Player (What Happens on Campus Book 1) (16 page)

Once that thin barrier was discarded, he sank into her. Shuddering, he pressed his face against her neck, breathing in the scent of her. She was always so ready for him, so hot and wet that his eyes rolled back on that first thrust, the pleasure almost painful.

Knotting his hand in her hair, he kissed her hard, desperately. Every muscle in his body tightened to breaking point until the world exploded.

Collapsing on top of her, his cheek pressed against hers, his hips jerked every time an aftershock rippled through her body.

One of her arms, wrapped around his neck, dropped limply back onto the mattress and she sighed beneath him. “That was amazing.”

Cave man that he was, he felt like beating his chest with pride.

The next morning, he woke as the sun slanted through a gap in the curtain, landing on his face. Chloe was sprawled on top of him, their bare skin sticking together in the heat – it was kind of disgusting, but he didn’t really care.

There was no practice this morning so he didn’t have to worry about getting up. Instead he just lay there, enjoying the weight of her on top of him and the feel of her body against his, soft where he was hard.

Glancing over at Jet’s bed, he swore when he realized his roommate had returned sometime during the night. Muttering to himself, he fumbled around for the sheet, pulling it further up and tucking it around her. He was going to have to have serious words with his roommate.

“Wha’s… matta?”

“Sorry, sugar,” he murmured, stroking a hand through her hair, “go back to sleep.”

“It’s okay,” she yawned, stretching her arms up over her head and arching her back, her breasts pressing into his chest, “I slept well, no nightmares.” That was true, he suddenly realized; they’d probably both been too exhausted to do anything other than sleep. “Why were you swearing?”

Sighing, he jerked his chin towards where Jet was sleeping, laying on his back with one leg hanging off the side of the bed. Turning to look, Chloe almost jumped out of her skin when she saw him lying there.

“Was he there last night?” she gasped in dismay, eyes huge as she looked up at him.

Parker couldn’t help but laugh, squeezing her to him with the arm that she was laying on. “No.”

“Oh, good,” she snuggled back into him, “because having an audience does not turn me on.”

“Glad we agree,” he huffed, “‘cos I’m not sharing you.”

Against his shoulder, her lips curved upwards into a smile. “So, have you got any plans for today?”

He shook his head. “No plans, you wanna do something?”

“Yeah,” she lifted her head so that her face was above his, grinning down at him. “Can we go to the cinema, like you suggested Friday?”

“Sure, what do you want to see?”

“I don’t know what’s on,” she shrugged, “let’s just pick when we get there.”

“Sounds good. Let’s grab breakfast first, I vote pancakes.”

“Okay.” Kissing him firmly on the mouth, she bounced out of bed, grabbing a corner of the sheet and yanking it away from him to wrap around herself as she searched the floor for her clothes. Casually, he crossed his arms behind his head and watched her, uncaring that he was totally naked; even if Jet woke up it wasn’t like they had different parts.

Disappearing into the bathroom, she appeared a few minutes later, dressed in last nights’ clothes. “Come on lazy bones, get your ass out of bed,” she whispered, pointing to her cell phone on the bedside table as she sat on the edge of the bed to do up her sandals. “Pass me my phone.”

When he handed it over, she leant over to give him another kiss, before getting up and heading towards the door, “Thanks. I’m going to go shower and change, meet you in an hour?”

Propping himself up on his elbows, he nodded. “Meet me by Jet’s car.” His friend owed him for coming back last night.

Grinning at him from the doorway, Chloe stepped out into the hallway, waved goodbye, then walked off, purposefully leaving the door wide open for people in the hallway to see in. Not bothering to pick up the sheet she’d left on the floor, he got up and stretched, before strolling over to the door. A small Asian girl with big glasses, who he thought might live a few doors down, gave him a startled look, before ducking her head as she hurrying past. It made him laugh as he closed the door and went into the bathroom to shower.

