by E. M. Moore
After a beat, Ryan takes a step closer to me. We’re not even touching, but my body feels his presence. Warning signals fire off, but there’s a lot more to it than that. He lifts his hand and gently brushes against my shoulder. “Do you remember when you and I were in the stairwell at school?” I don’t bother nodding. He knows I wouldn’t forget. “I wonder,” he muses. “If you would still respond to me like that.”
My heart jumps in my chest, then it constricts. I can hear my mother humming in the kitchen. I even think I can hear laughter coming from outside like people are starting to arrive, but all I can focus on is Ryan being so close to me. “Yes,” I say, breathless.
He stops his movements. I caught him off guard. I don’t think he expected me to say anything or even admit that I would.
The doorbell rings. The tension breaks immediately. I glance at him then push around him to run toward the front of the house, yelling to my mom that I got it. When I open the door, the rest of the Ballers are there, and the food delivery is just pulling up. That’s a relief.
Alec gives me a smile, Sloan touches my chin, Hayes just barely looks at me, and Lake, well, typical Lake just walks in like he owns the place. Ryan is there to greet them at the end of the foyer. “Mom, pizza’s here,” I yell back.
Mom comes around from the kitchen, nearly startling herself when she sees the other Ballers. She gives a short laugh, welcoming them, and then gets to the door just as the pizza guy walks up. He hands off the pizzas to me three at a time as I then turn and hand them off first to Alec and then to Hayes. Mom stays and settles the bill while I take the last two pizzas and lead the other guys into the sunroom. We put the pizzas down on the tables Ryan and I set up, and then I quickly point out the pool and the basketball court to the guys telling them where they can get towels, extra shorts, and basketballs from if they want to do that.
Sloan drags a hand down my back before he settles his touch just above my ass. “I, for one, can’t wait to see what you look like in a bikini.”
My body heats. I hadn’t thought about having to wear a suit in front of all these guys.
“It’s hot,” Alec says. The rest of the guys glare at him. Lake for a far different reason than the others, so Alec just laughs. “My sister’s upset, by the way. She doesn’t understand why she can’t come to the pool party.”
I smile at him. “Tell your sister I’ll have her over sometime.”
The doorbell rings again. I move to get it, but Ryan says, “Why don’t you help your mom, and the guys and I will get the door?”
I look up at him. “Oh, okay.”
“And get dressed,” Sloan says, his hot breath on my ear.
Nerves tighten my belly. While Ryan gets the door, the rest of them walk back out into the main room, but I go to the kitchen where my mom is getting out paper plates and cups from the pantry. There’s about a dozen liters of soda on the counter, so I help take them to the table. After that, my mother says she has everything taken care of. Most of the team is there now, even my dad, so I head to my room to change.
When I get there, I sit at the edge of my bed, blowing out a breath. This morning when I sat here, I hoped it would end this way. I had no idea I’d have the entire team in my house, but I hoped I’d have a spot on the team. The party is a little much, but not unwelcome. I’m sure my dad wants them to accept me as part of their team, and this is a way to get them to do so. It was actually pretty smart.
The door opens. I look up, expecting my mother, but Lake walks in instead. His cocky smirk is on full throttle as he lets himself peruse my room, shutting the door behind him with a resounding thud. His presence makes me think about the time he held me down with his brother, but I try not to let it show that he’s bothering me. “What do you want, O’Brien?”
After glancing disdainfully around the room, he leans back against my door and crosses his hands over his chest. His dark eyes are menacing, hooded, as he looks over at me. The room feels suddenly too small with him and I in it and him blocking the only exit. “I’m here to tell you that you making the team means nothing to me, Dale. I don’t care that the rest of the guys want to fuck you, or they claimed you or whatever else their dicks are telling them to do, watch yourself. They’ll always be on my side.”
“Congratulations. Can you go now?” I’m trying to sound brave, but I know what he’s saying is true. They have a bond I can’t understand. I’ve never had four best friends. I’ve never had that good of a friend except for Dawn, and even she and I can’t seem to keep up with each other all the time. I’m not going to even count Tiff as a friend because she abandoned me the moment I switched schools.
