Page 48 of Resilient Love

Sunny D

Sunshine, shut the fuck up and get dressed so I can tear your clothes off myself. For the love of fuck.

I smirk—an unexplainable wave of joy slips over me from driving him up a wall. I love it when he’s about to lose his mind.

“What are you smirking at over there?” Adhira asks, a dark brow raised as she tugs her shirt over her head.

I shove my phone back in my locker and grab a change of clothes. “You don’t want to know,” is all I say, not wanting to lie any more than I already am. And that isn’t a lie. She really wouldnotwant to know that I’m doing something so reckless.

And because it’s Adhira, she lets it go, rolling her eyes and shrugging. “If you say so. I take it you won’t need a ride back to the house?”

I shake my head and hope like hell she thinks I’m shagging with a fan.

As usual, I don’t do as I’m told. Instead, I take an unnecessarily long shower, and when I leave the locker room, the parking lot has practically cleared out, and Rafael is leaning up against the side of the sports building, scowling.

“Elise,” he barks out.

I smile broadly, jogging over to him. “Yes, Coach?” I ask, happy to goad him, but before I reach him, fingers are wrapping around my wrist, tugging me backward.

My wide eyes meet Noah’s as I’m tugged into his side, his teeth grinding together, bared like a wild animal. “Get your hands off of me,” I grit out, my gaze flitting to where Rafael is now stomping up to us.

“You have exactly three seconds to remove your hand from her before Imake you,” Rafael practically growls at Noah, who releases my hand and backs away.

“We need to chat,” Noah demands. I rub my wrist, an ache present where his fingers were, but I feel nothing toward Noah but resentment and boredom.

“We don’t have anything to talk about, Noah. You’re embarrassing yourself. We agreed to a casual fling, but that’s over now, and I’ve grown bored. Leave me alone, and find someone else to pull.” I turn on my heel, the angry blood roaring behind my eardrums blocking out whatever he’s shouting behind me.

I leave Noah to follow after Rafael, who leans against the side of his shiny black sports car.

He lowers his voice and peers down at me, his arms crossed over his chest as he says, “You okay?”

“Yep,” I answer, and I am. I’m tired of Noah’s games. I’ve never told him a single genuine thing about me, so I know he isn’t interested inme. He just hates losing—that’s been made evident in the two times I’ve seen him show his ass during swim meets. To be clear, I’ve never shown up, but the sports world is a tight-knit community and everyone stays informed. That should act as a reminder that what I’m about to do with Rafael would be a horrendous idea, but I’ve never been the best at following rules.

“Good. Get your ass to my apartment. You’re about to learn a lesson about defiance.” Without another word, he stalks off in the direction of his car.

God, I love it when he’s annoyed.

I barely have the door shut from the rideshare I took here before Rafael is storming over to me, abducting me. He’s got me slung over his shoulder in zero point two seconds flat, dangling here with a perfect view of his perky ass in my face.

“Hey, Terminator,” I goad him, smacking his ass of steel as he marches us into his building and straight into the elevator. “You’ll be lucky if that guy doesn’t call the police after the way you manhandled me,” I tell him, all the blood now pooling in my skull beginning to pound.

“They won’t be able to find us even if he did,” he tells me, sounding much less grumpy now than before.

“I’m pretty sure the concierge knows where you live, Rafa. Now will you put me down? I’m getting a fucking headache.”

“Sure, if we were going back to my apartment, but we’re not,” he says as the elevator pings and the doors slide open.

He waltzes out, and I’m dead weight in his arms, resigned to the fact this may be it for me. I may have pushed this hulk of a man a tad too far.Maybe he’s taking me to the pool to drown me.

“I’m not going to drown you,” he says as if I’m an idiot.

Had I said that out loud?I forget myself too often with him.

He pushes open a stairwell door and climbs up the eight short steps, my body bouncing limply against his back.

A cool gust of air chills me as he flips me over his shoulder, setting me back on the ground.

The door behind us shuts loudly, and I swing my gaze around, my eyes bouncing between the wide-open night sky, the stars twinkling overhead, patio furniture beneath strings of café lights, large potted plants, and finally, the thing that might haveme retching the impossibly low wall that surrounds us. My legs sway beneath me, the blood flowing from my brain, draining into my poor, helpless heart.

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