When he came out, rubbing the water from his hair with a towel, he found Jet sitting up in bed, blinking the sleep from his eyes. Chucking the towel over the back of his desk chair, he went in search of jeans and a clean shirt. He seriously need to do laundry. And while he was at it, a haircut would probably be a good idea.

“Good night?” Jet asked and Parker glanced over his shoulder to see him smirking knowingly.

“Yeah,” he answered, scowling as he added, “woulda been a good morning too if you hadn’t been here.”

Shrugging, unconcerned, Jet threw his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. “Sorry, dude, didn’t realize I was supposed to sleep in the library. Get your own room next term.”

“Asshole.”

“Hey, at least I left for a few hours, not many roommates would do that at two a.m.”

Grunting in grudging acceptance, he found a faded blue t-shirt and pulled it on over his head, before asking, “Mind if I borrow your car?”

“That’s fine,” Jet answered, heading into the bathroom and calling through the closed door, “but I need it back by six, Terri and I are going to the comedy club.”

“That’s cool, thanks.”

Jet and Terri often went to the comedy club in the city, despite the fact that it was a good couple of hours drive away. Honestly, Parker found it a bit strange; Jet was solemn and Terri didn’t seem to have much of a sense of humor, so listening to stand-up comedians didn’t seem like the sort of thing either of them would enjoy. But it meant he’d have the room to himself for most of the evening.

With half-an-hour to spare and Jet’s car keys in his pocket, he headed out into the sunshine to wait. Sitting on the grass, he watched other students strolling along the sidewalk. Some of them called out greetings and he raised his hand, but didn’t get up.

Chloe didn’t take long getting ready; she wasn’t that sort of girl, she didn’t spend ages on her makeup and hair, nor did she obsess over what she was going to wear. Turning up in a floaty white skirt that stopped just above her knees and a tight, strappy black top, she nudged his foot with the toe of her sandal.

“You ready?”

“Yeah.” He held out a hand for her to help him up, but when she grabbed hold of it, he pulled her down into his lap instead.

“Hey!” Yelping, she landed heavily against his chest as he laughed. “I thing I just flashed my butt,” she grumped, swatting at his arm.

Running a hand over the curve of her ass, in the pretense of smoothing down her skirt, he glanced over her shoulder to see if anyone was behind her. There were a few people, but none of them were paying them any attention.

“I hope you’re wearin’ panties.” Kissing her neck, he slid his hand up the back of her thigh, “On the other hand…”

“Stop it, stop it, stop it,” she squealed, grabbing at his hand to pull it away.

Laughing, he wrapped an arm around her waist and used the other to push himself up off the ground, standing her up next to him and steering her towards the car.

Heading towards the nearby town, they stopped at a roadside diner along the way. A young blonde with an unnervingly big smile showed them to a booth by the window overlooking the parking lot and, beyond that, the road. They ordered their food and sat sipping their drinks as they waited – he got OJ, while she enjoyed a peanut butter shake, humming in pleasure around her straw.

Why the hell did that make him hard? The booth was so small that his knees touched hers and he spread out his legs so that they bracketed her.

Their food came within minutes; she’d ordered blueberry pancakes, while he got good, old-fashioned syrup and bacon on his. Licking his lips, he dug in immediately, suddenly realizing how fucking hungry he was.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Chloe pause, with a forkful of food hovering at her lips. “That’s disgusting.”

“Have you ever tried it?” he asked around a mouthful.

“I don’t think I want to.”

Swallowing, he grinned, “Where’s your sense of adventure?” Cutting a triangle of pancake and a piece of bacon, he dipped them both in syrup, before lifting it towards her mouth, head cocked in challenge.

For a moment, her lips pressed together in denial, then they parted and he slipped the food inside. Slowly, her mouth closed and he pulled the fork back out, stroking the cool metal between her lips.

