Page 68 of Next Level Up
“Am not. You just hate being reminded that you’re human.”
I roll into him, tucking my face into his chest, letting the steady beat of his heart slow mine down. “I don’t want to screw this up.”
“You won’t, and even if you did, we’d still be here.”
21
Tate
The smell of bacon and Carter humming some indie shit in the kitchen is what wakes me up, followed by Haven’s laugh filtering down the hall. Like clockwork, I’m hungry. Not for breakfast, forher.
The way she’s been walking around all soft in all of our oversized hoodies. And she keeps letting Carter baby her after matches.
She’s asking for trouble, so I’m going to give it to her. I open Twitter and type one line.
nooneghost: throat or thighs first. don’t care. i’m starving.
I hit send. Drop my phone on the couch and wait. The replies come fast, it’s predictable chaos.
[@fragqueen666]: SIR
[@pixelslut]: girl RUN
[@whoisnooneghost]: do it thighs first she deserves the warm up
I scroll for a second and then switch over to DMs.
me: if you wear that hoodie to stream again i’ll bend you over the chair and make sure you couldn’t finish a single round.
I close the app.
I know she’s seen it because thirty seconds after the tweet goes live, I hear her sputter-laugh from the kitchen, followed by a choked, “Oh my god, Tate —”
“What did he do?”
She doesn’t answer Carter but walks back toward the living room holding her phone, that little grin fighting her lips tells me she’sloving it, even if she’s pretending she’s not.
I grin when I see my own tweet staring back at me. ““You’re welcome.”
“That’s how we’re announcing things hmm?”
“You liked it.”
She huffs, trying so hard to look scandalized. “My chat isalreadyout of pocket. This is going to break them.”
“They should thank me.”
She’s blushing when she turns away, heading back to the kitchen. I watch her hips sway on purpose, her messy braid falling over her shoulder like sheknowsshe’s baiting me.
She is, which is why I know she hasn’t checked her DMs yet.Yet.
A minute later—
“Tate…”
“Yeah, pretty?”
I hear Carter’s footsteps now, coming from the kitchen. “What the hell did you just—”
