“Mm.” Gianna pulled Megan closer for a kiss. Megan wanted to lose herself in those soft lips as she did so often, but now she was wondering if she’d meant what she thought she meant, her mind running down confused pathways. Did calling Gianna by a pet name mean she was getting more invested in this relationship? Was that safe? What was this relationship, anyway?
“Hey.” Gianna pulled apart, shifting onto her side on the bed, so that Megan also lay sideways, looking at her. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you worry or anything.”
“I’m not worrying,” Megan said, but it wasn’t entirely true, and from Gianna’s raised eyebrows, she didn’t think Gianna believed her.
“It’s just a term.” Gianna smoothed some of Megan’s hair back from her face. “But you didn’t, uh…”
Megan suddenly realized what Gianna was worried about. Or she hoped she understood. “No, I never called Cari ‘baby,’ at least not regularly. She didn’t like pet names. She called me Meggie.”
Gianna smiled, the worry clearing off her face. “Not calling you Meggie. Got it, babe.” Her voice dropped, going husky, when she said ‘babe,’ and Megan shivered all over.
Gianna drew her close again, rolling on top of her, those delicious curves sliding against Megan’s sticky, damp skin. She’d forgotten how turned on the tryouts had gotten her, but now her body remembered all over again.
Gianna’s hands cupped her breasts, and her mouth followed, sucking Megan’s nipples into her mouth one at a time until she was keening, her whole world shrinking to the sharp pleasure in her breasts and the wet heat between her thighs. Then Gianna’s hand was there, too, slipping through the slickness to find her center.
Megan spread her thighs, a reaction almost out of the control of her mind, and Gianna slid down between them. Her warm lips and supple tongue were on Megan and inside her, and it wasn’t long before Megan, too, was screaming, pleasure exploding all through her body so that she could hardly catch her breath.
Gianna climbed back onto the bed and cuddled against her, even though they were both sticky with sweat. As Megan tried to get her breath back, Gianna asked, “So how likely do you think it is that either of us made it onto the team?”
Megan couldn’t help laughing, though her lungs were exhausted. “Probably not very. There were too many other amazing skaters out there.”
“So we didn’t need to worry too much about competing with each other.”
“No.” Megan turned her head and kissed Gianna. “But it sure was fun, wasn’t it?”
Gianna put her hand on Megan’s waist and tugged her just a tiny bit closer. “It was.”
Chapter 15
A week after the tryouts, Gianna and Megan had spent the morning in the gym, and were now exhausted, lying around and stuffing themselves full of take out. They were both fully aware that they were just killing time so they didn’t spend too much time worrying about the tryouts.
“You done?” Gianna asked Megan, patting her knee.
Megan burped, surprising herself and making them both laugh. “Yeah, I guess so.” She felt pretty full—in fact, she didn’t think she could eat another bite, tasty as the French food was. It was even hard to imagine getting up from the couch, where they were both so comfortable.
“All right.” Gianna heaved herself up from the couch and grabbed both of their food containers from the table.
“You don’t have to do that,” Megan protested, somehow finding the strength to stand up. She followed Gianna into the kitchen, where she was scraping the leftover food into a Tupperware. “I was going to do that.”
Gianna grinned at her. “Well, I win again.”
“It’s not about winning,” Megan huffed, rolling her eyes. “I thought I was the competitive one here.”
Gianna gave her a quick kiss on the lips before turning to put her container in the fridge. “I only compete with you because I know how much it turns you on.”
Megan was about to make a joke about Gianna trying to seduce her, but it wouldn’t have been a very good joke, and anyway, she was interrupted by a trill coming from Gianna’s back pocket. Gianna wrinkled her nose as she closed the fridge, then pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked at the screen.
There was a pause.
Gianna’s eyes widened as she stared at her phone. “Babe, check your phone.”
“What?” Megan took her phone out of her dress pocket and looked at the lock screen. “I don’t have any notifications.”
“Email.”
“Okay… should I be worried?” Megan unlocked her phone and opened the email app—she didn’t use it much, since most of the people she talked to would rather text.
“Just trust me.” But Gianna was still just staring at her phone, the expression on her face unreadable, so Megan didn’t know what to expect.
But she did trust her.
Her email seemed to take forever to load. But when it did, the one at the top had the subject line “SISTERLY LOVE ALL-STARS.” Megan grinned and opened the email. She hoped Gayle had made it onto the team—in fact, she was almost sure of it.
She didn’t expect the first names she saw, right there in the middle of the list, to be Margaret Splatwood and Mountain Bruise.
She gaped at the list, her knuckles turning white from how tightly she was holding her phone. “We both made it?”
“Looks like it,” Gianna said.
Megan scrolled up and down, trying to get a sense of the rest of the email, but all she could comprehend was that numbered list of fourteen names. Sir Blocksalot was on it, too, of course, and Leya Out, and a few other names she recognized—Amelia and the pirate sisters.
But there were their names. Right in the middle of the list. Both of them. Together.
She dropped her phone onto the counter and threw her arms around Gianna, jubilant. “You’re amazing!”
Gianna laughed, shoving her phone into her pocket so she could hug Megan back. “You’re amazing.”
