Chapter 1 Noel #2
Which was an unexpected, disturbing thought I wanted to scrub from my brain with acid and a wire brush.
What freak thought about their most detested teacher that way?
Still, that mouth lacked age lines that would cup an older woman.
She had to be in her early twenties, even though that couldn’t be possible.
“Excuse us.” I smirked as I curled my arms around both Tianna and her friend and escorted them from the lecture hall.
Kavanagh might be like every other educator in my life who’d told me I was shit, but here, in this world, I was a king, and I needed my groupies to help remind me of that. The girls giggled and snuggled in around me, more than willing to oblige.
“Want to come to lunch with us, Noel?” Tianna asked, rubbing my back, while her friend smoothed a palm over my chest. “We have something especially tasty for you up in our room.”
Her companion snickered at the not-so-hidden double meaning. “You’re into...sandwiches...aren’t you?”
Oh, hot damn. A threesome. I was tempted. I mean, what guy wouldn’t be? A couple hours between the sheets with a pair of no-strings-attached beauties would ease my nerves, a lot, but…
I winced. “I really shouldn’t. I have another class I can’t miss.” I couldn’t afford to flunk one course, let alone two.
“Are you sure?” the redhead asked, her fingers trailing downward now. “We’d make it worth your while.”
I caught her hand so she couldn’t tempt me into changing my mind just as my cell phone vibrated in my jeans pocket. Offering her another apologetic cringe, I shrugged. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, but...rain check?” Please.
Her wide smile was instant. “Of course.”
“All right, then. I look forward to it.” Grinning, I swatted her on the ass, nudging her along. Tianna hooked her arm through the redhead’s, and the two girls strolled away.
With a wistful sigh, I stole a moment to enjoy their firm backsides sheathed in tight denim as I blindly dug my phone free. I answered, unable to take my gaze from the snack I’d just turned down.
“What’s up?” Even as I spoke, my eyes tracked those swaying hips. Maybe I could meet up with them later today because seriously...a threesome.
“Noel?” The girl on the other end of the line sniffed. “Colton’s sick. He won’t eat or get out of bed. I don’t know what to do.”
Alarm, thick and instant, roared through me, immediately ripping my thoughts away from sex. “What’s wrong?”
I plugged one ear with my finger and turned my back to the sprawling campus to move away from the sidewalk. The shadow of a small tree growing by a row of perfectly trimmed hedge didn’t provide the privacy I would’ve liked, but it would have to do.
“I don’t know. He has a fever of a hundred and four and says his throat hurts.”
I closed my eyes and rubbed my face. Fuck. “Have you called the doctor? Is he drinking enough fluids? Where’s Mom?”
“I don’t know.” Caroline exploded into a round of sobs. “She hasn’t been home all week. Colton begged to stay back from school yesterday and since he hadn’t missed yet this year, I thought it’d be okay. But he’s worse today and—”
“Okay, okay.” Out of habit, I lifted my hand to stop her, even though I knew she couldn’t see me.
“It’s going to be fine. Just calm down. He probably has strep throat or something like that.
See if you can get him to take some Tylenol and water.
Get that fever down. I’ll contact the doctor’s office and find out if they can see him today. Call you back in a few.”
I hung up on my sister before she could pile any more shit on me. Caroline had been forced to shoulder a lot of responsibility after I’d left home, but I was doing the whole college bit and gunning for a pick on the NFL draft for them, so I could take care of her and our two younger brothers.
Because our mother sure as hell didn’t give a shit.
Relieved I had saved the number of Colton’s pediatrician in my phone after last year when he’d gotten chicken pox, I dialed the receptionist and was grateful they could fit him in for a late afternoon checkup.
When I called my sister back, she sounded calmer. “Thanks, Noel. I’m sorry I freaked on you. I just—”
“Hey, no apologies. I know what it’s like, remember? And that’s what I’m here for. Just let me know what the doctor says. Oh, and wait, do you have any money for the appointment or medicine they’ll prescribe?”
She sighed. “Yeah. I have...a little tucked away.”
I winced. From her reluctant tone, I knew she’d have to take from her private stash she’d probably been hiding from Mom. That was what I’d always had to do.
“What were you saving for?”
“Nothing,” she mumbled.
“Caroline.” The warning in my voice made her sigh again.
“I just…there’s a sweetheart dance coming up at school. And Sander Scotini asked me go. I was hoping I could afford a new dress—”
“Wait, wait, wait.” I shook my hand to stop her. “Hold up. Sander who? Do I know this kid? Why have I never heard of him before? Is he your boyfriend or just a date for this dance?”
“Noel.” I could practically hear her rolling her eyes, but I didn’t care. It pissed me off that this was the first I was hearing of her and some guy. I didn’t like the idea of any horny dick sniffing around my pure, innocent little sister.
“And did you say Scotini? As in Terrance Scotini, the tire king?” A visual of the commercials I’d watched on TV when I was growing up flashed through my head.
Terrance Scotini liked to stroll through his store, wearing a dorky cape and crown, telling his audience to shop at his place for all their automotive needs.
“His son,” Caroline quietly admitted.
The hairs on the back of my neck spiked with concern. I knew my sister was nearly eighteen and almost legally an adult, but she was still my little sister. Always would be. I didn’t want some rich prick’s son thinking she handed things out for free just because she was Daisy Gamble’s daughter.
“Is he—?”
“He’s nice,” she stressed. “And he likes me for me, okay. I know what you’re thinking.”
