Page 30 of Through the Flames
The opposing player he was covering slipped through the edge. Dom was chasing after him, but not fast enough.
Fuck.
I exploded forward, the muscles in my legs screaming, and slammed into the runner with a full-body dive, nearly ripping the dude’s legs out from under him just short of the end zone.
Goddamn.
I didn’t spare Dom a glance, but I muttered something under my breath, just loud enough for him to hear, “Keep playing like you’re daydreaming about your girl, and I swear I’ll knock you back to JV.”
He roared with laughter, like he wasn’t scared of me at all.
“Relax,” he said. “Needed the guy to think he had hope. Makes it more fun when I break him.”
I didn’t answer, but I knew I didn’t have to. That had been a one-off. Dom might’ve been cocky, but he had the skills to back it up.
My goal was to own every second she spent watching.
This game wasn’t just a game.
It was mine.
Ten
Hunter
My eyes were burning. I’d been working too long on this code for Sasha, but my brain wouldn’t shut up until I had a solution for this particular problem.
This better count as part of my fucking repayment.
Shrouded in nothing but the dim, bluish glow of my screens, the silent air was filled with the faint hum of my server and the blast of the AC.
The things one does for family,especiallywhen said family’s ties bleed into places most people wouldn’t step near.
Sasha had me testing some vulnerabilities in different firewalls, and I was so close to cracking them, I couldtasteit.
My phone buzzed on my desk, but I was so immersed in the lines and lines of code, I didn’t immediately check it. Then came the second buzz, and I stopped short.
Who the fuck was double texting me?
When her name flashed across my screen, I was frozen in place for a second before practically lunging at the phone.
Ella: Hey. I need your help.
Ella: Serious shit. You free?
My pulse spiked before my brain caught up.
I reread it. Once. Twice. Four times. Still hit the same way.
This was the second time she was coming to me for help.
The first had been back when Hailey and Colt were neck-deep in that blackmail fiasco, which I’d handled for her as much as for them.
Now here she was again, and I couldn’t help but fucking preen.Iwas the person she came to when she needed help.
That meant something, right?
Adrenaline, or maybe something more nefarious, was rushing through my veins as I took a second to breathe.Fuck. My girl had me riled up without even trying.
