Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Graham
The past couple of weeks with Sterling as my boyfriend had been almost pure bliss.
He’d come to my first game of the season wearing my jersey and every game after that, even the away games.
Most afternoons, he sat in the stands of the arena and did homework while I busted my ass during practice.
His nightmares were now few and far between with his medication, and he hadn’t had one in the past three nights, which was a record.
I hated that having an actual flashback had been what pushed him into trying a new medication, but I was also kind of thankful for it.
Because Sterling couldn’t keep living like he had been.
It would’ve worn him down too quickly, no matter how hard he fought.
And I couldn’t keep watching him dig himself deeper and deeper into his misery.
The entire campus now knew Sterling and I were together, which helped to kill the ED rumors, and come to find out, we’d had an entire group of people “shipping” us the entire time we’d been friends, and our ship name was Sterham.
Kind of weird, but it was cute, too. Someone had even created an entire Instagram page dedicated to us and took random pictures of us and posted them.
I was guilty of saving every single one of them to my phone.
“Why is everyone so insane around Halloween?” Sterling grumbled as he ducked beneath a ghost hanging from the ceiling on our hall. I’d been smart enough to walk around it.
Most of the doors on our hall were decorated for the upcoming holiday, and some of the students had taken time to even decorate the hallway.
Hell, even our bathroom looked like Halloween threw up in it.
But I had to admit, I was excited. Halloween parties were always pretty fucking epic, and I was hoping that now that Sterling was on Xanax, he might be open to going to the party with me this year.
“Because Halloween is like the best holiday of the year,” I told him in a duh tone. “Parties are fucking epic. There’s candy galore. And the girls are hot as fuck.”
Sterling rolled his eyes at me. “We’re not inviting a girl into our bed, Graham.” I would never, but it was still funny. All I needed was Sterling. The girls were just hot as fuck to look at now.
I chuckled and opened our dorm room door—one of the only ones on the hall not decorated, much to both mine and Mrs. Hardison’s dismay. Sterling had put his foot down on “not contributing to the craziness”, as he put it.
My hands spanned his waist once our dorm room door was shut behind us and tugged him closer to me.
“I enjoy looking, baby, but you’re the only person I want in my bed,” I rasped before claiming his lips in a sweet kiss.
He sank into my hold, his arms winding around my shoulders.
The kiss wasn’t heated or passionate. It was intimate, saying everything we didn’t say with our words.
Regardless, I felt his cock pressing against me, and I moaned, struggling to rein in my lust. That was another big change—Sterling was actually getting hard lately.
We’d been touching more, and every day, his erection lasted longer and longer.
He was getting excited about the prospect of finally getting to have sex, but I could also see he was trying to not get his hopes up about it.
I forced myself to pull back from him. Licking my lips, I ran my eyes over his face, drinking in every beautiful thing about him. “Will you come to a Halloween party with me? The team is throwing it.”
Sterling frowned at me. “I don’t like parties, Graham.”
I groaned and let my head fall back on my shoulders overdramatically before I looked back down at him. “I know you don’t, but you’re my boyfriend, and I really want you there. I want to dance with you and watch dumb, drunk idiots do stupid shit together.”
He sighed, but I could see the amusement he was trying to hide in his eyes. “If I agree, then when I want to leave, we leave. No questions asked. No begging to stay. And you know I can’t drink with my med.”
I grinned. “Babe, I never drink. Why do you think I always came back from parties sober? Alcohol gives me a pounding headache after only a couple of sips.” I shook my head. “Can’t stand it.”
He grunted and stepped back from me, reaching down to adjust his cock. I licked my lips as I unashamedly watched him. A teasing smile tilted his lips, and he winked at me. “Fine. I’ll go with you. But I’m not dressing up.”
I snorted. “I know better than to push for more,” I assured him. I grinned at him, so happy he’d agreed. “But I will be dressing up.”
Sterling rolled his eyes and settled on my bed, which had basically become ours.
We hadn’t slept apart since getting together.
And if I had my way, we’d never sleep apart again…
unless I had an out-of-town game. But even lately, I’d been managing to sneak him into the hotel room with me if the game was far.
