Page 7 of Resist Me

“Sit,” Kai commanded without looking at me.

Reluctantly, I sat on the edge of his bed. He ran both hands through his hair, then returned them to his sides. When he finally turned those dark green eyes on me, I raised my chin.

“You can’t keep doing things like this.”

“It was just a quick trip,” I argued.

“It doesn’t matter. Not only could campus security stop you, but there are cops that roll through here too. We’re in the city, West. They’re everywhere.”

“If I don’t break any laws, it’s fine.”

“That’s not the point. Your license is suspended, which means you can’t drive. That’s all there is to it.”

My jaw worked as I listened to him. I loved Kai and it was impossible to deny that he usually made good points. Clearly, I was in the wrong, but it didn’t seem like that big of a deal.

“Nothing bad happened.”

“You’re being reckless,” he exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. “Trying to start fights with Lincoln constantly, getting shitfaced on Halloween, leaving practice today, taking the car. What the hell is going on with you?”

“I’m a problem child. You know this.”

His eyes flashed with more anger than I’d seen from him in a while. Usually, it wasn’t directed at me and when it was, I had a hard time not meeting him in that place. I had a reactive side, which I could control well enough. Ever since I got here, though, it’d been harder.

“Look,” he sighed. He sat beside me on the bed and put a hand on my shoulder. “A lot is going on. College is harder than high school and the team is more demanding. I get that, but you have to get it together, West. Willow is coming here in two weeks. I can’t take care of both of you.”

“You don’t have to take care of either of us,” I snapped. “We’re not children.”

“You know that’s not… West, where are you going?”

I flung the door open and hung a left down the hallway. The last thing I needed right now was to be treated like a kid. Sure, I took the car and I’d been temperamental. That didn’t mean that Kai needed to babysit me. Willow… Well, she was mine to deal with. My sister, my responsibility, my fault if you were to ask my dad.

I had nothing better to do, so I plopped onto my bed and started scrolling through more online stores. If the only thing I had was an adequately furnished, roach-infested apartment, then I guess I’d take it.

Chapter 3

Lincoln

“What the hell do you mean you can’t play in the final game?”

Staring at coach, I offered him an unhelpful shrug. “Sorry. Fucked up my ankle pretty bad.”

“You…”

He was clearly fuming, ready to expel steam from his ears like a cartoon character. If I didn’t have a doctor’s note- easily faked- he probably would’ve tried to force me to play. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to, but I didn’t need one last hurrah. Losing out on it didn’t bother me all that much.

“Put in your new quarterback,” I suggested. “Let him prove his worth.”

“Fine, since you’re giving me no choice. Come on, Linc. Tripping over a curb. Really?”

“Agility doesn’t always transfer out of the field, coach. I’m sure Densmore will do great.”

“If he can throw better than he has at practice all week. You may not be playing tomorrow, but you’re working with him today. Make sure he’s ready.”

I smiled at him before I turned around and headed to the middle of the field. There was a chance we’d win tomorrow, but something was fucking up West’s game lately. If his head wasn’t in it, all the coaching in the world wouldn’t help him. And when he realized that natural talent wouldn’t carry him, he’d come tumbling off that high horse.

Sure, I’d work with West. It wouldn’t do him much good unless he could learn how to actually be the quarterback. West didn’t work well with others all the time. He liked to claim the spotlight and while a lot of the guys liked him, not all of them did, which he took personal offense to. What he didn’t realize was that it wasn’t about being liked. He needed to lead the team and he could do that through respect and showing them that he was capable. Even the guys who didn’t particularly care for me didn’t question what I did on the field.

If we lost the game, I wouldn’t be happy, but I wasn’t a competitive person at heart. I worked for the wins throughout my years at Harmon but ultimately, this game didn’t matter. My future didn’t rely on football, but West’s did. He wanted to keep playing after college, which meant he needed to to learn the lessons the rest of us had over the years. Since he wouldn’t take anything I said to heart, he’d have to do that the hard way and I didn’t have an interest in being put in the game if he couldn’t figure his shit out.

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