CHAPTER 6 #2
“Don’t make fun of me!” She said, giving his big arm a slap.
“Trust me Tess, I’m not making fun of you at all.”
He whistled for the bartender and ordered a beer for himself and a mojito for Tessa.
“You’ll like it,” he said when she gave him a skeptical look.
“I hope so because I had to drink beer at the game and it was awful.”
He looked down at her and narrowed his eyes.
“How did you get beer at the game?”
She shrugged and took the drink from the bartender, giving him a smile. “Katie figured it out.”
“Interesting,” Tristan said in a dry tone. “So, you’ve already been drinking?”
“Just the one beer.”
“Okay, so then this is the only other drink you get.”
“Tristan I’m not a child. I’m allowed to get drunk.”
“Yeah, but you keep getting drunk in rooms full of 300-pound dudes so, that’s your only drink,” he said again, tipping the class up to her mouth for her to take a sip. “It’s good right?”
She let the liquid swirl around in her mouth before she swallowed and smiled at him gratefully.
“It actually is, thank you.”
He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers before they were interrupted by Jordan roughly wrapping his arms around their shoulders.
“Woooo!!! Undefeated baby!” He screamed, referring to the game.
“Bro are you already shit faced?”
“Trist it’s my twenty second birthday, I’m already on shot number 7!”
“We just got here,” Tessa said with an amused smile.
“You’re so cute and innocent,” Jordan said, squeezing Tessa’s shoulders. “I’m trying to get to twenty-two shots by midnight.”
Tessa’s eyes went wide as she looked at Tristan.
“Yeah, I’m gonna be cleaning up his puke later,” Tristan said with an annoyed sigh.
“Come on let’s go do shots! It’s my birthday!”
“I’ll take one with you,” Tristan said, peeling his big brother’s arm off Tessa. “She will be refraining.”
“Fine. Katie wants you to join her card game anyway Tess, she’s over there.”
Tessa smiled at the two brothers and walked over to where Katie and a few other girls were.
She had come to learn a few of their names, finding out they were either girlfriends or sisters of the other players.
She found herself in awe that she had somehow gotten here – that the straight A student who usually had her nose deep in books with fingers tired from typing out journalism assignments was suddenly hanging out with a bunch of football players and their cheerleader looking girlfriends.
Tessa put her poker skills to the test with the four girls she sat with. Her dad had taught her many card games including poker since she was a little girl, and Katie was beyond impressed with her skills.
“Does Trist know you can play like this?” Katie asked, watching as Tessa continued collecting chips.
“No,” she said with a giggle.
“So let me get this straight. You can play guitar and piano, you can read music, you’re the chief editor for the school newspaper, you’ve had some of your research papers already published in the city newspaper, you get straight A’s, and you can play poker like a professional?”
“I don’t like to half ass things,” she said with a smile.
“You’re a bad ass is what it is,” Katie said with a laugh.
Tessa sighed contentedly to herself and looked around the bar, searching for Tristan since she hadn’t seen him for about half an hour.
When her eyes finally found him, she felt her heart sink lower into her chest. That god damn Veronica girl was here – Tristan' ex that seemed to follow him around like a shadow when they first met each other. She hadn’t seen her or even heard about her in at least a month but seeing her talking to Tristan and batting her eye lashes at him made her muscles tighten in a way that she wasn’t used to.
Katie noticed the shift in Tessa’s energy and followed her eyes towards the back of the bar.
“Ew, gross,” Katie said with disdain. “Zero out of then, did not like that girl one bit.”
Tessa felt her neck grow warm and she bit her bottom lip, trying her best to avert her gaze but not being able to.
She watched as Veronica placed her manicured hand on Tristan’ chest, and although he was visibly uncomfortable with the interaction and promptly removed her hand from his chest, she still couldn’t help but feel her body react to what she was seeing.
“Tess don’t worry about her,” Katie said, “Trust me, Trist regrets every second he spent with her. I told him he needs to keep his dick in his pants more or else he gets crazy girls like her stalking him around campus.”
Tessa let out a shaky breath and put her cards down and finally tore her eyes away from Tristan. She looked around awkwardly before she stood up from her chair.
“Where are you going?” Katie asked.
“Um, bathroom.”
