The Line Between

by Tamsyn Bester

  “You some football hotshot or something?” I asked, slipping the too-big jersey over my head. I wasn’t knowledgeable about football, but I was willing to take a wild guess and say that 17 belonged to the quarterback.

  Hotty McHotness chuckled, and rubbed the back of his neck. The gesture was awkward, but somehow drew attention to the fact that he was shirtless. “Something like that.”

  His skin was slick with a thin sheen of sweat, and his basketball shorts hung low on his hips. He was a walking cliché, with his tight abs, and a V that disappeared into his basketball shorts. I couldn’t help but look, despite my agitation with his less than gentlemanly like behavior.

  “You about done, sweetheart?”

  His voice drew my attention back to his face, and his cocky grin.

  “Huh?”

  Sweet baby Jesus, Kennedy. Stop blubbering like an idiot.

  “Are you sure you’re alright? Do you need me to take you to Student Health?”

  I huffed indignantly, and tried to hide my embarrassment. “No, but I think I need to let your coach know your throwing is off.”

  With raised brows, he replied, “Okaaaay, definitely no concussion.”

  “So, is ‘Ambrose’ your first name, or…” I trailed off, hoping this guy would give me his name. I’d need some way to find him so that I could return his jersey.

  “Chase,” he said. “My first name is Chase.”

  I nodded once. “Well, Chase, I wish I could say it was a pleasure meeting you, but I’m not a liar. I’ll have your jersey cleaned before I get it back to you.”

  I spun on my heel, and started walking away when his hand gripped my elbow.

  “Do you want my number?” He asked. The expression on his face told me that he wasn’t usually the one to offer his number to girls, and clearly had no idea how to go about doing it.

  “No,” I replied. “I’ll find you.”

  I left him there, mouth agape, and instead of heading to the class that I was miserably late for, I text Jade to see where she was. My phone pinged, and I quickly changed direction when her text said that she was at the coffee shop with Grady.

  ‘Bean Me Up’ was the trendy coffee shop situated next to the student Union, and was always crammed with students. Its early morning hours made it the first stop for most students before class, and its late closing times provided come much-needed caffeine boosts during test week, and finals. Today though, it was even busier, if that were possible, and it was decorated with navy blue, gold, and white streamers – the school colors.

  The school spirit was at an all-time high, and that usually only meant one thing. Football. I completely forgot that our team was facing their biggest rivals tomorrow, and with the atmosphere being so intense, students around me jumped up and down like they were high on E. I dodged a few people, and wound my way through the clustered tables until I found Jade and Grady huddled in the corner. They were caught up in a deep conversation, like they’d known each other forever. It didn’t take long for Grady to find his place in our little group, and even Ashley adored him. We went from being a group of three to a group of four without effort. Grady belonged with us, and had quickly nestled his way into my little family.

  Jade stopped whatever it was she was saying, and as if they were somehow connected, their eyebrows simultaneously lifted when they saw what I was wearing. I graciously responded with an eye roll and muttered, “Don’t ask.”

  “Seriously?” Asked Jade. “You’re wearing our star quarterbacks’ jersey, a day before the biggest game this season, and you expect us to have enough self-restraint to not ask any questions?”

  Grady tsk’ed beside her, and shook his head in disapproval. “She’s right, honey bee. You need to -”

  His words were cut off by a loud holler, and I turned to watch the entire football team walk in, their cheerleading hanger-ons hot on their heels.

  “Right on time,” muttered Grady, a salacious grin on his face.

  I turned back around to face him. “For what?”

  He leaned forward, and spoke in a hushed tone. “That right there, is the crème de la crème of the male species here at Brighton. It’s our very own Hot Guy parade.”

  I snorted, and then covered it up with my hand. “You are the most boy crazy boy I have ever met. Anyone over there tickle your fancy?”

  “No, but apparently you tickle someone’s fancy.”

  Just then the chair beside me moved, and I looked up in time to see Chase flip it around and sit down, resting his arms across the back. He grinned at Grady, and then grabbed his coffee out of his hands to take a sip. “Hey, big brother. I didn’t think I’d be seeing you on campus today. ‘Go Team Go’ isn’t really your thing.”

