The QB is Mine

Gabbriette

Sometimes, I forget to breathe…

Like today, I can feel my heart thrumming in my chest as I watch his eyes devour me and feel his warm breath fanning my parted lips.

Ashton Evander.

His fingers tangle in my hair, and then I feel his lips on mine—at first, slow, then filled with passion- and I let out a strangled moan.

This was bad; I wasn't supposed to be feeling my brother's best friend's boner pressed up against my thighs, my tongue deep into his mouth.

But let's just say life had other plans.

_____________________

(A few days before)

“I hate this job,” I muttered to myself as I cleaned the tabletop of the café. I could see my supervisor, Madame Colette, glaring at me—the asshat who had refused to pay my salary for going on three months now.

“Me too,” my best friend and co-worker, Briar, groaned.

The smell of croissant and god knows what else wafted through my nostrils, reminding me I'd had nothing to eat.

“You know, you can just quit, right?” Briar winked suggestively at me. “You have trust-fund daddy's money, no?”

“Trustfund daddy?” I scoffed. “More like trustfund ‘step-daddy.”

And besides, I didn't want to depend on another person's money that wasn't mine. Years of moving from one city to another had taught me one thing—life was so flexible and could change at the turn of a page.

“Oh well,” Briar giggled. “I have neither trust-fund daddy nor a trust-fund step-daddy.”

Her eyes widened as she stared at the door. “Speaking of daddies…”

I groaned.

Hunter was walking in with his crowd of girlfriends.

Why was I groaning?

Hunter is my very annoying twin brother whom Briar had a crush on. Mind you, it made me very uncomfortable.

“Does my hair look messy?” Briar said. Without waiting for a response, she unbuttoned the first two buttons of her uniform, leaving her cleavage and most of her boobs peeking out. 

I rolled my eyes, continuing to clean the tabletop, and that was when I saw him.

Ashton Evander.

He walked in after my brother. As always, he looked breathtakingly handsome in his jeans and tight shirt that clung to his very toned abs.

His silver necklace caught the light from the chandelier as he walked in.

Already, I could smell his expensive cologne wafting through my nostrils.

“My. My. My.” Briar nearly swooned as she gazed at him, her mouth hanging open. 

She wasn't wrong. Ashton was the definition of hot.

His dark, wavy hair contrasted with the deep blue of his eyes. He looked chiselled; his jawline was almost sinful to look at.

I gulped as my eyes drifted to his lips, full, plump, and pink. 

He was lean, toned and very tall, but not as bulky as the rest of the football team.

He was the kind of man girls wrote fantasies about. Unfortunately, I was stupid enough to imagine mine might come true.

“What's up, Briar?” Hunter winked at my co-worker, staring at her lustfully, distracting me from my mid-day trance of Ashton.

“Oh, h… Hun… I,” Briar blushed crimson, stumbling over her words.

This time, I rolled my eyes.

Like one of the bimbos in his arms. Was her name Avery or Aria?

“You.” He barely spared me a glance, not that I wanted him to acknowledge me anyway.

He did tell me never to act like we were siblings in public and in school. We were fraternal twins, so we looked nothing like each other anyway.

He was embarrassed I chose to work as a waitress while he rode in the latest luxury cars from our stepdad's garage. 

One day, when his precious trust fund ran dry, he'd come crawling to me for money. And when that day came, we'd see who was really embarrassing.

Now, back to Ashton.

“Hi, Gabby,” he smiled softly at me, and my heart skipped a beat.

Oh, those pearly whites.

“Ashton.” I tried not to blush.

“I'd like to place an order, weirdo,” Hunter's bimbo cut my moment with Ashton short.

Resisting the urge to bare my fangs at her, I put on a plastic, practiced smile and my most professional voice. “What would you like to order, ma'am?”

“Ma'am?” She laughed incredulously. “What is this? The nineties?”

A round of chuckles went through the small crowd; even Hunter laughed. The treacherous scoundrel!

But sweet Ashton didn't, I noted, with a satisfied grin.

“Why are you grinning like a creep?” Avery snapped.

“Because, Avery, I can grin as much as I want when I don't have lipstick stains on my teeth,” I deadpanned.

She went red instantly, pulling out her pocket mirror and sure enough, she saw it. A patch of red against her not-so-white teeth.

“Oh, why didn't you tell me, babe?” She nudged Hunter.

I saw a small smirk play around Ashton's lips.

“And as for you, you're such an ass,” She eyed me, her face twisting with disgust.

“Oh, we'll know who the real ass is when Hunter or ‘babe' uses and dumps you,” I bit back, making air quotes. 

Briar snorted, while pretending to be taking orders.

Hunter looked away guiltily, while Avery stared at me with disbelief.

“Now, kindly place your order while I go about my work,” I grinned. “I don't have all day.”

“We'll take two iced lattes, with cream-filled croissants,” Hunter said finally.

“I'll take an extra-large caramel macchiato with fries and wings,” Ashton said.

I took the rest of the orders and set to work, placing everything on trays as they went to take their seats.

“Damn, who was the hottie?” Briar said as soon as they left. “The guy in denim.”

“Hands off the goods,” I grinned. “He's mine.”

I'd wanted Ashton for years, but wanting him and having a chance with him were two entirely different things. Still, I was tired of wondering what I meant to him. Sooner or later, I'd find out.

“Sheesh!” Briar grinned. “He's all yours then.”

I picked up the tray, while Briar helped me carry the other tray as I walked up to their table.

I could feel Ashton's eyes following me as I approached their table. My pulse quickened as I tried to focus on the tray in my hand: and for a moment, I forgot how to breathe.

And apparently, I forgot how to walk too…

Because immediately I got to their table, my foot caught something solid, sending me stumbling forward and landing face-first to the floor.

The contents of the tray spilled all over me as I landed on the ground right beside Ashton.

You've got to be kidding me.

For a moment, nobody spoke.

Then Ashton pushed back his chair and crouched beside me.

"Gabby?"

I looked up into his concerned blue eyes, wishing the floor would swallow me whole.

Of all the ways I'd imagined getting his attention, this had to be the most humiliating.