Page 32 of Disobedient Pawn

Nash stood and wandered over to where the other guys were sitting. “If you keep distracting me and we don’t win, I’m going to blame you, and then I will drown you in the pool.”

“I’ll be quick. So I had English with her….” Blake paused, and we stared at him, waiting for the rest of the story. This part was new.

“And?” Nash prompted. “You said it would be fast.”

“None of you appreciate a good story. I got Ren to agree to go on a date with me Monday,” Blake said. My hands balled into fists as jealousy, another emotion I was unaccustomed to, poked its head up from wherever emotions were stored.

“What?” I growled.

“That’s right, suckers. I’m taking her shopping for new shirts. So thank you, Myles, for ruining her only blouse. You made my life really fucking easy. I’m thinking of taking her to the little ice cream parlor down near the river. You know that one….” He paused on purpose again, knowing damn well we all knew which one he was talking about. There was a famous make-out location near there. It had a great view of the water and multiple spots that were completely hidden from those driving past.

“Don’t ya dare. I swear to god, Blake, if ya screw this up for me,” I said and then bit my tongue from saying any more.

I didn’t date girls, not really, but Ren made me want to make an exception, and now I had a stupid bet involving my two friends. We had a rule about not going back on a bet, so I was stuck between a rock and complete humiliation for the rest of my life.

“Are you wanting to back out of the bet,” Theo asked, his eyebrows mocking me.

“Naw, of course not. I just mean I was going to use what happened to take her shopping, and ya stole it out from under me.” I wasn’t sure if they believed me, but they let the topic drop.

“You snooze, you lose.” Blake smiled wide and showed off his perfectly white teeth that I wanted to knock down his throat.

“So that’s it, that’s all that happened,” Nash asked, and Blake’s face fell.

“I’m further along than either of you two assholes, and I don’t have access to her room like you or tutoring like him.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

I grabbed my bottle of water from the locker and took a sip.

“I told her I was going to fuck her,” Nash said, and I spit the water out all over the floor. I glared at Nash as he smirked at me.

“And did she agree,” I asked, unable to contain my curiosity. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer. This girl was doing weird things to me.

“Not exactly, but she will. It’s only a matter of time before she caves. I can see it in her eyes. She wants me.”

I snorted. “That’s not desire. It’s called annoyance. You’ve just never seen the difference from a girl that’s not a soul sucking leech like Vicky.”

“Alright, I have a tally going, and as of right now, Myles, you’re trailing the other two by at least four points,” Liam said as he wrote the numbers in his betting book. “Nash, you have two points, and Blake, I’m saying you’re ahead by four. I’ll make sure to update the odds for everyone.”

“I bet I’ll have her in bed before I reach five points. I have the charm, just wait and see. After our date, she’ll be all over me and begging for it again.”

Before I could come up with a comeback, the speaker crackled and beeped with an announcement.

“Group nine, come to the deck. Group nine to the deck.”

All the antics and teasing stopped as we marched for the door. The odd man out of the relay was Liam. I went first with the backstroke, and Theo went second with the breaststroke. Nash was third with the fly, and Blake was our closer with the freestyle. We’d crushed all the other competition this weekend, but now it was down to Meadow Grove, Hawking Shores, and us for the final event.

We didn’t care about Hawking Shores, but Meadow Grove was an athletic academy. Their students were all top athletes, which was why we were so pumped for this competition and to beat them. We only faced them once a year, and this was it. The bragging rights lasted three hundred and sixty-five days and came with perks. We got free coffee and food from the local shops, random gifts, and of course, our pick of the girls.

We sat down on the deck in line, and I checked my cap to make sure it was perfectly in place. My norm was to go over the strokes, and how I could gain an edge on my opponent, but instead, my mind was wandering. All I could picture were Ren’s pretty eyes and how her lips had been so close. It had only been a few days, but she took up every moment of my thoughts. I’d never thought about a girl other than was she fuckable.

I glanced along the line and couldn’t help wondering what they thought about this arranged marriage bullshit. We never talked about it, but we were all paired up to better our families. We were nothing more than expensive cattle that our mothers had birthed. I dreaded the day. I’d met mine once and she could be the nicest lass in the world, but she wasn’t who I chose.

“Hey, wannabes, ready to have your asses kicked?” Austin walked in from the second locker room with his team and sat down beside us as we waited to be called to the blocks.

Nash glared at Austin, surprising me when he kept his mouth shut and looked away. Nash rarely backed down from anything, especially the likes of Austin.

“If by assess kicked you mean mop the fucking floor with ya, then ya,” I said. I lowered my voice so only Austin and his teammates could hear.

The swimmers from Hawking Shores had the least points of the three teams. They were the last to enter and sat down beside Meadow Grove. The Captain of Hawking, Sabastian, gave Austin a look, and I didn’t like it one bit. I was good at knowing when there was some dirty shit going on.