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A shadow filled with everything of assurance crosses Hailey’s face. She knows we’ve got this too. Her confidence has mine spilling over the edge.
My gall pumps of wickedness as I ready myself before sending a beautiful serve over the net. Unlike theirs, mine actually stays in bounds.
It’s not long and it’s volleyed back to our side. Hailey sets it high enough that I’m able to plant my feet and stretch an arm out, smashing it back on a fiendish spike.
Dead ball.
My hand fists to the front of my face in excitement. Both players jump to block, but it sails right between them like the sun rising through a wide canyon.
Yes!
One point down, one to go, then the championship is ours.
The whistle’s blown and it’s go time. I crack my neck, loosening up my muscles before I serve another perfect ball over. They return it, and Hailey is volleying it back as fast.
They set, and the white thing of fury is slung, flying back over, and I miss the block. My head whips in time to spot sand flying in the air like dust to a forgotten window ledge. Miraculously, Hailey’s gotten underneath it, diving to make contact.
Seconds is all the time I have to figure out if I should tap it and hope it goes over, even if the angle’s wonky, or set it and hope Hailey can reach it in time for our third hit.
I put faith in my teammate, and she doesn’t disappoint. Hailey plays with gravity and jumps. Upright and ready, she hurdles with the speed of the ball as it races for the ground. Contact, she’s made contact…
Time slows and there’s nothing either of us can do but watch as the white orb rushes by. Tapping, it hits the top of the net, it bounces, and we and our opponents are ready to dive.
The net strains and the ropes on either side pull against the poles they are attached to. It knocks again, inches above the mesh. My heart stalls, waiting, watching…
Thud!
Like a magnet, the ball slams into the sand with one solid, unmoving thump.
My ears ring, a hum of charged whirs and static hisses. Time speeds back up as soon as the squeals of Hailey’s high-pitched voice rip through the thrumming.
“We did it!” she gushes, charging me. “It fell on their side!”
Her feet kick up behind her, leaving the ground, and then I’m hugging her right back.
“We did it, we did it, we did it. We won!” she croons in the crook of my neck. Her excitement overshadows everything else, including our closeness.
My grip around her strengthens when it should be pulling away. It feels too much like comfort and security and everything natural and good, and…I can’t. Not right away at least.
“You did amazing,” I pant as she angles her head back. Her eyes shine. Goose bumps spread like wildfire across the back of my neck. She’s so happy, and I want to bottle this moment up forever and keep it.
Her lids shutter, clearing, as her gaze lazily shifts between us like she’s finally remembered where she is. How close we really are.
The world outside our small bubble ceases to exist.
Hailey swallows but it’s thick.
Another beat passes, and she hasn’t let go. A few more, and I haven’t moved either.
Our gazes hold, stuck the same way her arms are around my nape. Her legs comfortable as they circle my waist.
“Finn…” My name is a scratchy whisper from her tongue, and I swear I’ve never heard something more attractive spoken in my life. Her eyes shift, now as clear as they are molten.
Dizzy, she’s bewitched me with her spell. Shock shoots from my teeth all the way down to my toes, curling them.
The thing is back in her vision, only this time it’s more alive and less reserved than when I had her trapped underneath my palm in the woods at Cole’s lake house.
My pupils swim, not trusting myself to control my actions as soon as her smile turns coaxing. I know my cock’s been telling her hello since she willingly dove, clinging herself to me.
