Page 133 of Holding On

He laughs. "You're right. Sorry. I wasn't thinking." He looks out at Becca on the patio. She's wearing a black knit dress that clings to her round, perky ass.

"Damn, she's hot," Jackson says, staring at her. "Look at that ass."

"It's mine. And so is she, so stop looking at her that way."

"Better get used to it. A girl that hot? The whole team's gonna be looking at her that way."

He's right, and it makes me not want to introduce her to them. I'm usually not the jealous type but I am when it comes to her. She's mine and I don't want anyone else having her or even thinking about her that way.

The doorbell rings and I look at Jackson. "I told you to tell them to come around back."

"I did. Maybe it's someone else."

I sigh and go to answer the door. Cami is standing here. She's a cheerleader for the basketball team. We dated last winter. Well, it wasn't really dating. We hooked up. Multiple times. But then she wanted to do all this kinky shit and I wasn't into it. So I moved on and she ended up dating one of my teammates.

"Is this where the party's at?" She holds up a bottle of vodka and smiles with glossy pink lips that match her tight pink dress.

"It's not a party. It's just a—never mind." I motion to the back of the house. "It's on the patio. You can just walk around back."

"I want to see your house." She sneaks past me before I can stop her. "It's nice." She glances at the living room, then slinks over to me and smiles. "I bet you're lonely, all by yourself in this big house."

"Ethan, I—" Becca stops when she sees Cami, who has now positioned herself at my side, her arm wrapped around mine.

"Hi, I'm Cami." She extends her hand to Becca.

"Hi," Becca says, quickly shaking her hand, her eyes going to me to explain.

I try to free myself from Cami but between the crutches and Cami's tight grip on my arm, it's a struggle to move.

"Cami's a friend from school," I say to Becca.

Cami looks up at me and smiles. "We were more than—"

I cut her off. "Cami, this is my girlfriend, Becca."

"Oh." Cami slowly lets go of me and says to Becca, "Do you go to Laytham?"

"No," Becca says and leaves it at that.

I hear Jackson in the kitchen and yell at him, "Jackson, get your ass out here. You have a guest."

He appears and goes up to Cami, putting his arm around her. "Hey, babe." He kisses her, a long, drawn out kiss that makes Becca look away. I clear my throat and Jackson ends the kiss and says to Cami, "Thanks for coming."

"I brought this." Cami holds up the vodka.

"Let's go in the kitchen and open it." He glances at me and I look at him, annoyed. I told him people weren't supposed to bring their own booze.

When Jackson and Cami are gone, Becca asks, "Are they dating?"

"No, they're just friends."

"But he kissed her. Like, not in a friend way."

"They hooked up a few times sophomore year. He's probably hoping to hook up with her again tonight. And knowing Cami, she'll do it. She's someone who's up for anything."

"How do you know? Did you date her?"

Shit. I shouldn't have said that but now I can't take it back.

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