  Did he just say big brother?

  Grady sighed. “Ladies, this charmer over here is my little brother, Chase. Chase, this hellcat over here,” he gestured to Jade, “is Jade. And I’m assuming you already know my girl Kennedy.”

  Grady quirked a brow, and after Chase shook Jade’s hand, he looked at me, his eyes bright with amusement. “Uh, yes. We’ve met.”

  “We didn’t meet,” I responded defensively. “You threw a football at my head.”

  “I didn’t throw it at you,” said Chase. “You weren’t paying attention, and intercepted a perfectly good pass.”

  “Still doesn’t explain why you’re in his jersey,” added Jade. Her smile was wicked, and I glared at her. She was stirring the damn pot, as usual.

  “When I fell, my coffee spilled down the front of my dress, and Chase offered me his jersey as a cover-up.” I left out the part about Chase giving me his jersey so that I could cover up my boobs, because well, no one needed to know that my ta-ta’s had been on display. I’d had enough of that to last me a lifetime.

  “Hmmm,” Grady eyed Chase with suspicion. “That’s very unlike you, Chase.”

  Chase placed a hand over his heart, and with dramatic flair acted like Grady’s comment was hurtful. “I can be a gentleman,” he said. “I’m not a complete oaf.”

  “I have a long string of girls who say otherwise, little brother. You only use your charm to get into a girls panties, and I’m willing to bet my left arm that our sweet Kennedy is way too smart for your bullshit.”

  Chase gave me a once over, and winked. I felt heat crawling up my neck. “We’ll see about that.” He sounded so sure of himself, and his easy demeanor had me feeling a little more comfortable in his presence. I knew he was just kidding around, even if the joke was at my expense.

  In an attempt to distract myself from the awkwardness of the conversation, I looked down the top of Chase’s jersey. I noticed that the front of my dress was noticeably drier, and started to lift it over my head.

  “What are you doing?” Asked Chase. He looked genuinely perplexed. Clearly, it didn’t take much to confuse him because all I was doing was taking off his jersey.

  “My dress is dry, so you can take this back now.”

  I moved to slip the oversized piece of material over my head when Jade’s hands flew across the table and yanked it back down. What the hell?

  “You might want to keep that on, and then wash it later,” she said. She was doing this weird thing with her eyes, and it looked like she was choking on something.

  “You can wear it to the game tomorrow night,” said Chase, pulling me away from whatever Jade was trying to show me.

  “I’m not going,” I replied. “I have to study.”

  “Seriously? On a Saturday night?”

  I nodded, and Chase responded with a pout. It earned him a playful slap from Grady, and a laugh from Jade.

  “You’re breaking my heart here Kennedy, but I know how you can make it up to me.”

  My brows darted up in a silent question.

  “Go on a date with me,” he said. “It’s the least you can do after hitting my ball with your head.”

  I laughed. I couldn’t help it. Chase’s puppy dog expression, and his cavalier smile made it impossible not to. Jus
t then, the hair on the back of my neck stood up, and I turned in time to see Dane step into the coffee shop. I should’ve expected to see him here, considering he was assistant coach, but like it always did when I saw him, my heart still jumped.

  “Ambrose,” he said, glaring at me. “The team’s over here.”

  Chase frowned, looking between me and Dane, and then met my gaze. His face softened. “I’ll pick you up on Monday night,” he said. “Be ready at 7, and wear something casual.”

  He winked, and then pushed back from our table before sauntering over to where the rest of the team sat.

  Grady whistled, and Jade looked like she was about to burst.

  “Honey bee, you’ve put a hex on my brother.”

  “Why do you say that? It’s not like he gave me the chance to turn him down.”

  “You do realize he never does that right?” Asked Jade. Her eyes were bright with excitement, and I couldn’t understand why.

  “Never does what?”

  “Asks girls on dates,” replied Grady. He took a sip of his coffee, watching me over the rim of his cup.

  “It’s not a real date,” I said, sounding slightly oversensitive. Chase was just being nice. Wasn’t he?

