Because of you (19 page)

“
I don’t have any more copies, I only had the original. Now, leave me alone, I don’t ever want to see you again!” I turn around, I want to get away from him as fast as possible.

“
We’ll see each other again soon, sweetheart,” I hear him call behind me, and I close my eyes, hoping that isn’t true.

Ryder

We are gathered in the locker room, waiting for one of the most important games of this season. The morning practice went well, so we don’t expect any major problems. Except for Ethan, of course. When he’s around, trouble always follows. I put on my other running shoe and
d
ouble knot it, so it won’t come undone during the game.

“
Guys, are we ready to kick their asses?” Coach Collins yells as he steps into the locker room. A loud round of cheers, whistles and ‘let’s smash those bastards in’ erupts in the room, as we form a circle in the middle of the locker room to bump our fists. We raise them high in the air, shouting ‘
Go, Tigers!’”

The first half is in full swing, it is the second quarter and nobody is injured yet. We’re
two points behind
, but we’ll catch up. Jackson passes the ball and I drive
across the middle, then slow
down
. I signal my guys to
get
open so I can pass the ball. Marc runs past me, so I pass it to him
and set a screen for him
, so Mark
frees himself from his defender.
Dribbling to the basket he scores and a personal foul on him is also called. We pat his ass enthusiastically and wait for his free throw. We tensely stand in our places as the referee passes Marc the ball. He bounces the ball twice and
shoots,
but he misses. Ethan laughs mockingly and bumps into his shoulder on purpose
as he runs past him
. Marc pushes him away, and I jump between them, dragging him away, so he doesn’t get charged with technical foul.

“
He’s not worth it, man, let’s kick his ass on the court.” He nods, his lips form in a straight line, his eyes trained on Ethan.

“
Fuck, I hate this guy. He really isn’t worth it, let’s go kick some asses!” We both run to our positions and the game continues. Noah has the ball now, but two players are blocking him. I use this opportunity to run past and Noah passes me the ball under the opponent player’s legs and I successfully catch it. I run to the basket, dribble past a Wolf defender that ran over to me to try to block me. I jump and the crowd goes wild as I score a two-pointer.

“
Yes!” I say enthusiastically, high-fiving my teammates. The game goes on and Jayden manages to score some difficult
shots
. He misse
s
the last one, so I jump and
grab the rebound.
I run around the opponents and just as I want to make my way to the basket, Ethan crashes into me hard, so I fall to the floor. I immediately hear the referee’s whistle, and from the corner of my eye I see Aaliyah, standing up, hands over her mouth. She probably got scared when I fell. I wink at her to make her feel better, before I pick myself off the floor and notice she’s relieved when she sees I’m not hurt. I give Ethan an ugly look and
walk
past him. I don’t want to waste my time on him. When the first half is finally over, the scoreboard shows we have a three point lead. We gather around the Coach, who gives us some instructions. Kittens take over the middle of the court again and entertain the crowd.

“
Knight, Andrews, Alvarez, Brown and Brown, you’re playing in the third quarter.” He called the five of us who usually open the game: me, Noah, whose last name is Andrews, Marc Alvarez and
the
twins Jayden and Jarrod. “I expect a good game, like until now, but be more aggressive,
get
open more, so your teammates can pass you the ball.” He draws a few more
plays
on his board and wishes us luck.

Aaliyah

Ugh, it’s so hard to watch how Ethan is constantly picking on Ryder. I’m so glad everything was okay earlier, when he smashed into Ryder,
and
that he wasn’t hurt. My heart is beating hard, only five minutes
until
the end of the game. Wolves have the ball in their possession and they took a
one point lead
. Ethan passes the ball to one of his teammates, who dribbles past Noah and scores
.
Tigers’ fans start booing
when the opposing team have the ball
, trying to encourage the players not to lose hope. Addison is holding my hand tightly and we have our fingers crossed in hopes of Tigers winning the game. Nikki, who is sitting on the other side of me, is also nervous. The referee just called a personal foul against Jayden, so he gets to throw two free throws. He scores both. Only a minute left, and Wolves are still in the lead by one point, and the ball is in their possession. I can’t sit down from all the excitement and nerves, so I stand and loudly cheer for our Tigers. Wolves have managed to get through the defense and we’re slowly losing hope, because there’s only thirty seconds left. Ryder suddenly runs across the middle and surprises the opponent, when he steals the ball. As fast as he can, he runs toward the basket, and since there isn’t enough time to get under the basket, he stops in front of the three-point line, jumps and shoots. We all take a deep breath as we watch the ball fly through the air. There is absolute silence in the gymnasium as we’re all waiting to see where the ball will land.

“
Yeeeees!” we scream unanimously as the ball lands in the basket in the last second, which means we have won. Tigers are jumping around the court, and lift Ryder in the air. I proudly watch how happy he is to have beaten the opponents. He’s waving his hands high in the air and screaming with happiness. Our gazes meet, and he blows me a kiss. I wave back at him, my heart still beating hard from all the excitement.

Finally, the shouting and cheering has calmed down and Tigers are sitting on a bench, drinking and chatting enthusiastically. Addison, Nikki and I are talking about what a thrilling game it was, when Addison softly nudges me and points to Ryder. Paris is standing next to him, hanging all over him. She’s running her hand down his hand and smiling at him seductively. Her gaze falls on me, and she licks her lips, then
she
hugs him and kisses his cheek.

