Bad Intentions (25 page)

“Gah.” I make a weird sound like I’m failing to pronounce a word correctly. “I have nothing to compare it to.”

“What a sad life you lead, Adaley.”

I chuck a purple, ruffled throw pillow at her head. “Don’t remind me.” I sit up straight on my bed with a newfound confidence. “Besides the past is the past, and I’m moving forward.”

“You better be moving your ass to that shower. We have to be at the field in, like, a hour.”

“I got it. I got it,” I repeat on my way to the bathroom.

As soon as the water hits my naked body, my mind recalls the events from yesterday. My body tingles from head to toe, just thinking about the way Ryle made me feel. I’m not ashamed anymore. How could I be, when he made me feel so comfortable and adored?

I’m still a bit leery to jump right into a relationship with him. I mean, he did admit to having numerous sexual partners. I’m sure I even go to class with some of them. The thought alone makes me quiver, and not in a good way.

The past is the past.
I intend on doing my best to remember that.

I finish washing and then add ample conditioner to my hair, when I hear my name being shouted through the closed door.

“Adaley!” A hard knock follows.

“Be out in five,” I shout back. “The joys of having a roommate,” I mumble.

“I heard that, bitch!”

Laughing at our silly banter, I climb out of the shower and toss my hair into a towel. “What is so urgent that you had to interrupt my shower? Maybe I was getting off, and you totally just interrupted me.”

My body freezes, as I follow Zoe’s pointed finger to the corner of our dorm room, where no one other than Ryle is standing with a giant grin plastered on his sun-kissed face.

“Well, this isn’t embarrassing.”

He takes a step toward me. “Hey, didn’t I tell you not to be embarrassed around me anymore?”

I’m at a loss for words. I grasp the cotton towel that is folded at my side tightly and take a step backward into the steamy bathroom. Ryle follows suit and takes another step forward.

“Oh. My. God. This is sickening to watch. Adaley, just meet me at the field.” Without making eye contact with me, Zoe practically runs out of our dorm room.

“Care to elaborate on that whole spiel about what you were doing in the shower?”

It is all too easy to get lost in the way he looks at me from head to toe like he wants to devour me.

“I was joking.”

Ryle pins me against the sink, holding me in place with his eyes. I gasp as a corner of my towel slips, and I expose myself more while grappling to catch it. In a moment of courage, I simply let it drop to the floor. My throat tightens, and I wait for him to make a move – to do anything other than look in my eyes. My cheeks color under the heat of his stare.

“I want to bend you over that sink and take you right here, and if I weren’t trying so damn hard to do right by you—by us—I would.” His eyes remain glued on mine.

I fight the urge to wrap my hands around his neck and pull him closer.

My eyes follow his tongue as it flicks out to lick his lips, and I surrender, willingly losing the battle just to taste him. Our lips collide in a hunger that makes me believe that he’s also reliving the moment we shared yesterday.

I’m standing naked in front of him, and although our mouths are moving—nipping at one another’s—Ryle doesn’t touch me. His hands stay folded in his pockets.

“Touch me,” I whisper through panted breaths.

“Please don’t ask me to do that, Adaley. I want to so damn badly, but I won’t be able to stop, and you deserve more than a quickie in a dorm room bathroom. Okay?”

She nods her head, but Ryle knows that Adaley doesn’t fully understand. To her, it probably feels like she’s getting turned down. Which is definitely
not
the case. Ryle knows himself, and is certain if he stands in front of her for one more second, he’ll lose control completely. Although he’s equally sure they would both enjoy it, he also knows this moment is not the right one.

“We’re running out of time.”

She kisses his neck, trailing little licks down to his shoulder.

“Adaley,” he mutters as she rakes her hand over the bulge in his pants.

“Ryle,” she mocks.

Without hesitation, he steps back and puts distance between them. Bending at the knees, he retrieves her towel from the floor and wraps it around her once more.

“You are a little tease. Now get dressed, or I’m going to be late.”

He briskly turns and shuts the door behind him, leaving a very naked and very aroused Adaley behind it.

I’m a fucking idiot,
he thinks, shifting himself in his pants and silently begging her to put clothes on.

As much as I like to complain about Zoe’s sex life, there’s no one else I’d rather talk to about my nonexistent one. Ryle keeps shutting me down, and it’s utterly frustrating. What kind of man walks away from a girl who is buck naked in front of him?

I slide one foot through the hole in my faded denim shorts, and I have an epiphany. Maybe that’s why he’s not acting on his instincts. Maybe he wants me to play hard to get. It could be like before, when he confessed to being turned off that I was trying to gain his attention.

I stow my frustrations, finish getting ready, and exit the bathroom. Ryle is sitting in my computer chair, spinning around in circles. “You ready?” I ask, as the spinning comes to a halt.

“As ready as I’ll ever be. You do know they’re shaving my head, right? I mean, we could head for the hills if you want to?”

Even though I’m trying to play it cool and keep us distanced, my body automatically moves toward his, and I run my hands in his wealth of hair. “I happen to think you’ll look cute. And even if you don’t and your skull is all lumpy and gross, at least no other girls will hit on you.”

