Page 38 of Hating On Riot

I rub her back. “You make decisions all day. Let me take the reins for once.”

“You’re too good to me, Riot.”

She relaxes into my hold, and I hold on to her tighter.

Who she’s talking about is a fraud.

I don’t take a girl’s feelings or preferences into account. I’ve lived by my brothers’ advice about girls. Don’t let them get under your skin. Don’t fall in love. And never, ever knock one up. Glove up every time. Leave or send them out the door once the deed is done.

Arie will see the real me and decide I’m not worth her time. I’m a player on and off the field. My reputation for loving and leaving them follows me. That’s why the coeds find me a challenge. They want to be the one who snags me, hook, line, and sinker.

I have more than my arrangement with Coop to deal with.

Once the girls find out I have a thing for Arie, they’ll bully her. It’s one reason I haven’t had a steady girlfriend. Women can be cruel to each other. The other reason is my feelings for Arie.

Will I ever get over her? Can I ever get over her?

Then she does something that seals our fate. That has me sticking to my guns. I will continue falling for Arie. I won’t get over her. The only way I will is if she’s the one who refuses me, who breaks things off between us, who tells me to fuck off and never show my face in her life again.

She brushes her mouth against mine and murmurs, “Kiss me, Riot. I need you.”

“Yes, baby. Anything for you.” I move my mouth over hers, and soon, I am lost in her tender kisses, her sweet taste, and her small fingers tangling in my hair.

All thoughts of the past, women, and their cruel ways fall to the wayside.

I kiss her like there’s no tomorrow.

There’s only us.

Fuck the world beyond.

Fuck the deal with Cooper.

I’m a goner with how good she makes me feel.

How wanted I am when I'm with her.

Fuck me.

I’m a goner.

15

Riot

Getting food happened, but everything else, after we chowed on carne asadas, had a shit ton of chips and salsa, and she drank one too many margaritas, didn’t.

No evasive maneuvers with our blasters in the park or in the parking lot behind the rugby house. No playing Never Have I Ever. We took quick showers separately and crashed out in separate rooms.

Thursday came and went. I couldn’t stop smiling all day. Arie was with me throughout the day, from the beginning, when we ate with the guys before driving to DU for classes, to the end of the night, when she snuck into my room after curfew and we snuggled.

Now, it’s game day. A chance for her to strut her stuff as our water girl.

“Come on, Short Stuff. Hurry it along.” I glance over my shoulder and flash her one of my to-die-for dimpled smiles. “We have a match to set up for.”

Thank fuck, Arie’s first match is at home. Away games are something else with the setup and the gear. Not to mention, I’d worry about her being at a new field at a different university, surrounded by a bunch of guys who don’t have the wherewithal to know I’ll rearrange their faces for looking too hungrily at our team’s water girl.

“I’m coming!” she growls, out of breath.