Chapter 16
CAMMIE
An hour later, I finished with my shower and was coming down the hall from the central bathrooms. I was in sweats and carrying my shower caddy and towel. We figured Rose would come back to the room soon and the last thing either of us wanted was to be caught bare ass naked when she did.
When I opened the door, Rose was there with Zeb, who was dressed and not looking like he’d spent the night having sex with me. That side of him was my secret, only something I knew about.
But I couldn’t linger in my thoughts on how hot Zeb was, because Rose wasn’t alone.
Chase Trout was with her.
Everyone looked at me when I came in. Zeb was sitting on my bed looking pissed. Rose smiled and looked pleased, because her roommate finally got laid and by the star quarterback. Chase looked… sly. His gaze raked over me and it made Zeb growl.
Rose came over and offered me a hug, then whispered in my ear. “Looks like we both got football players last night.”
My eyes widened and I saw Chase smirk over her shoulder. He was in jeans, old sneakers and a football sweatshirt like Zeb’s. I had to admit, for a jerk, he was really good looking in a polished way. I bet he used more hair product than I did.
Oh my God. He and Rose must’ve had a one-night stand. Was I being naive? Rose had shared some details of her one-night stands she had in the past. I didn’t judge her for it. In fact, up until I met Zeb, I wondered if maybe there was something wrong with me that I wasn’t into them.
But Chase Trout?
Fine. He was good looking. On the football team. I had no doubt he could lay on the fake charm. But I knew his real personality. I wish I’d known they’d have connected at the party because I would have warned her.
I doubted Rose was looking at Chase for a ring and babies. She liked things casual and hopefully had fun with him. Maybe he was nice to people who didn’t catch him dealing drugs.
While she was pretty and vivacious and a catch, I had no doubt he hooked up with her because he knew she was my roommate.
“Who wants to get pancakes? I’m starved,” Rose said.
“Yeah, burned off some calories last night,” Chase added. Rose giggled and blushed.
I wanted to gag.
Meeting Zeb’s eyes, I knew without him saying anything that we were thinking the same thing. Chase wanted to get close to me and was using my roommate to do so.
“Nope. We’re headed out,” Zeb said, standing. He was a few inches taller than Chase. Heavier, too.
We were?
“Coach gave us two days off, so we’re headed home for the break,” Zeb added.
Um, what?
“You know Devil’s Ditch, Chase?” Zeb asked, sounding like he was poking the guy with a stick. “The town where my brother’s the sheriff?”
Chase gave a nonchalant shrug, but his gaze narrowed. The casual, easygoing facade slipped away and his real, dark personality peeked out. “He’s tried to pin stuff on my family, but nothing’s stuck, Wilder.”
What was he talking about? Zeb’s brother, the sheriff, had been trying to arrest Chase’s family?
Zeb clenched his jaw.
“Nothing will,” Chase added, looking my way.
Meaning that if I went to the police about what I saw him involved in, it wasn’t going to stick. I had no evidence besides what I saw.
Rose was still smiling, but looked nervous. Like she was seeing a different side to Chase than what he’d given her before now. Her gaze kept flicking around the three of us, trying to get clued in on what was going on.
“Chase and I are from the same small town,” Zeb clarified.
He hadn’t told me that. Only that Chase’s entire family was a bunch of jerks. I hadn’t thought about how he knew that. So his dislike for Chase ran deeper than just the football team and here at school.
“Pancakes, babe?” Chase asked, setting his hand on Rose’s shoulder and giving her a wink.
Gross.
She had on the outfit from the night before, but her makeup was gone and her hair looked slept on. Knowing her, there was no way she was going out in public like that.
She eyed me for a moment, definitely picking up the dislike Zeb and I had for Chase, then shrugged off his touch. “I’m good. Faith invited me to go home with her for the break. I’ve got to get a shower and get packed.”
Chase looked Rose over like she smelled like roadkill. “Whatever. One and done, babe.”
Then he was gone, the door slamming shut behind him. It was dead silent in his wake.
“You okay, Rose?” Zeb asked. “He hurt you?”
She stared at the closed door, but blinked a couple times, then looked to Zeb. “I’m good. He didn’t hurt me. It’s like he has two different personalities. He was… cool.”
Zeb nodded. “I know what you mean.”
“You really going with Faith?” I asked, setting my hand on her arm. “I can stay here with you if you need me to.”
She smiled. “I’m good and, yes, Faith wants to go to a haunted corn maze. Sounds… fun.”
“I’m glad he was nice to you, but he’s a jerk,” Zeb told her, skipping over small talk and getting to what we really needed to talk about with her.
I nodded. I didn’t want to tell her about the drug deal because the less who knew, the better.
It was obvious Chase had no issue with stooping to hook up with my roommate only to fuck with me.
I also wasn’t going to tell her she’d been used because that would only be cruel.
I had a feeling she already knew though.
She shrugged. “I had a good time, but I’ve had better. If it makes you feel better, Cam, he has a small dick.” She held her hand up, thumb and pointer finger close together.
I pursed my lips, trying not to laugh, which made her smile, too.
“What’s going on?” she asked, concerned.
“Nothing,” Zeb said, running a hand over his mussed hair. “Just don’t like the guy.”
“Okay. I need a shower. Have fun together,” she said, giving me a hug.
She grabbed her caddy and robe which was on a hook by the door, then left.
I loved her free spirited nature. She just slept with a guy who’d pretty much used her to be able to show up in my dorm room and prove he can get to me in all different ways.
I wasn’t planning on telling her that. It was one thing to be confident and casual about sex, it was another to be straight-up used.
Zeb sighed. “Fuck.”
“He slept with her to end up here. He wanted to warn me off again, in my dorm room,” I said.
“Yeah. Probably. Except he didn’t expect me to be here and he didn’t expect Rose to have your back. He was probably expecting her to be a clinger and would have been intentionally cruel.”
I could see him doing that.
“We really going to your home for the break?” I asked.
He smiled. “Hell, yeah.”
“Um, isn’t that a little soon?”
“Says the woman who’s got my cum in her pussy. Besides, I don’t want you anywhere near Trout.”
I cocked my head. “I thought he was from your small town, too.”
“He is, but I doubt we’ll run into him. My brother Colt really is the sheriff and I have six other brothers who are pretty protective.”
I did the easy math. Still, it was stunning. “You have seven brothers?”
“And a sister.” He smiled, as if just thinking of them made him happy. “Yeah. I’m the baby.”
“Wait.” I held up a hand, then reached and grabbed my glasses off the desk. “Wait.”
He frowned. “What?”
“Where are you from again?”
“Devil’s Ditch. It’s about–”
I put my hand to my mouth, stifled a laugh. “Holy shit.”
“What?”
“Your sister is Lainey, right?”
“Yeah,” he said, drawing the word out, frowning. “How do you–”
“She’s married to my brother, Beau.”
His eyes widened as he processed that. He came to me, pulled me into his arms. “Your last name’s not Rivers.”
He was right. Beau and I didn’t have the same last name. Or fathers.
“We’re from our mom’s two different marriages.”
A slow smile spread across his handsome face. “Holy shit. That’s great. They’re having a baby so we’ll be double aunts and uncles.”
“I don’t even know what that means,” I countered.
“We’ll be aunt and uncle from both sides. Come on, grab a bag. We’re headed to Devil’s Ditch.”