Page 79 of I Was Always Yours (RCA: Royal Crown Academy)

Itsk, hoping to rile her up as I pick it up again and wind back to throw.

I pause, waiting for her gaze to leave the ball and meet mine. When it does, I close my own eyes and throw, smirking when I hear the telltale sound of the ball hitting liquid.

Peeling my lids open, I watch with dark eyes as she crosses her arms over her stomach, grabs the edges of her sweater, and pulls it slowly over her head, revealing very perky tits pushing against the taut fabric of a black crop top.

It’s obvious she’s not wearing a bra.

Her midriff is displayed, lines of pale skin dusted with freckles disappearing into the skirt resting low on her hips.

“You thought I wouldn’t play, right?” She taunts, her turn to smirk at me this time. “Keep going, I’ll show you just how serious I am.”

She throws the ball, missing again.

My nostrils flare as I come back to my senses. There’s no fucking way I’m letting her take off another item of clothing in public.

I clench my fist around the ball and rest it on the table, refusing to throw.“Admit that you lost and we can stop here.”

“No,” she says, “Keep playing.”

She’s openly goading me. Is she trying to get me to lose my shit again?

I unclench my fist and look down at the crushed ping pong ball in my hand.

“Here, use this one.” She says amiably, throwing me a ball that I snatch out of midair.

“What are you doing?” I snarl, my sanity holding on by a thread. “Are you trying to show half the school your tits?”

“Why not? I’m single.”

“You’reengaged.” I grunt, correcting her and keeping my voice low so no one can hear me.

Fuck, those words have a nice ring to them.

She puts her left hand up, palm facing away from me, and wiggles her fingers. “I don’t have a ring.” She points out, “Or a real fiancé.”

I try to think about Astor, try to tell myself that I can’t fuck his girl again, but right now the need to choke her with my dick until I silence her smart mouth is wreaking havoc inside my brain and body.

“Don’t play with me.” I say, tossing the ball and watching it land in one of her remaining cups.

It’s a threat and I hope she takes it as such.

But of course, she doesn’t.

Never taking her eyes off me, she bends forward slightly, reaching her thumbs underneath her skirt and hooking them under the band of her panties.

A strangled breath gets caught in my chest as I watch her slowly pull her thong down her legs, finally revealing the lacy fabric as she passes the edge of her skirt and continues over her knees.

She steps one leg out of her panties, then the next. Grabbing the cup, she removes the ping pong, chugs the beer, drops her panties in its place and sets it back on the table between us.

“Or what?” She challenges, her gaze unflinchingly set on me.

Chapter 26

Phoenix

My mood pivots to black in the flutter of a heartbeat.

I step around the table and storm towards her, grabbing her panties out of the cup and shoving them in the pocket of my trousers as I descend on her.

---