The metallic slam of my locker echoed through the deserted changing room.This was a first for me, being late to the field for a baseball game.A feminine shadow in the corner of my vision darted away.A set of car keys fell off my jersey where it lay on the wooden bench, clattering with a sharp jingle when they hit the concrete floor.The keysshestole from me.
“Erika, get back here!”I shouted as I jogged after her.I tore into the hallway and to the gym’s exit, arriving seconds behind her.A metal doorstop between the door and the frame kept the gym door propped open to the outside.“Stop!”
I caught her arm.
No fear or apology glared up at me in her coppery gaze.A few light brown hairs blew across her eyes out of her haphazard bun.The haze of a waning sunburn on her pale neck remained from when she’d forgotten sunscreen while watching my semi-finals game ten days ago.
Ten days…the amount of time it took to wreck both our lives.
My gaze dipped to her lips.I hated how much I still wanted her.She was everything I’d dreamed about in my eighteen years.But that was before this war between us kicked off.The hostility worsened with each horrendous revenge act she concocted against me.
Up until now, I put up with it.I deserved it.
I leaned down in slow motion as if I might kiss her.I wouldn’t.Never again.I wouldn’t survive the taste of her again.
Her breath caught.
“What are you doing?”Instead of rejection, her voice was throaty and full of need.She didn’t move, not even a wiggle to get free of where I held her arm.
“You want me to kiss you.”This was like standing on the edge of a treacherous cliff.I touched my tongue to her pretty pink lips.
She closed her eyes.A moan escaped her.When I did nothing further, she blinked and looked up at me.
“Admit you want me.”I waited.
“No.”It came out without conviction.She stared, waiting to see what I’d do next.
My lips touched hers.I kissed her slow, hot, and deep.She shuddered.
Her free hand cupped the back of my head to hold me in place, giving me her consent.
My heart accelerated to a dangerous speed.This was stupid.Irrational.Yet, I felt alive and less fucked up for the first time in over a week.I teased my tongue along the seam of her lips.Her mouth opened and her tongue touched mine.The charge from the small touch radiated all the way to my fingertips.
She pushed against me and pulled her head away from mine.I dropped my hand from her and stepped away, shocked.I shouldn’t have done that.
She staggered back until she was pressed against the red-painted concrete blocks of the stand-alone gym, her eyes wide.Her tongue darted across her lips as if she couldn’t believe what we’d done.
“When is enoughenough, Erika?”I struggled to keep my eyes off her heaving chest where the drooping top teased an exquisite view.She wore her riding breeches, which meant she’d changed at school and planned to head to the Tadlock Barn where she volunteered most days to do chores.If we didn’t hate each other, she’d be at the game today, cheering.
When she said nothing, I continued, “You made me late.I was supposed to be down on the ball field fifteen minutes ago, but I had towalkthe half mile from school to get here after I spent forty-five minutes tearing up the school to find my keys.I’m missing warmups.You know this is the biggest game of my life.”It was inconvenient our school’s sports fields were so far from the actual high school.
“I didn’t mean to take them.It was an accident.”Her voice was so quiet I had to lean in just to catch it.“I’d never ruin baseball for you.Especially not on championship day.”
“You took my sweatshirt and knew they’d be in the pocket.”
“I didn’t know.”She shook her head.
“Where is my sweatshirt?”I looked around as if she might’ve dumped it outside the gym.
“I have plans for it.”I didn’t like the glimmer in her eyes.“Plans” had become a dangerous word from her.She probablyplannedto burn it or soak it in deer urine or something far worse that was guaranteed to be humiliating for me.
“I didn’t mean to take your keys.I swear.”
I waited—hoping for a real apology—but it never came.Instead, her cheeks flushed red, and her eyes narrowed with that stubborn, digging-in look I knew too well.
I tugged at my hair.“Haven’t you done enough to mess up my life?”
“Enough?”Her eyes narrowed.She pushed away from the side of the building.“It’ll never be enough.I was there when you lost your brother.You helped me get through me losing my mother two years ago.You spent months doing all that stuff to convince me we should go out.Monthsof romantic bullshit.I thought you were myalways and whenever,but you’re not.”
