AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He shakes his head and looks away, staring up at the corner of the ceiling as if he thinks I can’t see the glassiness of his eyes. “Coach said I’m at risk of academic probation. I guess my last research paper didn’t bring up my grade any in that class…so now…” His words die off, and he turns toward the wall, completely avoiding eye contact. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what?” I give in to my instincts and lie down behind him, wrapping my arm around his middle and pulling him against me.
“Disappointing you,” he says softly.
“No, baby.” I let the endearment that I only use when nursing him slip out and press my forehead against the back of his neck. He’s sweaty and sticky from practice, and my tongue wants so badly to swipe across his salty skin, but I hold back. “I’m not disappointed. But I am going to help fix this.”
He exhales deeply as if he knows what that means. “Help how?”
I think about it for a few minutes, reconsidering the tactic I’ve taken so far. “Well, the rewards system seems to work…temporarily. So maybe we need to add in a punishment system.”
He takes a shuddering breath, the motion vibrating through him. “What kind of punishment?” Now I’ve got his attention. Lucas turns under my arm, his hand pressing against my chest, careful not to press too hard but almost caressing my pec underneath my layers.
“For one, I think our morning sessions need to stop until all your grades are stable. Maybe they’re too distracting for you.”
“No, Hunter. That’s more of a punishment for you than for me.”
Damn, he’s right. It’ll be shitty for me, but he likes it, so it’s still an effective incentive if I use it properly. “Do you have the option of making corrections on your paper and turning it back in?”
He nods, holding my gaze. “Yeah. I can bring it up to a B if I turn in a new paper tomorrow.”
That works. “Okay, how about this? Tomorrow morning, you can have five minutes on each side to take the pressure off me. It’ll help, even though neither of us will be fully satisfied.”
“Um, okay… I guess. For how long?”
I shrug and rub my finger along his jawline, suddenly unable to keep my hands off him. “As long as it takes, I guess.”
He raises an eyebrow. “So, if I get my grade up by Friday, we’ll be good for…”
I have to grin at his eagerness. “Friday night after your game?”
Lucas pouts like he wants to protest that but decides against it and instead bites his lower lip and nods slowly. “Yes, please.”
“If you guys win, then we can do it on Friday night. If not, Saturday morning… As long as you get a B on that paper.”
“I guess that’s not the worst punishment ever.”
I grin as I look at him. “Oh, it’ll get worse…”
“How can it get worse without you punishing yourself too?”
My hand slides down over his ass and gives him a soft smack. “You might just need a good spanking to refocus your attention where it belongs.”
Lucas looks at me for a moment, and I start to worry that maybe I’ve gone too far. Maybe I’m overthinking what’s going on between us. Then his eyes close and his head falls back. “You’re killing me, Hunt.”
“You’re doing this to yourself, baby. Get your head where it belongs, and we both get what we want.”
His eyes snap open and lock with mine, asking the same silent questions that I have rolling around in my mind. The questions we aren’t ready to give voice to…and that we really aren’t ready to answer.
Once his grades are fully up, we’ll figure things out. Until then, he doesn’t have room in his life for anything extra.
12
LUCAS
Why the hell do my sources have to come from the university database? And why did it cost me fifty fucking points? All the articles on that thing are at least twenty pages, full of tiny words, and have absolutely zero pictures. Not everyone has the time or energy to read all that shit, especially not a student athlete.
The websites I chose should have been perfectly acceptable, especially The New York Times. Everybody uses The New York Times!
