by E. M. Moore
“Someone’s in a mood.”
It’s Sloan. My body relaxes, but Ryan’s only goes even more rigid. To smooth things over, I step up on my tiptoes and kiss his cheek. When he moves from in front of me, I see that they’re all there. Dawn and David are off to the side, but that’s not who has my attention. Sloan, Hayes, and Alec are standing in front of me. They’re looking entirely too scrumptious in their semi-dressy outfits. Alec has the sleeves of his dress shirt rolled up to his elbows. Why the hell is that so sexy? Damn.
I take a steadying breath and move forward. Ryan takes my left hand while Hayes follows close to me on my right. Sloan and Alec bring up the rear.
This is entirely too crazy. I went from having no dates last year to having four.
The night is nothing short of amazing. I dance with all of them, slow and fast songs, both of which make my heart pump fast, but for entirely different reasons. Lake and Rhonda are here, too. I haven’t spoken to the guys to see if they talked to Lake about Trials, but I assume they have. Ryan, I’m sure, would’ve been right on that after the decision was made. They keep clear of us the whole night until they’re just background like everyone else.
Sloan’s hand lowers further and further down my back while we sway together until I squirm when he’s inches away from cupping my ass. We’re dancing to one of the last slow songs of the night. At least that’s what the DJ said. “I’m teasing,” he says. For a couple beats, we don’t say anything, but then he muses, “This is way better than last year, isn’t it?” I’m about to agree with him when he continues with, “This year, I get to fulfill my fantasies and dance with you. Last year, I just had to stare from afar while that loser hit on you.” I bite the inside of my cheek as Sloan pulls me close. “I don’t want you to worry about basketball this year, Tessa. The guys and I will take care of everything.”
“So sexist, Sloan Ivy. I can handle myself.”
He pulls away, his brow furrowing. “We got you in this position, so we should get you out.”
His words are so simple, but what actually happened is a lot more complex than that. No matter how much they want to make this right for me, I’m going to do it for myself. Even though this cast has taken most of my focus this year, I need to look beyond that. I need to think about the future. I need to see me getting myself a spot on the team again. Then, I’ll take everything from there.
Nothing is going to get in my way.
21
At the end of the night, Sloan, Ryan, and a muted Hayes tell me they have to take off. I only have to look at Alec for confirmation that this has to do with the Trials. Over the next two weeks, they’ll probably be sneaking off more and more to put the two recruits through the wringer. Is it wrong that I hope they give extra special attention to Baby O’Brien?
Alec pulls me to him when they leave. His strong arms wrap around me, and I’m not thinking about basketball anymore at all, I’m just thinking about him. He holds me that way until the lights in the gym come on and reality hits me in the face. The whole night has seemed like a fairy tale. Not only was I there with my guys, but there was no dramatic picture of me shown to the entire student body at RHS. No tears. No running suicides in my homecoming dress. It was just a wonderful night.
Alec and I have pretty much closed the place down, so he takes my hand and walks me toward the gym doors. Dawn and David are taking cookies from the refreshment table on their way out as the workers are trying to clean everything up. Dawn raises her eyebrows at me as she notices who I ended up with. “Night, night, Tessa!” she yells over her shoulder as she and David leave with their snacks and take off out the door.
My phone vibrates in the small purse I brought with me. I take it out and stare down at the screen. It’s a text from my mom. I open it and have to laugh at what she’s written. Probably won’t be back tonight. Take care of yourself. Let me know if you need anything.
Alec, who read the text over my shoulder, says, “I guess your mom really likes that guy she’s seeing.”
I smile until my face hurts. This is what I would’ve wanted for my mom after Dad left her. She needs to find love again. She’s too good of a person to be alone. “I’m glad,” I tell him, squeezing his hand in mine. “She deserves it.”
He leads me to his truck and then drives me all the way up the mountain to my house. The only light on is the front porch, so I know my mom’s not here just like she said. I wrap my hand around Alec’s as he leads me up the front steps. “You should come in. If you want, I mean.”
