Campus Player

But I’m not one of them.

“Sorry, Harp. Not tonight.” I unwind her arms before pulling her around in front of me. I’m careful to keep her at arm’s length. She’s like a snake; once she gets ahold of you, it’s damn hard to get her uncoiled.

She thrusts out her bottom lip in a pout meant to be sexy but comes off as toddler-ish. “You say that every time.”

The girl’s got me there.

“Why is that?” She squeezes her arms against the outer sides of her breasts, pressing them together so I get a good look down the front of her cleavage. “Aren’t you interested?”

Hard no.

“Well...” I’m about to level with her for the umpteenth time when I catch sight of Sydney. Anticipation shoots through me as I comb the immediate vicinity for Demi. Those two are usually attached at the hip. “I need to talk with someone. I’ll catch you later.”

“What?” Harper’s voice escalates. “We were in the middle of a conversation!”

“Sorry about that.” I don’t bother waiting for a response as I shove my way through the crowd to reach Sydney and her boyfriend.

Right as I catch up to them, she whips around to Ethan. “Oh my God, that’s not what I said! Why do you have to take everything so literally?”

Great.

They’re fighting.

Again.

I’ve seen them out enough times to know that these two are either going at it hot and heavy or are bickering like an old married couple. There’s no in-between with them.

It’s tempting to disappear through the crowd so I don’t get dragged into their argument—except I can’t walk away. I want to know where Demi is. If there’s a problem or something else happened with fuckwad, I want to know about it. I’d be more than happy to have another convo with Justin.

Using my fists.

I’ve heard all the shit going around campus. I have zero doubts it’s originating from him. Someone needs to shut him up before he does anymore damage.

“Hey,” I say loudly, cutting into their conversation before it can escalate any further.

With their mouths open, they swing toward me.

“Oh, hey,” Sydney says.

Ethan grumbles something about grabbing a drink before stalking away. A mixture of sadness and irritation fills Sydney’s eyes as he takes off.

I clear my throat, drawing her attention to me. “Trouble in paradise?”

“Is it that obvious?” Her voice softens, turning almost pensive. “Have you ever liked someone and kept trying to make it work, but you couldn’t do it? It was like trying to shove a square peg into a round hole? It just didn’t fit?”

I glance at Ethan as he grins at a few fellow baseball players. The tension filling his expression has already dissolved.

If Sydney is looking for romantic advice, she’s come to the wrong person. I pull something out of my ass and hope it’s helpful. “Can’t say that I have. I guess you’ll know it’s time to walk away when the bad outweighs the good.”

She contemplates my nugget of wisdom. “Yeah, I suppose that’s something to consider.” Then she blinks, and all of the emotion filling her gaze disappears as if it had never been there in the first place. “Sorry. It’s Friday night, and here I am, getting all maudlin. Must have already had one too many drinks.” With a tilt of her head, her attention zeros in on me. “So...what can I do for you?” A sly expression morphs over her features. “As if I didn’t already know.”

My guess is that Sydney realizes exactly where my interest lies. But still...I’m not about to confirm or deny my feelings. Not yet, anyway. “Just wondering where your trusty sidekick is.”

The humor falls away as she glares around the room. “She decided to go home for the weekend. These assholes are giving her hell.”

Home?

I’m pretty sure Coach is away on a recruiting trip, which means Demi is there alone.

“Is she all right?” It pisses me off that she felt the need to escape from campus because of it. Sydney nailed it on the head when she said these people were assholes.

A good number of them are.

“She’s hurt and embarrassed by all the rumors.” Anger flashes across her face. “I’d like nothing better than to kick Justin’s ass.”

From everything I know about Sydney, that’s not an idle threat. Justin better hope he doesn’t run into her this weekend. It could be detrimental to his health.

“If it makes you feel better, I rearranged his nose last Saturday.”

Her lips reluctantly hitch at the corners. “Yeah, I heard all about it. Too bad you didn’t inflict more damage.”

Before I can ask any further questions, her eyes narrow as she gives me a shrewd look. “Exactly what are your intentions with my girl?”

“Just being a concerned friend.” Even though it’s probably too late, I glance away and try to play it cool. “Is that such a crime?”