  “Whatever you say,” said Jade.

  I shifted in my seat to look back at Chase, but instead I found a rather irate Dane glowering at me. His brows were scrunched up, and his usually pouty lips pulled taut until they looked like nothing more than a single white line.

  “What the hell was that about?” Jades voice was a harsh whisper but I doubt Dane would have heard her.

  “I have no idea,” I replied, facing her and Grady.

  “Someone’s jealous.” Grady’s comment caught me a little off guard, and the idea that there was any semblance of truth behind it seemed nonsensical.

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” I replied, finally grabbing a menu. I wasn’t hungry or thirsty, but I needed something to do with my hands.

  “I know a jealous man when I see one, and honey, that boy over there is definitely jealous.”

  I didn’t respond, and fortunately Grady and Jade had the decency to drop the subject.

  Dane wasn’t jealous. He couldn’t be. Could he?

  CHAPTER TEN

  Dane

  EVERY SPACE OF the apartment I shared with Reid was covered with a body. After another victory against the Auburn Tigers we decided to bring the party back to our place, and I knew it would’ve been better to have it at my parents’ empty house, especially if there’s alcohol, but I had an ulterior motive. I cranked the music louder, until I was certain the whole building could hear it, and grabbed a tumbler from the kitchen. I filled it with two fingers of whiskey, and joined Reid in the living room.

  “Cheers, Coach.” He grinned, and clinked the neck of his beer bottle against my glass. “It was a good game.”

  “You boys make it easy,” I replied. “We need to keep the momentum if we want to make it to the championship finals.”

  “We’ll worry about that on Monday,” he said, clipping my shoulder. “Tonight, we party.”

  I watched his gaze land on a blonde, one of the cheerleaders, and smiled when he prowled towards her. I needed to do the same, at least until the show started.

  A small hand wrapped around my bicep, and I looked down to find a petite brunette looking up at me. “Hey, Coach. Looks like you’re in need of a good time.”

  “Maybe I am. Pretty little thing like you got a name?”

  “Katie,” she replied, pressing her cosmetically enhanced tits against my side.

  “Well, Katie,” I wrapped my arm around her waist, “I think I might’ve just found my good time.”

  She giggled when I nipped at her neck, and I suppressed the need to roll my eyes at how generic the sound was. I was getting tired of this routine, having a different girl in my bed every week when I only really wanted one. With a bit of luck, she’d be here before Katie gets it in her head that she’ll be in my bed tonight.

  I lead Katie over to the sofa, and she immediately straddled my leg, rubbing herself against my thigh. She tried to kiss me, and when I turned my head away, she focused on sucking my neck and stroking my dick through my jeans, not concerned about who saw us. The only way I could get my body to respond was to think about Kennedy, and envision her on my lap instead. When my dick started to harden, Katie purred, obviously satisfied with what was happening between my legs.

  A commotion at the front door made her jump, and she slid off my lap in jerky movements. The crowd grew quiet, and they parted enough for me to see what was going on. Show time, I thought. I’d been waiting for this all fucking night, ever since I heard Chase ask Kennedy on a date in the coffee shop.

  “Hey, Kennedy. We weren’t expecting you.”

  Reid reached his hand down, and pulled a disheveled-looking Kennedy off the floor. When I got a good look at her, my body reacted of its own volition. Her blonde hair was tied up in a messy bun on top of her head, and she wore dark-rimmed glasses that made her green eyes pop with vibrancy. She looked kind of dorky, but it was also sexy in an understated way. My eyes trailed down her tight little body, noting the way her white tank top hugged her curves and showed off her braless chest. Unlike Katie, Kennedy’s breasts were real, and they looked lush under the cotton of her tank. I trailed lower, and my dick hardened beneath my zipper as soon as I saw her light blue sleep shorts wrapped around creamy thighs, giving away the small v shape between her legs. God, I wanted to know what she looked like, if she was bare underneath those shorts, if her pussy was as pink and perfect as the images I’d conjured up in my head. Our eyes clashed, and I licked the drop of liquor from my lips.

