Chapter Three
Macallan
“What is with you today?” One of my teammates, Joey, jogs up next to me where I’m sweating and breathing way heavier than I should be given my ridiculous effort on the field.
“Didn’t sleep well.”
It’s not a complete lie. I didn’t sleep well. Mainly because I was out most of the night and spent what little time I should have been sleeping hugging the damn toilet. If I never drink tequila again in my life, it’ll be too soon.
I wasn’t planning on drinking at the party. But then I sawherthere, with Lana Crawford of all people, and the sudden urge to drown my irritation was just too strong to ignore.
Maisie Rose.
Every time I think that woman can’t irritate me more, she finds a way to do just that. Like she knows exactly how to get under my skin and will exploit any weakness of mine she can find.
I was right to cut things off with her early on. Of that, I’m sure. But I won’t deny a small part of me kicks myself in the ass for it every single time I see her. How could I not?
She’s beautiful in a way that is undeniable.
I can still see her eyes, so blue they practically glow against her light brown skin. The look of irritation on her face plain to see as I asked her about Lana.
I wasn’t lying when I said she should stay away from her. I went to high school with Lana Crawford. She was a quiet girl. Pretty enough. Nothing special. We hooked up at a party my senior year. She was a junior at the time. I was drunk. She was willing. There’s really not much more to the story.
Until, that is, she started telling people that we were dating. I told her, in no uncertain terms, that we were most certainly not together and that what happened at the party was a one-time thing, but it did little to deter her.
She started showing up at my football practices. At my work. She even transferred into some of my elective classes that juniors could also take. I ignored her the best I could, but her advances only got more extreme. My breaking point was when I found her sitting in the back seat of my car after one of my games... naked.
Now, normally, I wouldn’t complain about finding a naked girl in my back seat, but not Lana. If things were this bad after sleeping with her once, I can’t imagine how much worse they would be if I were ever tempted to sleep with her again.
Luckily, that wasn’t an issue. Her behavior was enough to turn me off from her, but as it escalated, I found myself hesitant to get involved with anyone. Mostly because she had made my life so miserable that I was afraid to add a further complication to the mix.
Graduation couldn’t come fast enough, and when it finally did, I bolted, thankful that I had to report to campus early for football. One-year reprieve, that’s all I got. I’ll never forget walking into my Calc class to find her sitting in the front row. She smiled the instant I walked in the door, and I knew with complete certainty that her being in my class was no mere coincidence. After some of the shit she pulled in the past, I would put nothing past her.
To be fair, I did try giving her the benefit of the doubt. UVA is the biggest university within a fifty-mile radius, and since our hometown is only about forty minutes away, it’s totally feasible that she chose to come here, as many of my other classmates had. But then she started showing up everywhere I was and it became apparent very quickly that whatever obsession she had with me in high school had not lessened.
I’ve spent the last two years, now going into my third year, trying to manage the situation the best I can. And while I can deal with her being in a class of mine here and there, or running into her on campus, or even seeing her in the stands at my practices, what I can’t deal with is learning that she’s now living with Maisie...
Maisie Rose. The only woman I’ve ever met who made mefeel, well, anything. I knew the first night we met she was something special. I can still picture her beneath me, her blue eyes hooded in pleasure. Her perfect skin velvety against mine. I didn’t have to wonder if I could get lost in her. I had only just met her and already I felt like I was walking around in a haze.
“Earth to Mac.” Joey waves a hand in front of my face, drawing my focus to him. I blink slowly, wondering how long I’ve been standing here, lost in my thoughts. “Fuck, dude. You are seriously out of it today.”
“Sorry, man. What were you saying?” I force an easy smile to my lips.
“I said your girlfriend’s back.” He gives me a knowing look, jerking his head toward the stands without looking in that direction.
“Fuck me,” I grumble.
I don’t even have to look in the stands to know he’s talking about Lana.
“Why don’t you just tell her to go away?”
“You think I haven’t tried that?”
“Then get a fucking restraining order. That bitch is crazy.”
“Nah. It’s better to ignore her.”
“If you say so. She’s starting to creepmeout, and I’m not even the one she’s stalking.”
