whatever it takes - odell beckham jr.

chapter thirty-four

all my pent up anger and frustration over the last few days leaves me, as i lose myself in her, right here against the car in our driveway. i'm panting by the time we're through and she's limp against me.

she's no longer digging her nails into me, but instead, her hands are gently trailing along my back. i inhale sharply a few times, trying to catch my breath, before the words that have been circling my brain for weeks now manage to slip out.

"marry me." i whisper as i stare hard into her glazed over eyes.

"what?" she lifts her head slightly off my shoulder, whilst i take another ragged breath.

"marry me. be my wife."

"are you serious?" she pulls back, forcing us to lose contact. her eyes are wide as she stares up at me and shakes her head. "really? you come home unexpectedly, basically tell me that i'm cheating on you, angrily fuck me against the car, and then ask me to marry you?"

she at least smiles, shaking her head. "i can't answer that question right now, odell. you just threw a tornado of emotions my way. and i'm not gonna marry someone who doesn't trust me."

"i do trust you." our eyes lock as i again move closer to her. "i flew home for a twelve hour visit because i missed you too much that i couldn't stand to be away from you for another second. i had to see you, ira. i fucking had to feel you." i sigh, seeing her face soften. "i'll admit, i did go overboard when i saw you with jamal. i guess–" i shrug. "i guess i'm just waiting for you to pay me back. for you to hurt me the same way i hurt you."

she reaches up to cup my face with her hand, and i relax against her. "dell, i'm not gonna do that."

"i know that, but i deserve it if you did. that's why it freaks me out."

"marrying me isn't gonna make it any better. it'll make it worse."

i scoop her back into my arms before holding her tightly against me as i kiss her lips. "it wouldn't make it worse. ira-reice, i'll drop it right now because you deserve better than to be proposed to while getting fucked against a car. but i'm marrying you, and it will be soon. it's not because i need it to trust you, it's because i can't imagine my life any other way than having you as my wife. you are my everything, for real." i whisper into her mouth, pulling back and meeting her eyes.

"my absolute everything. and i'm not gonna rest until you are my wife."

⚭

"i can't believe you left yesterday." landon mumbles, as we finally load up for our flight home. "that was pretty insane, beckham."

i just shrug. i could try to explain it to him, i could. but landon isn't in any position in his life to try and understand that. nor does he want to be.

he's perfectly happy leading his selfish single life. but one of these days, he's gonna meet his match. and i'll be the first one lining up to give him shit about it when it happens.

"o's in love." sterling shrugs. "leave him be. i would have done the same thing when chanel and i were first starting out if she hadn't been on our away streaks with us."

"na, you're a different story." landon wrinkles his nose at him. "you're a grade a stalker, remember? you probably would have left and just went and followed her around a bit." he shudders, making sterling curse at him under his breath. landon ignores him, placing his headphones back onto his ears and leaning back in his seat.

"don't let him give you shit." sterling mutters. "his stupid ass is gonna get blindsided by some woman. and i cannot wait to be here to witness it."