Page 38 of Matched By My Rival
“Yeah, even back then. Even when you thought I wanted to destroy you.” He rolled his eyes. “You’ve got an inflated sense of self-importance, you know? I never wanted your place on the field, or your girlfriend. I sure as fuck didn’t want you to lose your scholarship.”
“But you shit-talked me as much as I did you.”
Parker shrugged. “I guess I enjoyed having all that intensity turned on me.” His lips quirked. “I liked it a lot more when you were kissing me than punching me though.”
I winced. Could I really have misread the situation so much? Parker had been attracted to me, even when I’d decked him? That was messed up.
“You really didn’t use Kristin to bug me?”
“I didn’t. I wasn’t expecting her to kiss me.” Parker tucked his hands into his pockets. “So, what now? You going to punch me again? Tell me this meant nothing?”
“It did mean nothing.” I tried to sound casual. “I got off with a guy. Big deal. It was going to happen eventually.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Believe what you want.”
“Oh, I will.” He stepped in close, and I held my breath as his eyes burned into me. I hadn’t ever thought of Parker as intense, but in that moment, I felt it. The force of will in him, the core of strength I’d so easily dismissed in the past. “You forget that I know you, Simon. We’re not rivals on the field anymore. We’re friends.”
I snorted, but Parker pressed closer, and for some damn reason, I couldn’t bring myself to push him away. His chest and thighs brushed against my own. My cock plumped, as if considering another round. I tensed, not wanting him to know how he affected me.
“Friends,” he insisted. “We’ve talked every day for the past couple of weeks. We’ve flirted. We’ve joked around. We’ve shared fantasies.”
“And?” I said through clenched teeth. “That means what, exactly?”
“It means you can’t hide the truth, Simon. I already know you like me.”
And that same cocky grin that I’d hated for so long slipped back onto his face. I couldn’t muster up the hate and resentment that had been fueling me for months.
I couldn’t even stop him when he pressed that goddamn smile against my cheek and murmured, “I’ll let myself out.”
12
PARKER
Iwoke to a banging on my door. “Get up, lazy asses! It’s time for a hangover breakfast!”
What the hell? I wasn’t hungover, and it was Sunday. I shoved the pillow over my head as the calls continued up and down the hall, followed by curses and laughter. Johnston had a set of lungs on him, though, and was impossible to drown out.
I gave up on sleep and pulled out my phone, checking my messages on reflex. Nothing from BiCuriousStud—Simon, that was. I still struggled* to believe they were one and the same.
Part of me had naively hoped Simon would message me goodnight as always. That our real lives wouldn’t have to impact the sweet little reality we’d created online. But he hadn’t, and there was no going back, no unknowing the truth.
But that didn’t mean I was going to give up. Simon hadn’t deleted the Thrust app. He was still there. And I texted him every morning, so what did I have to lose?
I had the weirdest dream last night…
My door rattled in its frame when Johnston pounded on it again. “Come on, Reed! I know you’re in there. You don’t even have a hangover as an excuse. Get your butt out of that bed!”
Grumbling, I threw back my covers and went to the door. I yanked it open and glared. “It’s Sunday.”
Johnston grinned and rubbed his hands together. “Best day to go out for breakfast.”
Shaking my head, I said, “Give me five.”
“You’ve got three.”
I flipped him off and closed the door, then turned to my dresser to grab the first pair of track pants and hoodie I could find. I was going out with a bunch of jocks—no point looking like anything but one of them. My hoodie branded me a Hayworth Haymaker, complete with the logo of farm machinery mowing down the field, scary teeth ready to decimate the competition. It made me smile and roll my eyes every time I saw it. Fucking rural schools and their farm mascots. There was a school in Kansas that had a shock of wheat for its mascot. Totally ridiculous.
