Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Stellan
Ipause for a moment, making sure my weight is centered, making sure I have the right grip on the basketball. Then I jump, shooting the ball toward the hoop. It sails into the basket, runs around the rim, and then falls off the side.
“Rend mig i r?ven!” I shout, feeling sweat slide down my back.
Erik gives a bark of laughter. “You are terrible at this game, Stel.”
He runs to catch the ball, dribbling it as he returns.
I wipe my brow on my shirt, turning to look at Margot as I do.
She sits on a set of bleachers on the other side of the gym, with her notepad open and her pen in her mouth.
Her head is down, her hair spilling everywhere as she scrawls something to herself.
I can see that she’s shed that terrible black blazer she usually wears, obviously feeling warm in the stifling gym.
It sits beside her, thrown carelessly on one of the lower bleacher steps like a piece of driftwood left by the sea.
She has on a short black dress and leggings, the neckline of her dress tantalizingly low.
As a matter of fact, when she sits in just this position, I can almost see her nipples.
Almost.
I stare for a second too long and she looks up, catching me. Her cheeks immediately turn pink and she sits up, adjusting her dress. I lift a brow at her, just in time to get a basketball right in the stomach.
The breath leaves my lungs in a whoosh. I catch the ball and glare at Erik.
“Quit that,” I command. My order is met with an eye roll.
Erik has always been my closest friend and biggest rival, all at once. He’s also the only person who is completely unafraid of telling me to go fuck myself.
“Stop staring at the pretty reporter,” he says, grinning. “We’re supposed to be playing a game here.”
I roll my eyes and forcefully chuck the basketball back at him. He catches it, dribbles, and then makes a shot. The shot goes in the basket without even touching the rim. He does a celebratory dance.
Shaking my head, I run to catch the ball. “I’m a thousand percent certain that you aren’t supposed to do a dance every single time you make a basket.”
His grin only widens. “Says the guy that can’t dunk. Do I detect a note of jealous bullshit?”
He’s right, of course. It irks me beyond measure that I’m the future king of Denmark and the soon to be ruler of everything I see… and yet I just can’t manage to master basketball.
I casually stride around the court, trying not to let my ego get the better of me. We could play some sport that I actually have a chance at scoring goals, like football or handball. But Erik likes to mix up our shared workouts to allay boredom.
So today, I’m playing basketball.
I line up another shot and jump, throwing the ball. This time the ball bounces off the backboard and then bounds away from me. My eyes tighten; I hate being so intensely bad at something that should be so easy.
I swing my gaze over to Margot, who is watching my every little movement. She tucks her pink hair back behind her ear, looking at me with an unreadable expression. As she tilts her head to the side thoughtfully, she comes off as analytical.
What is she thinking?
“Seriously?” Erik asks. I turn to him, my expression innocent, but he just rolls his eyes.
He cups his hand around his mouth and calls to her. “Hey! Margot!”
I glare at him, my pulse picking up. What is he going to say?
Margot looks at him, arching a brow. “Yes?”
“You can go. Stellan needs to concentrate on his workout and then he’s going to bed early. We have to get up super early tomorrow for our hunt.”
Her eyebrows rise. She glances at me but I refuse to meet her eyes. Instead I just go after the ball and dribble it, shooting it toward the basket. Margot gathers her coat and stands, coming over to me.
The way she looks at me feels strange; it’s the work of half a minute to realize that this is the first time I’ve been dressed down since New York. Usually I wear my button ups and Briony dress slacks like they are a kind of armor, keeping my shields up and everyone else out.
But just now, as she’s walking over, I realize that I’m only wearing a black t-shirt and black athletic shorts. It’s weird, but I feel just the tiniest bit vulnerable.
She stops a few feet from me, jogging her tote bag on her hip, her coat over her arm. She scrunches up her face. “Am I needed tomorrow?”
I keep my eye on the ball as much as I can, catching it when Erik throws it to me. “I would rather you stayed at home, if that’s what you are asking.”
Her eyes narrow. “It isn’t. When is super early? And what are you hunting?”
Shrugging, I shoot another basket. This time it goes in the hoop. Erik whoops.
“That’s what I am talking about!” he crows. Then he turns to Margot, wearing a smirk. “Five thirty. That’s what time we’re going. If you’re going to come, wear clothes you can get dirty.”
Margot scrunches up her face, her gaze sliding to me. I lock down my emotions and keep my face smooth; it’s almost second nature to me, even though Erik just flat out lied to Margot about what time we start.
“All right,” she says at last. “I’ll see you both bright and early, then.”
She turns, heading out of the gym. I can’t help but watch her ass sway in that short black dress; there is a hole in her leggings on the back of her thigh that gives me all kinds of dirty thoughts.
For instance, right now I’m thinking about slipping my fingers inside that hole and ripping the thin black fabric. Revealing the rest of her pale, creamy thigh to my view…
“Stel!” Erik barks.
I straighten, my neck heating, and look at him. “What?”
He looks back at her disappearing through the gym doors, waiting until they close. Then he cocks a brow. “Once wasn’t enough for you?”
I shoot him a look. “What do you mean?”
He pushes his cheek out with his tongue. “I mean, does Margot have some kind of spell cast over you? Because you can have anyone in the world… anyone but her.”
I stiffen. “I know that.”
“Do you want me to call some ladies over? Maybe we should have a private party.”
Shaking my head, I start walking over to the wall where a cooler full of water bottles is stashed. “Have I ever in our history wanted your help to get dates? If I wanted, I could have thirty women naked in a pit, fighting over me.”
He shrugs. “It’s just an offer. I just saw the way you looked at her. The same way that you looked at her back in New York.”
Grabbing a bottle of water, I roll my eyes. “What, like a person I find interesting?”
“No.” He folds his arms over his chest. “You look at her like she’s a fucking filet mignon and you’re starving to death.”
“As long as I don’t touch her, I can look at Margot any damn way I please.” I uncap the bottle, taking a long pull of the chilled water.
Erik sighs. “I just don’t want the press to start investigating who you’re sleeping with again. You know that one wrong look at her in front of the wrong person could spark the rumor mill to start again.”
I laugh. “You think I am not aware of that? Besides, of all the women in the world…” Thinking about Margot, I shake my head. “Trust me, she is the last one I would pick to sneak around with. She’s the opposite of what I want.”
That isn’t exactly true. Even as I say it, it sounds flat and wrong leaving my mouth. And not just to me…
Erik gives me a funny look. “You don’t have to lie to me, Stel. The bullshit with the press is one thing. But here, just between us, there do not need to be any secrets.”
I grin at him. “Everything is fine, Erik. You are overreacting.” Taking another swig from the bottle, I set it down on top of the cooler. “Come on. Let’s go for another twenty minutes, then call it a day.”
His eyes narrow, but he just shakes his head and runs to get the basketball. As we dribble and shoot, he stays quiet. That doesn’t mean I don’t feel his eyes on me, wondering just what I’m up to though…
I’d like to know as much myself.
When we’re done, we head outside, Erik regaling me with the story of last Saturday night. I’m only partially paying attention, honestly.
I admit, I am wondering about what Margot said to me earlier.
Does having everything you’ve ever wanted make it worth not getting to make your own choices?
That question echoes in my head for longer than I would care to admit…