Page 74 of Hate the Game
The photographer, an older man named Bill with a wandering eye and two too many hands, if you asked me, kept leaning over and whispering to me about Marla and Coach, like we were best buddies sharing jokes. He did it with his eyes on my tits each time, though, and he touched me constantly. It wasn’t anything overt but it was nonstop. Each time I got a little farther away from him he found a reason to have me come closer. As if I was his assistant.
My brain was being stretched in so many different directions. The main issue was that I could feel The Apex Three staring me down. I’d made sure not to make eye contact with any of thembut I was starting to believe that their nickname came from the eerily calm way they watched me, like they were hunting a stupid little rabbit. I was so tense that I felt like I would snap at any moment and shatter into a million pieces.
“Motherfucker.” Marla stomped across the field, her heels sinking in the turf. She was headed straight for Coach Carrington, but I felt no desire to stop her or protect him. Besides, that was where the guys were. “We need to talk, you self-righteous sonofabitch.”
Bill leaned over and rested his hand on my shoulder. His fingertips rested on the bare skin under my collarbone and made me shudder with unease. “She’s a feisty one, isn’t she?”
I leaned away from him as subtly as I could. If he was just an overly touchy but innocent old man I didn’t want to make a big deal out anything. “Seems like it.”
Bill grinned at me and pointed his camera in my direction. “What do you say? Want to model for me, sweetheart?”
A cold chill washed over. Was he serious? I had the insane thought that even Bill had heard I was a whore. I stumbled back a step and shook my head. “No. No, thank you.”
He laughed like it was all a big joke. “Come on, sweetheart, you deserve to be captured on film. You’re just so-”
Whatever Creepy Bill had been about to say was cut off when a football slammed into his face. The camera went flying as he screamed and cupped his hands over his bleeding nose.
I made the mistake of looking in the direction the football had come from and there was Jax, looking like an avenging god. He looked bigger than ever, his muscles strained as he glared in our direction. He’d thrown the football from across the field and I was so caught up in my self-hatred that I worried for a second that he’d thrown it at me and missed.
Bill was shouting about his nose and suing, Marla and Coach Carrington were shouting at each other, and The Apex Threewere moving across the field, towards me. I panicked. It was clear the photoshoot was finished so I made a run for it.
I did my best to make it look casual but by the time I hit the tunnel off the field I was running, my boots clacking loudly. I needed to get back to the safety of Blaire’s room. No one could make me face my issues when I was there. It was base.
I got out of the arena and barely took five more steps before I was grabbed from behind. I screamed, my nerves so shot that I felt like I was going to see a shark behind me when I looked over my shoulder.
“You think you’re getting away that easily, Texas?” Cole’s voice was dark in my ear. He sounded pissed but his arms around my waist were gentle. “Not a fucking chance. You’re coming with us to talk.”
Us. I hung my head and made a feeble attempt at pushing his arm away. “I don’t want to.”
Ryder moved to stand in front of me and tipped my chin up. “Too bad. You aren’t the only one involved in this, Sav. You don’t get to control everything. We want to talk to you. It’s only fair that you give us that before you go back into hiding.”
I grumbled under my breath. “Not hiding.”
Ryder’s grin in response took my breath away. He gripped my chin harder, just enough to pinch, and searched my face. “You going to come willingly?”
Apparently, I took too long to answer because before I knew what was happening, he had me tossed over his shoulder. I squealed and tried to reach back to cover my ass. I had no interest in enriching my nasty reputation by flashing the entire campus. “No! My ass is hanging out!”
Ryder’s response was to slap his hand over it and grunt. “We wouldn’t let anyone else see your body.”
“And we wouldn’t let anyone else get away with touching and harassing you, either.” Jax was behind us and I hadn’t seenhim yet but he sounded furious. “That motherfucker freaked you out.”
Fat tears filled my eyes but I fought to keep them at bay. “You were trying to hit him?”
He scoffed. “My fucking precision is the best in all of college football, Savannah. If I hit him, it was because I meant to.”
Some of the tension left my body. “I-I thought you might’ve been aiming at me.”
Ryder stopped walking and a wave of dizziness hit me when he swung me back onto my feet and Jax spun me around to face him. The three of them surrounded me, hiding me from the rest of the world with their big bodies. Whether they meant to or not it was exactly what I needed.
“You thought I wanted to hityou? Why the hell would you think that, Sav?” Jax bent down so we were face to face and cupped the sides of my neck. “Please explain that to me.”
He wouldn’t let me look away from him and when I tried to close my eyes he growled at me so I had no choice but to stare into his blue, blue eyes. “I was awful. I was a slu-”
Cole hugged me from behind and rested his chin on my shoulder. “No. Don’t finish that, Sav. You’re mistaken. Which is why we need to talk. Come back to the dorm with us? Please.”
Jax nodded. “No more hiding and assuming the worst.”
I melted into Cole’s chest. “Y’all don’t hate me?”
