Chapter 24 Ash
I woke up to her warm soft body pressed into mine, her hair was covering my chest as she lay on it, her arm draped across me and one leg tangled in with mine.
Reaching behind me, I switched off the alarm on my phone before it woke her. She was still sound asleep, and although I couldn’t see her face, I could hear her steady, even breathing.
My own hand was curled around her hip, pulling her close to me.
I wasn’t a big fan of sleeping over at a girl’s after I had hooked up with them, but I didn’t completely avoid it like Jett did.
Had. My cousin is a changed man. I knew, though, that for the handful of times I had stayed the night, I’d never woken up the next morning like this.
With a smooth movement, I slipped my hand under her shorts so I was touching skin.
Rubbing slow circles on her hip, I closed my eyes again, even though I knew my alarm was due to go off again in fifteen minutes.
Yesterday had been a weird day, but the moments with Red had been fun.
Even when she was trying to tear me a new one in the locker room after practice.
I hadn’t been at all clear on why she came into the locker room to start with, but she was so fucking cute when she was floundering. I had to play with her a little.
I’d even been impressed at her balls to tell Ben he was taking her on a date. He wasn’t. He knew it before she’d even left the first time. When she came back and just stood there staring at me being naked, it had taken a lot of willpower to keep my dick from responding.
Gray, Jett, and I had gone back to the house to get food and catch up on the day.
Ava was buzzing about her phone call, and when I thought about it, it totally made sense for Ava to be a sports reporter.
She lived for stats. She made Jett and Gray promise to read her trial piece before she sent it to the college paper.
When she asked Gray, he hadn’t even faltered in saying yes, and neither of them saw Jett’s face at the response.
He looked like he was on cloud nine. It looked like Ava and Gray were going to be friends after all.
The world had probably stopped turning for a moment when it happened, but it was a good thing.
Quinn had been busy with the rest of the team.
She was halfway through her assignment and had been carrying out personal sessions to see what was working and what wasn’t for each guy.
Even with our progress, I was dreading what she was going to recommend for me.
If it was another shake, I was going to McDonald’s.
“Hey, you,” she greeted me as I met her in the kitchen, and she went over to the fridge and pulled out a dish covered in foil. Watching me closely, she uncovered it, and I was looking at meat, possibly chicken, in a dark, glossy-looking sauce.
“Sauce?”
“I know, it’s out there, but I have cut it down the best I can and still made it edible.
It’s a simple marinade, it has chili because, you know, you’re you,” she rolled her eyes at me, “but it also has brown sugar in it, not lots, well within your recommended guidelines, and I think it will take away the sweetness you’re craving. ”
“What’s the protein?”
“This is diced turkey, leaner than chicken, but just as delicious and wholesome. I just need to be careful cooking it. It’s not as forgiving as chicken.”
Bending down, I inhaled. “It smells nice, sweet.”
“You think so?” She smiled in appreciation. “I think so too. Actually, I’m eager to try it,” she confessed. “You can eat it in lettuce wraps but also with steamed rice. It has some ginger in there, so possibly won’t mix with pasta, but wholegrain rice? You’ll be all set.”
“It’s for tonight?” I asked hopefully as she went to cover it back up.
“It is. I thought we could try it together.” She was looking away from me, but I saw her bite her lip as she waited for me to agree.
“Sounds good,” I answered. “Thanks.”
With a quick glance to see if I was being sincere, she seemed happy when she saw that I was. “You’re welcome.”
Gray came over then and hugged her from behind, his lips skimming the back of her neck. “Hey, beautiful, I missed you,” he told her softly.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched her hand cover his as she turned to look up at him. “You saw me three hours ago,” she teased him.
“You have no idea how long it was.” Gray kissed her nose. “Plus, you have no idea what’s happened since you left.”
“Tell me,” Quinn demanded as she turned completely in his hold, always eager to hear about our day.
“Ash,” Gray called. “I think you need to be the one to retell it.”
Turning, I forced myself to appear casual.
What was wrong with me? He was my blood; I loved him.
She was our friend, and I knew even though she wouldn’t admit it, she would have spent time finding this recipe.
Time away from her studies, for me. I knew that, and I think that Quinn and I would probably be in a good place, soon.
But the two of them together? It still stung.
I missed Red. Did I? Yeah, I did.
When she was here, I spent more time watching her than I did them.
Was I using her? I didn’t think so, but I did appreciate that she provided me with a welcome distraction.