Chewing carefully, her brown eyes never left his. Finally, she admitted grudgingly, “It’s actually not that bad.” A moment of consideration. “English pancakes are still better though.”

“What’s the difference?” He took a slug of OJ, then speared another piece of pancake onto his fork, even as he watched, mesmerized, as she licked the syrup off her lips.

“They’re thinner, more like crepes really, and they’re best rolled up with sugar and lemon.”

“I’ll stick with bacon, thanks.”

“Carnivore.”

In response he gnashed his teeth at her and she laughed, popping a couple of blueberries into her mouth, before licking the dark juices from her fingers one by one. He was pretty sure she did it just to make him uncomfortable.    

After breakfast, which by that time was lunch, they jumped back in the car and drove off to find the movie theatre. Being in a small town it was a little theatre and only did two showings a day. One was a space-age sci-fi flick that looked a bit weird to him and the other was some old-school musical. Not much of a choice. He wouldn’t watch either of them.

“Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” Chloe grinned up at him, grabbing his arm, “I used to love that film. Mum and I used to watch it at the weekends when it was raining, which, in England, is like every weekend.”

“Guess we’ll see that then,” he said, going over to the ticket booth and handing over the money, receiving two stubby tickets in return.

“Thanks, but you don’t always have to pay for me. I do have my own money, you know.”

“What can I say, I’m a gentleman.”

“Well, I’ll buy the popcorn then.”

A short while later, armed with popcorn and a drink to share, they sat at the back of the theatre as the film started. Immediately, people started singing and he sighed heavily, settling back in his chair and preparing himself to pretend he wasn’t being tortured for the next hour or so. But, as some guy started singing about getting a girl, he felt Chloe’s hand creeping up his leg. Wasn’t that what he was supposed to do?

Grabbing her hand, he turned his head to look at her. “Hey, I think I’m the one who’s supposed to take advantage of you in the back row.”

“We’re not in the back row,” she whispered.

“Close enough.” And he leant down to kiss her. It was an awkward kind of kiss, the chair arm digging into his ribs as he tried to turn further, bending his neck to reach her mouth.

The hand that had been on his thigh moved further up and he jerked as her fingers curled around him.

“Fuck,” he swore violently, ripping his mouth away from hers. The middle aged couple a few seats in front turned to scowl at them disapprovingly. “Sorry,” he whispered and they turned back around.

Narrowing his eyes, he turned to glare at Chloe, whose shoulders were shaking with laughter, her hand muffling the sound. Thankfully, the theatre was pretty much empty, except for a few other couples, most of which were nearer the front, far enough away not to be bothered by their antics.

“Not funny,” he grumbled.

Wordlessly, she just nodded in disagreement. In revenge, he reached a hand beneath her skirt and pinched her inner thigh, which made her yelp, slapping his hand away.

“That hurt,” she hissed.

Leaning in close, he whispered in her ear, “Let me kiss it better?”

When he drew back it was to see interest flickering in her eyes, her face partially illuminated by the light on the screen. He grinned; clearly he was a bad influence on her. Despite that though, she shook her head.

“Come on,” he teased, “I’ll be quiet.”

“I’m sure you will be, it’s not you I’m worried about,” she muttered, almost too low for him to hear and he laughed softly, tucking his face into the crook of her neck. “I’m not opposed to making-out though.”

Shit, he really had created a monster!

Most of the movie they spent kissing and touching in the dark, careful to keep quiet and avoid drawing attention. Pushing up the armrest to make himself more comfortable, he pulled Chloe’s legs over his lap, though she kept her thighs firmly pressed together, pushing his hand away whenever it tried to stray too far upwards.

Occasionally, she’d pull away, touching her fingers to his lips to stop him and tell him that she liked this bit, before returning her gaze to the big screen. Once the part she liked was over, she’d return her lips to his as if she’d never broken away and he could feel himself falling more and more in love with her.

