by Jay McLean
He followed and stood between my legs, shoving the lollipop back in his mouth. “Don’t you think it’s strange—” he mumbled around the stick. I took it from his mouth and put it in mine so he could talk properly. “Don’t you think it’s strange that we’ve been on the road for this long and we’ve only crossed one state border?”
He smiled when I laughed, squinting to block out the sun. I pulled his Duke cap farther down his forehead. “We should take another picture of us and send it to Harry.”
He nodded in agreement and took the phone out of my back pocket. “Have you figured out how to use it yet?”
“Yes. I haven’t been living under a rock. I just had no need for things like Facebook.”
He snapped the photo, tapped the phone a few times, and shoved it back in my pocket. “You’re the only eighteen-year-old I know that doesn’t know how to use technology.” He scrunched his nose in disgust. “You make me sick,” he joked.
But I was too busy looking at him, watching as the sun beat down on his face, making his eyes extrablue and the freckles across his nose darker than I’d ever seen them.
“What?” he asked.
I tapped my finger on his nose. “You. These freckles. You’re just so damn cute. How did I land you?”
He laughed and brushed my hand away. “Pretty sure I landed on you.”
I ran my fingertips across his nose again. “I’m in love with these freckles. I kind of just want to make out with them.”
He swatted my hand away, feigning annoyance.
Blake
“Okay, thank you, I’ll see you later.” She hung up the phone just as I took a seat in the booth at the diner we stopped at for lunch.
“Who was that?”
She shook her head and looked down at the table. “Um, just the bank, about releasing some of my money.” Then she raised her head. “We should go . . . before the bank closes.” She stood up. “You go pay the bill. I’ll wait in the car.” Then she was off, rushing out the door.
She was seated in the driver’s seat when I came out, which was odd, because ever since we’d picked up the Jeep, I’d been the one to drive.
I climbed into the passenger’s seat. “You’re driving?”
“Yup.” Then she sped off, tires spinning as she did.
“Where are we going?”
“Duke.”
“What?”
She shrugged. “It’s where the bank’s head office is.”
“Okay, you’re going a little fast. We’ll make it before the bank closes.”
Her eyes darted from the clock to the speedometer. “I know,” she said, bouncing in her seat. “I just don’t want to risk it.”
When she’d said we were going to Duke, I’d thought she meant Durham. Not Duke University. And definitely not Cameron Indoor Stadium, where she was pulling into. I eyed her sideways. “What are you doing?”
“Come on. We’re late!”
“Late for what?”
She unclipped her seat belt and then mine. “Hurry!” she squealed.
She took my hand after we stepped out of the car and rushed toward the stadium, looking at her watch every few seconds.
“Chloe, what the hell is happening?” She was practically running now, which was strange, because Chloe never ran.
“Oh thank God, he’s still here.” She stopped suddenly and flattened her hands on my back, pushing me closer to the building. My head was turned, trying to look at her, so I didn’t see the man who began chuckling in front of me.
“You must be Chloe,” he said, and my head whipped forward.
“Hey, Coach,” she said from behind me, as if the man standing in front of me wasn’t a legend whose very presence made me nervous. “I’m Chloe.” She pointed her thumb at me. “You already know Blake.”
He held his hand out.
I wiped my palms on my shorts and shook his hand. “C-C-Coach,” I stuttered.
Chloe giggled but stopped when I turned to glare at her. “Sorry.” She frowned and then turned to the head coach of the Duke Blue Devils. “So, I’ll come back in an hour?”
Coach nodded.
She smacked my ass. “See you in an hour, babe.”
We both watched as she walked away.
“Your girlfriend’s something else,” Coach said.
“Yeah.” I turned to him. “She’s kind of amazing.”
He smiled. “Let me show you around, son.”
For the next hour, I got something not many people get to experience. I got one-on-one time with the head coach of a Division I college team. He showed me around the center, the gym, the locker rooms, and the facilities. We ended up sitting in the stands, right behind the Duke Blue Devils’ bench.
“My coaching staff told me about your situation, Hunter.”
“Yeah.” I wiped my palms against my shorts again. He was intimidating as a coach, but this felt so much more nerve-racking. “I need to thank you for allowing me . . . I mean . . . for keeping the spot open for me. I know that it’s not common, especially given—”
“Hunter,” he cut in. “I know what it’s like to be in your position. You know my history, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“So you know I’m ex-army?”
“Yes, sir.”
Then the familiar sound of a basketball bouncing on the hardwood floors echoed through the stadium. Followed by more bounces. Feet shuffling. Shoes scraping. I sat up in my chair and leaned forward, waiting for the moment the players walked out.
“You look like a kid that’s seeing his heroes up close for the first time.”
I laughed. “I am.”
“You could be someone’s hero.” He stood up and patted me on the back. “In fact, according to your girlfriend and the skateball league, you already are.”
I shook my head and let out a disbelieving sigh. “Chloe,” I mumbled.
