Chapter 6
CAMMIE
“Thanks for coming with me,” I said as we made our way through the underbelly of the stadium, swarming with fans.
The game finished fifteen minutes earlier.
We won, of course. The crowd’s excitement had been contagious and I got into it as much as Rose, Angela, and Faith.
While we were seated way up in the stands, it didn’t take me long to spot Zeb down on the field.
The way he moved, his size, and well… Angela pointed him out.
Since then, I toggled between watching the field and the jumbotron where they had close up replays.
I’d never thought a football player, in his tight pants and padding, was hot before, but Zeb made me change my mind. I had no idea the rules of the game, but I knew every time Zeb threw the ball to his teammate or ran it toward the opposite end, he was doing it really well.
The score had been close, and in the last thirty seconds, everyone was on their feet.
Our team had the ball and Zeb got it from the crouching player in front of him, jogged backward, arm cocked, looking…
looking… looking, then threw. The ball arced through the air for what felt like forever as a player ran and–
Caught it! The guy ran the remaining few yards into the end zone. They won! We hugged and cheered along with thirty thousand other fans. I hadn’t felt this excited or exhilarated about sports in my life, but I could see why everyone came.
On the field, they were bro hugging, slapping each other on the helmets and then meeting the other team in the middle of the field to shake hands. TV cameras swarmed around Zeb. No wonder everyone said hi to him. No wonder girls were brushing up to him in the library.
He was… amazing.
Fans were wearing university sweatshirts, game jerseys, face paint. They went all out. I was wearing Zeb’s sweatshirt and I tipped my face down into the loose neckline and smiled. Breathed in his scent.
I got a hell of a lot of looks, but being with the girls had made me feel less conspicuous.
Turned out, the sweatshirt was what was needed to get us into the back areas of the stadium. Rose had spun me around at each security guard so they could see Zeb’s name on the back as we went deeper and deeper into the facility and they’d waved us on.
It seemed a girl wearing a guy’s sweatshirt did mean more than she was cold.
“You’re thanking us? You think we’d give up a chance like this?” Rose asked.
“You’re Zeb Wilder’s girlfriend, Cam,” Angela added. “We’re going where you go.”
“Even if it’s the library?” I poked.
“That’s where you met Zeb, so maybe Faith and I need to up our studying game,” she continued.
Both of them were good students. They had to be to remain on the volleyball team.
The crowds thinned out, but there were still tons of people milling around. The walls were painted cinderblock, the floor concrete, the ceiling high. Voices echoed.
“Let’s get a picture!” Faith said. “The rest of the team’s going to freak when they see it.”
A group of cheerleaders came by in their white and red outfits and we moved out of the way. “Stand over here,” I offered, pulling out my cell as they shifted to the side.
The three of them stood close, wrapping their arms around each other. I clicked a few shots, then turned my cell horizontally. Clicked a few more.
When they stepped apart, I noticed behind them two guys talking, heads close, then one furtively passing something to the other. He tucked it in his jacket pocket, then slapped the guy’s hand with a wad of cash.
I’d seen enough TV shows to know what I was seeing. A drug transaction.
A wild cheer from an overly enthusiastic, and probably drunk fan from behind me had the guys looking toward the sound.
They were students, definitely. They both had dark hair, one wore a ball cap.
A university hoodie. Jeans. They looked like every other guy on campus.
Except maybe Zeb, because he was more handsome than either of them.
The taller one stared at me. This look was cold. Unwelcome. Dangerous.
I pushed my glasses up as his gaze dropped to my body which was covered completely by Zeb’s sweatshirt. I’d had to roll the sleeves up a few times to be able to use my hands.
“Let’s go!” Rose said, tugging my arm and breaking the creepy eye contact. Neither she nor the other girls had seen anything. Only me. “The locker room’s just down there.”
She pulled me in that direction, this time forcing others out of our way. With one last glance over my shoulder, I saw the guy who’d sold the drugs. He was watching me and it scared the shit out of me.
“Oh my God. There he is,” Faith said, pointing. “And Nick Yostrum, too.”
Zeb and the guy Nick, who I’d never seen before, stood side by side, practically a wall of hot male.
Zeb was looking around and maybe he sensed me in the crowd, because his head turned. He saw me, saw that I was in his sweatshirt. Grinned. Winked.
I froze.
Smiled.
No, grinned right back like an idiot.
The butterflies were back.
My heart beat frantically and–
“That guy is so into you, hun,” Rose murmured in my ear, even though there was no way Zeb would hear with the fifteen feet between us and all the noise.
He came my way. We went his.
We stopped in front of each other.
“Hi,” I said.
“Hi.”
I just liked looking at him. His damp hair. His eyes. His mouth.
“I’m Rose, the roommate.”
Slowly, Zeb ripped his gaze from mine and to Rose beside me. “Hey,” he offered her.
Feeling like a fool, I offered more introductions. “This is Faith and Angela.”
Faith gave him a little wave and Angela nodded.
“This is Nick,” Zeb said, thumbing at his friend.
“Ladies!” Nick said, with a grin that made my friends whimper. “Party tonight at our house. You have to come.”
As Nick spoke, Zeb watched me.
“We’re so in. Thanks,” Rose said.
Zeb raised a brow, silently asking if I was joining.
I nodded.
Then he grinned, stepped forward and took my hand. “We’ll see you later at the party,” he told the girls. “546 East Madison.”
Then he was pulling me down the corridor. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Rose grinning like a mother whose child went off to kindergarten for the first time.
Then I forgot about her, football, studying, my own name and just let Zeb drag me… anywhere.