At the Buzzer: A High School Bully Romance (The Ballers of Rockport High Book 3)

by E. M. Moore

  When I look around, everyone is staring at us. The party has literally died, but they’re all enjoying the free show here. I struggle away from all of them and head back inside. A quick sweep of the room, and I can’t find Dawn, so I do the next best thing. I run up the stairs, past people sitting on the steps and the empty beer cans, and right into my room. Thankfully, there’s no one in here when I step inside, so I slam the door behind me. It takes a moment for me to flip on the lights, which angers me even further. My own fucking room, and I don’t even know how to turn the damn lights on. As soon as they turn on, I head toward the bed with the brand new comforter and sit.

  There’s a battle waging inside me. I fucking hate Lake. He’s done more shit to me than anyone ever, but I’m not saying Ryan isn’t right. No, I wouldn’t want someone else to get hurt because of him, but it’s hard to separate that out and help the one person who’s tried to take everything from me. I don’t want to help him at all. If he’s going to be dumb enough to drive a fucking car while he’s high, he needs to deal with the consequences.

  But even when I think it, I know I’m wrong.

  I don’t have time to think about it anymore though because a moment later, my door bursts open, and in the doorway stands Ryan Linc, his face a mask of fury.

  Someone pissed him off, and I have a feeling that someone was me.

  12

  Ryan stalks forward. He grabs my good wrist, pulls me after him, then takes me right into his room where he slams the door, locking it behind both of us. “You and I need to talk.”

  I set my jaw. “You keep saying that.”

  His gray eyes flash. They’re more like molten silver at the moment. He moves forward, pinning me against the back of the door. “Let’s get one thing straight. I don’t care what fucking Lake does anymore. The minute he hurt you, he was out of my life. He knew it. I’d already warned him, but he fucking did it anyway.” He leans in, pressing his pelvis into mine. “The only thing on my mind is you, so if I think about him at all, I’m thinking about how I want to make him suffer for what he did to you.”

  His fingers graze down my cast, and shadows pass over his eyes.

  “Is that clear?”

  His angry tone pisses me off. “You’ll have to forgive me if I second guess you. It took you fucking long enough.”

  He growls under his breath, but instead of making me shy away, it makes the area between my legs throb. How can I be mad at him, but still want him at the same time?

  “I already said I was fucking sorry.”

  I push him away from me. “And that’s just supposed to be enough?”

  “It is for everyone else.”

  “You’re different, Ryan. You…ugh!” I scream in frustration. There’s only one thing I’ve really wanted from him this whole time: All of him.

  I move forward, wrap my hands around the back of his neck, and pull him to me. I push my lips against his, sinking into the kiss, trying to get closer and closer. He makes a sound at the back of his throat. It’s a cross between a growl and a groan. I bite his lower lip, which just spurs us on further. My cast hand travels down to his trunks. They’re still soaking wet, but I pull him to me all the same, not caring about what I’m doing to my cast at the moment either. There’s only one thing on my mind, and it’s relieving the ache that Ryan Linc started inside me too many times to count without relief. I’ve been waiting for him to touch me. Waiting for him to take charge, to take it as far as the others have, but he doesn’t. The more he continues not to, the more I wonder if he’s fully on my side or not.

  “Fucking Christ, Tessa,” Ryan bites out.

  I pull at the strings on his trunks to untie the laces. Then, I pull at the top of his trunks, stretching the elastic out before shoving his trunks down over his erection and past his thighs. Then, I press into his back with my good hand, yanking him closer to me until his full erection settles on my stomach over my wet shirt. I pause a moment, relishing that feeling then I grip him with my good hand. His head dips back at the contact before snapping forward again. His eyes widen into saucers while he grabs the hem of my shirt and forces it over my head, careful as he pulls it past my cast. He works on the buttons of my shorts next. They’re sopping wet, so they’re difficult to move down my legs, but eventually, we get them off.

  He steps back, his gaze roaming over me in just my drenched bra and panties. While he’s ogling me, I take my fill of him too. He’s erect, a bead of precum glistening at his tip. I hook my fingers under my panties and shimmy out of them.

  His eyes blaze.

