Page 47 of Fair Catch
I smiled with the joke, but Zeke’s face was anything but humorous. In fact, I was pretty sure I could fry an egg on his neck, or use the steam rolling out of his nose to cook noodles.
“We need to make this quick,” Holden said, gripping the ball in his hands as we all gathered around him. “No foul play. Anything that could be called a P.I. in a game will be called one here. That means no holding onto clothing, no wrapping each other up, no shoving the other down or off the ball. Play clean.”
He aimed that warning mostly at Kyle, who had a vicious smirk on his face as he swung his arms back and forth.
“You’ll both run routes — starting on either side of me. I’ll throw it in a neutral zone where you’ll both have to work for it. I’ll call the points when the ball is on the way down. Got it?”
Kyle and I nodded, and then we lined up on opposite sides of Holden in lunge positions, chest lowered, legs bent and ready to explode.
Zeke stood off to my left, elbow balanced on his opposite forearm as he all but chewed his thumbnail off.
I caught his gaze and gave him a wink, just like he did to me that first game.
And then, Holden clapped the side of the ball and yelled, “Hike!”
I took off straight down the field, cutting left and turning back toward Holden just in time to see him throw the ball high in the air.
“One hundred!” he called out, and it was right in the middle of where Kyle and I had ended up.
We both sprinted toward it, and I extended my hands for the catch just as Kyle jumped up high in front of me and snagged the ball before it had the chance to reach me.
Some of the guys cheered, others booed, and Kyle turned to me with that damn grin of his as he tucked the ball under his arm and we both jogged back to repeat.
“I can’t wait to find out if your pussy is as tight as the rest of that little bod,” he murmured under his breath, eyes roaming down the length of me.
Fire burned my throat, along with the urge to knee him right in the balls, but I knew he was just trying to get under my skin.
So, I shot back, “And I can’t wait for all of Instagram to see your baby pencil dick.”
I smiled sweetly, lining up on the other side of Holden without so much as a glance at Zeke while Kyle scoffed and waved me off.
A minute to catch our breath, and then we were off again.
This time, I swung out wide, turning back in after I heard the number called and hoping I could beat Kyle to the end of the arc.
“Two-fifty!” Holden called, and Kyle and I were both mid-sprint, our eyes on the ball.
It was short, and I dove, hoping like hell I’d catch it before it hit the ground.
But again, I didn’t get the chance.
Kyle was so tall, so explosive that he somehow managed to get underneath it well before it was even close to the ground.
He caught it effortlessly.
“Woo! Let’s go, baby!” He beat on his chest, tossing the ball back to Holden before helping me up off the ground without me wanting him to. He smacked my ass, jogging backward out of the way before I could smack him across the face for doing it. “That’s three-fifty, Novo. In case you lost count.”
I cracked my neck, breathing through the frustration threatening to take hold of me. When I lined up again, Holden caught the crook of my arm.
“We can stop this now. We’ll all have your back if you want to pull out.”
I shrugged him off. “I’ve got this.”
He swallowed, jaw tight like he wanted to argue with me, but thankfully he stepped back in line and trusted me.
That, or he gave up.
Either way was better for my focus.
Holden gave me a sideways glance, one laced with the same concern Zeke had shown. I just gave him a determined look of my own before I set my eyes down the field, fingers tingling at my sides as I crouched down.
Holden’s voice was a little weaker when he said, “Hike!”
I changed up my strategy, following right on Kyle’s heels. I was faster than he was, though he towered over me, and I stuck on him like a safety as we ran.
We both turned just in time for Holden to yell, “One-fifty!”
“Here, baby,” I husked, rubbing my ass against Kyle’s crotch as I slightly pushed into him. “A little taste of what you could have.”
I rolled my hips then, eliciting a groan from him as his hands came to frame my waist. Then, with his guard down, I nudged him back with my ass, launched up, and picked the ball before he had the chance to recover.
