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Page 42 of Call the Shots (For The Arena #1)

BEAR

SPILLED

I kept checking my phone during a study session with the guys. Over and over again. Enough for Fridge to try to slide it across the table to keep it out of reach.

“I won’t touch it again,” I muttered, stashing it in my bag.

Elijah snickered. “I’m going to start counting, let’s see how many seconds he lasts. One, two, three?—”

My phone pinged, and I dove for it.

“I didn’t make it to four,” Elijah guffawed.

killer june

this is so dumb but can i get pictures of my plants please?

me

do you want a video call for proof of life

killer june

thatd be wonderful

I abandoned my stuff and Nick scoffed behind me. “Are you taking your shit?”

“It makes me feel bad for King,” I could hear Montoya whisper.

“Shut up, Kid’s Toy,” Elijah said.

“Shut up, Kid’s Toy,” Nick agreed.

“Kid’s Toy,” Fridge warned. “Mind your own.”

I let the door swing shut behind me. On the back of my couch, I had my supplies.

My tank top was folded over and my notebook rested on top.

June gave me the notebook for my alternate captain duties, but I used it to write down stuff from our conversation too.

I shrugged off my shirt, scanning the notes.

“June met Ryan, Adam, and King freshman year…” I muttered to myself, throwing on the tank top. “King wants Willow, Willow’s with Elijah but not real, Elijah’s trying to get Sloane…” I checked my hair in the bathroom, repeating the lines under my breath.

June had a big friend group, and it was hard to keep shit straight. Then everyone had people they were dating, siblings, or best friends—Elijah’s twin sister was somehow mixed in, but I forgot to write down her stuff and was too embarrassed to ask for a clarification.

I read the pages one more time before putting the call through to June. “Hey,” I said while the spiral played across the screen. Above all else, I wanted to look cool, not like I had a swirling vortex inside. “Hey, June. Heyyy. Hi. Hello—” June appeared, and I straightened up. “Hey!”

She was sitting outside of a restaurant, her chin in hand, blonde hair whisking around her face in the breeze. There was a flush to her cheeks that made my heart pound. Fuck, she was so pretty.

“Hi, Bear,” she said with the softest smile.

I pushed open the door to her room. “Want to see how the kids are doing?”

“Yes, please.”

I flipped the camera. “I know what you’re thinking. Did I kill them and buy replacements? If I did, they'd never say. I trained them better than that.”

“Oh, really?”

“Or I’m an incredibly trustworthy plant sitter. Which one’s more believable?”

A giggle burst out of her, and she sighed. “Thanks. I needed that.”

Her eyes were so beautiful. What color were they? Light green? They were like sea glass, like something prized you had to search to find. I flipped the camera again and threw a thumbs-up sign with the plants behind me, clearly showing her leafy children were fine.

“I’ve never seen you in a tank top,” June said suddenly.

I bit back the grin. “It’s from a 5k in North Dakota, just a twenty-one minute and thirty-four second run. I beat all my teammates. Pretty good, I guess.” I flashed the logo. “It was for a charity to help cancer?—”

“You helped cancer?”

“No—no.” I returned to the couch. “Help kids with cancer, I didn’t help cancer?—”

“I’m messing with you,” she teased. “Are you flexing?”

“No,” I lied. “My arms naturally look like this.” I told her about Vernon’s new rule of banning Kokomo in the Colo after Elijah had it playing on a loop in the rink.

When our coach tried to turn the speakers off, the door had been mysteriously locked from the inside.

I had no idea how Elijah did it, but Vernon screamed at everyone for ten minutes.

Then I told her about the gaming session I had planned with the guys. “I’m not allowed to play, only ref.”

“Maybe if you didn’t beat everyone and hold it over them?—”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

June laughed. “You’re the nerdiest guy I know.”

“Best Isle of Lost Souls, Sudden Fear, and Noped kill count scores on the Gladiators,” I boasted. “Besides Fridge but he uses mods.”

“What are mods?”

“It means Fridge is a fucking cheater and tell him I said that.”

June burst into harder laughter and that flustered me more than anything else. I grinned like a monkey in a nature documentary, a flush creeping up my neck.

“So, you—you—” Stop stammering . “You’ve never played video games?”

“I’ve never wanted to blow up aliens.”

“Not all video games are like that.”

She sighed. “I don’t think I’d be good at them.”

“You weren’t good at walking out of the womb either. That took baby steps.” I turned on my machine and cycled through the games. “You have to see this, it’s Zoo Cultivation IV .”

June blinked in surprise. “You’re building a zoo?”

“I have two baby cousins—I don’t know why I’m saying baby, Jillian’s eleven—but we game weekly, and this is her pick. We’ve been working on this zoo for four months?—”

“I didn’t know you did that.”

“I wasn’t going to build a zoo in front of you.” I snorted. “You’d make fun of me.”

“I wouldn’t make fun of you. Bear, this is…very sweet.”

It was quiet until someone pounded their fist at my door.

Who the fuck is that?

June paused. “Do I have to let you go?”

“No—” I shook my head. “Give me one second—” I muted the call and made sure it was muted before stretching back. “IF YOU’RE THE REASON THIS CALL ENDS, I SWEAR TO FUCK, THE BURN UNIT’S GOING TO HAVE A RUNNING BET ON WHAT ANIMAL YOU USED TO BE! ”

The knocking stopped.