He smirks. “You wish. Listen up. Shooting guard start position is mine. You don’t have a chance. You never did. Not even with a famous daddy.”
“I don’t need my dad to know I’m good.”
“But you’re not better than me.” He stares at me, brow cocked as if he’s egging me on to challenge him. I really don’t want any problems with Lake, so I keep my mouth shut even though I have plenty to say to him. How the hell are these guys friends with him?
“We’re on the same team now, Lake,” I remind him.
He laughs bitterly. “We’ll never be on the same team. Watch what happens if you try to take my spot. You think you have all the Ballers, you don’t. I can promise you that.” He moves away from the door and grabs the handle. “Bros before hoes. You’ve heard that, right? You might want to ask them how come all you’ve ever done with them is get fingered. That might tell you something about how it’s us first, everyone else last.”
My cheeks heat. I hate that he knows the intimate things I’ve done. When he shuts the door behind him, my chest expands in relief. I will not let Lake goad me. Especially not in my own house. I grab my sporty bikini out of my dresser and pull it on. Game on, O’Brien. I’d love nothing more than to take the starting position away from him. But I need to earn it and deserve it. He should feel the same instead of emptying threats at me.
32
Being on the basketball team is exactly what I thought it would be. The majority of people in the school like me now, or at least pretend to. They all talk to me, ask me about practice, and the entire school is hyped for the scrimmage against Broadwell Academy. They hate those rich kids. Sure, I still get the occasional shit from the girls who used to hang around the Ballers, but that’s dwindled, too. I can’t know if it’s because basketball season started or if it’s because of me, but Ryan, Hayes, and of course, Alec and Sloan haven’t had a girl around them but me in weeks.
Lake’s still a manwhore.
We spend our days after school at practice, becoming more and more the team we know we can be. We settle into an easy rhythm, and the obvious cream of the crop rises to the top. I hate how well Lake is doing, but at the same time, I’m happy he’s as good as he is. His skills really shine through when all the Ballers are playing as a team. It’s really something to watch when they read one another and pull out plays that make my head spin. How did Ryan know Alec was going to spin to the basket? Or that Hayes was running down the center? It’s not even plays Coach calls, it’s just pure instinct for them. It’s going to be hard to penetrate that teamwork, but I have my own goals, too. If no one gets to watch me play because I’m stuck on the bench, how am I going to make it to college and then further?
Sloan reaches over and flicks me lightly in the arm. He’s followed me to History again on account of him “needing the extra work for a test.” He’s so full of shit. “Are you there?” he whispers.
I look over at him. His whole face is smooth and sure. “Yeah.”
“You’re so in your own head all the time. I need to get you out again.”
I know exactly what he means by this. I can’t say I haven’t thought of him and Alec—and yes, even Ryan—because I have. We still hang out a lot, but there’s barely time for anything else other than the occasional touch and kiss.
The bell rings and the whole class picks up their
stuff and leaves. Mr. Schaffer, too, grabs his briefcase and is out the door quickly leaving just Sloan and I there. I stand, slipping my notebook in my bookbag and zipping it back up. Sloan steps his long legs over the desk and into my space. “Hey,” I say when he pulls my bag out of my hands.
He smirks until he backs me up against the desk across from mine. Then, he picks me up and sits me down on it, spreading my knees apart with his legs so he can step inside. My heart pumps wildly in my chest as I look up at the dangerous edge in his hazel eyes. “I keep thinking about you spread out over my air hockey table. So sexy,” he murmurs.
His hands move up my thighs and to my hips. “Sloan,” I say, glancing at the door. “We’re in school.”
He leans over, making me lean further back on the desk. “It’s your fault. You won’t let me see you outside of school.”
“You don’t ask.”