Nerves tighten my stomach. Alec and I never get a moment alone together. Especially not with baseball going on right now. If I go over to his house, his family is always there, and if he’s at mine, either the guys or my mother are around.
We no sooner get into the house when Alec twists me around in his arms to face him. His mouth is on mine in an instant, guiding my lips apart, so he can take the kiss as deep as he wants to. I’m barely able to catch my breath, sinking into a sea of Alec with no life vest. “God, I fucking missed you,” he says. He has that same growly hint to his voice from the first time he had to have me, his hands down my pants right outside the locker room.
I pull my purse strap over my head and drop it on the tile right there while walking him further into the house. I kiss him all the way into the living room until I back him toward the couch. He falls back onto the soft cushions, and I fall right with him, my legs on either side of his. There’s nothing to this dress, so I feel every place our bodies touch, every pass of his hands as he gropes me, pulling me to him like a frantic, love-sick kid.
He tilts his hips up until I feel his erection. I groan into his mouth. He’s so hard.
His hand comes up to cup my breast through my dress, and he squeezes. “I can’t stop thinking about you. I swear, this never fucking goes away.”
I undo the button on his pants and pull the sides apart until he’s poking through his boxers in the empty space I left. I pull on his pants, and he lifts his ass, so we can work them down his thighs. I’m on him again in the next instant, rocking my hips into his with only the thin barriers of boxers and panties between us. His hand moves up my back, then back down, taking my zipper with him. He slips the collar of the dress over my shoulders and down my arms before he pulls the whole thing over my head. He discards the black material on the couch next to us before staring at my body, taking me all in like he has all the time in the world. I work on his shirt next, just unclasping the buttons all the way down and pulling the sides of his shirt apart until his chest and abs are exposed. My fingers travel over him while his moves to my center, sliding over my panties. I grip his shoulders at the contact. “Yes, Alec.”
“You like my fingers inside you, don’t you?”
“Mmm,” I moan. “I want something more though.”
His eyes hood over, secreting away the green depths from me.
I reach forward, tugging on his boxers. He obliges and then helps me with my panties. After they’re left forgotten on the floor, his hands wrap around my body until he unclasps my bra. My breasts spill out, and for a moment, Alec’s completely enthralled. He tugs on my nipples, making my head fall back. Then his lips surround them, and he sucks, nips, tugs, and licks until I’m rolling my hips against his cock. He’s sitting on the couch like some sort of God, naked from the waist down, but with his shirt still on. Finally, I grip him and move with him until I guide him toward my entrance. He hisses in a breath at our first contact.
He takes my hips, gripping me as I slide down over him. A cry gets stuck in the back of my throat.
Alec is inside me. We’re on my couch. Holy shit. I moan long and hard before moving against him. Alec’s lips surround my nipples as I force the pace, rolling my hips into him again and again. Each time I start down this new path with one of them I think it can’t get any better, but it does. With my ex, I thought sex was just something we should do. It was the next step. With my Ballers, it’s everything. I crave it. I can almost feel myself turning in
to a completely different person when they’re inside me. Stronger, more powerful. I usually only feel like this out on the court during games.
“So tight,” Alec says on a harsh breath. “Jesus, baby.”
“So fucking hard,” I pant back.
“Yes, just like that.” His hands on my ass are only there to steady me. He lets me do everything, taking from him what I need. I can feel every hard ridge as I slide down over him, the perfect impalement. “Jesus,” he groans. “And your tits, too.”
My breath catches. His teeth tease my nipple then he licks the sting away, softening the bite ever so slightly.
“I can’t wait to feel you come around me,” Alec says, his voice an earnest whisper. “You’re the first girl I masturbated to, right about the time you got these,” he says, cupping my breasts in his large palms. “The year Ryan told us all about kissing you. Fuck me, I wanted that to be me. I wanted it so bad.”
