Page 99 of Necessary Roughness
“Don’t do that,” he warned. “Don’t get my hopes up aboutDie Hard 2if you’re only joking.”
“Am I joking?” I wondered out loud while turning on the TV. “If I wasn’t serious, would I have the movie already rented and queued up on Amazon Prime?”
I pressed play, and the20th Century Foxlogo appeared on the screen.
“This is the best thing that’s happened to me today,” Logan said, kissing me on the forehead. “And I say that as someone who just came in your ass. I’m making popcorn!”
I glanced at Roman in the recliner, and he gave me a private little smirk before turning his attention to the movie. I’m glad we were waiting before deciding whether to include him in everything, taking a breather while we processed everything that had happened.
But deep down, I had already made my decision.
Now I just needed to wait until Roman made his.
43
Sloane
The road game on Saturday was against Gulf Atlantic Christian College, a small school five hours away. Since the game was scheduled to begin at noon, my boyfriends and the rest of the Westview College football team were driving up on Friday and staying in a hotel. I said my goodbyes to them in the morning before running out the door to class, giving Knox and Logan long hugs and a kiss, while Roman only extended his fist toward me.
“Good luck,” I said, bumping mine against his.
He looked like he wanted to say more to me, but then grabbed his bag and strode away with the others.
The twins and I got pizza together on Friday night, then boarded one of the student buses early Saturday morning to make the trip to Gulf Atlantic Christian College. I had plenty of chances to update Jayden and Bryson on my love life, to tell them how I had fearlessly invited the massive linebacker into my bed. I held my tongue, though. As our bus drove along the highway, I wasn’t sure what stopped me from sharing this juicy new gossip. Sleeping with three football players wasn’t much worse than sleeping with two.
But itfeltdifferent.
After considering it during the drive to the game, I decided it was because I still didn’t know if Roman was a permanent addition to our sexy club, or if he had only been making a cameo on Thursday night. Once I knew where we stood, I would tell my best friends.
Jayden was going to lose his shit.
Gulf Atlantic Christian College played in a small stadium that looked like it was better suited for a high school. The students that had made the trip from Westview filled two entire sections at one end of the field, just behind the end zone. The rest of the stadium wasn’t full; there were empty clusters of seats everywhere we looked.
“We lost to them last year,” Bryson explained to me after the kickoff. “It was a huge upset. Even when they have a terrible team, they always play well against us.”
“Shush your face,” Jayden whined. “Only positive thoughts today.”
Whether or not Jayden’s positive thoughts had an effect on the game was unclear, but the Westview Wildcats dominated the game from the moment the game began. On the very first play, the Gulf Atlantic quarterback dropped back with the ball, looking far down field to throw a long pass. But before he could, Roman came charging toward him with his arms spread wide, sacking the quarterback and knocking the ball loose. One of our players fell on the ball, resulting in a recovered fumble.
Our student section wentnuts.
That play was only the beginning. Our defense smothered the other team, led by an invigorated Roman Langford. The massive linebacker was surprisingly quick on his feet, spinning around some opponents and bulling through others. He was normally reserved on the field, calmly jogging back to the sidelines aftermaking a big play, but today he showed a lot more emotion. After sacking the quarterback for thefifth time, he leaned back and roared at the sky while pounding on his chest.
“I don’t know what’s gotten into him,” Jayden said, “but I want some.”
“About time he broke through his slump,” Bryson said, more relieved than happy. “We’ve needed him to step up. Especially if we’re going to win the conference championship in two weeks.”
On the long bus ride home, I wondered if his breakout performance was because of me. It was an arrogant thought. A million factors went into a player’s performance on the football field, and inviting Roman into my sex life surely was not responsible for the way he destroyed the other team today.
But it didn’t hurt anything for me to think so.
I took a nap when I got home, then tidied up around the house while waiting for my roommates to return. The three guys had a chore list on the fridge, which they split amongst themselves and didn’t ask anything of me since I didn’tofficiallylive here, but I needed to do something with my hands to kill some time while waiting for them. Besides, it made me feel like I was contributing to the house in a way thatdidn’tinvolve letting them stick their dicks in my various holes.
“I’m not just a sex toy,” I hummed to myself while unloading the dishwasher. “I’m a sex toy who’suseful.”
Logan and Knox came walking through the door not long after that, laughing to themselves about something related to the game. I cheerfully skipped across the living room and greeted them with hugs and words of congratulations.
“We’re trying to decide which party to go to tonight,” Knox explained. “We’ve gotten about a dozen invites. The entire campus is electric after today’s win.”
