by Tijan
I released my leg and reached for my toes, mirroring her. “You made me feel bad about excluding you.”
“I know.”
“I felt like an idiot when I saw you there.”
“I know.”
“Why are you here?”
She looked around, her forehead wrinkling a little. “Where’s Taylor?”
“She’s skipping today because I was worried something might happen to her.”
“Are you kidding me?” Her eyebrows shot up. “You think we’d do something to hurt her?”
“Yeah.”
“Faith and Rae might be a lot of things, but actually harming someone isn’t something they’d do.”
I stopped stretching. “Are you here on behalf of them, or are you here because you feel bad about your part?”
“I . . .” She hesitated, her head dipping down for a moment. She took a breath and looked back up. “I feel bad for my part. I knew they were going to do that, and that’s why we asked to join you guys.”
“So, we wouldn’t know right away that we were outcasts?” My old anger was surfacing. I felt it simmering. “We’d find out later, when something actually happened to hurt me or Taylor?”
Shame flooded her features. She looked back down at her legs. “Look.” She twisted her hands together. “I feel bad for my part. And you should know that not all of us follow those two. I think you’ll be amazing for our team, and I’m glad you joined.”
I looked at her friends. Nettie huffed, looking away. Grace gave me a timid smile back.
“And your friends? Are they on the same page?” I asked.
“Grace is.”
“Not Nettie?” Not the drunk girl who’d made out with a guy for everyone to see?
She hesitated again, chewing on the inside of her cheek. “If Nettie has to choose between you and them, it’s them.” She lowered her voice. “I’m not even sure she’d choose Grace and me over them. Not that it helps.”
I nodded. Coach Langdon came out and went over to the two divas. He had a word with them, and both whirled around to look at me. A couple seconds later, he moved on to talk to Ruth. Faith and Raelynn stormed over.
“You narc’d on us? Are you kidding me?!” Faith hissed. She turned to Courtney. “What are you doing over here?”
Courtney straightened, raising her chin. “I was apologizing.”
Faith snorted. “You’re weak, Courtney. If you want to be on the losing side, so be it. We’ll target you too.”
“So you’re declaring it then?” I stepped in front of Courtney, facing Faith. “You’re openly saying you’re going to go after me?”
“I already did.”
Smart-ass bitch. I only smiled, though. “Okay. Just so we’re clear. And you bet your ass I went to the coach. When I think you’re going to try to hurt a friend of mine to get to me, I’ll do whatever I need to cover her back.”
Coach Langdon blew the whistle. The rest of the girls began to gather in front of him. I started forward, but Faith called, “What makes you think I’d go after her first?”
I stopped and looked back. I had a nice fuck-off smile. “If you want to come after me, you need to catch me.”
She rolled her eyes. “Like that’s going to be a problem.”
I kept going, content just to smile to myself. She had no idea.
The run was a joke.
These girls weren’t used to my speed. I started strong, and I never let up. Faith and Raelynn stayed right behind me for three miles. Then Raelynn fell behind, and we came to the D route. I went that way, and Faith continued with me. We were too far ahead to see whether the other girls chose to stay on C or come our way. For a while, it was just the two of us, but after another half-mile, I couldn’t see Faith either.
I stopped once to check the map.
Then I put my head down, concentrated on my breathing, and kept my arms relaxed. I just kept going.
This was the closest thing to flying for me. I felt it as I soared around the curves and over the hills. This wasn’t normal. What I could do wasn’t something others could—at least no one here. I kept going, finishing the last few miles strong, and the others were just arriving after their shorter route when I cleared the line.
Coach Langdon looked at me, looked at his watch, and muttered, “Holy shit.”
I wanted to do more.
I could do more.
I’d run this morning, held myself back, and refueled. I felt like I was just whetting my appetite. My legs should be jelly, but they weren’t.
“You can do that every day?” he asked.
I nodded. My music was still blaring in my ear, but I heard enough over it. “You want a runner for the Olympics. I’ll do it.”
This was it. That was what I wanted to do, whether I succeeded or not. It clicked as I was running today. I wanted to try. I had to try.
He sighed, taking his cap off and raking his arm over his forehead. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
“Coach?” Raelynn pushed forward. Her braid had unraveled, and her hair was plastered to her face with sweat. She must’ve chosen to stay on the C route. Her hands found her slim hips. I hadn’t heard her speak before, but her voice was just as pretentious as I’d thought it would be.
“You can’t keep up with her, Rae. Even you have to admit that.”
He sounded like he was apologizing, but that was all he said as he walked back inside. The rest of the girls began to stretch.
Raelynn glared at me, her nostrils flaring, before she half-snarled. “Don’t get comfortable.”
I stepped toward her. “Is that a threat?”
She jumped back, but muffled a scream before plopping down to stretch.
I picked my old spot, away from everyone, and was half done with my stretches when Courtney came over. She leaned down when I laid back and pulled my leg to my chest. She helped push it against my chest and spoke around her counting, “1—lines were drawn today. You know that, right?—4—I’m with you, if you’re wondering. Grace and me.” She pushed my leg a little farther. “Resist. 1. 2. 3. 4. Relax.”
