Page 41 of Game On

Sloan carefully moves his desk closer to mine. “Bad angle,” he says even though no one would say anything to him about moving, not even Mr. Schaffer who seems way too preoccupied with a book he’s reading. The first few minutes of the movie are quiet. The right side of my body burns. Sloan inadvertently keeps touching me. I have a death grip on my pen every time he does. Finally, he leans over and whispers, “You shouldn’t be so tense.”

Slowly, I look over at him. His hazel eyes are dancing with amusement.

Looking back toward the TV, it’s not a minute later when he says, “You shouldn’t give Alec a hard time. That’s just the way it is with us.”

“The way what is?” I ask.

Sloan leans forward and takes the pen out of my grip. He brushes his fingers against mine as he does so. “Relax, Dale.”

I look away, breathing in so slowly I can actually feel my nostrils flaring. “If it makes you feel better, he told us it was super hot.” He leans closer, his voice nothing but a throaty whisper. “His fingers shoved down your pants, swirling over your clit, and then you coming apart in his arms. I got to admit, I was fucking hard when he got done telling us.”

My face feels like it’s on fire and there’s a faint ringing in my ears. Inside, my stomach is turning. They know what we did. All of them. Ryan, fucking Lake, Hayes, and Sloan. “Why did he tell you?”

“Just like I said, we don’t keep secrets.”

“Not anything?”

He shakes his head. “You’re fair game now, Tessa. I’ve been waiting a long time for this.”

My brows furrow. I have no idea what he’s even saying, and suddenly, he doesn’t seem so keen on elaborating. He leans back in his chair, his jaw tense as he stares at the TV with the rest of us. My body is on fire from having him recount what Alec and I did, but that’s not killing my other questions. What exactly did he mean when he said I’m fair game? More torture? Something else?

When the bell rings, he stands, pulling his backpack strap over his shoulder. “There’s going to be a Recruit thing during lunch. I’ll walk you.”

With that, he leaves the room ahead of me. I’m not even out of my seat yet, so I stare after him. When I finally stand, my legs are like Jell-O. I’ve been craving their attention so much. Now that I have it, I can’t deal.

22

True to his word, Sloan meets me outside my class right before lunch. Five minutes ago, I received the text to meet everyone at Timothy Dale Court for a scrimmage. Sloan throws his arm over my shoulder when he sees me. I try to shrug it off again, but it’s no use. He seems to like it there, and since I’ve dreamed about this, I don’t try too hard to get him away from me. Other people are openly gawking at us, too, so that helps in my decision to leave it there. Let them wonder. Let them stare. They’re not the only ones who have no idea what the hell is going on.

“How did you know what class I had?”

Sloan shrugs. “I know things.”

“What? Are the Ballers given special privy to everyone’s schedule?”

He smirks. “Something like that.”

When we get to the glass doors leading into Timothy Dale Court, he actually opens the door for me and lets me in first like a true gentleman. When we get there, everyone else is already stretching. Ryan stands when he notices us. “Good. Huddle up.”

Sloan jogs away from me. I drop my bag close to the stands and follow him. When I get there, Ryan stares me up and down, his eyes narrowing in a way I can’t quite place even though I know it has something to do with the fact that he knows what Alec and I did. Speaking of Alec, he won’t even look at me. He’s quickly stretching out his calves as we stand in a circle.

“First off, let’s give it up for Alec and the RHS baseball team for making it to summer season playoffs this year.”

Everyone but Alec claps. He’s looking at the floor now. If I was more confident, I’d call him out right now for telling his friends what he did. But I don’t want Shawn and Matt to know about what’s happened between us. I wouldn’t want them thinking I’m getting special treatment. I better kick ass during whatever it is we’re doing today. I don’t want anyone saying I got handed anything. I’m not like that.

“Here’s the deal,” Ryan says. “Since Alec is going to be busy with baseball and we’re—all of us—going to be busy supporting him, we have to move some of our Recruit times to school. Be prepared to lose all of your lunch time for the next week and a half at least.”

I make a mental note to bring protein bars or even a shake I can mix up myself. It’s better than the crap they sell here anyway.

“Today, we’re going to have a playful scrimmage,” Ryan says, eyeing us new recruits up and down. He pauses on me, but only for a split second. “You want on the team, you’re going to have to show us what you’re made of. We’re going to have a friendly one-on-one between positions.” Apprehension claws its way up my throat. “That means Shawn with Hayes, Matt with Alec, and Dale with Lake.”

Fuck me. I look up to find Lake smiling cruelly. It’s a far-off smile that makes me wonder what he’s thinking in that sinister brain of his. For the first time, Alec looks at me. His gaze is serious, and it lingers, almost like he’s trying to warn me.

Like I didn’t know I have to be careful around that asshole.

“First up, Alec versus Matt. First to five.” Before they jog away, Ryan grabs Matt. “Be careful. Our boy needs to be able to play tomorrow.”

Matt nods. I have a suspicion it’s not Matt that needs to be told anything. Lake cracks his knuckles and then bends over for a leg stretch.

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