“Yup.”For the rest of our lives.The words were on the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed them down like a bitter shot of Jägermeister. Her eyes dipped to my mouth, and I could feel her gaze like a touch. Fuck, my hands were dying to reach and pull her closer to me, make her kiss me to remind her in case she’d forgotten, which I doubted she had, how fucking good we were together.
“Right,” she sighed, rolling her eyes wearily. “I’ll try, but I have a full class load and?—“
“You will,” I stated confidently, feeling like a fucking dick as I pulled my phone out to remind her what I had in there.
Her brows bunched and any look of want dissipated instantly.
I was batting a thousand with her tonight.
“Whatever,” she mumbled. “Can I go?”
“Sure.” I moved first, opening my bedroom door. I took a deep breath as she passed by me. She smelled too fucking good today, and I hoped her scent was all over my bed. Not that I had a feeling I’d be sleeping all that much in it tonight.
I followed her to the door, and she looked behind her when we both stepped out.
“What are you…” It was my turn to roll my eyes as I grabbed her bag from her and tossed it over my shoulder before grabbing her hand.
“Walking you to your room.”
“You know I live on the same floor.”
“Precious cargo, mi cielo.” I knew that the nickname and how I spoke Spanish didn’t necessarily irritate her, but it was a mystery she couldn’t seem to solve. “I take care of what’s mine,” I added and felt her head whip up towards me, her eyes on me as I walked her back to her place.
A place I had no problem sneaking into once she was fast asleep just to watch her dream.
3TERESA
Iwas exhausted.
This was nothing new after a travel game day. They were usually long and tedious. My body ached from being crammed into a bus for endless hours with just enough time to get out, stretch, and warm up, then play, only to get back on the bus and head back home.
We had won, of course. I had never doubted any other possibility. We were that good. The girls on the team, the girls who I knew and knew me well after years of playing together, had noticed how quiet I’d been and had graciously given me some space. Space I’d used as I tried to read and listen to a band I’d noticed Jeremy had on the playlist he played in his room the night before.
The night before.
I glanced at my phone and hated the slight, maybe not so slight, disappointment I felt at not having any messages from him. Being in his room, surrounded by his things and scent, had been overwhelming in the best of ways. He hadn’t kissed me in the last couple of days, which made me think that maybe I’d solely attacked him? Had he kissed me back out of obligation? No. Why else would he want to hold a video he had of me, thatcould ruin my college career and reputation, over my head, if I didn’t go out with him?
Not that it mattered.
He hadn’t kissed me. He hadn’t hugged or called or texted. I was probably a minor blip on his radar. For all I knew, he was flirting and blackmailing a whole bevy of girls all over campus. The thought made something tighten in my stomach. I never thought of myself as jealous, but the idea of Jeremy around anyone else bothered me more than I was willing to overthink.
The buses turned off the freeway, finally almost to back at school, when my phone pinged.
Jeremy: Omega House. Tomorrow night. Wear something pretty.
My eye twitched as I pursed my lips. Not with irritation, which shocked me, but with amusement. Did I want to go to a party with my blackmailer, sorta bully? But was he a bully if all he was literally doing was helping me study? Giving me a place to sit and just lock in when it came to my homework? The four days after getting caught trying to steal that damn midterm had been interesting, to say the least.
The buses reached campus, and I rolled my neck. The girls started to talk to me, everyone excited about finally getting back to school. I smiled and laughed at the girls as they spoke to me, but my head was filled with a baseball player who did all sorts of things to my insides. The team got off the buses, and I headed to the back to grab my duffle, sighing as I tossed it over my shoulder.
“Holy shit,” one of the girls whispered as she bent to get her bag.
“Right?” another said with a giggle.
“I just wanna poke those dimples with my fingers.” Dimples?
“Girl, I’d just wanna let him poke me. Hard.” I heard three of my teammates talk among themselves about god only knew who. “Or bounce a quarter off that ass. I mean, damn.”
“I bet it’s all the squatting he does,” another girl said. Maybe one of other girls had a new guy they were looking at.
