Page 87 of The Baller

Forty minutes later we were in a booth, a tray of cheeseburgers in front of us, along with two giant bowls of fries Delaney and Millie had already inhaled half of. No one had spoken for at least three minutes, if you didn’t count the moans as the food barely hit the sides of our mouths before it got swallowed ready for the next bite.

I don’t know why they were eating like they’d never seen food before, but I knew why I was.

Sex.

All the sex.

I never realized it was so hunger-inducing. In all my years of running track and working out, I couldn’t remember being this consistently hungry. I didn’t have much – or any – experience in the sex department, but Millie did, and she never seemed to eat like her stomach had a hole in it. I’d even taken her pickles.

Maybe it was sex with Lux that did it.

It had been ten days, and I still couldn’t get enough of it – of him; like I was on a mission to taste every inch of his body, and at six foot five, there was a lot of it. I’d even asked Doctor Jessops if it was normal that I couldn’t seem to control myself whenever he was around. It was even harder when he wasn’t. My mind wandered every two minutes as I remembered what his tongue felt like as it dragged the length of my body, or what his ass looked like, or his dick. I didn’t even know dicks could look like that – impressive, mighty, powerful.

Yeah, Lux’s dick was certainly powerful; wringing orgasm after orgasm from me.

It was a wonder I could even walk any more.

Doctor Jessops had merely smiled, and told me it was perfectly normal.

It hadn’t helped; I’d only wanted more. It had been two days since I’d seen him, and I was convinced I was in withdrawal. My body craved him like a drug.

Maybe I’d become addicted to sex. Or Lux. Unquestionably Lux.

Delaney put down what was left of her burger and leaned back, her cheeks puffing as she eased her fingers under her waistband and released the top button of her jeans. “Need a break.”

“Slacker,” mumbled Millie before doing the exact same thing. “God, they’re good. Why haven’t we been here before?”

“Because we’d need to buy an entirely new wardrobe if we came here all the time.” I picked up another handful of fries, loaded them with ketchup, and bit down.

“How are you still eating?”

I shrugged, though my smile spoke for itself, especially when Millie rolled her eyes. She picked up her Diet Coke and pointed the straw in my direction. “You know, someone asked me this morning if you were dating Lux Weston.”

Delaney’s eyes flicked between Millie and me. My fingers gripped another handful of fries, and they paused half-way to my mouth as I waited for my anxiety to spike.

The panic. The dread. The swirling vortex of bile and fear which rolled into a ball getting bigger and bigger, until it burst out of me and I had to run to the nearest bathroom.

I waited a little bit longer.

There might have been a slight twinge in my belly, but it also could have been because I’d just inhaled a quarter pound of U.S.D.A. prime beef with cheese.

In the end, the fries were getting cold, so I stuffed them in my mouth. “What did you say?”

She took a very loud, purposeful slurp. “That you’d never be caught dead with a New York Lion.”

Delaney snorted in a very unladylike way, though it was more likely because she’d recently revealed herself as a Braves fan, and had a similar opinion of the Lions that my family and Millie did – that the Lions had been much more favorable when they stayed at the bottom of the standings.

“I didn’t say anything,obviously.” She eyed me over the top of her Diet Coke. “What would you have wanted me to say?”

I sat back, picking up my Diet Coke, as annoyingly slowly as she did, and smiled. I was surprised it had taken this long.

It had been nine days since Lux had kissed me in front of Philosophy Hall. It hadn’t been super obvious, but we’d been outside where dozens and dozens of other students were. And since then, he’d met me twice outside the dorms before we took off for one of our long runs, both times he’d fully embraced the opportunity to greet me with a kiss.

I knew it would happen. I’d known this time would come; I would never have been seen with him in public if I didn’t. But after that weekend in the apartment, and my conversation with Holiday, I was done hiding. I was facing the consequences head on, because they’d gotten me to this point.

But even I was surprised at how little I seemed to care.

In fact, my heart did nothing but flurry about in excitement at the mention of his name.

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