Page 71 of Ice Bet

I dragged my lips against her jawline as she fiddled with the waistband of my sweats. Her shaky hand dipped inside, and I saw red. I flexed my hips, anticipating her warm palm squeezing the life out of me.

“This is so fucking wrong, but I have zero self-control right now.” I took hold of her teasing hand and shoved it down farther until she gripped me. I forced out a breath. Riley’s devilish tongue slipped out of her mouth, and I went in for the kill until we both froze at the ringing sound of her father’s voice shrieking with anger outside the locker room.

“Shit.”

Riley slipped down the front of me, and her panic matched mine. Her wide eyes, full of unwavering fear and surprise, told me this wasn’t just some sick game that she was playing—because, trust me, the thought did cross my mind once or twice.

“Stay quiet,” I demanded, hating that I was shoving a girl like her into a locker.

What the fuck am I doing?

The locker slammed, and her father appeared two seconds later with Ford, Theo, and Emory standing behind him.

Theo was frustrated.

Ford’s eyebrow was slanted to his sweaty hairline, and when his eyes moved to the locker, I knew that he knew.

I didn’t have a chance to look at Emory, because Coach stepped forward, and I prepared myself for another sucker punch.

It would be so fucking worth it, though.

“I need you to tell me what the hell just happened, son.”

Son.

He would not be calling me son if he knew his daughter’s warm palm was just wrapped around my dick.

“Aasher.” His tone was low, but there wasn't an ounce of anger lingering.

He’d never used that tone with me.

To Riley? Yes.

To his wife? Yes.

To the team? Never.

Especially not if he had any indication that I was lusting over Riley to the point that I wasstillhard, even with an audience.

Clearing my throat, I turned around and leaned against the locker Riley was in. Warm breaths coated the back of my neck, and a shiver worked down my body. “What do you want to know?” I asked, knowing I had to explain everything, even with Riley listening from inside a locker.

“For starters, I want to know how you were able to keep your temper intact. Weeks ago, you nearly put someone through a wall because they talked about my daughter. Today, someone punched you, and you stood there and took it.”

Please, God, don’t let him look too much into that. I’ve sinned, and though I’m not sorry, I’m not ready to die.

Emory, with his grumbly, gritty voice, cut through my desperate prayer. “Took a page out of my handbook, huh? Throwing people through walls.” He laughed but shut up as soon as Coach glared.

“Why did you let him hit you?”

“Because he thought he deserved it.” Theo crossed his arms and leaned back beside me.Fuck.Our eyes met, and when he shifted his attention to the locker behind our backs, his eyes widened.

“Deserved it how, exactly?” Coach asked.

The nerves pushed me to spill, because the sooner I answered his question, the sooner he’d leave.

“My high school girlfriend was sent away our senior year because she had a severe eating disorder. I didn’t know about it until it was too late, but her parents blamed me. They assumed that I had told her she was fat or not good enough because, truthfully, I was a shitty boyfriend. I didn’t treat her with respect, and I blew her off a lot. But I never said anything negative about her appearance. Ever.”

I cleared my throat. Ihatedtalking about it, and it was even more demeaning to have to explain it to several people—one of them being Riley.

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