Chapter 6 #2
“I should probably, umm…” I wasn’t sure what the hell I should do, but standing here staring at the guy wasn’t helping me not look like an idiot.
“Hey, pretty girl,” a very drunk guy said, stumbling up to my left.
“Oh, umm, hello,” I politely answered, instinctively moving closer to Jason.
“Where are you going?” He laughed, moving closer. When his arm rose to reach me, Jason gently moved me behind him, putting his large body between me and the drunk frat guy.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Harrison.”
“Fuck you, Lucas. She wants to talk to me. Isn’t that right, babe?”
“Not really, no,” I muttered under my breath.
Shit! This was why I didn’t like frat parties. There was always some drunk guy who thought no or not interested meant you were playing hard to get.
“Oh, come on! Don’t be like that, babe.”
“Call her babe one more time,” Jason challenged, moving closer to the guy. I hardly knew the guy to have him standing up for me or offering me his sweater and dressing me up like his own little doll.
“Look, I know you like to hit every jock bunny that comes around, Jay, but you gotta leave some untapped merch for the rest of us,” he slurred.
Untapped merch. The guy was disgusting.
Jason’s hand rose, and the drunk guy started to laugh. “What are you going to do? Hit me? Risk hurting that golden hand of yours?” the guy taunted.
I was about to tell him he wasn’t worth it when Jason’s hand wrapped around the guy’s neck in a blur and he shoved him back.
He yelped, and suddenly, the backyard went quiet.
Even with the new silence around us, I couldn’t make out what Jason said to the guy when he leaned in and spoke in his ear.
Whatever it was made him turn a bright shade of red, then pale.
He let go, and the guy slumped forward, his own hand rubbing his throat.
“Apologize,” Jason demanded.
“Sorry,” the guy said, coughing as he tried to catch his breath.
“Now leave.”
“Fuck you, Lucas! This isn’t over.” He coughed again before looking in my direction, giving me a look that made me wrap my arms around myself. Jason turned and looked at me.
“Wanna get out of here?” he asked. I licked my lips.
The smart answer would have been to say no.
To explain I came with my roommate and I couldn’t leave her alone. But I wasn’t sure what kind of spell Jason had over me that seeing that touch of violence from him while defending me made me wet. Like a hot and ready Little Cesar’s pizza I was most definitely ready to go.
Not that I could get myself to say the words out loud, so I slowly nodded.
“Text your friend, little bird.” Little bird? “Tell her I’m taking you home.”
“Home?” I rasped in a breathy tone. He stepped closer, tugging on a hair that hung in front of my face before tucking it behind my ear, then tenderly brushing his fingertips against the side of my face.
“Your dorm.”
“Right.” My face flushed because of course he meant my place! He wasn’t going to take me to his. He was just being a nice guy after some jerk tried to hit on me and, in his drunken haze, couldn’t take no as an answer. I reached for my cell from the back pocket of the skirt I had on and texted Tere.
Tere being Tere didn’t make me wait. That girl was always vigilant of her phone. She called, and I could hear the echo of the loud music playing inside.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“You sure you wanna let the baseball player walk you home?” she asked over the noise of the party.
“Yeah. He’s been… nice.”
“He lives on our floor.” Tere gave me the heads-up. Seemed she’d seen him before. I mean, I’d guessed that, but now it was confirmed, and I knew what sport he played and why the drunk guy had alluded to his golden hands.
“So, we’re both going in the same direction. But only if you’re okay staying on your own.”
“She’s not on her own,” Jeremy’s deep voice sounded, letting me know he was either really close to her or I was on speaker. More than likely the latter since Tere’s phone was ancient and should have been replaced about a ten years ago.
“I can answer for myself, you know?” Tere sassed. I pressed my lips together.
“I know, but where would the fun be in that?”
“You’re so—“
“Endearing?” he cut her off with his guess. “Charming?”
“Annoying,” she mumbled. “Sadie, you still there?”
