Against the Rules (Even The Score #4)

3. king

CHAPTER 3

KING

MIGHT AS WELL BEEN HIEROGLYPHICS

Holy fucking shit .

Driving away from the hotel, I rolled down the windows of the rental and howled, banging my fist against the top of the car. I never understood why my teammates did that. Now? I got it. There was no other way I could release the pent-up feeling in my muscles without breaking indecency laws.

Willow.

Willow, Jade the Architect, the siren at the bar. The girl who teased me and stripped me raw with her words— fuck . I inched the car to ninety miles an hour, flying on an empty highway. It'd been a long time since I pushed a car’s limits.

If my teammates could see me now .

My phone buzzed from the passenger seat, and I slowed to a stop on the shoulder to check if Willow texted me.

Willow from the bar

This is going to sound crazy :\

Willow from the bar

I made it to my room in one piece???

I backspaced the name she picked, and my fingers hovered over the keyboard. I needed something between ‘ beautiful, stunning, holy shit, she’s hot ’ and ‘ don’t fuck this up, dude .’

What was the best description for Willow?

Me

Good to hear i was ready to call the hotel

The angel

That means you can call for something else :P

With a groan, I leaned against the headrest. What a girl.

And she wanted me . Not my popularity on campus, not to become a football player’s girlfriend, not to become arm candy.

She liked me for me. And I liked her.

Fuck, I liked her.

I took a deep breath, enjoying it. It felt like I was finally plugged in after sitting on a dusty shelf for too long. I rubbed my chest with the goofiest grin. I didn’t know I could feel like this.

The faster I returned to the bar, the faster I could text her again. Fuck being subtle. I’d quadruple-text her until there was no way she’d forget about our date. I peeled down the road and the car roared beneath me. I was alive. Pulse racing in my veins, lights flashing beside me, alive .

In the parking lot, I grabbed my phone.

Me

I cant wait to see you again

The guys would’ve told me to play it cool, but I couldn’t. Not with those gorgeous lips, those sparkling brown eyes, the way she twisted me so easily, and?—

Her cold shoulder for athletes.

Ah. Shit.

The bouncer started yelling at me before he realized who I was. King. The King. Defensive end for the Romans, number seventy-two, a football player with a career carved straight towards the NFL.

It’d been like that all through Dallas.

I was fucking grateful Willow didn’t recognize me at all.

I didn’t want to lie, but when she admitted she would’ve dropped me if I played ball, I panicked. I’d been on too many dates. None of them were like Willow. Not even close.

"The King!" the bouncer bellowed.

I nodded and made my way into the bar. I could see my friends on the dance floor, all of them so drunk, they could barely stand, basically a collection of heads lolling on shoulders.

They were fine for a couple more minutes.

I needed to talk to someone.

Making my way upstairs, I made the call.

An amused voice picked up. "Don’t tell me you’re getting into trouble."

June Basil was easily one of my best friends. We’d been through a lot together in the last few years and she could keep quiet about things I didn’t want everybody else to know about.

"I met a girl," I said quickly, sitting at one of the picnic tables on the empty rooftop.

" What? King met a girl? "

"I met the girl. Goddamn, June. She’s the hottest girl you’ve ever seen. She’s funny, talented, sounds like an angel, drop-dead gorgeous, really, really cool, and?—"

" What? "

"—she invited me to her hotel room."

"Why are you talking to me? "

"The guys are drunk downstairs. I promised I’d?—"

"What time are you supposed to leave the bar?"

I sighed. "Midnight."

"Tell them it’s midnight. They’re drunk. They won’t know better."

June was right. If I rounded everybody up, I could get them back in their rooms and drive to Willow’s hotel.

Willow. The girl who didn’t like athletes.

Who would definitely be pissed when she found out I lied.

She would be upset…unless I proved my worth.

When I’d get back to the hotel, first thing’s first. Willow needed to ride my face. If she could see how valuable my tongue was to keep around, she wouldn’t give a damn if I blocked screen passes or not.

My mouth watered at the thought.

"King?" June pressed.

"Uh—" I put her on speaker. "I need to bring something, right?"

"Condoms."

"Flowers?"

"Lube."

