Treading Water, page 6
My pussy throbs, getting wetter from the look of ecstasy on his face. I skim my hand between my leggings, rubbing my swollen nub. I’ve never been so turned on from giving a blow job. Usually I hurry through it, but something about Fallon makes it one of the hottest things.
His attention snaps down when I moan, shifting on my knees. His breathing picks up in uneven huffs..
“Fuck, you’re touching yourself. You like me in your mouth, baby?” he asks. His cock pulses around my lips and I cup his balls with my other hand, feeling them draw up.
I rub myself faster as Fallon thrusts deeper, shoving the tip of his dick further into my throat. I swallow around him and he lets out a curse. He buries himself as far as I can take him, holding his cock there as it thickens and throbs with each wave of cum spilling out.
“Ahhh, fuck. Sage…” he groans, the deep timbre of his voice caressing every inch of my skin as I shiver and come with him. I squeeze my eyes shut as I swallow every drop that he unloads into me before pulling out, and I collapse onto my hands on the tiled floor. Taking deep gulps of air, my thighs tremble from the intensity of my own release.
We stay like that for a moment and he doesn’t move to touch me. The gravity of what we just did has me scared to look up. I don’t want to see disappointment or regret lingering in his eyes. But after how he reacted from the kiss, I’m not brave enough to check.
I get up and shove the curtain aside, leaving him in the water by himself.
In the safety of my home, I let my misdeeds from this afternoon wash away. I can focus on my little sister and the rest of the world fades away. It probably helps that I have the most basic cell phone without access to social media and a laptop slower than molasses to tempt me from stalking him online.
“What is that?” I ask Val, staring down at the paper.
“A horse!” she says proudly.
I frown. That monstrosity looks nothing like a horse.
“I’m pretty sure horses’ tails don’t spiral up like that. It lays flat so they can use it to like swat flies or something,” I tell her.
Val looks down at her paper, her little eyebrows knitting and I instantly feel bad. But then she turns her eyes on me and I lean away, knowing the sassiness about to erupt.
“Maybe the horse got a makeover and they did her hair.”
“Who would make over a horse?”
“The horse doctor,” she grumbles.
“I don’t think horse doctors do their hair.”
Val crosses her arms. “How would you know, you’re not a horse doctor.”
“Neither are you.” I tilt my head, looking back at her with a smirk.
“I can be!” She pouts.
I laugh, nodding. “Of course you can.”
My mom comes out of her room, her hair a tangled mess and I think she’s the one who needs a horse doctor.
“Mommy! Look!” Val says excitedly, hopping off to show our mother the paper as she walks past us silently at the table and starts to make coffee.
She glances down with a small smile and grabs it from Val’s hands. “Looks nice, honey.”
I stand, pulling out the plate of food I left her in the microwave and giving it to her. “You working tonight?”
She nods as she hands Val back the drawing and moves to the table to eat. I wait by the counter for the coffee to finish and bring her a cup.
“Don’t forget my game is this month. It’s a few hours away, a long bus drive so I probably won’t be home till late.”
My mom hums in acknowledgment. “I haven’t forgotten.”
“It’s my first game,” I say quietly.
She pauses, swallowing her bite before glancing up at me. “I wish I could come, sweetie.”
I nod, knowing she means it, but it never really eases the disappointment. Val moves next to her, talking a mile a minute about her school day, and I let her take over the conversation. The moments we get with our mother are dwindling the older I get. Sometimes, I fear what would have happened if I had moved away for college. When my mother got offered this job, and I saw the full scholarship from Slater Hills, it was like the universe was saying I couldn’t leave them. I couldn’t leave Val.
Chapter Thirteen
Fallon
I stand in the shower for another moment, my heart racing as I listen to Sage pack up her stuff and scurry out of the room. When it’s silent, I slam my hand against the wet tile and flinch at the sting against my palm. My head hurts with everything I’m trying to comprehend. I have wanted Sage since the first morning I saw her sneaking onto the pool deck, but this is something more.
