Page 30 of Away Game

“I don’t plan on it, but I’m not going to do anything until I see what the school does,” I explained.

I moved through the dark house toward the kitchen. I was surprised there wasn’t some sort of video game tournament going on downstairs, but maybe they were all tired from practice or actually doing their schoolwork.

“What happens if I piss the school off, huh? There goes my scholarship. There goes my chance to give us a better life, and I’m not willing to do that, so I’ve got to be smart. Plus, Coach said he wouldn’t let them get away with it, and I believe him. Look, I just got home, so I’m going to go so I can finish up my homework, but I’ll talk to you soon, okay?”

“Be careful, West,” my baby brother said with so much sadness in his tone it made my eyes tear up.

“I will. I promise you. I love you,” I choked out before I heard him tell me the same and hung up.

Stepping into the kitchen to fill up one of my water bottles, I spotted Fin at the sink pouring ice into a Ziploc bag.

His black hair hung down, almost obscuring his black orbs from me, but I caught his narrowed eyes, watching me as he wrapped a towel around the makeshift ice pack and placed it on his shoulder.

“You okay?” I asked as I stepped around him and pulled out one of my insulated water bottles from the cabinet.

“Wouldn’t it be great if I wasn’t? Then maybe you could get rid of me,” he gritted out, his jaw ticking.

I had no idea what his problem was tonight — just like I had no idea what it was any day of the week, month, or year — but I’d never wish Fin to be hurt, no matter how much of an asshole he was to me. Maybe that made me a masochist. I didn’t know, but I couldn’t help myself.

“Why’d you come home tonight? You could have stayed out all night fucking your boyfriend, and Coach wouldn’t have cared now that you’re his little pet,” Fin bit out.

I stepped away from him to put as much space between us as I could until my back hit the wall and a jolt of pain shot up my spine. Why couldn’t Fin give me a couple of days to heal before he went back to being his usual asshole self? I was tired of his shit. I knew he hadn’t forgotten, no matter how hard he tried. I was a walking billboard for the battered and abused.

“You’re such a fuck boy,” I yelled, the words echoing off the walls and through my head. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. What boyfriend?” Fin opened his mouth to speak, but I was done letting him have his say. “No, you know what, I don’t give a shit. Leave me the fuck alone. Now and always. If you see me bleeding in a ditch, I want you to turn the other way and keep walking.”

With that, I left the room. Fuck my water and fuck Fin too. Even though I was pissed off more than I’d ever been in my life, I couldn’t storm off with my body in so much pain. It did give me a little more fuel, though, to make it up all four flights of stairs. When I got to the third floor, Oz was standing on the landing. I wasn’t going to say anything to him since I’d just yelled at his best friend.

As I passed by, he smiled, and I swore I heard him say, “It’s about damn time,” under his breath.

15

Fin

After grabbingmy protein shake from the countertop, I went upstairs to my room. I’d barely stepped foot in the room when West barged in. Taking my drink out of my hand, he set it down — because he was ever the good boy — before he pushed me up against the wall with a challenging glimmer in his eyes.

His mouth was only a breath away from mine while his chest brushed against me. “I can’t stand this back and forth between us. Two days ago, you were my savior, and now I’m your…”

“Punishment,” I supplied for him. My hands landed on his hard chest. I was unsure if I wanted to push him away or pull him closer.

West’s face fell as if my one simple word broke his heart, and then with a blink of an eye, it transformed right in front of me into something I couldn’t decipher.

“If you could admit that you feel even a fraction of what I feel for you, I would drop to my knees right here, right now, and suck your dick.” He let out a bitter laugh as my cock twitched in my pants. “Even though you’re an asshole to me, I still want you. I hate myself for not being able to stay away from you when you only spew venom at me. Maybe you’re my karma for being a shitty person in another life.”

“I doubt you were ever bad a day in this life or any other if you believe in that type of shit.” Up this close, I could count the freckles that were scattered across his nose and cheeks. An inane need to press my lips to each one eclipsed what I normally felt in his presence.

West’s hand moved from my chest to my face, holding me in place until he crushed his lips to mine in a bruising kiss. It was fierce with so much pent up emotion. Nipping my bottom lip with his teeth, I grunted at the pain and pleasure of the act. West’s eyes flared with want before he plunged his tongue inside my mouth.

Gripping his shirt, I pulled him closer, wanting to taste him better. I don’t know how, but West tasted like home. Something in all my years I’d never felt.

West angled my head to the side with his strong hands until he got me just the way he wanted me. Our tongues lashed against one another’s in a primal way. Nothing had ever felt so right. It caused a war inside of me. I wanted to give in so badly, but at what cost?

Those hands that felt like they were holding me together moved down the side of my neck, my shoulders, and landed on my heaving chest. One stayed to rest over my heart while the other made its way down across my taut abs and around my hip. Pulling our lower bodies flush to the other’s, West ground his erection against mine.

How did something so basic feel so damn amazing?

I was only in a thin pair of pajama pants, making me experience the full effect of the tight jeans that were encasing West’s cock.

I grunted as sensation started to ripple from the base of my neck to my balls that were now tight with need.

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