Mateo:
You fell for that? He does that a few times a year.
Rookie:
WTF?
Mateo:
You’ll get used to it.
Rookie:
So… it wasn’t his birthday?
Me:
No one knows at this point
Theo-who-won’t-shut-up:
I’m SPECIIALLLLL
DON’t bee HATTTEEEERSSS
Rohan:
Again. Why am I here?
By the time I approach the employee behind the counter and place my order Theo has whined long enough to convince everyone to go clubbing. Moore, as usual, is grudgingly participating.
Inevitably, thinking about Moore reminds me of Alia.
My stomach gurgles and I write it off as hunger instead of apprehension. I have no idea what her opinion of me is anymore. She was obviously upset. Though I hadn’t lied, something tells me she won’t care about the semantics.
I pay the woman behind the till and head to the covered patio with my protein bowl. It’s a small café, filled with a crowd from the sports club down the street. As I approach my usual spot, I stop in my tracks, curbing the urge to rub my eyes and gawk like a cartoon. I must be hallucinating, because right there, at my favorite table, is Alia.
The sun shines upon her through the window, picking up streaks of brown in her hair. She looks angelic, like a cosmic temptation—or a big ‘fuck you’ to myblue balls.
There are some rules I never break. No hooking up with women related to anyone on the team. No one married or claiming to be ‘on a break’. And absolutelyno sexwithout protection.
The night we met, I mentally stripped Alia down, imagining her doing filthy things. I don’t know where to go buy enough brain bleach to remove those images, because they’re still there.
If our first meeting had ended the way I wanted it to, I’d have broken the cardinal rule ofthou shalt not stick thine dick in thy teammate’s sister. Or cousin. Same difference. Especially when said teammate is a man fully capable of making me spit Chiclets without breaking a sweat.
My feet move and I force myself to stop, my entire being torn between opposite directions.
She is Rohan’s cousin. I should leave.
Her hands lift up to gather her hair and sweep it over one shoulder, her profile even clearer now. She glances at the open book in front of her, running her fingers so delicately over the pages I feel a phantom brush down my arm. My body goes awash in goosebumps and my cock twitches beneath my sweatpants. Crap.
I’m still fighting my curiosity when she sighs. It is voiceless, but I see it in the way her chest rises and falls. Sitting in that corner, hunched over her book, her salad untouched, she looks so lonely.
I don’t realize I’ve moved until I’m standing a foot away from her.
“Mind if I join you?”
Startled, she glances up, recognition sparking instantly.