Page 68 of Who’s Playing You (In The Nick of Time #1)

SCOTTIE ANDERSON

T he fall semester was almost over and I couldn’t wait to get a month off from school.

I was going to use it to enjoy my pregnancy , something that I was still wrapping my head around, as well as resting, getting back into my art work that had had to sit by the wayside for the past little bit, as well as tag along with Nicholas as much as I could.

As it turns out, I kind of liked football.

It didn’t hurt that my boyfriend was the hottest thing in professional football, and by hottest I was totally referring to his talent.

Totally .

I’d been able to come to just about every home game since Nicholas’ first home game, and they’d won almost all of them.

Atticus had given me a permanent visitor’s pass to the stadium and insisted I attend as many games as possible - referring to me as a lucky charm.

He made sure that I always had a seat in the VIP suite with him and Trina.

Atticus even tried to give me a VIP parking spot, but when Nicholas assured him that he had a driver bring me to every game, he relented on the whole parking spot thing.

Trina and I had actually become quite good friends since our first introduction in September.

She’d pre-bought every piece I had in my studio.

I was still in shock over that, as well as the prices she insisted on paying me.

She then asked if she could commission me to do three pieces, which I happily accepted.

Then Nicholas let it slip that I dabbled in photography, after Praveen and Mindy opened their big fat mouths to him about that. When he informed Trina of this, let’s just say she literally begged me to show her my photographs the next time she visited me at the studio.

But my time in the VIP suite this fall wasn’t all just art and football. Natasha and Nathan made sure of that.

In the past two-plus-months, I’d grown really close with them. They really were the parents that I always wished I’d had. They too attended every one of Nicholas’ home games, and we usually grabbed dinner with them afterwards when time allowed. Natasha and I also talked just about every day.

Nicholas had suggested we wait until baby bean’s three month checkup, which was coming up soon, before we told people. Except for Nic and Nik of course. Apparently the three of them couldn’t hold secrets from one another, and that’s why Nicholas already told them.

Truthfully though, I was dying to tell Natasha.

I was also scared she wouldn’t approve. Nicholas assured me that his parents would be over the moon and that he’d probably have to buy them a house in New Hope so that they wouldn’t just move in with us.

As he kept telling me, there would literally be nothing that would stop his mom because she was going to lose her mind with excitement.

Even though he hadn’t steered me wrong yet, I still worried.

“Hey babe! I’m home,” I yelled from the front door as I took my shoes and coat off.

When I walked into the kitchen, I found Nicholas leaning against the big island. He was looking like a damn fine snack in his designer jeans and black band T-shirt with his backwards baseball cap. I licked my lips and found I was already feeling hot and bothered.

I wanted to blame the baby hormones, but honestly? I just blamed Nicholas. He must seriously be God’s favorite human because the man was just that fine.

As I was admiring his ass, he glanced over his shoulder and saw that I was simply standing there, ogling him.

“Oh hey, honey, how was your day?” He said in the most distracted way - you know the kind, where he’s asking but not really asking at all. And to make matters worse, when he asked, he was glaring at his cell phone that he had in his hands.

“Hi. It was good,” I hedged. “And yours?”

“Sorry?” he asked because he hadn’t heard a word I said.

“I asked how your day was.”

“Oh… yeah… ju-just hang on, alright?”

Yeah, no. This wasn’t happening. He was all out of sorts, his whole body language was screaming frustration and he was so distracted that he was literally paying me no mind.

Not that I was some needy bitch, but come on!

We’re talking about a man who was quite literally obsessed with me - or so he kept assuring me.

So to come home and find him like this, I needed to get to the bottom of all of this.

I slowly made my way across the kitchen and wrapped my arms around him from behind. I leaned my cheek against his back and I felt him relax and sigh. “You okay?”

He straightened and raised his head to the ceiling before letting out a deep breath. “Fuck. No, not really,” he admitted.

“What can I do?”

“Not leave me,” he mumbled, and I wasn’t sure if he meant for me to hear that or not.

“Why would I leave you?”

“This whole situation is so fucked up,” he said as he turned in my arms and led me to sit on one of the barstools. “How do you feel? Do you want me to get you water?” He asked before looking at my ankles to check if they had any swelling.

“Nicholas, relax. I’m fine. Baby bean is fine. You’re the one who’s not, so tell me what’s going on.”

“I hate that I have to stress you out and tell you this. It’s not good for you or baby bean. Ugh ! I hate that I even have to talk about any of this. Promise me you won’t freak out?”

“Umm, I’ll try my best…” I answered vaguely, starting to feel nervous now.

He then proceeded to tell me about a club in Philly called Landow’s that he and Nic would frequent. Once they went to Zeiders U, the two of them began attending another club called Club Wanton. He then explained the nature of these clubs to me. And I’m not going to lie, it shook me.

“Wait, are you telling me that you are a member of not one but two sex clubs?”

“Was.”

“Bu-but why ?” I asked, baffled why he’d want to go to a place like that. It all felt so dirty. Seedy even.

He just shrugged and looked away.

“So let me recap this before we continue any further: you and Loving used to frequent multiple sex clubs. You all signed NDAs in these clubs. Loving pissed off some psycho bitch in Houston at yet another sex club and now she’s out for blood.

So she’s taking not just him down and dragging his name through the mud and media, but yours and a bunch of other people as well? ”

“Yeah. That pretty much sums it up.”

“Okay well first off, she’s a bitch for doing that. Second, I feel awful for Valentina - I bet she’s livid!”

“Probably about as livid as you,” he muttered and I raised my eyebrow at him.

“Third, I feel a little bad for Nic because that truly sucks.”

