Page 10 of Hate the Game
I glared at the door. “I’m into ice play, asshole! Please, just get me some!”
“Since you said please.”
***Savannah***
It was another late night and another late shower. I was just drying off when I heard an annoyed grunt from the other side of the curtain. I knew who it wasn’t without having to look.
“There are a dozen other showers, Ryder. Go use one of them.” I didn’t have any faith that I’d ever get him to talk to me at all, much less on record, so I was done playing flirty idiot with him. “Do women find your silent, mysterious thing hot? Is that why you walk around like that?”
Of course there was no answer. I took my time drying off the rest of the way and then very carefully pulled on my robe and tied it just perfectly. I moved as slow as I could and smiled because I could feel it pissing Ryder off.
When I did step out of the shower finally Ryder was still standing there, his scowl extra fierce. I glared up at him and reached out to poke him in the bare chest. “You’re like fucking Michael Meyers, if Mikey was a mouthbreathing, knuckle dragging, jackass. This? What you’re doing? It’s weird. Standing outside my shower, breathing heavily like a pervert… I shouldwrite about that. Ryder Stone is a fucking creep who hovers outside of my shower and ruins my peace.”
He grunted at me. “It’s my shower.”
I put my hands on my hips. “No, it’s not.”
“Yes, it is.”
I rolled my eyes at him and stepped aside. “By all means, princess, have your special shower.”
He gripped the back of my neck when I tried to storm off and used it to pull me back to where I was. He hovered over me, gray eyes narrowed. “Why are you such a pain in the ass around me?”
I pretended to be shocked. “You strung together a whole sentence! Great job!”
His hand was big enough that he could hold the back of my neck and reach his thumb out to press it against the bottom of my chin until I lifted my face to his. “Don’t come in here this late again. This is my time.”
“Sounds like a personal challenge to me.” I pulled away from him and smacked his hand when he reached for me again. “Unless, and until, you get some manners, keep your hands to yourself.”
“I mean it. Use the shower some other time.”
I rolled my eyes and flipped him off before leaving. Another idea popped into my head, though, and having been raised with three brothers, I couldn’t stop myself from acting on it. I put my stuff back in my room and grabbed a cold bottle of water from my mini fridge. From my experience with my brothers, I knew for a fact that I was starting a battle that I’d most likely lose. I just couldn’t help myself after hearing Ryder try to boss me around about my shower time.
I snuck back into the bathroom and into the shower next to the one Ryder was in. I held my breath and stood on my tiptoes so I could reach over the top of the stall. Deciding it was too late to back out, I thrust the bottle over the stall and squeezed it so it’dspray out on him. His shocked shout made me giggle but I didn’t stay around to watch the rest of the show. I booked it out of there and locked myself in my bedroom, heart racing. I sat on the edge of my bed, waiting nervously to see if he’d bang on my door to chew me out.
When a small slip of paper slid under my door I hurried over and grabbed it. It was just a phone number in some of the worst handwriting I’d ever seen. Knowing that it had to be Ryder’s filled me with a buzz. Even if I’d wanted to play it cool, I couldn’t. I grabbed my phone and texted him immediately.
S: How was your shower?
R: You don’t have a lot of self-preservation skills, do you?
S: I’m not the one who let someone sneak up on me in the shower. Didn’t all your years spent on military bases teach you anything, soldier boy?
R: You could’ve used some time on a base, brat. It’s pretty clear that no one ever disciplined you.
My brain tried to take that message and turn it dirty. The idea of Ryder doling out spankings wasn’t a hard one to conjure up. The guy was so intense that he’d probably love to spank someone. I stretched out on my bed and replied to him.
S: Are you offering, soldier boy? No matter, I’m not taking discipline lessons from a guy who wasn’t disciplined enough to see that open sack last week.
R: I’m not offering. I’m telling. Keep your cold water to yourself unless you want to end up embarrassed with a hot ass.
S: Are you threatening tospankme?!
R: Come on, Savannah. You play stupid pretty well but I know you’re smart enough to not have to ask me that question. I’ve made myself clear.
I sat up and stared at my door. My core pulsed between my thighs, dampening and aching when it had no right to.
S: Don’t act like you know anything about me, Ryder. I’m not playing anything. Also, you shouldn’t assume you’d ever be able to get control enough to spank me. I was raised with three brothers and I learned pretty early on how to fight dirty. Come after me and you might be the one with a stinging ass.
