“This is my card and my personal number. Call me on Monday and we can set something up.”
I walked the few steps down the driveway to where he stood and took the card. “Will do.”
The reporter glanced at the Hellcat and whistled. “That’s a hell of a nice car.”
I grinned. “Hells yeah.”
“What’s that retail for? Fifty grand?”
“Sixty-six,” I answered. But really it was none of his damn business.
He whistled beneath his breath. “That’s a pretty penny. But I guess when you’re a star quarterback en route to the NFL, money isn’t an object.”
My back teeth came together. That sounded a lot like judgment from a total stranger. What a douche.
He turned and walked away. Halfway to his own car (a Toyota), he stopped and turned. “Oh, and you shouldn’t be surprised if more media outlets reach out. Your performance on the field last season got a lot of attention, but the…” He paused as if searching for a word. “The drama surrounding you lately and that girlfriend of yours, that’s the stuff that makes the news.”
My muscles bunched. I didn’t like that he brought up Rimmel. Not at all. I didn’t say anything, but I stood there and watched him until he drove off. I walked up the driveway toward the house. Braeden was standing in the shadows, staring down to where I’d been.
“The media?” he asked.
“Fuck, man,” I spat.
Braeden slapped me on my good shoulder. “Forget it. He was probably just trying to make himself sound important. Now you just go get pretty for our date tonight.”
I chuckled. “Dude, you have some major screws loose.”
“Nothing a few beers won’t fix,” he mused. “And maybe a hot woman.”
I changed into a pair of jeans, a pair of shoes I didn’t have to tie, and a short-sleeved T-shirt with the Wolves symbol on it. It was too cold for a short-sleeved shirt, but this damn splint and sling made putting on a long-sleeved a pain in my ass.
Once that was done, I threw on an Alpha U baseball hat so I didn’t have to mess with my hair. Doing shit one armed took longer, and I was in a rush to get to the club.
Braeden was dressed in a pair of loose jeans, a black Henley, and a long-sleeved button up worn unbuttoned and untucked. He was wearing a silver dog whistle as a necklace on a long silver chain and had a watch with a thick leather band encircling his waist.
He took the time to do his dark hair so he didn’t need a hat.
Ah, the benefits of having more than one hand.
Plus, he had women to impress. I didn’t.
Some of the guys were in the parking lot when we pulled in. It was crammed full of cars and the music was already pumping through the night air. I parked the Hellcat in the first spot I saw, and we joined the guys who were waiting for us.
A line had formed at the door, but the bouncer recognized us as the Wolves and waived us in ahead of everyone else.
The lighting was dim and flashing inside. People were everywhere, at the bar, on the dance floor, and all the spaces in between. It was a huge place, but it was still crowded. This place probably made a killing on the weekends. With it being so close to campus, it was the perfect spot to hang.
I thought it was pretty cool. The music was loud and jamming, and the atmosphere was pretty chill despite the large crowd.
“Romeo!” Someone called my name and I turned, but it wasn’t the girl I wanted to see. It was a group of cheerleaders for Alpha U.
“Ladies,” I said, giving them my charming smile.
“Are you okay?” one purred, slipping up to my side and giving a look to my arm.
I angled my body just slightly away, not wanting to give her any ideas. “Feeling good,” I replied.
She opened her mouth to say something else, but Braeden interjected. “Rome!” he said, coming up behind me. “Where our girl at?”
“Haven’t spotted her yet,” I answered, turning away from the cheerleaders.
A few guys I knew from campus walked by, and I slapped them high-fives.
Trent and a few of the Wolves who hadn’t met us in the parking lot appeared. They already had beers in their hand.
“Beer’s flowing tonight,” Trent said with a grin. “This place knows how to treat the Wolves.”
“Sa-weet,” Braeden said.
I scanned the crowd for Rimmel. It was going to take me forever to find her tiny ass in this crowded bar.
“We got a table over there.” Trent motioned. “Come on.”
“Hey,” I called. “You seen Rimmel?”
“Rimmel’s here?” Trent’s eyes widened.
“Supposed to be,” I answered, scanning the crowd.
“Oh, she’s here,” the cheerleader who’d been talking to me earlier injected into the conversation. I glanced at her, surprised. I hadn’t realized she was still here.
“Yeah?”
She gave me a smile. “She’s popular tonight.” I didn’t like the glint in her eye.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Didn’t these snooty bitches know by now their stupid drama didn’t work on me?
“See for yourself.” She pointed a finger with a long hot-pink nail glued on the end past the dance floor.
It took me a moment to locate her. She wasn’t at all where I thought she’d be.
She was sitting at this huge table full of a bunch of guys and girls. Ivy and Missy were to her left, and she was leaning toward them laughing. She was the smallest person at the table, and the shiny loose waves bouncing around her shoulders drew my eyes like a flare in a night sky.
On her other side sat some guy. He had a beer in his hand but was already clearly wasted. His body language wasn’t to my liking.
In fact, it made me want to beat his ass.
Even though Rim was facing away from him toward her friends, he was sitting there clearly open to her attention, welcoming it.
As I watched, a waitress set down a tray of shot glasses beside him.
