I swung my glare on Cooper so hard it stopped him dead before he could say another word. I propped my hands on my hips. “I could actually have your butts kicked out of school in less than an hour. You know that, right?” I pointed at the beer cans Cooper, Nevin, and Tyree were holding. James River College had a strict no-alcohol-on-campus policy. And they were underage.
I shouldn’t pull the nepotism card, but my Uncle Ashton, an English professor at the college, had made it clear more than once that should I ever need him to throw his weight around, he would in a heartbeat. I hadn’t used it yet. I actually liked having friends on campus. But I was mightily tempted at that moment. Drinking in the girls’ dorm might not do the trick. But telling Ashton about the answer key they stole from their biology professor, and passed out to the entire class, totally would. And I was pretty sure they all liked playing football for JRC even if it was nowhere near as good as Blue’s team: the University of Knoxville, the fifth-best college team in the nation.
My boyfriend, Jonah, pushed up off the couch, looking ashamed, but also like he thought he could placate his friends by “handling the situation.” AndIwas the situation.
He walked up to me. “Hey.” He tried to slip his arm around my waist.
I stepped back, holding my hands up, giving him a look that said if you touch me I will actually rip your pretty blond curls from your head. Which made him step back, cheeks pink, eyes narrowed.
Now I was the one to feel ashamed. Jonah was a great guy. I shouldn’t embarrass him in front of his friends. But… “I’ve asked you, what, twenty-five times at least, not to watch his games.” I held my hands up, incensed. “How many college football teams are there in the nation?”
“Eight hundred and fifty-eight. Spanning five different division levels,” Tyree provided, sounding like the Wikipedia search that he undoubtedly had looked up at some point. That was Tyree, though. Wicked smart. And couldn’t read a room to save his life.
“It was a rhetorical question, dummy,” Brooklyn said with an eye roll.
Tally’s eyes darted between Jonah and me. I hated being contentious in front of her. It gave her a PTSD reaction. She had a complicated past. But I swear if I walked in on my friends and my boyfriend watching Blue play one more time…
Jonah’s head tilted, studying me. His forehead crunched. I squirmed under the scrutiny.
“But Blue Bishop is one of the best quarterbacks in the nation. Watching him is research,” Cooper said in a huff. “How are we supposed to improve if we can’t learn from the greats?
My nostrils flared and my hands flew up again. “Do not call him that if you like your body parts the way they are.” My eyes widened in a threat. “And y’all can watch him at your place. You have a TV.”
Cooper’s eyes bugged. “But yours is way bigger and way better.”
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t care. There’s something called respect. And when one of yourfriends”—I gestured at myself with a double-handed, full-body flourish—“asks you not to, that should be enough for you.”
“But I thought you and Blue dated like four years ago,” Nevin said in a confused voice. “Shouldn’t you be over him by now?”
Brooklyn elbowed him in the ribs. “They did,” she hissed. “But it’s complicated.”
My chin lifted. “Yeah. It’s complicated.”
Jonah’s lips pursed and his arms folded. I hated that look. The one that said he was a breath away from dumping me over this. It wasn’t the first time and it probably wouldn’t be the last.
If everyone in the whole wide world would stop throwing Blue in my face every five minutes it wouldn’t be complicated. My dad-uncle, Duncle Silas. My gramps. Definitely Uncle Holden, who was living vicariously through Blue’s football career. And for sure every one of the people currently in the room. Tyree had even asked once if I’d hit Blue up for tickets to one of his games. Pfft. As if. And that didn’t begin to cover random strangers, people on the radio, everything on social media, and every single friend I’d ever made in my hometown, Seddledowne.
But I couldn’t back down on this. I’d learned a long time ago that the only way I could be okay about Blue Bishop was if he ceased to exist. And since that wasn’t going to happen, the second best thing was for me to pretend like he didn’t.
“Tell me again why it’s complicated?” Jonah said, looking completely put out.
“Because he’s the freaking devil. That’s why,” I said.
“She actually calls him Blucifer in her sleep,” Brooklyn snickered to Nevin.
My eyes flashed to her, widening. “Brooklyn,” I power-whispered. She knew not to tell people that. It was embarrassing. I hadn’t believed her the first time she’d told me. But she and Tally recorded it a couple of times. There was no denying it. The nickname I’d given Blue, eight months after he’d moved to California and taken my heart with him, was so ingrained in my subconscious that I mumbled it in my sleep—and occasionally it came out of my mouth when I was awake before I knew what was happening.
Blue more than deserved the nickname Blucifer. He was like a pesky mosquito I couldn’t shake loose. No matter what I did, or where I went, he was right there, reminding me that he’d gotten over me. That he was doing great without me. That he could have any girl he wanted—and he had. All over social media every single time—and always wearing that stupid dimpled grin.
Tally’s eyes went wide and she slunk deeper into the couch cushions.
Cooper puffed his chest, preening. “Does she talk about me in her sleep?”
Brooklyn’s expression was blank. “No. Why would she talk about you? You have no rizz.”
Cooper deflated.
“The question is, does she talk about my man Jonah in her sleep?” Tyree waved like obviously the answer was yes.