I knew it was impossible, inappropriate, to be with her. Not only because she’s my athlete but because she’s over a decade younger than me. It didn’t stop me from watching her nearly twice as much as any of her teammates. To find an excuse to have her alone, to put my hands on her in any professional manner I could. While Sage had needed more weight training, I knew there was a more selfish motive when I continued to keep her in the small group in the gym.
“Fuck.” I scowl, stripping off my wet clothes and grabbing a fresh towel before moving to my gym bag. Changing, I head to my office, debating how to deal with the potential fallout of our actions. It doesn’t matter if Sage was receptive to my touch and even initiated more; I am her coach. But the worst part is that I crave it still.
I pause in the doorway of my office, taking in the body resting in my chair
My brother blinks, glancing over my wet hair and casual work out clothes. “What were you doing?” His head tilts to the side, his eyes narrowing in a calculating gaze.
“What are you doing?” I counter, slumping onto the couch into the room.
When I accepted this job, I expected a visit sooner or later. The town is less than an hour from where he settled down with his wife. It had been one of the cons when I swallowed my pride and asked for his help to get this job.
My brother and I might not get along, but I can appreciate that he’s done well for himself. He is quickly making a name for himself as a respected lawyer with friends in high places.
Eli hums, settling back. “My spidey senses were tingling. They told me my little brother was fucking something up.”
My mouth dries as I stiffen, trying not to give anything away. This isn't the first time he’s abruptly appeared in my life with some spot-on intuition. I gave up trying to hide anything from him, but I wasn’t going to give him an inch of Sage and me.
“Well, I’m fine. So you can tell your spidey senses to calm down,” I drawl.
He shrugs. “Perhaps. How’s the coaching job?”
“Fine.” I clench my teeth.
“Just fine? Why’d you come here again? Something about a prodigy?” His finger taps his mouth. “Sara? Sadie?”
I fold my arms across my chest. “What are you getting at, Eli?”
He holds up his hands. “Awfully defensive for someone who is doing fine.”
I laugh maliciously, nodding before standing slowly. “You know it might have worked when we were kids. The master manipulates me to reveal things that I don’t want you to know, and then you act like you’ve known the entire time. But we’re not kids anymore and I don’t want to play your bullshit game. Get out.”
My brother stands, tugging at his suit jacket with a sly grin. “I was just visiting my little brother. No game.”
“Sure,” I say, waving my hand towards the door. Eli gives a long sigh before walking out from behind my desk. He moves to hug me but I step back. His lips curl. Of course, he can’t leave without the last word.
“Don’t forget that it was at my recommendation that the athletic board approved you as their coach. You may be a phenomenal player, Fallon. But you haven’t proved yourself as a coach.”
“My repertoire speaks for itself.”
He shakes his head slowly. “Not all players make the best coaches.”
My jaw tightens, but I stand taller. “My reputation as a player is enough to draw the attention that this program needs. While I’m grateful they gave me the opportunity to coach here, let’s not pretend they didn’t need me as much as I needed them.”
Eli sighs. “Don’t do anything to jeopardize your reputation or mine is all I’m saying.”
I give him a bitter smile as I follow him to the door before slamming it in his face. Walking over to my desk, I pull my cell phone out and debate calling the one person who has been the devil and angel on my shoulder. Exhaling slowly, I hit my head on the back of my chair repeatedly before dialing.
“I’m here. Give me like two seconds,” Conor answers hurriedly before he’s cut off by a loud screech that could rival a dinosaur.
I pause, listening curiously in amusement to the chaotic noise coming over the phone.
“Okay, I’m back. What’s up?” Conor says, sounding out of breath.
“Is this a bad time?”
He laughs. “There’s never really a right time unless you call after they go to bed, but by then, I don’t really want to talk to anyone. So now is the… best time.”