I followed her instructions, and she repeated another two counts until we switched legs. I waited until she released my leg before replying.
“Besides my mother, I haven’t had a fight directed just at me for a while.” I grinned a little. “It felt kind of good.”
Courtney pressed down. “Resist. 5. 4. 3. 2. Relax.” She waited a beat. “Resist again. You’re used to fights or something?”
I snorted, pushing back as much as I could. “You don’t really know my boyfriend and stepbrother, if you have to ask me that.”
She laughed. “Relax.” She patted my leg, standing back up. “And you’re right. I’ve heard stories, but I never fully listened.”
I grunted. “Maybe that’s a good thing.”
“Yeah. Maybe.”
I finished my stretching and sat up to realize the other girls hadn’t gone. I’d assumed they would. But instead they had showered, and were standing in a line. I frowned.
“They’re waiting for Faith.”
“Say what?” I hadn’t heard that right. There was no way.
Courtney groaned softly, giving me an apologetic look. “This is what they do. If she’s not back, they don’t leave. She’s the star.” She shrugged. “Or she was.”
“This is insanity.” I felt like I was watching a cult. They were all brainwashed, and I looked over their faces as I moved toward the parking lot. They were blank, except for excitement brimming in a few. Raelynn glowered, and she stood at the end of the line with a hand resting on her hip.
I spotted Mason waiting for me in his Escalade. I ran over and got inside, but when he reached for his keys, I said, “Wait.”
He paused. “Something wrong?”
“I just want to watch.”
He leaned back in his seat, watching with me.
We waited, and twenty minutes later, Faith ran past us toward the team. They began clapping. Raelynn’s glower dimin
ished. As Faith ran to them, they came over and patted her on the back.
“That’s strange.”
“Why?”
Mason’s question threw me. “They support her like a parent would cheer for a kid. That’s weird.” I looked at him. “Isn’t that weird?”
He started the engine. “They’re supporting their star runner.”
She wasn’t the star anymore. It would’ve been cocky to say that out loud, but I couldn’t help thinking it.
“You just started today,” Mason said as we left the parking lot. “You turned everything upside down. It takes a while for people to adjust. They’re supporting another teammate. In the future, they’ll support you too.”
“That’ll be weird too.”
“She’s not going to give up that spot without a fight.”
I frowned at him. “I know that.”
“No, I mean, she’s going to push herself harder. She has someone to catch now. They’ll all push harder now.”
“So, I’m kinda helping them in a way?” That pissed me off.
He laughed. “Kinda, but you don’t stroll through the door and take the spot at the top without a battle. She’ll give you a battle. I think she’ll do it in a dirty way, but it’ll be there no matter what. You just gotta fight for your spot at the top.”
“It wasn’t like this in high school.”
“You were already at the top.”
I glanced at him again. “What do you mean?”
“You came in, and you fought Kate. What do you think she was doing? She wasn’t just fighting you for me. It was more than that.”
“I wasn’t at the top in high school.”
He reached over. His hand covered mine. “You were with us. We were the top.”
I turned my hand over and laced our fingers together. “Did you have to deal with this in football?”
“I wasn’t the top my freshman year. I’m up there now. Me and another guy.”
“It wasn’t like this with track.”
“Because everyone did different events, but I bet you’re considered at the top there.”
Maybe, but he was right; it was more individual there. I let out a sigh. I was starting to come down from the adrenaline wave. I could feel myself crashing a bit.
I leaned my head back against the headrest and murmured, “I haven’t been this angry in a long time. I mean, I don’t know. It’s different. It’s—”
“How it was when you were at the Academy?”
“Yeah.”
“Like I said, it’s because you’re doing your own fight. And I can’t help you with this one.” He pulled up to a stoplight and looked over as we waited. “I wish I could.”
I squeezed his hand. “I know. I feel the same when you’ve had your battles.”
The light turned green, and after that, we were silent.
I was already thinking about the next day’s practice.
MASON
“Yo.”
I was crossing the parking lot to the sports center when I looked over to see Logan behind me in his yellow Escalade. He had the window rolled down and an arm propped on it. He waved me over.
I shifted my gym bag to my other shoulder. It was early in the morning—not Sam-early, but early for me. She was probably already off on her third run with the team, and my day was about to start in thirty minutes. And I’d be busy all day—running drills, watching game tapes, and lifting weights. We’d be here until three or four this afternoon. Yesterday’s breakfast had been a one-time deal.
“What’s up?” I frowned. “You slept at the house last night.”
“I know. I brought Taylor and Sam in for practice this morning. What are we going to do about those two girls?”
“Sam says it’s her fight.”
Logan dropped the smirk and gave me a knowing look. “Right. Because that’s our role. We stand back and let the chicks duke it out.”
I stifled a grin. “Sam thinks this is her fight, and she wants us to respect that.”
“You’re saying you’re actually going to not do shit here?”
Now I was the one to smirk. “Logan.” I shook my head as if to say, Come on.
He chuckled, bobbing his head up and down in approval. “That’s what I thought. So what’s the plan?”
“I’m thinking we should know as much as we can about the whole family. I don’t like when people threaten mine.”
