Page 63 of On Merit Alone
I tried my best to ignore his word choice as he flipped the channel on the remote and up popped the image of his front door. Hisoccupiedfront door. And not with the pizza guy.
The guys there were holding our pizzas alright, but they were about two feet taller than the average sunny teenage delivery driver and way too up close a personal with the camera to not be comfortable with the property.
“King!” one of them yelled into the receiver. “Open the door man, I gotta piss!”
We both snickered as his teammate jumped up and down on the front stoop, doing a pee dance. Ira groaned.
“What the hell did they do? Jack the pizza guy?” he asked, snorting. “Fuck, I should have known they would show up on me. Did the same thing when I tore this thing.”
He let his hand flop in the direction of his knee lamely before pushing it up over his head. “Shit.”
“I can still go, Ira,” I said, with a small smile. “If you’re hanging out with your team then I know you’re not doing whatever this is. So I’ll sleep a little easier.”
He shook his head. “I don’t want you to go. If anything I want them gone. It’s just that you’re right. I’ve been sitting in this spot since I got here and I sort of smell. I need a quick shower.”
My mouth went dry at the thought of Ira showering, but I shook myself out of it quickly. It helped that another bang came through the door at the same time.Jesus.
“Okay. Here’s what we can do. I’ll get the door, and you get a shower,” I said. Lifting up to my feet I started to remove his fixings and replace his knee on the ground. “When you get back down we can decide what you want to do with me from there.”
Holding my hands out, I silently offered my help to get him off the floor. He declined. Using the strength of his arms and his one good leg alone, he rose. Towering over me, I thought maybe he was going to fall so I rushed over to grab him, clamping onto the sides of his slim waist in the process.
With ease and balance, he grabbed onto my shoulders and looked down at me.
Swallowing, he murmured, “I’m pretty sure I know exactly what I want to do with you, Six.”
Chapter Nineteen
Ira
My shower was cold.
Not because I could still feel the way Merit’s hands felt as they pressed softly into the muscles of my leg. Gentle yet firm. Soft skin with a tentative touch. Special. And not because of the familiar way she’d picked up calling me “I”—a shortening of my name that just naturally came to be rather than some forced nickname. It wasn't even because of the way I’d slipped as she helped me to the stairs, barely catching myself as she used her skillful hands to keep me upright.
No, I wasn’t taking a cold shower for any of those reasons. Of all the things, I was taking it because of Merit’s grandfather.
I didn’t know the guy. I didn’t know what kind of relationship she had with him, how old he was, if he was even real. I just knew that the man was onto something with that freezing water stuff. And whoever he was to Merit, she loved him very much. I could tell by the sound of her voice alone as she talked about him with love and maybe a little sadness.
I was grateful that she shared that piece of herself with me. I wanted to do it justice.
I couldn’t lie, I was devastated. I knew almost as soon as I landed that it wasn’t going to be good. I didn’t know that it would be‘miss the last two games in the conference finals ‘not good’,though. This was everything I ever worked for on a silver platter, but just outside my reach. Sure, we could win, though I had my doubts. And of course if we did, I’d be ecstatic, but if I was being real, not as ecstatic as I’d be if I was playing too.
But Merit was right. There was so much I had to be happy about. So much I had to be proud of. And so many options I still had on the table. I needed to snap myself out of this funk and be grateful I still had a leg to injure.
So into the cold shower I went, and I’m not going to lie—I came out changed.
Sure it may have had something to do with the cold water, but I was positive it had more to do with the girl downstairs who had gone out of her way to take care of me and make me laugh when all I wanted to do was wallow in that puddle of my own sweat and tears. She’d come right over, no questions asked and had done all she could for me.
Merit Jones. Hard-ass Merit Jones. Uptight Merit Jones… had been sweet. So freaking sweet. So sweet that, even if my shower wasn’t cold as shit, I probably still would have rushed through it anyway to get back down to her.
I wanted more of this Merit. More of her soft touches and private words of encouragement. More of her close proximity and that warm smell she always had. More of her cute little matching getups. More of her shy looks.
Just, more.
As I crutched my way back into my living room and kitchen, the sound of laughter and chit-chat filling my ears, I couldn’t help but get more excited to see her again.
“Ah, there he is!” a chorus of deep voices called as I entered the room.
All around the kitchen and into the living room sat my teammates. Not all of them, thank God. I don’t know what I would do if I had some of the newer guys showing up at my house. But the boys who were close to me were all there. Stephens, Rogers, and McKivvey littered my home like they owned the place, probably because they’d all been here before on more than one occasion.
