Ask permission,” I say against her ear. She still smells just as good. Her perfume is light, fruity, but clean. How can just her perfume make my mouth water like this?

“Let me go, Dimitri. We’re at work. I don’t want to call H.R. or talk to Coach,” she whispers without an ounce of grit to it.

Jaxon is right. She has changed. She doesn’t yell, doesn’t whine. She’s so… apathetic, almost. She wasn’t yesterday. She was skittish and nervous. She was like a scared little rabbit. The power I felt was insane.

“You won’t as long as you stay quiet like a good girl, and I know the best way to ensure that,” I say as my fingers skim over her stomach and curl inside her pants. “All we need is Jax or Knox joining us. ”

Her body stiffens in my grasp, and my hand only lowers until it curves around her mound and I can press my fingers against her entrance.

A smug smile tugs on my lips as the tremble in her body isn’t fully one of fear, but one of anticipation, need.

“Well, well, look at that,” I taunt. “Is that all for me?”

She turns from my grip and leans on the counter, quickly putting her sneaker against my chest. “This is a professional space. You worked hard to join the NFL. You are a professional, Dimitri. Let’s keep it that way so we don’t have problems, okay?”

My hand grips her ankle tightly and I shove her leg down to my hip, forcing myself between her legs until my cock nudges against her.

“I’ll be professional here. The apartment is another thing entirely.”

“Dimitri,” she warns.

“Floor four, right? Ten or twelve apartments per floor… I’m sure I can narrow it down if I sweet talk those in the office just right,” I taunt. “No reason to be professional where we live.”

Her face flushes and her lips turn down. I keep waiting for her to flinch away, but she grabs my wrist and removes my hand from her, only because I let her. I’m sure she knows it too since she’s staring at me.

I step back as my gaze remains on her and get dressed.

“I’m sure the team will be happy that you’ll be on the field. You have a bright future ahead of you.” She hops off the table with a forced smile. She’s so tense, so empty. But Knox, Jaxon, and I know how to fix that. It’s just a matter of time before we do.

History always repeats itself, and where Hope’s involved, I can’t wait.

As she steps past me, I grab the end of her pony and force her to tilt her head back as I hover over her.

“Do you still dream about me?” I whisper, my breath teasing over her parted lips.

“Nightmares,” she grits, and I smile down at her.

“All the same, sweetheart.”

My fingers release their grip as her blush brightens. She opens the door, and I step through, my eyes catching Jaxon’s as his brow arches in question.

She’s different, but she’s still ours. Nothing will change that. Knox shoots a look at Hope too. His frustration doesn’t ebb, his anger doesn’t change. Sure, he can be a sadistic fuck, but that’s not what his expression looks like.

He looks like he needs a face to rearrange, a fight to get all his fury out. We’ll use Hope without complaint. She takes us so well, but we don’t beat her, not like we do when we get in real fights, and that’s what Knox needs.

We’ll figure out how to calm him down because that’s what friends do. We share our fun and we take care of each other when other shit gets in the way.

My eyes go to Hope as she walks to one of the bigger guys on the team. The quarterback walks up to her too, talking about an injury. Things have changed. She’s not alone, not a little thing that’s easy to toss around, but us guys have changed too.

This will be a new kind of fun.