The car pulled up outside a modest apartment building.

“I’ll be back,” I said to the driver, and then I got out.

I was betting not a lot of pro ball players went and picked up their dates themselves. I liked to go to the door, though. I was just a gentleman like that.

I rang Charley’s bell and waited. “Just a second,” she said. “I’ll be down in a minute.”

“Take your time. Make sure you’re nice and pretty for me,” I said, grinning.

I leaned up against the wall and crossed my arms.

I didn’t know what the fuck I was doing here. When I woke up in the morning, I just kept thinking about the girl. I couldn’t get her pretty fucking body out of my head, even though she was Ryan’s. Plus, I stupidly mentioned her to that fucking mobster, which meant they might come sniffing around her. I should never have gotten her mixed up with that.

I was checking up on her, or at least that was what I was telling myself. Ryan, for his part, didn’t seem to give a shit either way if I took her out. Apparently she was a “stuck up bitch,” which meant she likely said no when he tried to force her to suck him off or some shit like that.

Tactless douchebag. I kept Ryan around mostly because I didn’t like any drama in the locker room. As soon as he got traded, that shit heel was dead to me.

Not long later, Charley pushed open the front door and stepped out onto the sidewalk. I stared at her, not trying to pretend like I wasn’t checking her body out. She smiled, a little shy, and that shyness made me fucking hard.

Her body looked incredible in a tight black dress. I went up to her and kissed her on the cheek.

“Ready?” I asked her.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “Unless you have a curfew tonight.”

“No curfew,” she said.

“Good, because I might keep you out late.”

She suppressed a smile, or at least tried to. “We’ll see about that.”

“Come on.” I steered her toward the car, my hand on the small of her back. My palm was large against her small back, and I wondered what I could do with this small, tight body.

Fuck, I was getting a little hard already, and I hadn’t even gotten the girl out yet. I hustled her into the car and shut the door, getting in behind her. The driver started going as soon as we were in.

“So, uh, where are you from?” she asked.

I smirked at her. “Are you nervous?”

“A little,” she admitted.

“I’m from Indiana,” I said. “Small town with nothing to do but drink and play football.”

“Does your family still live there?”

“Mom still does. Dad died years back.”

She frowned. “Sorry to hear it.”

“That’s okay. My dad was a mean bastard and a fucking criminal. Nobody misses him.”

“That must have been hard.”

I cocked my head at her. “Are you trying to be my therapist right now?”

She laughed. “No. I was just asking.”

“Tell me about your family then.”

“Pretty standard stuff. I have a nice family, nice parents. They’re both still alive.”

“Lucky you. Not all of us had that.”

“Is that why you’re so mean on the field?”

I laughed, a little surprised. Charley didn’t strike me as a fan. “I take it you watch.”

“I do,” she said.

“Well then,” I said, leaning toward her. I loved the look on her face. “I’m mean on the field because it feels good to crush men. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

“No,” she said softly.

“Sure it is. That excites you. I’m the kind of man that crushes other men because I fucking can. I can tell you like that about me.”

She looked away. “Some people call you savage. Some people think you try to hurt other players.”

“No,” I said, laughing. “I don’t try to hurt anyone. But I can’t help it if they’re so fucking weak that a little tackle breaks a bone.”

“I don’t think there’s anything little about you.”

I threw my head back and laughed, loving that. “Damn right, girl. Nothing small about me.”

The car pulled out front of the club just a few minutes later. There was already a line stretching down the block as we got out.

“I’ve never seen this place before,” she said as we approached the doorman.

“It’s new,” I said. “Jeff,” I called out. The bouncer nodded at me.

“What up, Bull?”

“Got room for two?”

“Always got room for you.” He opened the rope and we stepped inside. I shook my head and then we disappeared into the club.

Booming bass hit me in the face. One of the hostesses motioned for me to follow and took us back into the VIP section. We stepped up and took a seat on a low, comfortable couch.

“It’s nice in here,” Charley said, “but really loud.”

“I can have them turn down the music if you want.”

She laughed. “Okay, please.”

“I’m not joking. I’ll make it happen.”

She laughed again and shook her head. “That’s okay.”

I motioned for a waitress. “Champagne and whisky.” She nodded and left.

“Can I ask you something?” Charley said.

“Go ahead.”

