For The Love of The Game

“Oh no no, you are not going out in that!” Addy yelled as she pushed me back into the bathroom. I was wearing a little dark purple dress that was almost black with straps that crossed over in the front and back. It fit tightly, complimenting my curves and ending just below my knee. I also wore black stiletto ankle boots knowing that I wouldn’t get away with wearing flats, even if I already was tall without them, they just didn’t work well with the dress.

“What’s wrong with it?” I turned back to see her pinching the bridge of her nose, her other hand on her hip as she shook her head. Geri came up behind her, throwing his arm around her shoulder, tilting his head to the side.

“You aren’t showing enough skin.” He responded nonchalantly before jumping down on the bed and flipping the television on. My jaw dropped at his response as Addison just shrugged her shoulders.

“He’s right. And you’re not going to a meeting with Aragonés, you’re going to a club!” I had come into their room to get ready for the night while Megan stayed in her room to change by herself. Geri was just here because he had nowhere else to go, seeing that he wasn’t on the team, he did not have to attend the meeting that they were holding tonight. I huffed in frustration as Addison circled around me, her finger at her chin in a thinking manner. As she walked behind me, she pulled out the clip I had in my hair, holding it up in a messy bun.

“Hey! I've been to clubs before, trust me, I can party hard!” I retaliated but Geri just shushed me without even turning away from the television.

“Let her fix it, trust her, believe me, you don’t want to learn the hard way.” He gave me a quick look, then turned back to the show he was watching.

“There’s nothing wrong with me! I don’t think she has to fix anything!” To that I earned a light smack in the back of the head. I frowned as Addison continued to circle me.

“Hold this. And I know you can party hard, you're Sergio's sister...” She giggled before continuing in her imitation of Sergio's voice. "The sister of The Ramos." She handed me my clip, shaking her head before getting down on her knees in front of me. She grabbed at the hem of my dress and pulled until I heard the sound of tearing.

“What are you doing?!” I shouted, trying to pull back.” She smiled and pulled me back, continuing to tear away at my dress.

“I love certain materials they use to make dresses.” She looked like a mad seamstress. She made a slit up to my mid thigh, then tour the fabric away, causing my dress to shorten by a lot of inches, showing off my legs. “Why would you hide those pretty tan legs?” She looked up at me with a wicked smirk. I rolled my eyes as she stood up. “Still something wrong.” She muttered with her hand over her mouth.

“What else could be wrong? You already tore my dress up, I think I’m showing enough skin now.” Believe me, I wasn’t modest about showing my body, hell, I did my morning runs in a sports bra and shorts, I think I show enough skin on a daily basis.

“We’re not trying to go for a classy look cariño. This is not one of those clubs.” She replied as she gripped at one of my straps, pulling it off easily, leaving me with a short one-strap dress. She smiled at her creation, smoothing out my wavy curls over my exposed shoulder. “There, go look in the mirror.” I closed my eyes as I turned into the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror. I was too scared to see what she had done to one of my favorite dresses. I slowly opened one eye, seeing that it was safe; I opened the other, revealing a beautiful, sexy dress that accentuated my legs. I turned to her smiling before hugging her.

“Thank you Addy! I love it! Why aren’t you a seamstress?” I laughed, she shrugged her shoulders before replying.

“Don’t know…I don’t like to share my talents that much.” She winked before calling Geri over. He walked in and grinned.

“Told you to let her do her work.” I lightly shoved him as he moved from the bathroom doorway over to the bed again. Addison and I walked out, hearing a knock at the door. I went to open the door as Addy said bye to Geri, asking him once again if he was sure he didn’t want to come out with us. “No, go ahead with Karmen, give her a fun girls night, she needs it.” I smiled at his kindness as I walked over to the door through the little personal hallway of the room. I opened it to reveal Megan looking all decked out in a cute little blue dress that made her eyes stand out. She smirked, pumping her fist in the air before shouting.

“Party! Girls night!” I laughed shaking my head as I walked out of the room to join her, Addison following shortly after. Addison turned to the two of us after closing the door behind her, clapping her hands together.

“Alright girls, let’s get this show on the road!” We all cheered as we walked towards the elevators. I was ready for this night to start so I could finally get my mind off of the two men that were occupying it lately.

+++

“Where did you hear about this club?” I leaned in towards Addison and Megan, asking them while we sat at our table, drinks in hand. Megan took a sip of her drink before replying.

“When we decided to take you out tonight at the airport, we figured we’d ask the receptionist at the hotel all the hotspot clubs around here, and she said this was the best one.” She shrugged as I tilted my head back, taking my 7th shot of tequila in the 30 minutes that we had been in the club. I had also had a few bottles of beer at this point as well. The girls were only on their second drinks…but I was quickly trying to erase the thoughts in my head. I called the waitress that was walking through the VIP section and asked her to get me 3 more shots and to bring over a bottle of vodka. Addison looked at me smiling while Megan looked on, worry written all over her face.

“Now, I promised Sergio I’d have you back safely, but he didn’t say anything about bringing you back sober, so I approve of this bottle of vodka, as long as I get some too.” I laughed as the waitress set the tray on the table between the three of us. I lifted two of the shot glasses towards the girls, letting them take it before I took the remaining glass.