“Fair enough,” I say before blurting out, “She sucked my dick.”
Conor is silent for a moment. “And when you say she you mean… your mini me but with tits?”
“I sucked her tits too.” I rub my fingers across my lips at the memory.
He curses. “Please tell me she’s of age.”
“She’s nearly nineteen,” I say with a grimace. That honestly doesn’t make it any better.
“But she’s still your athlete, and you’re still her coach?”
“Yes.”
“Fuck, dude.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“What are you going to do?” Conor asks, the genuine concern in his voice easing some of the shame I feel over Eli’s visit.
I tap my fingers on my desk, my knee bouncing as I fail to process any real thoughts. “I don’t know.”
“I mean, do you want… more? Or you just want to fuck her? Because if it’s a simple fuck you’re looking for, I’m sure you can find easier honeypots to dip into.”
I’m silent because I don’t know what I want. I want her, but it seems impossible to pursue. A passionate moment where we got caught up with each other in the gym is hardly the start of anything. But I haven’t been able to get her out of my mind, not a day goes by that I don’t think about Sage Peters. I can only imagine that will get worse now that I know the feel of her lips wrapped around my cock, the way her perfect breasts mold to my palm as I suck those delicious pink buds. I feel myself start to harden in my pants, and I sit up straighter, pushing down on it. I am not going to have a boner while on the phone with Conor.
“I don’t know what I want,” I tell him truthfully.
Conor sighs. “Maybe, just take a step back for a moment. Put some distance between you two. This would ruin both of your careers if it got out.”
I clear my throat, my chest aching with the gravity of the situation. “Thanks for–uhh.” Not judging me is what I want to say.
“We’ve known each other for over a decade. I know the kind of man you are, Fallon. You wouldn’t risk something like that for just anyone. When you guys get through this, I can’t wait to meet her,” Conor says honestly.
Chapter Fourteen
Sage
“Well, honestly the girl's team gets a lot more scouts coming around,” Greg says, taking a fry off Emily’s plate.
She slaps his hand away when he tries to take another. “Stop it. Go buy more of your own.”
Alex laughs next to me. I finally found out his name by peeking at his paper in English. It had gone on too long without me asking what it was, and I felt too embarrassed to ask. Emily confirmed it when he happened to conveniently be Greg’s best friend.
I glare at my soon-to-be ex-best friend, knowing she tricked me into this blind double date during our lunch period. I usually use the time to work on some coursework, but now I’m stuck eating a burger that reminds me of the time Fallon took me out. Though I’m not one to turn down free food, I also don’t want to give Alex any wrong ideas about the two of us. I am already completely consumed by my coach and whatever the fuck is going on with us. When the week passed, the shock of what happened in the showers gave me the patience to wait for Fallon to come to me. After the weekend, I had expected something on Monday but was greeted with silence. He barely glanced my way the entire practice.
“Yeah, scouts are showing up, but that doesn’t compare to the amount of overall coverage and athletic sponsors offered to male water polo players,” I say, continuing my conversation with Greg. “They are just more critical of the women.”
“That’s a good thing, though,” he points a ketchup-covered finger at me before stuffing fries into his mouth and licking off the tangy red sauce. “They take you more seriously, looking for more overall skill. It’s like with the men, they expect us all to have powerful arms and boom you’re on the team.”
“So by that logic, you would say it’s harder to get on the women's team?” I ask.
Greg nods enthusiastically. “Absolutely. Not to knock down the people on the men’s team, obviously, you would still have to be the best of the best. But I don’t know… I've seen some of the women turned away, and they were insane.”
Alex stretches his arm along the back of the booth and I subtly lean my body away. Emily claps her hands.
“Alright, enough water polo talk. Don’t you get enough of it?” she says jokingly.
I look her dead on. “No.”
Alex snorts, and my lips curl in the corners of my mouth gently.
She rolls her eyes. “Okay, then I’ve had enough of it. How about that?”
