Page 189 of Out of Bounds

"Prove it."

"Oh, fuck it," he muttered and crashed his lips to mine, drawing me in for a long kiss. He breathed me in, tightening his hold on my hair until I was completely sloped towards him, unable to move. "I want to fuck you so bad, it’s going to make me look stupid for the rest of the interview."

"What do you have after this?"

His eyes darkened for just a moment. "I have a gameplay meeting," he admitted reluctantly.

"What time?"

"Five-thirty."

"If we cut the last ten minutes off of this, wrap up early, you’ll have fifteen minutes free," I whispered. "Captain showers?"

"I walk faster than you." He grinned. "If I cut through the north hallway, I can open up the last door and that’ll save you the roundabout way. Two minutes tops, two minutes back to the meeting. Eleven minutes in the shower."

The door opened and one of the assistants came out with a full apology. I just waved it away and Ryan sat grinning on his chair. But before everybody else came back, we put our chairs back and I leaned over, keeping my voice low.

“Hey?”

“Hm?"

"Nobody’s fuck with you, ball dribbler," I promised. "That’s my job."

His grin lifted. "Nobody fucks with you, art girl. Or I’ll beat their ass."

74

Ryan

THANK YOU

Five days in Louisiana as a big show to train two teams together, to help with camaraderie and morale. A football game on the last day but for the four days leading up to it, we were excused from all classes and encouraged to meet and get to know the Louisiana football team.

What a fucking waste of time.

Outside of the training center, I tried to listen to the student reporters asking me questions, holding their phones out to record the answers. It was hard to concentrate. I scanned the buildings again, looking for the dark braids and curved mouth.

Where’s Kassie?

"What do you think about the new receivers for UNLP?" one of the student reporters pushed.

"I think Floyd and Molina have their work cut out for them," I replied, checking the crowd behind them again. "We met last season, I’m excited to meet them head-on. It’s going to be a real challenge—challenge—"

My words stopped in my throat as I spotted the overalls, close to the brick wall.

"I’ve got this captain," Adam said behind me and clapped my back. He took my place up to the microphone. "Coach Lee has always had a talent for recruiting the best of the best for his offense. If there’s one thing you can guarantee, it’s the best of the best."

I threw him a grateful grin and passed the crowd, off towards the brick wall, and my girlfriend, fifteen minutes late to see me off. A sense of relief washed over me. I was worried I wasn’t going to see her before the charter bus had to drive off.

Kassie spotted me and waved me over, in the little niche between the administrative building and the parking garage office.

"I didn’t think you were going to make it," I breathed out.

She leaned against the brick wall with a big brown bag in her hand and a cupholder with two cups, a big and a small one.

"Class ran late," Kassie panted, tugging out an extra brown bag, folded inside itself, and passed it for me to open. "And the line was insane, you would’ve thought we were getting free money."

"Line for what?" I opened the bag, figuring that’s what she wanted. "What is this?"

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