Ritual - Palm South University

I cry out his name, holding onto the leather seats for dear life as he pounds into me hard, harder, over and over, punishing and claiming.

And when he’s ready to come, he pulls out of me and flips me back over, climbing up the seat to empty inside my mouth.

I swallow every drop.“NO, NO, NO,” KIP groans, shaking his head on the screen of my laptop. “You’re supposed to take the clothes off — not put them on.”

I chuckle, zipping up my black dress pants and fastening the button at the top before I shove one arm through the long-sleeve, white, button-up top. I lean forward once both arms are in, pushing my cleavage together.

“Take one last look, baby,” I tease, biting my lip. “Because in about two minutes, I’ll look like a cocktail waiter and your sex drive will die right along with my pride.”

Kip chuckles, but his eyes are on my chest with a longing sigh on his lips. “Please don’t button up that top.”

“But I have to go to work.”

“You should come here, instead.”

I smile. “To California? Sure, I’ll hop the next flight.”

“Great. See you soon!”

Kip jokes like he’s going to hang up our video chat, but of course he doesn’t, and then we’re both smiling and staring at each other through the screen, wishing we could touch from across the country.

As horrible as the summer was with his father passing away, I hadn’t realized until the new semester started how spoiled we had been. Even after his father had passed, we’d spent time with his mom, in his hometown, falling more in love every single day — while also dealing with the fall-out from the tournament. It didn’t take long for the reporters to put the pieces together and realize Kip was the same guy from the bonfire photo that had been leaked of me, and needless to say, we were the juiciest story the poker world had seen in a while — especially once I disappeared off the scene.

In those short months of summer, Kip had become my person. We’d spend nearly every day together, every night in each other’s arms, and now we had thousands of miles between us.

And there was just no way around it.

It hurt.

Kip was finally at his dream school — UCLA — chasing his dream of becoming a script writer. And as much as I knew he was where he needed to be, and I was where I needed to be at PSU, I hated that those two schools were not in the same zip code.

Or even the same state.

There was only so much a text or a phone call or even a video chat could do.

I stand, shrugging the dress shirt on and start buttoning it from the bottom up. “What are you going to do tonight?”

“Dream about you stripping out of that outfit.”

I roll my eyes.

“Alpha Sigma is having a little party to kick off Greek Week,” he says after he gets his rise out of me. “Rick and I are going to head that way after our Character Creation class.”

“I still can’t believe you managed to find not only a fraternity brother with the same major, but then he ends up as your roommate, too.”

Kip chuckles. “It’s not so weird here, babe. Everyone wants to work in movies or TV or music.” He shrugs, a dreamy smile on those perfect lips I love to taste. “That’s why I wanted to be here. It feels like home.”

My heart rips somehow with a gentle pang of longing, as if his words hurt just as much as they made me proud of him. I still remember our first date, when he opened up to me about his dreams of writing scripts, and now, he’s on his way to doing just that.

“What’s wrong, Ella Mae,” he asks, leaning forward. The movement allows me to see the Singing in the Rain movie poster hanging above his bed behind him. “You seem distant tonight.”

I sigh, flopping down in the office chair at my desk as I struggle with the red bow tie around my neck. “I don’t know. I guess I’ve just been feeling a little… lost. Now that I’m not playing poker professionally, I feel like one of my limbs has been cut off.”

“You still could play, you know,” he reminds me.

I nod, but fall quiet, because we both know not continuing to play was the best move for me. Kip and I made quite the scene in Vegas last year, and really — I’ve accomplished what I wanted to. Mom and Dad are set up financially, my tuition and then some is paid, and I have a solid savings stashed up for when I graduate. Plus — I got the guy.

What more do I need?

Poker has served its purpose for me, and now I want to dive deeper and find out what I want to do with the rest of my life.