“Wait.” Riley let go of my hand, and I stopped walking to look down at her. She is breathtaking. In fact, she did a lot more than take my breath away. When I had her in my hands, I thought of nothing but her.
“Yeah?” I scanned her body, making sure I had put her back together correctly after acting like a wild animal in the stupid fucking broom closet.
“Um, you go first.”
“What?”
It only took a second to remember that although I considered her mine, she wasn’t really. Not in front of the entire campus where it could get back to her dad. I was on his good side right now, but I wouldn’t be after he found out I had been lying to him and fucking his daughter behind his back.
“Oh, right.” Our hands dropped to our sides. “You go first.”
She gave me the side-eye and her lip tilted. “Why? You want to watch me from behind?”
I grinned and nodded, but it was a complete lie. I wanted to add more names to my shit list, because every guy who followed my girl’s swaying hips was officially an enemy to me.
I leaned against the banister as Riley descended the steps. She was only a few ahead of me when I started after her, not wanting to be too far. The party was packed—too packed for my liking.
Too many eyes.
Too many poor decisions.
Too much alcohol.
“That wasn’t obvious at all,” Ford said under his breath, pretending to cough. He pressed a beer into my chest, and I willingly took it, peeling my gaze from Riley for only a second. “Maybe you should just tell Coach. What’s the worst that could happen? You already have the girl.”
“Trust me,” I said, forcing another sip down my throat, “I’ve thought about it.”
“But?”
I searched the sea of black for Riley, spotting her with Taytum and Sutton. Taytum put her beer up in the air, and the girls cheered with her. My nostrils flared at the cup in Riley’s hand instead of a beer bottle. What is she drinking?
I sighed and turned toward Ford. “Coach didn’t just ask me to watch out for her. He told me to treat her like a sister. To make sure none of the guys fucked with her. He specifically told me not to break his trust.”
“Well, you don’t fuck your sister, so there went that.”
I ignored his attempt to make a joke.
“You don’t get it. He…threatened me.” That sounded way worse than it actually was, so I backtracked. “Kind of. He insinuated that he could fuck up my future if I betrayed his trust.”
Ford seemed to have an ah-ha moment. His head tilted before he turned away and nodded. “Now we’re getting somewhere. Does she know?”
I shook my head.
We both leaned against the railing of the stairs.
“Does Sully?”
I laughed sarcastically. “Fuck no. I don’t think I have to worry about him, though. If he tries to take me down, he’ll go down too. Plus”—I shrugged—“during the game, I think I showed him that I have more pull with this team than he does.”
I pulled my attention away from Riley and looked for him.
He would be here. I was certain of it.
“Sully already left.” Efrain slipped up beside us, knowing who I was looking for.
“He did?”
His mouth twitched. “He left with that girl you always fucked.”
I paused, thinking over his words. It was like now that I had Riley, I forgot there was anyone before her. “You mean Liv?”
I’d been avoiding her.
She was smart enough to know why.
Efrain snapped his fingers. “Yep, probably his attempt at messing with your head.”
He was sorely mistaken if he thought sleeping with a previous puck bunny was going to mess with my head. I should warn Liv about him, though. I made a mental note to do that next time I saw her. Graham Sullivan had poor morals. That much was obvious.
We stood back against the stairs and watched the girls take off to the living room. It was hard to keep track of them between all the dancing and before I knew it, one song turned into three, and my beer was empty.
Grabbing Ford’s and Efrain’s bottles, I headed to the kitchen to replace them, but they followed me. “I think I can handle grabbing some beers,” I joked.
Efrain tugged on my arm. “Wait, stop. What’s going on over there?”
I followed his line of sight. Sutton and Taytum were slack-jawed, and their eyes were beady. Riley’s face was hidden behind Sutton’s head, but I knew with the way they were looking at me, it had to do with her.
Taytum rushed over to us, and we met her halfway.
“Tay, what’s wrong?” Ford grabbed her by the arm, and instead of her usual annoyance with him, she looked scared and maybe a little pissed.
“Riley said she feels off. She’s a little wobbly. Like she’s drunk, but she only had a few sips.”
No way.
The room slowed as I pushed forward and found Riley leaning against the wall. Her breathing was shallow, and her blue eyes were unfocused. Her dainty fingers dug into Sutton’s arm.
I zipped around and found the cup I knew she’d put up to her lips when we first came downstairs. It was sitting on top of the mantel above her head. It was half-empty.
