Elias toes curl so hard, I hear them against the blanket as my thumb rubs against his hole. I pull off quickly, wetting my thumb before sliding him back in my mouth and pressing my thumb into his crack.
The second I slip my thumb inside and rub against his walls while I suck, he bears down and shouts as he comes.
He was loud. Very loud. But I don’t care as I swallow what he gives me and keep torturing him with my thumb until he whines and pushes me away.
I wipe my face as best as I can with the comforter before coming up. Elias is biting his lip and looking like a naughty school boy.
“Was that loud?”
I giggle and he gets his answer when someone bangs on the wall. Our eyes widen as we share a guilty look.
“Come on guys!” Archer shouts through the wall.
“Sorry!”
We have to clamp our hands over our mouths to stop from laughing.
24
ELIAS
I’m a little groggy as we climb onto the bus to the airport the next morning. Ben kept me awake most of the night with his cute snoring and the occasional question about a missing organ. He woke up at one point, apologizing profusely and telling me he’d sleep on the couch if I wanted. It was adorable. I would like to get to the bottom of that weird, recuring dream, but aside from that, I wasn’t angry.
I suspect my inability to sleep might have also had something to do with the fact that I’d just had the most intense sex of my life. Every time we fuck, it feels like more than casual sex. I knew this would happen, but I thought I had it covered. I thought the only thing I had to worry about was Ben getting attached. I didn’t realize I was in danger of becoming attached, too.
We’ll havea day to practice when we get to Indian Wells and a night’s rest before the tournament starts. Can’t haveStanford getting an unfair advantage because they’re better rested than we are.
I manage to nap a little on the bus to New York, where we’ll catch a flight to Palm Springs. It all sounds so glamorous. When I texted Carina last night, she couldn’t believe I was going to Palm Springs or playing a tournament at Indian Wells. Her excitement for me made this decision feel like an even better one.
If I’d gone back out on the Challenger tour, I’d probably be staying in a cheap motel somewhere in Idaho, playing on substandard courts for pitiful cash prizes. Instead, I’m travelling with a prestigious university to Palm Springs to play tennis at a legendary venue. And last night, I slept in a fancy fraternity house with a sexy frat boy. College life might not be as tedious as I initially thought.
When I wake up, Ben’s on his phone and we’re going over a bridge.
I glance at what he’s looking at—someStar WarsLEGO thing—before he catches me and slides his phone in his pocket with a shy smile.
“Hey, do you feel more rested now?”
“I was rested anyway.”
“No, you weren’t. I kept you up with my snoring and my weird sleep talking.”
“It’s not weird, it’s cute.”
He scoffs. “Yeah, okay.”
I think about kissing him, but then spot Coach up front. Even if dating your teammate isn’t against any rules, I’m sure he’d frown on us kissing on the team bus.
We have hours at the airport until we board our flight. I leave Ben hanging out with Nate and the guys and go in search of … something. I want to get Ben a gift. My subconscious wants to call it a parting gift, but I push that thought out. There is definitely no guarantee that a pro coach will be impressed with me out there this weekend. But there’s a chance that one of them will and that this college experience will be over for me. Even though that’s what I’ve wanted since I arrived here, there’s a scrap of regret that this has to end. I think my judgement has become clouded ever since I went to Ben’s parents’ house. That pretty, church-inundated town scrambled my brain.
I search the duty-free store, sniffing cologne and dodging the overly friendly sales assistants, finding nothing. Giving up, I pop into a store to buy a pack of chewing gum and it’s there, dangling by the register. The perfect gift.
I have a big,goofy grin on my face when I find Ben and the guys. Ben’s smiling, in his element with his friends. For a second, I wonder what it would be like if he were mine. Really mine. He looks up and that smile turns extra megawatt when he sees me. My breath catches.
I put my arm around him and bend to whisper in his ear.
“I got you something.”
I feel the heat coming off his face and smile.