“How am I supposed to say, ‘Tessa, I can’t stop thinking about you. The way you tasted. The feel of your skin’ when all you want to do is talk basketball. Hell, you wouldn’t even go to the Halloween dance with us.”
He hovers over me, and I have to arch my back to look him in the face. When I breathe, my chest hits his. “I think you did just say that.”
“I tried—we’re all trying—to give you space, but—” He bites his lip and drags his gaze over my body. “I’m tortured. Ryan is wound up fucking tight and Alec and Hayes—”
“Hayes?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know.”
“He never talks.”
He presses a kiss to the curve of my neck. I move to give him better access. He moans into me, kissing a sensitive spot that has me bringing my leg up, using my heel on his ass to bring him closer to me.
He’s hard, struggling to keep under control. “If we were alone right now…”
I close my eyes, imagining what he could do to me. Am I fighting this subconsciously? If I want it, why don’t I just let him? My mind hits the snag I’ve been thinking about since the impromptu party at my house. Something stupid Lake said, but it’s been bothering me. “I need to ask you something.”
He kisses the spot below my ear. The bell rings above us, the halls growing quiet. Neither one of us moves. “Anything.”
“How come we haven’t gone any further than we have?”
He pulls away a little. “I just told you. You’re completely obsessed with basketball right now.”
I smile. That’s true, but that’s not what I was going for. “So,” I start. “If I told you to take your pants off right now, that I was ready for that, would you do it?”
“In school?” he asks, raising an eyebrow, though I can tell there’s definitely interest in his heated gaze.
“Pretend we were on your air hockey table. Would you have done what we started before your mom interrupted?”
He looks away, his throat working.
“Would you have kissed me there until I came?”
He turns back toward me. “What’s this about?”
I stare into his eyes. “Lake implied that you wouldn’t, that there’s a reason why only Alec has—”
Sloan drops his forehead to mine, breathing heavy. “Lake has a big fucking mouth.”
I close my eyes. I expected this. “So, he’s right? You can tell me, Sloan.”
He takes a deep breath. “It’s this pact we all made after…well, after camp one year.” He looks up at me, and I think I know exactly what summer he’s talking about. The summer Ryan said he pretended not to like me. “We all promised that a girl would never come between us, and that if we did anything with a girl, she’s fair game.”
“Fair game? As in once one of you has her, the rest of you can, too?” No wonder why I see the same girls around them all the time.
He nuzzles my neck. “It was never an issue until you showed up. Sex is one thing, but sex with someone you actually like is— Fuck, I don’t know how to explain it, Tessa. I’ve never truly liked the girls I’ve been with. Don’t be mad.”
I cup his cheek, and he pulls away to see my face. I can see his worry etched there, but I’m mostly still caught on the part that he’s never liked the girls he’s had sex with. It just seems crazy to me. “I’m not mad. I just wish someone other than Lake had told me about it.”
“Lake doesn’t get it. He thinks it’s ridiculous Alec and I are down to share you. Using the other girls and passing them around was supposed to be a message that we don’t care, but it’s so different with you. The fact that I know Alec’s had his fingers inside you makes me so fucking jealous, but at the same time, I get it. I don’t blame him; I don’t blame you. I just want whatever you want to give me.”
My throat tightens, and I can’t help but smile. My hand curves around the back of his neck as I pull him toward me, sealing my lips to his. He makes a raw sound in the back of his throat as he starts to kiss me back. He grinds against me. His erection’s returned in full force. He keeps going, and my body responds, arching into his, trying to eke out every feeling I can get. “Fuck, Sloan. This is too much for school.”
His body is tight, his fingers curling over the edge of the desk as he works over me. “I know. Damnit.” He doesn’t stop though, he keeps grinding against me. My knees drop to the side, giving him more of me. My body fires off, heating, ricocheting my need for him around me.
“God, I wish I wasn’t wearing pants right now.”
“I wish I was inside you. Fuck.”
