Angela just left when Atwater took her seat. He’d been socializing, going from table to table instead of studying, which had been the original idea. The guys weren’t keen on the library, but I always got too distracted here. The games on the TVs behind us took most of the attention. Then there were the puck bunnies.
“You see Daniels over there with the football team?”
I grunted because I had. Kyle Ruiz had been all over her, or maybe not all over her, but he’d been giving her the look. Every guy recognized the look. Ruiz wanted to bang her.
She hadn’t come over to say hi, and I hadn’t gone over there either. We were in a contest of wills right now, who would hold out longest. But I caught how she was looking at me. She wanted me. The same went for me, but fuck her whole ‘let’s stop’ bullshit. I mean, it made sense. I should support it, but seriously, my dick had been hard this whole time.
“I’m so confused by you two. What are you doing?”
The question came from Atwater, but I knew every guy within hearing distance perked up.
I shrugged. “She’s got some stuff. I don’t know how to answer that.”
“Bad stuff? Like head shit?” Barclay pointed to his head.
Another shrug. “I wouldn’t say that, but it’s complicated.”
“You’re not going to tell us?” Labrowski leaned in.
I shook my head. “I’m not that guy, no.”
A few of them nodded, understanding.
Atwater’s eyes narrowed. “That’s bullshit. I want to know! You guys are not what you were in the beginning. That much is obvious, and you had her over to the house on Thursday in a hang-out capacity. I feel like I might die without having this closure. Give me closure, man.”
I frowned at him. “You need to chill.”
“Yeah.” Labrowski threw a pen at him. “Get your own fuck buddy that’s not just a buddy anymore and then you can have your own closure.”
“Argh. Not cool.”
I flipped him off as I stood, pushing back my chair. “Not my problem.”
Angela was coming back, and seeing me standing, she hesitated.
Barclay saw, saying under his breath, “Oh, man. She’s got a crush. Run, dude.”
Angela went to high school with Labrowski, so she got adopted into the hockey house, but it was a situation where no one touched her. Labrowski had put it out there. Her brother was friends with him, and he’d died. Labrowski didn’t talk much about him, but it was known that her brother died from a drug overdose. So, Angela was around the house. She had crushes on a few of us, but none of us went there with her.
She’d been fine in the beginning of the year, but since she’d become friends with Bianca, she’d changed. She was a lot more forward, more aggressive.
Bianca hadn’t showed yet, and I was counting that as a blessing.
I circled around the table, cutting behind another section of tables.
Angela was watching me the whole time. When she moved to try and intercept me, Atwater and Barclay both stood up, blocking her vision. Angela was a sweet girl, but she liked attention. If she was getting attention from someone, she’d stay there. I headed into the main bar section, glancing back once. The guys had blocked her off, so I was good for a while.
I headed for the bathrooms.
“Styles, my man.” It was Ruiz. He held up a hand, half turned to me. He was moving in, his eyes glazed. He looked a little rough. “How’s it going?”
“Hey.” I stopped.
He stepped in, our hands meeting as he pounded me on the shoulder. A little more forceful than was needed, athlete to athlete. Grant West was usually known for its basketball team. They had a player in the past that was phenomenal, a guy named Hunt. But this year hockey was the big sport. Football never had been, and I knew Ruiz had hopes of getting drafted. We were a D1 school, but I hadn’t heard of any recruiters coming to visit him. That stuff gets shared, even if you’re on a different sport. There was no rivalry between teams at Grant West so having crossover friends was common.
We all used the same weight room.
“How’s it going?”
“It’s good. You?”
“Good, man. Good.” He shifted, turning so he was facing where I’d just left. “That chick with your team. Gotta ask, are you hitting that?”
Fuck’s sakes. “Nah, man.”
“But someone is?”
I frowned. “Angela?”
“Yeah! Angela. That’s her name. She was over, being all sweet to Darren. He didn’t seem into her, but Wade was a different matter. I usually see her around the hockey team and another girl, Bianca or something. What’s her story?”
“Bianca?”
“Nah, man. Angela.”
“Labrowski knows her.”
“He banging her?”
I stepped back, not liking how he was talking about Angela, but also not liking how he wasn’t over here about her. “Why don’t you cut the shit and ask about who you really want to know about?”
He stopped. His eyes were having a hard time focusing so he squinted.
