Chapter 21 #3
“I wouldn’t, what? Go to the dean and tell him you fucked Professor Emery last year to improve your ethics grade?”
“Zach, please—”
“No. No ‘please.’ You so much as look at Denny the wrong way, I’ll make you regret the day you were born.”
Her shoulders hunch. “You wouldn’t.”
“I sure would. Might only have been screwing you a short while, but I know you’ve gone through the team like VD. I’ll just bet my teammates have gossip on you too.” I tap my nose. “I can ruin your life here at Oakwood, Addison. Remember that. Just don’t be a bitch and we’ll coexist fine.”
With a jerky nod, she starts down the hallway.
That she concedes so quickly tells me she doesn’t need her grades investigated.
To her back, I call out, “I better not see you around for a while.”
She jolts at the threat, but I don’t wait for her to step into the elevator. I slam my door closed and rub a hand over my face after I’ve locked it.
“You’re pretty when you’re angry.”
“Shut up,” I grumble, finding Denny hovering by the doorway to the kitchen, arms folded against her chest. No phone in sight.
“Nah. Where’d be the fun in that? You went kinda nuclear on her, huh?”
“Didn’t you hear what she said about you?”
“You think it’s the first time one of your girlfriends called me names?”
I groan. “I still don’t get why you didn’t tell me before!”
“What would you have done? Gagged them?” An amused smile dances on her lips. “It’s fine.”
“No. It’s not. If anyone calls you—”
“You’ll ruin their lives?” The smile morphs into a grin. “You’re a little bit a lot psycho, but I dig it. Though, I’m not sure she went through the team like VD. I’m pretty sure you guys went through her.”
Awkwardly, I stroke a hand through my hair. “Equal opportunity sex addicts?”
“Exactly. Don’t have to like the bitch to defend her.” Blowing on her nails, she decrees, “Feminism 101.”
“You need to go and shower.”
“Why? I don’t have to meet Callan at the library for another couple hours.”
“We’re going to Dopie’s.”
“For breakfast? That’s usually on Saturdays.”
“I don’t care. Pecan, Mason, Gregg, and Alec will be there.”
“So?”
I rub the back of my neck. “Denny?”
“What?”
“I know you want to keep us on the down-low.”
That she twists to the side is the answer to a question I didn’t ask.
“Why, D?”
“This is new and, let’s face it, Zach, you’re a player. Playing around with girls is what you do.”
The truth fucking hurts but I still admit, “I deserve that.”
Her brow furrows. “I didn’t say that to be a bitch.”
“No. I’ve been a player since high school, but you have to see this is different, D.”
“Zach, what Addison…” She falters. “Look, I’m out of your league and that’s—”
“Bullshit.” The hellfire in her eyes when her gaze strikes mine has me admonishing, “You’re out of mine.”
Her lips purse but she studies me, leans in, reads my expression like I’m a book, then mumbles, “You really believe that, don’t you?”
“Of course I do. You’re awesome. I’m just a slut with great stick skills.”
“You’re good with orgasms too.”
“Oh, I am, huh?”
Her lips quirk at my smug tone. “I’d totally leave a review for you. Ten out of ten.”
“The only review that matters is yours.”
A breath whooshes from her. “You can’t say stuff like that.”
“Sure I can ‘cause I mean it.”
“Zach,” she groans, and not in the way I’ve learned I prefer—with her coming around my cock. “It’s too soon to be talking like this!”
I know she feels that way and I can only adjust her stance by showing up so I change tracks.
I have time.
She can go as slow as she wants because that’ll just prove how wrong she is.
Gotta get my wins somehow.
“Whether it is or isn’t, D…” I hold up a hand when I sense a diatribe incoming. “I called you ‘gorgeous’ in front of Addison.”
She closes her eyes. “Fuck.”
I grunt. Then shoot her a smile. I keep it hesitant when, inside, I’m crowing like mad. “Alec has the biggest mouth on campus and the biggest network too. If we walk into Dopie’s hand in hand, by six PM tonight, everyone will know you’re mine and we revealed it ourselves.”
“Caveman,” she croaks.
Stalking over to her, I cup her cheek. “You are mine, Denny. You were mine before too. If you’d told me, I’d have tossed any bitch to the curb who treated you badly and called you names.”
A glint of something pops into her eyes. It’s more resigned than pained. “I’m used to it, Zach.”
“Doesn’t mean you should have to be.” I grip her ass and haul her into me.
“See this?” I squeeze her butt cheek. “This is meat on bones that I get to cart you around with.” She stammers through a half-laugh, and it’s a thousand times better than that old, unhealed hurt I just saw.
Confidence isn’t something she lacks, but that doesn’t mean I can’t shore up her walls.
“This is softness and warmth.” Another squeeze.
“This is you. And you are mine. Ergo, you are beautiful.”
“Ergo, huh? Callan uses that one a lot.”
“Ergo. He’s not the only one who knows fancy words. I’m studying law too.”
I’m not a complete dipshit.
“Are you…” She pauses. “No. Never mind.”
“Am I, what?”
She clears her throat. “Jealous.”
“Of Callan? Yeah. ‘Course I am.”
Denny gasps, her hands pressing to my pecs, nails digging in slightly. “No way.”
“Yes way.” My tone’s calmer than the Sargasso Sea.
“I don’t like that you let him call you Denny or that you invite him to breakfast. He’s handsome, quirky, and accessible.
What’s not to hate? Plus, I don’t like that you focus on him at games, and there’s a bunch more ‘caveman’ shit too, but that’s what it boils down to. ”
“I won’t lie and tell you I don’t think he’s cute. Because he is. But we’re just friends.”
“So were we.” I boop her on the nose. “Not much reassurance there, Denny.”
Her snort makes my self-directed derision worth it.
I dip my chin to press a kiss to her lips. “You wouldn’t be my Denny if you weren’t exactly as you are.” It pains me to state this, but I need her to know it, just in case I fuck up and she throws me to the curb. “If you remember nothing else about being with me, then remember that.”
“And what am I?” she whispers, eyes overly big, lips parted.
“Perfect.”
A whimper escapes her and I find a whole lot more of her to grab when she shoves me against the door and devours me.
I let her too.
I savor her kisses.
I worship her back, because that’s what she deserves—everything.
Then, when I know time’s ticking away and we both have shit planned for this morning, I break off the kiss. “You need to stop this because what we have to do is more important than an orgasm.”
“You pissing on me like I’m a tree is more important than an orgasm?” She sniffs. “I know I’m new to them but—”
I tap her ass. “Less of the backtalk. More of the showering.”
That earns me a harrumph, but she shuffles off, muttering about bossy men who need to give girls orgasms when they ask for one.
I watch her go, oddly disillusioned by that conversation yet filled with hope too.
Another Denny fact I hadn’t picked up on yet? One that told me I sucked as a friend because Callan had probably figured it out by now…
Denny has severe commitment issues.
And coming from a heretofore self-aware manwhore, that’s saying something. Especially when the commitment-phobe was, until very recently, a virgin.
As well as that conversation ended—i.e., all of my limbs intact—it sours any excitement I might feel about Oakwood learning who Denny belongs to.
Because Denny’s mine…
…but for how long?