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Chapter Sixteen
♱
When Ariana woke up, a light breath tickled her nape. Naked and tangled in linen sheets, a muscular arm locked her waist in place. Her bare ass pressed into the curve of someone's front. Panicked, she tried peeling herself from their grasp, only for it to tighten, yanking her back into the warmth of their arms.
"It's easier if you stay still," Nika's voice rasped, snuggling her nose into the younger's back. Her lips curled against her skin, pressing a soft kiss before taking in the scent of her shampoo. "Why are you tryna run, baby?"
Ariana froze, lips parted and eyebrows knitted together. She couldn't recall much from last night, perhaps after the yearning and needy confession Nika had laid on her, she, per usual, gave into the Croatian's temptations. She had never heard Nika beg before, and any trace of the desperately pleading Nika seemed to be buried this morning. The usually confident Nika was once more.
"It's almost 7:30," Ariana read off the hotel clock sitting on the bedside, but she began stammering when she felt Nika's knee parting her entangled legs, "A-And Geno wanted you guys to meet at 8. We should probably start getting ready before we end up late on game day."
Oh, that's right. They face off SC today.
For some reason, Nika wasn't nervous. She wasn't scared of how she'd perform. If anything, she was fairly confident in herself and the team right then, it was unusual as she normally would be overwhelmed by nerves.
"Mmh, I guess you're right," she murmured against Ariana's back, teeth grazing her skin in a soft bite. "Five more minutes."
It wasn't like she had a choice, whenever she tried pulling away, Nika's arm would just rope her back in effortlessly. She laid, facing away from the Croatian. Her body was stiff. Frozen. It was like she wanted to ruin her, and Nika was gradually eating her alive, one night at a time.
"Relax, baby," Nika chuckled, hands caressing the supple skin of her hips. Her fingers molded into her flesh, pulling her close. "If you need some help letting loose, just say the word."
Ariana gulped thickly, feeling the tension in her shoulders ease a bit before her body's spun around to face a bare-faced Nika. Her hair was sprawled all over the crisp white pillow, eyes opened just the slightest, orbs dark and soft. One thing Ariana seemed drawn to most on a court was the competitive glint in the way Nika's eyes hardened. The curved edges turned straight, neat eyebrows furrowed together as her jaw moved with the gum sloshing around in her mouth. This was such a drastic contrast to the Nika everybody seemed to be scared of, instead, lying in her place, a domestic and round-edged woman.
