Page 35 of Scoreless Nights

“You should know.” He leaned over the table, pleasantries forgotten.

Tripp stood up and pushed us away from each other, thinking we were close to a fight. We weren’t, because I wasn’t sticking around for one.

“I gotta go,” I told Tripp. “You two have fun.”

Tripp didn’t even question me. He knew I wasn’t gone long enough to fuck that girl, and he knew why. After the way I acted on the field, he knew exactly why I had to get out of there. So he nodded, and then tilted his head toward the door.

“See you at practice.”

“Yep,” I nodded and walked out.

Tripp and I had a car service drop us off, but I chose to walk the two miles home. The sidewalk ran all the way down next to the ocean—a route I took often—and it always relaxed me.

When I walked through the door, I was almost back to my normal self. Then Lily walked out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel and I had to hold onto the counter to keep my knees from letting me down.

“Fuck, Lil,” I groaned.

She didn’t see me, and she wasn’t expecting me, which was made obvious by her scream hitting decibels that would have made the Air Force jealous. Without thinking of what I was doing, I ran to her and put my hands on her shoulders.

“Hey, it's okay.Cálmate, Lil.” I pulled her against me and wrapped my arms around her, waiting for her to realize it was okay.

“You have to stop coming in so late,” she cried. “You’re scaring the shit out of me.”

That was the first time I ever heard her use a swear word, and only because she couldn’t see me, I smiled, enjoying the odd way it rolled off her tongue. My hand pressed gently to the back of her head, my fingers tangling in her wet hair. Her mouth was against my shoulder and I could feel the warmth of her breaths as she began to calm down.

“Shhh,” I added, wanting to soothe her.“Lo siento.”

“Actually,” she pushed at my chest. “It's not that late. Why are you here?”

She was trying to back away, but I kept hold of her arms. The towel was threatening to drop, so she held it up tight and narrowed her eyes at me, waiting for my answer.

“I live here.”

“I saw you go into that bar a few blocks down a few hours ago. Shouldn't you be getting lucky, or drinking too much?”

“You saw me?”

“Angel and I were at Ignite. We saw you and Tripp crossing the street to get there. You wrapped your arm around some girl, and I assumed I’d be alone for most of the night, and then handcuffed to you sometime after two in the morning.”

Profanity and humor? Mix that with her earlier wit and charm and I wasn’t going to be able to resist her too much longer. She was speaking my language, and in a wet towel, making my dick take notice.

“I don’t think my nights will be the same while you're here.” I was admitting that to both her and myself.

“What didIdo?”

“The same thing you’ve always done.”

“I haven’t—” She cut herself off, remembering that she was in a towel and my hands were still on her. She backed up further making my hands fall, then just to fuck with her, my eyes went down her body and back up to her face. “I better get dressed.”

“Hey wait. You gonna tell me how you ended up at my game?”

“Wasn’t it obvious? Apparently my friends are friends with your cousin.” She sighed, then turned around and headed back into the hall. “Let me get dressed.”

She was going to come back because the conversation wasn’t over, so while she changed, I decided to do the same. Then I poured two glasses of wine and took them to the balcony to wait. It was almost midnight, and the way the moon shone over the ocean was intoxicating. The wind blew at my t shirt and shorts, my hair was wild, and as I leaned on the railing and looked down the sidewalk I had just walked down to get home, I felt content and peaceful. Like I was exactly where I should have been.

ChapterNineteen

Lily

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