Page 39 of No Easy Catch
She what…?“Do you want the lights off?”
She reached for a sheet to cover her chest and turned away from me. “No. Well, yeah, but it’s not that. It’s uh…god, this is embarrassing.”
Never in my life had I been in this situation. My own insecurities rushed to the front of my mind. Was I not pleasing her enough or was I misreading her reactions? But small pieces of what she shared with me clicked together. “You’ve hooked up with a lot of guys, right?”
“Yes…as you have with plenty of girls.” This time there was fire in her voice and I was glad to hear it.
“Not judging you, just trying to figure out what’s going through your head. Why pull back with me?”
“Because, Jeff.” She huffed and gave me a wounded look, like she accepted defeat and was about to surrender. “It was easier to sleep with guys who I didn’t know, wouldn’t see again, and with the alcohol flowing to ease the sting if they turned me down. The lights were always off to hide the unattractive stuff and with you…so open and vocal, I’m out of my element.”
I opened my mouth to respond but nothing came out. She must’ve taken that as an insult and moved from the bed to grabher sweatshirt and put it on in a rush. “I’m pathetic, I know. You now know almost all my bad parts. Great. Just… “ She rubbed her hands over her face and let her arms fall to the side. “Can you leave or at least say something?”
“We can go slow.” I moved so my legs hung over the side of her bed. “Because there is no way I’m going to be able to forget this.”
Her mouth dropped open. “You’re wanting to…hook up again?”
“Yes.” I stood and put my hands on her shoulders. Her gaze dropped to the bulge in my jeans, but she averted her attention to my face when I said, “We both have a lot going on right now—my final season and you and your final project. Throw in this scandal and we essentially have no time. I’m attracted to you and I’m pretty sure you’re into me if I was reading your body right.” I stopped and waited for her blush and smiled when it appeared. “Neither of us do relationships, hm? I see the perfect solution.”
“Repeated hook-ups? You and me?”
“Yes, Amber.” I cupped her chin and tilted her face toward me. “If it makes you feel better, this is new for me, too.” I pressed a quick kiss on her lips and gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “Until we finish this investigation, we can work togetherandhave some fun.”
“Naked fun?”
“Now you’re getting it.” I didn’t want to leave and go back to an empty house with my dick still throbbing in my pants, but from everything I knew about Amber, she needed some space. That was something I could do for her. “Want to meet up tomorrow at my place after classes to come up with a plan for next steps? You can let me know if you’re in.”
She thought about it for a couple of seconds before nodding. She wore no makeup yet had perfectly clear and soft skin. I rubbed my thumbs over her always blushing cheeks and laughedat myself.When have I ever thought about how soft a girl’s face was before? How about never.I forced myself to focus and tilted my head. “I need a verbal answer, Henderson.”
The use of her last name made her smile. “Yes. I’ll come over tomorrow.”
“Can’t wait.” I dropped my hands and found my shirt. It wasn’t until I was about to walk out of the door that I remembered what I shared with her. While I trusted her, it was still difficult for me to remember she wasn’t going to sell me out. “What I told you tonight…about the future, no one else knows.”
“Thank you for sharing it with me. It’ll stay here.”
“I know.” I gave her another smile and found myself stupidly excited about what tomorrow would bring. “See you later then.”
The next day,my phone buzzed in my hand on the walk back from my final class and when I glanced down, I expected to see something from Amber.If she’s backing out, I swear I’ll lose my mind.Instead, I froze in place.
UNKNOWN:Let it go. Stop asking questions.
A dull ringingbegan in my ears, like someone had hit Mute on a high-frequency TV, and all my blood rushed to my head.Holy shit. Shit. Someone knows.My neck tingled and I whipped my gaze around the neighborhood. Was I going to find someone staring at me with binoculars? No. But it felt like someone had eyes on me and it creeped me the hell out. Who had access to my number?A lot of chicks…any one of them could’ve sold you out.
“Dude, what the fuck?” Aaron yelled from twenty steps ahead of me. “Why did you stop?”
“Sorry,” I mumbled and shoved my phone in my pocket. “Read something weird.”
“Did you see the headline about the student busted for thousands of dollars’ worth of drugs in their dorm? They raided the old building on the south quad yesterday. One of the freshmen on the team lived next to him.”
“That’s crazy.” I tried to act normal, and not like a bounty was on my head. Aaron gave me a weird look and I caught up to him for the final block. He was insightful at reading people and if I didn’t chill the fuck out, he’d start asking questions I didn’t want to answer. “Drugs, you said?”
“Yeah, like hard-core shit.” He kicked a rock from the middle of the sidewalk and it bounced into someone’s yard. “Sampson said he’s banned from his dorm for a couple nights until they search the walls between their rooms. How wild is that?”
“It has to be making the news, right?”
“Probably. Our school doesn’t have scandalous shit like that happen. Just cowardly social media posts accusing athletes of being drug-addicted whores,” he said bitterly, referencing the summer before his junior year.
“Don’t be bitter. You and Greta got together because of that and you were a real piece of shit before her.”
