SCORE (A Stepbrother Sports Romance) (6 page)

Blake

In danger of getting kicked off the football team and losing my scholarship, I was grateful to Alyssa for offering to study more with me. I hated the vulnerability of needing help. I was so used to being in control and being so needy and exposed went against my usual actions. She had already been so kind and helpful to me, but the more time I spent with her, the more addicted I became. I was so intoxicated by her beauty, her laugh, her smell… And she was so smart. She was all of these things, and she was also forbidden, which made her so much more irresistible.

I was relieved that Alyssa had agreed to help me study and wondered if she felt the same excitement I did about the excuse to be near each other. If I was going to save my scholarship and stay on the team, I would have to work hard and make good use of my study time. I had to focus, despite my anticipation about being with her. But first, working out seemed like a good solution to ease the pent-up tension that had left me feeling restless and angry.

In push-up after push-up, I lowered my body to the ground and back up. I was covered in sweat, and my muscles ached. I had been at the gym for a few hours, trying to work through all my frustrations. I stood up, breathing heavily, angry and frustrated. With a sigh, I walked to the locker room, hoping a shower would relieve some more stress.

I slept well that night and woke up refreshed and relaxed. It was the first good night’s sleep I’d had in a while. I got ready quickly and bounded downstairs. Alyssa sat at the table, already dressed and drinking a glass of orange juice. She looked up and smiled when I entered the room. I grabbed a piece of toast from the table and gave my mom a quick kiss goodbye.

Alyssa looked so incredibly cute. Her hair was pulled away from her face into a high ponytail, and she wore a short pink skirt that revealed her gorgeous legs. She caught me looking at her, and I said, “Do you want to carpool today since we’re staying late to study?”

Over the past few weeks, we had been taking our own cars to school because of our different schedules, but also because of the space we had deliberately put between us. She nodded and said, “Yeah, we can take my car.”

Jumping up from the table, she said a quick goodbye to our parents and grabbed her backpack, beaming at me. I followed her out to the car, and as we got in, the tension immediately raised a few notches and my chest tightened. She hummed lightly while driving, and I wondered if her good mood had anything to do with me.

I smiled, watching her, and she looked over at me with a small laugh. “What are you looking at?” she asked before returning her eyes to the road.

“Just wondering why you’re in such a good mood,” I responded with what I knew was a sly smile.

She laughed again, and I reveled in the light tinkling sound, thinking about how I could listen to it for hours. “I just think today is going to be a good day,” she replied, her voice light and airy.

“Me, too.” I felt as light and untroubled as she did. When we pulled up to the school, I got out of the car and waved, resisting a childish urge to skip to class.

I rushed through my classes, hot energy coursing through me as I walked down to practice. In the locker room, I greeted the other players and changed, my body like a roaring engine ready to take a run down the highway. As I headed out, a voice called out to me, “Yo, Blake!”

Matt, one of the football players, had yelled my name. “What’s up, dude?”

“Hey man, are you going to the after party for the game on Friday?”

“I don’t know. Finals are next week. I have to pass,” I said tentatively.

Matt groaned and said, “C’mon, dude! Don’t be lame.”

I let out a sigh, knowing he was probably right. What was the point of trying so hard to keep my quarterback position if I messed up my reputation? I nodded and said, “Totally. I’ll be there.”

“Sweet,” Matt answered, and in a more curious tone, he asked, “Hey, I see you with that Alyssa girl a lot. Are you guys hooking up or something?”

My face heated, and I automatically responded in a serious tone, “No.”

Matt looked taken aback by my tone and said, “Oh, sorry. I just see you guys together a lot and I assumed.”

I had been too quick to jump on the defense and adjusted my tone of voice. “No, it’s cool.” I shrugged and added, “She’s actually my stepsister.”