“What? That no piece of slime ball shit bag will ever be good enough for my little sister?”
She laughed. “Yeah. Something like that.”
“What about his parents?” I pressed, still not liking the idea in the least. “Are they okay with all this?” Because if they treated her with anything less that absolute respect, I’d snap. I’d just...snap.
After a quiet pause, Caroline admitted, “I don’t think they know.”
I groaned. “Car—” Her situation already had trouble written all over it.
“Don’t,” she pleaded. “Please. It’s just one dance. He’s nice, and fun, and I know we’d have a good time together. That’s all.”
That wasn’t even close to being all. I hadn’t been born yesterday.
I knew if some punk, high school douche was defying his parents to take the poor, trailer park girl to a dance, there had to be a hell of a lot more going on.
I was ready to borrow my roommate’s truck and drive the eleven and a half hours back home so I could kick some rich Scotini ass.
But I didn’t want a miserable sister. I wanted her to have as much fun in her worn-down, hopeless life as possible. Forbidding her from attending a dance wouldn’t put a smile on her face. Besides, she’d probably go anyway, and since I was seven hundred miles away, I couldn’t exactly stop her.
Rubbing one side of my aching temples, I forced myself to cool it. It was better to play friend than asshole big brother; that way, she’d come to me if she did get herself into trouble. “Okay. All right. But you’ll let me know if anything happens, right?” Damn, I was such a pushover.
“Of course.” I could tell she was smiling, which helped loosen the knot in my chest.
I nodded and turned back toward the campus, not ready to face the obstacles in my own life but determined to do so anyway. “Let me know how much you have to spend today too. I’ll make sure you’re reimbursed before the dance. All right?”
“Okay. Thank you. You’re the best big brother ever, Noel.”
Chuckling, I moved toward the sidewalk. “And don’t forget it. Take care of Colton for me.”
I smiled as I hung up, even though a heavy ache pierced my chest. Talking to one of my siblings always made me miss home.
Okay, I didn’t exactly miss the hole-in-the-floor single-wide trailer where I used to sleep each night, always worried what kind of trouble my mother might bring home—if she even bothered to come home—but I sure as hell did miss the three underage kids still stuck there. My smile faltered.
Shoving down the gnawing guilt and not-for-the-first-time feeling that I’d abandoned them, I realized I’d forgotten to ask about Brandt.
In her previous what-do-I-do phone call, Caroline had been freaked about a couple ruffians who’d been hanging around the thirteen-year-old.
The last thing we needed was for our middle brother to get caught up in drugs or a gang. Or both. Jesus. That would be my luck.
“Hey, Gamble. Wait up.”
At the call, I cringed, wondering what catastrophe was going to strike now. My bad-shit karma usually came in threes, and since I needed something else to even up the score, I braced myself for the last item to get in line with my D essay and worrisome siblings.
When I turned, however, I only found Quinn Hamilton, a freshman tight end, jogging to catch up. I relaxed. “Hey, man. What’s up?”
“I was wondering if you were going to the training session tonight or in the morning.”
During off-season, the football team had mandatory sessions to train in the weight room.
Since I worked every evening I was available, I usually opted for the early morning workouts before class.
It only afforded me three or four hours of sleep on the nights I worked, but to keep my athletic scholarship, sleep was overrated.
I had three very special people relying on me to keep it together.
“I’m a morning bird, didn’t you know?” I playfully shoulder checked the freshman as I lied. I’d never been a morning bird. I hated mornings. I’d sleep in every day if I could.
“Cool. That’s what I’m doing too.” Quinn scratched the back of his neck and glanced away, letting me know he had something more important to ask. “And I was hoping you could —if you wanted to—um, show me a couple throwing techniques.”
I lifted my eyebrows. Shit. Was this bad karma number three? “What? You looking to steal my position?”
Though a small fissure of dread and panic caught me unaware, I grinned and threw my arm around Quinn’s shoulder to let him know I was teasing, though honestly, I didn’t want competition.
I already had a second and third-string QB foaming at the mouth for my spot.
What was worse, Hamilton had fucking talent, and I could see him making a better quarterback than the spot he held now. He had never quite fit as a tight end.
As long as he wasn’t better than me, I could handle this.
Quinn blushed and ducked his head. “I played quarterback in high school,” he admitted.
“Hey, that’s cool.” I squeezed his shoulder in reassurance. “You need to do what’s best for you. Who knows? If Dr. Kavanagh has anything to say about it, I’m well on my way to being academically dismissed. We’d definitely need another QB then.”
The freshman blinked until he realized I was joking...or, at least, half joking. Then he grinned. “You have a class with Kavanagh, too? Man, she’s harsh.”
“Yeah,” I agreed wholeheartedly, “a total, raging bitch.” Not that I actually considered her a bitch per say.
She was just tough and stuck by her guns in a classroom, which I kind of respected.
But it was so much easier to blame her for my sucky grades than admit I just wasn’t smart enough. So, yeah. Let’s call her a bitch.
From nearby, someone let out a shocked, sputtering cough.
Fuck. For some reason, I knew I wouldn’t need three guesses to figure out who’d just heard me. Enter karma number three. Already fearing what I would discover, I glanced around to focus on Kavanagh herself walking along the path directly behind us.
I could actually see my D dwindle to an F even as her green-eyed glare latched onto me.
Well, shit. Whatever happened next, I refused to let her see how crappy I felt for letting her overhear what I’d just said.