Page 77 of Making It Count
“Yeah?” Layne asked.
“Definitely. I bet it’s all over my chest and neck, too.”
“You’re killing me right now, Shay.”
Shay chuckled and asked, “So, do you really want that door thing?”
“Yes,” Layne replied immediately. “You?”
“Oh, yeah,” Shay said and stroked herself slowly. “You pressing me back against it, looking all gorgeous and turned on. Who wouldn’t want that?”
“You’ll make me…”
“Yeah? Again?” Shay asked and stroked a little harder but didn’t go any faster.
“Babe, I want to. I really do.”
“But you want to wait to hear and see until we can be together,” Shay said and stopped her stroking. “I get it. I want that, too. It’s just that we’ve been waiting so long, and I don’t know when this will end.”
“I know. But even if it doesn’t end anytime soon, the end of the season will be here, and we won’t have to worry about being eligible to play. So, no matter what, we only have to wait until April. Not as long if we don’t make it to the tournament, and it’s an even shorter wait if we don’t make it to the conference championship.”
“I really, really want to have sex with you, but–”
“You also want to win,” Layne said with a little laugh.
“Yes.” Shay grunted.
“It’s late, babe. We have a game tomorrow.”
“I know,” she said. “I–” She stopped herself. “I should let you get some sleep.”
“You’re the one who needs sleep,” Layne pointed out. “You’ll actually be playing tomorrow.”
“Good night, babe.”
“Night,” Layne replied.
Shay had almost told Layne that she loved her several times now, but she didn’t want the first time she said it to be over the phone or on video, so she’d hold it in just like she’d been holding in everything because people were still getting sick, and this thing seemed to be never-ending. In the meantime, though, she closed her eyes and pictured Layne on her knees in front of her, coming once more. Then, feeling sated – for now, at least – Shay decided she needed to get some sleep and turn her focus to their eleventh game of the season.
???
Layne looked tired, and she’d only played about five minutes of the game in total, with plenty of breaks in between. Shay brought the ball up the court and passed to her, hoping Layne would take the shot and catch the defense off guard, but Layne passed back to her instead and took off around Shay, who handed it back to her as part of the play as Layne went by. Layne then passed inside to Hilton, who turned and took a quick two. The buzzer sounded, and Shay looked over to see that Coach was subbing her out.
“Layne’s got point!” Coach yelled as Shay jogged off. “Hey, is she good?”
“Who?” Shay asked, playing coy.
“Layne.”
“Yeah, she’s good,” she replied and took her seat.
Shay scanned the court and watched her girlfriend do the same. Layne could still see the court better than most, but that didn’t stop Shay from being worried that this was too much for her. Ledger had been off for most of the game. Coach had given her a few tries to get more involved, but Ledger had struggled, so Layne had played a little more because of it, and it was showing. Layne’s mouth was open as she was constantly trying to catch her breath. She also wasn’t moving as fast on defense as she normally would have been able to.
It was a tight game, with Dunbar only up by two and three minutes left to play. Shay knew Coach was just getting her a quick rest to go back in and bring the game home, so she wiped her face, drank some water, and got ready.
Dunbar was seven and three, and those losses were pretty close games, so she felt okay about their record right now, hoping they’d make it eight and three tonight, with a few easy games away coming up in a row. In tonight’s game, Shay had already scored eighteen points, had four rebounds, three assists, and two steals. That was a good thing because there were WNBA scouts here, and she knew it. Coach hadn’t confirmed because she didn’t want to put any pressure on Shay, but Shay knew. She knew they were there for a player on the team they were up against and not Shay herself, but she’d played well tonight and hoped they’d noticed.
“Amos!”