Page 24 of Crush
“That’d be great.” I was worried I’d have to somehow get up without Aiko noticing Thorne under my desk.
When the door to the computer lab shuts, I lean down. “That was too close. You almost got us caught. No more going down on me at school. I mean it.”
His answer is to smile in the dark.
10
Thorne
I lick my lips, still plush from when I devoured Ember.
Her addictive heat is all I think about as I finish the day at swim practice. The thought of what her neck must look like after I held it, then she squeezed it, is an even harder thought to quell, despite the very real threat of Zeke in the lane next to mine.
“Your time’s gone up,” he says as he folds his forearms over the lane divider separating mine from his. I suppose he wants to converse. I’d rather drown him, then walk away whistling. “Too bad, man. I thought you’d be my biggest competition when I returned.”
“My time is as elite as it always was, and I’ll keep crushing you like the sea lizard you are.”
Zeke only grins. “Scared I’m back?”
“No. I’m delighted,” I deadpan.
“All right, boys! Let’s do another kind of training, since you’re acting like the pretty damsels you are. The synchronized swimming coach tells me she makes her girls swim the length of the pool and back underwater without taking a breath. Maybe that’s enough to get you boys out of this incredible funk that has you coming in over your times. Except, do it for three passes, you motherfuckers.”
I push out of the pool, suppressing an eye roll at Coach’s demands. Child’s play.
Jaxon mutters in the lane beside Zeke’s, and I can’t blame him. Now that Zeke’s back, he’s been pushed from lane 2 to 3 and has to work harder to be my second. Not that I mind. The only thing that does irk is the fact that my other option is Zeke, and he will never, never be my second anything.
I do what Coach Albright wants, finishing first without any sort of gasping or choking that comes out of my brethren when they complete the training. Albright dismisses me with a cantankerous flick of his hand. I take that as wholehearted approval for our next meet tomorrow.
I take my time heading to the locker room, toweling off by the pool, stripping off my cap and goggles, shaking out my ears…
As soon as I realize why I’m lingering, I give an internal sneer at myself.
There’s no reason to wait for her. I’ve taught her the lesson she needed, reminded her who is in control of our little tete-a-tete, and that is more than enough for the day. Yet I want another glimpse of Ember. Just a peek of her body in that tight black one-piece, hopefully with her nipples hardening at the sight of me and the crotch of her bathing suit going damp…
Goddammit. I flip to face the wall so the boys can’t see my growing hard-on. Why can’t I get rid of this girl? Why must she occupy my thoughts like this?
And just like that, a flash of her taste coats my mouth, and I luxuriate in the memory.
“About that new girl,” a crooning, obnoxiously accented voice says nearby. “She’s cute, am I right?”
I growl a quick, “Fuck off,” before tying the towel around my hips and stalking to the locker room.
Zeke doesn’t take the enormous hint, his strides matching mine as he rubs a towel over his scalp. “Don’t want to talk about her? That’s cool. I’ll find out another way.”
“She’s not one of your fangirls.” I push through the door a little too hard.
“Didn’t say she was,” he quips behind me. The bastard is right at my heels. “You’re a tad ornery, Thorne. You fucking her or something?”
“The day I tell you about my conquests will be the day I shovel dirt over your bloody form in a homemade grave.” I spin the combination lock to my locker. Turns out, focusing on something other than punching Zeke’s million-dollar face doesn’t do as much as it should to prevent the urge.
Zeke leans against the neighboring locker. “You have to admit, she’s pretty fuckable. Lips like that? They’d look so good wrapped around my—”
My fist hits his teeth before I even register the movement.
“Agh! Fuck! God! You fucking asshole!” Zeke stumbles back, a protective hand coming up to his mouth. He muffles through the barrier, “I could sue you for this!”
I stalk toward him. “I’d gladly pay top dollar to mangle that fuckboy face of yours again.”