CAMERON
Chapter Four
“You’re awfully quiet,” Beckett mused as we headed down the narrow lane between housing facilities.
Just around the corner was a neocolonial frat house where a mass of students was shifting in and out, loud music blasting out the windows.
This was the last weekend before the semester started and people needed to get the summer out of their systems.
“Hm?” I reined in my thoughts and glanced at Beckett.
He snickered. “Yeah, I'll rest my case.”
“Sorry. I was miles away.” I scratched the back of my head and let him pass first into the frat house.
Lights were subdued inside and people were already sauntering by the look of it.
It wasn’t very likely I would enjoy myself tonight.
Even less likely were the odds of ending this goddamn dry spell.
Grindr had been of no use. Nobody tickled my interest in the slightest since I had arrived here.
Worse still, the entire idea of hitting someone up, determining a place and time, doing the deed, wiping off, and heading back bored me to death. My fist achieved the same goal just as well, but that wasn’t what I was missing.
And whatever it was that I missed, I wouldn’t find it at a frat party.
I’d done my fair share of parties back in Santa Barbara, so the prospect of chugging from a keg hardly excited me. But the whole team was here and I wasn’t just going to let Riley think he won some silly dick measuring competition by appearing asocial.
Not that I cared what he thought.
Okay, maybe I cared a little. It was just frustrating that he was constantly looking to score a point against me. It was like he couldn’t see I wasn’t competing with him. Except, you kinda are, my voice of reason whispered.
The full truth of it was that I simply couldn’t let the fucker get away with it. I was compelled to protect myself when he got too cocky. Whether he was carrying some seriously heavy baggage from our history or he was just so competitive, I didn’t know. And I had no plans on finding out.
But avoiding Riley Brooks was impossible.
Just as I followed Beckett into the house, I lifted my gaze to the upper floor’s gallery, and held my breath.
Blond, blue-eyed, deep-dimpled, and stiff as a tree trunk, Riley stood with his hands on the railing, watching the mingling crowd below.
The smile on his face was a reply to something Caden Jones was saying and Riley began to turn his head to reply, but his gaze caught mine and he froze.
It was like a flicker of something went out of his eyes.
My stomach felt empty, my chest hollow. He stared at me, his features hardening.
I decided that my wisest course of action was to ignore the fuck out of him. The less we went head to head, the fewer chances there were of saying something wrong.
“I see what’s distracting you,” Beckett said with mock seriousness.
“Him? Hmpf.” It was a poor disguise because my voice cracked at the suggestion.
Beckett threw his arm over my shoulders and shook his head. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. When you guys are gone, I have two more years to build my path forward. I’m happy to eat popcorn and watch you two nuke each other’s careers on ice this entire year.”
I deadpanned. “But?”
His grin broadened. “But is that really what you want? This stupid feud is hurting your chances to get drafted.”
“Why exactly are you telling me that?” I asked expressionlessly. “He’s the one feuding.”
My sole ally on this campus nodded a reluctant nod. “I’m not head-over-heels for Captain Brooks,” he admitted. “But even I can tell you’re not so innocent, Martinez.”
“Your wisdom is much appreciated, Partridge,” I said, mocking his tone.
Beckett’s eyes turned lust-glazed when he spotted two girls on the other side of the large common area, so I released him into the wild. I wouldn’t be seeing him tonight, I was sure. If this month of prep at Northwood had taught me anything, it was that Beckett followed his dick’s ideas to a dot.
I grabbed a can of cold beer from a stoned senior and glanced around the house.
Riley had disappeared from the gallery, so I went up to assume his place of the brooding overseer of things.
Sipping every now and then, I leaned over the wooden railing and watched the party heat up.
As people relaxed and music picked up its beat, I said goodbye to the last hopes of scoring something more than a bathroom quickie with the lights off.
I was sober and, by the look of it, the only one in that state.
And maybe I was an emotionless asshole, but I wasn’t exactly looking to lead some poor drunk guy on and have him puke all around.
I sighed to myself and scanned the room down below.
People danced, which was nothing noteworthy, until I spotted him.
He’d left here to get a drink and had no intentions of returning, it seemed.