“Chloe,” he repeated, throwing his hand out for me to take, “is probably waiting for you outside.”
I gripped his hand, and he helped me to stand.
“I’ll walk you out.”
She was sitting under a tree, earphones in, bopping her head. It reminded me of her in high school. High school. It sounded so long ago.
“I’d keep her,” Coach joked.
“I plan to, sir.”
She smiled and pulled out her earphones when I came into view. “How was it?”
I sat down next to her. “I don’t think I have the words right now.”
She reared back in mock horror, holding her hand to her heart. “Blake Hunter, speechless? I never thought I’d see the day.”
I nudged her side with my elbow. “We missed the bank.”
“Oh yeah, about that . . . There was no bank.” She batted her eyelashes.
I sat there, and I watched her, because I couldn’t take my eyes off her if I’d tried. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. But then I asked her something that’d been bugging me ever since I’d realized she’d chosen to take me there. “Why did you do this? Come here . . . organize all this?”
“I just wanted to give you the opportunity to make your own choices. That’s what you wanted, right? To be able to choose your own future?”
I couldn’t answer.
Her eyes narrowed in confusion, but she added, “I think your dad’s probably been drilling army into your head since you were a kid. It’s only been what . . . two years since you started taking basketball seriously? Or the other way around, really. Basketball started taking you seriously. I don’t know, Blake. I just thought if you were here, if you got to meet Coach, got to see the campus, got to see the facilities, maybe Duke would be on an even playing field?”
I just shook my head, unable to form any words. Unable to believe what she was saying, and what she had done for me. So I changed the
subject. “What did you do while I was gone?”
She sat up straighter and scooted her crossed legs closer to me. “Actually, I went into town and looked around.”
“Yeah? Is there something you want to check out tomorrow?”
She sighed. “No, Blake. I mean I checked out houses and stuff, to live in, for me to rent. Or us. For us to rent.”
“What?” I wasn’t sure if I’d heard her right or if I’d just wanted to hear what she’d said so badly that I’d dreamed her words.
“If you want to . . . I was thinking, if you go to Duke, we could rent somewhere close. I don’t know if you want to live on campus, but it’s not really my thing . . . so if you want to, you can live here, and I’ll live there . . .”
“And if I choose the army?”
“Well . . . I checked out the area. I like it. If you do decide army . . . I’ll wait for you.”
“You’ll wait for me?” I asked. I had to make sure that I understood exactly what she was saying.
“Yes,” she said quietly, looking down at the space between us.
“Chloe. Are we doing this? Making plans? You’re making plans?”
She nodded.
“With me? You’re making plans with me?”
She nodded again. And she must have seen the elation on my face, because she smiled.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, Blake, I’m sure.”
“Best red-letter day in the history of the world.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Chloe
If I could dream the same dream, a million times over, it would be of you—sleeping peacefully in my arms, every morning, for the rest of my life. Gone for a run, beautiful girl.
That was what the note on his pillow said when I woke up. Red ink. How could you not love him when he said things like that?
“You wanna just stay here for a couple of days? We can have a proper look around, see if we really wanna live here?”
He pushed off his arms. “Forty-eight,” he said, before moving in to kiss me.
It was one of the best parts of my day. When he came back from his morning run and did his sit-ups and push-ups in front of me. Shirtless. Sweaty. Showing off muscles I’d never known existed. I watched, my head on the edge of the bed, and after each one, he’d kiss me. He said it was his motivation to keep going. To keep pushing himself. He said I was his reward. “That sounds great.”
“How many more?”
“Fifty-one.” He kissed me again.
“I wonder if I could do a hundred push-ups.” I got out of bed and got on all fours next to him.
Arms outstretched, he watched as I got into position. And then he laughed so hard that his arms buckled beneath him and he fell on the floor. “I dare you!”
“It can’t be that hard.”
“Babe, I make it look easy, but I do five hundred of these a day.”
I stretched my legs out behind me and tried to copy his form. “So one hundred should be easy, right?”
“Sure,” he laughed. “Go ahead.”
Two.
I got to two before collapsing.
“You’re so weak!” His cackle was so loud I was sure you could hear it in every room of the hotel.
“Shut up!” I lunged for him, but hitting him was like smacking a brick wall.
He stood and made his way toward the bathroom. Shaking his head and chuckling to himself, he mused, “I can’t believe you thought you could do a hundred.”
I leapt up and brushed past him, ripping off my clothes as I did. I froze just inside the bathroom door. His eyes lit up as they roamed my naked body. A smirk appeared instantly. He stepped forward, his hand already out, ready to touch me.
I slammed the door in his face, making sure to lock it. “I can’t believe you thought I’d let you touch me!”
He banged his fists on the door. “Chloe, this shit isn’t funny!” he yelled. “My dick’s about to snap off!”
Blake
“Blake!” she yelled from the shower.
I opened the bathroom door in time to see her cover herself.
“You can’t just walk in! I’m in the shower!”