“Who gave her that drink?” I asked, unlatching Riley’s fingers from Sutton’s arm. There were crescent-like marks left behind.
“I don’t know,” Sutton replied. “I asked her the same thing.”
I held on to her tightly and noticed how quiet she was. My gaze swung around the party, and everyone else seemed fine. Sure, there were hazy looks and drunken laughter, but no one was stumbling around or causing a scene.
I met the eyes of Ford and Efrain. They were already rounding the troops.
“No one else looks drugged.” I said.
Riley wasn’t completely knocked out, but it was clear she wasn’t herself.
“Drugged?” Sutton’s mouth fell open, and she quickly put her cup on the mantel beside Riley’s empty drink. Taytum took off, whispering in every female’s ear. They all dropped their cups a moment later.
“Shut this fucking shit down,” I growled.
I was so angry I couldn’t even see straight. My teammates got to work. They grabbed Rush, who gathered his football players and then snagged a couple more of our own.
Sutton trailed me out of the party and propped the back door open. She stopped for a brief second when she heard her ex from behind.
“Sutton, are you okay?” he asked.
I didn’t plan to stick around to hear her reply, but Sutton’s and Crew’s footsteps followed closely behind as she filled him in. The lights to his brand-new car flashed, and he opened the door. “Get in,” he ushered. “Are we taking her to Coach Lennon?”
“No!” Riley’s head leaned on my shoulder. I hoisted her up in my arms and climbed in the back seat of Crew’s car. Sutton took the front.
“He’s going to lose his shit.” Crew said when his car revved. My heart was beating faster than it ever had, but Coach’s reaction to Riley getting drugged—because it was clear that someone slipped something in her drink, even if she didn’t guzzle it down—was the last thing on my mind.
“Sutton, please tell me you didn’t drink that fucking punch.”
“Don’t act like you care!” Sutton snapped, shutting her ex down. She peered back at me. “Do you want to take her to our apartment?”
“Do not tell my parents.” Riley slurred.
Fuck.
“Shouldn’t we at least take her to the hospital?” Crew asked.
“No,” Riley repeated slowly. “Guys… I’m fine. I’m…” Her lip wobbled. “I didn’t drink that much of it. It probably won’t even show up on a drug test.”
Sutton looked at me. I contemplated calling Riley’s parents, but she tugged on my shirt, and even though her eyes were droopy and glossed over, she silently pleaded with me.
“Please,” she whispered.
“Just take us home.” I sighed, giving in to what Riley wanted.
I’d wait until she was in her right state of mind before running to her father, but one way or another, he was going to know what had happened. I would get to the bottom of who spiked her drink, but my first priority was taking care of her.
Once Crew parked the car and we piled into the elevator, I was shaking with adrenaline. Riley tried to climb out of my arms at one point, telling me she was fine, but I held her tighter. A girl like Riley didn’t want help, and she sure as hell didn’t like to be taken advantage of—not that anyone did. But given her past, this was hitting her in a way that it didn’t hit most.
It was the reason she didn’t want her parents to know.
Things had just become normal for her. For them.
“She’s staying with me,” I said, bypassing Sutton’s lead to their apartment.
“Don’t tell me…” Crew put his hands on his hips while looking at his previous coach’s daughter in my arms.
I rolled my eyes at his attempt to act authoritative. Sutton made sure to put him in his place, but I was too busy staring down at Riley’s smooth face as she drifted in and out of sleep to care what Sutton had told him.
“Aasher.” Riley clutched my shirt when we got into my room.
“I’m here. You’re okay. I’ve got you.”
I kept my door open, knowing that my roommates would be home as soon as they deescalated the party. They would want to check on her.
There was no way I could keep this from Coach. It would be all over campus soon.
How could I let this happen?
After placing her down on my bed, I stripped her out of her clothes and draped one of my T-shirts over her slender shoulders before pulling her into my arms.
“What are we doing?”
“We’re sleeping, baby.” I kissed her on the temple.
She snuggled into my chest and draped a leg over me before sighing wistfully. I could smell the berry punch on her breath. My stomach was in knots, and my phone was vibrating nonstop in my pocket. I couldn’t fathom looking at what was on the screen, in fear that Coach had already found out and was sending me my own obituary.
There was only one person at the top of my list that would have done something like this.
The only problem was that Sully wasn’t even at the party, so who the hell drugged my girl, and how could I get away with murder?
