Chapter 11
The road trip settles into an ease I’ve missed.
Not boring—never boring, not with Colten—but…comfortable. Like a drill we’ve run a hundred times, but it’s my favorite, so I don’t mind at all.
We stop for gas, snacks, and the world’s worst coffee. I feed him all three different flavors of jerky as he drives, which he insists he doesn’t want but still eats it when I tap it against his mouth until he sighs and takes it.
In return, he forces me to listen to an entire album with every song he’s never managed to get me to sit through before. There’s a lot of screaming and guitars doing things I didn’t think a guitar could, or should, do.
It’s a fair trade.
And everything feels normal again. Better than normal, actually.
Because that weird tension that’s been hanging over us since the spell? It’s gone, like Colten finally stopped clenching around me. Perhaps Julian is right, communication is a good thing.
As long as it keeps Colten by my side, I will eagerly gut myself and spill out my feelings for him any day.
I stretch as much as I can in the passenger seat, watching the road blur past, and let my head fall back against the window. There’s a lot of time to think on a drive like this, especially since Colten still won’t let me drive.
Of course, my thoughts keep circling back to one subject: Colten.
This whole situation…despite things being good again, it’s still changed things. Colten is my best friend, someone I’ve known for three years and trust with pretty much everything.
And we still have that! But now it’s more, deeper. I’ve seen sides of Colten I haven’t seen before, pieces of him that even three years of living together hadn’t given me.
The way he looked in the exercise room, the way he wanted me. That’s all new, all part of this exciting and deeper connection we’ve been building.
It’s still hard to believe he wanted me. Honestly, I sometimes wonder if I imagined it.
Except I didn’t, and now that I’ve peeled back the layers of my best friend, I’ve found so much more.
Now I know what he looks like when he loses control, when he stops being so careful and precise and just takes what he wants.
I know what his hands feel like when they’re not shoving me during practice or catching me when I fall. I know how they feel when they’re holding me down, steady and impossible to ignore.
I know what it feels like to have his attention, full and hungry.
And it’s—
I shift in my seat, swallowing hard. It’s a lot.
Not bad. Not even a little bad. Just…intense. Like being ahead in points during a game and thinking you can take it easy, until the other team is suddenly moving faster and scoring point after point, forcing you to give your full focus to something you thought you already knew the outcome of.
Which is not something I’ve ever had before. With girls, it’s always been the same for each of them.
They always have certain expectations of me, wanting me to play some sort of role that I’ve never felt comfortable in.
There’s always that spark at the beginning—something about them that makes me curious, makes me want to know more, so I ask them out.
But usually halfway through the first date, I can tell it’s not right, like we’re playing two different games on the same field. Any spark that was there immediately disappears, like it was never actually there in the first place.
I glance over at Colten. His hands are on the wheel again, steady and controlled. I think about those hands somewhere else.
And immediately I have to think about something else to make sure I don’t glow.
It’s different with Colten.
With him, I’m not stuck in my own head. He won’t even let me try. He just pulls me in and demands my attention, like there is nowhere else for it to go.
And I give it to him, easily, like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
I exhale slowly, watching the road stretch out ahead of us.
Is this really all because of the spell?
…It has to be, right?
Julian didn’t seem convinced, and Rowan was kind of on the fence, but something has to explain why my brain is suddenly like yes, this, I need more when it comes to Colten.
After all, I’m straight. Obviously.
If I wasn’t, I would’ve kissed him way before now.
I glance at him again.
He notices this time. He doesn’t look at me, but I can see it—the way his shoulders go a little stiffer, the way his ears start to turn pink. And then his cheeks, before the pink slips down his neck, under his shirt collar.
I grin and let my gaze linger deliberately, watching the flush deepen to a rosy red.
He clears his throat. “Can you stop molesting me with your eyes?”
“Just appreciating the view,” I say.
He sighs heavily. “Watch the road.”
“I’m not driving.”
“Then watch something that isn’t me.”
“No,” I say easily. Even if I could, why would I want to when Colten is right there looking like that?
His grip tightens slightly on the wheel.
I want to kiss him.
Not like how it was at his mom’s house, where everything was fast and a little out of control. Or even how it was behind the equipment shed, hot and confusing desperation.
