Out of Bounds (The Summer Games #2)(50)

Rosie turned the dial on the radio up loud so Lexi’s last words were cut off.

Lexi turned it back down. “—and at the last second I’ll stick it right in his—”

Rosie flipped the dial up so loud I had to hold my hands up to cover my ears.

June yanked her headphones off. “Jesus! What are you guys doing? Just leave the radio alone.”

“Speaking of tight-asses, no one asked for your input, June,” Lexi said, eyeing her in the rearview mirror. “You can go back to ignoring us.”

Fortunately, the gym came into view over the horizon before June could escalate the situation. Lexi whipped into a parking spot, not even close to being in the lines. June hopped out and ran for the door, and the four of us sat in silence for a second, absorbing the last few seconds.

“Do you think we should ease up on her?” Rosie asked, turning back to stare at Molly and me in the back seat.

“How can we?” Lexi asked. “She’s the one being a twat.”

I rolled my eyes. “Well, we’re not exactly going out of our way to be nice to her either.”

Molly nodded. “I think we should try harder to include her. Maybe she thinks we don’t want to be friends with her.”

“Not after what she pulled on Brie!” Lexi argued. “Of course we don’t want to be friends with her!”

I frowned and shook my head. Something told me not to count June out. Sure, she wasn’t the nicest girl I’d ever been around, but she was stressed and away from home with no one to lean on.

“I think we should ease up on her as well.”

Rosie clapped from the front seat excitedly. “Maybe we could do something fun to make her feel included!”

Lexi eyes widened. “Should we take her to a strip club?”

“No.”

“Gentlemen’s club?”

“Definitely not,” I insisted.

“You’re right.” She clapped. “We bring the strippers to us.”

I groaned. “No strippers, Lexi.”

Rosie perked up and clapped excitedly. “When I was younger, the older girls in our gym kidnapped us from our houses in the middle of the night and took us to IHOP.” She beamed. “All-you-can-eat pancakes.”

Lexi leveled her with a glare. “How has life failed you so miserably?”

“It was fun,” she said, defending herself. “I had whipped cream on mine.”

Oh Rosie.

Molly held up her hands to cut the two of them off. “Okay, how about instead of some crazy plan, let’s just try to talk to her a little more, maybe offer her a smile every now and then, yeah?”

Lexi groaned as she hopped out of the driver’s seat. “Suit yourself, losers. Keep your bottomless pancakes. I would have picked bottomless strippers.”





I tossed my t-shirt and shorts into my bag and rooted around for my pre-wrap and athletic tape. The rest of my team was already set up on floor, stretching and slowly easing into practice. I hadn’t seen Erik on my way into the gym, but he was there now, talking to the girls as I approached. I wanted to pretend as if it didn’t matter, but there was no denying the jolt of excitement that shot through me at the sight of him.

Even as he stood talking to Rosie, my body begged me closer, but then he broke out in a smile—a real, wide grin he’d never once used on me. A dark thought spiraled through me. It’s not that I thought for one second he might be attracted to Rosie, but maybe he liked that type of woman. She didn’t talk back, she called him sir, she finished her workouts on time, and she smiled politely every chance she got.

What an easy life he’d have with a woman like Rosie: no fights, no games, no war—just obedience. My stomach twisted at the thought as I stepped up onto the floor and crossed the white boundary taped around the perimeter. I chanced a quick glance at Erik as I approached the group, but he was still talking to Rosie. It was like he wasn’t even aware of the fact that I’d joined the group.

My stomach ached as I took a seat beside Lexi. She tried to meet my eye, but I ignored her, busying myself with finding the start to my roll of pre-wrap.

“Here,” Erik said, startling me.

When did he come over here?

He didn’t wait for me to hand him the tape, just reached down and grabbed for it, brushing the back of his hand along my thigh with the effort.

“Let me do it,” he insisted.

My mouth went dry as I handed off the pre-wrap and a barrage of memories flooded in at once: his finger between my legs, his tongue gliding across my lips, his hard cock pressed against my stomach beneath his jeans. He was acting casual, but less than ten hours earlier, we’d nearly attacked each other in his backyard. I mean, I stripped for him for God’s sake. My entire body blushed from head to toe and I turned away, trying to hide my red cheeks against my shoulder as he bent down in front of me.

He reached out and pulled my foot to him like he owned the damn thing. I shivered at his touch as he gripped my ankle, but I’d be damned if he saw me blushing. I bent my other leg to my chest and folded my arms around it, glancing to Lexi for a distraction. She was smiling, flitting her gaze back and forth between Erik and me. I narrowed my eyes, trying to convey how much I hated her in that moment.

“Flex,” Erik said, gripping the arch of my foot in his palm. My body pooled with warmth as his thumb dragged across my sole. Why. Why. Why. He was touching my foot! Last I checked, my vagina was somewhere between my hips and thighs.