“I was about to go to dinner. You two want to come?” he offered. “My parents won’t be in until tomorrow morning, but I think those other two asshats’ parents are already here. Heard them saying they were coming back here to chill later.”
I groaned, not wanting either of our other two suitemates to be around Violet. But I wanted some alone time with my girl, too. “Babe? It’s your choice.”
She touched her lips softly to mine. “It’s probably safer if we had company, don’t you think?”
“I don’t know. You could always tie me down so I have no choice but to keep my hands to myself.” I grinned up at her and watched as her cheeks filled with pink. “Didn’t you say you liked that idea when we had a date the other night?”
“Just for that, no more dates for two weeks,” she threatened, her face blood red now as she ducked her head to avoid Marsh seeing how embarrassed she was.
“It’s okay, Violet. I know all about your weird ‘date nights,’” Marsh told her, and she groaned into my chest.
Laughing, I kissed the top of her head. She slapped at my chest then pinched my side.
“Let me get my wallet, and we’ll go,” Marsh said as he walked toward his room.
Violet watched him go then looked up at me with a sweet smile. “I like him. I’m glad you’ve got him as a friend.”
“Me too.” Lifting her off my lap, I placed her on her feet and stood. Readjusting my jeans so I didn’t cripple myself, I made sure I had my wallet and keys and then took her hand. “Ready?”
We went to a local barbecue place Marsh had introduced me to. Violet moaned when she tasted the food, and she and Marsh got to know each other while we ate. When we were done, Marsh got a text about a party, and he asked us to go with him.
Parties weren’t my scene here. In all the weeks I’d been at college, I hadn’t been to a single one, even though Marsh had asked me countless times, along with other guys on my team. But I wasn’t there to party and have a wild time. It would only mess everything up. Having a hangover when I should be concentrating on football was not how I was going to continue being a starter.
Lyric was doing enough partying for the both of us. His college experience was considerably different from my own, because our endgames were completely diverse. He needed to make connections while double majoring in business and art. He was also apprenticing at a tattoo shop close to his campus. My twin had a plan he was determined to see through. Graduate and then get a job under Dustin Branch in New York. Once he had a little time under the best tattoo artist in the country, he could open his own place anywhere he wanted.
I wanted him to set up shop wherever I ended up at a pro team so Violet and I could help him out and have him close.
/> “Let’s go,” she told me when I left the decision up to her about the party. “But only for a little while. I’m kind of tired.”
“Whatever you want, babe.” I really wanted some alone time with her, but that could be seriously dangerous. I hadn’t seen her in weeks, and even though we’d had plenty of “dates” during that time, having her beside me, getting to touch and smell her sweet scent, was driving me crazy.
There were people pouring out of the frat house when we got there. The yard was littered with college students holding red Solo cups and sporting school colors. I could smell smoke and steered Violet away from that area as Marsh led us into the house.
“You don’t drink anything unless I give it to you,” I told Vi as we grabbed cups, and I half filled both of ours. “That’s all we need, okay?”
“We don’t have to drink,” she assured me. “I know you have an important game tomorrow.”
“Yo, Thornton. Thought you were too good for college parties.” I turned my head and instinctively moved closer to Violet when I saw Martins, the junior whose starting spot I’d taken.
Martins was about an inch shorter than me and at least twenty pounds heavier, but the extra weight was all in his gut and not his actual muscles. He was a twentysomething pre-law major, but from what Marsh told me, he was changing his major to something else. Of course, that hadn’t been his plan. Until I came along and pushed him to second string, he had high hopes of going fast in the draft. Now he would be lucky if he got picked up at all.
Violet shifted beside me, and Martins’s eyes zoomed in on her like a predator. Fuck, if this asshole kept looking at her like that, I was going to bury his ass.
He licked his lips, and I pushed my cup into Violet’s hands, ready to tear the motherfucker apart. Then a pair of well-manicured hands wrapped around him from behind, and the girl they belonged to giggled drunkenly as she moved in front of him. “Marty-Mart-Mar, you promised me a tour of your room upstairs,” she said as she pressed herself up against him.
When his eyes only flicked down at her for a second and then back to Violet, I took a menacing step toward him. The girl pouted up at him and grabbed his crotch at the same time Violet stepped in front of me.
I didn’t even hear Martins leave with the girl as Vi took a huge gulp of her drink. “I need a refill,” she said and pushed her cup into my hands.
“Babe, please don’t drink more than that.” I put a little more keg beer into her cup and handed it back before taking my own red cup.
“No fighting,” she told me.
“He was begging for it,” I muttered.
“He was only looking at me,” she tried to reason.
“Yeah, and he was about to be a dead man.”