Page 40 of The Sky Between Us

With a snort, I shook my head. “Amazing.”

“Don’t get mad, I just thought you were done… hiding,” he reached out and cupped my face. “Baby.”

“I’m upset,” I mumbled. “Can we drop this and all of it?”

Aiden exhaled loudly and nodded. “Sure, baby.”

Several minutes passed with him stroking my cheek until I finally looked up, meeting his gaze swimming in guilt. “You are forgiven.”

“Good because you will get mad again,” he warned and shot me a pleading look. “Please, just listen. I told you I had a sister and she is a dancer.” I nodded, not trusting myself to speak and not liking the course this conversation was taking. I would have rather made an Instagram account at this point. “She seems to be having a very unhealthy relationship with food, my parents are concerned and she swears it’s nothing but we worry. I thought maybe you could talk to her?” his voice faded out by the time he reached the question. “I know it’s too soon for you to meet my parents and all that, but when I saw that article, it just hit me and I couldn’t not ask. I think you could maybe help her. They live in Fresno; we could drive up there for a weekend?”

I blinked at him sheepishly unsure what to say. My expertise with unhealthy relationships with food were very scarce and I wasn’t sure I could actually be helpful instead of causing more harm. But his pleading eyes, the honesty in his words made my heart crumble. If I could help him out somehow, it gave me hope. Maybe there really was more to life than hiding.

“We should go there for a weekend. I always wanted to visit Fresno anyway,” I said with a small smile and I watched with a weird tightness in my chest as a similar smile broke across his face.

Aiden wrapped his arms around me and tackled me, pinning my body to the bed while planting endless kisses on my cheek, forehead, eyes and mouth. Laughter bubbled out of me as I laced my legs behind his back and my arms around his neck and buried my face in his neck.

“God, you are really something else, Hazel McCarthy,” he muttered in my hair as we laid entangled and I hid my grin in his neck.

He didn’t need to know, but I would have done anything he asked me.

Even open an Instagram account.

The cheering crowd didn’t help my confidence. It was two-two and we were running out of extra time. The audience grew impatient waiting for something to happen, while encouraging the California State University - Sacramento team to score, leaving us hanging in the championship.

Pulling my shirt up, I wiped the bead of sweat off my forehead and an annoyed groan left me as I watched the opponent’s clear line to our goal. Herbert, their best forward, was the one scoring the winning goals and he was yet to put the ball into the net, if it wasn’t for our defense players blocking him.

I wished Hazel was there, adding numbers to our small fan club who followed us on an away game. I fed off the crowd, which at this game, wanted me to fail. My moves filled with self-doubt as our team gained possession of the ball. It never happened before, but I was distracted. Even on the field, my mind kept wandering back to her.

Elliot let out a loud whistle, getting my attention and his eyes silently told me to move. Muscle memory took over and my body did what it was trained to do, positioning on my line to shoot even before the ball slowed down to reach me. I kicked it, allowing it to continue its way towards Sacramento’s goal. Their goalkeeper wasn’t attentive enough with calculating the arch of my kick, and the ball ended up in the left corner of the net.

The crowd booed as the referee blew the whistle, marking the end of the game.

We won.

But we were close to losing everything tonight, because of me.

Running my fingers through my sweaty and sticky hair, I grimaced as my teammates approached. They all clamped me on the shoulder as they made their way towards the changing room. We all felt the dissatisfaction rolling off of each and every one of us. We were better than this.

“What happened out there?” Coach demanded as I passed him. “What happened to the strategy?”

Shaking my head, I shrugged. “I got distracted.”

Coach’s dark eyes bored into mine, reminding me of Hazel when she got upset.

“You can’t let that happen, you have too much riding on this,” he lectured me as if I didn’t know it myself.

“I know.”

“Then act like it!” Coach raised his voice, making my blood boil from anger. “I made you captain to set an example. You are not living up to that. Every move you make counts. You should have made sure we were way ahead of them, yet you let Elliot and Benin score before you woke up from your daydreaming. There is no room for errors now Aiden!”

I nodded. “I know. Won’t happen again!” I promised half-heartedly as we made our way to the rest of the team.

Dropping down onto the bench, I took my shirt off as Coach started with his speech meant for the entire team, but I zoned out. From one side, I was mad at myself for being distracted with Hazel. She became an integral part of my life, yet she was still a secret. Only the people closest to me knew, not even the entire team. It was bad enough I was captain; they didn’t need to know I was dating Coach’s daughter. Plus, Coach didn’t know either and I didn’t want him hearing it from anyone. I already wasn’t his favorite after this game. On the other side, however, I was mad at Hazel for making everything so damn hard. If it was any other girl, it would have been easier. No hiding, no tension and no secrets. She was taking up a lot of my energy and not in the bed.

I wasn’t complaining, and sex didn’t have to be the main part of our relationship, but I was growing tired of pushback. I was growing tired of her amazing blowjobs, the way her tongue moved over my length and the depths she could take me in. I wanted her. Naked and fully mine. But as always with Hazel, there was something between us. This time, it was her clothes and I was growing more and more impatient.

“Party at our place?” Elliot poked me as I didn’t realize Coach finished his talk. “We need to blow off some steam.”

---