  I work on instinct. My practice in this area is abysmal. Fumbling. Awkward. But I feel like I’m on fire when I push him down on the bed and straddle him. He’s nestled against me, bare skin to bare skin. I’ve done this before, but I’ve never felt anything like this. I’m so hot, I’m panting. His arms come around my back to work the clasps free on my bra. My breasts fall heavily down when he peels the straps away. I sit back on his upper thighs. His hands grab my waist as he rolls his hips up. “Fuck,” I grind out.

  My heart is in my throat. There’s nothing more I want than Ryan’s dick inside me, but when I lean over, angling my hips, Ryan sucks in a breath like he’s surprised I’m headed there.

  I’ve legit never been on top before, but Ryan doesn’t seem to notice. “Jesus, Tessa.” He reaches down, presses his fingers against my pussy. “You’re so wet, and I don’t think it’s from the pool.”

  I bite down on my lip. He’d be right. “Uh-huh.”

  I grab his dick, work him toward me until he’s at my entrance. I don’t know what’s come over me, but I like it. I like it a lot. I slide down over him, letting out a loud cry as he fills me. “Holy fuck.”

  Ryan seems stunned until I move over him. I swear I’m already five steps ahead. I’ve never had an orgasm during sex before, and I want one with Ryan. Desperately. I’m the closest I’ve ever been to having one right now and he’s only just filled me. I think it’s all the pent-up emotion from years and years.

  I rock into him, trying different angles, different tempos until I find one I like. I grip his shoulders, coming straight down on top of him again and again. It’s like I’m fucking all the aggravation, all the teasing, all the hate I’ve ever had for him right out of me. Once we’re past this, it’s almost scary to see what we’ll find. We won’t have this barrier anymore. It’ll just be us left in its wake.

  “Yes, take what you need,” Ryan says. “Take whatever you fucking want.”

  I move faster. Ryan’s jaw is clenched tight. His hands grip my ass, helping my rhythm. “I want to come,” I tell him.

  “You’ll get there, baby. Just keep going.”

  “Oh, fuck.” Jesus. It feels so fucking good. My breath saws out of me, the cries that come out of my mouth ring around the room. I know I’m being so fucking loud right now, but I don’t care. The next time I come down over him, something switches. I’m not chasing after it anymore, I know it’s coming. The feeling swells and swells until I’m riding him faster. “Ryan, yes! Fuck. God.” Then, sparks zing behind my eyes, and I scream out as I constrict around him. I keep pulsing around him as my fingers dig into his shoulders.

  I collapse onto his chiseled chest, but he doesn’t let me stay there. He flips us until he’s on top of me. Still seated inside me, he presses a kiss to my lips. “My God, Tessa.” He’s looking down at me reverently while I’m still trying to suck in breaths. I’ve worn myself out. I know I must’ve looked like a crazed sex fiend, but Ryan doesn’t seem to care. “Was that your first orgasm during sex?” he asks.

  I nod, still breathing heavy and feeling the fluttery beats of my heart. “Yes.”

  “That was so fucking hot…” He reaches his hand up to cup my face. “…and beautiful.”

  I’m sure he’s lying. I probably looked like a deranged monkey.

  He pumps inside me, his face takes on a mask of torture as he draws in and out of me in slow, steady motions. I moan at his long and languid stro
kes.

  “I suppose this is a bad time to ask if you’re on the pill?”

  I nod, then place my arms around his shoulders. “Yes,” I say breathlessly. “I wouldn’t have…” I can’t even think. Ryan’s pace is driving me crazy in the best way. I’m trying to tell him there’s no way I would’ve done that if I wasn’t, but I’m not sure that’s true. I was out of my mind with want.

  He runs his hand through my hair, then kisses a line down my neck. “I know,” he says sweetly. “God, you feel so fucking good. Yes, so tight. And hot.” He punctuates each word with a stroke inside me.

  He lowers his mouth to my neck, traveling down my chest before his hot breath is over my nipples. He lashes out, licking at one peaked bud then the next. The sensation goes right to the apex of my thighs. “Ohh,” I moan. I can see now why I’ve heard women can have multiple orgasms. Before, I couldn’t even get one, but if Ryan keeps doing this, I’ll be well on my way.