Megan kissed Gianna, unwilling to hold back in her excitement, wanting those hot lips against hers. But almost before Gianna could start to kiss her back, she pulled away, a feeling like a lead weight dropping into her stomach. “Crap.”
Gianna frowned. “What’s wrong, babe?”
“We can’t do this.” Her heart was hammering, slamming in her chest.
“You’re right, I can think of much better ways to celebrate.” Gianna grabbed Megan’s ass.
Megan shook her head. “I don’t think we can… I don’t think we should.”
“Since when are you all moral about having sex with me?” Gianna raised her eyebrows, but she let go of Megan.
“Not if we’re going to be on the same team,” Megan said. She put her elbows on the counter and her chin in her hands. She wasn’t sure how to explain her thoughts to Gianna without it sounding like an insult. But she knew that they couldn’t work together and sleep together.
Besides, Gianna was right about how much she liked competition. What had brought them together but that? She didn’t know if the spark would be there without it.
Gianna would argue with her if she said that, so she had to come up with another way to explain her feelings.
Gianna sighed and leaned her hip against the cabinet. “You really think the Sisterly Love All-Stars are going to have a problem with two team members dating? I bet it happens all the time.”
“I don’t know if it does. No one on my team is dating. Is anyone on yours?”
“Well, no. But we do have a pair of sisters. And they’re on the team, too.”
“I know.” Megan shifted her position so she was leaning against the counter, facing Gianna, her arms crossed over her middle. “But I think if we’re all over each other all the time—as we tend to be—then that’s going to mess with the team dynamics.”
“So we just have to leave each other alone while we’re at practice,” Gianna said, then frowned. “Okay, I kind of see what you mean.”
“It’ll be hard for me
to put up barriers between practice time and not-practice time, and I think we’ll be with the team a lot anyway,” Megan said. “It was weird enough at work. And Gayle and Leya already know we’re dating, of course.”
“Is Leya really her real name?”
“I don’t know. But don’t get off topic.” Megan smiled. “I don’t think it’ll be too big of a deal. We’ll see each other almost every day anyway.”
“You got that right,” Gianna said, pulling out her phone again. “Did you see that practice schedule?”
“No, not really. It was hard to get past both of us being on the team.” Megan looked over at Gianna’s phone and saw that the first five practices were already scheduled for the next week—the first one Sunday morning.
Megan groaned. “There go all my lazy, relaxed Sundays that I love so much.”
“Complain, complain,” Gianna said. “I’m going to have even less time to squeeze in class prep and homework grading.”
“It’s worth it, though,” Megan said.
“Yeah, b—Megan. It’s worth it.”
Amelia practically met Megan at the door for the first practice of the Sisterly Love All-Stars. She held her hand up for a high-five. “I knew you’d be on the team! You were amazing at tryouts. I’m so excited to skate with you.”
Megan grinned. “Me, too.” There was an irrepressible thrill bubbling up in her chest at the thought of playing with the All-Stars. She didn’t know if she’d be able to slow herself down once she was on skates.
Amelia looked around. “Where’s Gianna?”
“Um, I don’t know. We came separately.” Megan’s heart sank a little bit (though it couldn’t go very far—she was too excited). If Amelia thought they were always together, what would everyone else be expecting?
But Amelia had been next to them at the tryouts, and she’d seen them holding hands and kissing. No one else would have seen the same things.
Anyway, Amelia clearly didn’t think that it was terribly strange that they hadn’t arrived together. She just showed Megan where the locker room was and told her they were having a meeting to talk before the actual practice started, so she should just stow her bag. Megan was impatient to get into her skates, but she did what she was told.
When she returned, she saw that Gayle was just arriving, and they high-fived. “I’m so glad someone else from our team made it,” Gayle said. “I really thought Mindy would be on, but I guess she wasn’t quite at our level.”
Megan shrugged. “I was disappointed, too, but I guess they had to find people to cut. It’s half luck as much as anything else that we made it. Helen didn’t even get to the second round. But Leya’s on this team, too, remember?”
Gayle laughed, looking back over her shoulder. “You’re right. I sort of forgot about her, she’s so quiet. But she’s a good choice, too. I guess I just wish we could transplant Monstrous Regiment right into the all-star team.” She grinned.
“Yeah,” Megan said, grinning back. “It’s going to be weird having to learn to play with a different team.”
“That’s why we’re having so many practices,” Amelia said, walking up to them with two tall women by her side. “We all have to meet each other and get used to working together. This is Margaret Splatwood and Sir Blocksalot, and this is Meana Murray and Pins’n’Needles.”
Megan shook their hands. “Megan. I think I know you. Didn’t my team beat yours a few weeks ago?”
Pins’n’Needles laughed, but Amelia interrupted before she could say anything. “No competitiveness. Not with each other. Remember, we’re the Sisterly Love All-Stars now, and we’re going to crush the teams from other cities.”
Megan swallowed. “Right. No competitiveness.” Of course, Gianna happened to take that moment to walk in, wave at them, and head over.
