Page 68 of The Penalty

She turns to me once she’s dressed. “How do I look?”

Her hair is messy, her lips are swollen, and her cheeks are flushed. She looks fucking beautiful. She looks like mine.

“Freshly fucked,” I answer.

Her eyes widen, and she pulls down the visor to look in the little mirror. “Oh, no. What am I going to do?”

“You’re going to fix your ponytail and walk back in there like you just had the best sex of your life.” I envy her because I have to go home and pretend like I didn’t just have the best sex of my life. Each time with McKenzie just feels better and better.

She smiles, and I lean over to give her one more kiss. “See you tonight?”

She nods. We have to go back to me sneaking into her room, which sucks, but I think we’re both willing to take what we can get right now while we try to decide what to do next.

She gets out of my truck, and I watch her fix her ponytail as she walks back inside the restaurant.

I wait until she’s back in before I head to the store to get hot chocolate for Kylie and go home to pretend like I did nothing wrong.

TWENTY-SEVEN

MCKENZIE

Things have gone back to normal since Thanksgiving break. Kylie and I are thrown back into schoolwork with only a few weeks left in the semester. Work and studying take up almost all my time, and whatever spare time I do have, Tyler steals from me. He comes to my room almost every night but always makes sure to sneak out early enough not to get caught.

I hate sneaking around behind Kylie’s back, but I think I’m just as scared as Tyler to tell her about what we’ve been doing. We both know she won’t be happy about it. If the situation was reversed, I know I’d be pissed. And yet, I can’t stop this, and I’m not sure what that says about me.

Today is my last day working with the football team since the regular season is over. They’re going on to their bowl game and semi-finals, but my class is almost over, so I won’t be there for that. At least not on the sidelines.

I wanted to at least thank all the coaches for letting me hang around the last few months and share my photos with the team. Tyler mentioned several times that I should show them, so I finally worked up the courage to put my favorites on a flash drive for them.

I can tell that most of the team is in the gym when I get to the field house because laughter mixed with the clanking of the metal weights echoes through the halls.

When I walk in, they all greet me with a really loud, really annoying yell that makes me burst out laughing. I’ve had so much fun with these guys. They have the best attitudes and certainly know how to have a good time while simultaneously being powerhouses on the field.

“Hey guys, I just came to say goodbye,” I announce.

Quinn is the first one to say something. “What? No!”

“Yeah, my class is almost over. And you guys don’t have another game until New Year’s, so this is it for me.”

A few of them come over to hug me, which feels a little strange since I can feel Tyler’s eyes on me. I’ve learned over the last few weeks that Tyler is possessive. He wants me all to himself, and I kinda like it.

When the hugs are over, I walk toward the coaches and hand Coach Zach a flash drive.

“This has the pictures on it that I’ve been taking throughout the season in case you guys want to look at them,” I explain.

“Thanks, McKenzie,” Coach Zach says, taking the drive from me. “It’s been nice having you around. We’re definitely gonna miss you.”

I thank them all before I finally turn my attention to Tyler. His gaze is blazing into me. I could feel it this whole time but I had to ignore him if I wanted to get out everything I wanted to say to the team.

“Coach, Professor Moore said she sent you an email about my final assessment. Would you mind responding to her by the end of the week?”

“Yeah, why don’t you come to my office and I’ll try to find it right now,” he says.

Coach Zach chuckles. “If this guy doesn’t do it now, it’ll never get done. He’s the worst with emails.”

I smile, glad they don’t think it’s weird that I’m going to Tyler’s office with him. . . alone. I guess it wouldn’t be weird if we weren’t hiding the fact that we’re having sex every chance we get.

I follow Tyler out of the gym and down the familiar hall to his office.