Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 121764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
“We made a lot of money for the team shop last night.”
I threw a fist in the air. “Fuck yeah, we did. Just call me the Quarters Queen.”
I did a little curtsy with that, and Jaxson shook his head, throwing his towel over his shoulder and heading toward the door.
“Nah,” he said, and I was glad the video was still rolling when he added, “You’ll always be Nova to me.”
Gold Stars
Jaxson
After a quick breakfast at the hotel, and another workout that involved using all my might to lift her suitcase into the car again, Grace and I were back on the road.
The first hour was quiet, neither of us talking as I navigated us out of Atlanta and back on the highway. My eyes were dry as hell after the late night, so once we finished at the gym, I changed out of my contacts, opting for my specs, instead.
Grace picked another playlist from her creations, this one titled hot girl summer. While the music wasn’t exactly my taste, I didn’t mind the pop music so long as I could watch her dance in the passenger seat as she sang along.
I was in my head for that first hour, anyway — for more reasons than one.
My father texting me with a mile-long list of all the ways I sucked wasn’t anything I wasn’t used to, but he usually gave me at least a small reprieve during the off-season. No such luck this year, I guessed. The fact that he casually tacked on a request for me to wire him money at the end without so much of a please and thank you added to my frustration, but again — I was used to it.
Those feelings had me gripping the steering wheel tight until I forced myself to calmly exhale and let it go. My father was who my father was, and I wasn’t going to change anything about him now.
But when I let the topic of my father slip away, all my thoughts rushed back to last night.
I swallowed, glancing at where Grace was bopping along to the beat in the passenger seat next to me while she doodled in a notebook sprawled out on her lap. It was strange, but I loved that she wasn’t on her phone, that she didn’t even have social media. She was so present, locked into every moment happening in her life — even this one, which some might find boring, but she made the most of.
Watching her hands where one gripped the pen and the other held the notebook steady had me remembering all too well what they felt like pressed against my abdomen last night, and I thanked my lucky fucking stars that I had been strong enough not to give in.
How much longer I’d be able to resist, however, was yet to be seen.
I had to be giving the girl whiplash, because one second I had stone resolve, and the next I was jumping up behind her on a pull-up bar and wrapping my legs around her, my cock pressing against her sweet little ass.
It was as if I didn’t have a choice. Common sense didn’t exist. She altered my brain chemistry when she was near to the point that I couldn’t control myself.
She was magnetic.
Even when I did manage to keep distance between us, I still felt a pull to her.
The interesting thing was that even being on this road trip was so out of character for me, it made my head spin. When I’d offered to go for a drive that first night at her brother’s house, I’d meant just that — a drive. For like… an hour. Maybe two.
The last thing I’d expected was this, and yet I hadn’t even hesitated when she’d suggested it.
It was like a part of me had been dormant my entire life, but it had stirred to life that night in Austin. And when she suggested a road trip conveniently when I didn’t have shit to do, that part of me jumped at the chance, demanding to take the wheel.
I felt… reckless.
And yet, at peace.
I felt like I was running away and running home all at once.
The feelings were too messy and complicated to sort through, so I let them rest for now, deciding that — at least for the moment — I had permission to go with the flow.
In less than a month, I’d need to get back to Tampa. Preseason training and conditioning would take over my life just like it did every August.
But, at least for now, I didn’t have a responsibility in the world.
Other than helping the girl next to me move on from her pain, which — truth be told — she seemed to be doing all on her own.
Suddenly, Grace leaned forward and cut the volume on the stereo. “Let’s go for a hike.”