Another roommate came over. Wade Kressup, Miles’ cousin. His gaze slid to where Miles had just disappeared before he bent down to me. I was almost a whole foot below him. “Do I ask?”
The buzzer went off, signaling the end of the game, and I shook my head. “Nope.”
I sighed, needing to refocus my thoughts. I was off today.
I turned my phone back on long enough to send a text to Miles.
Hey. Some stuff happened earlier today, and it was serious. I don’t want to get into it, but it’s no excuse. I’m sorry for being a bitch. Thank you for being you.
Everyone was heading out, but I stayed for a beat. I needed to get grounded. Too many emotions I was trying to ignore and thoughts I was trying not to think were creeping in. Add to all that, I’d been a bitch to a friend and yeah… I wasn’t doing so well on being a decent human being here.
The whole day had gotten away from me.
My chest felt like it was being sucked out of me.
It took me a little bit before I realized Cruz was down on the ice. He was staring up at me and he half raised one of his gloves up. I gave him a small nod right back. Which, okay, I was down for what he was asking to do. Because that whole gesture was an invitation, but also crap, because that meant I’d have to turn my phone on.
“We’re heading out.” Wade was still there. The crowd was starting to disperse. I couldn’t see where the other roommates were.
“I’m going to find my own way back. Thanks for inviting me out tonight.”
He frowned a little but nodded. “Okay. Well. I’ll catch up with the rest. See you later.”
He headed off, and I went to the bathroom. When I was done, the crowd had lessened significantly. Still. I knew it would be a wait, but I couldn’t bring myself to turn my phone back on. Because of that, I went over to the door that the players used and slid down to the floor.
I got comfortable.
I didn’t have to wait long.
Fifteen minutes later, still sweaty from the game, Cruz Styles found me in the hallway. He’d changed into his Grant West hockey sweats and hoodie. He also had a ball cap pulled low over his forehead, and both his hands were inside his hoodie.
He tapped my foot with one of his and gave me one of those smiles I’d been seeing on the jumbotron all night. “Need a ride?”
“You’re supposed to look intimidating for your team pictures.”
He frowned but held out a hand.
I put mine in it, and he pulled me up. “Huh?”
“For your pictures.” I motioned behind us to where there was a six-foot mural picture of just him. He was in his hockey gear, holding his stick and smiling wide for the camera. “That doesn’t strike fear in anyone. The opposing team comes through here. They look at that and want to be your friend.”
“No, no, no. You got it all wrong.” We turned for the door. “That smile gets under their skin. They’ve already come in hearing about me, and then they see that, and they get confused. Some guys want to wipe that smile off my face and others want to be my friend. Then I leave ’em all in the dust when I make the first goal and by then, wham. They’re all sorts of fucked up.”
I laughed because it wasn’t true at all. Cruz was just being Cruz.
He opened the door and I stepped out, knowing which one was his truck and heading there. “You didn’t shower?”
He went to the driver’s side as I got in the passenger side, and he smirked my way. “What? And forget how hot and bothered I saw you were up in the stands? Figured we could shower together. You game?”
He sent me a smile as he started the engine, and I couldn’t help but smile back because like Miles, Cruz knew the deal. No personal shit.
He knew the rules because he was my not-friend with benefits.
And he was right. Showers with him were the best.
2
MARA
I was crushed against the tile in the shower as Cruz was pumping into me from behind. His arms were wrapped around me, and one hand slid down my stomach, finding my clit. I moaned, pleasure rushing through me as I couldn’t even stand anymore. He was holding me up, but I didn’t think he was aware of it. Both his legs were planted between mine, and I was just skimming the bottom of the shower floor.
He was rolling over my clit, and I moaned, my head falling back against him.
His mouth dropped to my shoulder.
He kept pumping up into me.
This. God, this.
We’d come a long way from our first time. An impromptu study session in my room. I’d been horny. He asked to massage my ass, and I wasn’t about to turn that down. We ended up screwing twice that night. I almost smiled now, remembering how we sixty-nined each other first, but then a wave of pleasure shot through me, almost making me bend in half, or I would’ve if Cruz wasn’t firmly plastered to my back.
“Fuck,” he grunted in my ear. “You feel so good.”
I felt my climax coming, but I didn’t want it. Not yet. He always made me come first and held off for his. I started shaking my head, pushing back from the wall and into him.
He chuckled, that sound in my ear a caress by itself. “No way, babe.” He was playing my body, his fingers going slow and smooth, sooo slow and smooth over my clit.
Another thrust up, and he held–I screamed, my head hitting his shoulder, and I arched all the way up as I went over the edge. It ripped through me, and I was almost weeping from how good that felt.
I loved sex. There was nothing better in the world.
The sensations were still coursing through me, and I realized in a daze that Cruz was waiting until I was done. He had moved back a little so he was fully holding me up, and then as I let loose a deep sigh, as I could feel the trembling starting to wane, he nipped my ear. “My turn.”
I was switched in the air, my legs wrapped around his waist once again, from instinct. My arms came up around his neck, and he carried me out to his bed. I was beyond able to process, but I had the thought we were going to soak his bed when he dropped me down. He didn’t break contact, coming right on top of me. He reached over, getting a condom. Then he buried his head into my shoulder, slid in, and he was thrusting all for himself now.
He went hard, growling as he ground in for the last pump.
I held him tight, my legs and arms keeping him to me, and then he let out one last savage roar as he finished.
He lay on me for a moment.
Sometimes I didn’t mind this, sometimes I hated it.
Cruz was a nice guy. He could be a dick at times, but generally he was decent, but because of my baggage and the rules, we didn’t make a lot of conversation once the sex was done. Earlier had been an exception. I blamed the alcohol in me, or other stuff…
I waited to see what he’d do.
He groaned, rising and separating from me, but he only dropped down to the bed beside me. He had a hand on his stomach, his very ripped stomach, as he was catching his breath.
I still lay there, my mind very blessedly blank. For now.
After another few minutes, he frowned at me. “You want to go again? Usually, you’re getting dressed and out the door before I can pull the condom off.” He did just that as he was speaking, twisting to toss it into the garbage by his nightstand. He lay back down next to me, his gaze focusing on me.
I knew I should get going. It wasn’t good to be here when everything would catch up to me, because that’s what I’d been doing since leaving Fallen Crest. Keeping busy, drinking, the game, being around others, and now sex–all to keep the shit from my mom out of my head.