Chapter 2
REID RATHE
My head throbs. What a fine thing to wake up to. I knew I was doing too many shots last night. I knew, and I was stupid enough to take another.
With my eyes tightly closed against the throb that’s easing with every passing second, I let the sound of birds outside wash over me.
Surprisingly, with all the shots, I didn’t black out.
I remember everything. Vividly. And I know exactly where I am, too.
My heart stutters as I take in the unique smell that I couldn’t get enough of last night.
The smell that stuffed itself up my nose and I knew I was a goner.
Her smell.
When I hear the soft breathing of another, I slowly open my eyes. Lying next to me in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room is…I rack my brain, trying to remember her name. It takes me a moment, but I remember her sweet voice telling me her name was Sarah.
Sarah…
She doesn’t look like a Sarah. With her soft features, curled and almost-black hair, and a few freckles dotting her nose, the name doesn’t portray her beauty. It’s too ordinary.
My fuzzy gaze travels lower, sharply focusing when I realize that her shoulders are bare. A comforter is covering her body, but she’s definitely naked.
My cock immediately hardens at this realization, and I take her in. Even though she’s breathing softly, I remember how she breathed when I was buried inside her. I remember the face she made when she came all over my length, squeezing it tightly. The thought alone makes me bite my knuckles.
Focus on something else, Reid.
A few more freckles dot her shoulder, and my fingers itch to reach out and touch them, but I hold them back. I lift my arm and look down at my body instead, finding myself completely naked and completely uncovered.
Shit. Did I really just plop down on her bed, completely naked, and pass the hell out after sex?
Yes. Yes, I did.
One-night stands aren’t typically my thing.
I don’t do them. It was ingrained in me as a teen not to get someone knocked up from senseless sex by my parents.
They didn’t tell me why at the time, but I now know it was because of what I’ll inherit when they pass their empire down to me, something I’m not and have never been interested in.
That didn’t stop me a few times though. I was a little wild as a teen.
The few times I have had one-night stands, it was a mess afterward, and I quickly learned my lesson.
Since then, I’m not the kind of guy to meet a girl at a party and screw her in the next five minutes of swapping names, no matter how attracted I am to her.
No matter how good her lips taste. No matter how her eyes shine with interest for me.
Just me. Not for the car I drive. Not for my parents’ bank account. Just me.
Briefly, I run a hand over my face and then look back at her.
What do I do? Do I wake her? God, I can’t do that.
She was just as drunk as I was last night, and she probably won’t remember a thing that happened.
I’m honestly surprised that I do. I remember every detail vividly.
How her body fit to mine. How her curves felt under my hands.
Anyway, she will probably freak the hell out and kick me out before I can get my pants on.
My phone dings, and I look over her sleeping form to the floor where my jeans are, my phone tucked into a pocket. I sigh a little and try to peek at the sun through the sliver of opening in the curtains. I know exactly who is texting me, and by the position of the sun, I’m late as hell.
Carefully, I crawl off her bed, working hard not to jostle her. Not to wake her.
When I’m clear of the bed, I pad across the carpet and snatch up my jeans. I slide the phone out of my pocket and read the text. Or, rather, the stream of them.
Dustin Moore
What happened to you last night, man? You disappeared.
Not going to lie, I’m hurt I didn’t at least get a goodbye.
I can’t help the grin. I know he’s joking. He’s my best friend; people joke about our bromance all the time.
When we first started college two years ago, we didn’t know each other.
We met at one party, and we hit it off immediately.
That was back when I was just getting on my feet without my mother and father’s noses breathing down my neck.
It was my first bout of freedom, and Dustin took me under his wing and showed me what life was like when I wasn’t surrounded by money.
He reminds me of the little things that matter more than the things that money can get me.
A friend like him doesn’t come around often.
I continue reading.
Dustin Moore
I’m at the gym.
Okay, I’m inside and I don’t see your wimpy muscles anywhere.
The grin resurfaces. I’ve been lifting weights since high school. I’m far bigger than him in the muscle department, having introduced him to it a few weeks after we met. He never misses the opportunity to try to make his muscles seem bigger.
