Page 10 of The Study Session

I hop off the bed and get dressed, saying goodbye to her shortly after. I know she probably wishes I could stay around and cuddle, but I have football practice. As much as I would love to spend the day with her, fucking her senseless, I can't ignore my responsibilities. Though she makes that hard.

It's late morning by the time I leave, and the cool morning air is refreshing against my skin. I focus on what's important. Getting to football practice and getting through it without another incident like last time. In fact, I should probably apologize to Gerard for acting out. If I want to fit in, I'll have to anyway.

My thoughts are interrupted as I catch the reflection of a tan El Camino in a dorm window behind me. My blood runs cold at the thought of it being Adrian's car. I know he's pissed at me, but would he really come here right now? He has his own responsibilities back home, so certainly following me around wouldn't be a smart use of his time. But then again, Adrian has never exactly been smart.

I don't look back because that would be admitting weakness. Instead, even though a part of me thinks I'm just being paranoid, I continue moving forward and ignore it. What's Adrian going to do anyway? Jump me?

No, I'm safe to ignore him for now. But sooner or later, I'll have to answer the call.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Around here, Friday night is for football. Before meeting Jax, I never actually cared about what happened at the games. I was obligated to go because I'm in the band, but other than my dutiful performance during the halftime show, I would normally sit under the bleachers with everyone else and play card games. Even after Rowen started dating Sawyer, I stayed as far away from the sport as I could.

But that's different now. I want to see how Jax performs. So Rowen and I are the only band members still sitting on the sidelines and cheering as the game goes on. Jax is incredible.

I knew he must have been a talented player because of the situation for him being here to begin with. He was transferred midsemester, which is highly unusual at any college. Not to mention, he was given a prestigious scholarship that basically gives him a free ride here. When I first heard about that, I thought it was undeserved, and I was angry. But seeing him now and how hard he must train every day to be as incredible as he is, I get it.

“Run, Jax!” I find myself shouting, my vocal cords trembling in my throat at how loud I'm being. Rowen is next to me and laughing at how excited I am for the game.

“I take it things have changed between the two of you,” Rowen suggests as Jax tosses the ball across the field to Talon. “I've never seen you this into a game before. Usually, you're counting down the minutes until we can leave.”

I haven't seen her since Jax and I slept together, and it's not something I wanted to tell her over text message. It's a big deal to me, and I wanted to wait for the right moment. But now, with her asking me about this, and how my face turns the same shade of red as a tomato, she knows.

“Oh my God,” Rowen says, running her fingers through her hair and staring at me with an awestruck smile. “How was it?”

“It was good,” I say in a low voice, making sure none of the other screaming fans can hear us. “I can't stop thinking about it either. Abouthim.”

Rowen starts going on and on about how I need to come over to the house with Jax so I can hang out with the couples there. She and Sawyer live with Talon and his girlfriend, Merit, right now. I consider giving her some broad answer to placate her, knowing that Jax might not be as interested in that as they are. But before I can even try, my bladder demands I go to the bathroom. It's almost halftime, and I don't want to wait until after to stand in the obscene line for a stall.

“I have to pee,” I tell Rowen before walking toward the bathroom.

I head to the bathroom and promptly do my business, ready to run back toward the field for the halftime performance beginning any minute. After washing my hands, I leave only to see three men standing in the doorway. I freeze, my blood running cold.

I recognize the one standing in the center as the guy Jax walked away with after practice a few days ago. He smirks at me, raising an eyebrow as he slowly crosses his arms in front of him. His brown eyes turn black, like he is staring at the epitome ofevil in front of him. A bitter taste fills my mouth, and I want to scream for help.

Before either of us says anything, he grabs my arm and drags me away from the bathroom door. I fight back against him, trying to yank my arm away, but the others all hold me and pull me behind the building. When I'm there, they slam me up against the wall, forcing me to bang my head on the cold stone behind me.

“So you're the reason Jax can't be bothered to return my calls, huh?” he says, practically spitting at me through his rage.

I remember being around Jax and watching him look at his phone and silencing whoever it was calling him. He always told me not to worry about it, ensuring me it wasn't anything important. Now that this guy is towering over me, his face scrunched into a furious grimace, I'm not so sure I believe that.

“I don't know what you're talking about,” I say, shaking my head and unintentionally cowering in front of him. He's big. Bigger than Jax and almost everyone else on our football team. This guy's arms are as thick as a watermelon, and if he wanted to he could reach out and wrap them around my neck to strangle me. By the look in his eyes, I fear he wants that.

“Your boyfriend thinks he's better than us now,” he says, inhaling sharply before spitting on the ground near my feet. “He's got his new fancy friends, and his posh little fuck toy now he can’t be bothered to help a friend in need.”

His friends behind him snicker and glare at me. My skin crawls as their eyes move from my face down my body, looking at me in my band uniform as if I'm some kind of object to be ogled. I can't help but wonder what they’ll do to me. It brings me back to the bedroom with Jax and how he told me he wanted me to fight against him. I wasn't scared of him then. I trusted him. But these guys are painting a bad picture in my head.

“Tell your little boyfriend that he can't just leave town and turn his back on the people who gave a shit about him. It's not that easy,” the man in front of me, who I assume is the ringleader of their little group, shouts. “If he thinks he can just forget about us and all the shit we did to back him up when he needed us, he's got another thing coming. Let him know I'm going to remind him of where he comes from.”

He backs away from me for a moment, still watching me closely as the others keep their eyes glued to me. Before I know what's happening, his hands are on my shoulder, and I'm sliding from the wall and crashing to the ground. All of them laugh seeing me shoved to the ground, and I try to scramble away from them, not knowing what they're going to do next.

Thankfully, they walk away. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and watch the three of them leave before jumping to my feet and running back to the field.

Just when I get there, Rowen sees that something is wrong. She tries to ask me about it, but we're all signaled onto the field for our halftime performance. Everything else happens in a blur. We perform a rendition of our school's fight song and “Sweet Caroline” before we're ushered off the field. Rowen tries to follow me, but I ignore her, keeping my eyes glued to Jax on the field without saying a word.

As soon as the game is over and we're declared victorious, the players all disperse to their friends and family on the sidelines. Jax sees me and immediately makes his way over, a smile on his face with the taste of victory still on his lips.

He sweeps me up in his arms and goes in for a kiss, but I dodge out of the way. He lets me go and stares at me in surprise, clearly expecting me to be excited for him, especially after how I was screaming for him before.

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