“A shot each, and then we’ll share the vodka. ¡Salud!” The girls took their shots as I watched them, tipping my own glass back. Once slammed back down on the table, I could feel the familiar burn and knew that the tequila was finally kicking in. I let a smirk play at my lips as I tilted my head side to side, letting my neck crack, releasing the tension in my joints. I lined up my shot glass collection that I had acquired since entering the club and filled all the glasses with vodka. Addison and Megan each pulled two in front of them, leaving the rest in the center. I grabbed two of the glasses and put them both to my mouth, letting the liquid from both shots run down my throat at the same time. I placed them down on the table, the girls watching me wide-eyed. I smiled before answering their stares. “Sergio and I used to get bored when we were younger, but I’m going to go dance now. Feel free to join me.” I let my hand run down the side of Megan’s face, seeing as she was closest to me, leaving her laughing as I walked out of the lounge and towards the dance floor. Growing up with Sergio and the rich Sevilla culture that surrounded us, two things I was good at in life were drinking, and dancing, they both came naturally growing up where I did. Every week, when I was old enough, Sergio would take me with a few of his friends from Sevilla Youth to go botelloning and then we’d go to the bars and watch the flamenco dancers. Once I reached the center of the dance floor, I closed my eyes and let my body follow the rhythm of the music. I wasn’t fully gone yet from the alcohol, one would say I had a pretty high tolerance, but I could feel the buzz. The music heightened my senses and added to my euphoria. I smiled as I felt a pair of hands slip around my waist, I had gained a dance partner, and I didn’t mind at all. I could feel his hot breath linger around my ear and down my neck. He spoke and it sent chills down my spine, his accent, how I missed him. Who would have thought that in all the nightclubs in this town, he would show up at this one, and find me on top of that.

“Mi querido, you know I can’t keep my hands to myself when you dance.” I couldn’t be mad at him right now, as much as I wanted to forget him tonight, I had to admit that I missed his touch, and I was running on too good a high to let his appearance ruin it. I reached my arm back behind me, wrapping it around his neck, pulling his lips closer to my ear. He nuzzled his head in the crook of my neck as I turned my head to whisper in his ear.

“I never said you had to.” I could feel that million dollar smirk against my skin. He breathed in my scent before speaking again as we swayed to the music.

“I missed you.” I opened my eyes at his words and could feel my head clouding over with wrong decisions, but they all seemed like the right thing at the moment. I was running on instinct and need right now. My body had missed the way Cris’s felt against it, and I needed more. I needed to feel his skin against mine, I wanted his hands to roam my body like they used to. Nothing was stopping me, except for something in the back of my mind, screaming at me to run, but I couldn’t, I couldn’t. He spun me around, one hand holding the side of my face as the other rested right above my ass, slowly sliding down. I felt his hand graze the fabric of my dress till I felt it slide over the back of my thigh, stopping at the back of my knee, pulling my leg up to his waist like we were dancing the tango. In some ways it seemed like we were in my head, all the pulling in and pushing away my mind was doing right now with him, just like a tango. He leaned down, his lips hesitating over mine for a second before finally crashing into mine. He pulled away reluctantly, dropping his grasp on my leg before grabbing my hand and pulling me off the dance floor.

I followed, looking up at the table that I was once occupying with Addison and Megan. I watched them, looking like they were in the middle of a conversation realizing that they wouldn’t notice if I was gone just yet. I followed Cris through the back door, exiting into the late night streets of Vienna. I figured Megan and Addison wouldn’t mind if I got back to the hotel on my own, thinking that I found someone to get my mind off of Cristiano. I quickly texted them telling them that I’d see them in the morning, just leaving it at that and turning my phone off. Ronaldo drove the rental car that he had gotten back to his hotel. He opened my door for me once he had parked and held my hand as he led me inside and to the elevators taking us to his floor. I watched as the numbers that flashed inside the elevator got higher and higher till it finally dinged, indicating we were there. We walked towards the end of the hall before Cris pulled out two hotel key cards out of his pocket. I looked at him questioningly before he chuckled.

“I had to get another room, I know you wouldn’t want to share one with Nani.” I arched an eyebrow at him, noting his arrogance and cockiness at thinking he would definitely find me and get me to come back with him. He quickly held his hands up defensively. “I didn’t think that at all and you know it, I got lucky finding you tonight. You know I like to get an extra room anyways because I like to be alone before matches to think to myself.” He was right; I had totally forgotten that that was one of his rituals. I dropped the glare from my eyes and grabbed the key card from his hands, sliding it to open the door myself. Once I flung it open, I walked in backwards, pulling Cris by his hand. He kicked the door shut and let me guide him farther into the room. His lips caught mine once again tonight, and I didn’t fight it. When he walked over and sat us on the bed, his hands started to trail up my leg and towards my back, making me think that I didn’t want my dress to be so short at the moment. His hands found the zipper at the back of my dress and slowly slid it down. I started regretting my decision and thinking it might have been best if I hadn’t have left the club with him. Coming back to his hotel room was a bad decision, my mind immediately thought of Fernando, but he was quickly erased because I knew I couldn’t take what was happening back right now as Cristiano nuzzled his nose in the crook of my neck. I still loved him, and I cared for Nando, but I didn't know what to do about it, I was so confused. He started to nibble on my neck as my head fell back, reaching a sort of ecstasy again, completely forgetting why I didn’t want to be here. The controls this man still had over me were incredible, I couldn’t even stop myself…but that might have also been the tequila.