Page 39 of My Brother's Teammates

“Jenny. Don’t.” Axel and Ryder warned me in unison.

“Isn’t it?” Hudson, always ready to mess with someone, teased them with me.

I pressed my foot to Ryder’s chest. “I mean, I can really feel the bonding. If you guys want to cuddle after I go back to bed, you go right ahead.”

Axel rolled me under him and nipped my chin. “First of all, no. Second of all, if you think you’re leaving this bed tonight, you’re wrong.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and grinned. “And that’s how you get your way, gentlemen.”

Hudson shifted and the sound of a bag rattling drew my gaze to him. He was shoving something in his mouth but acted like he didn’t.

I pushed Axel off me and crawled towards Hudson. “That better not be what I think it is.”

He laughed when I tackled him onto the bed and pried his fingers open to reveal a handful of my candy. His grin was contagious, and I couldn’t help leaning down to press a kiss to his mouth.

My head was next to the TV and when the screen unpaused, a terrifying woman lunged towards the camera and I nearly peed myself as I screamed and scrambled backwards, slapping Hudson’s chest as I went. “Oh, my god! Not funny, Hud!”

Ryder snorted and when I looked back at him, he waved the remote at me. “Oops?”

I smiled sweetly at Hudson. “And this is why we don’t cry wolf.”

***Jenny***

Justthrewthelongestpass of my life. Whichever part of you that’s magical I plan on having more of. Have a good day, Kitten.

I grinned down at my phone and rocked onto my tip toes as I replied to Ryder.Great. I’ll put you down for hair play. Axel and Hudson will be glad to know the rest of me is free for them. Congratulations on the throw, by the way. Gran will want to add the stats to her scrapbook. Did you happen to get a picture?

Just before I entered the lecture hall, he texted back.

I hope you’re kidding. Gran scares me. She knows about all of us, FYI. Said she saw it, or something. That woman explains all the weird things about Axel.

I laughed out loud and stepped out of the way to send him another text before going into class.I’m telling him you said that. He’s really not going to want to share with you now. Going into class. See you later, Harry Potter.

I shoved my phone into my backpack and practically bounced into the lecture hall. Axel and Hudson were already sitting in the front row, waiting for me. I couldn’t help the stupid grin on my face when they looked up at me.

Axel stood up and wrapped me in a tight, unexpected hug. “Guess what?”

I laughed and blushed when he kissed the corner of my mouth. “Ax! Jason’s going to see you!”

Hudson pulled me into his lap and kissed the spot below my ear that he seemed to love just as much as I did. “That’s the guess. Jason isn’t coming today. He’s chasing that girl across campus again. Or maybe it’s a different one this time? I don’t know.”

A throat clearing behind me had me shooting out of Hudson’s lap and holding my breath as I turned. I’d been so lost in feeling excited about how much the guys seemed to want me that I’d lost track of where we were. It was a painful reminder that I wasn’t free of my ex yet.

Landon stood glaring at the guys with his arms crossed over his chest. I was struck as I looked back at him. It was like looking at a stranger. It hadn’t been very long since I’d thought he was everything to me. When I looked at him in that moment, though, I couldn’t imagine finding anything in him, much less everything. He was attractive, I wasn’t blind to that, but he’d never felt passionate about me. I wasn’t sure he’d ever felt passionate about anything.

Something about that realization made me want to cry. Not for him, or for the us that I’d believed in, but for me. I’d given him so much of my time. I’d lived in hiding, the way he wanted to live. I’d forgone the experiences a normal college freshman and sophomore went through. I’d smashed down my silliness because he was older and more mature. I’d crushed myself into the tiny little sliver of room he made for me in his life and that would’ve been good enough for me if he hadn’t left me homeless.

My stomach clenched as I thought about my first time with him. It’d been shrouded in shame because he hadn’t been able to stop talking about how wrong it’d been for him to touch me. I hadn’t been able to feel any kind of afterglow before he was stressing and making me swear I’d never tell anyone. It had always been like that. Him taking and somehow making me feel immature and guilty for it. He took and I had to swear a hundred times that I wouldn’t tell. After the fifth or sixth time, I’d been sure he didn’t trust me. After the eleventh or twelfth time, I’d been sure he shouldn’t.

How old had I’d been when he fucked me on the futon in his campus house? I’d just turned nineteen two days before. My eyes burned and anger surged through my bloodstream. Had he ever texted me that he hoped I had a good day? Had he ever tried for me at all?

“Kitten?” Axel’s concerned voice startled me out of my stare. I looked at him and realized that he was standing at my side, gripping the back of my neck. “You okay?”

I cleared my throat and licked my lips. Forcing myself to nod, I tried to smile. “Yeah. Yeah, sorry. I’m good.”

“Mr. Fitzgerald, you can be seated. Ms. Ramsey said she’s okay.” Landon was too close to me. He moved to grab my arm and I flinched. “Ms. Ramsey, class is starting. I suggest you take your seat at my desk and prepare for work.”

Axel glared at Landon. “You need to back off. She clearly needs a second.”

---