Drumline

by Stacy Kestwick

  “What?” I watched my feet so I wouldn’t trip over any loose rocks.

  “Pizza. We have plenty of time. Want to stop for a slice, Batman?”

  I pretended to consider it. “Only because I don’t want you wasting away, Robin.” I patted his perfectly flat stomach. “You’re looking skinny these days.”

  He tugged up his shirt, flexing his abs. “Girl, you don’t need to come up with an excuse to touch me. Just ask and I’m happy to let you cop a feel. Especially if I get to return the favor.”

  “I don’t think you watched the same Batman and Robin I did growing up.” I rolled my eyes.

  He laughed. “A pair of grown-ass men in tights who hung out in a cave together? I think the general public is avoiding making some very obvious conclusions about the two of them.”

  My eyes got big as I thought about his words. “But what about Catwoman?”

  Smith slung his arm around my shoulder. “A hot woman in latex to join in the fun? I’m telling you, Batman is absolutely my kind of hero. He didn’t even try to hide his kinky side.”

  We dissolved into laughter and spent the rest of the hike speculating about the sex lives of various superheroes while sucking on a pair of grape lollipops Smith had brought along.

  An hour later, we were settled at Antonio’s with a giant cheese pizza propped between us, and the sun was saying its colorful goodbye.

  I took a long drink of my Cherry Coke Zero before pulling a hot, melty slice onto my plate, the mozzarella cheese stretching and drooping as it tried to hold itself together. “Oh hey,” I started. “I meant to ask you the other day, whose dorm room do you have to clean? Since I got Marco, did you get Laird?”

  Smith took a huge bite of his own slice and looked at me quizzically. “What do you mean? I don’t even clean my own dorm room.”

  “You mean one of the vets doesn’t have you…” I trailed off, nibbling on the tip of my slice while I thought it over. Fucking Marco. He made that shit up about NADs cleaning the vets’ rooms. I’d bet money on it. I took another bite absently. I could complain. Pitch a fit about how it wasn’t fair and refuse to do it. But that’s what he wanted. Technically, a NAD had to do what a vet asked. The fact that I was the only NAD being asked was beside the point, I was sure.

  Smith tipped his head. “You’re cleaning Marco’s room? How’d he get you to do that?”

  “He told me I had to. But you know what, it’s fine. If that’s the worst thing he can think of to do to me, I can handle some housework.”

  Smith chewed thoughtfully. “I wonder if it’s a gender role thing. If he’s trying to put you in your place symbolically. Like, you know, traditional-ass shit where the woman cleans the house and the man goes to work.”

  I laughed so hard soda dribbled down my chin, and I pressed a handful of napkins to my mouth to mop up the stray drops. “Jesus, Smith. You give him too much credit. You think Marco thinks symbolically? Seriously? Are we talking about the same guy?”

  He shook his head. “You’re right. My bad. More likely he’s just lazy and saw an easy way to con you into doing it. You gonna stop now?”

  “I’ll handle it. No worries. But for real, what’s his deal? Is it just me? Or does he have something against women in general—when he’s not trying to fuck them?”

  Smith leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin. “Back in high school, Laird and Marco were a big deal. They ran in the same circle of popular kids. You know, the ones who won Best Looking and Prom King and that kind of shit. But Laird always made it look easy. People just liked him. With Marco, I don’t know quite how to explain it, but he always seemed to try a little too hard or fell a little short. He’s been in Laird’s shadow forever in that sense. Laird was first chair and snare captain back then too, and Marco was second.”

  I finished my first slice and took a second. “Right, okay. But plenty of kids aren’t class president or homecoming queen and don’t end up being dickholes. There’s got to be more to it than that.”

  “There were rumors back then. About Marco’s mom. That his dad used to hit her and that she tried to leave once, abandon the family. I have no idea if they were true or not, but I never saw her come to any of the football games.” Smith fiddled with the edge of his plate.

  The pizza in my mouth lost its taste. “His dad beat his mom? Did his dad hit him too?”

