8. One Night To Remember
One Night To Remember
Jamie
H ow did I miss how awesome it is to have a girlfriend?
I shower and change at record speed knowing that Bex will be waiting for me right outside the players’ area at the arena.
“Hey baby.” I close my arms around her, and when her subtle floral scent surrounds me, everything feels right in the world.
“Congratulations on the win.” She beams, lifting her face to meet my gaze. “Scoring two goals is one hell of a way to start the season.”
She’s right, and I’m proud of mine and the team’s performance on the ice today. But right now, none of it matters.
My heart is pounding in my chest, and I can’t wait to be alone with Bex. Hopefully, she wants to ditch the fake label on our relationship and really make this one night to remember.
I almost want to ask her if we can ditch the party at the Gamma house and take her out for a nice dinner. Maybe get us a room at the Country Club and spend all night showing her how deeply I’m falling for her.
But the second the rest of the team starts coming out of the locker room, it becomes more than clear that I can’t just ditch the party without showing my face. So we found ourselves riding to the Gamma house in Connor’s car.
I listen to Bex asking Connor how he’s feeling from my spot in the backseat, but I’m only half paying attention to his answer.
All I can think about is how much I hope that Bex will reciprocate my feelings.
Because when I said that having a girlfriend is awesome, I didn’t really mean it.
I knew there was a reason why I never committed to anyone before. Having a girlfriend is only awesome if that girl is Bex. And seeing her in my jersey does crazy things to my heart and makes me so fucking hard that I can barely think straight.
The second we enter the party, we’re greeted by a chorus of loud cheers. I barely take notice of all the praise, the compliments, the congratulatory backslaps of everyone who showed up at the Gamma house to celebrate our first victory of the season.
This is going to be a huge party that will last all night. It’s tradition that after the first home game of the season, Gamma Delta Tau hosts a bona fide rager. Everyone is invited, and judging by the number of bodies that are everywhere, half the campus is in attendance.
I keep Bex tucked into my side as we make our way to the kitchen to get a drink.
“What would you like?” I ask her, grabbing a bottle of water for myself.
“You aren’t having a drink?” She asks, looking at the bottle in my hand.
I tuck a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear. “Nah, not tonight. I’m still hyped up from the game. I don’t need alcohol to have fun,” especially if she says yes when I ask her the question that’s burning on the tip of my tongue.
“I’ll have a water, too.” She smiles. “A sparkling one if they have it.”
I find her a bottle of sparkling water from Tucker’s private stash in the fridge. He got addicted to it last year. Bay, the past Zeta president, used to live here and always kept a few bottles of it in the fridge.
“Here you go. Tucker won’t mind sharing with you. But you can have a drink if you want one; you don’t have to drink water on my account.”
“Water is actually fine. I’m not a huge beer drinker, and I had a margarita earlier at the Zeta house.
Giovanni’s drinks have spoiled me for anything else.
Besides, tomorrow I’m working all day, and every time I mix tequila with any other kinds of booze, I pay the price with a wicked hangover the day after. So I’d rather stay sober.”
Loud cheers reach us from the open patio door. Someone is doing a keg stand in the backyard under Tucker and Corey’s watchful eyes.
Several people are standing in line to be next, and everyone is laughing and having a good time.
“By the looks of it, you’re going to be one of the few people who aren’t going to be hungover tomorrow. If mixing different types of booze isn’t ideal, large quantities of cheap beer are another sure way to have a rough day tomorrow.”
In the past, I’ve never been choosy about where I hooked up at a party. A bathroom or a dark corner was good enough for me. But tonight I want privacy when I speak to Bex, especially if things go the way I hope and we get to celebrate our relationship becoming real.
Since I didn’t drive here, leaving would mean calling a ride, and I’m too impatient.
“Hey baby, there is something I would like to talk to you about. Would you mind coming upstairs with me?”
Bex’s eyes skim over my face in an appraising manner. “Is everything ok?”
“Of course.” I nod, twining my fingers with hers and guiding her out of the kitchen.
I make a point of keeping my head down to discourage any attempt of striking a conversation with all the people who are here to support our team. I normally love seeing how loved the Cove Knights are in Star Cove, but tonight I’m a man on a mission.
My eyes leave the floor only when we’re almost at the living room door and I can already spot the stairs that lead to the two upper floors of the frat house.
“What about her?” I catch Connor leaning against the doorjamb with a very unhappy-looking Keene by his side.
