Chapter Fourteen #2
As our breaths even out, I pull out, remove the condom and tie it. I grab my dirty shorts from my workout and fold it into them. I’ll take care of that later.
Eva sits on the bench of my locker, pulling her jeans back on, and her cardigan hangs off one shoulder, her hair a wild, beautiful mess. I stand in front of her, pulling on a fresh pair of gray sweatpants hanging low on my hips.
The possessiveness I’ve been feeling has finally cooled, replaced by the warmth of her simply being near me.
“Well, that was … fun,” she says, a smile touching her lips as she looks up at me through her lashes. “Totally wasn’t expecting that to happen, but I’m glad it did.”
“Yeah? Me too.” I smirk and reach out to gently tuck her hair behind her ear. My thumb lingers on her cheek, tracing her soft skin. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” she breathes, leaning into my touch for a second before letting out a sigh. She looks down at her hands, her expression turning into something more serious. “Ace really said all that?”
“Yep,” I say, my voice dropping. “He thinks he can just slide back in, Eva. That you’ll give him a shot.”
“Well, that’s not gonna happen,” she says softly, her eyes meeting mine. “I won’t answer him. I don’t want him to think, for any reason, that he could have a chance with me.”
“Ace can be persistent when he wants something,” I say, lifting a brow.
“Again, it’s not gonna happen,” she says, standing.
“Okay,” I say, bending to place a kiss on her lips. “So we just keep building this?”
“That’s what I would like to happen. I …
really care about you, Aston. I’d like to see where it goes,” she says, smiling a bit shyly and sliding her arms around my neck.
“We do need to talk about our schedules though. Mine is about to get worse. I have to fly to Atlanta on Thursday for the game, then I have to be back here by Sunday to prep for your game. After that, I’m on the West Coast for a week on a special assignment. ”
I reach up and take hold of her wrists, the reality of our life right now popping this bubble we were in just minutes ago. “I’ve got practice and meetings all week. I probably won’t have more than an hour or two at a time for the next few weeks.”
“It’s a scheduling mess,” she mutters, a frustrated line appearing between her brows. “I don’t want to be sneaking around in locker rooms the rest of the season. I don’t want to be a series of quick fucks when we can. I want real time with you.”
I don’t say anything for a beat. I just look at her, taking in her fierce but delicate jawline. And turned the fuck on by the way she’s fighting for time against the multi-billion-dollar industries that govern our careers.
I lean over her, reaching into my locker where I keep my keys. There’s a key to my house on the keychain. The house I’ve made my own.
I unwind the key from the ring and take her hand in mine, pressing the cold metal into her palm.
Eva looks down, and her breath hitches as her fingers curl around it. She looks at me, her eyes wide. “Aston … what am I doing with this?”
“Well, Eva, it’s a key to my house,” I tease.
“I figured, but why are you giving it to me?”
“I don’t care where I am. If you have a night free, or you just want to avoid making the trek back into the city, you go to mine. I’ll give you codes to the alarm system, but the key is yours. You don’t ask for permission; you just walk in.”
“Aston,” she whispers, her voice cracking as her thumb traces the key. “This is … not a casual gesture.”
“I’m aware,” I say, leaning down, pressing my forehead against hers, my hands coming up to cradle her face. “We’ll figure out a schedule that works for us. But until we do, you hold onto that.”
She closes her eyes for a minute, then grips my forearms. “Okay,” she whispers against my lips. “I’ll keep it safe.”
We get lost in a kiss that has more meaning than heat.
“I'd better get going. I need to get this piece we just did on Liam put together and turned in,” she says as she pulls away.
“Okay, but you promise to use the key?”
“I promise. But you know this means you can’t steal my panties anymore, right?” She pulls her cardigan back over her shoulders and runs her fingers through her hair. Sure, she looks freshly fucked, but knowing I put that glow on her face, yeah … that does something to me.
“I won’t need to steal them because you’ll be getting your own undies drawer that I can snoop around in anytime.” I wink at her.
“You’re too much. But I dig that kink.” She kisses me quickly on the lips. “I really gotta go. I don’t think I can make it there tonight, but I will see you soon, Griff.”
She kisses me one last time before walking out the door.
“Later, Carrington,” I say as I watch her walk out of the locker room.
After I finish dressing, I take the condom out of my shorts and take it to the bathroom and flush it down the toilet. I wash my hands, then walk back to my locker and finish packing up my duffel bag.
I see a few people on my way out and smile and wave, but I don’t stop to talk. When I step outside, it’s freezing, but bright streaks of yellow stretch across the empty outdoor practice field. The rumble of the ground crew signals the start of their day, just as mine is wrapping up.
I climb into the cab of my truck, the leather cold against my back, and sit with my hands on the steering wheel for a long minute.
My mind wanders back to the way Eva looks when she’s working. The way she runs her crew and commands the field without losing an inch of grace. And then I think about how she shattered when she came. She wanted me.
Ace is my twin, my other half, and I know the storm that’ll come when I finally tell him the truth. He’s going to feel betrayed. And I can’t lie, and I say that doesn’t bother me. I don’t want anyone to be hurt.
I finally start my truck and make my way home, the highway moving by in a blur. The certainty in my chest about Eva hasn't wavered, despite how I feel about the effect this will have on my brother.
Ace might think there’s a chance, but just because he had her once doesn’t mean there’s still a blank page left for him to write in. He doesn’t know what we’re building. He doesn’t know that the girl she was has become the woman making my world shine brighter.
I can’t and won’t step back. I’ll find the right time, and then I’ll shoulder the weight of his anger. But until then, Eva isn’t a college memory for me. She’s everything.