Page 79 of Saving The Shortstop

“I can take it,” she assures me, her eyes burning into mine. “Whatever you need from me in this moment, I can take it. Give me your pain. I want to be strong for you.”

Her words are so gentle, yet she says them with so much strength and determination. My hands slide under her ass, and I begin to bounce her up and down on my dick quickly and roughly. Doing what she told me to do, giving her my pain, needing to fill her full of myself, reminding both of us that she is my saving grace.

“That’s it—” she chokes out. “Right … here for you, baby. Always.”

It’s so silent outside, all I can hear is the sound of our ragged panting and my soaked cock slipping in and out of her pussy. I bring my mouth to hers, breathing each other in as we both get closer to falling over the edge.

She whimpers into my mouth as she begins to quiver. I know she’s close, and so am I because my spine is starting to tingle, and my mind is going fuzzy.

Pulling her mouth back slightly, she stares at me. “Breathe with me,” she whispers sweetly. “Breathe with me while we come.”

My thrusts become slower but deeper, and I wait for her cue as she inhales and I do the same. Her eyes stay on mine as we then both exhale together, and as my balls draw up, my orgasm is fast and quick, but more intense than any I’ve ever had before.

Cum shoots from my dick, deep inside her pussy, filling her as she comes intensely right along with me. Still, even when white spots dance around in my vision and my body convulses, I continue breathing with her, feeling like we are one, sharing one soul.

“I … love … you,” she mouths as we near the end of our release.

“I love you,” I mimic, almost silently, knowing I don’t have to say it loudly for her to hear the truth in those words.

Moving my arms up, I hold her closely and bury my face into her hair. And we both fall apart as we hold onto each other. Because whatever we just went through … it was life changing. And I’m glad that I got to go through it with her and no one else.

THIRTY-FOUR

DALLAS

Despite how good things have been this past week since I finally dealt with my shit and apologized to Haven at Noah’s birthday, there’s been a gnawing feeling in my stomach that I just can’t ignore. It’s been there since I woke up this morning, almost warning me of what’s to come. I just can’t figure out what that could be.

Since we have a game in a few days, today’s practice is going to be a real bitch because we’re going up against a team that has a perfect season so far. But so do we. So, on Friday, we’ll have to determine who really is the better team. Coach feels the pressure of that, and when he feels pressured and a game means a lot to him, I think the rest of us all feel that too.

Coach looks at all of us, sweeping his eyes around the half circle we’ve formed around him. “Go get some water, boys,” he finally says. “You’re all moving about as fast as my grandmother today.” His eyebrows lift. “She uses a walker.”

I wait for the first few to break away from the group before trailing behind. Noah and I are both playing fine, as are about half the others. But a bunch of them? They downright suck today.

“Next time, take it easy on the shots, would ya man?” I hear one of them say in front of me to his buddies. “When I left that party at ten, you two were ripping.”

He shakes his head, smirking at two of our main defensive backs, and my fists ball up at my sides. Pulling my helmet off, I can’t stop my mouth from running.

“Real fucking cute, you dumbasses,” I growl from behind them, making them tense. “We’ve got a huge game this week. Practice is going to be hell anyway, and now we can add an extra layer of shittiness because you want to party like you’re frat guys.” I can’t even look at their faces, so I walk around them, heading for my water.

“Sorry, Rivers,” one says nervously, but I don’t acknowledge it.

I understand that for some, this shit is all about memories and having fun. It’s not like that for me, though, because being here means so much to me and my parents. I just want to do well, and this is a team sport. I can’t have part of the team fucking off.

“Jeez Louise,” Noah utters, nudging my side before grabbing his water bottle. “Who pissed in your Cheerios this morning?”

Noah may take football seriously, but he’s also the guy everyone can count on to bring a good time. He tries his best and is one hell of a player, but if a few plays get fucked up along the way, he’s not going to get shaken up over it.

I wish I was like that.

“No one,” I say honestly, because up until practice began, I was in a great mood. I should be now, too, but I want to win the game. And to do that, we need to be prepared.

“Now that that’s settled, I have a question for ya,” he rattles off, grinning like an absolute idiot. “Since I was cool with you dating my sister and all, even though it’s pretty gross …”

“Get to it, King,” I mutter.

“Right.” He nods. “Okay, so, Gigi is cute. Actually, she’s smoking, but she’s also cute. And I just wondered, well, I was curious⁠—”

“You can’t hook up with Gigi Jacobs, Noah,” I say, cutting him off. “She’s a good girl. Like … a really, really good girl. She’d never go for it.”