Page 104 of Courtside

Quickly, Sage turned over, scooting herself back until she was perfectly spooned against him, her back nestled against his front. “This I can do,” she said.

David’s low chuckle ruffled the hairs on the back of her neck. “I can work with this.”

CHAPTER27

CREEPY, BEADY-EYED DEMONS

DAVID

There was nothing in the world that compared to the peace that David felt when he was at the house on Lake Murray.

He and the guys had made their first trip to the lake only a few weeks after Johnny’s death, at a time when they’d all been shells of themselves — devastated and unsure how to move forward.

It was Chuck who’d brought up the idea of them all going somewhere quiet together. David, Ford, Darius, and Tommy, the seniors on the basketball team, had automatically agreed, and it was a given that Chuck and Keaton, who spent most of their time with them anyway, would come along as well.

They’d spent hours and hours on the deck that first year. Most of the time they were silent, lost in their own heads, but occasionally one of them would have a moment of courage and speak up, trying to put their feelings into words.

None of them were any good at cooking yet, so they’d grilled hot dogs and made boxed mac and cheese, but it had been exactly what David had needed. And by the end of it there’d been a shift, like the tentative vulnerability they’d found together established a certain level of trust and safety that hadn’t existed before.

Even now, years later, David sat out on the dock in board shorts and a t-shirt with a mug of coffee in one hand as his feet splashed in the cool water, and felt blissfully content. The sun had just crested over the tops of the tall trees that circled the lake, turning the water from deep black to vibrant blue. Darius and Rebecca, both still in pajamas, sat next to him, and all of them watched as Sage, Chuck, and Keaton did some sort of body-weight workout on the mowed grass at the edge of the lake.

“Twenty more burpees and that’s it,” Chuck panted, pushing his curls back from his forehead.

“You’re not very nice,” Sage grumbled, but obediently jumped in the air before dropping to the ground into a pushup.

David took advantage of the moment to watch her. In only a sports bra and some tiny running shorts, she looked every inch an athlete. Her skin glowed in the morning light, with the shine of sweat that only made the long, lean lines of her body all the more pronounced.

She was a goddamn vision.

They’d woken up that morning sprawled out on opposite sides of the bed, but had quickly closed the distance between them. David had ignored her protest about morning breath and proceeded to kiss her thoroughly while his hand went to work between her legs, bringing her to a silent, shaking orgasm that left him right on the edge of his own release. And when Sage had crawled under the covers and wrapped those pink lips around him, well, he’d lasted about half a second before coming down her throat.

For the first time, they stood together at the sink, watching each other in the wide mirror as they brushed their teeth and got ready for the day. There had been a brief moment of discomfort when he’d looked at his body in the mirror, but then he’d noticed the way Sage’s cheeks flushed when he scratched at the hair on his belly.

If she liked the way he looked, who was he to argue with her taste?

Sage did things quite simply: brushed her teeth, washed her face with a bar of soap she’d packed in a plastic bag, and put on sunscreen that smelled like coconut.

“If I don’t put on sunscreen my face turns into one giant freckle,” she’d grumbled, which made him smile.

He’d held her hand as they walked down the stairs, and then sent her outside with the others while he made her tea. By the time he’d walked down the back steps with their drinks, she’d already been roped into the workout.

“They’re animals,” Darius was saying from where his head reclined on Rebecca’s thigh.

His wife shook her head. “Better they get it out this way. You know how Chuck gets when he’s been cooped up for too long.”

David looked around. “Where’s Tommy?”

“Sleeping still.”

He looked at Darius in disbelief. “Seriously? It’s after nine.”

“Your point being?”

“I haven’t slept in past nine in years.”

“You also never drink more than one mixed drink or two beers,” Darius retorted.

He wasn’t wrong.

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