“Is Alden okay?” I couldn’t say I hadn’t been worried about him.
“Why? He dating you on Thursday?” Ash’s tone was bone dry.
“He was scared you would kick his ass for telling me.”
Ash grunted. “Gray had a word.”
I lay there thinking of that. “Is Alden still alive?”
His snort of laughter was loud. “Yeah, he is.”
“You can’t control me,” I whispered in the dark.
“I think the whole football team received that message tonight.”
“Are you mad?”
“Got the impression you didn’t give a fuck what I thought.”
Squirming a little, I chose not to reply to that. When nothing further was forthcoming, I let out a breath. “Night.”
“Night.” I heard him move, getting comfortable.
I squawked when he reached out and pulled me into his body, his long legs curling up behind mine. His breath tickled the skin at the back of my neck, but I didn’t say anything. Not one word of protest. Closing my eyes, I tried to sleep.
“Red?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re not going on a date with Ben.”
I thought about it for a nanosecond. “I know.”
“Good girl.” I felt a featherlight caress on the back of my neck, and I fell asleep with a smile on my face, wrapped up in the arms of a Devil.
Chapter 24: Ash
I woke up to her warm soft body pressed into mine, her hair was covering my chest as she lay on it, her arm draped across me and one leg tangled in with mine.
Reaching behind me, I switched off the alarm on my phone before it woke her. She was still sound asleep, and although I couldn’t see her face, I could hear her steady, even breathing.
My own hand was curled around her hip, pulling her close to me. I wasn’t a big fan of sleeping over at a girl’s after I had hooked up with them, but I didn’t completely avoid it like Jett did. Had. My cousin is a changed man. I knew, though, that for the handful of times I had stayed the night, I’d never woken up the next morning like this.
With a smooth movement, I slipped my hand under her shorts so I was touching skin. Rubbing slow circles on her hip, I closed my eyes again, even though I knew my alarm was due to go off again in fifteen minutes. Yesterday had been a weird day, but the moments with Red had been fun. Even when she was trying to tear me a new one in the locker room after practice. I hadn’t been at all clear on why she came into the locker room to start with, but she was so fucking cute when she was floundering. I had to play with her a little.
I’d even been impressed at her balls to tell Ben he was taking her on a date. He wasn’t. He knew it before she’d even left the first time. When she came back and just stood there staring at me being naked, it had taken a lot of willpower to keep my dick from responding.
Gray, Jett, and I had gone back to the house to get food and catch up on the day. Ava was buzzing about her phone call, and when I thought about it, it totally made sense for Ava to be a sports reporter. She lived for stats. She made Jett and Gray promise to read her trial piece before she sent it to thecollege paper. When she asked Gray, he hadn’t even faltered in saying yes, and neither of them saw Jett’s face at the response. He looked like he was on cloud nine. It looked like Ava and Gray were going to be friends after all. The world had probably stopped turning for a moment when it happened, but it was a good thing.
Quinn had been busy with the rest of the team. She was halfway through her assignment and had been carrying out personal sessions to see what was working and what wasn’t for each guy. Even with our progress, I was dreading what she was going to recommend for me. If it was another shake, I was going to McDonald’s.
“Hey, you,” she greeted me as I met her in the kitchen, and she went over to the fridge and pulled out a dish covered in foil. Watching me closely, she uncovered it, and I was looking at meat, possibly chicken, in a dark, glossy-looking sauce.
“Sauce?”
“I know, it’s out there, but I have cut it down the best I can and still made it edible. It’s a simple marinade, it has chili because, you know, you’re you,” she rolled her eyes at me, “but it also has brown sugar in it, not lots, well within your recommended guidelines, and I think it will take away the sweetness you’re craving.”
“What’s the protein?”
