A Rose to Keep (The Society 1)

How did I not notice this girl before? I had noticed her, but it was more like a quick assessment. At first glance, I gave her a seven, maybe. Now as I looked at her, I know she’d rank higher.

Damn, blue balls was messing with my head.

I’d opted to not sleep with anyone else since claiming Sian was so important to all of us.

“You’re kind of freaking me out now. Can I go?” she asked.

“There’s no changing your mind?”

“I don’t even understand why you want me to change my mind. Mateo, in the years that I’ve been here, we’ve never spoken to one another. I think the most we’ve ever said is when you’re throwing insults in my direction. That’s it.”

“I’ve never insulted you.”

“Think really long and hard. Believe me, you’re going to find something that says otherwise.” She pressed her palm against her forehead. “Please, move out of my way.”

“For a kiss.”

“You’re out of your mind. Hell, no.”

“I’m not moving. One kiss is all it is going to take.”

“You do realize this is verging on sexual harassment.”

“You know we’re all alone right now, and I could take whatever the hell I want. No one would believe you.”

It was a low blow, but a guy had got to do what he had to do.

Sian folded her arms. “One kiss?”

“That’s all it’s going to take. One single kiss, and you can go right back to your dorm. I’ll even walk you to your dorm.”

She sighed and took a step toward me, then another. She reached out, putting her hands on my chest, gliding them up to grip my shoulders. Her body so close to mine, and damn it, I couldn’t resist putting my hands on her full hips and drawing her in against me.

When our bodies were nearly together, Sian leaned in a little closer.

All of a sudden, pain exploded right between my thighs and I went straight to my balls. Holy fuck, the wind had been taken right out of me. I struggled to breathe.

I couldn’t focus. My vision went a little unfocused. The pain was intense.

She’d kneed me in the fucking balls.

The bitch.

“Don’t ever fucking threaten me again. Next time, I’ll make sure you can never use them.” She walked right past me, and I had to give her some fucking props. She’d taken me by surprise.

I didn’t get up.

Cupping my junk, I winced as the pain lingered. I couldn’t stay there on my knees. It would get people talking, and that wasn’t what I wanted. Slowly, I staggered to my feet and made my way back to the shared dorm with the guys.

The scent of Chinese food was heavy in the air. They must have ordered without me. I saw a couple of cartons on the table unopened, and sore dick or not, I was starving.

“We’ve got a fight on our hands,” I said, drawing their attention.

They were all on their laptops, either doing research or homework.

“With what?” Gideon asked.

“Sian. She’s not going to be easy.” I took the first bite of my egg roll, and it tasted so good. In between bites of food, I told them exactly what happened.

All three of my friends winced when I described the knee-to-dick incident. I was sure I was going to have a bruise.

“This isn’t going to be simple,” I said.

We’d all assumed due to her low social status, she’d be more than happy to be with us. Four of the most popular guys in school wanting her, picking her. I didn’t foresee this kind of difficulty. Normally, girls were all over us. It was difficult to keep them away from us.

“What we need to do is come up with a plan,” Dante said.

“Yeah, and one that doesn’t risk our balls.” I couldn’t help but shift them just to make sure they were still there. I was going to be sore for a few days.

“We’re going to have to be careful,” William said. “Anything we do now is going to be judged by her, and she’ll be suspicious.”

“Then we take our time,” Gideon said.

“You don’t want to take time,” I reminded Gideon. We all expected this was going to be easy. None of us saw this playing out the way it did.

I regretted not doing the groundwork first. I had fucked up, and so had the guys.

How did we get a girl who didn’t like us, wanted nothing to do with us, to start doing all of those things?

I was drawing a blank right now.

Chapter Three

Sian

The dorm room I’d been put in had a small breakfast area. It was sweet and charming, and if it wasn’t for Heather, I’d have eaten there. As it was, I met with Heather early to enjoy some breakfast. Her long blonde hair was pulled back into yet another ponytail. I noticed she had some pink highlights at the tips, which I thought were cute.