Page 35 of Out of Bounds

Suddenly, he seemed to realize what audience he had and he swiveled back to look at me.

"Hey! The artist! Your boyfriend didn’t introduce us. Finally, a face to face meeting." Adam snagged my hand and shook it. "Adam Russell, linebacker. Jersey number forty-five. Sexiest player on the Marrs football team. Bar none."

"That’s not your name," Zariah sang from the back.

"Adam." Ryan’s huge hand shifted over and pushed him away, keeping him off the car.

I knew the two of them were close. I’d seen them talking to each other, and I’d witnessed first-hand the way Adam had slunghis arm around Ryan’s shoulder. But there was something else under Ryan’s voice, something I couldn’t catch.

A warning?

"Remember what we talked about in the car," Ryan said. "And step away. You’re too close. You need to be more careful."

"Marrs Manwhore!" Zariah burst out, and I suddenly realized where I’d seen Adam from.

That nickname was damn accurate too. Adam was pretty and a whole lot of trouble. I’m sure he had girls praying for their birth control routines.

The cocky grin was gone though. A nervous smile took its place.

"Marrs Manwhore! Marrs Manwhore! Marrs Manwhore!" Zariah chanted from the back.

Ryan passed his phone to me. "Type in your place."

"Put on the Marrs Manwhore video!" Zariah giggled.

"Oh, please." I rolled my eyes. "We’ve all seen that. No need."

Adam was suddenly close to our car again, trying to ask about some practice thing, some football question. Ryan answered as best as he could, and leaned in close to me, to be heard above Zariah’s babble.

"Marrs Manwhore?" It was funny hearing the term from his deep, husky voice, but it was even funnier when Ryan hesitated with his next question. "Is it…me? From the photo?"

"You?" I bit back a smile. "No. Luckily, you haven’t been gifted with that title yet."

Adam shook his head. "There’s no Marrs Manwhore. It’s a joke!"

"The dorm video," I chuckled, waiting for Ryan to laugh too, but he stared back, confused.

Does he seriously not know?

There was no way. Everybody knew.

It took me a moment to sober up enough to remember exactly who I was talking to. I was in a fake relationship with a man who refused to learn what copy and paste meant, even to fill out the online memory packet. I’d shown him what the tab key could do, and he’d been impressed. If anybody didn’t know about the video, it was Ryan.

"I’ve got it from a math group chat," Zariah said and those familiar shaky thirty seconds flashed up. "I showed it toeveryoneat the coffee shop."

"Ryan, captain." Adam tried to get in the action. "You’ve got to get them dropped off. They’re shitfaced!"

Why was he making such a big deal about it?

Anybody can sleep with anybody, no judgment, but the whole story behind it was crazy. As clear as day, you could hear the two juniors screaming at each other in the Fairfield Village dorms, and there was Adam, hanging precariously by his fingernails on the windowsill. Apparently, the two of them were sisters and one of them had the misfortune to walk in on the Marrs Manwhore screwing with her sister inherdorm room after she’d left for the weekend.

What a way to find out. Especially at six in the morning. People shouted from the sidewalk and Adam just managed to stumble onto the landing, scurrying by in his boxers.

Ryan stared, transfixed. I could’ve sworn I saw his eyebrow twitch. His voice was deadly quiet. "Who’s in this video?"

Backing away from the car, Adam shook his head. "Captain—"

"Look out the car!" Zariah snickered.

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