Treading Water, page 5
“What!” I ask excitedly, trying to look but she pulls me out of the small crowd gathering around us.
“You’re starting! You’re starting!” she shouts, grabbing my hands and jumping. I screech, jumping with her.
“I’m starting!”
Her arms go around my neck and we’re both laughing as I wrap mine around her waist.
“What about you?” I ask, panting as we finally settle down.
She shakes her head, waving her hand out. “I’m a sub for Gwen.”
I frown. “He put Gwen as the starting goalie?”
I’m a little surprised since she has been complaining about the ache in her elbows and wrists for the past couple of weeks.
“It’s okay, Sage. I’m honestly happy to just be on the team with you.”
Another girl squeals, throwing her arm around Emily and I as I force a smile at her celebration. Emily melts into the chittering crowd as we all move on to the locker room to get dressed and ready to leave campus.
I linger, my movements slow as I shower and wash away the smell of the pool. Only a few other freshmen remain as I finally finish and pull on my comfy clothes. Emily doesn’t wait around for me on the days we have afternoon practice, knowing I’m going straight home.
Something is driving me crazy in the back of my mind, and it guides me to his office. I won’t be able to rest without an answer.
He looks up when I walk in, shutting the door behind me.
“What, Peters?”
I scowl, already annoyed with his tone. “I’m starting.”
He shuffles a few papers on his desk to the side before he folds his hands behind his head and leans back in his chair. The corded muscles of his biceps flex against the soft white t-shirt. It rises, exposing a sliver of his tanned skin and the thin trail of hair right above his dark sweatpants. “That is why they gave you an athletic scholarship, is it not?”
My stomach hollows, my heart sinking into the void of it. “Are you saying it wasn’t your choice to start me?”
“I didn’t say that.”
Stalking forward, I slap my palms onto his desk and lean over it. “Just be straight with me. Was it your choice to start me? Am I–” I swallow, refusing to let him hear the waver in my voice. I cut off from asking him if I’m good enough because I know I am. I’ve been invited to train with the national team, damn it.
Fallon’s eyes darken, his arms dropping to his side as he straightens in his chair. “It would be unwise to not have someone of your caliber-”
Pushing off the desk, I turn and storm toward the door. I don’t know why I have the sudden urge to cry, but I'll be damned if he sees my tears. I know I shouldn’t need the validation that he chose me himself, but I want it. After weeks of doing everything he’s asked of me, I want that small peace of mind that I’ve at least met his expectations.
His hand grabs onto my elbow and he pulls, spinning me towards him and backing me against the wall. His eyes roam over my flushed face, taking in the unshed tears sitting in my lashes.
“What’s wrong?”
I pull my arm out of his grasp, wiping away the water before it can stream down my face. “Nothing.”
The heat of his body nearly pressing against mine makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I’ve gotten used to the sly brushes of his fingers on my skin while we train in the gym. But this is different, there’s a charged tension in the air with us standing so close without a valid reason.
“Sage. You had every Division One college begging to have you attend. It should not come as a surprise.” His whispered words should comfort me, but they don’t.
I focus my attention on the dip of his throat, not daring to look up because I’m afraid I will tear up again. “You threatened to keep me on the bench.”
My breath hitches when his thumb swipes across my cheek, his hand palming my jaw before tilting my head back. His green eyes are bright, searching for something as they peer into mine. “You had grown complacent. There is always room for growth and I know you’ve felt the difference since we started.”
“So you were mean to make me work harder?”
Fallon’s eyebrows furrow. “I pushed you to be better.”
My eyes catch on the small swipe of his tongue on his bottom lip. His grip on my face tightens like he knows what I’m thinking about. I look back up at him, and it’s his usual cold eyes, stormy with conflict, that breaks my resolve.