“Does that mean you also feel a little bad for me?”

“I haven’t decided about you yet,” I admitted because I was still wrapping my head around the fact that my boyfriend, my soon-to-be baby daddy, might be a sex addict.

“I have questions,” I began as I let out a cleansing breath, because the thoughts swirling in my head were fierce.

I dug my nails into my hands, probably leaving crescent-shaped moons in my skin.

I made sure to take deep breaths in an attempt to stay calm so that I could get through this. But I was totally freaking out.

“I figured,” he mumbled.

“Are you some sort of sex addict?”

“Wha- what ?” he sputtered and was visibly shocked by my question.

“Oh come on. That is not an outrageous question to ask under these circumstances. You just confessed to me that for all four years of college, that you’d - on the regular - go to sex clubs, and tack on at least one year when you were living in Philly…

I mean, what should I think when I also know that you and I quite literally fuck like rabbits.

It’s like you can’t get enough. And I’m sorry but, I’ve never even heard of a man’s refractory period being as short as yours is.

It’s like you’ve got some super human dick strength or something. ”

“Thank you,” he replied and gave me a half grin.

I give him a death glare before saying, “I wasn’t necessarily complimenting you.”

“Oh.”

“So? Are you?”

“No, Scottie, I’m not a sex addict,” he quickly and confidently answered.

“Okay, but then why were you in those clubs? And you do not have to go into the nitty gritty details like you tried to do with my OB when discussing our sexual proclivities,” I snapped at him.

“I don’t need to know about the things you did to some strange women, or men for that matter, before we were together.

But please tell me again that you were tested before we got together, that’s true isn’t it? ”

“Scottie. Come on. You know I’d never endanger you. O f course I was clean when we started our relationship. I guarantee you that I’m the cleanest partner you’ve ever had.”

I inwardly cringed a little. “With these latest revelations I somehow doubt that,” I mumbled to myself, but I wasn’t quiet enough because he cocked his head to the side and looked almost hurt.

But I’m sorry ! I was also feeling a little hurt and put off by this whole situation.

A sex club just felt so… dirty . Not that I’m a prude by any means, but this was just a lot.

And God only knows what dirty and depraved things my now-boyfriend did in those clubs, for years. I just… my pregnant brain couldn’t deal with this right now.

“I know,” I conceded and let out a fortifying breath addressing his earlier statement.

“But I’m confused… this is a lot. Based on everything you told me, this probably won’t even make it into the news unless some people want major lawsuits on their hands.

So I’m not entirely too worried about that whole part of this. ”

“Then what are you worried about?”

I let out a laugh that really wasn’t a laugh. “You.” I stated honestly.

“Me?”

“Yeah, I’m worried about you. Even though I believe you when you tell me you’re not a sex addict and you were clean when we started dating, I just can’t help where my brain has gone in the last ten minutes.

All I’m envisioning is you in some seedy sex clubs with, like, grimy leather and lace all over, naked people having sex in dark alcoves, two-way glass, and some perverts jerking off in a corner.

And with that mental image, I’m trying to figure out where you fit into all of that. ”

“Wow, that’s a really vivid picture you just painted,” he said, and he couldn’t hide his amusement. “But if I could, both Landow’s and Club Wanton were nothing like that. Instead think high-end, red rope with satin and champagne.”

“So no tetanus shot required upon entry?” I quipped back. When he was obviously not amused by my comment I let out a breath and continued, “Sorry but that description really isn’t helping much. All I’m thinking about now are high-end hookers.”

He let out a frustrated groan. “Fine. Let me clear this all up for you then.”

“You don’t have to get fresh with me,” I snapped. I couldn’t help but respond like that, feeling that he was getting frustrated with me, but it was him who was getting caught red-handed here. Not me. I did nothing wrong.

I wasn’t the degenerate who attended sex clubs in every city I lived in.

“I’m sorry honey. It’s just, this is also a lot for me.

I quite literally never meant for anyone to learn about any of this.

It was just between me and Loving - Papas wasn’t even really aware.

I mean he knew something, but didn’t really.

The clubs Loving and I went to were very high-end, and yes, sex clubs.

Everyone signed an NDA, but now we’re learning that that might not have been as ironclad as we had thought it to be.

Regardless, everything was very much on the up-and-up and there wasn’t anything seedy, necessarily, about the club. ”

He let that sit for a minute before continuing, “At Club Wanton, yes, Loving and I were somewhat regulars,” to which I couldn’t help but close my eyes because I couldn’t look at him - the man I loved, while I learned that he was a fucking regular at a sex club.

“We initially started going because we were curious. What eighteen or twenty year old male isn’t, right?

Not that that’s an excuse but it was part of our logic and curiosity at the time.

Plus, Loving is kind of kinky, but I’m not here to spill his secrets. ”

He took a sip of his water and then continued, “You know my degree at Zeiders was in human sexuality. So, I kind of did additional research while I was at the club,” he shrugged as he said it. “I would sit back and watch and sip my drink. At least in the beginning.”

Starting to feel uncomfortable by the thought of him continuing with his recounting his sex club activities and getting into how he used that beautiful mouth of his to seduce and kiss another person, I put my hand up, “You don’t need to tell me any more.”

“Yes I do,” he exclaimed and said a little forcefully.

“Jesus, Scottie, we’re already here . As I said, I never meant for anyone but me and Loving to know this, because it’s not like it’s something I’m proud of, but now that it’s out there - I’m going to tell you the whole fucking truth.

You of all people need to know - and actually, you alone need to know everything. ”

Crossing my arms over my chest I replied, “Well go on then, tell me your whole fucking truth.”

“I went to the club… for you.”