Inside, it’s a lot like I would have imagined, only it’s much larger. They really do treat their athletes like royalty here at Shadow River. To the left, there’s a long wide hallway with what looks like offices or classrooms on either side. Then to the right, there’s a standard locker room. I walk inside, as if my feet already know where they’re going. The room with lockers is massive, and I can still smell the scent of body wash and shampoo in the air. The cleaning staff must use some sort of miracle disinfectant because it doesn’t smell like feet and sweaty armpits in here like it does in most guys’ locker rooms.
I walk past row after row of lockers and benches without seeing much of anything. It’s so quiet that when I hear a voice, it startles me. It’s clearly Hawk’s side of a phone conversation. “No, Mom. I don’t know. Yeah, I’d like it if you could come to a game.” There’s a pause. “Okay. Yep. I can get you the schedule.” Another pause. “Okay. Yeah. Uh huh. Love you, too. Bye.”
Stepping from behind the row of lockers, I pause to admire the pure athletic perfection before me. Hawk’s hair is still damp, and he’s walking around in a pair of athletic shorts and slide-on sandals with the Shadow River Royals mascot emblazoned on the thick strap. His bare torso is carved with dips and ridges too numerous to count. My gaze follows the cut V-lines of his abs straight down to where they disappear into his low-slung shorts and my mouth goes bone dry.
“Lux. What are you doing here?” His eyes wander over me, setting off sparks under my skin wherever they land. He cocks his head to the side, questioning.
“I—” My stomach flips upside down. “Um.” I close my eyes, my tongue darting out to wet my lips. “I don’t know.”
Clearly surprised by my appearance, he slides his thumb over his lower lip. I know he must be wondering what the fuck is going on. But I’m distracted, watching his thumb move. He’s making me want to bite that plush lip again.Only this time, nicely. Or maybe not…
Just like when I found myself outside the stadium without really knowing where I was going, my feet take me toward him. Or maybe it’s me commanding them from a place way back in my subconscious. Either way, I stop right in front of him, plant each of my hands on his shoulders, and tug him down to me.Show him what you feel, Lux.My hands slide to the back of his neck, and I close the distance between us. I sigh into the kiss, relief pouring through me when he doesn’t push me away or ask me what the fuck I’m doing. I couldn’t answer that second question if my life depended on it. I suck his bottom lip into my mouth, flicking over the spot where I bit him before.
He groans and lifts me into his arms, and I wind my legs tightly around his waist. His hands slide up the underside of my thighs until he grips two handfuls of my ass to support me.
My mouth immediately finds his again, the rush of desire that snakes through me so potent and heady, I don’t want to do anything but feel—his hands on me, his warm body close to mine, and his tongue and mine tangling together with an urgency I’ve felt with no one else before.
Breathing hard, he tears his mouth from mine. “What are we doing?”
My gaze locks with his as I stare at him from under hooded, hungry eyes. I scrape my teeth over my lower lip and shake my head. I hold him more tightly to me, my mouth latching onto his again, and delve deep with my tongue. With my kiss, I try to communicate all the things I can’t verbalize.
I don’t know if he understands or not, but he steps over one of the benches between the lockers and straddles it as he sits down. I can’t get enough of the way he kisses me. And then his hand is between us, finding its way under the sundress, tugging the crotch of my panties to the side. His fingers slide through the slickness between my thighs, coating them with my arousal before circling my clit. I gasp and moan into his mouth. It’s mind-boggling how much I want his touch. Unable to stop myself, I grind down on his hand as I continue to kiss him.
The halter tie at my neck comes loose after one quick tug, and the fabric falls from my breasts. Little whimpers tumble from my lips as he puts his mouth on my nipple, sucking and licking. I don’t even fight to keep all the desperate sounds contained, and they echo throughout the locker room. It turns me on to hear what he does to me. Just as I have that thought, he switches sides and takes my other nipple into his mouth, flicking and teasing it. I fall further into a murky sea of feeling, where I don’t know if I’m coming or going. All I know is that I don’t want it to stop.
