Savy bounces to her feet and tries to hand me my jacket but I wave her off.
“Keep it for now. Just bring it to the house the next time you come over or leave it in Tate’s car when he picks you up.”
I dump my tray on the way out the door and revel in the cold air when I step outside. It helps a little to numb the pain of knowing I won’t be playing with my team.
TATE
The music is practically deafening as I lean against the wall of the frat house with Savy nestled between my legs in front of me. She has her back against my chest and I have an arm wrapped around her waist as I chat with Sam and Grayson about the win we just narrowly pulled off. It was a close call with too many fumbles and my body is sore from getting sacked three times, but we won in the end, keeping our streak alive. Sam chugs whatever’s in his red solo cup, crushes it in his fist, and then tosses it over his shoulder where it pings off some freshman pledge who doesn’t say shit about it.
They take off in search of more alcohol and I scan the room looking for the boys. Instead, I find ugly smirks and judgment filled eyes from too many people. All it takes is a dark look sent their way for those eyes to slide away but it pisses me off. Who the fuck are they to judge who I date? Just because Savy doesn’t fit into their mold of what a quarterback’s girlfriend should look like? Fuck them. I’m Tate motherfucking Valor. I’ll do whatever the fuck I want.
I gather Savy’s bulky sweater at the hem so I can slide my hand underneath it to get to the warm skin of her waist. As my fingers stroke her skin, she stiffens against me so I drop my mouth to her neck and slide my lips over the delicate skin behind her ear. My eyes are on the crowd with a fuck you look but when I feel her tremble and melt back into me, my eyes drop down to the side of her face. I lightly drag my teeth over her earlobe and groan when her ass pushes back against my rapidly growing cock. I let my hand wander over her stomach and up a little further until my thumb brushes against the underside of her lace-covered breast. Her head tilts to the side giving me more access to her neck and I see her eyes flutter closed behind her big glasses.
Goddamn, for a fake girlfriend, she sure knows how to play to a crowd. I can’t stop myself from grinding against her ass and I have to remind myself that this is a show we’re putting on here not the real deal. That’s getting harder and harder the more I touch her and the more she responds to that touch.
I find myself thinking about this girl way more than I should when we’re not together. I want to know if she’s really as turned on as I am when we do these things in public or if she’s just a really good actress. Savy’s so hard to read sometimes. I feel her shudder under my touch but the minute we’re in private, all signs that she wants me disappear. It’s kind of infuriating the way she can just flip a switch and turn indifferent.
Annoyance flares through me that she’s capable of shutting it off like that. She’s my fake girlfriend and does exactly what I want her to do but it pisses me off that she doesn’t want me for real too. I grab her chin and tilt it my way so I can look into her eyes, trying to figure this girl out but once again, I can’t read her so I punish her by slamming my lips against hers. It’s stupid and purely ego driven but I want her to feel something real. My cock is throbbing against her ass and I want her to suffer right along with me so I deepen the kiss and tangle my tongue with hers until her hand comes up and threads into my hair and pulls like she needs me closer, deeper.
The cell phone in my pocket starts vibrating between us and that is all it takes to break the moment. Savy flinches and pulls away. I stare into her eyes, searching for the sign that she’s as desperate for more as I am but all I see is wariness and then she blinks and turns her head away. Cursing with frustration, I yank the phone from my pocket and then curse out loud when I see it’s my father calling. I’ve been dodging his calls for a week and I know if I don’t take this he’ll find a reason to come out here and see me in person.
“I have to take this. Stay put and I’ll be back in a bit,” I tell Savy and ignore the flash of unease I see on her face as she darts a look around the crowded frat house. I swipe to answer the phone and slam it up to my ear as I push my way toward the front door.
“Yeah, just give me a minute to get somewhere quiet, Dad.”
What he says is drowned out by the thumping music until I bound down the stairs and out to the front yard. I keep walking, not wanting anyone to overhear this conversation and he must hear the silence because he launches in on the attack immediately.