He let out an ugly laugh, and I could almost name the beer he was drinking. His grin was lopsided, his body a little unsteady. “You’re a straight shooter. I like that about you, and you’re right.” He leaned in again. “I’m regretting not hanging out at Darren’s place more this semester. I heard you’re hitting that. Is she good?”
I shifted, my back to the bar.
Ruiz craned his head to the side so he could see Mara, but me, I was looking around for cameras. I was probably screwed either way, but if he kept going, I was going to knock his teeth back in his throat.
“You wanna run that by me again?”
“Yeah, man.” He shifted closer. “She’s got a tight body. Petite. Small. How I like ’em, and normally they don’t have good tits, but she does. You can tell. What’s it like? Doggie style, am I right? The shit I’d like to do to her. Stuffing my cock down her—”
BAM!
He was on the floor in the next second and I was standing over him. I’d hit him so fast, and I didn’t give a damn. I wanted to do it again.
He touched his chin. Then his head twisted, and a snarl formed before he jumped up and swung.
I ducked, grabbed his arm, pinned him against the wall, and punched from the left. I could shoot from both hands; I could punch the same. “Right-handed, huh?” I hissed. “Sucks to be you.”
There was a stampede behind us. Then hands were pulling me back.
I strained to land another punch.
He was yelling at me, but I wasn’t paying attention.
“You fucker! I’ll have your scholarship taken. I’ll destroy you–”
“Keep girls’ names out of your mouth next time.”
“What the hell, man?”
Blood dripped down his face. He was yanked up by a couple of his teammates, but he growled, lunging for me. “I’m going to fuck you up!” He was too fast for them, and I was held back and immobile. I couldn’t lift my arms to defend myself.
He got a hit in.
“Stop!” Labrowski was there, wading in. He grabbed Ruiz’s arm, shoving him against the wall again. “That was a cheap shot, Ruiz!”
“He start–”
I strained to get free, wanting to go back at him, but goddamn. Who was holding me back?
Darren, Atwater, and Barclay. All three. Wade stood behind, pulling his weight too. Four guys. Ruiz had two.
“Hey!” Labrowski turned to me. “Stop it.”
Ruiz snarled, “I’m going to mess up that pretty face of yours–”
I twisted, and this time half my body got free, but Labrowski cut me off, stepping into me.
Ruiz’s gaze cut to the side. “The shit I’m going to do to your girl now. You think I was motivated before? Try me now. She’s going to be panting for me.”
“Like fuck you are.” Mara took two steps. “Let him go.”
As they did, she grabbed his shoulders, and rammed her knee up into him.
He doubled over.
She glared down at him. “I heard everything you said, and I also recorded it. Make a move against Cruz and I will unleash that shit onto the web. The NFL hates scandals. It’d be unfortunate if that was released during recruitment.”
His face paled. “You wouldn’t.”
“Try me. You think you’re the first guy to be a pain in my ass?”
Two guys scooped Ruiz up and took him somewhere. My guys stepped away, letting me go.
Mara held my gaze.
I took a step closer to her. “You heard what he said?”
She was looking me over, lingering on my face where his punch had landed. “I was coming out of the bathroom when I heard your voices.” Her fingers grazed my cheek. “You should get some ice on that.”
“You want to get out of here?”
Her eyes darkened and her hand moved to my mouth. “No.”
I moved in again, touching the back of her waist, pulling her against me. “Why not?”
Her eyes closed. “You know why. I can’t do that right now.”
Right.
She didn’t want to hide.
In sex.
With me.
Well, this was still a confusing place to be in.
“Let’s do something else.”
Her eyes opened. I saw the need in her eyes, swimming there on the surface. “Like what?”
“A movie?”
She grinned, her hand dropping back to her side. “You really do need ice. He got you once, but it was a solid hit.”
“Let’s go somewhere,” I said it again, my hand falling to graze against hers.
Her body shook a little. “I can’t. No matter where we go, you know what will end up happening. I–I just can’t right now.”
Her pinkie turned, and I hooked it with mine.
I said, “We can talk on the phone, how about?”
“Yeah. We can do that.” Her voice dropped to a whisper.
“I’ll call you tonight.”
My pinkie tightened around hers.
“Okay.”
Our conversation was done. We had a plan.
Neither of us moved away.
