Jeremy
I’d done the mandatory rounds at the Omega house. The usual. Checking in with my brothers. Making small talk with the new president I couldn’t fucking stand, and I was pretty sure it was mutual.
Being a part of the Omega house as a legacy, thanks to my dad and grandpa, but not really being one of them at the same time made some of them a little distrusting of me and my intentions.
Much to my dad’s chagrin, I didn’t live in the main house even though he paid for a room there as well.
He couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t live in the house where some of his best alcohol-induced memories stemmed from.
My grandfather had even more hazy memories of the good old days.
They were good guys with nothing but the best intentions at heart, but I wasn’t them.
I’d never been the kind of guy who had some kind of hormone-driven need to fuck every girl who smiled at me or showed me attention.
I’d had sex with three women in my life.
One in fucking high school and two at my old college before transferring over.
I’d started to think maybe there was something wrong with me until I’d transferred here and locked eyes on Teresa.
Teresa.
Mi cielo. My sky. My fucking everything.
I grinned thinking about her sassy mouth and dark eyes that were never capable of hiding what she felt. The way it was obvious my girl liked the idea of me knowing her second language, mine as well, but didn’t know what to make of me since she’d made her own assumptions of me.
She was my everything.
She might not know it and the way I’d gone about to finally have her by my side might have been a little…
well, manipulative. But playing sports my entire life, I’d learned discipline and doing anything to get the job done by any means necessary.
And bullying her into this had been my own version of a Hail Mary.
I glanced at my phone and slowly breathed out. She was on her way. Finally. I scanned the place. The party was starting to liven up and get busier. I walked out and saw my best friend, roommate, and teammate out at the back of the yard. His knee bounced with his own nervousness.
Now, Jason was up to something. What, I wasn’t sure, but I had a feeling I’d have to get it out of him soon. I approached him quietly from the side, but he was in his own world, so he didn’t even notice me.
“What’s going on with you?” I asked, breaking the silence. He turned to look at me and frowned. Oh yeah, he didn’t notice me at all.
“Nothing,” Jason muttered, staring at me a little too close for comfort. His back straightened, surprise hit his eyes, and for a moment, I wondered just how bad I looked.
“What’s up with you?” he asked, suddenly making me feel like I was under a microscope.
I opened and shut my mouth with a grunt. How the hell could I explain what I’d done to my roommate? I broke his stare and looked out at the party, my attention focused on those who came outside from inside the house.
For a moment, we were quiet, then Jason whistled low. I shot him a death glare.
“Shut it,” I murmured under my breath.
We were both sitting in the backyard, obviously searching the crowd for someone.
I knew the look he had on his face. Shit, I saw it on my own.
I ran my fingers through my hair, noting for the first time just how long it had grown.
Fuck, I needed a cut. But the idea of any woman other than mine touching me made me sick.
“Which one is she?” Jason finally asked. There were only a handful of girls here since it was early still.
“No one,” I answered a little too roughly. A muscle under my eye twitched with annoyance.
“Liar,” Jason called my bluff. I turned to look at him, and he smirked. “You’re waiting for someone.”
“Should I ask you the same question?” I countered. His lips twitched, but he shook his head.
“It’s like that?” Jason asked, ignoring my own question.
“Exactly,” I sighed. “Maybe worse,” I shared. Definitely worse. I glanced at Jason. He was our shortstop, and the two of us had transferred around the same time.
He was a good guy, mostly. Unlike me, Jason liked to date. A lot. Well, not date so much as hook up. Though now that I thought about it, I hadn’t really seen the revolving door of women stopping by the dorm.
Regardless of who he might be waiting for and whatever he was up to, it couldn’t be worse than what I’d done.
Fuck. I was blackmailing Teresa. Bullying her into dating me and giving me the time of day.
It ate at me not being completely sure if she flirted or smiled at me because she wanted to or felt like she had to.
Why the fuck did I do that?
I wasn’t cut out for this kind of shit. Because she wouldn’t given you the time of day otherwise.
Right. There was that. My girl was stubborn and had it stuck in her head that athletes, but especially baseball players, weren’t for her.
“Shit,” Jason said, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Dylan was like this,” I muttered, and Jay nodded. Our third roommate, who was about to move in with his lady. Someone he stalked, allegedly. Maybe it was because of how we lived our lives, the competition, the discipline, the adrenaline that rewired our brains when it came to love.
Love. As fucking terrifying as that was, it couldn’t be called anything else. When you know, you know.
“Now you and me,” Jason mumbled, peeling the label off the beer he liked to hold when he came to parties like this.
