Chapter 22
Ava
My earbuds were hidden under my hat as I walked across campus.
It was still so damn cold even though the calendar said spring was essentially here.
The past couple days had been torturous in the house.
Everyone was around since it was Saturday, so I left and went to the library just to get out.
The music blasting in my ears soothed my nerves a bit, but the words of the song haunted me.
I tore my hat off and packed my earbuds in their case.
Looking around campus, I was surrounded by fellow students rushing to their dorm, the cafeteria, or their cars.
Couples huddled together as they walked to shield one another from the cold.
Groups of friends talked and laughed as they met up on the paths.
I had a group of friends. A good group of friends, ones who loved me, and I loved them.
And I had a guy who seemed to like me. I mean, he put together a fucking truck picnic for me after mind-blowing sex.
God knew I more than liked him.
So why did I feel so alone?
I was having a constant battle within lately.
My heart told me to jump. Right into the arms of this guy who was proving himself to me in all the right ways.
But my brain. Well, that was showing me what could happen if I followed my heart. And everything that followed was heartache with him and a lost friendship with Macie.
I knew what my brain was doing; it was looking for his faults and highlighting them. Or even creating ones that didn’t exist.
It was always forcing me to think about his past with Lanie. Or reminding me he was working on his recovery, and why would I want to get involved with someone dealing with that.
Making excuses for me.
So I could walk away and not feel guilty about it.
But the guilt was eating me up.
My phone buzzed in my pocket.
Macie: Hey where’d u run off to? Make sure ur home in time to get ready for tonight
Tonight. The rugby party. Both Becca and Macie convinced me to go. They were going stag, without their guys. Looking at it as a girls’ night out. But there was one thing they didn’t know.
My guy would be there right under their noses.
Me: Don’t worry I’ll be ready
I really didn’t know if I would be.
Rugby players were fucking crazy. Like really fucking nuts. More of them were naked, running around the party, than had clothes on. I knew Logan said there were a couple guys he met who also didn’t drink. But I had my concerns about him being around this crew.
Macie, Becca, and I huddled together in a corner on the main floor in awe at what we witnessed. The guys were challenging one another to various bets.
Naked bets.
Run down the block, naked.
Do a keg stand, naked.
Do a funnel, naked.
Go kiss that girl, naked.
The bonus was there was not a single guy on the team who wasn’t hot. Like seriously hot in every sense of the word. Their bodies were muscular and cut. They were beautiful in every sense of the word.
In that regard, Logan belonged here.
“Oh my god, this is crazy fun!” Macie yelled. She danced to the music with Becca, the two of them spinning each other like ballerinas.
We made an agreement with Logan that we were going to have a couple drinks tonight since he had guys with him who weren’t drinking.
Macie and Becca took it to heart, tipsy already. The beer in my hand was nearly full since I couldn’t shake an uneasy feeling that had overcome me. As I looked around, nothing seemed amiss, but it was like a prickling up my spine.
“How you guys doing?” Logan asked. He bent close to my ear, and I smelled his familiar scent. I wanted to kiss him, mark him as mine, as I turned to look at him.
He looked hot tonight in his jeans and tight black Henley. He looked so good in black with his light hair and eyes. And the way the shirt hugged every muscle of his chest and arms, it was hard not to run my fingers up and down him.
“Good,” I said back.
“We’re awesome!” Macie yelled over the music, and he laughed at her.
“Great, glad you guys are having fun.”
Before he walked away, I felt his finger trail along my arm, elbow to wrist. The covert action made my heart flutter as I worked hard to rein in any other reactions. Becca and Macie were oblivious as they continued dancing, branching out into the crowd.
“Have fun, Tink,” he whispered so close to me I felt his lip touch my lobe. I turned to respond, but he was already walking away.
I ran up behind him and grabbed his hand, pulling him with me toward the stairs. Our roommates were still in their own world.
“Come upstairs with me,” I told him when he turned around.
His startled look quickly morphed into a twinkle of mischief. He hurried me to the first floor, where it was much quieter.
“Are we doing what I think we’re doing?” he asked, his voice full of hope.
All I did was pull him along, down a dark hallway.
