Page 50 of Stay

“You weren’t because you’d be depressed knowing what a loser you are,” Cole shoots back. “But I always keep score.”

Dante wipes his sweat off with his shirt. “Good game.”

“Same time next week?” Josh asks.

“I don’t think that’ll be a problem.” Cole looks down at me. “Unless you’re busy?”

Ummm. What should I say? Do they really want me to play with them again? I wasn’t that good. “I’m free.”

“You’re on my team then,” Dante says. “Josh and Jaedyn can fight over Cole.”

“Fuck that.” Cole takes a bottled water from Josh and hands it to me instead of drinking it himself. “She’s all mine.”

“Oh, we know.” Dante laughs. “She’s all you’ve talked about.”

Cole doesn’t even have the decency to deny it.

Josh and Dante pack up and head out. I swing my hips with my hands clasped behind my back. “You talk about me?”

“And think about you.” Cole swaggers closer. “And dream about you. And jerk off to fantasies about you.”

“You have no shame.”

“None.” He picks the basketball up and dribbles it between his legs while walking backwards. “Have you thought about Thanksgiving?”

“Yes,” I say, cautiously. “But it all depends on what happens right here, right now.”

He stops dribbling and holds the ball against his hip. “Oh yeah?”

“We’re playing PIG. If you win, I’ll go. If I win, I’ll go.”

“This is a good game. I like this game.”

“But there’s a catch.” I hold my finger up. “For every basket you miss, you have to give me an orgasm. And for every basket I miss, I’ll be your fucktoy for a day.”

“I really like this game.” Cole tosses the ball over his shoulder without looking, and it bounces off the rim. A wicked grin spreads across his handsome face. “Oops.”

Game. On.

Chapter 16

Cole

The next two weeks pass in a blur of fucking, working, and catching some Zzzs whenever possible. I’m not sure how Haley and I bounced back into our old ways so seamlessly, but it’s been incredible. I think we’re straddling the line of making up for lost time and picking up where we left off.

Part of me has always kicked myself for not chasing her down sooner. Hell, I should have ran after her when she drove off after graduation. I should have told her I loved her from the moment I first knew. I should have done lots of things, but I don’t think I was ready for any of it back then.

I’m more than ready now.

Pulling up our text thread, I shoot her a message.

Cole: I want you again.

We fucked twice this morning before I left for work. Walking out her door was crazy hard to do—especially with how adorable she was tangled in her bedsheets with her hair a knotty mess and bare ass red with my handprints.

Haley: You’re obsessed.

She’s not wrong. This woman’s a drug, and I’m completely addicted.

---