Grabbing onto his wrist, I rise on my tiptoes and press my mouth to his. He tenses for a second before his hand slides to the back of my head, tangling into my hair and pulling me closer. Our kiss deepens as I moan into his mouth, his citrus scent invading and heating my blood. My core throbs with arousal as I feel his hand squeezing my waist. I wrap my leg around his hip without thinking, and he cups my ass, squeezing my cheek before pushing into me more. The heat of his hard erection between my legs begs me to touch it. I let go of his wrist, but the first brush of my fingers on his bare skin under his shirt has him tensing.
He breaks away, the horror of what we did paling his face as he backs to his desk. Fallon drags a palm across his mouth, and I tear my gaze away. I know he isn’t wiping away my kiss, more like he’s confirming it really happened, but it still stings. I stand there, panting to catch my breath as something in my chest breaks.
“Peters…”
I scowl, missing the knob of the door as I try to leave in a hurry. Him reverting to calling me by my last name hurts more than anything else.
“Wait, Sage–”
Finally getting it open, I slam the door behind me, grab my bag sitting on the floor and take off to the parking lot. I don’t know how I’ve gone from thinking of Fallon Harris as my annoying coach to throwing myself at him, but my tears are back and the embarrassment of what I’ve done burns my cheeks as they fall. At least I have the weekend to recover from it.
Chapter Eleven
Fallon
I barely make it till midday Saturday before I give in. I have no way of contacting Sage, unless I access the school records for her information. So for the first time in two years, I log into Instagram, one of the most annoying social media apps that I swear are the downfall of personal boundaries. Without bothering to look at my own notifications, I immediately type in Sage’s name to see if she has a profile.
Multiple Sage Peters come up, but none that I recognize. A smile graces my face when I stumble across a fan page that has been following her water polo career. I wonder if she knows she has one, considering she hasn’t competed nationally yet.
After coming up empty, I finally move to looking through the school’s team account and strike luck at finding Emily’s account. I know they’re close, and I breathe out a quick huff of relief when her page isn’t private.
I scroll through carefully, pausing at every photo I see of her and Sage together. When the first few pass by and there’s no tagged account, I conclude that she doesn’t have one… or she has me blocked. Something lurches in my stomach at the thought of her blocking me, it doesn’t matter if I don’t use the site.
I almost exit out of the app when a video appears and chills run up my arms at the sound of Sage’s laugh. While it’s never been directed fully at me, I’ve heard it a few times during practices and it always draws my attention to her.
The camera pans to Sage in a two-piece swimsuit, the tiled floor under their feet making me assume they’re in the locker room of some school since the video was posted nearly a year ago.
“Sage Peters, after an incredible long season, do you have anything to say to your fans?” Emily says through giggles.
Sage laughs, shoving the camera away with her. “Stop it. No one cares what I have to say.”
Emily follows behind her, giving me a perfect view of Sage’s plump ass and my cock swells in my sweats. Her brown hair was longer than it is now. The perfect length to hold onto as I fuck her from behind.
I pause the video, shocked by my reaction and my cheeks flush at the thoughts running rampant in my mind. Closing my eyes, I ask myself if I’m really going to do this before I pull my pants down and wrap my hand around my cock. I grimace and reach over into my nightstand, slicking my hand with lotion from the bottle I threw in there weeks ago.
I can still feel the burn of her lips on mine, my mind too muddled with the memory of her body pressed against me to feel any shame for jacking off. I pick up my phone again and play the video while stroking myself.
“That’s the real showstopper, folks. Look at that back end,” Emily jokes, zooming in to the curve of Sage’s ass.
I grip my shaft tighter, smearing the pre-cum leaking from my tip as I fuck my hand faster. I saw that ass up close while training her to squat properly and it took immense control to not get hard right then and there at the gym.
Sage whips around with a yelp, pushing Emily away from her but giving the camera a generous view down her cleavage as she does.
“Fuck,” I groan, imagining what those breasts look like under the suit. What her nipples would look like as they hardened and begged to be sucked and played with. I’ve gotten really familiar with Sage’s body the past few months, watching as the muscles of her arms and stomach tighten and tone. But there is plenty left unanswered, like what pretty shade of pink her pussy would be.