  Smith shrugged. “I mean, I never saw any marks on him that year. But who knows? His dad was a drunk asshole, so it wouldn’t shock me if he had.”

  I couldn’t help thinking back to the day he tripped me and I fell on the curb. I wiped my fingers off on a brown paper napkin and pushed my plate away. “It sucks that he had a shitty childhood. But that doesn’t excuse his behavior.”

  “No. It doesn’t. But if that’s the only way he’d seen a man and woman interact, it’s not surprising that he doesn’t know how to treat a woman.”

  “Are you defending him?” I asked incredulously. Batman was about to fly solo. Who needed a sidekick?

  “Not… defending him.” Smith drew out. “I’m just saying, especially here in the South, and for a guy who was always second best, I can see how a confident girl like you could bring out the worst in him.”

  “Wait, so it’s my fault?” My fingers curled into fists on my thighs.

  “No! I’m not even remotely saying that. He shouldn’t talk to you the way he does. But you have to admit that you go out of your way to push his buttons. You’re not exactly helping the situation.”

  “You are defending him.” All I could do was stare at him incredulously.

  Smith’s cheeks turned pink and he looked away.

  “Oh my God. Do you like him?” My eyebrows nearly reached my hairline, and my voice rose an octave higher than usual.

  “I don’t like him. I don’t like the way he treats you or the way he acts sometimes. But do I think he’s kinda hot when he gets all worked up and starts strutting around? I know you’re blinded by Laird, but have you seen the abs on Marco?”

  Now it was my turn to blush at the mention of Laird. “But still… of all people? Marco? Scrotum Breath?”

  Smith scrubbed his hands over his face. “I’ve always had a weakness for the bad boys, okay? I don’t want to date him or anything. I’m just saying if he got really drunk one night and wanted to experiment—or offered me a private practice session—I wouldn’t say no. He’s an asshole, but he’s a sexy asshole.” He took a long drink. “And Laird isn’t the only one I got an eyeful of in the bathroom the other day. Let me just say, Marco has got some girth.”

  I shrieked. “I did not want to know that!”

  “But now you do.” He smirked without remorse.

  I threw a wadded-up napkin at him. “I’m not going to be able to look him in the eye now.”

  “Perfect. He’ll love that. He’ll think you’re subservient. Less drama for all of us.”

  We both laughed at the likelihood of that ever happening.

  And then we lost track of time as the conversation shifted to classes starting on Monday and roommates moving in tomorrow. Somewhere along the way, we ate the rest of the pizza. When the waitress brought the check, I noticed the timestamp on the top and gasped. “Smith! It’s 11:30! We only have half an hour left to find Bubba’s and get our drink on.”

  Smith scooted his chair back in alarm and stood to leave. “Holy shit, Batman. Ready to fly?”

  Laird

  I prowled the party impatiently, nursing the same warm beer I’d been holding for the last two hours. The sky was dark outside the window over the kitchen sink. And Reese had neither shown up nor called me. I checked my phone for the third time in five minutes.

  Still nothing.

  Cade and Justin had arrived a while ago and chugged their requisite two cups of NAD juice while everyone else cheered, especially Cade’s relieved older brother, Charlie.

  I sent Reese another text. The fifth or sixth since I’d dropped her off. All of them unanswered.

  Shit. Fuc
k. Damn it to hell.

  What if they were lost? She wasn’t from around here. It was doubtful she’d recognized the far edge of the lake on the south side of campus. Or worse, what if one of them had gotten hurt? The sun had set over an hour ago. If they were still on the road, cars might not see them. And it’s not like we’d left them with a fucking flashlight or anything.

  She has her phone, I reminded myself for the millionth time. Not that she apparently remembered how to use it.

  But maybe she was the one who’d been injured? And Smith didn’t know she had one and hadn’t gone the right way for help?

  The cup crumpled in my hand, the last inch of beer at the bottom dripping onto the beige linoleum. I cleaned up the mess with a wad of paper towels and then hunted down Marco.