  “These are fucking perfect,” he murmurs, taking one nipple in his mouth and sucking on it.

  “Mmm, Ryan.” Now that I’m not in charge, I can appreciate every little touch he makes that stokes my fire. He’s taking his time, exploring me. Where I was demanding my orgasm out of me, unable to restrain myself, he’s coaxing with a slow burn that I can’t wait to feel the results of.

  “I can’t tell you how fucking good it feels to be inside you. God.” His next stroke is harder, forcing a cry past my lips. He goes back to his slow, exploratory strokes, but every once in a while, he thrusts inside me hard until my head is spinning from the change in tempo.

  Reaching down, I grasp his ass, moving my hips into his.

  “You like that?” he asks.

  “Oh God, yes.”

  He grinds down into me, and I gasp.

  I’m so caught up in everything he’s doing to my body that I don’t notice his face right away. When I look up, he’s staring at me as if he’s in awe. He keeps the pace, grinding against me as I writhe beneath him. “You mean everything to me, Tessa Dale. I don’t care about anything else. Not even basketball. I swear it. I’d give up my spot, so you could play. I hope you know that.” He bites his lip. The muscles in his neck and shoulders pop and strain. “Everything I do is for you.” He moans. “Oh shit.”

  I meet his stroke with one of my own. His words have only stoked the inferno building inside. “Make me come, Ryan.”

  He falls down onto his forearms. His movements quicken, but he keeps the same edge to his eyes, watching my every movement, reading me like a playbook. Suddenly, I feel his fingers at my clit.

  “Oh,” I say, dragging the word out. “More.” I tilt my head back against the bed, letting the pleasure roll through me from the top of my head to the very tips of my feet. My heels dig into the mattress. “Please, Ryan.”

  His hips move in earnest. We move against one another until the point where we meet fully at the sweetest spot. I aim to hit there again and again until he sweeps over my clit one more time, and I start to tremble.

  “Oh fuck. I’m going to.”

  He swirls his finger there, still meeting me in avid strokes until my hips come off the bed for the last time. I cry out, digging my nails into him again. He follows me right after. I feel him pulse inside me, filling me. It makes my orgasm start again, another round of aftershocks that make me go limp on the bed afterward.

  He drops his forehead to mine. “Holy fuck,” he breathes. “I had no idea you’d be like this. Damn.”

  My chest expands again and again as I attempt to control my breathing. “I couldn’t get enough of you,” I say, cringing at my frenzied movements in the beginning.

  He chuckles softly. “I think it’s what we both needed.”

  I bite my bottom lip, pulling it through my teeth until I just smile up at him. He pulls out of me, and I notice the emptiness now, already wishing for a time when I’m filled once more. He grabs a shirt out of his drawer and wipes himself off while grabbing yet another clean one from his dresser for me. He spreads my legs carefully, then passes the material gently over me, soaking up his cum I knew leaked out of me as soon as he backed away.

  “God, you’re beautiful,” he says again, reverently. He tosses the shirt to the side, then searches his drawer for a pair of basketball shorts. He pulls them on, then leans over me where I haven’t strayed from the bed to press a chaste kiss to my lips. “I’m going to get a washcloth from the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”

  While he’s gone, I shimmy up the bed and press my head into his pillows. They smell like him. I get under the covers, my eyes already feeling heavy. When he comes back in, he sees me there, but doesn’t say anything. He pulls the covers down only to wash me properly, and then dumps the used washcloth on top of the discarded clothes. He finds his cell phone on the table and starts to type out a message.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Telling the guys to handle the party because I’m indisposed.”

  A smile creeps over my lips. “They’re going to know what that means.”

  “I don’t care.” His phone vibrates in his hand, and he laughs.

  “What?” I ask.

  “Just Sloan telling me I’m a lucky motherfucker.” He texts out a reply, then glances at me. “Where’s your phone?”

  “I gave it to Dawn to hold in her purse.”

  “I’m going to have them text your mom that you’re spending the night at Dawn’s, okay?”

  I nod into the pillow. Ryan got exactly what he wanted, me spending the night with him.

  He sends the message, then turns the phone off before climbing into bed with me. We just stare at one another for a good few minutes. The boy across from me now is the same boy I had feelings for at camp all those years ago. A lifetime of things have happened between us since then, but this is the most significant. He blinks once. “I love you, Tessa Dale.”

