Page 163 of Branded
Not me.
Anyway, it was a lot of equipment, but all of it was necessary.
I liked my body in working order, and I, most especially, liked my cock where and how it was. Not that I’d had much use for it lately.
But…those boots.
That nightgown.
Those red lips.
It had gotten a lot of use the night before. Me and my hand and jerking it till I felt raw.
“Move your ass, Gomez,” Smitty boomed across the room, making me jerk something else (this being my head…well, the upper one, anyway).
“I’m ready, dumbass,” I yelled back.
“Are you?” A brow that hinted my friend knew where my head was…and where it had been since I’d first stopped Beth from cracking her head on the floor of CeCe’s.
I braced, readied myself for the shit-giving. Because Smitty had gossip and Smitty was a sieve and I was going to catch it…any second now.
“I expect you to get on the fucking scoresheet tonight for a change,” Smitty boomed instead.
Asshole.
And a liar.
Because I had been on the scoresheet a lot that season.
I was in the top three leading scorers, had been there all year.
But I also wasn’t going to cower under the force of the Smitty Sieve, wasn’t going to give an inch when I knew my teammate would take a mile. Which was why I launched my glove at Smitty, grinning when I beaned him right in the head.
Smitty, who wasn’t expecting it and had turned away, squealed like a little bitch.
The room exploded with laughter.
“Motherfucker!” Smitty boomed, reaching for the glove.
Cas saved me, bending and scooping up the glove before Smitty could reach it, tossing it—nicely—back to me.
“Thanks, buddy,” I called.
“No, thank you,” Cas called back. “Someone’s gotta shut him up.”
Smitty glared.
The guys busted up again.
Then Smitty smirked, shook his head. “Yeah,” he said. “You want to shut me up, don’t you?”
Okay, so perhaps taunting the beast hadn’t been a good idea, even if I was accepting that my interest in Beth would be a locker room topic. Smitty’s question was ominous, and it sent a curl of fear coiling through my belly.
Fuck.
I got where this was going, and I knew it was going to happen. But still, I really didn’t want to go there, didn’t want the gossip train barreling down on me.
It would come.
