Page 151 of Naughty & Nice

Ihate this.

Since moving to South Carolina and embarking on life at Trinity Royal College, I’ve felt like I’ve found my true home.

The team house was my haven. A place where I could hang out with my boys. A place to party, a place to let go, to celebrate the wins, commiserate the losses, and most importantly, hook up with every and any willing girl.

God, that makes me sound like a whore.

Fuck. I am a whore.

Or… I was.

Since being back, I haven’t been short of offers.

Lacey—aka blonde with no panties—has been lingering like a bad rash. She rubs herself up against me and ensures I know that she’s still missing her underwear at any possible opportunity.

Old me would have been all over it.

New me… not so much.

I sink lower in my seat, internally groaning that I’ve resorted to giving myself two distinct personas.

The heavy beat of the music filling the entire ground floor of the house should inspire me. It should fire me up to party longinto the night, celebrating the birth of a new year. A new chapter in all our lives.

We’re on fire this season; we’re right on the cusp of having the Titans’ best season in years.

I should be ready for it. I should be eager to get back to training, to kill our final games, and to end with a championship under our belt.

But I’m not. Or at least, not as much as I should be.

My head isn’t set on the future and all the challenges that lie ahead.

It’s stuck in the past.

Six very specific days in the past.

“Hey Wilder,” Lacey purrs before taking it upon herself to climb on my lap.

She straddles my thighs, having no shame that her already obscenely short skirt rises even higher, letting me see… you guessed it.

I stare at her blankly.

I hate to be stereotypical, but she really is being blonde.

I’ve given her no sign that I’m interested since returning to the house. Sure, in the past I may have. Even as recently in the car on the way home, something I’m now really regretting. But I couldn’t help myself. My need to get a reaction out of Noelle was unignorable.

I got to her the morning we left Canada. Worse than that. I hurt her.

I didn’t mean to. I was angry. I was…

I was scared.

Fuck. I hate admitting that. Even to myself.

I was scared about leaving that place.

I thought I had the most perfect life here. It was everything I ever dreamed of.

And then this Christmas happened.

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