Page 36 of Out of Bounds

"Ryan, no, it’s—it’s not what it looks like—"

"When was thistaken?" Ryan whispered. But if he was looking for an answer, he must’ve already figured it out. "What thehellis this? You’ve got to befuckingshitting me. Sleptin?"

With a shove, his car door flew open, and there Ryan went, lumbering on the grass. Adam had a trail of apologies but Ryan didn’t hear them.

"SLEPTIN?!"

He was one pissed-off grizzly and everybody on the front porch stopped their shenanigans to watch.

"Marrs Manwhore, Marrs Manwhore, Marrs Manwhore—"

"Would you shut up?" I hissed at Zariah and the car fell silent.

14

Kassie

Corporate Paperwork

The only sound outside was Ryan yelling at Adam. I couldn’t catch everything. Something about Cleo, public apologies, and a photoshoot. Maybe that was football code? Either way, when Ryan reappeared and slammed his car door behind him, I didn’t envy his teammate in the slightest.

Zariah waved at a flabbergasted Adam, and we took our exit. Anger pulsed off of Ryan from one street to the next. His foot didn’t let up on the accelerator as trees whipped past.

Our apartment should’ve taken a twenty-minute drive. It took twelve.

"Thank you, speed racer!" Zariah stumbled out of the car.

I started to get out of the car but a ton of her girlfriends loitering outside instantly jumped in. My roommate was always more social than I was. While I had to clock in seventy hoursat work, she’d actually been experiencing college the way it was supposed to be. The girls waved at me, swooping in from either side to help her up the steps.

For a moment, I gathered up my stuff to leave, but I hesitated.

Ryan sat in the driver’s seat, gripping the steering wheel. He stared out into the empty darkness beyond the windshield.

"Hey?" I asked. "Speed racer?"

He didn’t say anything.

The quarterback was an adult. If he had something going on with his teammates, that clearly didn’t involve me. He was team captain. But, even if he was, this was also the same guy who just pummeled a frat boy into the dirt for smacking my ass.

I slipped my phone into my pocket. "Are you okay?"

With a low voice, Ryan remained absolutely still. "Go inside, Kassie."

"Are you heading back to the party?"

His fingers flexed against the steering wheel. "No."

I took one last look out the window. I should’ve gone to bed. But I’d seen a lot of Ryans. I’d witnessed plenty of them in action and I’d never seen the one in the driver’s seat.

The guy aggravated me—sure—but aggravated suddenly seemed like a pretty insignificant word.

It wasn’t just that he was angry…it was like…he was hurt. Ryan had a big metaphorical arrow sticking out of his neck. It felt weird to skip up my apartment’s steps and just wave goodbye. It didn’t feel right.

"You sure you’re okay?"

"I’m fine."

Sure. And I had a shot at joining the Marrs football team. I drummed my fingers against the seatbelt. "What’d we got for tomorrow?"

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