Getting a picture erased from the internet was surprisingly easy. All it took was five thousand dollars and some mob connections.

I didn’t love going to the mob like that, but I already had a long relationship with them. It didn’t matter one way or the other; I was already going to be paying for their services somehow.

It was too late for me. I wasn’t getting away from the mob anytime soon. If I did, they would just tell the truth about me, and that could destroy my career.

That was all ancient history, though. The picture was taken down, and Charley was mine for another night. She had agreed to one drink, but letting me choose the location was part of the deal.

And I had the perfect spot.

My car pulled up outside her apartment at eight on the dot. I got out again and rang her bell. This time, though, she was ready and was downstairs in only a few minutes.

“Where to?” she asked as she got into the car.

“You’ll see,” I answered.

She sighed. “Come on, Bull, don’t make me guess.”

“I’m not making you guess,” I said, laughing. “I’m just not telling you.”

She sighed. “Fine. That’s frustrating, you know.”

“Good. I like you frustrated. Maybe it’ll get you as wet as you were last night.”

She blushed and looked away. “I wasn’t, you know.”

“I know what?”

“Wet,” she said. “I wasn’t wet.”

“Liar. And you barely being able to say the word ‘wet’ gets me so fucking hard.”

She sighed. “Can we talk about something else?”

“If you want. I’d rather talk about that nice body of yours some more, though.”

“Ryan said you weren’t what you seemed.”

I shrugged. “Who knows what he meant?”

“I think you do. Why did he say that?”

“The media sees me as Bull the violent football player.” I shrugged again, smirking at her. “I can’t deny that’s true.”

“So how are you different then?”

“There’s more to a man than what he does on camera, Charley. You should know that.”

I enjoyed the little confused look on her face as she stared at the window and then back at me.

“Okay, fine,” she said. “You’re not going to tell me. Why don’t you tell me why you keep asking me out then?”

“Because that kiss the other night set my fucking blood on fire. I can’t stop thinking about it.”

“Oh,” she said, blushing again. “I see.”

“You don’t see, but maybe you will.”

She shook her head, mystified. “Are you always this confident?”

I shrugged, grinning at her. “Maybe. When you break as many tough men as I have, it’s easy to have confidence.”

“You do realize that you shouldn’t be proud of hurting guys, right?”

“News to me,” I grunted.

“You’re all professional athletes. When you injure them, you’re hurting their livelihood.”

“I know,” I answered.

“And you’re okay with that?” She was making a disgusted face.

I sighed, shaking my head. “We’re fucking warriors. Do you understand that?”

“No. You’re just guys playing a game.”

“We’re warriors,” I said again. “We’re gladiators. We go out on that field and destroy each other for your amusement. And you know what? We fucking love it. If I held back and didn’t hit as hard as I possibly could, those guys would be fucking insulted. I would never ask anything but the best from the men on that field, and I give them that in return.”

“Sounds like a weak excuse for hurting people.”

“Maybe,” I said, “or maybe you just can’t understand. We’re men at the top of our game playing one of the most dangerous and violent sports around. Normal people can’t understand that.”

I watched her chewing that over in her mind as the car slowly wound up a long hill, moving outside the city. She stared out the window and I let her lapse into silence.

She clearly had some ideas about me already. That couldn’t be helped, and frankly, it didn’t matter. She was like everyone else in the fucking world. She thought she knew what was right and how things should be, when really she had no real clue what men like me went through.

I sacrificed every day of my life. I was destroying my body before the age of thirty all for the sake of the sport. Once I retired, I’d have nothing left to me. Sure, I had lots of money, but the game was my life. I was living fast and hard, because I had no real future.

I did what I did because I was what the world made me. They wanted a man like me, a fucking villain. They wanted a man who broke legs and hit harder than anyone else. They wanted the fucking Bull to go on a rampage every single game, without regard for anything else.

We were getting farther and farther from the city, the car slowly winding up a dark and twisting road. Charley looked back at me and sighed.

“Maybe I don’t understand,” she said. “That’s possible. But I just can’t see how hurting someone else could ever be a good thing.”

“There’s no good and bad, girl,” I said. “It’s just a fucking game.”

“What is?”

“Everything.” I grinned at her. “And I play it to fucking win. There’s nothing else.”

The car slowly came to a stop, and I looked out the window, nodding to myself.

“Stay here,” I said to her. She protested but I got out of the car. The driver rolled down his window. “Pop the trunk,” I said.