My mouth drops, sighing, my orgasm builds inside me at his confession. My toes curl. At the last moment, he guides me down over him hard, and I scream out his name. His fingers dig into me as I clench around him. He steadies his breath until I come down, wrapping my arms around him and squeezing. What he just told me is a precious gift. To know that he liked me back then, too. I don’t have words, but my heart swells all the same.
He lowers me onto the couch, still seated inside. He watches my face as he strokes his hard length into my core. His hands clasp my cheeks as he peppers kisses over my lips until he shudders, releasing himself inside me. He drops his forehead to mine, thrusting toward me with short pumps until he lets out a breath. “Holy shit.”
He could say that again.
He stays there with me even after he pulls out. He turns on his side, and I move into his arms. I know we should probably get up and get dressed in case my mom comes home, but I can’t bring myself to move now that I’m encased in his arms. I’m in and out of sleep. Every time I open my eyes, he’s still there, wrapped around me, and my eyes close once more.
I’m not sure how long we stay that way, but we’re awoken by my phone ringing in the hallway. My heart crashes against my chest, and then I’m on my feet in the next instant, even though drowsiness is pulling back against me. Alec moves too. He practically jumps off the couch and starts pulling his clothes on as I run to the phone. I unzip the purse, and curse when I see it’s my mom. “It’s my mom,” I call out, my heart in my throat.
Alec curses as I answer the phone, trying to make my voice sound as normal as possible. “Hi, Mom.”
“Hey, are you okay? You sound funny. Scared. Did something happen?”
I try to laugh it off. “Just watching a scary movie by myself. You know what that does to me.”
She laughs at that, and I only hope she can’t tell that I’m lying. “Well, I was just checking in on you, wanting to make sure you were okay. I don’t think I’ll be home tonight, so you can stay home if you want, or I’m sure you can spend the night at your father’s.”
God help me. Of course Ryan filters through my head when she mentions spending the night at Dad’s. I wonder if he’s back from the Trials. Hell, I don’t even know what time it is. “Okay,” I tell her. “I’ll see…see what I feel like. Have fun.”
“Night, Tess. See you in the morning.”
“See you in the morning.”
I turn when I say it and watch as Alec’s face visibly relaxes. As soon as I end the call, he says, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to stay like this. My parents are probably freaking out.”
He reaches for his phone in his pocket and quickly responds to a text. “Is it your mom?” I ask him.
He nods. “Just wanting to know where I am…an hour ago.”
I close my eyes. “Sorry.”
He casts the phone aside and pulls me to him again. He’s clothed now, but I’m not. He looks down the length of my body. “Do not apologize.” He curves his hand around my ear. “One of the best nights of my entire life.”
I’m about to melt into a pile of goo when both our phones go off. Alec reluctantly reaches toward his on the couch, and I grab mine as well. It’s a picture message in one of our group texts with my other Ballers. I bring it up, and once I see what it is, my jaw drops. Alec slaps the couch, laughing out loud in a way I’ve never heard him before.
“What the hell?”
The next message comes from Hayes. From me to you, Tessa.
“He didn’t,” I say, my jaw practically hitting the floor
“Oh, he did,” Alec says. “Why am I not surprised?”
I can’t look away from the screen nor can I keep the goofy smile off my face. It’s mean to smile about this, but I also feel a sense of justice pour over me. River O’Brien got just what he deserves.
The picture on my screen is of him with a dick drawn on his face, the head butting up against his lips with the words “I suck” scrawled across his forehead. His face is red, his mouth twisted into an angry scowl. There’s the peek of a sneaker near his neck like someone’s holding him down for the picture—forcefully.
I text Hayes a bunch of hearts. Enough to fill three lines before putting my phone down and looking at Alec. “I can’t believe he did that.”
Alec snickers. “I can. We had no idea they were going to do that to you last year, you know. Last year…” He swallows. “I’m not going to pretend that I didn’t go along with it because I did, obviously, so I don’t know if it makes any difference to tell you we didn’t know.”
