Page 63 of Hate the Game
Ryder grunted and held me tighter. It was oddly the perfect thing. Maybe it was all fake but when he held me like that, I felt like I had a place in the world.
“I don’t know your brothers but I’m assuming that they have pretty good heads on their shoulders since they basically raised you and you turned out okay.” Cole grinned and interlaced our fingers. “Better than okay but whatever.”
“And…you could always stay at USC.” Looking at me with an unreadable expression on his face, Jax shrugged like what he was saying wasn’t huge to me. “It’s not Texas but it could be home for a while. As long as you needed it to be.”
I was going to cry. I blinked up at the night sky and fanned my eyes. “Oh, god. I am not crying. I refuse. Keep it together, Savannah. Shit.”
Thankfully another rowdy teenager was being hacked at on the screen so I used the shrieking sound to cover my sniffles. By the time the body was lying in a pool of movie blood I was in control again.
Cole and Jax took my hands in theirs again and they let me sit there and process everything without interjecting with anything more than a comment or two about the killer in the movie. By the time the ending credits rolled I’d come to the conclusion that I needed to find a way out of the article. Maybe nothing would happen with them but I couldn’t destroy their reputations. Not when I’d felt how kind they could be.
Speaking of how kind they could be. “Do you think I could visit Sunny again, Ry?”
He helped me out of the truck bed and I could’ve sworn he sniffed my hair when he put me down. When I looked up, though, he was looking away. “Yeah. Pretty sure he’d like that.”
The ride back to campus was too short and I wasn’t done hanging out with the guys yet. I was so lost in my feelings that I wasn’t even considering keeping some safe distance between us anymore. That had to be why I opened my mouth and offered to let them sleep in my room when they saw theirs. That, or else I’d gone insane.
Ryder shuddered when they opened their door and a pair of glitter covered panties fell to the floor at his feet. “Nope. I’m not going in there. Tell them to clean it up. I’m going to tiptoe into my room to grab what I absolutely need and then I’m going to curl up like a stray on your floor, Sav.”
I giggled at the idea of him tiptoeing. “I’m going to get dressed for bed first but I’ll open the door when I’m finished and y’allcan come in. Lucky for y’all, I travel heavy with blankets and pillows.”
Of course, by get dressed for bed I meant panic and try on three different pajama options until I settled for one of Weston’s t-shirts and a pair of lacy pajama shorts. I wanted to be cute without looking like I was trying too hard.
As I dragged my extra blankets and pillows out I chastised myself. I’d just invited the three of them to stay in my small room like it was nothing. Each of them had given me an orgasm and they were going to be sleeping in my room at the same time. What the hell was wrong with me?
They were waiting outside when I opened my door and I nearly screamed from surprise and then from sexual frustration. They were all shirtless, in low-slung pajama bottoms or shorts. There was so much muscle on display that I had to lean in the doorway while I caught my breath.
“You good, Sav?” Cole’s smirk said he knew exactly how good I was.
“Um, yep.” I awkwardly held up my face wash and toothbrush. “Just have to run to the bathroom… Um… Y’all can just make yourself comfortable.”
I eased between them, a task made harder by them puffing out their chests like a bunch of peacocks. Grunting like Ryder, I practically ran to the bathroom. I wasn’t sure if I was rushing to get back to them or if I was punishing myself for suggesting they sleep in my room, but I washed my face like I hated it. It was bright red when I dried it off and reached for my toothbrush.
I’d just realized I hadn’t brought toothpaste when Cole came in and wagged it at me. I took it with shaking hands and put too much on my toothbrush. Cole said nothing and took it back to use some for himself. We stood there next to each other, brushing our teeth while watching each other in the mirror. Itfelt so…domestic. I knew I was glowing even brighter but there was no helping it, not when he watched me so closely.
Cole bent to spit and rinse his mouth and I quickly did the same. He was smiling at me as I straightened, his deep brown eyes crinkled with mischief. “This is where a lesser gentleman would make a joke about spitting.”
***Savannah***
Isplashed water in Cole’s face and giggled as he ducked down and tossed me over his shoulder. Hanging upside down with his hand over my ass, I panicked for a moment, thinking he was going to drop me because I was too heavy. I stiffened and tried to reach for something to hold onto. “Cole! I’m too heavy!”
He slapped my ass. I didn’t know what the hell was with them and their spanking tendencies. “That’s insulting. To both of us.”
“I’m going to make you sleep in your own room.”
He put me down fast, so fast that my head spun and I had to reach out to him to stabilize myself. If my hands happened to caress his solid chest as I did, that wasn’t my fault. I was still unsteady when he lowered his face and kissed me. It was over before it really got started but the way he looked at me afterwards made the baby hairs at the base of my neck stand on end. The pure lust on his face was so intense that I had to force myself to swallow the drool pooling in my mouth over it.
I licked my lips, searching for his flavor, and he growled. His hand went to my waist and squeezed before nodding at me to leave ahead of him. “Go.”
As silly as it was, I got my feelings hurt. He’d never spoken to me with such a harsh tone and even though he’d kissed me I worried that I’d mistaken his actions. Maybe he knew I’d slept with Ryder and hated me. Maybe he-
“Savannah.”
I swallowed my hurt feelings and forced a smile. “Sorry. I’m going.”
“I didn’t-” Whatever he was going to say was cut short by the bathroom door crashing open behind me and then by the hysterical laughter of several drunk girls. Of course he got mobbed as soon as they saw him.
I didn’t stick around. I let myself into my room and jumped when Cole was right behind me, an unhappy look on his face. I was surprised that he hadn’t stayed with the other girls. I was surprised that I cared so much that he hadn’t.
