Page 32 of Rule Breaker

“Come on in!” Dane yelled out.

I pushed open the door to find my friends, side by side, sitting on the floor, laptops open, Jackson’s dark, curly head leaning on Dane’s shoulder. I glanced around, relieved to see that Wayne the gecko was in his tank, and not roaming around Dane’s room.

“Hey guys.”

My face heated. Jesus. There was no way I was going to make it through this conversation without turning ten shades of red. Then again, what was I embarrassed about? This was sex. No biggie.

Right. Said the virgin.

“Have a seat,” Dane motioned to the chair in the corner, put his laptop aside, and got up. “You want anything to drink?”

“Uh, Coke if you have it.”

“Diet?”

“Is there any other kind?” I chuckled, my nerves easing.

Dane headed over to his mini fridge while I sat down.

“Sorry about the loss on Saturday, Kay. But I heard you had a good practice today,” Jackson offered.

“The team’s still finding its rhythm. We’ll be ready to grab the next one,” I paused. “And practice was, well, interesting.”

“You still having issues with Maddox?” Jackson asked. “Dane told me all about your road roomie.”

Dane offered me the can of soda, and another to Jackson, then sat back down. I gratefully popped the top and took a long sip. I needed that after a long-ass practice. And a mind-blowing orgasm.Shit, don’t think of orgasms.The blush spread down my neck and chest like a rash.

What had Jackson asked me? Oh yeah. Practice. Maddox. Which brought me back to orgasms again.

Focus, Kay.

“It was a misunderstanding,” I started. “See, we’re in the same economics class. So, I asked Maddox to help me with an essay. We met up Sunday at the library.”

“Whoa, you got him to talk to you,andwork with you?” Dane asked. “How did you manage that?”

I shrugged. “I guess my annoying persistence paid off. Anyway, when it came time to read each other’s essays, I freaked out and took off. Mine sounded so lame and his was like something a PhD student would write. I figured he was gonna make fun of me after that. And then I thought maybe he was helping me as a kind of setup, you know? To use against me later on, like a cruel joke, to tell the team how stupid I am.”

“Did he?” Dane asked, his glare immediate.

Jackson looked at me with the same fierce expression.

“No. He said that even though we don’t know each other, he’d never do that. And that if he had an opinion about me, he’d tell me to my face. Which, from what I’ve seen and heard so far, is true. He’s blunt about everything,” I paused. “Anyway, I guess I overreacted. High school bullshit that I can’t seem to shake off.”

“Does he know about your learning disorder?” Jackson asked.

I nodded. “He saw me using my reading app in the restaurant on Saturday. It’s weird, because normally I don’t like to tell people. I know I should own it. It’s the way my brain works and I shouldn’t be ashamed, but that doesn’t make it easier to say. So yeah, I told him. Also about my ADHD. He seemed cool about it. Which is why I was totally off base on Sunday. Leaving like that. And ignoring him in practice.”

“I thought he wanted to be ignored,” Dane replied.

“Yes and no. He was really pissed that I thought he might be the type of person to make fun of someone like that. And I didn’t say anything else. I skated away. But I don’t know what to do. I’dfinally started to get through to him when we were in Rochester, and now, everything’s fucked up again,” I paused. “Then there was the shower room incident.”

“Incident?” Jackson asked, leaning forward. “What happened in the shower?”

“I was in there, alone. I thought for sure Maddox would wait until I left. But suddenly he was there. And that’s not all—” I paused, my body heating as I thought about the way I’d eyed up Maddox’s naked body.

Could I tell them? Fuck it. I took a deep breath and went for it.

“I got a boner while watching him and I think he had one too and I can’t stop thinking about his ass and what it would be like to touch him or kiss him and then I ran home and I jerked off and now I think I might be bi or gay and I don’t know what to do.”

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