People cheered.
My teeth ground together when drunk ass reached out his beefy hand and tugged on Rim’s perfect hair.
“Ah, hells no,” I spat.
“What’s going, Rome?” Braeden asked.
I grabbed his neck and steered his head in the direction of the show.
Rimmel made a face when her hair was tugged on and skillfully detracted it from his grip.
He held out a shot glass to her, and she shook her head.
He thrust it at her again, and some of the liquid—was that shit blue?—spilled over his hand and onto her arm.
She frowned and wiped it away, said something, then turned back to her friends.
He tugged her hair again.
When she turned, he gave her a sloppy smile and thrust the shot at her. This time, she took it and set it on the table beside her.
I glanced at Braeden. “He’s trying to get my girl drunk.”
Braeden nodded. “He’s trying to get your girl drunk.”
And he touched her hair.
Clearly, this girl needed supervision.
She was oblivious to the effect she had on people.
But I saw…
Thank God I showed up when I did.
Chapter Seventeen
Rimmel
The first sign that you’re drunk is telling yourself you aren’t.
I was certainly not drunk.
Yet when beer breath tried to give me yet another Smurf Balls—hehe, I said balls—I turned it down. Clearly, there was still a little common sense or sobriety left in me.
I was such a lightweight. Those two shots I’d taken before totally made me tipsy. Then I sipped at another before surrendering it to Missy to swallow in one gulp.
I’m not sure what was in that blue potion, but it sure made me giggly. And relaxed. Especially since I was sitting at a table filled with people I didn’t know. But they all knew me. It was a strange concept.
I leaned over Missy and looked at Ivy. “You should ca
ll me Alice.”
Ivy tilted her head and looked at me with interest. After another sip of her beer, she said, “You look like an Alice.”
Missy nodded with wide eyes. “You do.”
The three of us started giggling.
Beer breath started tugging on my hair again, and I wanted to groan. He was a high-maintenance drinking partner, and I had no idea how to tell him to get lost. I didn’t want to be mean.
Suddenly, a low, familiar voice sounded oddly close. “You might want to think twice about putting your hand in my girl’s hair again.”
I gasped and spun around.
Romeo was towering over the table, angling himself toward me but staring down at beer breath, who immediately removed his hand and began to stutter.
“Hey, number twenty-four. I di-didn’t mean nothing. I was just talking to her.”
He started to push out of his seat, his drunken movements sloppy. “Here, take my seat.”
Poor guy.
I started to giggle.
A smile tugged at Romeo’s lips and he waved the guy back down. “Nah, man. Keep your seat. I got one.”
The next thing I knew, I was being lifted out of the chair by one arm, and Romeo sat down, fitting me in his lap.
I let my head fall against his chest and gazed up at him, tugging on the brim of his hat. “Hey there, sexy.”
His eyes crinkled at the corners with amusement. “Hey, baby.”
I puckered up my lips so he would kiss me.
“Why the hell are your lips blue?” he demanded.
I started giggling again. “It was from the balls.”
“You better not be talking about the kind of balls I think you’re talking about,” he growled.
Ivy leaned around Missy and glared at Romeo. “This is girls’ night!”
“Then why are there more guys at your table than girls?” he asked, lifting a brow.
Missy grinned.
“He has a point,” I told her and rested my cheek against his chest. Then I gasped and jerked upright. “Did I hurt your arm?”
“You’re drunk,” he muttered.
“It’s because beer breath kept giving me balls.” I laughed.
He motioned with his thumb. “That beer breath?”
I nodded.
Romeo reached out and grabbed him by his neck and pulled him toward us. “You giving my girl balls?”
“What the fuck!” Braeden roared over my shoulder.
“BBFL,” I called out.
Braeden glanced at me with a smile. “Hey, tutor girl.” Then he looked back at beer breath and scowled.
“It’s a shot, man,” he answered Romeo and pointed to the blue drink on the table. “Smurf Balls.”
Ivy, Missy, and I started laughing. “He said balls,” Missy said.
“For the love of God,” Romeo muttered.
“Try it!” I said and held out the shot.
He made a face. “You want me to swallow something called Smurf Balls?”
“It’s really tasty,” I told him.
Braeden laughed. “Yeah, Rome. Let’s see you down the balls.”
I sat forward and snatched the other shot out of Missy’s hand and held it out to Braeden. “Here, you have some too.”
He blanched.
Romeo laughed.
“That’s Missy’s, Rim,” Braeden told me.
“She doesn’t mind.” I glanced at Missy, and she nodded. I watched her glance over her shoulder at Braeden and gave him a wave.
“Hey, Miss, how you been?” Braeden said.
“I’d be better if you drank the Smurf Balls.”
All three of us girls laughed some more.
The guys looked at each other and the shots in their hands.
Really. What was the big deal? It was just Smurf Balls.
I glanced around and noticed everyone at the table watching. I grinned.
“Who thinks they should take the shots?” I yelled.
“Do it!” someone down the table yelled.
Before I knew it, everyone was chanting.
Romeo flashed his perfect white teeth, and my belly jumped a little. “You’re lucky I love you.”
