Page 19 of Christmas Cheer

I’m also curious abouthowhe drove back, considering his parents are two states over and he flew out. Did he steal a car?

He’s probably exhausted and needs to sleep for a few hours. But it’s not fucking happening.

“Bro, you need to leave. Now. Quietly.”

In response, he yawns loudly enough he sounds like he’s opening a portal to Valhalla and then blinks slowly. “I need to go to bed.”

“Not here, you’re not.”

He blinks again, scrubs his mop of sandy brown hair, finally really looks at me. “Why are you naked?”

“Why do you think?” I screech as quietly as I can.

“Ohhh. But, whatever man, bang your chick. Do your thing.”

“Absolutely not.” I snatch up my phone, still on the counter from last night, and pull up a couple apps. I pay a ridiculous amount of money for what I need, but it’s worth it. “I told her no one was coming home tonight, and you are not going to make a liar out of me just because you decided to visit your bullshit family instead of staying here and hanging with me.”

Which I will thank him for later, but not right now. Right now I need him gone.

“Why are you making such a big deal about a piece of ass?” he grumbles. “Half the time you’re trying to get me in there with you.”

Yeah, I mean, most of the time I just want the girl going fucking nuts on cock, and I’ve found two cocks work really well for that. Thad’s got a great cock, and I’m solid enough with my masculinity that if our cocks get all smushed together in a pussy, I am good to go.

Not in Keira’s, though. She’s mine.

I raise an eyebrow meaningfully. “She’s important.”

He squints at me. I genuinely don’t know if it’s a confused look or if he’s just trying to see better. But then he straightens up, blinking rapidly. “Did you finally bag Hughes?” he mouths.

“Don’t make it sound so trashy. There’s an uber on the way. They’re gonna take you to that Hilton over by the airport. Your room is reserved. Go grab what you need and get out, okay?”

He sighs and lumbers up to his bedroom. I take the opportunity to pour myself a glass of water and chug it. By the time I refill it with the intent of waking Keira up so she can hydrate — and then wrecking that pussy one more time — Thad is coming back down to the kitchen with a small overnight bag for the hotel and a package that he waves at me.

“Do, uhh, do we need to talk about this?” he asks like his worst nightmare imaginable is talking about whatever he’s holding.

I lean close to see what he’s got until finally the Plan B logo comes into focus.

“Nope, absolutely not.”

Chapter 10

Keira

The only thingsaving me from the greatest humiliation of my life on the flight to Miami is the fact that Lyddie Ramirez, my co-captain, has IBD. She’s ready with her little medicine cabinet of anti-diarrheals by my third sprint to the lavatory at the opposite end of the plane.

It’s the morning-after pill, probably. I should have read the pamphlet that came with it, but I was just so relieved that Evan was able to get it this morning that when he tore it open, popped the pill out for me, and tossed the packaging, I didn’t think anything of it.

He was being sweet. He spent the rest of the morning pampering me. He drove me back to my dorm even though it’s only a ten-minute walk, reasoning that I’m probably sore — which I am, because holy hell, he is a jackhammer — and then helped me pack for the week.

Thankfully the pepto works its magic because Miami feels like a whirlwind. Our flight lands an hour late, and we’re always on tight schedules as it is on bowl trips. We’re shuttled off to the hotel the moment our luggage comes off the plane. Emma’s doesn’t even make it off; it’s decided by our coach that we’re all going to chip in to get Emma dressed and fixed up for the banquet we have an appearance at in an hour while she works out the missing luggage with the airline.

We’re at a nice enough hotel that the complimentary toiletries come in a full range and are a decent brand. Leah’s a clean freak and has panties she swears she’s never worn, has only washed them three times and packaged them in a vacuum-sealed pouch. Britt’s got a bodycon corset dress, so we don’t need to find Emma a bra. Between us, there’s every make-up product known to man. Emma ends up the best dressed of the squad.

I want to wear my flowy dandelion-print sundress, but the moment I pull it out, Lyddie gives me that look that reminds me that she’s co-captain because I’m terrible with the spirit side of cheering. She makes sure we’re always happy and peppy and supporting the team, and she’s also the one who banned me from sweatpants for afternoon classes.

I sigh and hang the sundress up as though that was always my intent and pull out my own aquamarine and black bodycon dress.

The banquet is for the highest-ranking boosters at Wilm State, so the first string is also there. The moment I lead us into the room and up onto the stage where the head coach is making his speech, I feel Evan’s eyes on me. There’s this aura, a gravitation that draws my eyes to him in turn. I stand just right, tilting at the perfect angle for the other cheerleaders to follow suit, I clap at the right time, cheer at the right times. The whole time in my peripheral, I see him sprawling at his table, taking up more space than reasonable even by football player standards. He manages to get in front of the head coach’s spotlight just right that he casts a shadow directly in front of me, and his hair looks like the blue of a particularly hot fire.

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