This Round I'm Yours (4 page)

“Your ego knows no bounds.”

“My ego, your pride,” he countered dryly. “We make a good match.”

“No, we don’t.” But they both knew she was only arguing for argument’s sake.

His lips curved. As he slowed down with the light turning red, he murmured, “I need to be in Montreal tonight.”

Her eyes widened. “But you just came back.”

“I know.” Grim regret lined his voice.

“But you said you wouldn’t be flying out for a week.”

“I just received word a while ago. It’s an emergency. I’m sorry.”
 

She didn’t speak. And she wouldn’t until she was sure she wouldn’t end up bawling like a stupid little kid.
 

A moment later, she felt Silver taking hold of her hand on her lap. When she glanced at him, he said softly, “I’m doing my best to delegate. So be patient, mm? I promise, this crazy lifestyle will only be for a few months, and then I won’t be flying out as much.” He paused. “When that happens, I want you to think seriously about moving in with me.”

She was so shocked at the suggestion that she threw her hands up and nearly plastered herself to the door, feeling like distance was much needed to let her think. “
Whoa
there.
”

Silver’s gaze gleamed in amusement. “I love it when you react like a twelve-year-old rapper.”
 

Lace couldn’t even muster enough anger to snipe at him. She shook her head. “Move in with you?”

His smile cooled. “Why not?”

“But…we’ve just started going out?”

“So?”

She threw her hands up again. “You’re the playboy—”

Color stained Silver’s cheeks. “That’s in the past.”

“Fine, then. You’re the
ex-
playboy. Isn’t having
one
woman around you supposed to have you breaking out in a cold sweat?”

“Err, no. I think in this relationship, that’s probably you.”

She couldn’t even make herself deny it.

“Wyndham, look at me.”

She didn’t want to.

“Wyndham.”

Ah, God. How to resist that
silvery
voice?

It was impossible.

Their eyes met.

“I only said to think about it,” he said gently. “Not kill yourself worrying about it. I’m not going to pressure you to do anything.”

She said in a small voice, “I know. It’s just that…” How was she going to tell Slade and her parents about it? What would the boys think about it? Her friends? What did
she
think about it?
 

But…

She could be with Silver every moment possible.

She could sleep with Silver every night, wake up with him beside her every morning. She could spend as much time with him as she wanted, enough maybe to convince him to play basketball because she would so love to be his coach—

Inside her jeans pocket, her phone vibrated, and it was like someone throwing a brick in her glass house.

Everything shattered around her.

If they lived together, it would only be a matter of time before he found out everything about her.
Everything.

“We’re here.”

The words jerked Lace out of her thoughts, and when she looked outside her window, she realized they were indeed in front of her school building.

“I’ll call you from Montreal, okay?”

The reminder that he was going away again was twice as depressing now. “Yeah.”

“You can say it, you know.”

She was bemused. “Say what?”

“That you’ll miss me.”

Before she could answer, she heard a telltale click and knew Silver had locked her in. “Really, March?”

His eyes gleamed. “Say it.”

She bit her lip. “Just…
hurry back.
”

A mere hour later, and she was missing him so badly she wanted to kick herself. Maybe she should have said she would miss him. If she had, maybe Silver would change his mind about leaving.

Lace floated from one class to another, lost in a haze of misery. When lunchtime came, she went to the dining hall and found Aria and KC already waiting for her at their usual table.

When she joined her friends, Aria had her white board ready.
HAVE YOU TOLD HIM?

She hesitated. “There wasn’t time.” The curvy brunette started to write on her board, making Lace wonder absently if this was also how she argued with her boyfriend, the President of Afxisi, an underground racing organization masquerading as a college club.
 

It would be interesting if they did, albeit it would probably be longer than usual. Also, plus points to the one who wrote fastest.
 

Aria suddenly looked up, as if changing her mind about writing. She pointed at Lace, saying succintly, “
Chicken.
”

Lace grimaced. “Can you just go back to your non-talking self and not talk?”

KC laughed. Whereas Aria was someone they had only gotten to know in college, she and KC went as far back as high school.
 

With red hair and green eyes, KC had the makings of a temptress. In reality, she was the opposite, the proverbial good girl with the way she still faithfully attended Sunday service and could only make herself swear using British English cuss words.

“But seriously, Lace…” KC’s tone sobered. “You know we only want the best for you.
 

You have
got
to tell him before Silver starts to realize what’s going on and you start lying—”

“I’m not going to lie about it,” she protested.

“You
always
lie when your pride’s on the line.”