  “I’ll be back, man. I’m gonna go pick up some more beer. We’re running low.”

  “We can have someone else do that. There’s no need for you to leave.” Marco protested. “And Willa was looking for you earlier.”

  Who gave a fuck about Willa? “Nah, it’s cool, I got it. I won’t be long.” I slapped him on the back between the shoulders and beat a hasty escape to my Wrangler.

  I didn’t care if it was cheating. I was going to go find her and bring her back. For appearances, I could drop her and Smith at the end of the block or something, let them walk from there. It didn’t matter. I just needed to know she was okay.

  I just needed her.

  My foot was heavy on the gas as I returned to the field where we’d left them. It was empty. Of course, it’s fucking empty, man. I berated myself as I waffled over which way to try next. When we’d driven off, we’d turned right. Guessing they would have followed us, I went that way, driving slow and peering into the tall grass along the side of the road on the way. Several side streets split off and I went down all of them, finding a whole lot of nothing.

  The knot in my stomach doubled in size. I sent more texts. Even called twice. It went straight to voicemail both times, indicating to me her fucking phone was either off or had been crushed into worthless pieces when a car ran her over in the dark.

  Jesus, what was it about Reese? She’d dug her way under my skin in a way no other girl before her ever had, dominating my thoughts and ruling my dick. I’d started to measure time by the number of hours until I’d see her again. And the answer was always too fucking long. I had a feeling when I finally did claim that sexy body of hers, this addiction of mine was only going to get worse.

  Using every cuss word I knew and inventing a few new ones, I returned to the empty field and repeated the same meticulous procedure the other direction. My fingers squeezed the leather of the steering wheel harder, my knuckles turning white, as if it would help me see deeper into the darkness beyond the twin beams of the headlights.

  By the time I’d traveled every inch of road she could’ve come across between the field and campus, I was alternating between fear and fury. When I found her again, because, damn it all, I would fucking find her, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to kiss her senseless or spank her ass until it turned red beneath my palm.

  My phone dinged with a text, and I almost swerved off the road in my hurry to check it.

  Marco: Where are you, man? You left two hours ago. Everyone’s here and wondering where you went.

  Me: Everyone? All the NADs made it?

  Marco: Yeah, Smith and the girl showed up and drank the juice with a few minutes to spare.

  Marco: Unfortunately.

  She was there.

  She was fucking there.

  And despite his words, I couldn’t relax. Not until I saw her with my own two eyes.

  I floored it the whole way back until the tires squealed into a spot at Bubba’s apartment. I practically flew up the stairs, the hinges in serious jeopardy as I ripped the door open. My eyes scanned the party frantically.

  With Smith’s arm around her shoulders, Reese was tucked into one end of the blue couch, cheeks red and head tipped back as she drank from a plastic cup. I froze in the entryway, chest heaving from my sprint across the parking lot, absorbing every detail. Her shirt wasn’t wrinkled, but traces of mud edged her shoes and a few shallow scratches marred those long, bare legs of hers. And was that the start of a bruise on her shin? I had a brief flash of Garrett, those dark bruises that began blooming on his pale skin before we knew it was leukemia. Then I pushed the thought aside roughly. She was fine. I hadn’t failed her like I’d failed him. She was right here in front of me, laughing her ass off without a care in the world.

  And those conflicting emotions rushed through me again, battling each other for dominance. I wanted to rip her from the couch, crush her to me and devour her lips, feel the heat of her against my body to prove she was real and here and okay. At the same time, I wanted to strangle her for the wild goose chase I’d been on half the night and demand to know what the fuck was wrong with her phone.

  She lowered her hand, the movement loose, and when she placed her cup on the beat-up wooden coffee table in front of her, not a drop spilled.

  I exhaled. Good, she wasn’t tipsy yet, despite the NAD juice. Because, dammit, before the night was over, I planned on claiming her and I wanted her to fucking remember every moment of it.

  Time to peacock.

  But before I could take a step, a hand clasped my shoulder. “Where’s the beer?” Marco raised his eyebrows in confusion.

