“Rob, you better get upstairs, man.” One of my true freshman cornerbacks pops his head around the stairwell door.
“Why?” If the keg is already tapped, that’s Alex’s problem, not mine.
“Some shit went down with Mrs. Falls. The crowd’s out of fucking control up here.”
I rise from the couch so fast, dizziness nearly overcomes me. Or maybe that’s fear. “Drew, if you’re fucking with me, I’m going to kill you twice.”
Once won’t be good enough.
I race up the stairs behind him, only to be met with the mother of all cat fights in the living room.
The claws are out, female screams of rage tear over the blaring music, and the guys on the periphery of the room are watching, dumbfounded and a little lusty over the whole scene.
In all fairness, visions of naked Evie covered in mud and being declared the winner of the melee cross my mind.
Shaking off the strange fantasy, I pull bodies away to get to the center of the fight.
Instead of an angry feminist who moonlights as my insecure girlfriend, Harper and the president of ADO continue to scream at each other and throw punches that would be laughable in any other situation.
I glance around, but don’t find Evie anywhere.
“What the fuck is going on here?” I roar. Where is TJ while his girlfriend assaults a sorority sister? And not just any girl, either. Harper had to go and mess with the most powerful woman on campus.
“She started it!” Harper wipes blood off her lip with the back of her hand, glaring daggers at Missy.
“Freedom of Information Act, bitch! Look it up!”
Oh, hell. This won’t end well. Not only is Missy Stewart pre-law, but her parents are some of the most renowned attorneys on the East Coast. That’s how she bought her position as the president of the oldest sorority at State, if the rumors are to be believed.
In this case, there’s likely more than a grain of truth to it.
I glance around at the variety of faces, but there seem to be no other ADO sisters here. The Wives are huddled around, ready to mob Missy, and there’s no backup in sight from my teammates.
I’m on my own here.
More importantly, Evie is nowhere to be found.
“Can someone explain to me what the hell this is all about?” I better start getting statements now before Missy presses charges. It would be swell if the damn Sig O president was around.
Hopefully, he and Evie are having their little meeting. Alex will keep her safe and out of the fray. God knows if she gets word of this, she’ll go ballistic.
“Harper assaulted me. Everyone here saw it.” Missy juts out her chest and raises her chin, going on the offensive as expected.
“That’s bullshit, and you know it!” Harper yells. “You threw the first punch with your words!”
TJ finally makes an appearance, wrapping his arms around Harper to prevent her from lunging at Missy again. “Harper, what the fuck has gotten into you?”
“She started spouting lies about Evie’s rape! She told everyone here Evie is pretty much disfigured and started a riot for Evie to strip and prove the rumors wrong!”
Whatever else is said or happens around me fades against the pounding of my pulse. I’ve gotta find Evie and get her out of here before she finds out about this.
Room after room turns up empty. Apparently, everyone migrated to the living room to witness the fight. The back yard is littered with people who are either too drunk to know what was going on inside or who just didn’t care.
Still no Evie.
I can’t even find Mike or Alex. I send out a group text to all three of them, but no one responds.
The longer my eyes don’t land on her beautiful face, the more my stomach bottoms out.
I should’ve listened.
To Julie.
To my own gut.
No matter how much Evie tried to convince me some good could come from all this, now she’s bearing the brunt of my mistakes.
Alone.
Repeated calls to Evie’s cell phone go unanswered. My texts aren’t even being read. I’m freaking the fuck out.
I’m sober, so it’s time to take my search to the streets. The Lady roars to life as I gun the engine, speeding away from the Sig O house to find the only person who matters.
She’s not in our apartment.
Mike doesn’t answer the door, if he’s even home.
After five minutes of incessant pounding on Alex’s front door, he finally swings it open.
“What the fuck, man? I was sleeping!”
“Have you seen Evie?” I push past him into his apartment, searching the couches for her presence, but she’s nowhere in sight. I’m barely holding onto my sanity.
“She’s already asleep! Keep your fucking voice down! It took almost a whole fifth of vodka to calm her down!”
Rage taints my vision. “You gave her vodka to make her sleep? In your bed? Why the fuck didn’t you call me to let me know she was here? I’ve been worried sick.”