I frowned over the delivery selection of all three to send Willow’s way while I drove my friends back to our hotel. There were fifty different types of each. I hunkered down, scanning over the options. It’d been years since I was inside anything but my fist, and the girls I used to take to bed had their stuff prepared. Fuck it, I’d buy different kinds. Something was bound to work.

Pulling up Willow’s latest message, I couldn’t help the grin.

The angel

Don’t be a tease :}

She had no idea what she was in for. I’d have her screaming my name before I even broached the football player topic.

Me

Whats your room number

The door creaked, and I glanced over. Adam Russell stared back at me, mouth agape.

Oh. Fuck .

Quickly, I shook my head.

Dude. Please. No.

He disappeared and his footsteps hurried down the stairs. Cursing under my breath, I ran after him.

Adam was a great linebacker and one of my boys on the team, but he couldn’t keep his mouth shut if someone stapled it. If you told Adam a secret, half of the university knew by Tuesday afternoon.

The thing was, if I wanted Willow to screw around, it wouldn’t have mattered. But I wanted her long-term. That wouldn’t start with all my friends shoving themselves into our dates with fun facts like my group chat name— King Virgin the Beloved —or embarrassing freshman drinking stories.

"I’ll talk to you later," I barked into the phone and put all my attention on the crowd. Where…?

There he was.

Surrounded by the rest of our friends at a table, they listened with rapt attention while he slurred his words. No doubt, giving a full rundown.

Ah…shit.

Kassie spotted me. "King?" Her eyes lit up. "King’s getting pussyyyy? "

My phone buzzed in my hand and I gazed down at our group chat.

Adam russell

kings getting pussy

Zariah contractor

photo or no proof

with todays newspaper

Adam russell

kings getting pussy

June basil

omg pls someone take adams phone

Adam russell

kings getting pussy

Piper blinked blearily at me. "Is it true?"

I sighed. "It’s true."

The four of them burst into cheers. The longer the cheering went on, the more my irritation melted away until I rolled my eyes and let them have their fun.

"Oh, King," Kassie pulled me into a drunk hug. "Get your dick wet. All the support."

"I can’t believe you’re not going to be a virgin anymore," Adam sniffled.

"I’m not a virgin. I’ve had sex."

"Three years without any? Your virginity definitely grew back. Like a fungus."

"Good job, brother," Ryan boomed, six Dos Equis in.

"Who’s getting pussy?" Adam slammed his fists against the table. "King’s getting pussy! Who’s getting pussy? KING’S GETTING PUSSY! WHO’S GETTING PUSSY?! "

"KING’S GETTING PUSSY!" they cheered.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying really hard not to laugh, which didn’t work. I felt good, and that had everything to do with the hot girl on my phone. I could stand the teasing. "Guys. I really want to see this girl, can I take you back early? Please?"

"Of course. " Piper beamed. "Go have fun!"

"What are friends for?" Kassie burst out before singing the Golden Girls theme.

It was harder than I thought trying to corral them into the rental. Ryan and Kassie kept making-out and I had to half-carry Adam, basically lifting deadweight while he belted out Golden Girls too for some reason.

They were trying to be supportive. In their weird way.

With all four in the car, I fished out my phone to check if Willow responded.

She sent a photo.

I clicked it without thinking. A single picture flashed across the screen. At the top, I could see her lips, shiny with lip gloss, and my eyes trailed down the rest of the photo while the breath left my body.

A dark purple bra showed off the swell of her breasts. In the middle was her room number, a collection of three numbers that might as well have been hieroglyphics. My phone clattered to the top of the car.

My mouth fell open. "Holy shit ."

The picture disappeared as fast as it popped up, but there was a prompt on the side asking if I wanted to replay it.

Fucking absolutely .

It took me a couple more tries before I realized I should’ve paid attention to the room number.

The angel

Five times?

I grinned.

Me

Had to reread the number

The angel

Five times? :p

Me

Had to make sure it was the right one

I wanted this girl so fucking bad. I just needed her to give me a shot. Just one. I wouldn’t miss.

"Piper, do you want to see a cartwheel?" Adam called from inside the car.

What?

I stooped down to see Adam pushing open his door, all eyes on his girlfriend. He fell back with a crunching sound.

"What kind of cartwheel was that?" Piper complained. "Adam? Adam? "

I jogged alongside the car to see the best linebacker on my team twisted on the ground. There was no way he knocked himself out.