“Bottoms up, B!” he said.
Both guys held up the blue shots and then tossed them back.
Everyone cheered.
Romeo slammed the shot glass on the table and looked at me. “This is what got you so drunk?” He seemed a little skeptical. “It tastes like fruit punch.”
“I told you it was good.” I nodded.
“So, Braeden.” Ivy snickered. “How’d those balls taste?”
“Well, I got nothing to compare them to, unlike you,” he shot back.
“I really don’t know what you saw in him,” Ivy told Missy, who blushed.
“How the hell did you even get served?” Romeo asked me.
“Beer breath almost knocked me over,” I explained, and his eyes narrowed. “But then he said he was sorry and recognized me because of you. They all called me a nerd, which at first I thought was an insult, but then I realized they were saying it nice like.”
Romeo held up his hand. “Nice like?”
“Uh-huh.” I agreed. “Then they all said I was like the new team mascot for the Wolves, and the next thing I knew, we were drinking Smurf Balls.”
“You talk a lot when you’re drunk,” Braeden said over Romeo’s shoulder.
“This guy’s been buying your drinks all night?” he pointed at beer breath again.
I shrugged. “I guess so.”
He didn’t look very happy about that, and it caused some worry to poke through my drunken calm. “Are you mad at me? Did I do something wrong?”
His eyes softened beneath the brim of his hat, and he leaned forward to kiss me softly. “No, baby. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
He lifted me and stood me on my feet. I swayed a little, and Braeden reached out and pulled me away from the table and into his side. “Girl, you’re a hot mess.”
“Ladies,” Romeo said to Ivy and Missy. “We’re going to the Wolves table.” He gestured for them to follow.
Then he stood and dug a couple twenties out of his pocket and tossed them on the table in front of beer breath.
“What’s this?” he asked, looking up, his eyes totally glassy.
“Reimbursement,” Romeo replied, his voice hard.
“For what?”
“Nobody buys drinks for my girl but me.” He led us all to the long table near the dance floor where most of the Wolves were sitting. When they saw us coming, they shuffled around so there would be enough seats for the five of us to sit together.
Romeo and Braeden sat next to each other, and then Missy and Ivy slid in, leaving a chair beside Romeo for me. I went to sit down, but he caught me around the waist and pulled me into his lap again. “I think this is a good seat for you,” he whispered in my ear.
The little hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
I leaned in to kiss him, but I hit my head on the brim of his hat.
“Ow,” I complained.
He reached up and slid it around so it was facing backward. My mouth went dry watching the action. My God, I had no idea Romeo in a hat was so incredibly sexy. The way his blue eyes deepened when he looked at me said he noticed the way I noticed how turned on he made me.
He palmed the back of my neck and pulled me close. His tongue slid across my lips, and I opened so he could sweep inside. The taste of the shot lingered on our tongues and it was like a fruit explosion inside my mouth.
I groaned and sank a little farther into him, but he pulled me back and eased his mouth away. “Later,” he promised.
A popular upbeat song came over the club and everyone cheered. Ivy put down her beer. “This is my jam!” she announced. Her and Missy stood up and looked at me expectantly.
“What?”
“We’re dancing.”
“Have fun,” I said and gave them a wave.
“Oh no,” Missy said and grabbed my
hand. “You’re coming too.”
“I’m too drunk,” I said.
“If you were too drunk, you’d already be out there,” Ivy countered.
I glanced at Romeo for help. He grinned. “Go shake it, baby.”
“Fine,” I snapped. “I will.”
The three of us made our way out to the dance floor and found a spot near the edge. Ivy and Missy went right to it; the way they moved made me second-guess myself. I did not dance. Like ever. I was uncoordinated, self-conscious, and awkward.
“Come on!” Ivy said and reached for my hand.
I shook my head. “I don’t know how.”
“Sure you do!” she said and put both her hands on my hips. I felt myself blush as she moved her hands to the beat, showing my hips where to go.
“You got it.” She grinned and pulled back.
The alcohol made me bold, so I kept moving, swaying my hips and tossing my hair around.
Missy laughed, and a guy came up behind Ivy and she started grinding against him.
I stumbled a little watching them. The way their bodies moved together was so erotic that I totally fell out of rhythm.
Next, a really tall guy with super-short dark hair sidled up behind Missy, and she flashed him a smile over her shoulder. He reached out to let his hand hover over her hip, and she spun to face him and nodded.
He grabbed her behind and pulled her right up against his body, and they began swaying together, her dark, sleek hair whipping around.
I never went to any school dances in high school or any of the events Alpha U put on. I’d never actually danced in public before. The one time I tried at home, I fell over and hit my head.
I’d never danced with a guy like that. Hell, I didn’t even know people danced like that.
I was standing there feeling really self-conscious and kind of silly. My giggly mood drained away by the second.
Ivy and Missy were totally involved in the guys who picked them up, and I was making a fool of myself standing there watching.
I was just about to turn back for the table when an arm wrapped around me from behind.
Chapter Eighteen
Romeo
I couldn’t help but watch the way Rimmel’s small tight ass worked its way out onto the dance floor. Those jeans she had on were giving me a stiffy.
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