Page 62 of Call the Shots (For The Arena #1)

JUNE

PROPERTY OF JUNE BASIL

When we returned to RV, Bear passed out on the couch in the lounge and I tucked him in with one of his blankets. Most of the Gladiators dragged out their mattresses until the lounge was full of twenty snoring college boys, limbs over limbs, elbows in faces.

And me?

I woke up in the morning, giddy with excitement. Bear wanted sex, no doubt about it. When he was coherent enough, I planned to make him sweat out his hangover. Whistling, I cooked chocolate chip pancakes, piling a plate high with them.

I made a separate, non-chocolate pancake for myself, but I dumped it on the pile. Someone else could have it. Syrup was out of the question, but I would have a chocolate chip pancake. I stuck a piece in my mouth, letting the rich chocolate seep over my tongue.

“So fucking good,” I whispered, eyes closed.

I carried supplies to the lounge, the orange juice, the water pitcher, syrup, and other essentials for a big breakfast. That meant tiptoeing across the mattresses.

The boys looked younger in their sleep, the hard lines gone. I couldn’t believe they wouldn’t play together.

I stacked everything on the table below the TV and returned with a plate of bacon. It was one of our last mornings together, I’d make sure it was a good one.

“Good morning,” I whispered, nudging Montoya until he blinked blearily at me. I prodded the others, creating a domino effect of hockey players shaking their teammates awake. Carefully, I made my way to Bear and touched his back. “Good morning.”

He buried his face in the couch cushion and moaned.

Not the last one of the day .

I bit back the smirk.

“June?” Nick croaked, digging into his pancakes. “Is your leg sore?”

“Hm?”

“With Bear humping it all night?”

Snickers passed through the room, and I flicked the back of his head, moving to take his plate until he gave a half-hearted apology.

Bear finally stretched, a mass covered in blankets. Pouring myself a cup of water, I could hear him stumble to the table and mumble a ‘thank you’ between shoveling bacon into his mouth.

The room fell silent.

Forks froze over their plates, cartons of juice were held midair, mouths fell open. Everyone stared at Bear. The only one looking away from him was Elijah. His eyes were on me.

I moved around the table to see what the big deal was as Bear chugged a cup of orange juice.

Was something…written on his face?

On his forehead was PROPERTY OF. Left cheek was JUNE . Right cheek was BASIL.

PROPERTY OF JUNE BASIL .

The breath left my body, and I joined the gawkers. Bear slowly realized we were staring at him and paused. “What? Do I have something on my face?”

The room erupted into laughter and every guy still on their mattress doubled over with it. I was so shocked, I couldn’t move, while Bear demanded to know what the hell was so funny before he dug out his phone.

“What is this?!” he demanded. “What does it say?!”

He must’ve connected it because threats ricocheted out of him but that just made the team laugh harder. I didn’t laugh—not because it wasn’t funny but because I was so stunned.

I took his hand to go downstairs. “There’s a big thing of rubbing alcohol at the front desk. We need to act now to get it off?—”

“Who did this?!” Bear shouted over his shoulder. The answer would have to wait.

Downstairs, the front desk assistant handed me the rubbing alcohol and a box of tissues without question. Bear was blushing so hard, it highlighted the words. It was pretty obvious what we needed.

I had him lean down while I rubbed the tissue into his cheek. “I think it’s been too long,” I confessed. “We’ll have to do this over a couple of days, you can use my face wash.”

“Those fucking idiots,” Bear mumbled, avoiding my gaze. “I didn’t write this!”

“I know you wouldn’t,” I murmured.

“Oh. Holy shit.”

“Hm?”

He swallowed. “You have a leash around my neck and you’re the only one who doesn’t know.”

Seconds passed between us. A million emotions whirled while Bear burned darker and darker red. Oh, he wanted sex. He absolutely wanted to fuck. And he had no idea I felt the same. I moved to take Bear’s hand when he left for the stairs.

“Bear?” I blinked. “ Bear? ”

The door swung shut behind him and I hurried to follow. Bear stopped on the stairs to turn back. “What the fuck is wrong with me? You’re going through an eating disorder and I’m trying to get pussy—I’m sorry.”

“Bear—”

“We can pretend like I didn’t say anything,” he insisted. “Because I’d rather have you as a friend—I’d rather have you in my life at all than fuck this up—what was I thinking? ”

“Bear! Bear! ” It didn’t matter how many times I interrupted, he continued to our dorm, leaving me to run after him. We passed the lounge, the questions echoing behind us.

“What are they doing?” Montoya wondered.

“Don’t ask, Kid’s Toy,” Nick said firmly. “I don’t want to know, you don’t want to know, it’s better if we don’t know.”

In our dorm, I ducked in front of Bear, and he brushed me aside. I stumbled on my sneakers and swiped something heavy on the counter, the five pound bag of flour I meant to close up. Both the flour and I hit the ground, flour poofing into the air.

“ Fuck! ” Bear dropped down, a face in the haze of flour. “I’m sorry?—”

The flour choked out my laughter. “Bear, I’m fine?—”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry?—”

“I can have an eating disorder and have sex, those aren’t mutually exclusive.”

Bear froze. His warm brown eyes had my focus, slowly trailing to my mouth. My laughter eased until it was the two of us on the kitchen floor, in a cloud of flour, and my heart thumped painfully in my chest.

He shifted forward. “You said you’d never kiss me because you hate me. Do you still hate me?”

I shook my head. “No.”

Time slowed to a stop, heightening the electricity between us. He touched my face, running his hand along my jaw until he cupped it, pulling me to him, like he’d been pulling me to him all along.

Bear’s lips met mine.

Stars begin with a gravitational collapse, something crumbling into itself from the sheer force.

It was a shock in the literal sense of the word, jolting me in surprise.

We tore away from each other, and I knew I wasn’t the only one who felt it.

Bear stared, eyes wide, before his lips crashed to mine.

His arms went around my waist, mine to his neck, we were clumsy, taken aback with the electricity—what the hell was that? I’d never experienced anything close.

“ Fuck, ” he panted, yanking away. His eyes were wild. “I—I have to brush my teeth.”

Of all the things to say—I laughed, my head spinning too much to do anything else and I relied entirely on him when he pulled me to a standing position.

Taking him in, I giggled. He was covered in flour with PROPERTY OF JUNE BASIL on his face. “We should get cleaned up?—”

“No, no, no.” He shook his head quickly. “Can we shower after?” He dipped down for another kiss, backing me up against the counter. “I need to eat you out and my knees are going to hurt in the shower.”