Roughing

My teammate, Shawn Finch, taps me on the shoulder. “Hey, man. What are you doing back here by yourself?”

He’s a big guy, a few inches taller than my six foot two inches and much larger in the chest and arms.

I’m not usually this anti-social. Somehow, I managed to wander off into the back of the house to the study after I tapped the keg. The house is huge, one of those old Victorians and large enough to get lost for a while if you don’t know where you’re going. I wanted to get lost.

Facing the window, I turn around to look at Finch. “Nothing. I just needed a break from everyone.”

“I hear ya. I get sick of all the people hanging around the Delta Sig house all the time.”

“Frat life is a little different from sharing a house with the team.”

“You try living in a house with sixty guys and see how you like it.”

He’s got me there. We have ten football players living under one roof. That’s enough for me. Most days the house looks like a bomb went off, stinks of sweat and sex, and has a never-ending revolving door of girls coming through every night, who creep out the door in the morning.

“I thought you’d want to know that Tori showed up with Jessica.”

I shrug, nonchalant, even though I care that she’s here. It’s all I’ve been able to think about all night.

“Dean is already hitting on her. That’s the other reason I thought you’d want me to come get you.”

“No way in hell is he getting anywhere near her.” I get up from the windowsill and walk toward the door with Finch.

By the time we reach the living room, the party is raging. Rap music cranks through the speakers suspended from the ceiling. The bass in the corners of the room vibrates beneath my feet, sending a tremor up my legs that go straight to my balls. A few dozen half-naked girls dance in front of me, trying to grind on my leg as I push through the crowd. But I’m on a mission. Find Tori.

I spot her with Jessica and Clay. She looks bored standing next to a couple who have their tongues shoved down each other’s throats. Sexy as hell, Jessica was one of the few girls none of us had hooked up with until Clay made a play for her. She was a real cocktease. And a virgin. Only a handful of people knows that Clay has been waiting her out. She’d come to our parties with her friends, but she never put out. Her friends did, so at least there was that.

Unlike Clay, I don’t chase girls. There’s no reason to seek them out when they plop down on my lap in class uninvited and follow me around campus. If you play a sport at Strickland University, people treat you like a celebrity. And football players are the cream of the crop.

I have girls tugging at my arms, begging me to notice them. The only girl I see is Tori. She makes eye contact with me for a second, before turning her head away, unimpressed. I can already tell this will be a long night.

Finch digs his elbow into my ribs, snapping me out of my head. “You gonna talk to her or just stand there and stare?”

I snicker. “I’m getting there. I have to ease my way into it, or she’ll run away, like usual.”

They say relationships take work. If that’s the case, chasing after Tori was like a full-time job. After she’d refused to hear me out, I let her go. What choice did I have? With football and everything I had going on, I didn’t have time to state my case. Not like she wanted to listen to a word I had to say. There were too many willing girls parading through campus to settle down. So I didn’t. I played the field. I still do. But Tori is different.

Finch smirks, tugging at the edge of his T-shirt and runs a hand through his short blond hair. “You can’t tell me that you don’t wanna hit that again. If not, I volunteer as tribute.”

Hearing those words come from Finch’s mouth incite a rage inside me. I’ve always felt possessive over Tori. I’m the reason she can’t get a date. No one would go near her after I had issued my warning. This school operates on power and money. I have both. And the two combined go a long way.

Ignoring Finch’s comment, I move through the throng, dodging girls as I pass. The kitchen is just as packed as the living room with all the alcohol flowing. Harper Connelly, the president of Kappa, darts across the room flanked by two of her sorority sisters. Her hips have a gentle sway in a red dress that appears as if she taped it onto her tiny frame.

Flicking her long hair over her shoulders, she flashes a set of pearly white teeth in my direction. An unusual gesture for Harper. So, she must want something.

For a hot girl, she always looked pissed off. Even when I’m giving her the one thing she wants. The one thing I hate doing.

“Hey, Bash.” Harper strokes my arm with her nails, forcing a smile. Her smiles are always fake. She’s the Queen Bitch of this campus and just as plastic as her Barbie-like appearance.

She’s had a crush on me for years. And now I’m stuck with Harper, indebted to her because she knows my secret.

“Harper”—I nod—“what’s up?”

Harper glances at her sorority sisters, shooting them a knowing look, and turns back to face me. “Tori is here with Jessica.”

I shrug. “Yeah, so.” I clear my throat and stand taller, more confident. “What’s it to you?”

She tilts her head so that her nose points up at the ceiling. “I just thought I should remind you, seeing as we have a mutual understanding.”