“It’s the fucking water,” I muttered. “It has to be.” Our eyes connected, and Jason fucking laughed.
“Maybe a gas leak?” he asked. My attention moved to the crowd. I wanted to pull my phone out to see where the hell Teresa was. I hated playing a waiting game. Everything inside of me was anxious to see her, on edge just to have her near me. My lungs ached from not being near her.
“Maybe,” I muttered under my breath. “Something’s wrong with us, man,” I mumbled. Jason grunted. I glanced at him wondering what he’d think about my situation. Shit, what kind of shit had he done and got himself into?
Will he think it’s fucked up how I stalk her in plain sight?
Running behind her in the early light of a new day in order to make sure she was safe.
Learned her schedule like the back of my hand because I needed to make sure nothing bad ever happened to her.
Would Jay think it was wrong for me to push and insist on Teresa giving me a chance while holding something over her head?
Am I a bully?
No. I wasn’t. It wasn’t like I would actually upload or turn in that video of her! I’d never do anything to put mi cielo in danger. Ever. I loved her. She was mine and I was hers, damn it! I just did it to get her to give me a damn chance.
Hell, travel days like yesterday were the worst for me. Hell, how many games had I gone to watch myself without her knowing when my own busy schedule allowed it?
A commotion sounded from where the beer pong tables were, and I sighed at the antics of the younger underclassmen. “Why are your brothers like this?” Jay asked, and all I could do was shrug.
“They’ve probably been drinking since they woke up today,” I shared. Jason shook his head with disapproval. I got it.
Omegas weren’t known as a party frat the way Sigma Laus were. Omegas had a better rep. One for being serious. Or as serious as Greek life could be.
“It’s the new president,” I explained.
“The guy from the basketball team?” I nodded.
“He’s a dick,” I added. I didn’t like him but was stuck with him for another year.
“You moving in here?” Jason asked for the first time.
“I don’t think so,” I replied before glancing in his direction. “That cool with you?” Dylan was basically moved out now, and if I left, with no new players, he’d have the dorm to himself.
“Hell yeah.” Jay tipped his beer at me, and I joined him in a silent toast. “Your dad cool with that?” Jason asked.
“I don’t think he’d care where I live.” Jason stared at me for a long moment without saying a word, and I knew what he was thinking, that I was wrong. Before he could say anything, a deep voice cut through the yard before suddenly, silence hit the noisy yard.
“Oh my god! Where have you been all my life, pretty girl?” a male voice exclaimed, but from where we were, I couldn’t really see who it was.
Both of us shifted and straightened where we sat, but I caught sight of Teresa and her roommate. Both of them were holding a red Solo cup in their hands as one of the guys tried to talk to them.
“What the fuck?” we both said as we turned to face one another.
“She’s mine,” we said at the same time.
“The hell she’s yours,” I growled and stood. He joined me and stood closer to me.
“Man, I’m not playing,” he answered as we squared off.
“You think I am?” I growled, leaning closer.
He was my best friend. My roommate. But I had no problem putting him down. I’d kick his ass before he could lay eyes on my girl.
“She’s mine.” Jason’s hands fisted at his sides. If we went after the same girl, there would be no coming back from that. So be it! Teresa was mine. She was my priority. The most important thing to me over friends, family, the game. Hands down and without a doubt.
“The hell she is.” I couldn’t stop myself from chest-bumping Jason. “Teresa is—“
“Teresa?” Jay cut me off before he turned to look where my girl and her roommate were. “I don’t want her. That’s not who I was talking about,” he quickly amended.
“What?” I stilled. The two of us looked towards our girls. “Who do you—“
“Sadie,” Jay shared. My head whipped so fast it almost hurt, my eyes wide with relief as the tension between us started to dissolve.
“Her roommate?” I asked in a quiet whisper.
“Sadie. Not Teresa,” Jason repeated, and the two of us slowly started to relax. We leaned against the brick wall we’d been sitting on.
“What are the fucking chances of that?” I wondered quietly. “Roommates becoming obsessed with other roommates on the same goddamn floor.”
“Hmm,” Jason grunted, taking a slow swig of his beer.
“Something about that fucking building,” I said, standing and stretching my back as I kept an eye on my girl.
“Jer, you good?” Jason asked. No. No, I wasn’t good. I was fucking losing my shit over a girl I was blackmailing into loving me.
“Talk to you later,” I grunted, because it wasn’t like I could fucking tell him everything that was going on. Hell, I couldn’t even tell him half the shit I’d done. He’d never see me the same way again.
Though… we had almost come to fists thinking we liked the same girl.
Who knew if we could come back from the truth?