Page 3 of Blood Sport

“Evie, your words wound me,” he says, clutching at his heart as if it were really wounded. “But that’s okay, I forgive you. I’m just glad to see you.”

“Roman, you’ve been stalking me for weeks now, so I’m not at all surprised that you found me here,” I say, gesturing around at the open lawn space where other students are relaxing in the shade as a reprieve from the blistering sun. “If you’re going to stalk me, at least be more subtle about it.”

“There’s no need for the attitude,” Roman grumbles, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jean shorts. I want to gag at the sight. No man should be wearing shorts like that, especially not fucking white jorts.

I stare at his face, looking at him dead in his chocolate brown eyes. His hair is shorter today as if he had taken a shaver to it recently, cropping the hair close to the scalp. When we first started dating a year ago, his blonde hair was longer, but in the last few months, he had decided that he no longer liked it long and wanted to keep it cropped.

Each to their own, I guess.

“I don’t have time for this, Roman, or you,” I grumble and stand to my feet, collecting my belongings, wanting to be anywhere but here with my ex-boyfriend. “I broke up with you for a reason, and you need to accept that and move on.”

“I don’t want to move on, Evie,” he pleads, following close behind as I begin walking away from the tree with no real destination in mind. “I can’t live without you.”

“You cheated on me,” I remind him flatly. “Maybe you should’ve thought about the repercussions of me finding out before you stuck your dick in that girl at the frat party. Or were you just hoping I wouldn’t find out?”

That is enough to shut him up for a minute while I gather myself. A few months ago, my friend, Jaycee, who had been at the fraternity party that night, kept an eye on Roman for me because I couldn’t attend since I had a lot of schoolwork to do at the time. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Roman, but I thought an extra pair of eyes on him wouldn’t hurt. He had a habit of… being flirty with other girls when I wasn’t around.

Turns out, I couldn’t trust him despite how long we had been together. My friend saw him walk upstairs with a random girl and they returned ten minutes later looking disheveled, the girl fixing her hair and make-up and Roman appearing smug. I don’t know why he was acting smug when he was only able to last less than ten minutes, but I digress.

Jaycee told me she overheard the girl bragging about sleeping with him and even hoped that I would find out.

What a waste of a fucking year.

“Evie, I—”

“I don’t want to fucking hear it,” I snap, whirling around to face him. His eyes widen as he stares down at me, stopping dead in his tracks. “Stop stalking me and move on. I’ve been trying to play nice when you don’t deserve it, but I’m at my breaking point. If you don’t fucking stop this, I’ll have no choice but to tell my brother.”

That threat is enough to make him take a step back.

“You wouldn’t.”

“Oh, I would,” I say, raising a brow as if to challenge him. “He knows we broke up but doesn’t know the real reason. If you want to stay on the soccer team, it’s in your best interest to leave me the hell alone.”

Roman frowns, his unkept eyebrows pulling together. “Now that’s just fucking cruel, Ev. There is no need for that.”

I raise a brow at him as if encouraging him to challenge me. “Then don’t fuck with me anymore.”

He scoffs and shakes his head. The evil glimmer in his dark eyes is disturbing, to say the least. “You don’t know what I’m capable of, Evie. But you’ll soon find out.”

I wave off his threat, not believing a single word he says. “Okay, whatever. Just get the fuck out of my face.”

Roman stares me down for a moment, his eyes unblinking, before he turns and walks away.

That is all I need for me to turn on my heels and begin walking back to the sorority house, my half-eaten avocado toast in my hand, and my iced coffee in the other. I’m in desperate need of a nap before my online class later this afternoon.

I have barely taken a few steps when I feel an intense gaze on the side of my face, rooting me to the floor. I know it’s not Roman because he has already walked away.

No, this is a different gaze entirely, one that has kept me awake multiple nights.

I turn to my right and instantly lock eyes with baby-blue irises that are partially hidden behind locks of curly brown hair. Despite this, their intensity is just as strong as his eyes bore into mine. I swallow hard, unable to tear my gaze away from him.

Holy fuck, this man really is something.

I manage to take in the rest of him as he leans against the side of a nearby building, biting into a bright red apple. His free hand is shoved into the pocket of his black jeans as he chews on the contents of the apple, the veins in his right arm popping under the ink swirling across his skin. The metal ring in his lip catches the sunlight just as the corner of his mouth turns up into a smirk.

The sight alone is enough to make my thighs clench together, my core tightening.

I don’t know how, but I manage to tear my eyes away from him—despite how desperately I wanted to continue watching him eat that apple, making the simple action appear sexier than it should—and continue to walk back to the sorority house.

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