Page 21 of Flagrant Foul
When he spoke, his breath landed on my lips with a soft puff of warmth. The palms of my hands tingled and something sweet swam up my arms. I tasted it on the tip of my tongue.
I reeled in confusion.
Something was very wrong.
“Are youdrunk?” I asked, taking Teddy by the shoulders and holding him steady as I took a step back to examine him.
“Course I’m drunk.” A tiny spark of belligerence flashed in his eyes. “I’m out in the city, Sev. I’m having fun.”
“B-but you’re…” Shit. How old was he? How long had it been since I’d seen him? Months. It had been months. Wait. Could it really have been almost a year? I’d gone pro the previous year and had just finished my rookie season playing for the Dogs. All the travel and pressure had scrambled my brain and made time a hard concept to follow “…in high school.”
The spark of belligerence took hold and caught flame. A pair of pouty lips pressed together. “I’mnotin high school. I graduated in May.”
I gaped in disbelief.
Did he think that made it any better?
“You’re only eighteen!” I hissed. “What are you doing in a nightclub off your face? How drunk are you? How much have you had to drink tonight? Tell me right now. I’m not kidding. Did you eat anything before you came out?”
Glasses cowered visibly from my outburst, raising his shoulders and moving to shield half his body behind Teddy’s. He offered me a smile that was more teeth than lips. I noticed his eyes were a little unfocused as he lookedat Teddy for guidance on how to handle me. Outrage skyrocketed.
“Are you high?I swear to God, you better not be high or I’m calling Na—”
“We’re not high, Sev the Werewolf,” squeaked Glasses, shaking his head from side to side emphatically. It did nothing to make him look sober. “I promise. We don’t do drugs. Tee’s on a full ride, so he can’t…”
I exhaled in relief. I believed him. Something about his demeanor set me at ease. Drugs weren’t at play, and thank God for that, but I still had questions and lots of them.
“Teddy,” I placed my hands on my hips to let him know that I was done with his antics and that this time I expected a satisfactory answer. “I’m serious. What are you doing here?”
Normal people would’ve cowered like Glasses did, but Teddy isn’t like other people. He tilted his head back and somehow managed to look at me down his nose despite our height difference.
“I’m doing the same thing everyone’s doing, Sev.” He waved a hand around lavishly at the men around us. When that didn’t bring me the clarity he was hoping for, he clarified, “Trying to get laid.”
The shock wave hit me so hard that a sonic boom went off in my head. The shock turned hot and began to vibrate against my skull. It was something that had happened to me before. Not often, but the feeling wasn’t completely unknown, so I recognized it.
The music faded to nothing.
Everything slowed.
My blood pressure spiked and my vision tunneled until the only thing I could see clearly was Teddy.
He was half-naked and surrounded by men. Men who were horny and much older than him. I scanned the room and saw danger everywhere. Faces. Teeth. Dark eyes slick with arousal. Men were looking at him. Their gazes stuttered when they landed on him, pausing and dripping off him like thick, sticky grease. They were close to him. Too close. Close enough to touch him.
Boom.
Another wave hit me, and a tinge of red mist colored the periphery around Teddy. My hands clenched and I felt my pulse in my face.
A man bumped into Teddy. Accidentally? On purpose? I couldn’t tell. The force of the impact jostled Teddy to the side, causing him to reach out to me to steady himself. The man had oily eyes that glinted with lecherous intent. He put his hand on Teddy’s hip,unnecessarily, and smiled, also unnecessarily, as he apologized. It was a smile that tasted like sweat that had gone cold.
Boom.
Boom.
BOOM.
Wave after wave crashed into me.
It was the bad rage. The old rage that takes me over. A seismic fury that powers me and leaves me weak afterward, sated and calm, but unclear about what happened.