The music and the chatter here aren’t as loud, and we can hear their conversation.
“No.” Our enforcer grunts.
“Fine. What about that girl? The blonde in the short pink dress?”
A muscle in Keene’s jaw jumps as he grinds his teeth. “No.”
Connor’s eye roll tells me that the two of them have been at this for a while. “Ok. How about that redhead in the tight jeans?”
“Nope.” Keene immediately shoots him down.
It’s impossible to miss the frustration in Connor’s voice. “But why? What’s wrong with her?”
“Not my type.” Is the laconic answer.
Connor takes a deep breath, clearly about to throw in the towel. “And the two before that one? What was wrong with them?”
Keene doesn’t skip a beat. “Not my type.”
“Dude, for real. You’re the most difficult motherfucker…”
I guide Bex out of the door and up two flights of stairs to the top floor, where the bigger, nicer rooms assigned to the seniors are located.
Bex
Jamie ushers me into someone’s bedroom.
If I didn’t know that this is a frat house, I would still bet that this room belongs to a guy with its dark wood furniture and the charcoal gray and red comforter on the king size bed.
“Do you know what that was about?” I ask, pointing toward the door.
He knows immediately what I’m referring to, and an amused grin curls up the corners of his mouth.
“That was Connor trying to be Keene’s wingman tonight. As you probably heard, it wasn’t going very well. I’m willing to bet that Keene’s dry spell isn’t going to end tonight.”
“Oh?” I ask.
Jamie explains with a chuckle. “Keene said something about needing to get laid and Connor offered to help.”
Hearing that bothers me. A tight feeling takes residence in the pit of my stomach at the idea of Keene sleeping with someone. And that in itself is shocking.
I don’t like Keene. Why should I care about what or who he does?
But it bothers me. A lot.
“Are you ok, baby?” Jamie asks, picking up on my odd reaction.
“Peachy.” I force a smile on my face. “I was just thinking that I’m not surprised that Keene needs help to find a hookup.”
His smile widens. “Is that so?”
“Totally. I mean, Keene isn’t hideous to look at. But I bet that women are intimidated by his constant scowl and his curt, monosyllabic conversation style. His personality is as agreeable as that of a spitting cobra.”
“Ha.” Jamie bursts into laughter. “You aren’t wrong about the intimidating part. But Keene is a really nice guy once he opens up.”
I roll my eyes. “Could’ve fooled me. Anyway, enough about Keene’s sex life,” I bite out with a fake shudder. “You said you wanted to talk?”
Jamie’s handsome face turns serious. “I did. I’ve been thinking about this all week.”
Oh. “Are you sure you’re ok? I’ve never heard of anything good coming out of a conversation that starts with - We need to talk .”
His next words confirm my worst fears. “I just think this fake relationship isn’t working for me anymore.”
If my stomach dropped before, at the thought of Keene hooking up with someone random, my heart almost stops when Jamie says that.
“Oh. I… ok. If that’s what you want.” My voice is cracking as tears well in my eyes. My throat stings and my stomach rolls, but I don’t want to cry in front of Jamie.
I should have known that catching feelings for him was going to end in heartbreak. My bottom lip trembles, and I know I’m about to lose the battle with the tears that press to find their way out.
“Baby,” Jamie looks concerned. He probably didn’t expect this kind of reaction from me. We had a deal after all. “Are you ok?”
The softness in his tone is my undoing, and I bite my bottom lip as hard as I can in a final, desperate attempt to keep from crying. But it’s too late; the first hot, bitter tears slide down my face.
“I… yes.” I weep. “No. But yes, I just need?—”
More and more tears follow the first one, and Jamie tries to take my hand into his much larger one.
I jump back as if I had been burned. “Don’t touch me!” The command is shrill and harsh, so I try again. “Please don’t touch me.”
“Baby, what?—”
“And please stop calling me baby. Can I have a minute? Just go, please. I’ll find you downstairs in a few minutes. I just need a minute. None of this is your fault. I’m just an idiot for letting this hit me so hard. I knew you’d break up with me, eventually.”
Jamie’s jaw drops as some kind of real realization seems to dawn on him. “Jesus fuck, I’m such an idiot. Bex, come here.”
I take another step back, but he follows me. His strides are longer than mine, and my retreat ends when my back hits the wall.
“Bex,” he takes my hand, and this time I have to let him. I have nowhere to go. “I wasn’t breaking up with you.”
A bitter sound escapes me. “I know. Because we weren’t really dating. I’m sorry.”