Page 94 of The Cheerleader is Off Limits

“He won’t. Mack isn’t like that.”

“I wish you could take me,” I tell him.

“Me too.”

I turn toward him to lie on my side and rest my cheek against my hands. “Are you worried about your niece knowing?”

“No… she’ll keep my secret for me.”

“So… we’re doing this?”

“We’re doing this.” He nods. “But we need some concrete ground rules.”

Having a secret boyfriend was hot.

Having a secret boyfriend that you saw every day and sometimes interacted with in mixed company was scary as helland also hot as fuck.

One of the concrete rules was no messing around on school property. We had been good about it, but it had made us desperate for each other on the nights I snuck over.

Because having a secret boyfriend and keeping it from your best friend slash cousin you also lived with? Kind of impossible.

So I’d given Delaney some vague details that the guy from the plane and I were seeing each other again, so she wouldn’t be confused about where I was all the time. She was also spending a lot of time with Cole, so for now, she wasn’t on my case about too much.

Mack wasn’t mad about me leaving the party either, once I’d explained that I was very drunk.

He seemed to respect my boundaries, understood that I only wanted to be friends, and still wanted to go to homecoming together. If he truly understood that I only wanted to be friends, then I was, too, because River was right. I only had one chance to do all the high school things, and I wanted to do them right.

And unfortunately, I couldn’t do those things with River.

“Baby…” I hear River’s voice in my ear while I sit on his couch studying, and then I feel his lips on my neck and trailing down my shoulder. “You’re fucking your biology teacher. Why are you studying?” he asks before pulling the textbook from my lap and pulling me into his.

I didn’t stay over at his house every night, but this was one of the nights I did but it was also a school night, so I had some homework to do. My aunt and uncle were out of town all week, so I’ve been here a few times while Delaney has been having Cole over so she’s not alone.

“I should still know the information, River,” I respond sarcastically.

“Why? You think I’m not going to give you an A regardless?”

“Well, say this all goes to shit…” I put my hands up before he interjects. “Say it does, don’t you want to be able to prove that I actually know the material and you weren’t just giving me an A? That you weren’t just passing me when clearly the answers were wrong?”

“I could just be giving you answers to the test.”

“If I know the material, I won’t need you to do that.” I tap his nose. “I’m almost done, just give me a little.”

“You know, you’re already my favorite. You don’t need to be such a teacher’s pet.” He pulls me harder against his dick, and I grind down in response.

“Fuck off.” I chuckle before pressing my lips to his.

CHAPTER 22

SLOANE

The days turned into weeks, then two, and then it was the weekend of homecoming. In the midst of him “not being jealous,” River somehow decided it would be a good idea to volunteer to chaperone the dance in the school’s gymnasium. I didn’t care. I liked the idea of him getting to see me in my dress and maybe some spicy eye contact while I danced. But I was sure that River was going to be fighting his jealousy all night. I wasn’t planning to be dancing with Mack all night, but I’m sure I would be a little bit, and I think that might irritate my new boyfriend.

I stepped through the double doors of the gym and immediately felt like I'd walked into a completely different space. The harsh fluorescent lights had been turned off, and hanging from them were strings of golden fairy lights, draped across the ceiling in sweeping arches that cast a warm glow over the room. The polished wood floor was littered with silver confetti that twinkled from the lights above. The basketball hoops had been raised to face upward, and the scoreboard was covered with streamers.

Music from the DJ in the corner blared through the room, not loud enough to drown out conversations, but enough to fill the space, mixing with the laughter and chatter of the studentbody. Groups of students gathered around the edges of the dance floor or at tables covered in shimmery tablecloths placed throughout the gym, some taking selfies and posting to social media, others just talking.

On the far side of the room, a large arch of gold, silver, and black balloons framed the entrance to a photo area, where a line of students waited to get their picture taken with their date or friends.