“You sound like a greedy girlfriend.” He grabs me by the waist and lifts me in the air. “I like it.” He dusts my face with kisses and just like that, every worry I had in the world disappears.

We leave my dorm and are greeted by the fiery orange leaves that have been coloring the tree limbs over the past week. The campus brochure said it’s breathtaking in the fall, and I have to say that I absolutely agree. It’s so strange to think that I’ve already been here for over a month. I haven’t really kept in touch with my parents either—or anyone, including Mark. It’s totally out of the norm for me. I feel as if my mom and dad didn’t support or understand my decision to switch colleges at the last minute. I don’t blame them though. It was super spur-of-the-moment and, if we’re being honest, it was a little irrational.

I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything though. Especially as I walk toward the baseball field, holding hands with the hottest guy on campus. Today marks one week until Braxton’s official start of the playoff season, and to get the team pumped up, they’ve decided to shave their heads in solidarity.

Don’t ask.

“Should we maybe take a picture together before I look like a douche bag and you don’t want to be seen with me?” Ryle turns to me.

I burst out laughing. “You want to take a selfie?”

“Well isn’t that what all the hype is about now?”

“You’re killing me!” I smile with approval before sliding my phone out of a pocket. “Okay, come here. Closer. Smile.”

The phone makes a shuttering sound, and it’s official. We look like losers taking a selfie.

“Well isn’t this cute.” The annoying sound of a brunette gnat approaches. Ryle and I ignore her, hoping that she’ll get the hint and fly away. “Did your little girlfriend decide to tag along? Hey, Adaley,” Naomi is seething, although she tries to rein it in and sound friendly. She isn’t trying hard enough. “So are you guys a legit item now? Apparently, if he’s willingly holding your hand in public. You, know we never got that far in our relationship. Honestly, we didn’t leave the bed much. Oh, did Ryle tell you how much he likes when you circle the tip of your tongue around his—?”

“That’s fucking enough, Naomi,” Ryle fumes.

“Sorry, Naomi. I wasn’t listening, and I think that Ryle’s reached the end of this pleasant conversation. Run along,” I dismiss her with a wave of my hand. “I’m here to watch my boyfriend get his head shaved, which is a hundred times more pleasant than standing here humoring you.”

“Bitch,” I hear her spit out like venom before she stomps away, flip-flops blazing.

She should really learn who she’s messing with, because one of these days, I’m really going to let her have it. And to think I ever felt sorry for her.

“You good?” Ryle nudges my side before lacing our fingers back together.

“I’m good.”

Twenty minutes and a lot of laughter later, Zoe and I attempt to make the boys feel better. “It looks fine. You guys are worse than females when it comes to your hair.” I twist a strand of mine around my finger.

Tank replies, “Yeah, and you didn’t just shave off your—whatever that thing is…braid—now, did you? Come on now. Give us a little sympathy.”

“We’re so sorry you guys had to suffer through this. At least it was all for the love of baseball.” Zoe taunts the trio that includes Tank, Kaiser and Ryle – Braxton’s most elite amigos.

I lean forward and slyly snake my arm through the crook in Ryle’s. My gesture doesn’t go unnoticed. “Holy fucktard. You two? Is this like an actual relationship, or just a little fuckery on the side?”

Tank is a total idiot.

“I don’t know what this is. Feel free to ask him.” I impassively shrug my shoulder, and then take off bouncing to catch up with Zoe and Kaiser, whom seem to have forgotten about us lingering behind them.

I can’t hear Ryle’s response, but I’m hoping that it went something along the lines of, “I want to marry her and make babies all day and night.” I chuckle out loud at how amusing that sounds, before I feel my body being lifted easily into the air. My arms and legs flail like a fish. I’m sure I look like a total goober. My cheek brushes the side of Ryle’s now-shaved head. It feels soft, yet strange.

Bye-bye wealth of dark hair. Hello buzz cut.

My limbs dangle over Ryle’s shoulders. He comes to a halt. “Should we go swimming? It might be the last time before the weather breaks.” Ryle’s offer amuses me. I’ve never witnessed him being so—dare I say—happy.

“I’m in, if you put me down.”

“That’s not happening,” he responds with a smirk that spreads across his face into a wide grin. He has no idea how adorable his dimples are.

“We’re in,” Zoe chimes in, speaking for both her and Kaiser.

“Well aren’t I the little outcast,” Tank pouts while placing his hands in his front pockets and rocking on the balls of his feet. “Let me rectify this.” He pulls his cell phone from his pocket.

Before he has a chance to tap on the screen, I ask, “Is it Paul or Jane who’s going to tickle your fancy tonight?” Everyone erupts in laughter. It’s like my friends are a pack of hyenas.

“If it’s Paul, I’m out,” Kaiser says, unwrapping his arm from around Zoe’s shoulders. “I’m not judging you, bro. I swear I’m not, but it’s one thing to accept your choice and then another be forced to witness it.”

Zoe looks like she’s been slapped in the face, as she pulls back her head and stares blankly at him. “If you can’t accept my brother, then this is over.”

Tank approaches her side. “Seriously, stow your sisterly overprotectiveness. I’m cool with it. My lifestyle isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and the last thing I want is to make anyone feel uncomfortable. Much less another player on the baseball team.”