Aria shook her head and showed Lace her board.
CHICKEN.
 

“You’re going to regret delaying it, you know.”

What Lace regretted was her momentary weakness, one that had her confessing to her friends about Grant’s harrassment. She was Lace Wyndham, dammit. She could do everything on her own, and she never asked for help.
 

This was all Silver March’s fault
, Lace thought grumpily. He had gotten her so used to being dependent on him that at the first sign of trouble, she had come bawling to her friends.

Seeing her friends gazing at her worriedly – even Aria – she said brightly, “Relax. I got this.”

Aria wrote on her board.
LIAR.

The rest of the day passed as slowly as it did that morning, and by the time her last class finally ended, she barely had energy left to trudge her way to practice.

“You okay, Coach?” Ivan, the team captain, asked warily.
 

She could understand their concern. It was her first time to be late. “Yeah, I just got held up in my last class.” She tried to muster enough energy to tell them about the new play she had devised but couldn’t. Finally, she said, “For today, let’s just take it easy. After warm-ups, you should watch the game film from last week. I need you guys to list down your top 5 worst and best moments and include timestamps.”

“In other words,” Drew said slyly, “Coach is feeling too lazy to work with us right now.”

“I changed my mind. Make that warm-ups, game film observation, then after that, finish with 100 pumps.”

Everyone groaned in her wake.

When she got to the private office she shared with Coach Rob, she slumped behind her desk, playing with her lucky coin.
Maybe
, Lace thought, she could decide everything with a coin flip.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket before she could decide. Taking it out, a nauseating feeling started in her stomach when she saw that it was still from Grant.

Another text came in.
 

And another.

All of them were from Grant, all of them saying the same thing.

I’m not going to stop until you say yes to me.

Lace threw the coin in the air.
 

Heads, she would tell Silver about this.

Tails, she would figure out things on her own.

Her phone beeped another time, and even with the coin still in the air, she figured that either way, the outcome was inevitable.

Clicking on the latest unread message, she typed her reply.
Okay, I’ll meet you.

The coin fell on the floor the same time the phone in her hand rang, Silver’s name and face flashing on the screen. Lace was so shocked she lost hold of her iPhone, and cursing, she grabbed it from the floor and hurriedly answered the call.

“
March
.” Did she sound a little breathless there?

“Wyndham. Are you okay? You sound a little breathless.”

“I’m…umm…in practice, doing laps.”

“Ah. I was talking to Damian earlier, actually, and he told me you had locked yourself inside the office the moment you came in.”

Damian, you big-mouthed jerk
. The first time she had met him, he hadn’t spoken a word, making her think he only understood Greek. Quiet people should stay quiet for the rest of their lives, dammit.

Clearing her throat, she told Silver, “Yeah. I got tired doing laps around the school. You know. For a change.”

“I see.”

She quickly changed the subject. “So, why did you call? Aren’t you supposed to be in a meeting still?”

“Just ended. On my way up to my room now to have dinner.” Before she could ask why he wanted to eat alone, Silver added, “By the way, I think you sent a wrong text. You’re meeting someone, I believe?”

Face. Palm.

The thought wasn’t satisfying so she slapped her face for real.
 

There.
 

She deserved that.

“Oh, that,” she finally said.
Please don’t ask, please don’t ask—

“Who are you meeting?”
 

“Someone?”

“Whose name is?”

Her gaze strayed to the coin on the floor, too far for her to see whether it was heads or tails. “Umm, Penny…Hardaway…Flip?”
 

Face. Palm.

And for good measure, she slapped herself for real again. Twice.
 

“I see. What’s it about?”

“Stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?”

“The kind you wouldn’t be interested in?” God, she hated this. She hated this. She never thought she’d be lying to Silver about stuff like this.

“March–”

“I love you.”

Noooooooo.

Now, she wanted to face-palm herself for real, again and again until she had no face left. She did not – she just did
not
deserve to have someone like Silver March as a boyfriend. He was just…
Too. Irritatingly. Perfect.
While she was…not.

She whispered, “I feel the same.”

Another pause.

“Are you still in your office?”

“Yes.”

“Alone?”

“Yes.

“Good. I’m in my room now.”

“Umm, okay. You want me to hang up so you can eat?”

“No. I want the opposite. Because…” Lace heard Silver closing the door in the background, followed by the sound of clothes rustling.
Was he undressing?

“March?”

“I’m in the mood for phone sex.”

I’m in the mood for phone sex.
It took a while for the words to sink in since Silver had said them so casually, as if it was no different from saying he was in the mood for pizza rather than pasta.