Out of Bounds (The Summer Games #2)(15)

“That’s cheating!” I argued as the three of them put their heads together on the other side of the booth. For a few minutes, all I could hear was whispers and giggles. I crossed my arms and tried to avoid eye contact with the bikers at the table beside ours.

“Yes!” Lexi said, leaning back from the huddle. “That’s perfect. Ask that!”

“It’s sort of personal, guys,” Rosie said, eyeing me tentatively.

“Yeah, listen to Rosie,” I said. “Have some decorum.”

Molly shook her head and plopped her butt back on the seat beside me. “Okay, truth: what do you think of Coach Winter?”

My heart dropped.

The three of them sat staring at me with wide eyes. Lexi’s smile was sinister, knowing. I glanced away.

Why were they asking me this? I’d only met him that day.

“Never mind, I choose dare.”

“ANSWER!” they all shouted at once.

“As a coach?” I shrugged. “He seems fine.”

I reached for the beer in front of me and tried to tap out a few last drops into my mouth. It was completely empty.

Lexi leaned across the table, trying to meet my eye. “You know what she’s asking.”

I straightened my back and turned away, hating the accusatory tone she was using.

“He couldn’t take his eyes off you this afternoon. I swear he forgot the rest of us were even there,” Molly said, elbowing me in the side.

I shook my head, trying to force down the blush creeping up my neck. “That’s not true.”

Even Rosie agreed. “He really was staring at you during the meeting.”

I rolled my eyes, tired of the subject. They were imagining things.

“He was staring at me because I was being bitchy. That’s it.”

“But do you think he’s cute?” Molly asked.

They weren’t going to drop the subject until I answered, but I didn’t want to answer. I rolled my beer bottle between my palms, keeping my focus on the label instead of meeting their eyes. There was a careful line I didn’t want to cross with Erik, a line I’d never even been tempted to cross with a coach before. I could compartmentalize him into one of two groups: man or coach. As a man, he was incredibly good-looking, tall, and muscular, with a face that made my body burn. But as my coach, he was nothing. Not cute, not ugly. Not mine.

I dropped the bottle and shook my head. “I plead the fifth.”

“BOO!” Lexi said.

“Fine, if you don’t want to answer the question then you have to do a dare,” Molly said, exchanging an evil glance with Lexi.

My stomach clenched. “What is it?”

“You have to kiss him,” Lexi said with an evil smirk. “Y’know, since you aren’t sure if you think he’s cute or not, you should test the waters.”

Molly bounced up and down on her seat, clapping her hands at the possibility that I’d actually say yes to the dare.

I shook my head adamantly. “Hell no.”

They were on crack if they thought that was an option.

“Seriously!?” Molly groaned. “Come on.”

I shook my head again, staring out at the TV above the bar with a flat smile. I knew they could sense I was reaching my limit. Why were they pushing this on me? I hardly knew the guy, and I definitely didn’t want to kiss him. Punch, maybe, especially after the meeting earlier.

“Okay, fine,” Molly relented. “Then I think you should have to wear something embarrassing to practice tomorrow.”

I inhaled a deep breath, relieved. Finally, they were off the Erik subject.

“Like what? I didn’t pack any costumes.”

Lexi leaned forward with a wide grin. “I packed a cheetah print leotard that has a cat tail on the butt.”

Of course she did.

Rosie lost it in a fit of giggles, but I didn’t even hesitate before holding out my hand for her to shake.

“Bring it on.”

A cheetah print leotard was light, easy, fun—nothing compared to my first dare. I knew they were just being playful, trying to get a reaction out of me, but I didn’t like it. I didn’t want to think of Erik outside of practice. I didn’t want to discuss him here, giggling over how cute he was. I didn’t want everyone to go to practice the next day and whisper about the fact that I was harboring a crush for our coach. I wasn’t. He’d been nothing but an * all day and the last thing I wanted to think about was whether or not I might or might not find him attractive.

I didn’t.

Like he’d said earlier that day: he was the coach, I was the gymnast.

End of story.





Chapter Six


Brie





I had a dream about Erik that night. A sexy dream. I’d gone to sleep a bit drunk and a little annoyed by how the truth or dare game had gone. With these facts in place, my brain had (mistakenly) assumed I wanted to dream about Erik. Specifically, it thought I should dream about being a secret agent on a mission to seduce and question him. Makes total sense, considering I’m 5’2” with absolutely no interrogation skills. Regardless of its unrealistic nature, the dream progressed until I got to the good part. Erik was sitting in a leather chair in a corner of a hazily lit bedroom. His left foot was resting on his right knee and he was watching me, mesmerized by me as I danced for him. I was supposed to strip or something, and in between articles of clothing I was supposed to be gleaning state secrets for the FBI. (Seriously, I need to stop watching reruns of Alias.) I rolled my hips and spun around slowly, letting my silk shift dress fall to the ground. I think I was getting pretty close to completing the mission—shall we say—when the dream was cut off.