Shrugging, I pick up my food to finally eat. “Whatever you want. It’s Emily’s world, I just live in it.”
“Ah, I miss your dazzling personality. I feel like I’ve barely seen you outside of practice. It’s weird here without a car. I feel like I’m stuck in the dorms,” she says with a pout.
Greg wraps his arm around her shoulder. “I told you I would take you wherever you want.”
“That’s weird because I feel like I’ve seen you more than I did in high school,” I tell her.
Emily sighs. “Probably because it’s slower. More chances to just hang out in between classes. I don’t know why they forced us to wake up at seven a.m. every day to prepare us for college when most professors don’t even want to come in before nine a.m.”
I swallow my bite before laughing. “I preferred seven a.m. classes after our morning practices. It’s weird to have enough time to go grab breakfast if we want to.”
Alex shifts in his seat next to me. “I didn’t know you guys went to the same school. You guys end up in the same dorm too?”
Emily frowns and looks at me with a pout. “No, somebody got an apartment off-campus.”
Both boys turn to glance at me in surprise.
“You got your own place?” Alex asks.
I shake my head. “No, I live with my family.”
“They all moved here?” Greg asks, the incredulous tone making me blush.
“Yeah, they did. My mom got a better job offer so I guess she thought why not.”
Greg smiles. “That’s awesome to have that kind of support.” I didn't fully appreciate how sweet his comment was when the ever-growing irritation to my left interrupted.
“Man, I wouldn’t want my family following me to college. This is the time you want without their watchful eyes,” Alex says, laughing as he rubs a hand down his chest.
Emily rolls her eyes. “Yeah, don’t worry, Alex. Your mom wouldn’t care about the nonexistent girls you bring over and your daily dates with a cheese pizza.”
His hands drop in his lap as he stares at her, his neck and cheeks flushing. Greg shakes his head, pushing at Emily’s chin with his knuckle. “What have I told you, beautiful? Alex can dish it, but he can’t take it. You gotta retract those claws.”
My stomach twists in second-hand embarrassment, so I turn to him with an exaggerated look of judgment. “You eat pizza with only cheese? That’s serial killer behavior.”
Alex blinks at me before realizing I’m joking and smiles softly. “No, putting pineapple on your pizza is serial killer behavior.”
Emily snorts. “Tell him your favorite pizza, Sage.”
I lick my drying lips, narrowing my eyes at her. “I’m actually not that picky. I could eat any kind of pizza, even plain cheese.”
Emily squints and then nods slightly. She got defensive over his comment about family, knowing I’m close with mine. I love her dearly and appreciate her, but it’s not like I know the poor dude well enough to even care about his opinion.
“Have you actually ever tried pineapple and ham on your pizza, dude? It’s not bad. I wouldn’t order it willingly, but if the offer is there, I’m not gonna turn it down,” Greg says, breaking up the tense stare-off between Emily and me.
Alex shakes his head. “The thought of warm pineapple disgusts me.”
“You know what I think is gross? Bacon in ice cream,” I say.
Emily gasps. Maple bacon, whatever nasty concoction, is her absolute favorite, and I know I hit my target.
I snicker, enjoying the friendly banter that continues as we finish up our lunch. Alex finally gets the hint and scoots away from me, giving me more room, and I relax in the booth. It’s nice to spend time with others, but it also reminds me of my loneliness. That this isn’t something I do often, either because of time or money. It also helps briefly to remove my mind from the ever-hanging cloud storming over me. I crossed the line with my coach and now that he’s ignoring me, I’m not sure how to feel about that other than confused and hurt.
Chapter Fifteen
Sage
Gwen slaps her palms on the surface of the pool with a snarling expression. I smirk, catching the ball she throws back to me.
“Want to continue corners or you want to try skip shots?” I ask her.
She shakes her head before swimming to the ladder and climbing out of the pool. “Give me a few minutes.”
