PROLOGUE
TAYLOR
Sebastian Carruthers threwhimself onto the couch next to me hard enough that the whole thing creaked. Beer sloshed out of his cup and down his arm. He licked it off and shot me that grin—the one that’d been doing weird things to my stomach lately. And yeah, other parts of my body, too, though I couldn’t tell you why.
“Tay, my man! I haven’t seen you for hours.” He rolled his head and smiled at me, his warm brown eyes glassy and unfocused. “What time is it?” he murmured before looking around as if noticing the crowd for the first time.
I checked my watch, shocked to see I’d been sitting here for a couple of hours already. Instead of dancing with a bunch of sorority girls or doing keg stands with my teammates, I’d parked my ass here to avoid aggravating the injury I’d picked up a couple of months ago.
“Close to midnight.”
Sebastian scrubbed his hand over his face. “I’m getting too old for this shit. Never thought I’d be ready to bail on a party so early.”
“You? What about me? I’m the broken old man hanging out on the couch all night.” I tapped my abdomen where the muscle still wasn’t fully healed.
Sebastian’s eyes dropped, then quickly shot back up. Something flickered across his face before he cleared his throat and pushed himself to his feet. “I’m, uh, gonna head back to the suite.” He gestured toward the door but didn’t move.
“Yeah. Me too.” I set my drink down and stood slowly.
Sebastian stepped close, his hand out to steady me.
Ever since my injury, he’d been looking after me in ways no one else in my life seemed to. Making sure I was okay. That I was comfortable. Jumping in when he thought I might need something. And it made me feel good. Safe.
It also made me feel guilty.
I waved him off and headed toward the exit. “I’m fine.”
Outside, the air was cold as a witch’s fucking tit. I hunched into my jacket as we crossed the quad, watching for patches of ice.
The entire walk, Sebastian was quiet next to me, which wasn’t like him.
I swiped my ID at the front door and held it open for him, wondering why I’d bothered going out tonight at all. I probably would’ve had a better time staying home with the new fantasy book I’d been wanting to dive into all week.
“Is it just me, or is that whole scene not as fun as it used to be?” Sebastian asked, sounding as exhausted as I felt.
We took the stairs to our floor, and he punched in the lock code to our suite.
“Not just you,” I said, stepping inside and moving to the kitchenette to grab some water out of the fridge. I lifted a second bottle and tilted it toward him. “You want one?”
Sebastian nodded, and I crossed the room, easing down next to him on the small two-seater sofa that came with everysuite. You’d think our school would have sprung for larger, more comfortable furniture in the sports dorms, but all their budget had gone to the new football stadium instead.
Sebastian spun to face me, bending his right leg so that the sole of his foot rested against his left knee, his shin pressing into my thigh. He rested his elbow on the back of the couch and set his cheek in his palm. “If you hadn’t gone to the party tonight, what would you have done instead?”
If anyone else had asked me that question, I would have said something snarky about hooking up with one of the girls who was forever trying to ride my jock, except I didn’t need to pretend with Sebastian. He knew it’d been months since I’d last fucked someone and why. Initially, there was my injury to consider, but even before that, it just seemed like a whole lot of effort to go through when I could get myself off without any unnecessary drama afterward.
And at least I liked myself.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t say the same about most of my hookups. I had a bad habit of sleeping with girls with banging bodies and evil in their hearts. I was still reeling from the one who’d posted a picture of me passed out naked in her bed after a threesome with her roommate.
“Probably read,” I said, tipping the plastic bottle back to take a drink. “You?”
“Same.” Sebastian laughed. “We sound like an old married couple, wanting to stay in on a Friday night to read by the fire.” He scratched at his jaw. “Though my parents can’t stand to be in the same room together, so maybe not the best example.”
I’d met his parents a few times. They were the kind of people who made you uncomfortable just watching them interact. I was pretty sure his dad didn’t give a shit about anyone.
“Meanwhile, my parents are so disgustingly in love that Audrey and I text before we come home,” I said with a smile.“Trust me when I say walking in on your mom with her face in your dad’s lap is not something you ever want to see.”
Sebastian made a weird sound that was half-laugh, half-choke, his red, blotchy face turned away from me.