The term felt so foreign and wrong on my tongue. Alyssa was so much more than just a stepsister to me. A deep, plunging guilt pushed into my stomach as I realized just how blind I had been so far. Having to say that Alyssa was my stepsister out loud made our whole situation so much more real. It not only terrified me but also made me feel a deep sadness because it reinforced the thought that was always churning in the back of mind: the fact that she could never be mine.

Matt’s voice pulled me from my depressing reality, asking in a casual tone, “So do you know if she’s single?”

My muscles tensed, and my face hardened. “Why?” Matt blinked and took a step back, obviously confused by my behavior. I added quickly, “Uh…I mean, she is. I just was wondering why.”

Matt laughed awkwardly. “Well, you should bring her to the party. She seems cool.”

I let out a low breath and put on my best fake smile. “Yeah, sure, man. I’ll ask her.”

Matt jogged off towards the field for practice. I let out another sigh as I followed, annoyed at the envy and rage in my heart. I felt the need to protect Alyssa after what had happened with Brad. Part of me felt responsible, even though I knew it was an irrational feeling. I wanted so badly to protect her but hated the possessiveness that came over me. The whole situation was out of my control. All I knew was that I never wanted to see her hurt like that again.

I hoped practice would improve my mood. We ran a few plays, and my focus got better. The world whirled around me as I ran fast and hard down the field, pushing myself. I dodged the other players and performed every play with ease. By the time practice was over, I was a gloriously sweaty mess, and I headed to the showers, waving to Alyssa, who was waiting for me near the bleachers.

I took a quick shower and changed, noticing I was the first one to leave the locker room. I wondered if I was being too eager, but I couldn’t help myself. I was excited to spend time with her. I jogged over to Alyssa. It felt weird to be so exhilarated for studying, but being around her made anything seem exciting.

“How was practice?” she asked me as we walked away from the football field.

“Good, actually. I guess you were right about today,” I said, smiling down at her. We walked close, our arms brushing as we moved.

“I’m always right,” she told me playfully.

“Well, your day can’t go wrong with me around,” I said slyly, giving her a wink. She rolled her eyes, but the small smirk on her face indicated that I might be right. As we walked, I noticed we weren’t heading in the right direction for the library. “Where are we going?” I asked, interrupting the comfortable silence that had surrounded us.

“Oh…well, I was studying in the library during practice, and it’s full of kids cramming for finals, so I thought we could go somewhere quieter.”

My skin prickled at the thought of being completely alone with Alyssa. I pushed the thought away, reminding myself I had to focus on the schoolwork. Alyssa led me up the stairs of the main building. She pulled out a set of keys as we approached one of the many doors that lined the side of the long, empty hallway.

“I’m the assistant TA for this class, and I was able to get the keys so we could study in here,” she explained as she unlocked and opened the door. I raised my eyebrows, impressed.

We walked into the empty classroom, which looked more like a chemistry lab than an actual classroom, with two rows of oblong desks that each sat two people. Most of the tables had beakers and measuring cups. The table closest to the door was empty, and I watched as Alyssa set her stuff down, pulling out textbooks and binders full of neat, hand-written notes.

I smiled at the cute wrinkle on her face as she flipped through books. She looked up at me and said, “Well, are we going to study or what?”

I chuckled and tossed my backpack on the table, taking the seat next to her. I watched her as she talked, but I was so focused on her plump, pink lips moving that I didn’t hear her words.

“Hellooooo?” She dragged out the word as she waved a hand in front of my face. I laughed and knocked her hand aside, electricity jolting as her skin touched mine. I pulled my hand quickly away from hers. The few inches of our skin connecting was enough to send me reeling.

“Sorry.” I dragged in a breath and let out a low, wheezy laugh. “What were you saying?”

She blinked a few times before answering, apparently caught off-guard, then finally stuttered, “I was…uh, asking what you wanted to go over first?”

I let out a sigh and turned to my textbooks. I slid out a large, heavy green one labeled “Biology.” With a sigh, I tapped the cover and said, “This is probably my most difficult class right now.”