Feeling half out of my head, I groan out in pleasure as two of his fingers slip inside me, pumping slowly. The pads of his fingers keep hitting me in just the right spot, and it feels so good, I begin to pant.
“Fuck, you’re always so wet for me,” he growls while staring into my eyes. “You make me so fucking hard, Lux.”
I can just reach the floor from my straddle position over his lap, and I use that leverage to push him to his back on the bench. He grabs hold of me as we change position, and I end up laid out flat on top of him, my breasts smashed to his chest. We resume kissing, while he guides my pussy over his hard-on. I wish there weren’t so many clothes between us. I wish—
Hawk’s groan interrupts my thought. “Lux, I want to fuck you so bad.”
And with those words, it hits me exactly how close we’ve come to doing just that… twice. All my bravado falls away. I’d wanted to show him what he does to me. And the truth is while I’m desperately attracted and feel this bizarre connection with him, I’m also fucking scared. And feeling pathetic. And stupid.
Practically choking on the lump that’s risen in my throat, I struggle against Hawk for a few seconds before he lets me sit up. I disentangle myself, gingerly swinging my leg over him and standing upright. I catch the corner of my mouth between my teeth. My face crumples, and I cover it, embarrassed.
“I came here—” My voice catches. “I thought—”
The creak of the bench tells me that he’s stood up, and I can sense from the heat of his body that he’s stepped close to me. The scent of body wash is in the air, but also something else. As it hits me that it’s us, our arousal, I wince. The idea of the locker room smelling like sex somehow makes this worse.
Hawk tugs my hands from my face, peering into my eyes, then scrubs his hands through his hair. “I apologized for messing with your head. Maybe we should fucking leave it at that.”
My throat constricts. “And maybe the two of us are just the worst idea ever.” I pull the front of my dress up, quickly tying the straps together at the back of my neck, and then I walk away. For once, he doesn’t follow.
TWENTY
HAWK
Maddox laughs long and loud as we come back into the suite a little after four on Friday morning. “That was fuckin’ epic.” He holds up a hand, and I slap mine into it, grasping it hard before I let go. He’s got a hint of a bruise forming on his cheekbone, but otherwise seems okay. I know he likes a good fight, so he’ll wear that bruise like a badge of honor. Crazy fuck.
I also witnessed the kick Kellan took to the ribs as we hauled those dicks down the stairs, so I know he didn’t escape without injury either. He hasn’t said a word, but it’s got to be painful. Kellan isn’t one to complain either… more of the kind who delivers swift payback—this time in the form of an extra-hard punch to the gut of the guy who’d kicked him. All the fight went out of the dude after that. Considering Kellan spends more time painting than punching, he delivers a heavy-handed blow. I should know, I’ve been on the receiving end once or twice.
I study my friends as I cautiously flex my fingers, enjoying every bit of the ache in my knuckles. Of course, I had them leave that asshole Mike to me—he caught me on the chin pretty good, but then I was on him, and my fists made a mess of his face. He may have received some extra special treatment from me in the form of a busted nose.
The three of us might have come out of the entire escapade a tiny bit banged up, but those frat assholes are definitely worse off. I shoot Maddox a wicked smile. “Yep. Epic. We waited just long enough in going after them that we caught them completely off guard. They deserved it.” If those fuckers thought I wouldn’t be back for them like I’d promised, they certainly learned the error of their ways tonight.
They’d been trashed when we showed up at the Zeta Sigma Epsilon house, which made it pretty easy to restrain them and get them out the front door without anyone being the wiser. And now they’re tied up to a bunch of trees in their underwear… I hope the attempted gang bang on Lux was worth it. Because once everyone gets a look at what we wrote all over their torsos, no girl is ever going to trust them again, much less come anywhere near them.
