Page 14 of Keeping Score

“I have no fucking idea. Mom said she wouldn’t say a word about what happened and apparently she has cut all contact with her friends at DCU.” Davidson Crest University is a really good school. CHU is better of course, but DCU does have the best dance team in the country, so for Leah to drop out and move schools means something happened. Now that my interest is piqued, she isn’t going anywhere.

“We need to get her to talk to–” He snaps his gaze to me and raises his brows.

“Don’t want to kick her out now?” he says with sarcasm thick in his tone earning him a glare from me.

“Shut up, asshole. Like I was saying, we need to get her to talk and tell us what happened.” He throws his hands up in the air in frustration.

“That’s the thing, she has pulled away from me. It’s not like you and her get along, so she won’t talk to either of us.” I hate that he’s right and it fucking grates on my nerves to hear this out loud.

“She’ll talk to Beckett.” Corv scrunches his face in confusion so I elaborate. “They have become… friendly and I think she will open up to him if Beck pushes her.” Corvin shakes his head.

“Nah, dude, she’s my sister,” he says as he climbs to his feet. I mimic him and get in his face so he has no choice but to listen to me.

“If you want to know why Leah is running away, then Beckett is your best option.” He sighs as his shoulders slump forward.

“Except, Crue, Saint and me have that fucking training camp this weekend and we leave tomorrow night.” Fuck, I forgot about that! I don’t have to attend because coach said I don’t need the extra fitness, but those lazy fuckers do. Serves them right for getting lit every weekend. Beck and I spent more time training than the three of them, which means, we get the perks ofnotspending our weekend spewing our guts out.

“Sucks to be you,” I tease. He shoves me back, causing me to laugh.

“You’re such a dick.”

“I know.” He rolls his eyes as he brushes past me, heading to his locker.

“I’ll talk to Beck and see if he can talk to Leah,” he calls out over his shoulder. I nod and tell him he’s making a wise choicebut in truth, I don’t plan to let Beckett anywhere near her. If anyone is going to find out what the fuck happened, it’s going to be me!

Leah

“That’s it for the day. There will be a pop quiz on Monday, so make sure you study!” Miss Moss shouts as we all scramble to pack our things and get the hell out of the class to start the weekend. This week has dragged on. Cody and I walk out of our English class exhausted. We have been training before and after school, my body is sore and bruised but Coach said we either train twice a day or drop out. On top of training, I meet with Garrett twice a week now to be tutored for calculus, which I still don’t fucking understand. All my other classes have been going great and my professors are so chill compared to Mr. Thompson.

“I need an energy drink or a shot.” I laugh and shake my head. Cody is addicted to energy drinks. The girl can go through a six pack of Red Bull in a day and still sleep like a baby at night!

“You need to give that stuff up,” I say as we exit the building and make our way to the quad to wait for Katie and Garrett. We have dance practice in an hour and Garrett is going awayon some football trip with my brother, Crue and Saint, which means, I’m stuck at home with Darius and Beckett.

Beck is great but without my brother around and Beck knowing about Darius and me, I’m worried he’ll try something. We haven’t seen each other since he gave me the best orgasm I’ve had in years!

But of course, he had to go and ruin the moment by talking. To have him bring me to such a high after what happened and not freaking out was a huge thing for me, then his words cut me deeper than he will ever know. I wish more than anything I was able to scrub him from my life so I could finally let him go, except you never really get over or let a guy like Darius go. Not wen he’s your first love.

“Grab us a spot and I’ll get us some coffees instead.” I clear my thoughts and nod as I look around for a vacant table. I spot one near one of the old oak trees and beeline for it. I’m four feet away when I’m gripped by the elbow and spun around so fast, I nearly trip until an arm wraps around my waist to steady me. I look up and still in his hold, when a pair of dark brown eyes stare down at me with an intensity only Darius can master.

“We need to talk,” he says in a clipped tone, and releases his hold on me then steps back. I didn’t feel cold a minute ago but now without his touch I’m chilled to the bone. It’s almost like his touch can set me on fire from the inside in the most delicious way. When he clicks his fingers in my face, I realize I must have been standing here just staring at him. I feel a blush creeping its way up my neck to my cheeks. I shouldn’t be embarrassed because he’s seen me naked, but with him, butterflies still come alive inside me when he walks in the room.

“About what? If you want to yell about what happened the other night, then I’ll pass,” I say in a clipped tone as I turn and nab the picnic table before someone else does and honestly, to give Darius a hint that I don’t want to talk to him. After he leftme on the porch, utterly confused and hurt by his blatant hate, I cried myself to sleep that night and the next. I have no idea what I have done to deserve this type of behavior from him. I should be the one that is angry since he fucking ghosted me!

I feel him slide up behind me and tense. He places his hands on either side of me on the table. I shiver when I feel his warm breath caresses the shell of my ear, he’s so close that I feel his body heat radiating off of him.

“Thing is, all I can think about is making you come again but this time, on my cock.” My eyes snap wide and I gasp. I’m woman enough to admit that his close proximity and the thought of his cock slipping inside me has me clenching my thighs beneath the table. “Your brother’s away for the weekend and I think I need to apologize.”

I swallow and dart my tongue out to moisten my lips. “Apologize for what?” My voice waivers and even I can hear how breathy I sound.

“For being an ass. You know I’m always good at making it up to you.” I try to fight it, I really do, but a shiver works its way down my spine at his filthy promise. “You remember how long it takes me to say sorry, right?” I slam my eyes closed as memories of how Dariusapologizesruns through my head. They always end with me naked and spent.

“Uh, hey?” I blink my eyes open to see a confused looking Cody standing in front of me holding two coffees. She isn’t looking at me though, she stands there glaring at Darius. I caved and told her about what happened between Darius and me yesterday. She threatened to chop off his balls and burn his eyes out with a hot poker.

“Hey,” Darius says in a smooth tone. When Cody looks at me, I shoot her a look, pleading with my eyes to not say anything to him.

“Well nice to see you and all that. Come on, Leah, we have practice and need to meet–” Before I can cut in and stop her from mentioning him, the man himself appears at the other end of the table.

“Hey.” I feel Darius tense behind me at the sound of Garrett’s voice. Rather than pull back or storm off like he normally does, he whispers low enough for only me to hear.

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