“I was not playing beer pongwith her, I was playing with my friends and she butted in and said she was on my team. I didn’t feel like fighting with anybody and barely even acknowledged her.”
“She was literally touching you, Tristan.”
“What? No she wasn’t,” Tristan squinted at Tessa through confused eyes, not understanding where she would get the idea that Tristan wanted any part of Veronica.
“I literally saw it with my eyes!” Tessa yelled.
“Hey,” Jake said butting into the conversation, “Tessa let me just get you home.” He reached out a hand and lightly grabbed Tessa’s elbow, which caused Tristan to see red and he stepped forward, swiping Jake’s hand away from her.
“Don’t fucking touch my girlfriend, asshole, I’ll take her home myself.”
“You can’t drive, idiot,” Jake retorted back.
“Oh my God you guys,shut up. This is so stupid.”
“Thisis stupid?” Tristan said with a sarcastic laugh. “But you yelling at me for playing beer pong is not?”
“No, you do not get to do this to me, Tristan,” Tessa said, her voice elevating, heat rising in her chest from anger and annoyance, “You don’t get to be all macho and jealous and possessive but if I do it, I’m crazy. Fuck that and fuck you.”
“I didn’t say you were crazy baby!” Tristan ran his large hand down his face and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself and his thoughts. The last thing he wanted to do was yell at her or fight her at all. But he was confused and very drunk and very pissed off seeing Tessa about to leave the party with Jake. “I’m sorry, alright? I just wanted to celebrate with my teammates, but I can see that it’s upsetting you so let’s go home and we can just talk about it.”
“I don’t want to go home with you right now,” she said calmly and wrapping her arms tighter around herself. “I think you need to sober up and cool off, and I think I need to just gather my thoughts.”
“Fuck, baby, come on Tess. Don’t leave with him.”
“He’s just gonna give me a quick ride, okay? You know my house is right down the block.”
“Tessa, if you leave here with him, I don’t know if I can forget about it.”
“Relax Kelly. I’m just doing a good deed. Don’t take out your own fuckup on your girlfriend.”
Tristan stared at Jake, his fists clenching and jaw ticking. He had never wanted to punch someone in the fucking face more than this moment, but then looked over at Tessa, and his heart softened.
He didn’t want to lose her. Although he didn’t really understand why she was acting like this, he also knew that he was drunk and might see things different in the morning once the hangover set in. The absolute last thing he wanted to do was lose her. He made a split-second decision to back off and pick his battles. If he let her cool off and take her to breakfast in the morning like he’d promised, and they had a calm discussion about this whole situation, then maybe they could handle their first fight like adults and move on from it quickly.
Tristan took a deep breath and eyed Jake up and down. Jake’s 5’10 frame being absolutely no match for Tristan who was practically a whole building taller than him and much broader. Tristan took a few steps towards Jake and sized him up, making sure Jake felt the intimidating strength of his body in front of him.
“If you so much as lay a fucking finger on her, you’ll be begging me for mercy, do you understand, Gardner?”
Tessa looked between the two men standing before her, her heart thumping wildly in her chest, her stomach clenching and swirling from butterflies by how Tristan was displaying his authority and protectiveness over Tessa right in front of her. She loved every second of it but couldn’t let him see that. She was stubborn to a fault.
“Whatever Kelly, I’m just taking her home.” Jake took a step back, rolling his eyes at Tristan, but Tristan could see a small hint of anxiety in his eyes, and he backed away satisfied.
“Text me as soon as you get home safely, Tessa. I fucking mean it.”
“I will,” she said flatly, scowling at him, but still understanding and appreciating his need to know she’s safe.
Tristan sighed, aggravated and defeated, watching his girlfriend walk away upset. He turned and looked back at the party, not understanding how any of this happened. One minutehe was drinking with his teammates during a harmless game of beer pong, the next his girlfriend, whom he was madly in love with but had not told her yet, was screaming at him and leaving the party with another guy.
“Fuck!” He screamed, kicking an empty beer can across the grass. He sauntered back into the house and gathered his friends, announcing it was time to go home, where he would sleep of his drunkenness and undoubtedly wake up hungover and regretful, but determined to fix whatever he had fucked up.
CHAPTER 9
10 Years Ago
The next morning, Tristanisawoken by a splash ofcold waternearly drowning him in his bed. He jerked awake and took a deep breath before he opened his eyes to who he already knew was standingabove him.
“Jordan what the fuck?!”