“What’s going on with you? You barely scratched out that win by the skin of your teeth! I was embarrassed by that play in the first quarter when you…”
I let him run down my errors play by play, knowing that nothing I say, no excuse will matter to him. My shoulders get tighter and tighter the more he picks apart every aspect of my time on the field until I’m ready to put my fist through something.
“Where’s your head at? Because it sure as hell wasn’t on that field tonight. You need to pull your head out of your ass and focus! No scout is going to give you a second look playing like that. Is that what you want? You want to be just another washed out player who ends up selling cars for a living?”
I want to scream back, “Like you?” but I know he would make me pay for it so I just mumble, “No, sir.” He doesn’t sell cars for a living but he did wash out as a player, not good enough to make it to the draft.
“What the fuck’s this I hear about you having a girlfriend now? What’d I tell you about that? You can fuck as much pussy as you want but you leave that hearts and flowers bullshit alone. You can’t afford to have some dumb bitch derailing your future! Next thing you know, she’ll be knocked up and you’ll be on the hook for the next eighteen years paying child support. Fuck, Tate - are you really that stupid?”
I bite back a curse. I don’t even want to know how he found out about Savy. This fucking bastard has eyes everywhere. I need him off my back so with a quick look around to be sure no one will overhear me I give him the lowdown.
“She’s not my girlfriend, she’s a fucking stand-in! I needed some space to keep all these fucking gold digger bitches off my back. We have a deal. She fakes being my girlfriend and has been helping me keep up with my grades. That’s it. She’s nothing and all my focus is on the goddamn game, Dad!”
“Watch your tone with me, son,” he snarls. “You better remember who’s footing the bill for you being there and show some fucking respect! Until you sign a contract for a multi-million-dollar deal, I own your ass and you’ll do as I say. Now drop the fucking girl and get your head back into the game or we’ll be having this conversation in person.”
“I’m…” A quick glance at the screen and I see he’s already hung up and I want nothing more than to throw my phone at the closest tree quickly followed my fist but instead I let out a roar of curses and then slide my phone back into my pocket.
Fuck! April cannot come soon enough. The minute I sign my name to a contract I’m fucking done with him and his controlling bullshit. I scrub my hands over my face in frustration and anger. I make some money off endorsements but not enough to cover everything. Jude rakes in the cash with his deals. I need to talk to him and see if he knows of any more that I can pick up. The sooner I can get out from under that asshole’s thumb the better.
I turn to go back to the party and see Jude come out with an arm slung over Savy’s shoulders and a wicked grin on his face along with a smear of blood near his mouth. Beck’s trailing along behind them and when our eyes meet, I see anger blazing from them. I just sigh and wait for them to catch up to me to find out what else has gone wrong tonight.
SAVY
Ipull out my phone and use it as a shield when Tate leaves me alone to take his call. My heart is still racing from that last kiss and the feel of his fingers against my bare skin. This fake deal is getting harder and harder for me every time we’re out in public together. I’ve never been touched by anyone the way Tate touches me and I feel like I’m constantly wound tight, on edge. The brief time I was with Hunter was all fumbled gropes as he stripped me of my clothes like he was in a race to the finish line, his not mine. But with Tate…it’s been like a week-long session of what I always thought foreplay would be. I’m so ready for the final act and knowing that will never happen just makes it even worse.
A large presence hits the wall next to me and crowds in close, making me jerk my head up from my phone. It’s one of the guys Tate had been talking to earlier. The rank smell of stale gin rolls over me as he breathes out in my space. I try and slide away to put some distance between us but one of his large hands slams into the wall on the other side of me, caging me in.
“You must have a gold-plated pussy under all that Aunt Betty clothing to snag a guy like Tate. Or is it your head game? You suck a good cock, nerd girl?”
My shoulders come up and I can literally feel myself shrinking into myself at his crude words but before I can ask him to leave me alone, another voice chimes in.
