A ticking time bomb

Warning: SMUT (I know you like that type of warning though), mentions of death. It's long but well worth your time:).

Victoria woke up sweating, she spent the 15 hours she slept drifting in and out of her slumber, mixing her nightmares and her reality up, unable to tell them apart. She dreamed about the sound of shotguns, a persecution, an old black van, police sirens, a cold ride in the back of a police car, Joe's face, a pool of blood. She could hear her own screams, distorted. Every time she felt on the brink of waking up, she was pulled into the uncomfortable catatonic state. It took her a lot of willpower to finally open her eyes.

She could see the sunlight shinning through their bedroom's panoramic windows, and after a few minutes of having regained consciousness, she managed to slow down her breathing.

A familiar figure entered the room carrying a wooden tray, which was holding her favorite breakfast: pancakes drenched in maple syrup and black coffee.

Joe offered her a wide smile, his heart could finally rest now that he knew that she was home safe. She was with him, and he would never let any harm come her way.

"Morning love" Joe sat down in the bed, next to her, carefully laying the tray on top of the expensive beige duvet that covered his king size bed.

"Morning handsome. How long was I out?" She asked, rubbing her eyes with her hands.

"About 15 hours. But I really think you should eat now" Joe signaled to the food next to her.

"Mmm you made my favorite" she smiled.

"Anything for my girl" The hours that Victoria slept had given Joe the opportunity to calm down, he had planned the conversation they would have very carefully.

Victoria grabbed her fork and knife, and started cutting away at the fluffy buttermilk pancake tower standing in front of her.

"Victoria, I need to ask, why did you agree to meet Arthur outside on your own in the middle of the dark parking lot?" He tried to sound as calm and collected as he could.

Victoria sighed, not really having an explanation for her actions.

"I truly don't know. I mean he was Arthur after all, I have known the man for my whole life. And to be perfectly honest, I was so tired of the stalking, of feeling like a victim. I needed to face the situation"

"And you never even thought about the risks that decision could bring? Victoria why in the world...? You could've died. You know that?"

Joe took a deep breath. He promised himself he wouldn't make her feel attacked.

"I'm sorry Joe..." she lowered her head, ashamed of her actions.

"You don't have to be sorry. You need to have more respect for your life. It's like you don't see how valuable it is. How much of a rarity you are in this world" Joe pierced his beautiful blue eyes right into hers, his perfectly attractive face had a special look when he was concerned, it was something about the way he slightly raised his eyebrow, and pursed his lips.

"I guess normal people wouldn't have jumped at the opportunity to meet their stalker alone in the middle of the night, that's what you're trying to say?"

"Exactly my point. I was terrified yesterday. It seems like I've spent the last month worried sick that something would happen to you" Joe clenched his fist.

"God we never properly celebrated your Super Bowl win. I've just absorbed you into my madness. I'm so sorry"

"Don't worry. We'll have plenty of time to celebrate" Joe grinned and he leaned over for a soft kiss. Victoria smiled, as she stroke Joe's blonde hair.

"Well, I'm probably gonna be kicked out of my program so yeah, we'll have plenty of time" She joked, but in reality she was really concerned about her nonexistent progress on her research.

"You should call Sal" Joe said as he moved the wooden tray away to make space in bed for him to lay down.

"Oh that's gonna be an interesting conversation. "Hey Sal, I'm not sure I'll make it to the lab today because I shot a guy in the leg yesterday in the parking lot of the university... and uhm yes, I spent the entire night in the police station"

Her cellphone rang, interrupting her line of thought.

"Hello?" She said to the person on the other side of the line.

It was detective Anderson. He wanted to disclose Arthur's current status to her. Victoria pressed the speaker so that Joe could hear the conversation.

"Is he dead...?" She clutched the phone tight. As much as Arthur was a monster she wasn't sure she could deal with the guilt of having killed someone.

"No, Victoria, he's in stable condition. He came out of surgery a few hours ago, he won't be running marathons any time soon, but he'll live"

A wave of relief washed over her. Not over Joe though, he spent a good portion of the morning praying for the man to die. It wasn't like him, to wish death upon someone, but this man got very close of taking the love of his life away from him. And for that he deserved to stop breathing.

"We'll be in touch, Miss Marlowe. You can be certain that he'll remain under strict supervision. But for now you need to rest"

Victoria hung up the phone. She let herself fall into bed, and went back to sleep. This time she actually felt like she rested.

