Page 57 of Game On

“I’m not talking about them. Of course they know. I’m talking about you. I’m talking about bringing a girl here for the first time because I knew it wouldn’t scare you away. Apparently, nothing scares you away. You’re ten times—no, a hundred times—the person my parents and their friends are. Why do you like me?”

“I don’t know,” I tell him honestly. “There’s some things you just can’t explain, right?”

He nips my lip. “I’m going to give you reasons to like me. I promise.”

“Sloan, don’t be—”

He cuts me off. “Remember when I asked you if you wanted me to touch you?”

I nod.

“Please tell me.”

“It’s not obvious?” I reach my hands around his neck, running my thumbs over his taut skin. He’s so handsome this way. Careless, not holding anything back. I wish I could bottle him up this way and keep it. I understand why he’s always putting on a show, but he doesn’t have to. Not for me. Not for anyone. My mom has told me countless times that I’m not my father. We don’t have to pretend to be him. We don’t have to pretend anything. We can only be who we are.

I wish Sloan had someone like my mom when he was growing up.

I pull on his neck to kiss him. He comes willingly, eagerly. He wraps his hands around my ass. In return, I move my legs around his hips until he’s holding me, pressing me into the wall as we kiss each other senseless. I can feel how hard he is between us. It makes me moan into his mouth until I cut it off, afraid I’m making too much noise. He kisses down my neck. “Don’t stop. I don’t care.”

Turning, he sets me on the side of the air hockey table. My knees come apart as he kisses lower and lower, barely hitting my collarbone until the fabric of my dress is in the way. He lightly kisses my pebbled nipple, drawing another moan from me until he pushes my knees apart and lifts my dress, revealing the panties I put on without my mother’s knowledge. They’re silk and lined with lace. His fingers curl around the top as he slowly lowers them. I bring my knees together, my gaze locked with his as he rounds them over my knees and then down, letting them drop to the floor before pushing my knees apart again.

His gaze devours the most private parts of me. My legs tremble with the want to close them but the need to keep them open at the same time. His hands come up, curving over my knees and down the insides of my thigh. His thumbs stop mere inches away from my center before traveling back up to my knees. He kisses the side of my knee and lowers until I’m almost hyperventilating. “Sloan, I’ve never done this,” I whisper, my voice high and tight and weighted down with passion.

“You really shouldn’t have told me that,” Sloan says. His tongue darts out, burning a trail down the inside of my thigh. I lean back on my forearms. I’m already shaking so much I don’t know if I can even prop myself up.

He gets closer and closer to my center. I swallow because my mouth is so dry from panting, but nothing helps. He’s so close. His tongue rims around my lower lips. I buck into him. “Holy shit.”

He groans and darts forward, his lips suckling. A cry lodges in my throat with a noise at the top of the stairs. “Sloan!”

No!

Sloan shoves himself back. He kicks my panties under the table just as footsteps descend the steps. He pulls me off the ice hockey table. My legs still shaky he has to help me arrange my dress and hold me upright. When his mom finally does appear, he’s got one of the paddles in his hand from the air hockey table. “Yeah, Mom?” he asks, cool as a cucumber. He flips it in the air and catches it again.

She glances at me, and I smile way too wide. I think she can see my heart beating right through my dress, maybe even to the trail of saliva he left on me. I’m still pulsing and hot with need. “I’m sure Mr. and Mrs. Dale will be wanting Quintessa home now.”

It’s like a bucket of ice water falls over me. Sloan can feel it, too. “Sure, Mom. I’ll drive her home now.”

“I was actually hoping you’d talk to Mr. Barnes. Can her father pick her up?”

“Mom,” Sloan says. “I picked her up, I have to take her home.”

Her lips thin.

My muscles tense. I’m angry and hurt at the same time. I guess their superior generosity only goes so far. “I’ll call my mom. No big deal.”

Sloan grabs my hand. “It is a big deal. My mother lost her manners.” He drags me up the stairs until he’s even with her. “It won’t look proper if I don’t take a lady home, Mother.” With that, he drags me behind him and then I’m walking out the front door of the Ivy house with no panties on. Lovely.

28

The next few days are a blur of Baller texts, meet-ups, and rigorous workouts and practices. Shawn and Matt come over to my house to use the court and gym as it’s nearing the time when the Ballers decide to recommend us for a spot on the team with Coach or to tell him not to bother. They say Coach listens to them, and I wouldn’t be surprised. The team is supposed to work as a unit. If someone doesn’t mesh, it could throw everything off. It reminds me of what I had to promise Ryan when they made the decision to claim me as theirs.

Things at school are better. Sure, girls look at me like they want to claw my eyes out, but honestly, all of us haven’t had that much time for drama. My relationship with Dawn has just been a stream of texts that go unanswered for too long. I tell her it’ll get better once the season actually starts if I make it on the team. I hope I’m right. Not that David hasn’t been keeping her busy. Trust me, she loves to text about their sex life. Despite having moments with Sloan and Alec, I don’t reciprocate.

I park next to Ryan’s single-story ranch house and look up at it. How many times have I dreamed about being invited here? Too many. Too many times thinking about his lips on mine, his body pressed against me. He tolerates me now that I’ve been let into their inner circle, but there are still glares I don’t understand and the weird texts he sends when I do something nice for one of the other guys. It started with making sure Sloan got some sleep, but I also received texts when Shawn and Matt were at my house practicing. How he even knew about that, I have no idea.

Tonight is supposed to be a celebration for making it through the Baller recruit trials. All the Ballers will be there plus Shawn, Matt, and me. Alec wanted to bring me, but I thought it would be better showing up by myself. Whatever I get, a recommendation or not, I don’t want it to be because Sloan still has my blue lace panties, and Alec’s sister makes me basketball sandwiches. I doubt I’ll even know what the Ballers decide about me in the end. I try not to talk about it with Alec and Sloan. When it comes to basketball, I want it to be all business between us.

Before I chicken out, I run up the steps and ring the doorbell. Ryan calls out, “Come in!” I swallow and let myself in. The house is on the small side, but it’s loved, and it feels lived in like it’s truly a home. Ryan peeks his head around the corner. When he sees it’s me, his gaze goes to the wall behind me. “You’re early.”

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