Page 102 of Those Summer Nights (Sweet Cravings 2)

Kristen laughed. "I meant the part about our final game."

"Oh, right. Well what are the odds that we don't make it that far?" Everything was setup perfectly for us to make it to the final. The volleyball portion of the International Tournament of Athletes consisted of two groups of six teams each. For each group, every team would play every other team one time, and at the end of those games, the four teams with the best records in each group would move on to the quarterfinals. We had played four out of our five group games and won all of them, meaning we were guaranteed to finish in the top four and advance to the quarterfinals. Brazil, on the other hand, who had been considered favorites to win gold, had lost three out of four of their games. Their fifth and final group game was against us, and if we beat them, they'd be eliminated. From there it would be a cake-walk to the gold medal podium.

"I actually think Coach is right on this. We shouldn't get too cocky." Kristen stopped and pointed to a girl kneeling in front of a muscular guy in an alleyway between two dorms. "Speaking of getting cocky..."

"Ew, gross pun."

"That's two. And we're not even halfway there. Looks like I'm going to win."

"Good thing we forgot to specify what the loser's punishment would be today." The first few days we had played we had just been counting for fun, but yesterday we kicked it up a notch by saying the loser had to post a picture on their Instagram of the winner's choosing. My Instagram account now featured a selfie of me making a platypus face. Thanks, Kristen.

"Any ideas?" asked Kristen.

I looked around to try to come up with a punishment that wouldn't be too horrible. A group of beautiful, shirtless men were walking towards us with bags of McDonald's. "Maybe the loser should have to buy dinner."

"All the food here is free."

"I know." It was the perfect punishment since I was almost certainly going to lose the bet.

"Nice try. But I think we should have higher stakes. What if the loser has to participate in the very activity we're betting on?"

"Have sex in public?" I asked.

"Yeah."

Of course Kristen would suggest that. "Hmmm..."

"Wait, are you actually considering that?"

"No, of course not," I said, laughing it off. Shit, am I really considering it?

"Oh my God, you totally are." Kristen's face lit up in a way I knew all too well.

I saw the same face every time I had come back to our dorm room after a long night out with Chris. Even though she hated him and wanted me to date someone else, she still loved making me dish on all the juicy details of our dates. She was not a strong proponent of the old saying that a lady never kisses and tells.

"Well we haven't been allowed to have sex for four freaking weeks! God, I'm so tired of Coach's stupid sex ban. It's like these games are designed to make people crazy horny. They take the most physically fit people in the world, put them all in coed dorms, and then all the coaches tell us we can't have sex until we're done competing. Not to mention there's an unlimited supply of free condoms."

"You don't have to tell me. I can't wait for our competition to be over so I can have some fun. The guys here are all so hot."

"But it's so awkward to do that in public!"

"Yeah, but it's not really in public. It's more like doing it in the middle of a frat party that only accepts the best looking guys in the world who aren't total douches."

"So not like a frat party at all?" I asked.

"Okay, fine," said Kristen. "That's kind of a bad comparison. But you get the point."

"So if you lost the bet, you really wouldn't mind having sex out in the open?" Would I? The idea is kind of enticing... God, what is this sex ban doing to my brain? Get a grip, Alina!

Kristen shook her head. "Nope. So it's settled then? The loser has to have sex in public after our final game."

"Whoa! I never said I agreed to it, I was just saying that I understand why they're doing it."

"It sure sounded a lot like a yes to me."

"It wasn't." I need to change the topic immediately. I looked around for something to distract her. The only thing I found was some tan brunette in a thong bikini lying out on a beach towel surrounded by three guys. "If we hang around for a few minutes, that will probably be number three. And maybe number four and five as well. Actually, we probably should discuss the rules on group sex. Does it count as one per group? Or one per pair of guy and girl? Or the total number of people in the orgy divided by two?"

"Wait, isn't that Gabriela Santos?" asked Kristen, ignoring what I thought was a very valid point that needed discussing, especially if the stakes were going to be so high.

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