Page 9 of Strong Side

With an ego the size of the Grand Canyon, I walk away and yell over my shoulder, “See you Monday, partner!”

1. Lust - Chase Atlantic

6

Hard Limit

Rockwell

“Jealousy looks good on you, Rockwell.” I’m going to lay this motherfucker out. I am not jealous of thatplaythingof his.

1 “See you Monday, partner!” he throws over his shoulder as he’s walking out of the locker room. Clay is a flirt, and I normally don’t pay attention to it. I don’t know what just came over me, but that feeling is getting put into a box and locked away, never to come out again. I can’t be jealous of Clay getting some pussy. Maybe that’s whatI need too.

I’m walking out of my upper-level history class, which focuses on South America. It’s been my favorite history class so far. Having the opportunity to learn the history of where my mom is from and the countries surrounding Brazil has been nothing short of amazing.

I look up from my phone and run right into fucking Aldrich. It’s been about three weeks since we became doubles partners, and to my dismay, we’re actually good together. On the court, we’re becoming more and more in sync. Our relationship off the court, however, is still up for debate.

“Campos! Let’s go grab some lunch!” He grabs my arm and starts dragging me toward Relax and Roast, a little cafe on campus that has the best food.

“Did you need something, Aldrich?” I ask in the most annoyed tone I can muster, not wanting him to know that he doesn’t annoy me as much as I lead on.

“Just wanted to chat off the court. We never get to do that, and we need to figure out our shit if we want to win the championship this year and have any chance of getting onto Team USA.” No matter how annoyed I act with him, he is always so positive and ends up rubbing off on me—most of the time.

We get to the register and I order the croissant club sandwich like I always do and add on one of their fire-ass protein smoothies. “I’ll take the same, and on one ticket, please.” He throws his card down on the counter before I can even blink. He looks at me, smirking. “It was my idea for lunch. The least I can do is pay.” Then he winks at me…again.

We make our way over to a small two-seat table that feels a little too intimate for two teammates. I set our food down with Clayton right behind me, but I hear his name called out from a feminine voice on the other side of the cafe. “Hang on, I’ll be right back.”

He sets our drinks down and jogs over to where Chloe is leaning back in a chair surrounded by her crew of cackling sorority friends. The same Chloe that was on the phone with him a few weeks back. I roll my eyes so hard they hit the back of my head. Sovery Clayton, inviting me out to lunch and then running off to his plaything’s table.Fuck, that was some jealous shit.

I start to sip my smoothie, trying to kill some time and not look like the needy friend I feel like I’m being right now. I don’t know why these pangs of jealousy keep hitting me when I’m around Clayton. He’s clearly a man, and as far as I know, I’m straight. Never in my life have I been attracted to a guy, but I keep finding myself peeking at him in the locker room, sweaty after a hard practice, and admiring the heavily corded muscles in his lean six-foot-six body. Or the way his boyish dimples come out anytime he’s being a pain in the ass, softening his hard exterior. His deep brown hair matching the shade of his eyes. He’s got the perfect sun-kissed skin from playing sand for years, even with it being the end of January. Cocks have never done it for me, but apparently, the one attached to him doesn’t totally offend me.

He comes back from talking to the blonde bimbo, sitting down in his chair across from me, pulling me out of my wet daydream. The cherry on top of it all is my semi-hard cock I’m dealing with just from thinking about this fuck sitting across the table from me.

He’s got his normal smirk plastered across his face, and I can only imagine the scowl I’m wearing. “Did you wait for me to eat, Baby?”

I grit out, “I’m not your fucking Baby, Aldrich.”

He holds his hands up in defense. “Hard limit. Okay, got it.”

We eat in silence for a minute, meeting one another’s eyes a couple of times.

Clay finally breaks the silence, asking, “Why do you despise me so much?”

Oh, my time to shine. “One, you’ve never had to work for a thing in your life.” Counting on my hand, I hold up two fingers. “Two, Coach Taylor might as well be sucking your cock, and three, you’re constantly saying inappropriate things to me.”

Both of his brows are pretty much touching his hair. Here he goes, holding his hand up, mocking what I just did. “One, just because I grew up with money doesn’t mean my life wasn’t hard, just in different ways. Two, you’ve seen my dick more than Coach Taylor has. Three, have you seen yourself? You’re gorgeous, and I speak three languages; flirting just so happens to be one of them.” My face is on fire.

“Okay, cut the shit. What the hell did you really want to talk about? We both know you’re obsessed with me.”

“Ah-ah, I think we know who’s obsessed with who. I saw the mean mugs thrown at me while I was over there talking to Chloe.” He leans into me across the table, whispering, “It’s okay to explore, Campos.”

I’m staring at his lips; he licks the bottom one pulling it between his teeth—fuck his teeth are perfect. When it’s clear I’m not going to respond, he sits back and says, “We need to get along so we can win. Shared goal and all, you know.”

I shake my head, pulling myself out of whatever trance this fucking man puts me in. “Yeah, yeah, I think we can get along fine. We’re going to be stuck together for a while. Might as well make the most of it, right?”

“Now we’re on the same page, Rock Man.” I pin him with another death glare, and he adds, “We’ll work on the nicknames later.”

1. Roses - Awaken I Am

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