Page 45 of Strong Side
“You good?” I ask him.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’m gonna have a good bruise over the next few days though.” He turns, and I see a deep bruise forming that stretches from just below his ribs around to the back.
“Fuck, man. You get Sally to look at that yet?” I ask him as I grab my bag. Sally is our head team trainer. She keeps us all patched up and healthy.
“Yeah, she looked at it before I got in the shower. No broken ribs, so just a deep tissue bruise. I’ll be fine. I’ll ice it later. And I’m sure your sister will take good care of me.” He winks at me, trying to get a rise out of me.
“Fuck off.” I laugh and shove his shoulder. “You riding with me or Bo?”
“You can go if you don’t want to wait, but I’ll be ready in a few minutes. I don’t even see Bo back here yet. He must still be in the press room.” He dresses quickly, then grabs his bag and phone. “See, ready.” He chuckles.
“Let’s roll. Silas, you coming or what?” I yell over to him.
He does a handshake with Smith, then heads in our direction. “All right, boys, let’s go. I need to get ready. I plan toget laid tonight.” He holds a hand up for a high five, but Beck and I just shake our heads and laugh. “Leavin’ me hangin’. Not cool.”
“Let’s move, Casanova. My girl is waiting for me,” Beck says dryly.
“King?” He holds his hand out to me.
This is the first time he’s ever really talked about hooking up with girls. I mean, I’m sure he does, but he’s been kind of the quiet guy in the house so far.
“You do what you need to do, buddy.” I pat his shoulder. “But like he said”—I point my thumb at Beck—“I need to get home to see my girl.”
“Pussy-whipped. Both of you,” he mumbles.
I can’t help but smile because, yep, I sure am. And we haven’t even had sex yet.
CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN
NOELLE
Even though we’vebeen doing the whole fake-dating thing for a while now, tonight, we’re going to our first party as a couple. Travis Schuster and Dan Smith live there, and they are a little … wild. I’m honestly surprised that they haven’t gotten in trouble with the coach yet. Some of their parties have gotten pretty crazy.
Tonight, they’re having a neon party, so I’m guessing that means there will be paint and black lights, but who knows with these guys? They might mean that everyone should wear neon clothes. Guess we’ll find out soon enough.
When Charlie and I pull up to their house, Casey’s truck is already in the driveway. I can’t help the butterflies in my stomach at the thought of seeing him, and I feel like I can’t get out of the car fast enough.
Weird thing is, Casey and I have always been close, but adding in the sexy stuff is making me feel even more connected to him. I think about him when we’re not together. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been when we are together. And experiencing new things sexually has been mind-blowing.
I know he’s been wanting to give me time and take things slow, but I’m starting to run out of patience. Not that I’m not taking full advantage of what we have been doing, but I’m ready. I want to feel completely connected to him.
Charlie walks in ahead of me and shouts, “Honey, I’m home!”
Beck is sitting on the chair in the family room as we walk in the front door, so when she walks by him, he grabs her around the waist and pulls her into his lap. The kiss they share is slightly obscene, but also … kinda hot. They have that kind of electric chemistry that you can’t help but admire.
Casey comes from the hallway, so he must have been in his room. He’s wearing jeans and a white T-shirt. I’m not sure what it is about guys in white T-shirts, but he looks so freaking fine.
“Hey.” He lifts me in his arms when he reaches me, making me drop the bag in my hand with my clothes to change into for the party.
“Hello, Casey King.” I can’t help but giggle.
Even though we’ve moved into a different dynamic of our relationship, I don’t want anything about what we’ve had to change.
He kisses me hard, then lowers me back to the ground. “Hello, Noelle James.” Bending slightly, he kisses me again. “You need to change so we can go.” He nods to the bag next to my feet.
“Okay, okay. And we’re sure this is, like, a paint, black-light type of neon party and not a ’90s type of neon party?”