The next day, however she knew she had to face her fears. She had to go back to the lab, and talk to Sal about what happened.

Joe's newfound freedom allowed him to drive her to and from work, he enjoyed being able to spend so much time with her. It was uncharted territory for both of them, since their relationship had begun well into the regular season.

Joe kissed Victoria goodbye, reassuring her that everything would be okay. Victoria didn't believe any of it, but it was nice to hear.

She entered the building while keeping her face down, she knew that that the University had decided to suspend all academic activities the previous day, since it was the scene of an open investigation. She knew that people talked, and that they were very likely to connect the dots between her and her relationship with the gunshots they heard late at night a few days back.

She couldn't face her friends, not yet, so she headed straight for Sal's office.

When she knocked, Sal signaled for her to take a seat, while he was busy with a phone call.

"Sorry I need to go now, there's something I need to take care of" and with that sentence he hung up the phone.

Victoria was sure she was getting kicked out.

Sal approached her, and offered her a chocolate bar from a crystal jar he kept in his office. It was the consolation jar. She was fucked.

"Well if it isn't the woman everyone is talking about" Sal offered her a comforting smile.  "How are you doing Victoria?" He asked.

"I'm fine Sal, I'm doing great actually. I'm ready to go straight to work and..."

"Not so fast. First there's something I need to discuss with you" Here it came, he was definitely going to fire her.

"Victoria, I'm gonna be completely honest here, you have potential, talent, you really do but I need you to get your act together, wrap up your experiments and sit down to write your doctoral thesis, your defense can't happen later than... say... December"

Victoria almost had a panic attack.

"December? That would mean I have less than a year to finish my experimental work, and then..." her calculations were way off, she stopped talking when she realized how little time she actually had left.

"That means you have around three months to finish the experimental part, then you need to go straight to writing, you're lucky to have already published your paper, so now all that's left is your thesis"  Sal continued.

"Yeah, a minor detail that is" Victoria scoffed

"I trust you can do it. That is of course if you're not too busy flying around the country with your boyfriend on the weekends, or shooting people in the parking lot" Sal's dark humor never missed. Even Victoria had to laugh at the comment.

"I won't. I need you to trust me, I'll get it done"

"You need to trust yourself young lady, soon enough you'll be a doctor, working on your own"

"That's right" Victoria tried to imagine a world were she was finally granted her degree.

"Plus you won't do it alone, I asked Logan to make time to mentor you, specially with the writing part" Sal adjusted his glasses over his nose.

"Is he back from his London little vacation?"

"It was a research visit. He needed access to that special Cryo Electron microscope the dean refuses to buy"

"Well you do need to build a special building for the thing Sal..." Victoria joked, and Sal laughed.

"Anyways, he's back. He's actually waiting for you. Today you're not going to do any experimental work, you two are going to plan your writing schedule. I want it first thing in the morning tomorrow. Please don't let me down"

"I won't" Victoria promised.

She headed to Logan's little office, where he greeted her with a warm smile.

"Marlowe" he hugged her "it's so good to see you"

"It's nice to see you too. Have you heard you're gonna help me graduate?" She grinned.

"My job description didn't include performing miracles now that I think about it" He joked, Logan's green eyes, curly brown hair and handsome facial structure all paled next to his endearing smile. Oh that smile could melt the polar ice caps.

Victoria softly hit his arm, while she laughed.

"Very funny"

"Please don't shoot me, though" Logan blurted out.  "Too soon?" Victoria didn't react.

"Way too soon" she replied. The pair spent the next hours of the day planning her writing schedule, she would need to put in a lot of effort and working hours if she was to graduate by December, but it was doable. She agreed to send Logan her first thesis draft by the end of the month.

Logan offered to buy her dinner before Joe picked her up.

They sat down to eat, but Logan's curiosity was too great, so he decided to ask about Victoria and Joe's unusual relationship.

"So how does it work with you two? Are you like entertaining him?"

"What?" She asked, visibly offended.

"Come on Marlowe, let's be honest. I just find it odd that the biggest nerd on planet earth has an NFL superstar wrapped around her little finger"

Victoria kept munching on her salad.

"I don't see how that is weird. We have so many similarities, our personalities are basically the same, just applied to different stuff" Logan scoffed, not entirely believing her friend.

"Like? Mention one"

"We're both type A, workaholics, overachievers who obsess over perfection and criticize every little mistake we make"

"A match made in heaven" Logan joked. He really enjoyed Victoria's unique self awareness and how it translated to her sense of humor.