Emily snickers, moving up to Sage’s face. “Should we tell everyone the good news?”
Sage’s eyes gleam with excitement and she grabs Emily’s hands, lining up perfectly in the frame.
“My beautiful best friend has committed to Slater Hills and so have I!”
Both of them screech, the view chaotic and wobbly as they jump together before Emily moves it back to Sage.
“We’ll see you in California! May the summer bring peace, love and surfer boys!” Emily says.
Sage laughs before moving in and pretending to kiss the lens of the camera. “Muah! I can’t wait.”
My fist moves faster before I rewind the video and focus on her ass again. My balls draw up as I think about her on her knees, taking my cock from behind. I close my eyes, arching up into my hand as I imagine the way she would beg for me to let her come. The way I would force her to wait till I was ready to fill her with my cum, even after I felt her pussy tightening over my cock.
The way tears would stream down her face as she chanted ‘I can’t wait, I can’t wait, I can’t wait.’ I stop breathing as I come, splashes of heat landing all over my stomach before I gasp and then let out a long groan. I milk my cock for every drop, wishing it was sheathed in Sage’s warmth instead.
Falling back onto the bed, I lay there as my gulps of air lessen and the small wet patches on my skin turn cold. I grab my shirt from the floor, wiping myself clean before glancing at my phone. Post-nut clarity fills me with humiliation at what I’ve done. The worst part is that it hasn’t dimmed my need for Sage at all, if anything I might have made matters worse.
I toss the lotion bottle into the nightstand, wanting to hide any evidence of what I’ve done. The crinkle of paper has me pausing and I pull out the blue birthday card. My heart twists, remembering finding it on my desk that morning. I know it was from Sage even if she didn’t sign it. She’s the only one who knows of my obsession with the candy, besides Conor, but he called me the night before to ask me to grab a beer after practice.
My thumb runs over the yellow water polo ball glued to the front and I sigh. I know this infatuation goes both ways, and that is dangerous because if someone needs to put a stop to it, I know it has to be me. Tucking the card back into place in my nightstand, I roll off the bed to shower.
Chapter Twelve
Sage
The slamming door alerts me to his presence. He pauses at the entrance, catching me already on the equipment. I can feel his hesitation to continue into the gym before he stalks forward. Fallon is silent as he moves past and grabs the plates for the bench across from me.
I drop my eyes, focusing on lifting the dumbbells up, the slick seat of the bench sliding against my back as I straighten my arms. It was just a kiss, not a big deal. We’re consenting adults, so who cares? I mean, I care, I care a lot. No one could have told me that I would start my college career and end up kissing my childhood crush.
I’m not naïve enough to think it meant anything. He is older than me. Fallon was just ending his competitive career when mine was starting. We are on two different levels in our life. I had just made the slight blunder of kissing my coach. But who wouldn’t want to kiss Fallon Harris? The man is gorgeous, with a smoking body, and he plays the sport I love like a god.
Setting the dumbbells down, I move to the leg press. It isn’t something we work on often, and I’m curious if he will move me off it. The loud clank of metal draws my eyes to him on the bench I just vacated, but he’s still looking away. We continue in silence for over twenty minutes. I move, and he takes over whatever machine I just left. With each passing minute, my irritation grows till I snap.
“Sorry,” I say, throwing him a pointed look as I stand there with my hands on my waist. I’m fed up with him ignoring me. By now, he normally would have corrected something or had me prioritize a different set.
“Sorry?” he repeats, sitting up and dropping the weights onto the floor.
I nod, waving my hand between him and me. “This awkwardness. I’m sorry I kissed you, can we move on? You don’t have to treat me differently. It was a stupid mistake, and I won’t do it again. Chalk it up to a schoolgirl crush; I got it out of my system.”
