“You’re right. I left my friends behind when I moved here, but I’m trying to make up for it. So give me a break with that. But I’m not like you guys with how you use people. You take advantage of them.”
“And if they were us, they’d do exactly the same thing. They’d be taking advantage of us.”
“It doesn’t make it right,” I clipped out. Standing firm in my belief.
Mandy left and I heard the door click shut, the sound echoing in my head.
Maybe life would be easier if I just avoided it.
CHAPTER TEN
Mandy and I had come to a stand-still. An impasse. That night, Mandy stuck around with the rest of the group. Devon had stayed away. Sasha had been called over. And I heard Tray and Carter’s voice downstairs at one point.
I stayed upstairs the entire time.
Shelley had knocked on my door, asking if I wanted any supper, but I declined.
Instead, I’d finished my homework for Monday, Tuesday, and started a paper that was due at the end of the term.
See. Avoiding people does have some benefits.
I’d heard Shelley and Kevin say their goodnights and a moment later, Shelley poked her head back through. “Hey, wanted to say goodnight. And don’t forget to just ask the coach tomorrow. It doesn’t hurt. If anything you might make some friends you can train with.”
I nodded and said goodnight back. Kevin waved over Shelley’s shoulder before they both moved on.
About an hour later, I heard another knock before the door swung open and Tray slipped through.
I didn’t say anything. Neither did he. But I did move over as he crawled onto the bed, lying beside me.
We stared at each other for a moment. Tray lifted a hand and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, his fingers smoothed out the rest of my hair before sliding down to my arm, then down to my waist.
I closed my eyes and leaned forward, finding his lips with mine. I felt myself melting into him. He traced my lips with his, then swept inside. I moved my arm around him, and twisted one of my legs around his, pulling him tighter against me. He caressed my leg, keeping it locked around him.
I sighed, moving back as Tray rose above me.
Hearing my phone ring, I groaned, my mouth still fused with his.
“Leave it,” he murmured, trailing kisses down the side of my face to my neck. Then farther down, bringing a grin to my face.
Dazed, I numbly grabbed for my phone and raised it to my eyes. I saw a number I didn’t recognize. “What the…” I mumbled.
Tray reached for my phone and stuck it inside a drawer in my nightstand as his lips met mine again, more insistent this time.
I complied and wrapped my arms around his neck as he pressed me back into the pillows.
Breathing hard, awhile later, Tray called a halt to our make-out session, sitting up in bed. Staring at me, he said hoarsely, “If we don’t stop now, we won’t be stopping for the rest of the night.”
“I know.” I sighed. Everyone was still downstairs, not that that would’ve put a damper on us, but…the parents, not to mention Austin. He was a smart eighth grader, but he was still an eighth grader. He might think he knows shit, but I’d rather him not learn it from me.
Tray ran a hand through his hair, regarding me wryly.
I chuckled and gasped, feeling him suddenly lift me in the air and settle me against his chest, with him resting against my headboard. He placed me before him, one hand against my stomach.
“This is new,” I murmured.
I felt Tray grin into my hair, his face resting against mine. “Yeah. I’m not after sex all the time. Just most the time.”
I grinned. “I am.”