Page 35 of Foul Line

Ryan moves forward, but I shoot my hand out to grab him. “Ryan.”

Everything that just happened swirls around in my brain. He looks at me, then his gaze immediately goes to the floor like he can’t stand to meet my eyes. “I have to go to Lake. I’m sorry.”

I squeeze him tighter. “Don’t. What did you just say? Is that what happened?” It’s like there’s an echo. My voice sounds so far away, even to my own ears. “Ryan!”

“Lake’s not in a good place. I have to go help him.”

I’m almost out of my mind now. I need to know now. Were the last few months a fucking lie? I move toward him. I let his arm go only to place my palms on his cheeks. His gray eyes burn into mine. “You gave me up, so he would leave me alone.”

My whole body is on fire. My hands tremble on his cheeks, and the more he stays silent, I don’t know what to do with myself. It’s like he’s grappling with some inner turmoil. Before long, though, it breaks. His hands slide around my hips. He pulls me to him, his erection straining against his basketball shorts. He strikes, his lips sliding over mine. I barely have enough time to register he’s going to kiss me before his lips land. He catches me on an exhale of surprise and then continues to steal my breath as his lips move over mine. A guttural sound makes its way up his throat. He’s clinging on to my shirt, balling it into his fists at the same time he keeps trying to pull me closer and closer. It’s like he’s kissing the last few years into me. All the missed chances, all the time we should have had, he’s trying to make up for it in this one kiss.

He seems so similar to the boy I first kissed, but also so, so different. He’s more skilled. He’s more demanding. I’m dizzy with all of it, and I don’t want it to stop. I moan, long and hard.

He breaks away. My lips buzz and feel like they’ve been worked over. They’re certainly plump and almost pulsing at the almost painful stroke of his desire. “Fuck,” he says, like he’s just awakened from a dream and can’t believe he’s here with me right now. “That wasn’t supposed to happen.” He licks his lips. “I’m so sorry, Tess. You know that, right?” There’s an innocence to his gray eyes I never noticed before. Or maybe that’s because it’s only surfacing now. He closes his eyes. “I have to go find Lake. I’m sorry. He needs me.”

My body says I need him, but the look of pure terror in his face over Lake makes me pause. I have a feeling something else is going on that I don’t know.

“I’ll call Hayes. He’ll be here as soon as he can.” He squeezes my hand once, then turns and sprints from my cabin, jumping down the steps, and practically landing already in a full-out run in the direction Lake took off for.

I take a few steps back until my calves hit the bed once again. When I feel the metal structure there, I sit back, the squeak of the coils sounding. My door is only hanging on by the bottom hinges. I should call my dad or maintenance, if I can find a number, to have them fix that, but instead, my brain just keeps replaying what Ryan said. We had a deal.

This whole time, they had a deal. The Ballers would stop seeing me in exchange for Lake leaving me alone. I think back on what happened after that night at Ryan’s house. Sure, the Baller Bitches didn’t stop their nonsense, but the Ballers did. They stopped talking to me all together. I thought it was because they’d gotten everything they wanted. I wasn’t playing on the team anymore. I wasn’t a threat to them. My God. This whole time…

Lake’s shit didn’t start again until camp, until I was basically forced in his face again just like he’d told me before Ryan showed.

“Tessa!”

I glance up to find Hayes sprinting toward my cabin. He leaps the stairs in one go, briefly notices the broken door on the cabin, and then finds me on the bed. He moves forward, and all I have to do is open my arms and he comes right to them, practically tackling me on the bed. “I trust you,” I say, right before my lips close over his. Hayes stills, then a ravenous hunger takes over that has him groaning “Fuck” before he presses his whole body into mine.

Ryan had already started an inferno of need between my legs, so Hayes just stokes it.

“You liked me this whole time?” I ask, finally believing it.

He kisses a trail down my neck. “More than you know.”

One might think it would be weird to kiss Ryan then Hayes right after without a delay, but it doesn’t. It feels normal. It feels exhilarating and exciting and like I would do it over and over again, with Sloan and Alec added into the mix, too. Each of them, though they have their own struggles, faults, and personalities, they light up a piece inside me like fractures to a whole. Hayes with his quiet dominance, which is turning out to be not so quiet right now. He’s voicing his pleasure in ragged breaths and moans that pull desire from me. I want more.

Hayes drops his forehead to the bed. His hot breath hits my ear, making my skin tingle and waves of pleasure down my body. “Hayes,” I say, trying to recover my breath.

He pushes up onto his palms, hovering over me. The only thing is, this puts the pressure of his erection right into me. I bite down on my lip and move until it rests where it feels best. I’m not sure because I haven’t seen it, but I think there’s an old saying about tall guys having huge penises. I’m willing to bet that’s the truth based on what I’m feeling right now.

Hayes swallows and lifts all the way up, and then sits at the edge of the bed. He runs his hands through his hair. “I can’t tell you how long I’ve thought about that.”

I sit up and move forward to kiss the top of his arm. If he weren’t so tall, I’d be able to kiss his shoulder. While my breathing starts to calm, my rational brain starts to take over again. I stare up at him. “You guys gave me up, all of you, to keep Lake away from me?”

Hayes nods. “Lake needs…help,” he says. “I swear he wasn’t always like this. He wanted us away from you, so we bartered with him. We thought you’d be better off.”

He pulls me into his lap until I’m straddling him. He’s still hard, but not as rock solid as he was only a minute ago. It’s probably best this way. I know I was a little out of control there for a few minutes.

“None of us wanted to.”

I wrap my arms around his neck and squeeze, just letting the steady rhythm of his heartbeat bring me back to earth with this new information. I can’t help but think that everything will have changed from here on out.

Everything.

18

Since I’m still sweaty and gross, I kick Hayes out of my room, so I can shower. I’m also going to use that time to try to get my head on straight. As soon as I finish up in the small, rustic bathroom, I lie on my bed, stomach down, and pull out my phone to video chat with Dawn. I cross my fingers, hoping she’s around and not too busy with David. I imagine, since I’m not there for a few weeks, they’re spending plenty of time together. For her sake, I hope it works out because she is totally smitten with him.

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