After spending Sunday with him, Chloe didn’t see much of Parker over the next week. Both of them were suddenly bombarded with homework. She’d worked too hard to get this scholarship not to make the most out of it, therefore, she was spending most of her time in the library. Parker also had an important away game that weekend, against a team which beat them every year apparently, so Coach was working them hard and fitting in extra training sessions, which meant they had even less time to spend together. But she still saw him at night, when he either came to her room or she went to his, depending on what their roomies were doing. 

That evening, she was sprawled on her bed, still busy finishing off an essay that was due the next day, when he knocked on the door.

“Hang on,” she yelled, her fingers flying over the keys as she tried to finish her sentence before she forgot it. Jumping off the bed, the hurried to the door and swung it open, quickly returning to her laptop.

Still standing in the doorway, Parker snorted. “Nice greeting.”

Turning to glance at him over her shoulder, she smiled wryly. “Sorry, but I need to get this done. I’m almost there.”

“It’s okay, I’ve got stuff to do, too,” he said, sitting on the bed with his back against the headboard and his legs stretched out so that his feet were beside her laptop.

He’d taken his shoes off and when she looked back again it was to see that he had a notepad resting on his lap and a pencil clasped firmly between his teeth as he frowned down at the page. There was a deep furrow between his brows and his forehead was wrinkled in concentration. He was going to burst a blood vessel thinking so hard.

“What are you working on?” she asked curiously.

“Just studying. Math. Quiz tomorrow.”

“Going okay?”

Sighing loudly, in a way that said clearly not, he leant his head back against the wall and scrubbed both hands down his face. “I just need to scrape a pass, you know? I don’t wanna be a fuckin’ mathematician, or a scientist, who cares if I can do this shit?”

“Maybe you should get a tutor?”

Snorting, he shook his head. “I can’t afford a tutor. The money I earned over the summer has to last the whole term and tutors are bloody expensive.”

“I’m sure you could find someone.”

“It’ll be fine,” he dismissed. “Like I said, all I need to do is pass, I don’t need to make top marks or nothin’.”

“Well, just let me know if you do want some help,” she said, reaching out to squeeze his foot, making him jerk because he was seriously ticklish, a fact she’d found out several weeks ago and continued to use to her advantage.

Returning to their various tasks, they stuck at it until Parker finally got too bored and chucked the notepad onto the floor, where it landed with a dull thud. “I’m done,” he announced, “how ‘bout you?”

“Almost,” she answered, jerking slightly as she felt his fingers tracing lightly over her calf.

The mattress bounced as he levered himself up over her, his breath hot against her neck as he kissed her there. Immediately, her breathing sped up, along with her heart rate and she could hear the blood pounding in her ears.

“I can finish this later,” she murmured after a moment, pushing the laptop away so that she could twist over onto her back, biting her lip in anticipation.

They made love slowly, gently, and when Riley came back from wherever she’d been, they were curled up under the covers – she was wearing his t-shirt and had persuaded him to put his boxer back on.

Riley stumbled through the door and almost fell flat on her face. Picking herself up, she went to sit on the edge of her bed. Immediately, her mouth started running away with her.

“I’ve had an absolutely amazing evening. I went out with Joey and we met some of his friends and there was this girl with hair all the way down to the floor and a few guys that smelled like they hadn’t washed in a while and a cat. It was the cutest little cat I’ve ever seen, well, it was until it scratched me. Look.” She held out her hand to show them an angry red line across the top of it. “Joey told me not to pet it, but I couldn’t help myself. It was black and white. I want a cat, but I want a ginger one and I’ll name him Gingy, but he won’t be mean and he won’t scratch me…”

As she carried on, talking in an excited voice almost like a child, Chloe sat up in bed. Sure, Riley was usually hard to shut up, but she didn’t normally have verbal diarrhoea. Studying her friend closely, she noticed her flushed cheeks and dilated pupils.

“Riley,” she asked carefully, “have you taken something?” Beside her, Parker sat up too.

