Deep End

by Ali Hazelwood

His fingers close around my wrist. “I asked for you.” “What?” For a few moments, his jaw works. “Every single person Pen and I had sex with was her choice, and I was okay with it. But when you joined the team, I asked her if she could approach you.” “I…” My cheeks glow, on fire. “Why?” But I remember something I haven’t thought of in months: Pen’s words at Coach Sima’s barbecue. I know you think she’s hot. You said so. “You were beautiful, but that wasn’t…You seemed so quiet and reserved. We have this saying in Swedish, ‘In the calmest of waters…’ I couldn’t stop thinking that you were hiding something. That there was a secret in there, something everyone else was missing. And…” A silent laugh. “I was right. It was there. Same as mine.” He looks at the slowly setting sun. “So I asked Pen about you. It was the first time I did anything like that.”