She nodded and pulled out the same book from her backpack, setting it on the table with a loud thud. I watched her carefully as she flipped delicately through the pages and pulled out one of her many binders to look through the notes.

“We’re not in the same class timeslot, but we have the same professor. We’ll have to take the same exam, and I have loads of notes on this subject,” Alyssa informed me. Her voice had an edge of excitement in it, as if she actually found joy in helping me.

We studied for almost an hour together, our bodies less than a foot apart, and I could feel her warm breath breeze by me as she spoke softly. By the end of the hour, I was anxious and antsy, the proximity between us almost unbearable. I couldn’t stop staring at the soft, bare skin on her neck, desperate to press my lips against her throat and taste it, sweet and supple. I shook my head and focused on the book in front of me.

Alyssa looked at me and said, “Do you want to take a break? You look a little distracted.”

I nodded and shot up from my chair, my muscles tense from being so near to her. She stared at me, semi-confused. I spoke quickly to reassure her. “Yeah, I just have to use the bathroom. I’ll be back.”

I left the classroom and let out a long, heavy sigh. Being in a different room than Alyssa meant I could finally breathe properly. I took a walk down the hallway and cleared my mind of her. I didn’t actually have to use the bathroom, so I headed down the empty hallway and leaned against a wall, taking another minute to collect myself.

My phone buzzed, and I pulled it out of my jeans pocket. Brittney had sent me a text message. I grimaced, annoyed, but clicked to open the message anyway. My eyes scanned the text on the screen quickly.
Hey, take me to the party on Friday??
It was followed by several smiley faces.

I almost clicked delete, but she would be a good distraction, so I texted her a reply saying that I would pick her up before the party. I headed back to the classroom with my phone clutched tightly in my hand. I opened the door quietly and watched Alyssa sitting gracefully at the desk, scrolling on her phone. Before she looked up, I noticed she had taken off her white sweater, leaving her in a tight, white camisole and her little pink skirt.

She looked up at me. “Feeling better?” I nodded, unable to take my eyes off her as I sat down and tossed my phone on the table without a thought. “Great,” she murmured, sliding her phone into her backpack. “Let’s get back to work, then.”

My eyes flicked towards her sweater, and I mumbled, “Were you warm?”

She looked at the sweater that she had folded neatly and placed near the edge of the table and nodded. “Oh…yeah, it’s weird. It’s, like, only forty degrees out, but I was really warm. I feel a little yucky.”

“Want to quit for tonight?” I asked. “I mean, if you feel bad, we can go home and study tomorrow.”

“No, I’m good,” she murmured, clearing her throat.

We worked until almost eight o’clock. The classroom was fairly dark at this point, but we worked diligently. Alyssa explained her notes to me, and she referenced a chart from the textbook. I leaned closer to see the small font printed in the book. We were only inches apart now, our bodies sideways in the chairs so that we were facing each other. I looked up from the book and scooted closer to Alyssa. Unable to refrain a moment longer, I placed my hands on her bare thighs just above her knee. Her skin was incredibly soft beneath my touch, and so warm that I didn’t want to stop touching her.

She looked at me with wild, shimmering blue eyes. “What are you doing?” she whispered, her voice anxious behind the breathy excitement.

“Breaking the rules,” I whispered with a smile, leaning towards her. Our lips touched, and I heard a relieved sigh escape her mouth, as if she, too, had been waiting for this moment.

My thumbs massaged small circles at the top of her thighs where my hands were clamped onto her legs. I pressed my lips roughly onto her soft, pouty ones. Long kisses were exchanged between us, each one as delectable as the last. My hands moved slowly up her leg as our kisses deepened. Our tongues flicked and slid against each other’s as we shared hot, open-mouthed kisses. I needed more of her, more of her skin, and I moved one hand up to her face, holding it firmly as I ripped my lips off hers to press kisses down her throat. My muscles tensed as she let out a soft coo, the sound making me want her more.