Page 29 of Go Deep (A Bad Boy Sports Romance)
I took a deep breath. “Yes.”
“I always knew you had a thing for him, Cass. It was always obvious to everyone but the two of you.” I could hear the disgust in his voice.
“What? No way.”
“Admit it. You’re in love with him.”
“What the fuck, Shawn? I’m not in love with your brother, and I didn’t sleep with him because Ihave a thing for him. It just happened. I can’t explain it other than to say it just happened…like…”
“Like you’d been wanting to for years. Is that what you were about to say?”
It was, but I stood there with my cell phone up to my ear on the sidewalk in silence as other students walked past me. This was not the time or place, and what I really wanted to know was why he was asking about this now.
“I’ll take that as a yes, then,” he snapped. “Look, I have to go.”
“No no, Shawn. You don’t get to ask a whopper of a question like that then hang up without telling me why or waiting to hear my side of it.”
“Watch me.”
“Wait,” I protested, but he hung up.
I immediately got a text, and I checked to see if it was Shawn spewing more anger-filled rebukes via written word.
It was Slade. Speak of the devil. And I hadn’t responded to his last text. This message was to ask if I wanted to meet tonight and prepare the script for the pitch and plan the write-up. Even though I would see him in class in a few minutes, I texted him back and told him fine. I figured I just had to accept that he’d be late again getting out of whatever it was he was doing after practice these days. He texted back that he’d see me soon, and I knew then that his texts meant he’d be at this morning’s lecture.
* * *
The day wentby and after cheerleading practice, I went back to my dorm for a nap in before Slade was ready to meet up. I woke to the buzz of my phone as he texted me.
‘Meet me at the house?’
I replied with,‘On my way.’
I grabbed everything for the project and headed out to the car. I put the key in the ignition and turned it. Nothing.
“Dammit,” I yelled at the car. My piece of shit beater car was on its last leg. Every time I really needed it, this would happen.
Still sitting in the car, I texted Slade.‘Car trouble again. Pick me up?’
He texted back,‘We can use your place. Be there in ten.’
Miranda wasn’t home. I didn’t know where she was or how long she’d be gone, though it could turn into an all-nighter with her. Whether she came home or not wouldn’t make a difference, and actually, it was probably better that Slade knew she could show up anytime. The way things were going between us—the making out, that night in his room, my defending him, and the fact that Shawn knew now—it was probably for the best that we had a talk once we got the project work out of the way.
I answered with.‘Sure’and took my things from the car to wait for him at the front door.
His final reply was ‘I will be on my best behavior’and a smiley face.
I didn’t want to know what that meant. Of all nights for Miranda not to be here. I needed her to do me a favor and run interference to make sure Slade and I didn’t have a second alone. Some friend.
I talked myself down from my frenzied state, reminding myself he was less of an ass around me lately, and hadn’t hit on me for a solid few weeks now. That was a good sign, a definite improvement on how things were before I jumped his bones. Maybe some of the mystery was gone for him. Either way. It was good not to deal with that side of him anymore.
I looked up and down the laneway to our dorm, wondering where he was. I was going crazy, left alone with my thoughts like this and nowhere to direct that energy. If I’d had any more time alone in my thoughts I’d probably end up admitting that I wanted more of him, and I was pretty sure I knew which part that was.
My greedy, greedy core.
He was that good in bed, even if our little tryst was as vanilla as they came. If it were up to that one body part and logic was not a factor, we’d end up in a purely sexual relationship, and it would have been perfect. I’d let him come over, he could fuck my brains out, and then I’d send him on his merry way. A few times a week would do the trick.
Except there was logic staring me in the face. And I still had no idea what caused Shawn to phone me about it. None of it made sense at the moment, so it was probably better for us to keep our hands off of each other until we straightened out a few things.
“Where the hell are you, Slade?” I asked the night. The air was starting to get chilly, and I was down here in hardly any clothes and no fall jacket. I looked down at my phone to check the time. If he waited much longer I was liable to call the whole thing off and go to bed. Alone.
