9
MASON
After I left Ryder’s, I dragged myself home and crawled into my bed without much thought. But it was later in the morning, when it was nearly pushing afternoon, when I woke up again and hated myself.
I couldn’t believe I’d just left like that, without getting her name or phone number. I couldn’t believe I didn’t at least think to give her mine. But I hadn’t really been thinking entirely straight at the time. For a while there, I was just thinking with my dick, allowing my bear’s loud opinion sway me for once, but then I was just going on autopilot, wanting desperately to be in my own bed, and I didn’t even really think about it as I left.
Now I felt like a fucking idiot. How could I have just left like that? I probably wouldn’t ever see her again and that one brief moment of magic we shared would be the only taste I’d ever have.
I really hated myself for letting her slip through my fingers. I knew it was crazy to think that there had been some kind of connection or something there, but I’d felt it. And crazy or not, I wanted to know if it had all been in my imagination. Now I’d never know.
Or would I?
She was still at Ryder’s place when I left. Maybe he’d gotten her name or number. Maybe she was even still there. I looked at the clock and it was nearly noon, but that wasn’t too crazy all things considered. Back when we lived on campus, after a big rager like that, we’d all sleep in until three or later.
I picked up my phone to call Ryder, but then frowned at the screen, seeing half a dozen notifications from our three musketeers group text.
I scrolled through the messages and gathered that Kingston and Ryder were meeting for brunch and hangover remedies in about twenty minutes, so I quickly shot off a message letting them know I’d be there too and then jumped into the shower to wash off the post-drinking funk.
When I got to the restaurant, they were both already there, sitting at a patio table outside with bloody marys in hand.
“Did you assholes order me one?” I asked, sitting down with them.
Ryder grinned. “Didn’t know when you’d finally show up, Sleeping Beauty,” he said, using the same teasing nickname from the night before. I bristled a little, but it seemed as good a segue as any.
“Whatever happened to that girl I left in your bed?” I asked, trying to play it cool. “Did you get her name or anything?”
“Oh, I got something,” Ryder chuckled, “but it wasn’t her name.”
My bear roared immediately. I should have known. My jaw tensed and my fist clenched under the table at the crass way he talked about her. It wasn’t even jealousy. It shouldn’t surprise me at all that Ryder was able to coax her into sleeping with him. I just hated that he was talking about her so dismissively when I was kind of obsessing over her.
“She left in a pretty big hurry once the sun was up,” he said with a shrug. “But that was plenty of time for me to get in there.”
Kingston was laughing with him so I forced myself to unclench my fist, smiling along with my friends.
“Certainly a change of pace for you to be picking up my leftovers,” I said, taking my shot at ribbing Ryder. Who knew if I’d ever have another.
“I thought I recognized that sly smile on your smug little mug,” Ryder said, almost condescendingly. “I’m happy for you buddy. And I appreciate you priming the pump. She couldn’t wait to jump my bones once I climbed in bed with her.”
Kingston looked a little confused, so Ryder relayed the whole tale. How I’d left some girl in his bed after a quick romp. How he’d come in prepared to kick her out, but found her too perfect to disturb, so he’d just gotten in bed with her. Then he told us how she’d rolled over and grabbed his dick, begging him to fuck her without so much as a ‘hi, how are you.’
I wondered if she thought it was still me in the bed beside her. If Ryder being there had freaked her out and made her run away.
But it didn’t matter. I was the one who’d left first. I couldn’t blame Ryder for any of this.
Kingston whistled lowly as the story finished, chuckling under his breath, sipping on his bloody mary.
“Damn, sounds like the two of you had a way better night than I did.”
We joked about it a little more, teasing each other about various conquests. It wasn’t the first time Ryder and I had been interested in the same girl. It wasn’t often that they looked my way when Ryder was available, but the couple times that they did, we didn’t have a problem sharing. My only problem was when he stole the girls I was interested in and made them not interested in me anymore.
But that wasn’t even a problem with this girl since neither of us would ever see her again.
“Do you have any idea who she came with?” I asked. Ryder shook his head.
“Not a clue. Never seen her before.”
“Me either,” I said, scratching my jaw thoughtfully.
