Page 29 of Nothing to Lose

I collapse next to him, my chest heaving. Hunter flips to his side to face me, his lips meeting my chest, kissing across my pecks, tongue swirling around my nipple. A fresh spike of arousal hits me, even though I just came. His touch is magnetic, and I can’t get enough. Apparently, I’m not the only one.

“Waking up to you between my legs is a nice surprise. You liked that, huh?”

“I don’t know what that says about either of us, but fuck yeah, I liked that a lot. Something about you being asleep and having my way with you really did it for me.”

“We’re two consenting adults; there’s nothing wrong with a little play. I give you full permission to wake me up with your mouth down there any time you want. Actually, I encourage it.” He continues to work me back up slowly, peppering kisses across my chest and navel, spending time playing with my nipples. It sends pleasure shooting down my spine.

“Mmm. You keep doing that, I’m going to be begging you to fuck me.”

Hunter looks up at me with a hazy expression, his blond hair rumpled, his typically clean-shaven face stubbled around his jaw. “That’s the whole point,” he whispers, giving me his signature smirk. He only gets to kiss me one more time before the alarms on our phones go off in unison. We stumble from the bed, looking for the devices and swiping off the alarms.

My shoulders sag as I realize we’ve got to leave this little bubble and enter the outside world. The one where Hunter and I aren’t together, the one where I’m pretending to be someone I’m not. Hunter must read my expression because he tosses his phone to the bed and takes two large steps into my space, winding his arms around my waist.

“Hey, listen to me. There’s no pressure from me. Let’s just take this one day at a time, okay? But first we’ve got to get through this weekend. Last day of mandatory team bonding!”

I snort, feeling slightly better knowing that he’s not feeling shunned or hurt. That’s the last thing I’d want, especially as I come to terms with how hard I’ve fallen for him.

Chapter 18

Hunter

The team clubhouse smells like wet grass and some kind of industrial cleaner that faintly reminds me of pine, but it’s been so diluted, it’s hard to tell. Whatever it is, I don’t like it. Our teammates stand together impatiently, waiting to find out what their fate holds today. The last two events have been physically demanding, and with this next one, they’re going to need to use their heads.

I whistle through my fingers, getting everyone’s attention before speaking. All eyes are on me, but the only ones I feel are Eli’s.

“Today you’ll be randomly teamed up in pairs of two to participate in a campus-wide scavenger hunt.” The silence that follows is almost impressive. Eli’s eyes get a little large, looking around the room curiously.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. That’s what you two idiots came up with?” Rome groans.

“Scared you won’t be able to use your last two remaining brain cells and find some things on a list, Romie-boy?” I joke.

“We’re rugby players.”

“No shit. Congratulations on identifying yourselves,” I jest before continuing, excited to give Eli the surprise I’ve been keeping from him. “To make it more exciting, and to get you all to work together, not only is the event campus-wide, but every team and club is involved. The Dead Language Society, orchestra, the Dead Poets Society, astrology, football, lacrosse, mystic arts . . . they’re all participating today.” I chance a look at Eli’s face and nearly stumble on my feet. He looks so fucking impressed, and pride zips through my veins.

“We’re going to fucking lose to some dinkholes like the Chess Club,” Marcus sighs dramatically.

“No,” Eli snaps. “We’ll lose because we’re incapable of working together as a team. Each of us has different strengths; if we work together through the list, we can do this and beat them all. We just have to want it bad enough. Now, do we want it? Do we want to show Corvus that we’re the best, not just on the field, but in every area?”

“Yes!” the team cheers. When Eli looks back at me, I give him a proud nod. He grins, and I can’t hide the smile I return.

“Like I said, we’ll be working in pairs. You find an item, you bring it back here to stash.”

“Do we have to worry about other teams coming in and taking our items and claiming them as their own?”

“Good point,” I laugh. “I’m hoping everyone at Corvus is playing with integrity, but on the off chance some aren’t, we’ll leave one team behind.”

“Jacob and I will stay behind!” calls Ezra.

“Not a chance in hell. Plus, partners are being assigned.”

Eli looks up at me with a half-smile, like he already expected I stacked the teams. Hey, I’ve ruffled with every game this weekend, why stop now? I wink back at him and his face flames that pretty shade I love so much. No one else seems to notice our exchange. Mostly because to everyone else, we barely tolerate each other, only getting along the best we can for our parents. To everyone else, Eli and I are rivals on and off the field. They have no idea that just this morning I woke up with his mouth wrapped around my cock, or how I study every line on his face while he sleeps in my arms.

I start rattling off names, eager to get the day started. I love any excuse to spend time with Eli, and I know this one is going to be fun. “Rome and Marcus, Silas and Kai, Dean and Ahmed, Lucas and Max . . .” I continue down the list until I get to the last two. “And that leaves just me and Eli.”

Eli starts to pass out the scavenger hunt list, and it’s my first time seeing it. My eyes scan the paper, and I’m so fucking impressed. He gave it thought and made it challenging as hell. Probably wasn’t counting on the entire school participating, but he made it hard, so this should actually be a challenge for all of us. Just like Eli likes it.

Take a selfie with Professor Thorne