“Of course not,” Riley exclaimed, but she wouldn’t meet her gaze all of a sudden, “what do you think I am, some sort of druggie. So, I smoke weed? So what, everyone does it. It’s not like it’s going to kill me and I can stop any time I want.”

Worried now, Chloe persisted, “Riley, what did you take?”

“Nothing,” she stomped her foot, face screwing up in irritation. “Well… maybe something. But I’m not telling you what, ‘cos you’ll just tell my sister and she’ll say no. No, no, no. Always no.” Tears filled her eyes suddenly. “She doesn’t want me here, you know? She thinks I’m intruding on her life. But I can’t go anywhere else. Not now. I don’t know what to do…”

Lifting her hands to her face, she dissolved into tears and Chloe’s eyes widened. For a second she didn’t know what to do, then she jumped off the bed and went to sit beside her friend, wrapping her arms around Riley’s thin shoulders.

“I’m sure that’s not true,” she murmured, “Terri loves you, she just… has a funny way of showing it.”

“She doesn’t show it at all!” Riley wailed.

“I should go,” Parker said, already reaching for his jeans on the floor.

“No, don’t,” she hissed. She did not do well with crying; people didn’t tend to burst into tears on her.

Shoes in one hand, he disappeared out of the door without a backwards look. Coward.

Patting her arm, Chloe searched for something to say, but as it turned out, she didn’t need to say anything because Riley did all the talking herself. After a while the words just bled into one another and she couldn’t understand what was being said, so she just stroked her hair and waited for the storm to pass.

It didn’t take that long for Riley to cry herself out and begin to calm down, but it felt like an eternity.

“I’m sorry,” she sniffed when she’d finally stopped bawling her eyes out, lifting her head from Chloe’s shoulder, revealing a large damp patch on Parker’s t-shirt and lines of thick black mascara running down her cheeks. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it,” Chloe reassured her, edging away slightly because it felt strange to be sitting so close now that she was no longer crying, as if neither of them had any personal space.

“Look, I got your t-shirt all dirty,” she pointed to the wet patch shot through with black streaks.

“It’s fine, it’s Parker’s anyway.” That dirty rotten traitor. If he thought he was having sex again any time soon, he had another thing coming. “Riley, what did you take tonight, do you remember?”

Her pupils were no longer dilated, Chloe saw, but still, this wasn’t normal and she didn’t smell as if she’d been drinking. Plus, Riley was usually a happy drunk… at least until she started throwing up anyway.

Again, Riley shook her head, staring down at her feet. Then after a second, she jumped up, “Let’s go dancing!”

“No,” Chloe answered immediately.

Pouting, her roommate whined, “Why not?”

“It’s a Wednesday night.”

“So?”

“Riley, I’ve got class in the morning and so have you.”

“Pooey,” she blew a loud, unladylike raspberry, “you’re such a killjoy.”

“Yeah, well, tough luck.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Riley threw herself back down beside her, wrapping an arm around her waist and laying her head down on her lap, which was a little awkward considering she wasn’t wearing anything beneath Parker’s t-shirt. “I love you, you’re my bestest friend in the world, my only friend actually. Girls don’t really like me.”

Stroking her long hair absentmindedly, Chloe stayed silent until she asked suddenly, “Can I tell you a secret?”

“Of course.”

“I wasn’t always this pathetic. I had a career, a life. I was going to the Olympics,” she sniffled, wiping at his nose with the back of her hand.

Stunned, Chloe just blinked down at her; she wasn’t sure how much truth was in her words, but she was interested to know more.

Riley continued, “I fell off the uneven parallel bars, let go too soon. Hit the bar. Fell. Tore a tendon. Months of rehab, but it’s too weak. Can’t compete anymore. It was my whole life, I’ve been doing gymnastics since I was five and then all of a sudden I can’t do it anymore. It feels like a piece of my soul has been torn away. I don’t know what to do with my life now. I had everything planned out, I was going to win gold, have an amazing career, but now I can’t…”

Lifting her hands to her face, Riley began to sob heartbrokenly. Damn, what did she say to that?