“Why did you bring me out tonight?”

I shrugged. “Maybe I just wanted to get to know you.”

“I don’t think so,” she said. “From what I hear, you’re not much interested in getting to know anyone.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t believe everything you hear,” I said, grinning. “Though maybe that’s true. Maybe I’m used to fucking more than I’m used to talking.”

She blushed a little bit. “Is that why I’m here, then?”

“Not yet,” I said. “But if you’re lucky, I’ll take you into the back and show you why I’m called Bull.”

The waitress returned a minute later with a bottle of champagne, two glasses, and a glass of whisky for me. I poured Charley a drink and we toasted.

I knocked my whisky back, loving the burn, and started feeling the music. I wanted to ask her if anyone strange had been hanging around her apartment at all in the last day, but I couldn’t think of a normal way of asking that question. I didn’t want to freak the girl out after all.

“Come on,” I said, standing and taking her hand. “Let’s dance.”

“Wait,” she said. “Hold on.”

I didn’t bother waiting or holding on. I pulled her to her feet and led her out to the dance floor. She didn’t put up much resistance, and it wouldn’t have mattered much if she did. I towered over her, making her look tiny. She was maybe five foot four at best, and I was easily over a foot taller than she was, not to mention probably a hundred pounds heavier. I could easily throw her over my shoulder and take her wherever I wanted.

And I wanted to feel her body moving against mine. I took her hips and we began to dance, her nice ass rubbing up against me. I practically folded around her as she moved to the beat, blending in with the other dancers.

I loved the way she moved her hips. She quickly loosened up as two songs passed and began to dance harder, her body pressing against mine. She turned and looked up at me with this coy little smile that made my fucking dick even harder. I was sure she felt me hard against her, but she didn’t seem to mind one bit.

I lost myself in the moment, dancing with this girl. Normally I’d be wondering when we’d get to the good fucking stuff, but for some reason I didn’t want the dancing to end. For the first time in my life maybe, I wanted to stay there and let the girl tease me just a second longer.

She turned around and pressed her hands flat against my chest. She shook her hips and swayed with me, and I grabbed her hips, pulling her against me.

I couldn’t wait a second longer. I pulled her tight against me and pressed my lips against hers, not sure what the fuck I was thinking.

She didn’t pull back. She wrapped her hands through my hair and kissed me back, biting my lip, intense and passionate. We kissed like that on the dance floor, and I completely forgot for a second that I was famous.

I shouldn’t be getting close to this girl. I had just wanted to make sure the mafia wasn’t giving her shit about the other night, and now I was kissing her in the middle of a crowd. That was stupid for a million different reasons.

I practically felt the camera flashes. We broke our kiss off and I saw a few cell phone cameras out, flashing away as people took pictures.

“Fuck off, you cunts,” I roared, and the cameras quickly went away.

That was what happened when you were famous and you tried to have a little fucking fun. There was no goddamn privacy, not for me, not anymore.

The moment was destroyed. I could see it on her face. I looked back at the assholes who had taken pictures, and I could see fear in their eyes.

Good. That was what I wanted. I wanted those bastards to be afraid of me, because I could destroy them if I wanted to.

I turned back to Charley, but she was already gone.

“Shit,” I said, and quickly headed back toward the VIP booth.

But she wasn’t there either. I looked through the club and even asked a waitress, but nobody had seen her.

I left the club and called her number, but it went to voice mail.

The fucking girl ran out on me. I couldn’t believe she’d gotten scared off so easily, but as soon as those phones started taking pictures, she got out of there.

Fuck it. That didn’t matter. I got what I wanted from her. I made sure she was okay, and that was all I needed. My goal was just to make sure nothing weird was happening around her, and as far as I could tell she was fine.

I texted my driver and leaned up against a wall, my arms crossed.

If I got what I needed, why did I keep thinking about that kiss?

Her lips had been soft against mine, but there’d been a passion there, a fucking hunger that I wasn’t used to. I’d been with plenty of women in my life, but most of them were only interested in my money and my fame. Everything else was secondary.

But I felt something different from Charley. She didn’t seem impressed with the VIP and the champagne. The only time she really felt alive and present was when we kissed on the dance floor.

I was fucking hard again just thinking about her, and that was driving me insane. I waited for my car, frustrated and annoyed but fucking intrigued.