Even if she was only rolling her eyes at the couples around us, we shared that common trait. Without her, I was the fifth wheel.
Ava had been a mix of dumbstruck and concerned when we told her about Red in the locker room. Quinn had winced several times throughout the retelling, and when Ava ran up the stairs to phone Red, Quinn had looked around at the three of us as she thought about it.
“I don’t think, even on my worst day with you guys, I could have had the sheer guts to do that.” She shook her head in admiration. “I mean, to walk into a full locker room and own it, she has balls.”
“She liked Ash’s balls, that’s for sure.” Jett snickered.
“Who told the freshman she wasn’t allowed to date?” Quinn asked suspiciously as her gaze landed on Gray.
“It was harmless.” He shrugged.
“You did it to test her,” Jett spoke up. “To prove a point, and she fell for it,” he added.
Gray popped a grape in his mouth as he grinned. “Hook, line and sinker.”
“You’re a dick,” I told him.
“I never claimed to be anything otherwise.”
“You pushing her to date someone isn’t the same thing,” Quinn scolded him. “Mia is not a slut, she really doesn’t sleep around, and you’re being an ass.”
“How do you know she doesn’t?” Gray countered. “You ask her past lays?” His face fell when Quinn looked at me guiltily before she replied.
“Yeah, actually I did.”
Even my mouth dropped open. “How do you even have that conversation?”
“Communication skills,” she responded tartly. “You would all benefit from learning them.”
“So, she what? Hooks up and talks them to sleep?” Gray asked jokingly, and then he paused and thought about it. “Actually, I can see that happening. She sure can talk.”
Just then, Ava returned to the kitchen, her phone in her hand. “She isn’t answering.”
“She’s definitely back at the suite?” Jett asked me.
“Yeah, she is,” I confirmed.
“She’s fine.” Ava tossed the phone on the counter. “She just doesn’t want to talk.” She returned Quinn’s sympathetic smile. “It happens sometimes. She just needs space to come to terms with it, and then she’ll be back like it never happened.”
“You want to check on her?” Jett asked as he tugged her into his arms.
“No,” Ava answered as she stood on her tiptoes to kiss him briefly. “Best boyfriend marks though for offering.”
Ugh, kill me now.
“Red’s a fighter. I’ll go back tonight, and the place will be boobytrapped,” I joked.
Ava beamed at me in appreciation and then offered to help Quinn make supper. After we had eaten and I was a firm lover of the new turkey dish, I got ready to leave. Ava pulled me aside as I gathered my things.
“She’ll pretend she’s asleep. Don’t fall for it, and make her talk to you tonight, or it’ll be awkward as fuck tomorrow.” Ava gave me a stern look. “Trust me.”
“That why you stayed on Sunday?”
“Known her my whole life. You let her get away with the silent treatment tonight, you’re fucked tomorrow and the next day and the next.”
“Noted.” I ruffled her blonde hair affectionately. “Did you just break girl code?”
“I did.” Ava sighed deeply before she gave me a sly grin. “You’ll both thank me later.”
“I can handle Red,” I said smugly, thinking about this afternoon in the restroom.
“Her body?” Ava shrugged. “I have no doubt you can, but her mind? You’re swimming deep in shark-infested waters while you still think you’re in the kiddie pool.”
“Wow.”
She reached up to pat my shoulder. “It’s okay, big guy, I got you.”
“You truly worry me sometimes,” I told her honestly. “You’re so weird and scary.”
“Which is why you adore me.”
The little psycho went skipping over to Quinn, and I stared after for a moment, chuckling to myself before I left. When I got back to the room, Red was doing exactly what Ava predicted, and knowing Ava was no fool, I took her advice.
Fast forward six hours, and here I was in bed with my little firecracker.
My? Not mine.
“I dunno if I’m waking up or going back to sleep,” Red murmured beside me. “I do know your thumb doing that is very relaxing.” I felt her move slightly closer. “I like that you snuggle.”
Snuggle? I thought about it. Yeah, I guess I was. With her.
“You should go back to sleep,” I told her quietly. “It’s too early for you to be awake.”
“Are you going back to sleep?” she asked as she did some small little stretch that arched her back and pressed her pussy and her tits up against me. My dick was beginning to stir.
“No, I have fifteen minutes, less now probably, before I need to get up and get ready for practice.”
She tilted her head up to look at me, even though it was still dark and she couldn’t see me that well. “When the season’s over, do you sleep all day to catch up on the lack of sleep?”