“I’m sorry,” she murmured pathetically, “I’m sure you’ll figure something out.”

That only made her cry harder. If she cried much longer she’d dry up from dehydration.

“My life is over…” she wailed dramatically.

“How about I tell you a secret?” she said on a whim, the words flying out before she could stop them.

Lifting her head, Riley looked up at her through watery eyes. “You have a secret?” she hiccupped.

“Yeah.” Taking a deep breath, she began to tell Riley everything about how Jack had died and the guilt she felt for enjoying her life here with Parker and her new friends. As the words flowed out of her mouth, it was like a weight off her chest. The fact that Riley likely wouldn’t remember this in the morning, made it easier to say.

At some point, she had stopped crying and sat up beside her, cross legged on the edge of the mattress and when Chloe finished speaking, she frowned, deep in thought. “I think your brother would want you to be happy.”

And that was that, plain and simple.

Once Riley had zonked out, face down on her pillow, Chloe lay awake for hours, staring up at the ceiling. For a while, she listened to music, hoping it would lull her to sleep, but it didn’t, so she turned it off. As it turned out, her dad had been right, it was too hot in South Texas for a hot water bottle, so that ended up on the floor, along with the covers that she kicked off in her agitation.

What Riley said was true, Jack would want her to be happy, he’d only ever wanted the best for her, more like a dad at times than a brother, probably because there had been a seven-year age gap between them. Still, it was easy to think, easy to whisper aloud, but it was quite another thing to push her negative feelings away.

If she forgave herself, moved on, it felt like she was forgetting him.

He didn’t deserve to be forgotten.

Turning onto her side, she hugged her pillow tight to her chest. She didn’t like sleeping without Parker, she realized with a pang. Obviously this wasn’t the first time they’d slept apart since they started dating, but it was the first time she’d really felt his absence. It was like an empty hole in her chest.

Reaching for her mobile, Chloe scrolled through her contacts until she found his number. She hesitated, her thumb hovering over his name for a moment, before pressing down. It rang a couple of times and she considered hanging up, but then he answered.

“You ‘kay?” he yawned. She could imagine him with his hair sleep ruffled and eyelids heavy.

“I’m lonely,” she admitted, fitting the mobile between her ear and the pillow.

“Want me to come over?”

“It’s almost time for you to get up for practice, there’s no point.”

“So?”

“Just talk to me for a minute.”

“What do you wanna talk about?”

“Tell me about your family. You know all about mine and I don’t even know your brother’s names.”

“Axel, Tyler and Conner,” he spoke softly into the phone, probably trying not to disturb Jet, either that or he just didn’t like the subject – whenever they talked about family he always shied away from sharing anything too personal.

“What are they like?” She already knew they’d bullied him as a kid, but then all siblings fought. Granted, burning your little brother with cigarettes was taking it to the extreme. “Do you get on now that you’re older?”

A small silence. “No, we’re too different. When I’m home we… just try to ignore each other.” The hesitation suggested a lie but she didn’t call him on it; the same theory she applied to Riley also worked for Parker, if he wanted to tell her, he would.

“That’s a shame. What about your parents, what are they like?”

“They’re a disaster,” he half laughed, but it wasn’t a sound of amusement, “Dad drinks like a fish, Mom’s always yellin’ and they’re both cheats. I guess now you know why I’m such a fuck-up.”

“You’re not a fuck-up,” she reprimanded softly.

“It’s so sexy when you say fuck. Your accent makes it sound all posh.”

“Don’t try to distract me,” she said, though she was smiling. “How can you think you’re a fuck-up? You’re going to a good university on a full scholarship. You’ve got a shot at the NBA, Parker. Don’t you know how amazing that is?”