“Wait Tessa, stay here. I promise he’s probably telling her to fuck off in a nice way, there’s no reason to be upset, come on!”
Tessa was unable to respond. She simply shook her head and walked away from the table.
Katie stood up and waved towards Tristan, who was visibly trying to peel Veronica off of him without causing a scene.
His eyes met Katie’s, and she gestured towards Tessa who was walking away and mouthed, “Go get her” to him aggressively.
His heart dropped when he realized Tessa had seen Veronica trying embarrassingly hard to get him to talk to her.
He pushed past her aggressively, causing her to stumble, and walked straight to where Tessa had disappeared into the crowd.
Veronica followed him, slurring his name, but Tristan turned around abruptly, causing her to crash into his broad chest.
“Fuck off. I have a girlfriend. Leave me alone.”
She stood in stunned silence, watching as he walked away from her and disappeared into the crowd. Her dark eyes met with Katie’s across the room, and she rolled her eyes and scoffed when she saw Katie give her the finger before returning to her card game.
It took Tristan a few minutes to find Tessa, but he eventually found her out on the back patio leaning against the railing.
“Hey,” he said gently as he approached her, “What are you doing out here? It’s freezing.”
She turned towards him and gave him a weak smile.
“Needed some fresh air.”
“That’s not what it looked like,” he said sternly. “She cornered me and I was trying not to make a scene, but I told her to fuck off. I told her I have a girlfriend.”
Tessa’s eyes looked up into his and searched for something she didn’t have words for.
“Girlfriend?”
“Yes,” he said gently, “You.”
She stood silently, taking in his words and the heat of his body that was so close to her. He reached out tentatively before pulling her body against his and kissed the top of her head. She tried to resist at first but was unable to stop herself from melting into his safe embrace.
“Is that what this is then?” She whispered against his chest. She had been too nervous to ask him, feeling shy and somewhat stupid for being confused about their status and wanting him to label it. But as the air between them grew charged with energy, she realized how badly she needed this.
“Yes,” he said into her hair, “That’s what this is. You’re mine, and I’m yours. Is that a deal?”
She smiled and buried her face into his shirt, trying to hide the giddiness on her face and blush that was creeping up her neck. She was unable to get words out, so she simply nodded against him.
His large hands cupped her face, and he forced her gaze up to his.
His green eyes were so intense and full of longing and emotions.
It made her head spin that a guy so big and brawny could convey such vulnerable emotions through his eyes alone.
He gave her a small smile before he brought his lips to hers and she whimpered against his open mouth.
Their kiss was gentle but urgent – tongues swirling together in an intoxicating dance that made the space between her legs grow warm and tight with desire.
Her hands gripped his shirt desperately, wanting to throw herself at him but also not wanting to make a scene in front of a bar full of college students.
He pulled away from her breathlessly, suddenly aware of the amount of people around them, and not wanting anyone to see her like this except for him.
“Can we go to my truck?” He asked against her lips, and she nodded eagerly.
He led her out of the back of the building and dragged her through the parking lot, dodging through cars dramatically, making her laugh out loud at his antics.
He finally got them to his truck and opened the back door before throwing her inside, which caused her to erupt in a fit of giggles.
He slid in beside her and closed the door, leaving them alone in the silence and darkness of his truck. And she was immediately all over him.
She wrapped her arms around the back of his neck and pulled his body against hers, to which he eagerly reciprocated.
He shrugged off his jacket and she did the same with hers.
It was cold outside since it was the beginning of November, but the heat between them was already fogging up the windows and warming the air around them.
She sat next to him and threw her leg across his lap, and his large hand leisurely ran up the length of her thigh before resting on her ass which he eagerly squeezed.
She felt a rush of heat pool in her lower stomach and a lightning bolt between her legs and her delicate fingers reached under his shirt, feeling the heat of his skin burn her fingers.
Something about the solid muscle and rough hair really pulsed desire through her body, and she moaned loudly into his mouth.
She felt her insecurities and inhibitions slowly start to slip away the more his hands explored her body.
She gasped when his hand slipped under her shirt and cupped her breast. He pulled away slightly to look into her eyes to search for any hesitation, but she impatiently pulled his lips back down to hers, answering his silent question.