Page 14 of My Brother's Teammates

“Man, Tuff has an arm like a Manning. He’ll be starting in the NFL in the next two years. Bet.”

“Fucking Fitzgerald, though! A guy that big should not be that fast!”

“Ramsey blocks like a brick wall, dude. Did you see Tennessee’s number thirty-five try to sack Tuff? That was a big boy but when he hit Ramsey, it was like watching a fucking fly try to get through concrete.”

“DuPont is having the best season of his life. Did you see him out there today? Best tight end in the game right now.”

That last one made me giggle and I had to rush out of Jackie’s to keep from embarrassing myself more. All around town, it was more of the same. The guys were heroes for the way they played.

The vibe was contagious, and I was excited to see the guys when they got home. I didn’t want to be waiting around on them, though, so I settled in the dining hall with my book and got lost in Devon’s story.

Reading a page of the book to Axel had made reading it that much more exciting. I’d been savoring it, reading a little at a time, but I devoured the rest of it and then downloaded the second part to my phone when the first book ended on a cliffhanger. I didn’t appreciate that, but as soon as I started the second book, I was hooked again. The sex scenes were even better, so when the second ended in another cliffhanger, I bought the third book and didn’t bother pretending that I cared that I had to.

I shifted in my seat and looked around to make sure no one was watching me read my dirty novels but I was all alone. Startled, I looked at the time on my phone and gasped. I’d been more lost in the books than I’d realized. It was already dark out.

I gathered my things and tried not to be creeped out as I walked out of the deserted building. Once I was outside, I was again amazed that I hadn’t been alerted to all the rowdy people partying on campus. A dull roar seemed to have started on campus and it just got louder as I got closer to the house. There were drunk people everywhere I looked. I witnessed a couple fighting and then making out when someone played the Saints fight song. I saw a guy peeing off the side of a balcony and another guy trying to catch the pee in a solo cup below.

I didn’t usually go out on campus later than dinner. When I was dating Landon, we ate every meal in private and then I drove straight to my apartment to do more studying and that was that. I’d never seen the campus in party mode and I waited to feel that awful sense of FOMO, but it never came. Looking around at how out of control everyone seemed, I couldn’t imagine I’d have fun feeling that way.

I got to the house and my mood immediately dropped. It was dumb that I’d expected them to be having a quiet evening in. Of course, they were throwing a massive party. They were celebrating and having a good time. I shook my head at myself for hoping to spend time with them after they’d played hard and won their game for the school. I was being silly in thinking they’d be as happy to see me as I felt to see them.

I wedged my way up the stairs and into the front of the house. Inside, it was packed. The music was loud, it smelled like beer and cigarettes, and I didn’t see a single person I knew. I hated it. I hated it so much. Like a nightmare traffic jam, it took me nearly ten minutes to make it up the stairs and by the time I got there, I’d been touched and rubbed against more times than I wanted to think about.

A loud cheer rose from downstairs and I looked down to see Jason crowd surfing. I watched with my mouth wide open but snapped it shut when a girl next to me drunkenly tried to put her finger in my mouth while giggling about how she liked to do that to her dog. I slapped her hand away from my mouth and turned to leave when I saw Axel’s large body wedged into a corner with a girl pressed against him. He was holding a beer and smiling down at her, giving her a flirty look.

It made no sense but it hurt my feelings. I turned away from them and made it to my room, just to open my door and find a couple in my bed. They yelled at me to shut the door and for some reason, I listened. I stood there, pressed against my door, locked out of my own room, and surrounded by drunk people who were all very horny, apparently. I swallowed down the urge to cry and reminded myself that I was an adult and I could handle myself. So what if Axel was probably going to have sex with another woman? So what if Hudson and Ryder were already inside someone? What did it even matter?

I made it back to the top of the stairs in time to see a girl shove her hand down my brother’s pants.

Nope. That was my limit. I knew there was one place that no one else would dare touch. I was breaking the rules by even walking towards his room, but if I had to see my brother get a handjob, I’d gouge my own eyes out. Pissing off Ryder was the least of my worries.

At least until I slipped inside his room and found him sitting at a desk, glaring at me.

***Jenny***

“Getout.”Hewas pissed. His eyebrows were two dark slashes pinched together in anger and as he glared at me, he raked his hands through his messy chocolate hair and tugged at it.

The sound of the party raging outside and the feeling of someone knocking into his door inspired me to face his wrath. “I can’t.”

“You really can.” He sat back in his chair and I recognized the DSM opened in front of him. He was a psych major, too. It was a fact I didn’t let myself think about.

“I can’t. I tried to go to my room but…” I felt my face heat. “I’m going to need to wash those sheets before I sleep there again.”

He stood up and stepped around his desk, filling the space around him effortlessly. “Look, I don’t know what to tell you, Jenny.”

I pressed into his door harder. Anxiety at the idea of going back into the rowdy crowd was making me desperate. “I’m not leaving, Ryder. I’m sorry. I can’t. I don’t… I just can’t. Please, let me stay.”

His scowl grew darker as he shook his head. “No. Out.Now. I’ll pick you up and put you out if I have to.”

“You’re going to have to. My feet aren’t carrying me back out there. It’s crazy. Some girl had her hand down Jason’s pants and now I have to bleach my eyes. Axel’s all over some blonde lady. Another girl tried to put her fingers in my mouth. I’m pretty sure I just made it to second base with half of the football team out there just trying to get this far. I can’t go back out there.”

His long legs carried him across the room faster than I expected and I reacted without thinking. I launched myself at him and locked my limbs around him. He was huge and it wasn’t easy, but I was willing to dislocate my limbs if it meant I didn’t have to rejoin the party.

“I’m not letting go, Ryder. You’ll have to carry me out and then pry me off in front of everyone. I’m desperate and I’ve got nothing to lose. It’s not my fault people aren’t scared of me like they are you and they felt like using my bed to fuck was a perfectly acceptable thing to do!” I felt his hands at my sides and clung even tighter. “I’m so sorry. I know I’m being rude and this isn’t your problem, but if you make me go back out there, there’s a potential that I’ll never be the same. No amount of therapy can help you after you’ve seen some things, Ryder!”

Instead of pushing me off him, his hands wrapped around my waist and just…held on. “You’re shaking like a fucking leaf, Jenny.”

“I really don’t like crowds and strangers groping me.”

---