Page 88 of Steeling Her
“So, youhavethought about dating.” As soon as he asks that, I could feel the eyes on me; I refuse to look anywhere else other than Reggie.
“No man, dating isn’t on my agenda right now.” He laughs once and covers his mouth with the side of his fist. His shoulders shaking with laughter.
“Yeah, yeah. Keep lying to yourself, man! We all know there’s one girl on your mind.” He taps my shoulder knowingly as we swerve down the hallways, ignoring the looks from people as we bulldoze our way to class. “Look, I know you guys love that single life, hoeing it up for whatever comes your way and all. It’s hard to leave, I get that, but that’s because y’all haven’t found the right girl to make you want her and only her . . . I found that out as soon as I kissed Cas. I knew she was the one for me. She still is and always will be. She’s my rock, and ever since my mom died, she was there for me and listened to me. I love her for that, I love her full stop.” The left side of my lip turns up in hearing how much he loves Cas. It takes me back to think about my own parents. Growing up, I saw how much my parents adored each other. Sure, they fought, but they always made up soon after. My dad has always been a hard lover, especially when it came to my mom. He shows it everyday.
So, why did I become a player? Usually, some guys have a sob story of that one girl who rejected them; the one that got away that made their heart grow cold. Not me, I just liked the options. Ever since I knew what a kiss was, I let loose. I’ve grown to be afraid of commitment because I have to be all in. I never wanted to be all in with a girl. Relationships seem like too much of an effort for me.
“I can see you’re both obsessed with each other, Reg.” We trudge up the steps of the auditorium to get to the back row. I slip into my seat first and sit in the middle of the row while Reggie follows me.
“Yeah, bro, I love that woman so much. I prefer being with her than being with anyone else. I don’t miss being single at all, man. I love being with her. She’s my baby mama.” He winks.
I snap my head around to face him, shocked. “Cas is pregnant?” I squeal, stopping my motions.
“No, haha! No, no! Not yet, I’m working on that! She’s my future baby mama. I can’t fucking wait to have kids with her.” He sighs, leaning back and staring up at the ceiling, smiling at the thought of a mini-Reggies running around.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to have my own kids, just not right now, not before I get into the NFL.
“How many do you guys want?” I ask, laughing at this beefy guy sitting next to me turning to mush at the thought of having kids with Cas. He’s crazy to be thinking about that already.
“Five . . . maybe more?” I laugh at him not holding back. I nearly fall off the seat in the hall. My laugh is echoing around the room, but I can’t stop. I can’t hold it in.
“How many does she want?” I ask, knowing that Cas isn’t going to pop five little Reggie’s out now or in the future.
“Two,” he grumbles, narrowing his eyes down in front of us. “A boy and a girl.” He sighs. “I want all boys. Girls are a fucking handful, plus I would have to protect them from the likes of you, Jackson,” he teases me. I laugh back at his playful dig.
I’m not that bad? Right?“Hey, I’m a nice guy!” I defend myself.
“Uh-huh.” He rolls his eyes and I punch him square in the arm, giving him a dead arm. I chuckle at his expression which is soaked with discomfort. “I fucking hate when you do that! You give the worst dead arms known to mankind!” I smirk at what he said. It’s true. I get them in the right spot on their arms and they’re limp for ages. “So, come on.” He nudges his head.
“Come on, what?” I ask as we watch people flow through the door getting into their spaces.
“Tell me what Rodger Steel spoke to you about. I know it was about his daughter. Did you bang her? Is that why he spoke to you?” I stay silent, not wanting to talk about this. “Oh . . .” He starts to laugh and bangs the desk in front of him. “Oh man! You fucking like her, you like his daughter! That’s why you and Ryan are fighting! That’s why you keep dodging the girlfriend question!” I don’t speak a word, but all of it is true, maybe except for the last part. I’m not sure how I feel about that just yet. “Dude, some advice, make a move before some other guy comes in and sweeps her off her feet and runs away with her in his arms—”
“That won’t happen!” I suddenly yell back, and his eyes widen to the size of plates by my outburst. We stare at each other, not saying a single word to relieve the tense atmosphere. Our professor breaks the silence between us, and we both drift our eyes toward the front to listen to what he has to say.
The lecture starts with what’s expected in our next assignment then continues on to the course material. He emphasizes what will possibly come up in our final exams. I take some notes that will be helpful for when I’m studying with Reggie.
It’s not the most exciting class happening, so I feel my mind drifting back to Reggie’s words.“Make a move before some other guy comes in and sweeps her off her feet.”Imagining her with another guy gets my blood boiling. Another guy touching her, another guy’s eyes on her, another guy kissing her, another guy inside of her, inside of what’s mine. I squeeze my eyes shut because I’m making myself more and more annoyed. I hate this silent treatment she’s giving me because she’s driving me crazy.
I’m so close to bursting. I’m so close to just ignoring what her dad said to me earlier on and running up to her dorm room, kicking the door down, and finding her. I want to drag her into her room and kiss the shit out of her.
But I know that’s a bad idea. She hasn’t gotten her strength back at the moment, and I want to make sure she’s alright. I want to be there for her. I want to hold her like I did before, minus the paramedics.
I don’t want anyone’s hands on her or near her. I know some of the guys in the house thinks she’s hot. I can see the look they give her when they see her. It pisses me off, their eyes undressing her right in front of me. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve glared at them to stop.
I don’t even like that Kevin guy around her. It’s clear as fucking day that he likes her. Then again, she’s so oblivious to how gorgeous she is. She doesn’t even notice some of the girls’ glares that are directed towards her.
But I do. I see the jealousy in their eyes because she has my attention and they don’t. That fire lights in their eyes when she enters the room, but with Maya, it’s an explosion.
It was funny at the beginning, but now, it’s turned into a dangerous game between her, me, Maya, and now Ryan. Clearly, Maya and Ryan have teamed up so they can get what they want. Maya wants to be my girlfriend, which I can safely say will never happen, and Ryan wants to date Carter and possibly make it official, which I can also safely say will never happen. Not while I’m still alive and kicking. Maya isn’t girlfriend material, she likes to sleep around too much. I don’t want a girl like that. Sure, she was some fun every so often, but now, I’m over it.
I’ve been over it ever since Carter walked into that house party at the start of college in that sexy red-hot figure-hugging dress.Good lord, did my dick get hard at the sight of her that night.I had plans for her that night, but it came to screeching halt when I found out she was my sister’s roommate. Since then, she was like the forbidden fruit I so badly wanted. The more I ran into her, the more I wanted to get to know her. For most nights, I thought about her without even realizing I was. She would constantly be on my mind, every goddamn day. I would almost plan my day around her, hoping to bump into her. It mainly consisted of me going over to their dorm, pretending I was seeing Haley. In reality, I wanted to see sexy Steel.
When I did see her, I was happy. I would leave with a stupid smile on my face after seeing her, and when I didn’t, I would sulk. I knew she was responsible for my mood swings, and it was annoying me at first. I kept wondering why she was such an influence on my behaviour. It took a while, but I figured it out when she fell on the floor after Haley was roaring at me for stealing the last slice of cake. I wanted her. I liked her more than I cared to admit. She meant something to me. After careful consideration, I realized that she, in fact, was special to me.
Carter Steel is a very special girl to me.
It amplified when she was cleaning up my busted lip that night the fight between Ryan and I kicked off after their date, when she sat on my lap and cleaned me up. I watched her eyes focus on the task, and I truly got to see her for myself, alone in a bathroom. Not the most romantic setting, but I took it and she looked like true beauty.
