Page 15 of Resist Me

Lincoln

Staring down at the bottle in my hand, I second-guessed bringing it to him. Third-guessed, actually. Drinking to drown the pain, both emotional and physical, was never a good move, but who was I to talk? If he wanted to get into that habit, he could go right ahead.

As I walked into Marshall Hall, I grimaced. It smelled like dudes in here. My frat house wasn’t much better a lot of the time but in general, it was kept clean. If you ventured into one of the guys’ rooms, it was a different story.

I shuddered at the thought. It was physically impossible for me to live like that. Most of the time, I couldn’t even wait until the trash was full to take it out. I was sensitive to smells and hated when things were a mess. It would gnaw at me like it was consuming my skin until I took care of it. Aside from the solitude, it was one of the reasons I had my own apartment.

Living in a dorm sounded like a nightmare. I didn’t even like being here for a few minutes.

West sent me a single text with his dorm number earlier, so I walked through the hall, which was blessedly empty, and scanned thelabels. When I reached the right one, I hesitated. I wasn’t sure why, but I struggled to knock on that door.

Shaking my head, I rapped on it three times. There was a high-pitched giggle from inside, followed by West’s laugh. The thought of what he was getting up to made my nose wrinkle. He was injured pretty badly, but he chose to get drunk and hook up.

Maybe it wasn’t a hookup. I had no idea if West was dating anybody. He brushed off the cheerleaders and other fans who tried to hit on him. The only person I’d seen him be remotely romantic with was Kai, but they just had a weird bromance. Really weird. West kissed him at the beginning of the season to ward off Kasey’s advances.

The door opened, revealing a shirtless West with his pants unbuttoned. He leaned his arm against the doorframe and unabashedly let his eyes travel the length of my body.

“Lincoln,” he purred. “I take it you have my product.”

When I raised a brow, he burst into laughter. My gaze moved over his shoulder. One of the cheerleaders, Jessi, was lounging on the bed in only her bra and underwear. She flashed me a smile, which I answered with a scowl.

“Here.” I held the bottle out to him impatiently.

He swiped it and examined the thing as if he needed to make sure it was legit.

“You’re not gonna turn me in for buying alcohol for a child, right?” I joked.

Shrugging his mouth, he met my eyes. “I hadn’t thought about it until now.” When I pursed my lips, he laughed. “Kidding. I hate your existence, but I’m not gonna sabotage you like an asshole.”

I looked at his side where he’d been hit by Drake. The skin was darkening across a concerningly large area and I imagined it hurt like hell. From the smell of weed in his room, I assumed he’d already started to self-medicate.

“Well, have fun with that,” I said before I turned around. He caught my arm and I resisted the urge to shake him off.

“Thanks.”

I looked at him, unable to hide my surprise. “It’s nothing.”

“I have manners and shit, Linc.”

“Right, I’m sure you do.”

Jessi appeared in the doorway and bit her lip. “So, is Linc joining us?”

For the love of god, I hoped somebody came along and killed me.

“No,” I replied immediately.

She jutted out her lip. “But we’re celebrating.”

“Let’s just say you aren’t my type.”

“Oh my god. I heard you were into guys. That sucks.”

West’s lighthearted demeanor had shifted into something akin to annoyance. “Why would you say something like that?”

“Cause he’s in the top five guys we’d sleep with on the team. Have you ever tried it, Linc?”

“The cheerleaders vote on fuckability?” West asked, ignoring the question directed at me.

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