  For a second, I’m shocked, but then it all comes pouring into me, a feeling I always knew was there, but was just waiting in the background for me to realize it. “I think I’ve loved you since that first year at camp,” I tell him.

  Maybe it was little kid love then. A crush that turned into so much more, which was why it broke me when he cast me aside. But it’s probably also the same feeling that brought me to RHS in the first place. I knew I wasn’t just there for basketball. I was there for them. For Ryan. For their team. I didn’t know how I was supposed to fit in, but I knew I was.

  I understand it all now. And I know that I love every single one of them.

  Hayes. Alec. Sloan. Ryan. My forever starting lineup. They’re all I need.

  13

  Waking up next to Ryan Linc is like…well, it’s like a dream. I don’t know if I could have slept in the bedroom that’s meant for me but sleeping in Ryan’s isn’t a problem. When the first rays of sun start to pour in through the window, I blink my eyes open. Ryan’s still next to me, his arm draped haphazardly over my body. I’m still naked, and now that we’re not in the heat of the moment, I’m feeling pretty shy about that fact. Why the hell hadn’t I put on a shirt or something last night before I decided to get under his covers? I certainly wasn’t thinking about what I’d have to go through this morning.

  I peel his arm away from me slowly, hoping not to wake him until I at least get out of bed and find my shirt from last night. Gingerly, I throw one leg over the side of the bed and then the other. The sheet slides down my body. Since I’m uncovered, I might as well go now. I stand, quickly searching the room, when a hand locks around my good wrist. I squeal as surprise ripples through me.

  Ryan snickers on the bed. “Where are you going, beautiful?”

  “I was looking for my clothes.”

  He gives me a slight tug, but I don’t dare turn. Then, he does it a little harder, enough for the backs of my legs to hit the bed, and I take a seat. Then, he pulls down on my shoulders until my back is on the bed again. “No clothes. Never again.”

  I try to sneak the covers up to cover me, but he
notices what I’m doing and lifts an eyebrow. “What?” I ask, feigning innocence.

  He pulls the covers back down. “What are you doing?” His eyes rake all over me. “I hope you know you’re fucking perfect.” He smiles, and this time, there’s amusement in his eyes. “For someone who fucked me like you did last night, I’m surprised with how you’re acting this morning.”

  I groan, and I can feel my face heat. I was seriously out of control last night. I wanted Ryan Linc possibly more than anything I’ve ever wanted in my entire life.

  “Don’t do that,” he says. “It was sexy as hell.” He interlaces our fingers, and then looks me in the eye. “In case what we did last night didn’t say it enough, I’m sorry, Tessa. I never meant to hurt you, and I know I kept doing it and kept doing it.”

  I squeeze his fingers. “I don’t want to talk about the past anymore. If we’re going to be doing this, I think we need to move on.”

  “Start fresh?”

  “Kind of… I don’t want to forget about the past, but we also don’t need to keep talking about it.”

  He brings our entwined hands to his lips and kisses the back of my hand. “We do need to talk about one thing though.”

  I turn on my side to face him. “What’s that?”

  “Lake.”

  The butterflies that had been flying around in my stomach all take a sudden nosedive. “What about him?”

  He disentangles our fingers and then cups my face. “I just want you to know I didn’t want to help him yesterday. He’s dead to me. But I can’t keep having him and Rhonda act like they own the school either. He’s going to cause too much drama. In his eyes, you’re the problem and you warped our minds. He won’t stop showing up, and he won’t stop calling. Now that Rhonda is thoroughly pissed off, it’s only going to get worse.”

  “You want to do something about it?”

  He lies back on the bed. A guy his age should seriously not be as cut as he is, but he’s gorgeous. His chest lifts, so I spread my fingers out over him. The sheets are wrapped around his waist, so he’s partially hidden from me this morning, but I got to see plenty last night, and trust me, I’m pleased. I bite my lip when I think about what happened between us, but then Ryan’s next words pull me back into the present. “I’m just waiting for him to do something stupid. I don’t know what he’s going to do, but trust me, I know my best friend. Ex-best friend,” he clarifies.