16. Booker
Booker
Sinking into her is like going to heaven. I’ve transcended this life, staring down at her sleek back and round hips. I’ve died with her taste and name on my lips.
“Ja—…” she whispers, morphing into a moan, pushing back into me.
“Hang on,” I grit out, feeling her flutter around me. “Fuck, baby.” I don’t know what I’m saying anymore. The feel of her in my arms is too much.
I pull out and thrust into her again, and her breathy sigh unleashes something primal inside of me.
Finding a steady tempo, I lose myself in the way she clenches around me, gripping her hips hard enough to leave marks, as if letting go means losing her.
I bite her neck, leaving a hickey I don’t care will be visible. Her body is pliant under me, her warm skin tempting me to leave my mark.
Reaching back around her body, I strum over her clit and she lets out the prettiest moan. I rub over the nerves as I thrust into her harder, and her legs begin to shake. She says my name again, presumably to tell me she’s close, but I don’t let up an inch.
I fuck her like it’s the last thing I’ll do, and when she cries out, constricting around me, I follow her over, exploding inside of her, holding up her body with my own.
We stand there, silent except for our panting breaths, my head resting on her back and hers against the wall.
“Jamie,” she whispers.
“I know,” I reply.
Slowly, I lean back, pulling out of her, watching as the water washes away the evidence of what we did.
She spins to face me as I reach over to shut off the water and grab my towel, wrapping her in it.
She must see my walls going back up, because instead of leaving to dry off, she reached a hand to my cheek.
“This doesn’t change anything, does it?” she asks, her disappointed voice giving away that she knows what my answer will be.
I shake my head. “No,” I whisper. “It can’t.”
“Can you tell me why? Why can’t you let yourself be happy?”
I shake my head again, this time because I don’t have an answer for her. Not an answer I think she’d like to hear, anyway.
“Did it make you feel better, at least?” she asks, tugging the towel tighter around her shoulders.
A hint of a smile plays at my lips. “Yeah, it did,” I admit. How could finally having sex with the only girl I crave not make me feel better? But I can’t tell her that, either.
“Then I’m glad I could help,” she says, somewhat awkwardly, before adding, “I’d be glad to help you blow off some steam any time.”
My eyebrows raise at her invitation, and a pretty pink flush blooms beneath her freckles. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Do you…have some dry clothes I could steal?” she asks, nudging the pile of soggy clothing with her toe and I chuckle.
“Yeah, one second,” I say, walking out of the shower and grabbing a second towel off the rack for myself before walking to my locker and digging out a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie from my bag.
I set them on the bench outside of the shower stall, next to her phone, for her to put on while I steal another pair of sweats and a t-shirt that’s slightly too tight from Drew’s locker.
Maya comes out, towel drying her hair, wearing my number, and I have to force myself to look away before I try to initiate round two.
“So…” she says, hovering a few feet away from me, not knowing what to do next. For someone who came here ready to force me to talk, she sure got shy quickly.
“I’ve, uh, got to go,” I say, cringing. I don’t actually have anywhere to be, I just can’t be in here with her any longer.
Maya nods, unsurprised. “I meant what I said, you know. You can call me…for this. I won’t force you to talk, Jamie. But I’m not going to keep avoiding you when I see you, either. One of these days, those walls are going to come down, and I’m going to be there when they do.”
She pulls out her phone, opening up a new contact and handing it to me. “Put your number in.”
“Maya…” I argue, “we shouldn’t do this again.” The words burn my throat as they come out, but I keep going. “It’s not healthy for either of us to do this again.”
Of all the reactions I expected, her smirking at me wasn’t one of them.
“No, Jamie, it’s not healthy. For one of us more than the other.
But you seem hellbent on torturing yourself, and if that means I get a hook-up or two out of it, and I don’t have to see you with another girl trying to make me jealous again, then so be it. ”
Her fire ignites something deep in me, something I thought was killed off a long time ago.
Playfulness.
“Did it work? Making you jealous?” I ask before I can stop myself.
“Yeah, it worked,” she says, laughing. “I was pissed. Now put your number in, asshole.”
Biting my lip, I do as she requests and put my number in her contacts, and my phone pings when she sends me a text with hers in return.
“Now, I’ll let you run away this time. I’ve got to figure out how to get my keys from my dad’s office without him seeing me in your hoodie with wet hair, anyhow.”
My eyebrows raise, realizing how screwed we are if he sees her. “Shit.”
“Or, you could go back in there, finish whatever conversation you had with him that started this fight, and get my keys for me,” she suggests with a sly grin.
I give her a flat, unamused look, and she laughs. “Your choice, Captain.”
A brief argument—one I had no chance of winning—later, I’m knocking on the door of Coach’s office, letting myself in.
He looks up from his computer, startled to see I’ve returned.
“Ja—Booker.” Coach stands, unsure what to do, unprepared for me to have come back. Worry lines form between his brows. “I’m sorry, for how things went earlier.”
I nod, sitting back down. “I had time to cool off, and I figured we could finish talking about Colt and the team. It doesn’t have to be personal.”
I can tell this isn’t what he wants to hear from me, but he nods and sits nonetheless. I see Maya’s pink key chain on the corner of the desk, behind a picture frame, so I don’t think Coach knows it’s there. I’ll have to grab it as I leave.
“The boys are worried, rightfully so. I think we need to keep morale up as much as possible: team dinners and such. I also think you need to move Drew up to Colt’s spot, then put Fischer in Drew’s, and get him training ASAP.
Even if Colt’s memories come back, he still can’t play with a fractured skull.
He’s going to need a sub for a couple months, at least. Maybe until playoffs. ”
“I was thinking the same thing. I’ll call Will Fischer after this and let him know the line change, and to be prepared at practice tomorrow.
As for team dinners, I think that’s a great idea.
But I don’t want them to feel like they’re getting together and having fun without him.
Let’s do one at my house, it’ll feel less like a… party that way.”
I squint my eyes, confused. We’ve never been to Coach’s house before for anything. “I guess that’s okay with me.” I stop myself from thinking about the fact that it’s Maya’s house, too.
“Good. Send out a text, we’ll have team dinner Thursday at my house after practice.”
I nod in confirmation, standing as I do, bumping my hip into the desk so I can slip the keys into my pocket.
Before I can leave, Coach says, “And Jamie?” I turn, looking at him. “I didn’t know. About your dad, I didn’t know.”
My gut twists, not knowing what to believe. Before I can think too much about it, I slip back out the door.