“
Ugh, I hate her. Why is she still hitting on him, she knows we’re together.” Shaking my head, I run my fingers through my long hair.

“
Don’t worry, Ryder is not interested in her anymore. You can trust him—he’s completely devoted to you. He would never cheat on you, you mean too much to him.” Unconvinced, I wrap my hands around my hips and watch him.

“
Oh, I hope you’re right. Paris can be persuasive.”

“Hey, baby,” I hear, then Ryder’s lips are on my neck as he approaches me from behind. I can’t hide the smile that always appears when he’s with me. I turn around, wrap my hands around his neck and give him a long and passionate kiss. “Mmm, what did I do to deserve this? Not that I mind, but I’d like to know, so I can do it again.” He winks and I nudge him in the ribs with my elbow.

“
No reason, you played well, so you deserve a reward.” He grabs me by the hips again and presses me to him tightly. He whispers in my ear.

“
A reward, huh? I have something else in mind. Right now, I’m picturing you in my bed, wrapped only in a sheet that I rip off you, and you’re lying in front of me, naked, waiting for me to devour you. Mmm, perfect.”

“
All that can be arranged,” I wink and watch his pupils dilate and his eyes turn from playful to lustful.

“
Hey, everybody, we’re leaving, have fun.” All I can manage is to smile at them and wave, giddy at the thought of being alone with Ryder.

~ * ~

“Do you want to go to the masked ball with me?” he says, drawing circles with his fingers on my naked stomach. I look at him in thought and then turn to him.

“
Hmm,
is that a
charity event for all the basketball playe
rs, which
the universities
organize?
”

“
Mm-hum,” he responds, his attention still focused on my body. I grab the blankets and pull them over my breasts, so he`ll look me in the eyes.

“
Hey, why did you do that, I was busy.” He raises an eyebrow at me.

“
When is the ball again?” I didn’t pay attention before, because I didn’t intend to go.

“
In two days.”

“
What? How can I find a mask in two days? And I should buy a dress, I don’t have any appropriate ones for such a big event. I don’t know, Ryder, at this moment I can’t affor-.” He puts two fingers on my lips.

“
Don’t worry about
that
, everything has been taken care of. Tomorrow at three, you have an appointment with Loren, where you can choose whichever dress you want. Just be careful—it has to be black or white, because it’s a black & white event. My treat.” I shake my head furiously. “I have something else for you.” He gets out of bed and while he’s digging through his pockets, I’m admiring his perfect body. His wide back and tight butt. I lick my lips in appreciation when he joins me on the bed again. “This is for you, I want you to wear it at the ball.” I’m looking at a medium-size blue box.

“
What is it?” I ask him, surprised.

“
Open it, I hope you like it.” I take a deep breath and open it. Putting a hand over my heart, I am astonished by what I see. My fingers touch a shiny bracelet he bought me. It is made of white gold and it has a heart clasp. Two hearts, combined into one. The smaller heart is attached to the big one and in the middle there is a beautiful diamond. “Thank you, but I can’t accept it. You know I don’t need anything from you.” I shove it back in his hands. He grabs me by the shoulders and turns us, so I’m lying on my back and he’s on top of me. He puts my hands over my head and starts kissing my neck.

“
I want you to go with me and I want you to have everything your heart desires. Everything is already arranged.”

“
But—,” this time his lips on mine cut me off.

“
I don’t want to hear it—
just need to hear
your cries of pleasure when you come.”

“
Oh, yes,” I moan as I feel his lips on my breast.

“Can I ask you something?” I say when we’re still lying in bed, tired from our passionate lovemaking.

“
Of course, anything,” he responds.

“
Why did you think I was after your money? That I only hung out with Addison because of your money?” His lips form a straight line and he sighs.

“
Every girl I was with before you, turned out to be only interested in my money—well, except for Paris. She is rich, so it was easier to get involved with her. But I wasn’t exactly in love with any of them, so it didn’t bother me that much. But before Paris I dated this girl, Bonnie. I was really in love with her and I gave her everything she desired.” I feel a twinge of jealousy at his confession of love, but I don’t let him see it because I want to hear the rest of the story. “So, one day she met some movie star, I think he was about ten years her senior, and obviously he had more to offer, a bigger influence, I guess, so she left me for him. The break-up was very painful for me, and I promised to myself I will never let this happen again. She broke my heart. That’s why it was so easy to be with Paris. I guess I sometimes felt something more for her as friendship, but it definitely wasn’t love.” He puts his hand on my cheek and kisses me gently. “I knew, I knew in my heart that you were nothing like that, but my subconscious didn’t want me to get burned again. I am still sorry for the way I treated you.”

“
It’s okay, I understand your behavior better now. I’d probably react the same way if I were you. Don’t worry about it.” With a kiss I prove to him the past is already forgotten and that the present is what we have to be focused on. “Tell me about your parents. Addison mentioned they are divorced?”

“
Yes, it’s been a long time since the divorce, around seven years. They were together only four months before they got married in Vegas. They met at a conference. He was just taking over my grandfather’s business since grandfather was retiring, and she was a hostess there. They said it was love at first sight.” He rolls his eyes, grimacing. “Love at first sight, yeah right. My mom is like most women—she was attracted to his money. But still, she’s my mother, and she loves me. I’m actually surprised by the fact they stayed together so long. In the end, she got a nice sum of money out of their marriage. They both got married again and
, as far as I know,
they’re both happy and get along even better than before.” He shrugs. “We’re a family of wackos.” He kisses me.