I want to just press my lips against him and feel the warm flush of his skin, because he’s right there.
I peek at my hands, worried, but there’s not even a trace of glowing to be found.
Nothing. Huh. I’m not sure if that’s reassuring or not.
Oh well.
I look back up at Colten and enjoy the view.
***
By the time we get to the hotel, it’s late enough that everything feels a little unreal.
The lobby is packed, full of all sorts of high-level players everywhere. Different schools, different jerseys, and different energies are all buzzing together in one place. I can feel the undercurrent of nerves and competition. It hums in the air like something alive.
I recognize a few faces. Guys we’ve played against and guys I’ve watched highlights of. It would be a great opportunity to network, to go over and say hi, scope things out.
I stay next to Colten.
While everyone else seems overcharged with energy, I just feel tired. I can already tell tomorrow’s going to be a lot.
Even though we just spent the last two days trapped together in a car, I’m not quite ready for the road trip to be over or for our time together to be broken. I just want to spend a bit more time with Colten. I can network tomorrow.
We make it to the front desk, get checked in, and then—
“One bed?” Colten repeats, his right eye twitching, despite having read the letter with me that clearly stated it was just one bed. He remembered there was no flight ticket, how could he forget there was only one bed?
The front desk person nods apologetically. “We’re fully booked. We can try checking for a cot, but I’m pretty sure they’ve all been taken.”
“It’s fine. We share beds all the time,” I say cheerfully.
Colten makes a noise like I just punched him. “That’s not—” he starts.
“It’s really not a problem,” I continue, smiling at the front desk person. “We've been living together for three years now, so this is nothing.”
The front desk person looks amused, and perhaps slightly embarrassed for us.
Colten looks like he wants to evaporate. He grabs the key card as soon as it’s presented and drags me away.
“Why would you say that?” he hisses as we head for the elevator.
“Because it’s true,” I say. “We literally did the other night.”
He makes a sound that’s half sigh, half exasperated hiss, as he hits the elevator button. I watch in delight as his ears go from a pink flush to a bright red while we wait.
The elevator dings and we step inside. He hits the button for our floor harder than necessary. I lean against the wall, watching him.
“Why did you want a cot anyway?” I ask.
He doesn’t look at me, but I can still see the bright tinge of red on his ears. “Maybe I don’t want to fight for space.”
I grin, stepping closer and leaning into him just enough to be annoying.
“You didn’t seem to mind the other night when you were sleeping on top of me,” I say.
He goes very still, the red spreading from his ears and then down past the collar of his shirt.
“You should be focusing on the combine right now,” he says, sharp and low. “Stop it.”
“Stop what?” I ask innocently.
He turns his head and looks at me.
It’s that look. The one that makes my stomach twist with heat, that makes my brain go quiet, and that makes everything narrow down to just him. The one that demands my attention.
“Do you want to be punished?” he asks, voice quiet, edged with something I don’t have a name for.
I—
I forget how to exist, just a little. Maybe a lot.
Because now all I can think about is the way he’s looking at me and the way we’re about to be alone and share a bed.
A bed that his mom can’t walk in on.
“…No?” I manage.
He narrows his eyes, watching me, before smirking, that intense gaze holding me in place like a soccer ball caught by the goalie, only inches from hitting the net and scoring a point.
Even though I know it’s not a win for me, somehow, it still kind of feels like one.
The elevator dings again, and Colten heads straight to our room as I trail after him like cattle following the person who brings them their feed.
The room is nice.
Big bed. Honestly, too big. I have to intentionally focus on keeping the disappointed glare from my expression.
But that look he gave me earlier… I turn back towards him, looking to gauge his reaction, but I only see Colten’s back as he disappears into the bathroom. Darn.
When the sound of the shower starts, I flop back dramatically onto the bed. Colten is so responsible, I think with disgust.
I get it! I do. Big day tomorrow, gotta be rested, focused, and in peak condition for all the scouts and big league coaches and assistants. It’s all very important.
Also deeply inconvenient.
I stare at the ceiling and resist thinking of Colten in the shower. If he’s going to be responsible, then I will respect that and also not embarrass myself by glowing and showing off how horny I feel.
Stupid magic, not even letting me be horny in peace.