Page 76 of Hate the Game
“What’s his name?” Ryder growled out the words between his clenched teeth. “I’ll teach him a lesson about hurting you.”
“It doesn’t matter. He’s just a part of my history now.” I sighed. “I spent the last semester at Texas getting these…looksfrom guys. Most of them knew my brothers and wouldn’t come near me but some would. Some would make it clear that they thought I was an easy lay and that they were interested in trying me out. No one ever asked me on a date. They just asked me to suck them off or meet them in their shitty dorm room for a quick fuck.
“I had a new start here. Even if just for a semester. And look what I did with it. I didn’t bother waiting to be asked out on a date. I just put out for three guys and made myself look like the exact portrait that Charlie painted of me.” I sniffed and wrapped my arms around Ryder’s neck, needing to bury my face and hide. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m doing this. I think I may be what they called me. How else would I end up in this situation?”
***Savannah***
“I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m doing this. I think I may be what they called me. How else would I end up in this situation?”
“Bullshit.” Cole was unusually stern as he spoke. “Abso-fucking-lutely bullshit. Without even getting into the reality that being aslutisn’t a real thing, just some made up derogatory shit to hurt women, you need to shift your thinking, Sav.”
I lifted my head to look at him and felt my heart thump harder at the intense look on his face. His curls were wilder than ever from how he was running his hands through them. “I-”
“Answer a few questions for me, Sav. No matter the answers, I’ll still never think you’re the shitty names you’re calling yourself, so answer them honestly.” He waited for me to nod before continuing. “Have you been with any men outside of this room since getting to California?”
I blushed and shook my head. “No. Never.”
“Let any man outside of this room touch you at all?” He saw me shake my head and grunted. “Even thought about touching any man outside of this room?”
“No.”
“Do you like us, Savannah? Did you let us touch you because you like us and felt drawn to us?” He leaned forward as he waited for my answer and for a moment, I got the distinct impression that he was holding his breath as he waited for the answer, like he was worried. “Or has it all been something else? Something purely sexual or otherwise? Did you hook up with us to make your article easier or something like that?”
My spine stiffened as I sat up straight. “No! Never! If I’d had an ounce of brain in my skull I never would’ve touched any of you. My article is screwed. It would’ve been so much easier for me to write about y’all in an unbiased way if I hadn’t done this. Of course, I like y’all. I didn’t want to. I’m still not sure I want to. It’s wrecking me. But I feel how I feel. I can’t do anything about it.”
Ryder adjusted his arms around me and ended up stroking his hands up and down my stomach. “Let me get this straight. You think you’re a slut because you have feelings for us and acted on them? Pretty sure the first rule of being a hoe is to not catch feelings. Makes you a pretty shitty slut, I bet. I mean, if being a hoe is a real thing. I don’t know what Cole’s talking about but he’s read more women’s studies shit than I have.”
“Both of you fuckers should’ve taken that class with me.” Cole stood up and ran his hands through my tangled hair. “If the three of us don’t have an issue with what’s happened, why do you?”
“Why don’t you have an issue?” I practically shrieked the words. “Why are you okay with me doing this?”
Jax’s hand tightened even more on my knee. “Why do you seem to think you’re the only one doing anything here?”
I opened my mouth to answer and hesitated. It took a moment for his words to register in my brain but once they did, I slumped in Ryder’s lap. I guessed I was acting like the three of them hadno free will or control in the situation. They were hardly pawns being moved around by me.
“There you go. You’re getting it now. We’re grown ass men who do what we want. You didn’t find three innocent assholes and move them around your gameboard like they were dolls, Savannah. The three of us are more than capable of making up our own mind. And…it seems like we’ve all made up our own minds that we want you.We’rechasingyou.If anything, we’re the sluts.” It was just what I needed to hear for the tension to flood out of my body. Jax grinned and blew out a sharp breath. “Thank god that got through to you because none of us are going to be writing the next best-selling self-help novel and we were quickly running out of shit to say.”
I laughed and looked at the three of them. They were each so handsome. They lit up parts of my body and brain that had never been lit up before. I was lost in almost every way imaginable but I didn’t feel lost with the three of them touching me and telling me they wanted me. I felt perfectly found. “I shouldn’t have hidden. At least not for so long. I just panicked. I’m sorry.”
Cole sat down again and grinned. “You really tapped into Blaire’s momma bear side. Pretty sure she was just days away from growling and baring her teeth at us. Can you stay here now so she can relax and not plot our murders? Maybe even tell her that you find us charming with all of our limbs attached?”
“I’ll talk to her.” I looked at Jax and wondered how long it would take him and his father to see the amazing woman that Blaire was. “You’re lucky. Blaire is awesome in so many ways.”
He glanced down at the floor and swallowed before looking back at me. “MaybeI’lltalk to her.”
I nodded emphatically and reached out to take his hand. “You should. And maybe make sure your very angry dad cuts her some slack. I think Marla is trying to break him and Blaire shouldn’t catch any of that fury. Neither should you.”
“What the fuck was that about? I’ve never seen Dad act like that towards a woman, other than Blaire. I get that he’s pissed about her and thinks she’s trying to set him up for whatever reason, but that seemed like way more.”
“They used to date.” I blurted it out and then laughed when all three of them acted as if I’d just claimed the earth was flat. “I’m serious. Marla told me about it. It was a long time ago, before you were born, I’m assuming. I guess it ended poorly and now Marla hates him. But he has a picture of her in his office, so I don’t know what their deal is.”
Jax held up his hands and made a face. “I don’t want to know. I don’t care. As long as something happens to make him calm the fuck down, he can do whatever he wants.”
“Marla saw him talking with Barbie. The two of them seemed pretty touchy.” I laughed at the grossed out look on his face.
Cole smirked and I knew he was going to cause more trouble. “I heard a rumor that he and Barbie were knocking boots but he just still seemed so pissed off that I figured it was bullshit. But maybe it wasn’t and the sex just wasn’t helping because he’s still got a thing for Marla.”
Jax stood up and threw his hands up. “No. I don’t want to hear any of it. He’s my dad and the idea of him hooking up is disgusting. Even if he does obviously need to fucking relax and chill out and sex would definitely help with that. Sex with the right person, anyway.”