“Yup.” I glanced up at Jason, who was staring at me like he was trying to figure me out somehow. “I’ll be fine.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, positive. You?”
“I have my pepper spray with me.” I knew it was more to warn Jeremy than anything else.
“Me too,” I shared quietly, knowing Jason couldn’t hear me. He seemed like a nice guy, don’t get me wrong, but a girl could never be too careful.
“Okay, then, be safe. Text me when you get home, and I’ll see you in the morning.” Guess her guy had talked her into an overnight date.
“Sounds good. Bye.” I hung up and slipped my phone into the hoodie’s pocket. “She’s staying,” I shared.
“Gathered that.”
“Right,” I mumbled, and before I knew it, his hand found mine and he tangled our fingers together like we knew one another rather than just met, and we were walking back towards the dorms.
“So, you play baseball?” I asked, trying to break the comfortable silence that had fallen between us.
“I do.”
“Are you a pitcher or—“
“Shortstop.” I nodded. “What do you play?” he asked. His gaze slid to me.
“Umm… other than board games once in a while, nothing.” That earned me a chuckle from him and a smile so big it gave me a clear view of his dimple.
“I just mean, you live in the athletics dorms.”
“Oh! Right. I do, but it was a glitch. In the system. I tried to explain it to housing, but they said it was too complicated to fix or something, so…” I shrugged. “I guess I lucked out. Mostly.”
“Mostly?” His thumb was stroking the side of my hand with a gentle touch that soothed me.
“I mean… it’s just…no offense to your people—“
“My people?” His lips twitched, and I had to look away because that smile of his could get me in trouble. Like panty-melting or ripping kind of trouble.
“Jocks?”
“Ouch. Stereotype much?”
“You’re right, that’s not fair. How about athletes?”
“Better. What about them?”
“Well… some of the guys who live there are a lot like… well, the Omega guy you threatened.”
“Sorry about that.”
“Are you?” His steps slowed until we stopped.
“What?” His eyes were locked on mine, making it feel like we we’re the only two people in existence.
“Are you actually sorry about threatening him or choking him?”
“Honestly?”
“Yeah, I’d rather have the truth than lies. Always.”
“Always, huh? Even when a truth might be a little… discerning?”
“Always,” I repeated. “I mean, if you think your answer is going to freak me out, you must think I’m stupid.”
“Never.” He frowned. “Little bird, I’d never think that. I’m just saying…” He exhaled roughly.
“I saw you do it, yet I’m still letting you walk me home.”
“Why is that? Shouldn’t that have freaked you out?”
“I asked you a question first.” He stared at me for a long moment.
“No. I’m not sorry,” he answered. “I bet if someone had put Harrison in his place long ago, fewer girls on campus would be weary about being around him because he would have learned his lesson about respecting women.” Damn.
That was a good answer. But it wasn’t just words.
It was something, judged that by the way he held himself and the way he spoke, he genuinely wholeheartedly believed.
“You didn’t freak me out,” I answered softly and for some reason started to walk. He caught up to me and took my hand back in his.
“What’s this about?” I asked, swinging our tangled hands slightly.
“I like holding your hand,” he admitted. I almost tripped over my own two feet. Thankfully, Jason was there to stop me from falling on my face a second time, when his free hand wrapped around my waist and pressed my body to his side.
“You okay?”
“Hmm…” I mumbled, looking away because I knew I was blushing like a schoolgirl. I shimmied out of his hold and started to walk.
Without letting go of his hand.
When we reached our building, he opened the door for me, and I brushed my body against his.
My head dipped into the collar of the sweater he’d let me borrow for one last sniff of whatever cologne he wore.
It smelled good. He smelled good. Our time was coming to an end, and if I was honest, I wasn’t ready for it.
“Hungry?” He pointed to the dining hall. I opened and shut my mouth. “My treat,” he offered. “Please?”
“You can go. I’ll be okay walking myself up—“ I started to say, but he shot me the cutest set of puppy dog eyes I’d ever seen. I mean, how could I say no to him now?