Walking The Line | ✓

Chapter Ten

I rested my hands on my thighs, feeling the waves of heat radiating from my body and took a deep breath. One in. One out. In through the nose, out through the mouth. I counted each inhale and exhale until my breathing evened out. A drop of sweat moved down the side of my face at a snail like pace and I wiped it away with my forearm.

With a worn out sigh, I picked the hem of the white tank top I'd shrugged on that morning between my thumb and forefinger and used if to fan myself. The cold air touched my heated skin and I couldn't be more grateful for it.

We'd gotten to the club short of two hours ago after Colton had texted me the address. I was surprised to find out the place was just a few blocks from my complex. Convincing Lily to walk instead of taking the bus hadn't taken me half as long as I'd first thought it would. When we finally stood in front of the wide double doors and confirmed they were open it hit me that there was nothing impossible for these guys. Connections were everything for you.

We'd moved through the empty place to the end of the hallway, where Colton had texted me was the court, following the loud voices that resonated through the walls. A group of guys had gathered around the bleachers, I recognized Colton and the German among them. We'd started to make our way over when one of the guys caught sight of us and then one by one every head started to turn our way, their gazes lingering. I held back an eye roll. Could they be any less obvious?

Finally, Colton had broken away and come jogging, a bright smile on his face showing perfectly strong white teeth. I had almost felt Lily melting beside me.

"Hey," He'd said before I found myself being pulled into the circle of his arms. He'd swayed me to the sides a few times and let me go. Then he'd turned towards Lil and his smile turned wicked, "Hey darling," was his voice husky? I couldn't tell. "I'm glad you could come."

"I wouldn't miss you having your ass handed to you by my Van here." She had replied with a sweet smile and a gesture towards me.

Colton had let out a laugh, "I'm sorry to poop your bubble darling but I doubt you'll see that show today." Lily had been about to respond when he interrupted her, "Van's on my team." He concluded.

From there we'd gone from introductions to choosing and finally, after we'd all changed into our sport clothes, playing.

Now I was trying to regain my composure. One of the guys on my team had jumped to throw a basket, the defence coming up to block him and I'd taken advantage of the few seconds I had to ease back and take a breather.

Everything in me ached. I had been right when I told Colton I was out of practice. I just hadn't realized how much until I found myself on a court bouncing an orange ball, dribbling, shooting running and jumping with a group of seriously competitive guys. All the muscles on my legs and arms, even ones I didn't know existed, were complaining and begging me to quit.

I couldn't understand how they did it. We'd been at it for almost forty minutes and I was close to keeling over.

We were on the last minutes of the fourth and last quarter and loosing for five points. I couldn't rein in the curse that left my mouth when the throw was successfully blocked by none other than the German leberkäse. His eyes met mine across the court as my voice echoed in the closed space. His lips curled as he blew out a breath and the realization that I wasn't the only one close to collapsing made me feel slightly better. I held his gaze for a beat letting him know I wasn't backing down and watched the edge of his mouth tilt up in a smirk. He looked smug, the jackass was enjoying beating me down.

We had seven minutes left. We needed to score. Those were my thoughts while I observed the power forward from the opposite team pick the ball make a turn and start dribbling it towards our basket, all the players catching up to him. I stood my ground, legs on a stance, hands at an angle, ready to block if he made an attempt to score. He made it past the center line before Colton in a clean swipe of hands, that I couldn't describe with another word other than surreal, regained control of the ball and started running in the opposite direction. I followed him.