Logan’s top lip curled. “I figured your whole passive boyfriend act wasn’t real. Call Dad? Have him find out information on this girl’s family?”
I hesitated. Things were still tense between our father and us. The speeches we’d made at his wedding hadn’t been respectful or loving. “I don’t know if we want to push our luck with Dad, not just yet.” A horrible idea took seed in my head. Maybe it wasn’t so bad, but . . .
Logan’s eyes narrowed. He saw it forming too. “What are you thinking?”
If we didn’t go to our dad ourselves, who else could go to him? Who else had a vested interest in Sam? Who had said she’d do whatever Sam wanted, and wouldn’t attach strings to any favor?
I couldn’t. No way. I loathed this person. But she’d proven she could be somewhat sane when it came to her daughter. Lately.
“Mason?” Logan prompted.
“Analise.”
His eyes widened. “What? Fuck, no. Have you lost your mind?”
“Think about it. Her psycho button is going to get hit eventually, but not yet. She’s still trying to do whatever Sam wants.”
“Which is to be left alone.”
“She can help us help Sam. That’s enough. She won’t go to Sam with expectations of being thanked or anything.”
Logan groaned. “Team up with Anabitch? Are you sure about this?”
It wasn’t ideal, but . . . “I can get Dad’s guy to look into this girl and her family, but Dad might have information we wouldn’t get any other way. It’s worth the try.”
“What makes you sure Dad even knows this guy?”
I wasn’t. “We have to see. If this chick is wealthy, and it sounds like she is, chances are good that Dad knows something about her family.”
“Okay.” He nodded. “And when we break the news to Sam that we went behind her back?”
“Remind her she’d do the same for us.”
His eyebrows lifted, but he didn’t comment.
“Mase!”
Matteo waited by the door. I held up a hand, then turned back to my brother. “Nate’s birthday is this weekend. We can pretend to take him to Vegas.”
“But by Vegas you mean Fallen Crest?”
I nodded.
Logan laughed. “Nate will be so disappointed.”
“Yeah, well, maybe we can use Dad’s favor and fly to Vegas afterward?”
“Mason!” Another yell from behind me.
“Score.” Logan held out his fist. “Your boyfriend is getting impatient. Pound it. I’ll see you later.”
I met his fist with mine, then headed for the doors. Logan sped past us out of the parking lot, giving the middle finger as he did.
“Did your brother give you a ride or something?” Matteo asked.
I shook my head. “Just had to talk about something. That’s all.”
He narrowed his eyes. “The draft is this year for us. Don’t do anything to fuck that up.”
I understood his concern, and as I nodded, he seemed to relax.
But I had started to wonder if it was worth it.
Did playing professional football outweigh doing the shit I’d always done to protect those I loved? Being good and saint-like versus what Logan and I had always been?
I was beginning to think it wasn’t.
SAMANTHA
A hand on my hip woke me in the night, and I rolled to my back, already knowing who it was. Mason was poised above me, and his hand inched upwards, pushing aside my thin shirt until he cupped my breast.
“Hey,” I murmured, touching his chest and sliding my hands around his n
eck. I raked my fingers up into his hair and grabbed a fistful. There was just enough. “What are you doing?”
He grinned in the moonlight as shadows covered him in a mysterious and alluring way. It didn’t matter that he was already above me; I would’ve been aching for him anyway. I opened my legs a little. He looked down, running his hand along my leg until his fingers rested right there, lightly grazing over me.
“I’m being a selfish ass, and I’m waking you up,” he said softly as he kissed my throat, sending tingles through my body. His head lifted; he didn’t move to my lips. His hand pressed a little harder, but it still wasn’t enough. He was going to tease me. I could feel it in the way he held himself, giving me just a taste.
I grinned, tugging his head back down to mine. “I don’t like it when you play like this with me.”
“Really?”
“No.” I fused my mouth to his.
This touch from him? It’d never get old. Ever.
I felt him still holding himself above me, and I tugged on his shoulders. I wanted to feel the full weight of him. Mouth to mouth. Chest to chest. When he finally rested on top of me, his hand moved between my legs.
“Christ.” He pulled away, nipping my lips before moving down to my throat.
He sank a finger inside of me.
The ache was building. I moved against him, letting go of his hair and dragging my nails down his back.
He pushed a second finger in.
I strained against him, lifting up. I wanted his fingers farther inside, but instead he chuckled as he pulled them out. I opened my mouth, ready to protest, and they plunged back in.
“Mason!”
I clamped down on his shoulders, enjoying the feel of his muscles shifting as he ran a thumb over my nipple.
Sensations shot through me as his fingers pulled out and thrust in once again. A third finger joined the other two. He kept going—in and out, in and out. I searched for his lips, needing a taste of him too.
He found me, and his tongue slid next to mine, caressing. As he brought me to a climax, I could only hold on, letting the waves crash through me, one after another. By the time they were done, a new ache had started.
I wanted Mason inside of me, in that primal and most intimate way. It wasn’t long until he obliged. I wrapped my legs around his waist. I had already been stretched out, so I didn’t need to adjust to the feel of him, but he waited.