"That we are, my friend" Victoria smiled.

After they had eaten, they said goodbye.

Victoria received a text from Joe that he had arrived to pick her up, he stood on the parking lot, wearing a black compression shirt and grey sweatpants, coupled with a pair of Cartier sunglasses. He was leaning against his Porsche, arms crossed, and it was like watching a greek God in Earth.

"My handsome man" Victoria greeted him.

"Hello love" he opened the car door for her.

"How was your day?" He asked, as he began to drive towards their home.

Victoria told him everything about her meeting with Sal, the pressure she would face for the last few months of her degree, and she saved a minor detail for last.

"And he assigned Logan as my direct supervisor" Joe didn't reply, he limited himself to lay a hand on Victoria's leg for the entirety of the ride.

After they walked through the front door, Victoria could tell something was wrong.

"Are you gonna tell me what's going on in your head?"

"I don't like the idea of you working so close with him"

"You barely know the man Joe, trust me, the only thing we're interested in is science"

"That's what worries me. He gets you, and your work in a way I'll never understand" Joe looked down to the floor.

"Hey, you do understand. The whole reason this works as well as it does it's because of how well you understand the pressure, scrutiny, and intensity of performing at the top level of your field" she reassured him.

She leaned into a kiss, taking her sweet time with her tongue in his mouth, as they reached for the couch, Joe sat down, grabbing her ass while she straddled him.

"When are you... going to understand..." she stopped in between kissing and licking his neck "how much I want you. Only you"

Victoria reached for the elastic on his sweatpants, and quickly lowered the fabric, revealing his black boxers that could barely hold his hard cock inside.

She began to salivate at the sight of Joe's erection.

"I'm yours, and yours only"

She lowered his boxers, and started to stroke his hard dick, while softly licking him. After edging him for a while,  she took him whole in her mouth, she could hear Joe's heavy breathing had turned into loud moans.

"Victoria, oh my god"

She kept swallowing his hard member, while playing with the tip with her tongue, she could feel his muscles tightening under her. He was about to cum.

"Cum for me" she pleaded. And Joe didn't need any further instructions to release his seed into her throat. He felt the waves of pleasure washing over him, while her warm mouth received his load.

When he regained the ability to speak, he told her.

"You're lucky I have practice tomorrow, or I would rail you like a mad man all night"

Victoria looked up, grinning.

"I'm counting on it"

Coach Taylor decided that throughout the first months of their offseason, the team would have a few scattered practice sessions, as to not overwhelm them, and with the objective of getting them to practice some basic moves, that some of these pro players sometimes felt were useless. It was a "back to the basics" type of thing.

Joe and the rest of the team arrived at Paycor Stadium after noon, and began to practice their basic formations for the first few hours of their meeting.

The offseason sun hung low on the horizon, casting long shadows across the practice field. The air was alive with the sounds of cleats biting into the turf and the rhythmic cadence of drills.

As the play unfolded, a surge of adrenaline coursed through his veins. Joe dropped back, eyes scanning the field for an open receiver. In an instant, he pivoted, a sudden burst of acceleration propelling them forward. It was a move they'd executed countless times, a dance of instinct and precision. He wasn't used to his cleat getting stuck in the field as he made a quick turn.

So it happened. A sharp, searing pain lanced through his calf like a bolt of lightning. His leg buckled beneath him, a symphony of protest from strained muscles. Joe stumbled, a gasp of disbelief escaping his lips.

The world seemed to slow, the field a tableau frozen in time. Teammates and coaches rushed towards him, voices a cacophony of concern.

He was guided to the sidelines, while a support system of arms gently guiding his faltering steps. Coach Taylor's hands moved with practiced precision, assessing the damage. The diagnosis was grim, a strained calf muscle that spoke of weeks, perhaps months, of rehabilitation.

The weight of the realization settled in, a heavy mantle of uncertainty. The offseason, a time of preparation and growth, now loomed as a crucible of recovery. Joe watched as practice continued without him, he was now a silent spectator to a world he was temporarily barred from.

And so the Bengals would start their training camp, and probably the season with their number one star, unable to move.

Hello there, I wanted to get this one out before today's SNF game :). Let's hope the Bengals kill it. Lots of love.

(I'm also not going to apologize for a long chapter because I had a lot of fun writing it and I think it turned out really good).