His hand hits my thigh, then travels to my center. He presses down on my nub, and I squirm. “Shit.” He starts rubbing, dragging his touch down and around until I’m charging full steam ahead. “Oh, God, Sloan.” I don’t know what’s come over me. I can’t stop. He rubs me just where I need him to. My mouth opens in a silent scream, and then I tremble with my release.
He’s still moving against me, both hands braced on the sides of the desk now. I sneak my hand between us and grab him. He jerks twice, then freezes until a second later I feel his cock pulse in my hand. He drops his head into my shoulder, face straining, as a groan tears through him.
Afterward, we just stay there, our bodies becoming our own again. “I’m so fucking sorry,” he says. His back bows as his breaths still come out hard against my shoulder. “Shit. I couldn’t control myself.”
I wrap both arms around him, and then he moves, hugging me, too. “Don’t be sorry.”
We stay there for a while, his fingers pressing into me and wandering over my back. Then, he chuckles. “I’m going to have to go commando for the rest of the day. It’s going to get a little awkward during practice if I don’t have an extra pair of boxers in my locker.”
I rub my hand over his neck. “Are you saying no more secret trysts at school?”
“Hell no. I’m saying I’m going to have to bring an extra pair of boxers with me all the time now. Affection is hard to come by when you’re an Ivy.”
I hold tight to him, breathing in his fresh scent. Orgasming in school with the classroom door open might not be my finest moment, but I’d do it again if it was with him.
33
Pick me up?, Alec sends me just as I’m walking out to the car. I’m dressed in a plain black skirt and white shirt. Today is our first scrimmage. I’m not even starting, but I’m super nervous. Right after school, the team will take a bus to Broadwell Academy. I know I’ll be seeing Andrew and possibly even Tiff if her vulture-like tendencies toward athletes still stand.
Sure., I tell him, putting her out of my head. All the years we went to school together, yet I feel closer to even Ryan than her at this point.
I’ve been looking forward to competing in a game again. Practice is a close second, but there’s nothing like the hype of competition and working with your teammates toward the win. Tonight will be a true test to how we’ll play together. I’m hoping to get some minutes in. Fucking Lake can’t play the whole game even though he likes to tell people he can. The only thing I’ll be waiting to see is if I’m shooting guard number two
according to Coach, or if I’m number three.
Dust kicks up in the air as I pull up to Alec’s house. He doesn’t come out right away, so I push the car door open and head toward the front of his house. I’m just about to knock when the door opens in front of me. Alec’s standing there, his face twisted into a scowl. I take a step back, but he immediately wipes his face clean, giving me a small smile. “Hey, babe.”
When he steps out, my mind wanders to how perfectly handsome he looks in his black suit pants and crisp, white shirt. It’s almost like I’m back at the academy again. The guys there always had to wear nice suits. I don’t know if it’s all those years of that, but I love a guy in a suit. It makes my stomach fluttery. Add to that the fact that I know what’s under that suit, I’m almost buzzing. If I close my eyes, I can still see all four Ballers I like in my pool with their shirts off. What a sight. All the girls at school would’ve wanted to be me that day. All of them.
Too bad, bitches.
“Answer a question for me,” Alec says, looking me up and down. “How is it that you can look just as hot in this, the clothes you wear to school, and your swimsuit?” He makes a face. “Well, maybe the bikini was a tad sexier.”
I slap his chest. Ever since Sloan had that um, talk, with me in the school classroom, I’ve been trying to chill out a bit more. I’ve been known to be obsessive and have a one-track mind. I’ve finally gotten to be a part of them like I’ve always wanted, so I need to relax. “You say that to all the girls.”
He follows me to the car. I sneak a glance behind me when he says, “I haven’t been with another girl since you. None of us have. Well, except Lake.”
I turn and walk backward. “You don’t need to tell me ‘except Lake.’ When I talk about us, you can be certain I don’t mean Lake.”
Alec worries over his lip and looks away. “He’s not…bad, Tessa.”
“He’s an asshole.”
“We’re all assholes.”
True enough. “He’s you guys in triplicate though.”