She moved to the corner of the tub to hide herself more.
“Babe, I’ve seen you naked.”
“Get out!”
“You were the one calling me!”
“Turn around! Don’t look!”
I took a step forward. Just enough that I could see her eyes narrow and the snarl on her lips. And a nipple. There was definitely a nipple.
“Quit looking and turn around!”
I chuckled but finally did what she asked. “What do you need?”
“My lotion. It’s in my bag. Can you bring it to me?”
I left the room, went to her bag, and rifled through it, looking for the lotion. I found the lotion, but I also found something else.
I couldn’t hide the smirk from my face when I went back into the bathroom, hands hidden behind my back. She was already out, one towel wrapped around her hair and another around her body. “Did you find it?” she asked, hand held out expectantly.
I nodded, trying desperately not to laugh.
Her eyebrows bunched, her head tilted slightly as she took me in. Then it all played out in slow motion. Her eyes went huge, and a gasp escaped. She knew. “What else did you find?” she whispered.
“Nothing.”
“What’s behind your back, Blake?”
I squared my shoulders. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Her face flushed instantly. “Oh my God,” she breathed before quickly looking away.
“It’s kind of huge.” I stood behind her, so we were both facing the mirror. “I mean, is that what your expectations were? I think I’m close, Chloe, but I can’t be sure.” I wrapped one arm around her stomach to hold her in place. I moved my other hand to the space between her and the mirror, revealing her bright-purple vibrator. “Should we compare?”
And just like I’d suspected, her feet kicked off the ground, and she tried to bolt for the door. My grasp tightened, keeping here there. “Why are you trying to run? Are you embarrassed?”
“Blake!” she squealed, trying to wriggle out of my hold.
I let her go, just long enough to shut the door so I could stand in front of it, keeping her in the tiny space of the bathroom.
“Oh my God.” She covered her face, but the blush had taken over, from her chest up to the tips of her ears. “This is so bad.”
My body shook with laughter as I examined her toy. “I have so many questions right now, I don’t know which one to ask first.”
She grunted.
It made me laugh harder.
“Fuck it,” she said. She uncovered her face and raised her chin. “So what? I have needs. Big deal.”
“You have needs?” I repeated. I held the vibrator up between us. “That’s some pretty big needs.”
“Shut it!” she yelled. But she was smiling, too.
“Does it have a name? I mean . . . did you name it?”
She threw back her head in laughter, the blush almost completely gone. “Yes.”
“Yes?” I stepped toward her. “What’s its name?”
“Pussy Hunter!” she yelled through a chuckle.
I froze, remembering Josh’s little rant the first night we’d all hung out. “Pussy Hunter? That’s cute.” Then my face fell. “Wait. Have you used it? I mean . . . since I’ve been here with you? Have you got off using this?” I waved it in front of her face.
Her lips thinned to a line.
“You have! When?”
She looked away.
“When?” I repeated.
She shrugged. “I dunno. One night you were walking around shirtless, and then you went out for a run, and
I . . .”
My eyes narrowed. “You used it when I went for a run?”
She laughed. “Babe, I was thinking of you the entire time.”
“Cute,” I said, before examining it further. “How does this thing even work?”
“No!” she squealed, lunging for it.
I pulled back and held it above my head and out of her reach.
“Blake, I’m serious. Stop!”
Then I found the dial at the bottom . . . and I turned it. The power of it scared the shit out of me. It shot out of my hands and into the air. We both watched as it landed in the bathroom sink. The buzzing and rattling against the porcelain was loud enough to echo off the walls in the small room.
“Holy shit!” I said, shocked by its intensity. We both walked to the sink and looked down at it.
“Aww . . . poor Pussy Hunter,” she joked, before breaking out in a fit of laughter.
“How many more do you have to do?” She hung her head upside down off the edge of the bed, watching me.
I pushed off the floor and straightened my arms. “Twenty-three,” I said as I completed the push-up.
“Hurry up.”
“Why?” Another push-up.
“Because I’m getting tired, and I want to cuddle for a bit before I fall asleep.”
Another push-up. “I’m a man. I don’t cuddle.”
She laughed at that and ran her fingers through her hair. It hung loose and still a little wet from her shower.
And then I noticed something I’d never noticed before. Her hair was darker at the roots. My eyes squinted, trying to get a better look, but she moved quickly and sat up on the bed, legs crossed. “Drop and give me twenty more, Hunter!” she commanded, her finger pointed at me. Her fake glare was too fucking cute. I gave her twenty more, never once taking my eyes off her. I watched as the amusement left her eyes and was replaced with something else. Want. Need.
She mumbled something under her breath before getting between the sheets. I got up, switched the light off, and joined her. “I always thought you were a natural blonde?”
She tensed in my arms. “Is it bad? Is it really noticeable?”
“No,” I said quickly. “I just noticed when you were running your fingers through it before. It’s not bad or obvious. I just thought I would’ve noticed earlier.”
