Page 20 of My Brother's Teammates

I slammed my locker shut and shot Ryder a hard look. He grabbed his bag and shoved it into his locker, anger radiating from him. I fought it but a nagging voice in my head pointed out that Ryder wasn’t okay. I swore. If I hadn’t been so fucking pissed about Jenny, I wouldn’t noticed his mood sooner.

Feeling like shit, I walked ahead of him towards the laundry facility and tried to sort out how to apologize. I wasn’t good at that shit. I kept my back to him once we were inside and Brad was happily leaving to take his girlfriend out. I put my hands on my hips and tried to think of the right thing to say.

Ryder made a strange noise and when I turned around I saw he’d dropped his head and his shoulders were shaking. My stomach dropped to my ass and I rushed to his side. Pulling him into a side hug, I slapped his back in a way that I hoped was comforting. “Shit, bro. I’m sorry. I-”

He lifted his head and I saw that he was laughing. He pushed me away and wiped his eyes. “Fuck. Sorry. I’m sorry. Give me a second here.”

I found myself laughing with him and pulled myself up on one of the metal folding tables. “I think we just synced our periods.”

He sat next to me and shoved my shoulder. “I can’t believe you tried to hug me. You were trying to knock my teeth out five minutes ago, asshole.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, well, what can I say? You bring out the best in me.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.” He paused. “That’s not true. I know exactly what came over me.”

“I started that shit. I’m sorry. Is it lame to admit that I was jealous?”

“I think we’re past the point of wondering if we’re lame. We just fought each other after talking about Jenny in a way that I’m pretty sure would make her slap the taste out of both our mouths.” Ryder hesitated and then turned to face me. “What the fuck were you doing downstairs flirting with other people?”

I frowned and shook my head. “What are you talking about? I kept my handsandmy dick to myself last night.”

“Not what Jenny saw.” He rubbed his eyes. “The parties are over. She got groped trying to get through the house last night. She came to my room because someone was fucking in her bed and kicked her out. She was shaking.”

“So you gave her your dick to hold through the long, scary night?” I groaned. “Jealousy again. Sorry. Did she see who groped her? And I don’t know what Jenny saw, but I wasn’t feeling it last night. I was thinking about her the whole time, like a fucking loser. That Kacey chick tried to hang on me for a second, but I pushed her off on Jones.”

“She said half the fucking football team. It literally could’ve been anyone.”

My mind worked through the people I’d seen at the party and I came to the conclusion that I didn’t like that I couldn’t specify which of our teammates would grab a random girl at a party like that. “Yeah, the parties are old news. Who’s going to tell Jason?”

“What about Hudson?”

“Well, there seems to be something in the air.” I watched his jaw drop and nodded. “Not that he’s mentioned it, but you know Hud. He gets quiet when he’s into a woman. Plus, someone saw him giggling with her on campus.”

“Giggling?”

I grunted. “They said laughing but I’ve changed it to giggling to make myself feel better.”

Ryder hopped off the table and crossed his arms over his chest. “What the fuck? What’s wrong with us?”

“Oh, you weren’t clear? Sweet little thing, wild hair, eyes the size of a fucking tractor tire, and legs that just don’t stop? Goes by Jenny, or Kitten if you’re me. That’s what’s wrong with us.”

“Kitten? Really?” He looked away and groaned. “Jason has every right to murder all of us in our sleep.”

“Look at your arms, man. She claws. And bites. But she’s cute as hell before and after.” I rubbed at my chest where I still had a mark the size of Jenny’s mouth. “So when Jason said ‘stay the fuck away from my baby sister’, do you think he meant it? Every word of it? Maybe it was just a bad day.”

“I think he meant he’d cut our dicks off if we touched her.” He looked down at his shoes for a second and sighed. “I fucked up. She scared the shit out of me and I was an asshole.”

Annoyance rippled over me. “What’d you do?”

He scoffed. “Don’t worry. Your Kitten indeed has claws and not just physical ones. She doesn’t need you, or anyone else, sticking up for her. She stared me right in the face and basically said thanks for the fuck, but get over yourself if you think I’m going to lose sleep over not touching you again. She called me a one and done. She ever said some shit about my dick not being a wand or something? Told me it didn’t cast a spell on her, so I didn’t need to worry about her coming back.”

I stared at him in silence.

“Then she fucking called me an ice king and sauntered out of my room like she owns the place.” He chewed the inside of his cheek and threw up his hands. “Never in my fucking life have I had a woman cut me down so easily. I fucking felt like crying.”

I didn’t want to laugh so I very calmly pressed my fist to my mouth and nodded. “Um. And what did you say to her?”

“The truth!” He tugged at his hair. “That I have plans that don’t involve her, or any other woman. I didn’t want her to think that we couldbesomething.”

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