Page 56 of Fair Catch
“What the—”
I didn’t have time to get the next word out before Chance was ripped off me — literally ripped off me by the collar of his shirt from behind. It choked him, and he coughed against it as Zeke flung him into the wall, nearly causing one of my paintings to fall in the process.
“Zeke! What the hell is wrong with you?!” I squealed, covering my mouth with my hands. I watched in horror as he grabbed Chance by the shirt again, peeling him off the wall and steering him toward the doorway, instead. He tossed him through it, and Chance stumbled back, barely catching himself before Zeke was right there pushing him again.
“Zeke!” I tried, but he ignored me.
“Out,” was all he said, shoving Chance toward the door again.
Chance looked wide-eyed at me, and suddenly, all that nervous energy was replaced by a bundle of absolute rage.
“You don’t get to tell my guests to get out,” I told Zeke.
He ignored me, his murderous glare steady on Chance, whose surprise slowly turned to suspicion and anger. He gathered his bearings and smoothed his hands over his polo before squaring his shoulders. “We got a problem, man?”
Zeke just stared at him.
Chance looked at me, hooking his thumb toward Zeke. “He your boyfriend or something?”
“No,” I seethed, charging over to Zeke and pushing him toward his room.
He barely budged, and his eyes didn’t leave Chance as he sucked in a deep inhale like a fucking dragon.
Chance shook his head, looking from me to Zeke and back again. “Look, I don’t want any trouble. You said you wanted to have fun.”
“I do,” I said, reaching for him. He stiffened a little, but then he slid his arm around my waist.
And Zeke glowered.
“Get your hands off her,” he warned.
“Zeke,” I whisper-yelled, giving him a look that said he was dead if he said one more word. But he wasn’t looking at me. And when Chance’s grip on my waist tightened, Zeke gritted his teeth.
Then, he flew across the room.
I barely broke contact with Chance before Zeke pushed him into our front door, his back hitting it so hard that it shook the whole dorm. Zeke towered over him, and any fight Chance had in him faded in an instant.
He shook his head, glancing at me like I was a psycho before he shook his head and shoved Zeke off him.
“I’m out of here,” he said, and then he twisted the door handle and disappeared into the hall, the door shutting behind him with a loud thunk.
The silence that engulfed our dorm room next was like a hot, wet blanket, and I stood gaping underneath it at the door Chance had just run out of, blinking over and over like I had to be dreaming.
Then, I turned on Zeke.
He stood in the middle of the living room, chest puffed and brows bent as his dark eyes met mine. A thin sheen of sweat lined the muscles of his arms, of his neck, of his chest, his t-shirt sticking to it slightly.
I shook my head, roaring as I stormed toward him. “What the hell is wrong with—”
But before I could finish the sentence, Zeke rushed me in equal measure, closing the distance between us. Shock washed over me like an earthquake, sudden and unexpected, and the words died on my lips as I watched him descend on me.
His heavy footsteps echoed in the chambers of my heart.
His hot breath silenced any attempt of me telling him to stop.
His hands slipped into my hair, tugging tight and tilting my chin up.
And then his mouth claimed mine in a kiss of thunder that beckoned the storm inside me to rage.
His lips were warm but firm, demanding as they captured my own and stole any hope of my next breath. Time stopped, teetering on the edge of an abyss as every nerve in my body went up in a blusterous cloud of flames. I melted into him on a whimpering sigh, and he swallowed it up, his fingertips curling in my hair, thumbs gripping my jaw tight enough to bruise as he kissed me harder.
My hands landed in the middle of his chest, lightly at first, like I was going to pull him into me. But then recognition hit me like a bus, and I pushed with all my might, both of us stumbling back and away from each other as the kiss broke and the world seemed to crash down around us with it.
My back was against the door, his against the wall, both of our chests rising and falling in a rhythm akin to a soldier at war. Every breath blew out of his nose like fire, and his hands gripped the wall behind him like he had to hold on to keep himself from descending on me once more.