In fact, Riley was fully immersed in conversation with some guy I didn’t know.
They were standing by the windows where a desperately thirsty plant was enduring the fraternity’s neglect.
Riley laughed and even though he was too far in a loud environment, I knew he snorted mid-laugh.
I’d heard him do it in the locker room and I remembered it more than a little from high school.
I counted down from three and saw his cheeks turn a shade redder.
A long time ago, he had been blushing like that because of me. But that had never been real. Those had been the days of boyish fantasies and long Sunday mornings. That hadn’t been real life. The reality had always existed outside his bedroom door. Couldn’t he see that? Hadn’t he known?
Someone bumped into me in the gallery and it jerked me from my thoughts.
My attention drifted from Riley’s reddening cheeks to his companion.
He seemed about the same age as us, tall, dark haired and dark eyed.
He was bulkier than Riley and wore a confident expression.
I almost looked away and told myself not to care, but the guy leaned in and whispered something into Riley’s ear while lifting his dark gaze right at me.
He seemed to have stumbled over his words, eyes glued to my glowering expression.
It was too late to look aside now. I would only come across as a creep. Instead, I let my frown deepen and forced the guy to look away. But as he did, he said something else to Riley, who spun so quickly that I didn’t have a moment’s warning.
Shit.
His blue eyes pierced me, draining oxygen from my lungs. He let his cold gaze linger on me until I felt frostbites. In the mess that unfolded in my head, I noticed Riley turning away and the guy touching his elbow.
I tried to lose myself in the crowd that dotted the gallery, but as I went deeper into the mass, the harder it was to move any further.
Someone was carrying six cups of beer and tripping over his own feet.
A girl was rushing past me in visible need of a bathroom after a few too many drinks.
Three guys I’d never seen before were making out against a bedroom door, seeming more confused with the amount of limbs between them than aroused.
As I rolled my eyes at the utter chaos, someone grabbed my shoulder and spun me around.
I sucked in a breath of air and frowned at Riley when he brought his face close to mine. “What’s your problem?”
“What? Get off me,” I grunted and pushed his hand off my shoulder.
“No,” he snapped and took my wrist in his hand, squeezing threateningly before releasing me. “Tell me.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I retreated two steps back. That was a mistake because I was pressing against the railing with my ass and had a furious guy rising on his toes and bringing his nose dangerously close to mine.
“Drop the act, Cameron,” he said, mocking me for wanting to use my full name. “I’m sick of your mixed messages. Why were you staring at Vaughn? And, while we’re at it, why did you tell our entire history to the biggest gossip on campus?”
I pressed Riley’s hard pecs with the tips of my fingers, pushing him lightly away so I could straighten my back. “I didn’t know Beckett was a gossip.”
“And you didn’t think to check before talking about our — what did you call it? — situation-ship in high school?” He cocked his head to one side and glared. “Is that what you tell everyone the moment you meet them?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“How am I ridiculous? Everyone knows we had a thing and I can’t talk to a guy without your brooding face scaring him off.” He pushed a few inches closer to me. It didn’t seem to bother him that he needed to look up when scolding me.
What bothered him was the laugh I barked out. “If that’s what it takes to scare a guy off, you’re better on your own.”
Riley’s fury escalated when I said that.
And, upon reflection, I could totally see why.
“That’s none of your fucking business,” he spat, his lips inches away from mine.
It tightened my chest and made my body tingle with an odd mix of excitement and fear.
Not that I was afraid of Riley. He could bark all he liked.
But I couldn’t shake this feeling off. I’d had it so many times in the month we had spent clashing on ice, at the gym, and in the locker room.
“Maybe I should decide who’s worth my time and who isn’t.
” He gave me such a pointed look that there was no mistaking his meaning. I wasn’t worth his time.
And yet, here he was, inching closer into me.
I straightened, practically threatening him with physical contact if he didn’t step back.
He did, but only enough so we wouldn’t touch.
“Riley, I wasn’t trying to scare your boy toy away,” I said flatly.
“It would be a very pathetic thing to do.” And yet, the nerve of that guy to just put his hands all over Riley bugged me more than words could say.
“I wouldn’t put it past you,” he muttered.