Megan let Amelia take the lead, making the introductions again. Gayle gave Megan an odd look out of the corner of her eye, but she steadfastly ignored it. Now she really regretted letting her team know that she and Gianna were seeing each other. This was not a situation she’d envisioned in that burst of confidence.
Confidence was only for the derby track. She ought to remember that.
The rest of the team soon arrived, and then they were sitting together in the bleachers again. Their chat before practice turned out to be the two women who had run the practice—Kendall and Faith, their new coaches—giving them a pep talk and making sure everyone had met everyone else. Then they sent them back to the locker room to change and start skating laps.
Despite the encouragement to be competitive with other teams and not within the team, the laps soon turned into a race. Megan quickly pulled ahead of everyone except Amelia; the two of them were neck-and-neck, one in front then the other, for several laps. But first Megan fell behind so that Amelia was ahead of her for a whole lap, and then others started to pace her: Meana Murray, then Kiss With a Fist, then Gayle. Megan finally gave up on catching up again and slowed down when she realized her lungs were burning. She might be recovered from her injury, but she still wasn’t in the shape she’d like to be.
The coaches surprised her when they had the group stop and told them how long they’d been skating laps: ten minutes, longer than anyone would skate in a match without breaks. They said that the team would be working on stamina, but since it wasn’t the top skill in roller derby, they had to work on speed, too.
There was a one-minute water break, and then they were skating laps again. Ten more minutes of regular laps, another break, and then laps with obstacles at intervals that they had to either skate around or jump.
It would have been grueling if Megan didn’t love skating so much—just the same thing over and over again. The real fight of roller derby was missing, but she figured they would get there.
During the last set of laps, she and Gianna found themselves next to each other, keeping pace with one another. The backs of their hands touched. Megan wondered whether Gianna had caught up with her on purpose, then wondered whether she was the one who had done it on purpose. Either way, it was a lot of fun.
They all hugged it out at the end of the practice—none of them cared how sweaty they were, since all, except Kendall and Faith, were equally drenched—and Megan thought she might be hugging Gianna a little more often than anyone else. But it wasn’t too bad. It wasn’t like she was longing for Gianna’s touch every second.
All right, so she was absolutely longing for Gianna’s touch. But she could handle it. No one else seemed to notice her lustful thoughts.
Gayle invited a bunch of people to go with her for burgers afterward, and Megan agreed enthusiastically, but then wished she hadn’t when Gianna declined. “I have lesson plans to write,” she said, waving goodbye to everyone.
Megan took a deep breath and turned back to face her locker so she would have a moment to compose herself. It was a good thing that they wouldn’t be going out together after practice, she reminded herself. They had to act like two ordinary players. They could handle being apart for a while.
Chapter 16
After nearly a month of intense, almost-daily practice, the championship tournament was beginning. And Megan believed they were ready.
She wasn’t sure if she, personally, was ready. She and Gianna hadn’t seen each other outside of practice the entire time, which felt strange, even though they hadn’t been dating all that long. At the same time, work was quiet—a trampoline park was a lot less popular in fall and winter than summer—and yet somehow more stressful than ever. Megan had been glad for the extra practice to work off her anger and frustration.
But the team knew how to work together, and they were all amazing players. Megan believed they would win the championship.
She had to believe it. If all that work had been for nothing, she didn’t know what she was going to do with her life.
They were up in New York State for the tournament weekend, but the entire team—Monstrous Regiment and Rolling in the Streets as well, plus most of the other derby team
s in the city—had turned up to watch them play and cheer for them. Several other matches were being played the same day, but Megan didn’t watch them; she didn’t want to know who might be their opponents tomorrow in the second round.
And she knew they would get to the second round.
So she waited impatiently for their turn, the third match, and then waited impatiently again for her turn to play. Kiss With a Fist—Janine—was the jammer in the first jam, and she was amazing, but Megan wanted to be the one on the track.
At the end of the first jam, the Sisterly Love All-Stars were up by just one point, and that was only because Janine had ended the jam a few seconds early, before their opponent could get past Grace O’Malley. After the short break between jams, it was finally Megan’s turn.
She skated onto the track to take her spot, exchanging nods with her opponent, who was practically anonymous under her helmet. Then the whistle blew, and they were skating.
As Megan moved with singleminded intensity toward the pack, as she saw the blockers get bigger in her sight, she had a momentary, ridiculous desire to slam herself into Gianna’s body and bounce off, just like old times. It was so strong that she almost felt her skates turning.
But they were on the same team now. It wasn’t as fun as competing, but she knew how to do this. Instead of bouncing off, she caught Gianna’s arm in hers, and they used each other’s momentum to pull her past two of the opposing team’s blockers. The other team seemed surprised, like they hadn’t even realized she was there.
She and Gianna got separated after that as she struggled her way through the pack, but that was okay. She and the other blockers could get her through this. She made lead jammer, passing the pack, and then she was off again, with so much speed she could hardly comprehend the noise of the crowd over the wind in her ears.
But she could still hear the cheers.
She doubled the score in that jam, pulling them way ahead of the other team, but she knew she needed a break after that much intense skating and fighting. Amelia was the jammer next, and she almost doubled the score again. Megan was screaming for her so loudly she was hoarse.
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