Dustin Moore
Seriously. Some girl is staring at me and I need you to turn her away. Where are you?
I glance back at Sarah and then reply to the text.
Reid Rathe
Sorry, got held up. I’ll be right there.
Setting the phone on the floor, I quickly slide on my underwear and jeans and then pick up my phone again, slipping it into my back pocket. I pluck up my shoes and my messed-up shirt and quietly exit the room, making sure the knob doesn’t latch too loudly.
I stand there for a moment, feeling obligated to at least say goodbye to the woman sleeping on the other side of the door. She deserves more even if I don’t really know her.
The sound of a cabinet opening and closing in the kitchen makes me freeze, however. Ivy is here. She’s awake, and she’s here. And I’m fucked.
Maybe not. Maybe I can get out of this…somehow.
I cringe as I make my way very stealthily down the hallway. If she catches me sneaking out of her roommate’s room, I’ll never hear the end of it.
Ivy isn’t the type to let crap go either.
She’d try to play matchmaker, and honestly, as good as that sounds—because I’m dying to get to know the girl I slept with last night—I don’t know if Sarah would be into it.
I have no idea where she even stands concerning relationships.
She could be one of those girls who aren’t interested in them until after they have their degree in their hands.
It doesn’t matter. Not in this moment because I have to get out of here without Ivy catching me.
When I get to the living room, I peek my head around the corner and into the kitchen.
Ivy has her back turned toward me, hands in soapy water, her red hair up in a bun, and her pajamas all wrinkled.
No doubt, she spent the night with Dustin last night and made her way back over when Dustin hit the gym.
I keep my eyes on her, making sure she is completely focused on the dishes before I silently make my way to the door.
My heart pounds in my chest, and when my fingers curl around the knob, I open it quickly and step out into the building’s hallway.
When I shut the door, I grimace because it makes a clicking sound.
Grinding my jaw, knowing there’s no way she didn’t hear the door shut, I move as fast as I can through the hall, down the stairs, and out to my car.
Once I get inside my car, I breathe a sigh of relief.
She’ll know that someone was sleeping with her roommate, but she won’t know who.
Hell, her roommate probably won’t even remember who, and I admit, that thought stings a little.
I stare at the building for a few more moments.
She lives with Ivy. I’ll see her again, and then I’ll introduce myself to her properly and ask her out on a date to get to know each other better.
Even if she doesn’t remember me, there’s a chance she might say yes.
God, I hope so because I can’t imagine not being part of her life now that I’m a blip in it.
She’s far too beautiful to pass up, to let go and pretend that nothing happened between us.
Vowing that this is the plan, I start my car and head out of the parking lot, straight for the gym on the other side of campus. Since it’s a Saturday, and morning at that, the roads are pretty clear, and I get there quicker than usual.
Parking the car, I grab my gym bag from the back seat, head inside, and go straight to the locker room, not giving an ounce of care that I’m shirtless. It’s a gym. People are shirtless all the time.
Once I’m done changing into shorts and a cutoff shirt, I store my stuff in a locker and nearly jog my way out. I spot Dustin right away on the treadmill, so I head to him. As soon as he sees me, however, he lifts his hand and gives me a middle finger.
I chuckle under my breath, hop on the one beside him, and start the machine. The belt moves right away to the speed I set it, and we jog in silence for a few moments before Dustin breaks it.
“Are you not going to tell me what held you up?”
“Jealous that I didn’t give you a kiss goodbye last night?” I send a kiss in his direction.
Dustin scoffs. “I got plenty of kisses last night, and I thank God, in this moment, that none of them were from you.”
I peek at him before looking forward again. “So you got laid?”
He reaches over and playfully shoves my shoulder. “Of course I did. But you’re still not answering my question, and I’m beginning to think that you’re not going to give me the details. What held you up?”
What the hell do I say? That I slept with his girlfriend’s roommate?
At that moment, I nearly jump out of my skin as someone slaps my butt, and hard. A familiar voice booms, “What the hell happened to you last night? One minute, we’re doing shots, and the next, you were gone,” Jacob says.
“Good morning to you too, asshat,” I grumble under my breath, rubbing my backside.