Blood in the Water

Chapter Nine

Edd always listened to classical music on the days of his swim meets. Anyone who knew anything about the swimmer stayed quite clear of the shark, even Marie. Today was a good day for Bach in Eddward's mind, the building tempo of his symphonies reverberated through every bone and muscle in his body. He listened between classes, sometimes even during class when the material was boring enough.

The point was to drown out everything but the thought of the water, to cancel out any thoughts that might distract him during the meet. The objective was to think only of the water...the coldness of its grasp, the smell of chlorine that would cling to his body long after he had won, to focus on how his muscles would burn so elegantly.

Yet the left side of his face felt warm where a hand had held it, his lips still tingled slightly from the memory of the soft pad of the jock's thumb. His body still trembled lightly with the need to feel the body beneath him work against his own, to fight and struggle.

He was not meant to think of the feel of Kevin's muscles flexing beneath his fingers, or how strong the athlete was to match his own physique. He could not bring himself to think of how empty he felt, how he craved to be filled by only one.

Edd was above his damned hormones!

Perhaps Bach was too romantic for that day. He took his iPod and flipped his play list to reflect his mood, a collection of rock opera by his beloved ES Posthumus. The heavy beat sank into his mind and he finally found the trance he had been looking for, though perhaps a little more aggressive than he had originally hoped.

He abandoned his sixth period as he always did on game days and found himself spending extra time on the treadmill to get his muscles burning properly. He wore weights on his wrists to help with this, reveled in the ache. When the final school bell rang and he turned off the machine and pulled out his ear buds he felt an overwhelming sense of confidence.

He was grinning as he walked into the locker room, he felt like a caged panther who had been pacing all week just waiting...waiting impatiently for his cage to be opened.

Edd didn't hear his teammates, he got into his suit, put on his cap and goggles and rolled his shoulders as he went out to meet hisB competition. Many swimmers wore robes or shorts to hide themselves until it was time to get in the water, but Edd loved to show off his body, he was damn proud of it. He was proud of the looks he got from friends and foes alike, how he could look at his competition and see them look away in shame.

Sex couldn't hold a candle to the feeling Edd got right before a meet. The adrenaline he felt pulsing through his veins, the high he got from the thought of putting his competition to shame. Though his altercations with Kevin could come close, the push and pull of he and the jock was quite rewarding in its own right.

Before he realized that he had been spacing out the buzzer rang to announce the first round. Edd's skin prickled with goosebumps that had nothing to do with the meet. He was not scheduled to go until the third round, that was when the Captains were to face off.

Oliver was in the first round. Edd watched the round with muted interest; Oliver was good for bursts of speed but his stamina was greatly lacking. He finished with a rather poor time.

Hector came up next. He was almost as good as Eddward himself, he was strong and aggressive and self-sustaining. He didn't need to be harassed like the rest of the team in order to maintain his standing. He finished with an admirable time.

Finally...

Edd's round came up, he felt the rush beginning to boil beneath his skin. He stepped up to the edge of the pool, listened to the muted sound of the water lapping against the side of the pool, smelled the chlorine. His competition, the other captains, was exhilarating, although he knew and they knew that they stood little chance. Perhaps he was cocky? He had every right to be.