“Shh.” I pressed my lips to hers. “Stop talking, I’m already late.”
“Then stay.”
Fuck.She looked so inviting. It took a lot more willpower than I thought it would to ease off her and back away.
We held each other’s stare for a long time before I turned and walked quickly out of the suite. She was too much of a temptation. We needed to get rid of the threat hanging over us and get back to normal. As I walked to the stadium, my phone vibrated.
Red:Well I’m awake . . . how’s the walk?
Smiling, I replied.
Me:Nice morning, taking my time, I have a hard problem I’m trying not to think about
Red:Is that right? I could have maybe helped with that. Oh, can you tell Alden he owes me twenty bucks?
Me:WTF for?
Red:Told him I would make you late for practice — he said you’re never late. Guess what? I win.
I stared at the text, and then I started laughing. She’d been purposefully distracting me.
Well played, Red. Well played.
I’m never late. Fuck that. Grinning, I started to jog to the stadium. I also liked to play games.
Chapter 25: Mia
When I sent the message, I felt a small thrill of victory. The walk back to the room last night with Alden had been awkward until I decided to own it. Yes, I’d stormed into the guys’ locker room and made a spectacular fool of myself. But who wouldn’t? If you didn’t get hit by the stupidity stick when you saw Ash Santo in a towel, then you were obviously dead. Last time I checked, I was a very much alive nineteen-year-old woman who had a healthy sexual appetite, and trust me, that man made me hungry.
I thought about him this morning. He was so free with his hands. He took ownership of me and my body like he’d been doing it for years. It should probably worry me how easily we fit together, how relaxed we both were with each other, but in reality, I knew he was probably just adept at knowing his way around the female body.
When Alden and I were halfway back to the suite, I looked over at him and then nudged him, telling him it could be worse. When he asked me how, because he was pretty sure the Devils were going to kick his ass, I replied that at least he hadn’t been drooling over the football team in the locker room.
It had broken the uneasy atmosphere, and Alden had actually felt bad for me. Although he did say I had handled it well, he’d never seen anyone talk back to them. That had surprised me. Had the team never been in the presence of Ava or Quinn? Quinn handed Gray his ass most days. When I thought about it, I decided that maybe only Quinn got away with it, because the man was obviously in love with her and was an antisocial grump with everyone else.
When Alden asked me why I was in the visitor accommodation, I told him my apartment was being refurbed due to a leak. He commiserated. He then very not subtly asked me if Ash was actually going to sleep with me tonight. Iunderstood he meant it in a hookup way, and I had to think of a way not to blow everything up. So, I bit the bullet and took one for the team. I was the unofficial hookup of Ash. I knew, by morning, the whole campus would know, and I would be a “jersey chaser.” Ava had better love me forever for this.
To make me feel better, I decided to play to my advantage of hooking up with the Devil. I told Alden I had Ash wrapped around my finger. Of course, Alden had the front row seat to my epic embarrassment earlier, and I needed to prove I could back my words up. So, I asked him what one thing I could do to prove that I was in control of my relationship with Ash.
He immediately told me that Ash was never late, ever. Well, that was just too easy. I mean, I knew I would have to see how the evening went, but I was sure even on a bad day, I could delay the infamous manslut Ash Santo.
It had kind of backfired. When I woke up, I was too comfortable, and it was so nice to just be there, lying beside him. He seemed to be equally comfortable, and I think we were both reluctant to move. When he suddenly got up, I knew I had said something wrong, but I wasn’t sure what. As I listened to him rush around the bathroom, I recalled the talk with Alden. I needed to delay him. Had I lost my chance? Would I push it too far if I took advantage of the obvious attraction that we had for each other?
I had walked into the male locker room and confronted him; I could easily delay him from walking out the front door.
When he picked me up, deposited me on the bed, and put his hands on me, I forgot all about the bet. I wanted him to stay for a whole other reason, and that involved him wearing less clothes than he was then.
If I hadn’t frozen at his words and his insinuation of what I would do when he left, I would have been quicker off the mark and capitalized on the situation better. Even a good makeoutsession would have been of benefit to me and earned me twenty dollars.
But no, he had to be a conscientious sports player. My only consolation was I knew as he backed away, he didn’t want to be moving away from me, he wanted to be on the bed as much as I did.
I gave him ten minutes before I owned my victory.
I had no doubt Alden would tell the others, and sure, it probably painted me in a less-than-flattering way, but who cared? Sex was sex. People got far too hot and bothered about something that had nothing to do with them.
My dilemma now was the fact that it was ridiculously early, and I was wide awake. Ash said someone would be here for eight, but it wasn’t even seven. I needed coffee. And a muffin. I’d skipped dinner last night, so now I was ravenous and I wanted breakfast.
Looking out the window, I saw a few people start to walk around. The campus was populated. I was a little bit off the main pathways in this building, but it was morning, even if it was still dark. But the campus was so well lit, what harm was there in going out?
