Sidegirl (Reverse Harem)

28. Dribbling Queen

I sighed and rolled my eyes fervently as I watched Dante place a line of little orange cones on the gras of the football field. To be honest, my eyes were more trained on Dante's tight ass in his shorts the whole time than on those dumb orange cones that were just waiting to see me trip over them.

It was Wednesday evening and we had the football field to ourselves. The sun was drowning in a pool of deep orange and the late summer-air had still comfortable degrees. Somewhere in the bushes behind the little terrace of the sports ground, crickets were chirping. It was a nice evening – minus what I was about to do.

I rolled my eyes again when Dante straightened after having placed the last cone.

"One push-up for every eye-roll from now on." He grinned at me.

I huffed, but didn't dare to roll my eyes again.

"You're not telling me what to do." I approached the field with crossed arms and a resentful look.

He came up to me and flashed one of his outrageous crooked smiles.

"Right." Sarcasm was dripping from his voice.

I squeaked when he pinched my ass cheek.

"We'll see about that."

Indignantly, I reached out to pinch him too. He quickly snatched my wrist, pulled me close and wrapped both arms around me from behind. Astonished, I looked down at his arms holding me like a vice.

He reached out his foot towards the ball lying next to us and lobbed it to kick it vertically. He let it bounce on his knee, before he caught it with one hand.

The ball was pushed against my ribcage.

"Five rounds of dribbling. Now."

I sighed, took the few steps to the first cone, and put the football down.

Then I turned to him to find his eyes trained on me.

I looked down at the football, then at him again.

"Could you...not look at me?"

He frowned. "What?"

"Can you please turn around?"

He blinked.

"I need to observe your performance to spot your weaknesses, kitten."

I pouted critically. I got that. Problem was, I looked like Tweety when I did this. At least it felt like it.

"I get that. But...just do it for the first round, okay? I need to get used to it first." I fiddled with my hands nervously.

His eyes softened.

"Okay, fine." He turned his broad back to me. Him crossing his arms over his chest made his muscles very apparent under his jersey. "But I doubt there's any situation in which you don't look good."

I was relieved that he had already turned around and didn't see how flustered his comment made me.

"Thank you," I mumbled.

"Just facts."

I made it past three cones with the ball bouncing from foot to foot, before I stumbled and fell on all fours. Em-bar-rass-ing. Oh, and ouch.

Dante was with me in an instant.

"Y/n, are you alright?" He helped me up carefully.

"Yes, yes." I fended off his helping hands ashamed. When I lifted my knees, I saw with relief that they weren't open and I dusted down the grass from my skin.

"Wait here," he told me and stood up.

He disappeared in an equipment room under the terrace and reappeared holding something in his hand.

When he was at my side again, I saw that he held kneepads. He got down on one knee in front of me and held one of them open. Hesitantly, I lifted my foot and slipped it through. He pulled the tight band up till it rested on my knee. After we had repeated the procedure with my other leg, he got up.

"What would Ben and Nate think if you had bruises on your knees after meeting with me." He winked then returned to his position on the edge of the field.

➳➳➳

After almost two hours of pure torture, I was lying in the grass, gasping for air.

"Dante, I can't anymore. I just can't."

"Yeah, I see that. We're finished here."

I lifted my head to eye him suspiciously. He hadn't cared for my whining and pleading for the last two hours, so I had no reason to trust him now. But when I saw him stowing away all the equipment we had used, my mood brightened and I mustered up the strength to get up.

I took my time in the shower in the girl's changing room. I stretched my overstrained muscles and enjoyed the soft warm drops on my skin.

When I stepped out of the changing room, I found Dante leaning against the wall, lazily scrolling through his phone.

He looked up. His hair was still wet from the shower, his fresh grey shirt clung rather tight to his body and he had his sports bag casually slung over one shoulder.

"Seriously kitten, how long can a person possibly take to shower?"

"Are you in a rush?" I asked him cockily.

"Yes. I am. Because I have a lot planned for us tonight." He started to walk next to me.

I slowed down at his words.

"Wait what?"

"Training's not over, kitten. It continues at my apartment."

I bit my lip and hurried to catch up with him.

To think, Dante wouldn't demand instant 'payment' for his tutoring was delusional. And it made me as excited as it made me nervous.

☆・*。