Page 10 of Refusing Kendall

Icouldbe completely honest and tell him that I’m fucking paranoid over just about everything, and that I miss them more than I should, but I don’t. Instead I mirror his response, “Better now. Even though, I’ve been in here so long that I’m turning into a wrinkled, old prune.” I watch his head tilt back as a laugh escapes. Just watching him makes me wish he was here. I’d love to lick from his naked collarbone all the way up to the five o’clock shadow that he’s sporting.

“I wish you guys were here right now,” I tell him after his chuckle stops.

He gives me a sad smile, “Us too, babe. Just keep in mind that this isn’t forever. It’s just for now.”

“Yeah, I know,” I concede, trying to remain optimistic. It’s become my daily mantra. A deep voice rumbles across the line, and even though I can’t understand what is said, I know that it’s Mav.

Goose tosses a look over his shoulder before turning back to me, “I’m going to hand you over to Mav, babe. That way you can get your cute, pruney ass out of the tub.”

“A pruney ass isn’t cute,” I tease, trying to get him to laugh again.

He doesn’t disappoint when he chuckles, “Your ass is cute either way.”

I roll my eyes at him and smile, “I love you, Grant.”

His face turns soft, and his voice goes a little deeper, “I love you, babe.”

There’s some rustling on their end as the screen moves again, and Teagan takes back over, “Now, here we have Mav in his natural habitat.” He flips the phone around, and I’m gifted with the sight of Mav lying on his bed in nothing but a pair of sweatpants with their college logo on the side. There’s a book sitting on his chest like he just dropped it there.

“Shut up and give me the phone, T” he growls.

I laugh as Teagan hands it over and says, “Fine, fine.”

Mav’s face fills up the screen, and my ears feel like they’re stuffed with cotton for a second as my cheeks turn pink. That sexy fucking eyebrow goes up as a smile overtakes his face, “You are certainly a sight for sore eyes after today.”

His deep voice strikes a chord in me. “Did you have a rough day?” I ask.

He does a half shrug, “Like Goose said, same shit. Practice went two hours over. Some asshole decided to have a kegger in their room and got busted. So coach thought it was best to punish the whole team for it.”

“Ouch,” I sympathize.

His laugh is humorless, “Yeah, that’s what he’ll be saying tomorrow when some of the upperclassmen get done with him.”

“Well, at least there’s no practice tomorrow,” I remind him.

“Yeah,” he says, “We’re ready to spend some time at home with you, too. What did you do today?”

I give him a short run down of my day, though edit the parts where I sound like a complete psycho. Just thinking about my weird ass paranoia makes me cringe internally. I’d rather not slip up and say something about it, so I quickly change the subject, “So, if you guys had to practice two hours over for a party, what would happen if you snuck a girl into your rooms?”

Mav hides the shock on his face fairly quickly, but Lucas’ snicker comes over the line.

Teagan’s head pops up beside Mav’s, “I’ll gladly accept whatever punishment coach wants to dish out if you’ll bring your pretty ass over here.”

“I’m beginning to think that you guys have an obsession with my ass,” I laugh.

They both smile back at me as Teagan answers, “Damn right we do.”

Goose’s voice echoes back to me, “I agree with, T. It’d be worth it.”

Mav is shaking his head before Goose is even finished speaking, “As much as I agree that it would be worth it, I don’t want you making the trip over here so late.”

“I figured you’d say that,” I tell him. “I wouldn’t want to see a pruney ass either.”

He knows that I’m joking, but his groan comes out more like a growl, “It has nothing to do with your water wrinkled ass, and you damn well know it. You’re fucking sexy. Old lady ass and all.”

I’m not the only one laughing now. The other three in the room with him are cracking up too, but that doesn’t faze him, “Laugh, but you know it’s true. I just don’t want you making the trip over here so late, because for one, anything could happen. For two, we’ve all got early classes in the morning. Unless your name is Teagan Morgan, I happen to know for a fact that you’ll be grumpy as fuck and want to sleep in, which in turn will mean missing class.”

“Party pooper,” I pout at him.

---