Huffing out a laugh, I smiled in the darkness. “When the season’s over, my practice is the same, just shorter hours some days.”
I felt her prop herself up and knew she was staring at me. “Seriously? There’s no perks?”
“I want to play ball professionally. I need to train and get better, and the only way to do that is structured training.”
She lay back down beside me, her arm and head automatically resuming the same spot. “I feel cheated for you.” I could hear the grumpiness, and I chuckled in the dark. “I think you should at least get to binge on whatever you want, whether it’s curly fries or sleeping all day.”
I lost my humor. I knew she wouldn’t know; I completely trusted that Ava wouldn’t tell her, but still, the terminology reminded me of how weak I had been. How weak I was.
“Well, I don’t.” Moving away from her, I sat up. “Go back to sleep.”
“But I’m awake now,” she whispered as her hand reached out and stroked my arm.
I hesitated. She felt it, and her hand trailed lazily up and down again.
This was a bad idea. “Go to sleep, Red, you’re delirious from lack of sleep.
” I got out of bed, snatching my phone up, and made my way to the bathroom.
I went through my bathroom routine in record time, and I was back in the bedroom, grabbing my jeans, underwear, and a shirt as she lay quiet in the bed.
It felt too intimate. Fuck the fact that I had been lying next to her a few minutes ago; the fact that she lay there as I got dressed to go start my day felt like something a couple would do. We’d been fuck buddies, nothing else.
Pulling on my boots, I cursed the fact I’d forgotten socks, but I wasn’t going back into the bedroom. She surprised the hell out of me when she suddenly appeared in the low light of the living space.
“I told you to sleep,” I said as I straightened.
Her nose scrunched up as she made a face at me. “I tend to ignore you most of the time,” she quipped as she leaned her shoulder against the wall.
“Is that right?” Reaching for my jacket, I took a moment to appreciate her. Her hair was mussed and wild, her PJ shorts were light gray, and I knew they were soft to touch. The short-sleeved sleep shirt was simple and matched the shorts, but didn’t hide her hard nipples.
“Do I have someone to come chaperone me today, or did I terrify them all yesterday?” Her cheeks flushed as she avoided looking at me.
“You terrified them with your demanding wanton ways,” I mocked as I pulled my jacket on. “But someone will be here at eight for you.”
“Should I argue?”
“You usually do.”
She opened her mouth to give me a smart reply, no doubt, but she changed her mind. “I have practice after class.”
“Okay, practice finishes at six thirty for me today. Ava and Quinn will meet you, that okay?”
“Okay.”
She stretched again as I was looking around to make sure I had everything. She caught her hair up, piling it on top of her head as she stretched on her tiptoes. With a wide yawn, she settled back down, her hair falling once again over her shoulders.
My dick was as hard as a rock.
“You need to go back to bed,” I told her gruffly.
“Meh, I’m up now.”
“Red, go back to bed.”
“Why?” Red laughed. “You won’t be here to wake me up.”
Fuck me, her flirting would be the end of me. I groaned before I crossed the space and scooped her up. Dropping her on the bed, I followed her down.
“Stay here, let me leave.”
Wide hazel eyes stared up at me. “I wasn’t stopping you.”
Cupping her pussy, I grit my teeth when I felt her heat through the shorts. “We both know you were.” My lips skimmed hers. “Now, stay here, let me leave so I can go to practice and try not to think about you lying here, fucking yourself as you think about me.”
Her eyes got wider. “I won’t—”
“Shh.” I pressed my lips to hers. “Stop talking, I’m already late.”
“Then stay.”
Fuck. She looked so inviting. It took a lot more willpower than I thought it would to ease off her and back away.
We held each other’s stare for a long time before I turned and walked quickly out of the suite. She was too much of a temptation. We needed to get rid of the threat hanging over us and get back to normal. As I walked to the stadium, my phone vibrated.
Red: Well I’m awake . . . how’s the walk?
Smiling, I replied.
Me: Nice morning, taking my time, I have a hard problem I’m trying not to think about
Red: Is that right? I could have maybe helped with that. Oh, can you tell Alden he owes me twenty bucks?
Me: WTF for?
Red: Told him I would make you late for practice — he said you’re never late. Guess what? I win.
I stared at the text, and then I started laughing. She’d been purposefully distracting me.
Well played, Red. Well played.
I’m never late. Fuck that. Grinning, I started to jog to the stadium. I also liked to play games.