The longer I continue to talk, the harder it gets to breathe as humiliation seems to burn away any filter and weight on my chest.
Fallon stands, stalking toward me. My eyes widen and I step back on instinct, confused and slightly afraid of the fury etched on his face. He backs me against the mirrors, and a flicker of arousal from the familiar position from Friday rushes straight to my core.
His palms slap onto the glass surface on either side of my head, caging me in as he leans forward. His mouth is a heartbeat away from mine.
“A mistake? A stupid schoolgirl crush?” He seethes.
I swallow, licking my dry lips. His eyes darken, watching the movement.
“Is it out of your system, Sage?” he rasps, moving closer so I feel the words against my cheek.
“If it needs to be,” I whisper.
“And if it doesn’t?”
I tilt my face, our lips trading breaths. “Then I’m not sorry.”
“Not sorry?” He presses his body closer, the heat of his erection resting against my stomach.
“I’m not sorry I kissed–” I moan as his mouth crashes into mine, my fingers clawing at his shirt and pulling him towards me. His hands drift to my ass, lifting me up as I wrap my legs around him and my arms circle his neck. My hips cradle him as he pushes us into the mirror, his hard cock pressing against my thin leggings.
I stretch my neck as he kisses down it, the rough scratches of his stubble growing on his jaw, making me gasp. Fallon’s tongue slashes down between my squished cleavage in my sports bra. He lifts up, putting himself at eye level with my chest as his hand pushes my bra up. My breasts bounce as they are released before he sucks a taut nipple into his mouth. I tighten my legs around him, my pussy clenching at his hot touch.
“Oh god,” I moan. I’ve had sex a few times with a guy from my high school, but it was never like this. The guy could barely tumble out of his pants, let alone hold me and devour my tits like they’re the best thing he’s ever tasted.
The screech of the outside door opening has Fallon snapping his head toward the noise. I lean forward, clutching onto his shirt, hiding my bare breasts from view. I move my hand around to his hard length, squeezing it through his sweats. He lets out a hiss, and I meet his heated gaze.
“Showers,” I whisper.
He adjusts his grip on me, carrying me to where I instructed as I kiss and tongue his neck. A thrill runs through me when I can feel how fast his heart is beating under my lips.
Fallon carries me to the first stall, shoving the curtain to the side and putting me on my feet as he pulls it shut behind him. He leans around me to turn on the water, the harsh, sudden blast of cold not doing anything to calm the inferno inside me. I drop to my knees, curling my fingers into his sweatpants and pulling them down. Pressing my lips to the small strip of hair leading from his belly button, I lick down the valley between his hip and abdomen, the deep V leading to his cock.
“Fuck,” he grunts out when I wrap my hand around his thick cock, stroking it as I run my tongue along the head, licking up the leaking salty mess coming from it. I suck him into my mouth, bobbing along his hard length as Fallon groans.
“Just like that, Sage. Fuck, feels so good. Look at you taking my cock,” he says as he pushes the hair falling into my face away. I look at him, hollowing my cheeks as I grab onto his ass and pull him closer. His stomach flexes as he grows inside my mouth, and I know he’s close. Something victorious rises inside me as I move my hand to massage his balls. I've always wanted to try this trick after I read about it, but never been comfortable doing it before.
He tangles his fingers into my hair and yanks my head back. I gasp as his cock falls from my mouth, a thin string of saliva connecting us still.
“Who says I want to come in your mouth?”
I smile shyly, licking my lips. “You can come wherever you want, Coach.”
“Fuck,” he groans, stroking his cock as he brings it back to my lips and I suck him back in. He thrusts forward gently, tilting my head back as he pushes in deeper.
“You want me to fuck your face, Sage? Want me to come down your pretty little throat?”
I moan around him, my muscles constricting around his hard length. His grip tightens on my hair, keeping me in place as he pumps in and out of my mouth. My eyes roll up to watch him, his head is tilted back and his mouth is open as he takes his pleasure from me.