  Kennedy’s face was flushed, and it was obvious it had nothing to do with her less than graceful entrance. I smirked, and effortlessly started slipping into the role I’d been playing with Kennedy since we were both teenagers.

  “Kennedy.” I ground her name out between my teeth. It sounded louder now that the room had grown quiet, save for the music thumping through the room. “This is a private party. You weren’t invited.”

  Katie started kissing my neck, and rubbing my thigh. Kennedy’s eyes flicked to where Katie’s hand rested close to my crotch, and her brows furrowed. She fixed an angry glare on me, and straightened her stance. “I’ve been banging on the wall for over an hour, Dane. I’m trying to study, and your music is too loud.”

  I took a slow drink, allowing the burn of the amber liquid to fuel the fire in my gut. “It’s a party, so if you need a quiet place to study, be a good girl and go to the library. Reid will show you out.”

  That was my dismissal, and I expected Kennedy to shrink away and leave, without a response. But inside I was begging her to fight me, to take me on in this room full of people because it turned me on when she was fired up.

  She stepped forward, and pointed a perfectly manicured finger at me. “I’ve tried to be nice. I’ve tried to tolerate your inconsideration, and your incessant need to be a dickhead, but I can’t do it anymore. So you can either turn the fucking music down, or I’ll do it myself.”

  The indignation in her voice made my skin warm, and my blood hot. She had no idea what it did to me when she sparred with me. I lived for it.

  “You’re boring me,” I said. “And you’re interrupting my guests. Now, do yourself a favor and stop embarrassing yourself. You know where the door is.”

  Folding her arms across her chest, I thought that was it, but she proved me wrong. She spun on her heal, and walked over to where our stereo system was connected to our flat screen and gaming consoles. Kennedy gave me one last glance, filled with defiance and contempt, and then she grabbed as many cables as she could find. With a single wrench, the music was cut off, and the cables dropped to the floor.

  “See, that wasn’t so hard. Keep it down.”

  Kennedy walked out, and I waited five minutes before I pushed Katie away, and stormed out the door. Jade had given Reid a spare key, in case for emergencies, and
I guess these were extenuating circumstances. I stepped into their apartment, shutting the door behind me quietly. The only light was coming from beneath Kennedy’s door, so I followed it, and without warning, grabbed Kennedy’s door handle and flung it open. It ricocheted off the adjoining wall, and the loud smack made Kennedy jump from the spot in front of her desk.

  “Jesus.” She rested her hand on her chest. “What the hell is wrong with you, Dane? You scared me!”

  My mouth tipped up into a smirk. “I figured I owed you.”

  With a roll of her pretty green eyes, Kennedy turned away from me. “Typical. Trust you to do something this childish.”

  I tucked the keys into my pocket, and crossed the floor, closing the distance between us. The plush carpet muted my footsteps, and when my front hit her back, she tensed.

  “You have a lot of nerve,” I breathed against her neck, smiling when her skin broke out into goose bumps. “Showing up, interrupting my party, damaging my stereo.”

  “I tried to ask nicely.” Her reply came as nothing more than a hoarse whisper, and it turned me on. “But you left me no choice.”

  Grinning, I gripped her hip with my hand, kneading the exposed flesh between her tank top and shorts.

  “You really know how to piss me off,” I murmured. “But what I don’t get is why you do it.”

  “C’mon, Dane, you say that like I piss you off on purpose.”

  Her breathing grew shallow when my lips touched the spot below her ear, and I watched as her hands clenched into fists on her desk. I had every intention of coming in here to punish her, but I knew I was only punishing myself. I was playing with fire, purposefully dangling her in front of me when I knew I couldn’t have her the way I wanted to.

  “I think you do,” I replied. “You know what it does to me when you challenge me, when you take me on. You just have to be honest with yourself, and admit it.”

  Kennedy spun around, and we were pressed so close that I could feel her nipples against my chest. Her aggravation was palpable, and I could feel it fighting with her poorly suppressed desire. Her body was strung tight, her muscles tense, and ready for a fight. She wanted me. She just had no idea how to deal with it.