“Relax.” Alex rolls his blood-shot eyes. “I forgot my phone at the house, and I didn’t let her drink more than she could handle. After what happened tonight, she needed it.”
Evie would never sleep in Alex’s bed if she weren’t annihilated far more than she could handle. Not only would it repulse her, but our bed is where she finds comfort. Or our closet.
“She knows I don’t bring girls here,” Alex mutters, probably reading my expression of disbelief. “I keep that shit at the Sig O house.”
“Right. Because that’s not a cliché or anything.” How many guys have parents who will pay for an apartment and a room in a frat just so they can keep their sexual escapades to a confined space? These parents can’t possibly know what they’re paying for.
Enough of his bullshit. My girl needs me.
I don’t take more than a step toward his bedroom before he pushes me back, his hand on my chest leveling far more pressure than I’d think him capable of in his still-swaying drunkenness.
“No, you know what’s a fucking cliché? How you’re still more worried about yourself than about her.”
“Don’t fuck with me, Alex. I will go through you to get to her. How’s that for a cliché?”
“You wouldn’t have to get to her if you’d been there in the first place!” He pushes me again, actually moving me back a few feet. “You and Mike act so fucking overprotective, but when the shit really hits the fan, you’re nowhere to be found.”
“And where the hell were you? Upstairs in your other room, having a foursome or better! Even Evie knew it!” Fuck no does he get to act better than anyone. Evie gives him shit all the time for his revolving door of women. If he had an ounce of respect for what Evie went through, he wouldn’t treat girls like their only worth is what they can do to pleasure him.
“Yeah, and while you were enjoying the celebrations after your Heisman win, she was folding in on herself and you didn’t bother to notice. I saw this coming a mile away, Falls! You don’t get to drop in and play the hero when you fucking caused all this!”
His words knock all the wind from my sails. He’s right. He’s so goddamn right, he doesn’t even know.
He pushes me against the wall, and I don’t bother to resist.
There’s no fight left in me.
“She’s so worried about your fragile ass she feels like she can’t confide in you. God forbid she might trigger your PTSD. Mike treats her like a goddamn baby, so she doesn’t want to admit any weakness to him.”
“She’s been talking to you?” She told me to take the award; wouldn’t let me give it up. She told me to help others. She never once voiced her worry over everything spilling out.
She put on her mask for me, and I failed to see through it.
“Yeah, she’s been talking to me.” Alex takes a step back, crossing his arms over his chest like he wants to block me from making another run for her. “This was her greatest fear, but she had herself so convinced sealed records meant no one would ever know.”
“Wait a minute. How the fuck do you know?”
“I didn’t. Not until tonight when Missy blabbed it to a room overflowing with college students who are no doubt running with the story. The whole world’s about to know.”
Fuck. Julie was so right.
And now they’ll spin it any way they want.
“What happened tonight? One minute, she was waiting for you to get done with your fun times, the next Drew ran downstairs to tell me all hell had broken loose. How were you there at just the right moment?”
“Dumb fuckin’ luck.” Alex shrugs. “But this is exactly the kind of shit I’m talking about. She has no problem putting herself out there the entire night to make you look better. A two-minute speech, a few handshakes, and you need a break like a goddamn dick. You should have been there. You should have been the one to get her out of that clusterfuck. Instead you were hiding from your own limelight while she got crushed by the weight of it.”
Again, he’s not wrong.
“I didn’t want it.” It’s a pathetic excuse. “I don’t want it now. But, she doesn’t want me to give it up. I tried to tell her the Heisman is cursed, but she didn’t believe me.”
Alex’s face puckers. “Everyone knows it’s cursed. It’s the kiss of death.”
“That’s what I said!” Literally.
He shakes his head, our moment of bonding gone. “Well, now you have it. So, you better fucking find a way to make it work, to protect her from it.”
What does he want from me? He’s as bad as Mike sometimes. “You just got done telling me I’m too overprotective.”
“About the things that don’t matter, man. So what if she was named a WAG? It’s good for her self-esteem. Who the fuck cares if she wants to straighten her hair and put on some makeup? She looks good, and she’s learning how to own it. But, you don’t seem to give a damn about her assault being discussed on national television. You don’t get too bent while she has to watch all these chicks throw themselves at you.”