“I wouldn’t expect anything less, Graham.”
I just quietly laughed because when he saw my outfit, I knew he’d have a hard damn time keeping his hands to himself. And that was my hope. I wanted to give him everything he wanted, and I knew how badly he wanted to have sex. And selfishly, I wanted it just as badly.
Because I really wanted Sterling to top me.
I eyed myself in the mirror, a smirk pulling at my lips.
The black, leather pants I was wearing clung to my legs like a second skin and outlined the shape of my cock perfectly.
My chest was bare, and I’d slicked oil over my skin to make my abs and muscles shiny, which I knew would drive Sterling fucking crazy.
Big platform boots were on my feet, and they went all the way up to my knees, an insane amount of buckles holding them closed.
In my hand was the piece that completed my outfit: the Ghostface mask.
“Are you—holy fuck,” Sterling choked out as he walked into our room from the bathroom. He’d gone to wash his face since I was hogging the mirror in our room, and I’d taken advantage of his absence to change into my outfit for the night.
I turned to face him, a cocky grin pulling at my lips. “You like?”
Sterling groaned, his jeans pulled tight over his hips due to his erection. “Fuck, you look good,” he rasped.
I waggled my brows at him. “We’ve got time if you want to play,” I teased.
Sterling chuckled, but his smile was strained as he continued roving his dark eyes over me.
“I want to see how long this manages to last me,” he said, waving down in the direction of his dick—which was still hard.
Hope was stirring in my chest. “Come on. Let’s go see what you like so much about all this fucking insanity. ”
I grabbed his hand in mine and slid my Ghostface mask over my head before walking with him out of our dorm room, locking it behind us. Normally, Sterling and I were about the same height, but with these boots, I was taller than him, and I had to admit, I kind of liked it.
“Those boots are almost as hot as the way your pants make your ass look,” Sterling said as we made our way down the stairs.
I laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
The party was already in full swing when we arrived, and it was already packed. I had to park a street over to even get a parking spot.
“This better be worth it,” Sterling muttered as he eyed all the cars we passed. “Because I didn’t expect to have to walk.”
I snorted. Oh, the fucking hypocrisy. “Are you really complaining about walking when you literally walk everywhere you can to avoid driving?” I teased.
He cut me that side-eye look that told me he was annoyed with me. I snickered and squeezed his hand in mine. “That’s because I want to walk to those places. I thought since we were driving, we wouldn’t have to walk.”
Dropping his hand, I wrapped an arm around his shoulders and tugged him close against my side. Pressing a kiss to his temple, I said, “Babe, stop trying to find reasons to hate tonight and just trust me.”
He sighed, sinking against my side. My heart fluttered in my chest. Pretty sure at this point, the damn organ was growing wings. “I do trust you, Graham. More than I trust anyone else in the world.”
“Good. Then believe me when I say that tonight will be fun.”
He just huffed but didn’t say anything else, which told me he was going to give me a chance to prove him wrong. And I would. I was determined to. I was hoping I could make this night memorable for us both.
Bass was thumping through the speakers strategically placed around the house when we walked in, and it was so loud that it rattled my teeth and thumped through my chest. Numerous people, some I didn’t even know, greeted me as we made our way through the crowded house.
Sterling stuck close to my side as I weaved us through the partiers to the makeshift dance floor in the living room.
Popularity could suck sometimes, especially when all I wanted to do was spend time with Sterling.
All the couches and chairs had been pushed against the wall to make room for dancers, and couples—or probably more like hookups—were already making out. Some of them were in partial states of undress.
Sterling grimaced, but before he could even try voicing to leave, I turned his back to me and gripped his hips, moving our bodies to the beat of the song.
It didn’t take him long to fall into rhythm with me.
A moan crawled up my throat when he started grinding his ass against my thick shaft.
The fingertips of my left hand dug into his hips, and with my other hand, I slipped my hand around to the front of his jeans and cupped him.
He was hard, almost threatening to burst through his zipper.
Moving my hand, I gripped his hair and tugged his head to the side, trailing the end of my mask along his neck.
His breath stuttered out of his lungs on a shaky exhale, and I faintly heard him groan my name as our hips continued moving together.