I unmuted the call and grinned. “Maintenance for the wrong room. Check your email.”

“My email?” June repeated. I didn’t confirm, I just watched while June’s frown deepened. “Did you…?”

“Yeah.”

“No, I—I can’t accept this.”

“Welcome to Zoo Cultivation IV .”

“It’s sixty dollars. ”

I could’ve pretended like it was no big deal but with the paychecks delayed at Marrs, June knew I was broke. Even if I was, that didn’t matter. “I used my birthday gift card money.”

“I’m not using your birthday money?—”

“No refunds.”

“It says you have thirty days to get a refund!”

“I don’t want a refund. Game with me and we’ll call it even.”

June was speechless. “I’ll ruin your zoo.”

“I game with little kids,” I said easily. “You can’t do worse than them. AJ had an elephant painting class next to a music show. It spooked the elephant, he trampled six guests.”

“Your cousins will hate you for bringing me on?—”

“You and I can build a new zoo together.”

A smile tugged up on her lips before someone said her name. She sighed. “I have to get back to lunch, I just needed a break. Thank you. Really, thank you.”

“Any time,” I promised.

The call ended and I gazed at the ceiling, touching my chest. My heart thumped in a steady rhythm.

June could do that. Change the inner workings of me so easily, like her fingers were casually rolling the dials.

We talked about orbits in Dr. Schulman’s class, but I understood them better than anybody else.

June pulled me into hers and I couldn’t stop the trajectory.

If June wanted proof that her plants were fine, she’d get it. I’d snap a picture of me and the esperanza bush, taking a nap on her bed.

The setup had to be perfect. If the plant tipped over, that’d ruin it. I stretched out on her bed diagonally, getting in position. I reached for one of the big pillows, grinning, until I caught the scent. The pillow hung above me. It was bright pink, and the smell made my muscles freeze.

It was the floral smell from her shampoo. The clean smell of June, fresh out of the shower, when she’d slide down the couch and comb her hair.

Slowly, I lowered the pillow and inhaled.

Fuck, that’s good.

It was more than the smell of her shampoo.

Her, after a nap, in that comfortable, sleepy smell that left my chest warm.

The perfume she occasionally wore. Her lotion, I could definitely smell that, it was some kind of fruit.

Peaches? Apricots? What was it? It was mouthwatering.

A perfect mixture that left my head spinning.

Pressing the pillow against my face, I inhaled as deeply as I could.

My cock stiffened.

Oh, fuck.

“No, no, no,” I muttered, tossing the pillow to its rightful place before leaving with the boner of shame. I wouldn’t get off to the smell of June. While she was out of the dorm for the week? Hell no.

I’d been toeing this line between okay and weird with my feelings. Smelling her pillow wasn’t on that spectrum. It was so deep in ‘fucking weird,’ it was off the grid.

The guy who smells a girl’s pillow doesn’t get to be her boyfriend, that guy goes straight to jail. Do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars. That was psycho, obsessive behavior. And I’d never been that guy before.

No, I wasn’t that guy.

I wouldn’t be that guy. I couldn’t.

At the door though, I stole a glance at her pillow.

“Don’t touch that pillow.” I swore under my breath. “Don’t touch that fucking?—”

My legs didn’t listen. In three strides I was back to the bed, fumbling to unbutton my jeans with one hand, burying my face in her pillow. It was fucking shameful, but that didn’t outweigh how hard I was. My cock throbbed in my hand. I gave short, quick strokes, panting hard.

“Just don’t cum on her bed,” I rasped. “Don’t cum on her bed?—”

I dug my fingers into the pillow, seeing her. Her green eyes, her twinkling laughter. “ Hey, Forty. I reconsidered my no-kissing policy. Why don’t you come over here? ”

My breath caught in my throat, and I choked out curses, muffled into the pillow.

I’d have to dip down to kiss her, to press my lips against hers and finally taste paradise, but June wouldn’t give me the satisfaction. Her fingers would run through my hair while she kept me two inches away. Close enough to remind me of the leash she had wrapped around my neck.

“ How badly do you want it? ” she’d purr.

So fucking bad.

In the fantasy, June’s lips brushed against mine, and I gasped, cumming into my hand, spilling until it overflowed, sending a shock through my body. I pulsed with the release, still in the daze of June?—

“Fuck me,” I groaned and knocked the pillow away. Staring down at…

Oh, shit.

I left for the stairs with my laundry basket, pretending to scroll through my phone.

“How’s June?” Fridge asked.

“Good,” I said, eyes down. I grabbed for the door to the stairs, but the handle had a weird rattling sound. It didn’t budge.

“The door’s busted, I already put in a work order,” Denali said.

Fuck.

I hit the button for the elevator while Elijah snickered. “June has you doing her laundry while she’s gone?”

“No, this is mine,” I said instantly.

Denali paused. “Uh, we can see the pink comforter.”

“I mean, it’s hers, but—” I pressed my palm into the button, holding it down until the fucking thing decided to make an appearance. My neck burned. “I spilled something on it. Whatever. I needed to wash it anyway.”

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