“Fuck off. I didn’t want to talk about her assault. I told them as much. I didn’t have any choice. Evie suggested I run with it, and make it into something good for other people. That was what she wanted.”
Alex cocks his eyebrow at me like he thinks I’m lying. “What do you mean?”
“I’m not speaking Greek. I meant exactly what I said. The Committee PR reps told me they were going to talk about it whether I wanted to or not, and I went to Evie with that info. I told her I wanted to decline, but she convinced me not to. And I have never engaged with any of the jersey chasers, so don’t you dare fucking throw that in my face. I certainly don’t throw it in Evie’s. I have a goddamn tattoo of her name on my chest. If that doesn’t show my level of commitment, nothing else will.”
He sighs, his shoulders slumping and his eyelids drawing a little lower. “You could fucking commit to being the strong one more often, so she doesn’t have to feel like that’s her job.”
“I’m trying!”
“Yeah,” he sneers. “Well, try harder.”
My head feels like it’s going to explode, but he means well. He’s looking out for my girl, and I can’t really fault him for that. She could use as many people in her corner as she can get over the next few weeks, at least until this gossip dies down. And me beating his ass to a bloody pulp isn’t going to change anything that’s happened tonight. The last thing I need is Evie walking out here to find another scene like the one that cost her the memories of that fucking day that’s still haunting us.
“Thank you for helping her tonight, for being there for her. But, plying her with alcohol to calm her down wasn’t the best way to go. Are you going to hold back her hair while she pukes it all out? Help her into the shower to clean up? What will you do when she wakes up from a nightmare, doesn’t know where she is, and makes a run for your closet?”
“She has nightmares? About what? She doesn’t remember anything.”
Yeah. And he and Mike have her so figured out. Right.
“I’m taking her home.”
Before he can argue, I make a beeline down the hall toward his bedroom. Sure enough, Evie’s in the fetal position on one side of the bed, the blankets kicked to the carpet because she’s probably too hot with her clothes still on.
I bet he doesn’t know that about her.
The thought of Alex sharing the mattress with her, spooning behind her, prickles my skin with heat no amount of ice could cool. If Evie had woken up in her drunken stupor and stripped with him here, if I’d found her naked in his bed, I don’t know what I’d do.
It’s just Alex. Hell, he’d probably take one look at her breasts and run for the hills, but still.
She’s mine to love, mine to take care of.
I’m not sharing with anyone.
“Baby.” I caress her cheek to see if she’ll wake or if I’ll need to carry her to our apartment as is. “I’m here. Let’s go home.”
She blinks her blue eyes up at me and smiles.
“Are you okay?” Of course, she’s not. Not after tonight. I just need to know if she needs to get the first round of puking over with before we move.
“I am with you here.” She wraps her arms around my neck, pulling me down to her soft lips that reek of vodka. “Make love to me.”
A cough over my shoulder alerts me to Alex’s presence. And eavesdropping.
“Do you feel sick? You need some water?”
She lavishes my neck with sloppy kisses. “Uh-uh. I need you.”
“You have me. Always.” I lift her off the mattress like a dead weight. “Let’s get some sleep.”
“I don’t want to sleep yet. I want to play.” She continues to lick me as I carry her down the hallway.
She’s putting on her mask again, trying to throw me off course.
I’ll let her get away with it for now, since she’s too drunk to have a rational conversation. Tomorrow we’re going to hole up in our home; I’m going to find out how she’s really handling this; then we’re going to make a game plan on how to deal with the fall out.
“I want to take you home, get you some water, and then we’ll see.”
“You don’t really want me,” she whispers. “You never make love to me.”
“What?” Alex hisses, still listening in on our conversation. “Still? Are you fucking kidding me?”
My heart gallops in my chest. It’s none of his goddamn business. “Shut up, Fossoway.”
“Man up, Falls. Or give her to someone who will.”
Instead of responding with the “fuck you” and right hook my instincts are telling me to dole out, I hold Evie closer to my chest.
He rushes ahead of me to open his front door. “You need my help?”
“No,” I bite out hard enough to make Evie jump in my arms. “I’ve got her.”
“Do you?”
That’s the last thing the asshole says before he closes the door behind us.
His question rings in my ears the entire walk to our apartment.
Do I have her? Or am I losing her?
I never saw Alex as a threat until tonight.