  Fuck. The beer. “They were out.”

  “Of beer?”

  “Yup. Weird, right?” I shrugged. “I guess with school starting back, everyone’s having one last party.”

  “There was no beer,” he repeated, disbelief twisting his face. “At all?”

  “Sorry, man.” I moved farther into the room, shaking off his hand and advancing in her direction.

  She hadn’t seen me yet. Her head was turned the other way, toward Van, who usually never said a word, but was waving his hands around and making explosion sound effects as he told her some story. Damn, the things that smile of hers could do to a guy. The look on his face was slightly awed, as if he couldn’t believe her attention was centered on him.

  It won’t be for long.

  When I was two yards away from her, she sat up straight and whipped those coffee-brown eyes of hers to me so fast, her hair slapped Van in the face. The smug smile that lit her face saved her.

  I was going to kiss that smirk right off her lips.

  As I passed the couch, I captured her hand and pulled her free of Smith’s arm, tugging her along behind me. She stumbled a bit, but I just tightened my grip to keep her from falling.

  I didn’t stop until we were in the bathroom with the door locked. Didn’t glance around to see if people were watching us and whispering, drawing their own conclusions. I was singularly focused on Reese.

  On those perfect lips of hers stained red from the cheap alcoholic punch.

  “Laird,” she whispered.

  I allowed myself a handful of seconds to savor the sound of her saying my name, wishing we were anywhere but Bubba’s bathroom. Then I hardened my voice. “Give me your phone.”

  “My phone? Why?”

  “It’s broken, isn’t it? I assume that’s the only reason you have for not using it like I told you to.”

  “No. You said I needed to call you if I didn’t reach campus before dark,” she countered indignantly, her hands behind her back where her phone was likely still tucked in her shorts.

  I took a deep breath. “And when it had been dark for over an hour, and you still weren’t here, why didn’t you fucking use it then?”

  She dipped her chin, but I immediately curled a finger under it to raise it back up. Her eyes slid to the side, and her voice was sheepish. “We were back on campus by then. We were at Antonio’s, eating pizza.”

  Closing my eyes, I counted out several four-beat measures in my head. She was eating pizza.

  “You said to call if we hadn’t found our way back by then.” The words were mumbled and only faintly apologetic. �
�And… we were back. We just weren’t here.”

  “So I used half a tank of gas driving all over Rodner, Alabama looking for you while you were busy eating pizza with Smith.” I leaned down until our noses were only inches apart. “Is that right?”

  Her hand came up to circle my wrist where I still held her chin, and her hot breath fanned my palm. “You were looking for me?”

  I backed her up against the locked door and used my other hand to free her phone from the tiny piece of denim she called shorts. “Did you even check it?”

  “No.” She shivered beneath my glare, but stood tall. “It was against the rules. And I didn’t need it. I told you I had this.”

  “If you had this, you would’ve been here before dark.” A quick glance at the screen after I hit the button confirmed that it was powered off. I put the useless piece of technology on the counter next to us.

  “The rules just said be here before midnight. And I was.”

  “Jesus, fuck.” I pressed my forehead to hers and closed my eyes. “Yes. I was worried, okay? And I came looking for you because the thought of you out there somewhere, needing me, while I stood around here hoping you weren’t lost was unacceptable.”

  “I wasn’t lost.”

  “But I was, Reese.” I opened my eyes and searched her face. “I didn’t know where you were, so I was.”

  She bit her lip, her teeth denting that full lower curve, and I used my thumb to free it, to trace the mouth that had haunted my dreams for the last few days. She whispered my name again, and I crowded my hips against hers, letting her feel every inch of the effect she had on me. God, the sound of her voice saying my name. Made me want to puff out my chest and fall to my knees at the same time.

  And nothing, absolutely nothing, made me harder.

  Her eyes drifted shut, and when her chin tilted up, offering me her mouth, I’d reached my breaking point. I cupped her face with both hands, my fingers fanning out across her cheekbones before curving around the back of her neck.