Once I knew we were far enough away from the basement, I spun around and reached up for his face.
He was so damn tall it was impossible for me to reach his mouth without jumping into his arms. My legs wrapped around his waist as he held me by my ass, our lips colliding.
He backed me against the wall, freeing a hand to grip my neck, tilting my head to the side.
His mouth ravaged my neck, up to my ear, down my jawline.
“This is such a fucking turn-on, Ava.” His mouth made its way back to mine as his teeth pulled on my lip ring, his lips sucking on it. “I want to bring you into one of these rooms, bend you over, and pull this skirt up.”
His words had my pussy getting wet.
“My cock needs to be inside you, fuck…”
But then I pulled the plug. I backed off, pushing him from my neck and forcing him to look at me.
“None of that’s going to happen, is it?” he asked, then chuckled.
“Well, not here.”
He still held me against the wall, our bodies crushed together. I could feel his hard cock against the small piece of fabric covering me under my skirt. This would be hard to walk away from.
But we had to. I just couldn’t go all night without kissing him, but it was probably cruel to have done that.
His lips were pressed into a grimace as he lowered his head to look me in the eye.
“I need a cold shower now, Tink.” At least he was joking with me.
Slowly, he lowered me to the floor. I adjusted my skirt and cami as we made our way out to the main room. It was still fairly quiet, only a small group in the kitchen.
“Let’s get you back to Macie and Becca,” he said.
Once back in the basement, which was like a mosh pit, it took a minute to find them. His height helped, since he was able to see above most of the people there. Once we were in the vicinity of them, he leaned close to my ear.
“Maybe it’s time for another two a.m. meet up.”
I smiled up at him, thinking the same thing. And then he walked back into the mass of people.
As he did, a group of what had to be his new teammates grabbed hold of him, hoisting him on their shoulders. Quite a feat considering his size. The hollers coming from them caught the attention of everyone in the room.
“Hey, this here is a new recruit!” the one guy yelled.
“He needs to be initiated!” another screamed.
They put him down and huddled around him, arms interlocked in a literal huddle, with Logan stuck in the middle of it. The laughter coming from within was maniacal; I could only imagine what they were going to have him do.
Of course, I was prepared for it to include nudity. Well, let’s say I expected it to. I was not prepared.
Sure enough, when the gaggle of guys pulled away, Logan was standing in the buff.
He was fucking glorious to look at.
His eyes went right to mine, but didn’t linger. I saw the nerves in them, but also the excitement. He was probably regretting having his female roommates at this party, that was for sure.
In the craziness, I was pushed away from Becca and Macie.
They were nowhere to be found as I frantically scanned the horde of people.
I found a chair along the wall and stood on it to get a better view of the coming events and to find my roommates.
As soon as I did, I immediately spotted them in the center of the room, not too far from Logan.
The wide grins as they ogled him had me laughing.
Suddenly, one of the guys from the team demanded our attention. He was a big guy with muscles that rivaled Logan’s. His dark hair was a bit long, hitting his shoulders, and he wore a ballcap over it. The beer in his hand spilled from its cup as his arms flung about while quieting the group.
“OK, settle down, especially the female folk. I know, he’s one of the hotter ones, you’re lucky girls. And one of you is going to get luckier!”
All the girls started whistling and hollering.
My stomach dropped.
The others were pushing to get closer to the dark-haired one and Logan. Logan stood stoic behind him, hands clasped and hanging low. I knew he was trying to cover himself, and he did a great job making it look casual, but his hands just didn’t do the job. His manhood was still visible.
“Logan here tells me he doesn’t have a girlfriend.”
Louder hollers from the crowd.
Shit.
“That changes things a bit, allows us to, well, up the ante…,” the guy said. “So, some guys from the team are going to walk through the crowd and pick the lucky girl who gets to spend some time with our new teammate.”
A few of the guys started mulling through the crowd, flirting with the girls, encouraging their rowdy behavior. When I looked below me, Becca and Macie stared back.
“We have to make ourselves scarce,” Becca yelled up at me.
She reached for my hand and the three of us went for the stairs. We knew none of us could be chosen as his “girl.”
But I could, couldn’t I?