I shrug. I don’t like talking about before. I’m not even sure if I should be happy River got what was coming to him. I think he’ll do just about anything his older brother tells him to. Now, if only they’d drawn a dick on Lake’s face, but I know they won’t. They’re putting up a united front right now for the Trials and other basketball related activities, so there won’t be any of that.
You should’ve seen Lake’s face. This text is from Sloan. I had to turn my phone back over to read it, and those words bring another smile to my face.
Well, that gives me enough satisfaction for now.
Alec smiles down at his screen too. “Hayes doesn’t want anything to do with those two, so he’s going to make their lives a living hell.”
I knew there was a reason I liked that guy. “All of it deserved,” I say.
He locks eyes with me. “Absolutely.”
There’s a shadow there, too, though. A shadow that tells me he thinks he deserves punishment for his part in what they did as well. It’s hard to keep my gaze locked on his when I know he feels that way.
22
The next morning, my mom comes home, and it’s as if she’s her own sun. She seems to be walking around on cloud nine after her night, which makes me want to jump up and down. I haven’t talked to her about her guy too much, and she hasn’t brought him up to me often either. I’m fine with that. Sometimes you just want to keep those thoughts to yourself. Plus, what is she supposed to do? Have girl talk with her teenage daughter? She tells me she has plans for today, too, so I don’t have any guilt when Alec pulls up in his truck to drive me to the school for the parade and homecoming game.
He’s decided to ride on the float this year because he doesn’t want River and Lux to get off easy by not having to pull five guy’s weight around. As soon as Dawn and David show up to stand with me, he takes off to meet up with the other Ballers who had to be there early. I know from experience last year that the parade route is actually really short. It may not seem like it when you’re pulling a float, but it is.
The parade doesn’t last all that long, and the Ballers’ float is one of the last ones. I see them coming from all the way down the street. There’s a big gap between their float and the truck ahead of them. It’s easy to see Lux and River pulling it, the strain on their faces, and the muscles in their legs bulging with the exertion.
People in the crowd start yelling, “Pull, pull!” Maybe they did that last year, too, but I was so focused that I can’t remember. I clap my han
ds with everyone else and pop up on my tiptoes. When they get closer, I focus on my guys, perched up on that float looking like the royalty they are. Just before they get to me, Hayes rises from his chair. He comes to the side of the float and points at me. I wave at him with a smile, but then he beckons me forward. When I don’t budge, he waves me forward again. “Get over here.”
I look at him like he’s crazy because he is.
“Come on,” Sloan says, urging me on.
Dawn pushes me forward, so now I’m out in the middle of the street. Hayes leans over, his arm outstretched. I put my good hand in his, and he grips it fiercely before tugging me right up on the float like I weigh as much as a feather. People in the crowd seem to clap harder. I don’t know if it’s just my imagination or not, but with Hayes’s hands on my shoulders, I stare out and wave to everybody. He leaves me next to Sloan who gets up from his chair and guides me down into the seat he just vacated. He stands next to me, his hands on my shoulders.
From the corner of my eye, I see Hayes saunter toward the edge of the float. At first, I can’t really hear him, but then I home in on what he’s saying, and the crowd noise disintegrates around us. “Do you see that, O’Brien? Tessa Dale’s on our float. She’s one of us. You’re pulling her around like you should be because you’re nothing compared to her. Nothing.” He straightens, a scowl fixed on his face. Then, his voice booms out for everyone to hear. “Move faster, the both of you! This is embarrassing. The truck in front of us is already at the school. Come on. Show us you want it!”
I smile at Hayes’s back. He doesn’t look around again, taking up sentry in the front of the float with his arms crossed. I do feel daggers into my side though. I ignore the look I’m sure I’m getting from Lake and smile and wave at everybody like I deserve to be there. I’m so happy I wore my RHS shirt today, and while we waited for the parade to start, Dawn used red paint to write RHS on my cheeks and then dumped about a tablespoon of glitter to decorate my face.