“Are you two going to moon over some pussy that got away all day?” Kingston grumbled, and Ryder and I looked at each other.
“You rather talk about how hard Coach is going to ride our ass tomorrow?” Ryder asked with a smirk.
Kingston groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Don’t remind me. Hopefully this hangover is long gone by then.”
“Hair of the dog not curing you?” I asked.
He made a face at his bloody mary.
“It’ll all be worth it though when we’ve got our victory,” Ryder said, and I groaned while Kingston rolled his eyes.
“What?” he asked.
“You and your fucking wins, man. It’s like all you seem to care about these days,” I grumbled.
“Hey, that’s not true,” Kingston said, smacking him on the back. “He stopped thinking about it long enough to bury himself between some poor girl’s thighs last night.”
“And threw you ungrateful bastards one hell of a party,” he tossed in, his scowl not quite reaching his eyes.
I understood, though. It was hard to be upset at anything after having your world rocked by that mystery girl. Well, there was one thing I had no problem being upset about, and that was how unlikely it was to have my world rocked by her again.
Just thinking about it made me grumpier and my bear louder than before. I don’t know what it was about her, but she had this hold on us and wouldn’t let go.
“I’m not ungrateful,” I said in my own defense. “I had a damn good time last night.”
“Hell yeah you did,” Ryder said, grinning from ear to ear.
Kingston shook his head, tutting. “That poor, poor misguided girl. I hope she finds some help soon, because anyone that sleeps with both of you assholes in one night has got to be at rock bottom.”
Ryder flipped him off, but I frowned as he pushed back his chair and stood.
“Where are you running off to?” I asked.
“My sister’s moving back to town, remember? I’ve gotta go help her unpack.”
“Aww, what a good big brother,” Ryder teased.
“Hey, you’ve met my mom, you wouldn’t want to make her angry either. She wants me to help Keely unpack, so I’ve gotta help Keely unpack.”
“I still haven’t met this mysterious sister of yours,” Ryder said, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.
Kingston narrowed his eyes and glared at him. “Haven’t you already ruined enough poor girls’ lives?”
“Ouch,” Ryder replied, clutching at his chest like he’d been shot.
“I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” Kingston said, waving as he headed down the sidewalk away from us.
I sighed, watching him go. “So you don’t have any idea who she was?” I asked Ryder.
He clucked his tongue and shook his head. “Nah, man. And it’s probably for the best we both just let it go. Sometimes a magical pussy just comes into your life when you most need it, never to be found again.”
I looked at him skeptically. “Are you really trying to tell me this was some kind of fairy tale shit?”
He tried to look serious. He really did. But it wasn’t long before he broke, snorting and laughing.
“No, dude. She was just some thirsty chick at a party. Go to more parties and you might get used to it.”
But even as he said it, I got the feeling that Ryder didn’t really believe it. That he felt some weird need to figure out who the girl was too. I saw something in his eyes. Something missing.
“I’m gonna hit the gym, wanna join me?” he asked.
I frowned, flexing, still sore from the hangover and the grueling workouts of the last week. Plus, the amount of work I had for classes came to mind as the end of the semester was closing in.
“Think I’m going to take it easy today,” I said. “I’ll see you at practice tomorrow.”
He nodded and started to walk away. Then, he stopped, turned to look at me, his face more serious than even I was used to seeing. “You really should just let it go. Girls like that… They’re nothing but trouble.”
My bear grumbled as the words left his mouth. I didn’t know where that was coming from, but I had been friends with Ryder long enough to know that he had a penchant for stealing the girls I wanted. Did he actually know who she was and was just trying to keep her for himself?
I didn’t want to think the worst of him, but sometimes he made it hard to do otherwise.
Then again, out of the three of us, Ryder was the one with the most experience in this area, so if he said I was getting in over my head, chances were he knew what he was talking about. Whether I actually listened to him or not was another subject entirely.
Finally, I decided it wasn’t worth the hassle. If Ryder was trying to pull one over on me, I already had one up by being suspicious. If not, then there was nothing to worry about anyway.
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” I said, but even I heard the hollowness in my tone. There was no way I was giving up on her. Not yet at least. Not without trying to figure out who the hell she was.