“Yes, sir.” He opened the trunk. I went around the side and grabbed a basket from the back before shutting it again. I went around to Charley’s door and opened it up.

“Right this way,” I said to her, grinning.

“Where are we?”

“The middle of nowhere.”

She climbed out of the car, looking around. “It’s a little creepy.”

“Trust me, you have nothing to be afraid of. I’m here.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”

I laughed as I walked off. I pulled a flashlight from the bag and switched it on. It took me a second to find the path, but when I did, we plunged into the heavy woods.

Charley followed closely behind me. When we got a few feet down the path, the car pulled away.

“Wait!” she yelled.

“He’ll be back,” I said. “Come on.”

“Hold on. This is nuts,” she said, but I was already walking. She had to choose either going back to the road and waiting for the car alone or sticking with me and the flashlight.

She chose wisely. I felt her catch up and walk beside me.

“Okay, you have to tell me where you’re taking me,” she said. “I’m getting some serious murderer vibes.”

“Trust me, this is worth the surprise. It’s just a few more minutes.”

She went quiet but kept up. She was clearly very nervous, and I didn’t blame her. If I were her, walking alongside an enormous stranger in a dark forest, I’d be pretty freaked out.

I smiled to myself as I saw the mouth of the trail coming up. We followed the path and stepped out of the woods and into a small clearing.

With the city of Chicago spread out in front of us.

“Holy shit,” she said softly.

We were standing about ten feet from a cliff overlooking the city. There weren’t many hills or mountains in Chicago, and this was pretty much the only spot anywhere nearby that gave you a decent view of the city. It was beautiful, with lights streaming out ahead of us.

“How did you find this?” she asked me.

“It’s a closely guarded secret,” I said, smiling.

“It’s so beautiful. I didn’t know there were hills like this near the city.”

“This is pretty much the only one,” I said. “Glad you stuck with me?”

“Yeah,” she said softly.

I opened the bag and grabbed a blanket, spreading it out. I grabbed two glasses and a bottle of champagne. She laughed as I popped the cork. Then I poured two glasses, handing her one.

“To good views,” I said.

“Cheers.”

We clinked, drank, and then I sat down. She sat next to me.

“Will I ever find out how you erased that picture from the internet?” she asked me after a short silence.

“Probably not.”

“Do I want to know?”

“Definitely not.”

She sighed. “What sort of bad things are you involved with, Bull?”

I smirked at her, sitting close. “Why do you want to know?”

“I’m afraid of you,” she admitted.

“Good,” I said. “I want you to be afraid. Makes it feel better when you finally give yourself over to me.”

“What makes you think that will happen?”

“I can see it in your eyes. Every time you look at me, you look like you can’t decide whether you want to hit me or suck my cock.”

“I definitely don’t want to suck your cock,” she said.

“You do.” I finished my glass and poured another, topping hers off. “Maybe you don’t put it in those terms, but you do.”

“I guess you’d know. You’ve been with a million girls.”

“Not exactly a million,” I said, “but close.”

“So that’s all you do then? Sleep with random women and play football?”

I finished off my glass and tossed it aside. She sipped hers, cocking her head. I moved closer to her, staring at those beautiful eyes of hers, that pretty fucking face. I could see those lips wrapped around my cock, slowly sucking me dry.

“What else is there for a man who lives like I do?” I asked. “It’ll all be over for me sooner than you think.”

“Maybe, but you can do good with your position.”

“Who says I don’t?”

“Everybody.”

“Everybody likes the villain story better. The media doesn’t talk about my charity.”

She paused, surprised. “You have a charity?”

I laughed, enjoying her shock. “I raise money for gambling addiction centers all over America. I’ve raised millions of dollars for them.”

“Really?”

“Really. I watched my father gamble himself into poverty and then drink himself into an early grave. I know a thing or two about addiction.”

She went quiet for a second, and I smirked at her, moving closer. Our legs were touching, and I saw her glance at me out of the corner of her eye. I could practically taste her nervous excitement.

“So the media doesn’t report on it. Why wouldn’t they?”

“Like I said, they don’t like that story. They’re only interested in my partying and my playing.”

“Maybe you are more than you seem.”

“Maybe.” I took her chin and tipped her face toward me. “Want to find out?”

“I don’t know,” she said softly. “I think I do.”

“You might not like it.”

“I already don’t.”

I kissed her hard, and she kissed me back, wrapping her arms around my neck.