Page 8 of Out of the Shadows
There had to be something with a fucked-up sense of humor involved with the circumstances I found myself in,considering the man of my dreams avoided me like the plague. There were times when I was almost certain he wasdeliberatelygoing out of his way to make sure he didn’t run into me. If I was one thing, though, it was determined.
When I met Colt Michaels at barely sixteen, I got all my fantasies served on a silver platter, wrapped up in a delicious, brawny package, but in my fantasies and dreams was where he’s stayed.
We were two years apart, so I caught most of my glimpses of him on the football field. Andoh shit, were those some amazing glimpses I got. Thick thighs in tight football pants, bulging biceps, and flexing forearms.
Well, I guess I wasn’t the only one getting these glimpses, but from what my classmates were saying, none of the other girls seemed to notice Colt. At least not in the way they should’ve been noticing him.
Colt Michaels was a man among boys. He was imposing, powerful, and oh-so masculine. And that’s without mentioning his character. Aside from the way we’d clicked, I was deeply impressed by the way he handled how people treated him. How he took it in stride that they celebrated him on the field but talked shit about him like he was some monster when he took off his uniform, amazed me. He was a different person to them because he was large and not classically handsome, with a jaw that seemed perpetually clenched, a nose that had clearly been broken at least once, and a pair of deep-set eyes that always looked a little weary. He dealt with it with a lot more dignity and maturity than I ever could. Or rather, more than I actually could, because on more than one occasion, I’d ripped someone’s head off for badmouthing him. How could they not see what I wasseeing?
I was aware Colt wasn’t the clean-cut, pretty-boy type, but he wasmy type.
I adored his icy-blue eyes, his wolfish, crooked grin, and his massive frame, built to protect. The number of panties I had thoroughly soaked because of him was low-key embarrassing.
From the moment I first saw Colt, every inch of me belonged to him — body, mind, and soul. Every time I thought about how I’d hugged him that first day, still gave me tingles. I didn’t know where I’d gotten the courage to do it, but I lived off the memory of his massive, solid body against mine. I would have held him longer, but for one, I was more than aware that my dad hadn’t exactly been observing the whole thing with approval, and for another, my nipples had hardened into pebbles, and I didn’t want him to be creeped out. He probably was anyhow, but there was nothing I could do about that.
After my dad had talked down to him and he had worked so hard to make me feel comfortable, I wanted to cheer him up a little. Guess that didn’t quite work, considering he’d barely paid me any attention since.
Aside from forced encounters when our parents socialized, or when we attended the same parties or walked down the same hallway at school, we never talked again like we had that first day.
But Isawhim. I saw him helping the bus driver load bags and equipment when we had away games. I saw him pick up the trash the other kids left behind so the aging janitor wouldn’t have to. I saw him make sure younger or weaker teammates didn’t get pushed around. I saw him being respectful and kind — in his own way — when he could havebeen bitter and harsh.
But there were also these glimpses I caught of something dark and twisted living inside him, something he kept on a leash. I wanted to see more of it. I wanted to lure that darkness out, invite it to play, and see what would happen if I provoked it.
He was so much more than what people assumed he was. Yet my dad wanted to see me with anyone but him. Preferably, one of the preppy sons of one of his other business partners, and for the life of me, I couldn’t see why. My father was too concerned with outward appearances, but I wasn’t having it.
I had decided on that very first day to whom I would give all my firsts and by whose side I would stand for the rest of my life. All I had to do was make him realize it too.
Most people would have given up long ago, and it wasn’t like I didn’t have other offers. I was fully aware I was attractive and that a lot of guys at our school were into me or trying to score with me, but I knew exactly what, or rather who, I wanted, and I was determined to get my prize.
While we were still attending the same high school, there was at least a chance of running into Colt in the hallways, and I attended every single one of his football games since I cheered on the sidelines.
Colt had graduated from high school, and was about to head off to college, and I’d spent half the summer crying my eyes out. His choice, Blue Ridge University, was two fuckingstates away.
My only consolation was the vacation our families would spend together right before he’d set out for college. A sunny island with a palm-fringed beach where he couldn’t avoid me.
I was still hoping, praying that he had shown no interest in me yet because I’d been too young. I was determined to make him notice me as something more. So far, the only victory I could claim was that he at least followed me on IG and added me on Snap, where he checked out my stories —yes, I checked —often and obsessively.
As one does, I created a private story for his eyes only the day we met — not that he knew — and uploaded pictures there consistently over the years. Not going to lie, those pictures had gotten a little more …risquéover time. If he hadn’t watched and reacted to each of them, I might have just given up and written him off as not interested.
That alone wouldn’t necessarily have been enough, and perhaps sounded far-fetched … if one of the girls from the squad I was semiclose with hadn’t snuck onto the football players’ bus one fateful day on the way home from an away game to join her boyfriend — and sat right behind Colt.
Although she was a littlebusy, she still couldn’t help but notice Colt spent the entire ride scrolling through pictures of me. “One after the other,” she had told me, sounding creeped out. I, on the other hand, was more reluctant to give him up since then.
Most college guys wouldn’t want a high school girlfriend sitting at home. The metaphorical ball and chain. I wasn’t holding my breath for a commitment, but I neededsomething. Some kind of indication that this wasn’t completely one-sided.
Just because I felt this connection between us, didn’t mean he did — but maybe he would, eventually. Either way, I was armed and ready. Colt Michaels hadno ideawhat he was in for.
Spoiler Alert: If I had my way, it would be me bouncing onhis dick — frequently.
***
Warm rays of sunshine, turquoise sea rushing in the background, sunglasses on my nose — and no Colt in sight. Our families had spent the last three days together in this beach villa, and no matter where I went, Colt made himself scarce.
A frustrated sigh puffed out of me as I rolled from my back onto my stomach and lifted my hair away from my sweaty neck. Peering over the lenses of my sunglasses, I tried to look into the house. Wearing one of my skimpiest bikinis, I strategically planted myself on one of the loungers around the pool.
Whoever stepped out of the house would have to walk past me. Unfortunately, the object of my desire was nowhere to be seen.
Drops of sweat rolled down my neck, over my collarbone, and into the valley of my breasts. Deciding it was time for a dip in the pool, I pushed myself up, and an imposing, sweaty figure came jogging up the stairs from the beach.
