Page 40 of Brutal Days

“See you for our run tomorrow.” I needed to work on my endurance, and he was brutal about making Shane and me do Saturday runs.

“Why did you say that?” Shane frowned. “I don’t want to run. We have a fight. It’s enough.”

“I don’t want to, either, but we have to be prepared for this summer. You know preseason workouts at Thane will be hell. Cole already told us everything we needed to expect and where to prepare that he thought we were lacking.” Shane would hate my next statement. “And it’s not Phoenix but the two of us who are slacking on running.”

Shane ignored me. I didn’t care. He would fall in line in the spring. I would too. We all knew I was full of shit about wanting to run anyway.

“I’m gonna take off.” I couldn’t stop thinking about Sky. I had to see her. I didn’t care if it was one in the morning.

“Yeah, me too. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

We walked out to our identical black Range Rovers, and he took off in the direction of our subdivision while I headed toward Sky’s. It bothered me that the last time I’d dropped her off, she’d jumped out of my truck before it had even come to a complete stop.

I parked farther from Gia’s place, toward the end of Sky’s property line. It didn’t matter that much. The houses and lots were small. Sky’s appeared to be even less square footage than Gia’s. I shut off the engine and shot Sky a message to come outside.

If she ignored me, I would go. It wasn’t like I could knock on the door at that time of night. The ping from my phone surprised me.

Sky:Go away

I couldn’t stop from grinning. She wouldn’t have texted if she didn’t want me there.Fine.I could play her game. I responded byaskingher to come outside that time. I even included a please.

My gut tightened as I waited for her answer. When a few seconds passed and nothing came through, my anger brewed. Then the door opened, and she rushed toward the SUV. She wore sleep shorts and a baggy T-shirt, but that didn’t detract from how sexy she looked. Sky had legs for days. I wanted to wrap them around my waist and bury my hands in her long, silky hair. She was even more beautiful with no makeup on, not that she wore much anyway. Her smooth skin glowed, and those lips—I was obsessed with them. I got hard every time she was near.

She opened the door and climbed inside. I didn’t know why I was there. It wasn’t like we were good for each other. She hated me and what I represented, and I didn’t have the best outlook on women. But neither of us was looking for a relationship. It was a mutually beneficial exchange.

“What do you want? I’m tired.” Her eyes drooped sleepily, and she looked so damn soft and sexy.

I shrugged. “I just got done at the gym and didn’t want to go home yet. I thought we could…” I couldn’t believe what I was about to say. “Talk.”

“Are you feeling okay?”

She pressed the back of her hand to my forehead, and I grabbed it, brushing a kiss along the inside of her wrist before releasing it. Her pupils flared, and her luscious lips parted before she snatched her hand back. The scowl returned, the same one I was becoming intimately familiar with and had come to expect from her.

“I’m fine,” I said to answer her question. “Where did you go after the game?”

She yawned. “Home. I wrote the article for the blog and sent it off, as I was supposed to. I hate sports, by the way.”

“Yeah, I’m aware. Did you slam me again?” It only mildly bothered me. The more I got to know her, the more it seemed like her disdain toward athletes held a deeper meaning.

“No.” She sighed. “You were on fire tonight. All of you guys were.”

I laughed softly. “Are you coming over to the dark side?”

“Hell no. I hate it, but Stephanie’s forcing me to suffer through the home games.”

“Who’s she?” Maybe I should send her flowers for making Sky watch me play.

“The editor for the blog, who was appointed by my creative writing teacher, not her peers. We’re short a sports writer since Dan graduated two years ago. I did women’s swimming and diving last year, and this time, she cornered me into covering football.”

“How did she do that? Couldn’t you have stayed with what you did last year?” I remembered she’d covered Riley’s meets, and the pictures Sky had taken had always obscured her face. They were images of Riley diving but only when her face was turned away.

Riley liked Sky a lot. She’d let me have it when I’d eyed Sky for a moment too long last year. My brother’s girlfriend was tough, and I’d backed off because I owed her for keeping her mouth shut about a lot of the shit Cole had done to her. But things were different now.

“It is what it is. Besides, the diversity of what I have to cover looks good on my college applications.”

“Do you want to major in journalism or English in college?” I couldn’t imagine doing what she did. Nor did I want to.

“Probably journalism. But I don’t know. Creative writing is pretty great too.” She yawned again.

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