Player (What Happens on Campus Book 1) (8 page)

Before he even knew what he was doing, Parker’s arm shot out. Grabbing the front of his friends’ shirt, he yanked him forward a step until they were face to face. “Don’t even think about it.”

Eyes wide, but more amused than surprised, Dawson reached up to pry Parker’s fingers away, stepping back and straightening his shirt. “All right, dude, no need to go psycho over it.”

“Seriously, Dawson, stay away from her.”

Holding up his hands, Dawson grinned at him. “It’s fine, I get it, you called dibs. I won’t violate the bro code.”

“I didn’t call dibs, we’re not five.” Sometimes his friend could be so fucking annoying.

“Whatever, she’s all yours, but I’d suggest you make your move before he makes his,” he called over his shoulder as he moved away with the blonde, gesturing over to where Derek and Chloe were dancing. Parker’s eyes narrowed as he watched them. Derek said something in her ear and she laughed up at him. Sullenly, he moved off the dance floor to lean against the wall, watching them from the safety of the shadows.

Snagging a beer from a passing freshman, he took a long swig, waving away a cheerleader who tried to approach him. If he remembered correctly, they’d actually slept together before and she’d been wild beneath the covers. Either way, she left with a disappointed pout, whilst his eyes remained fixed on Chloe’s hips swaying to the music.

Song after song went by, as did several more beers. Jet turned up at some point and tried to talk to him, but he didn’t remember any of the conversation and eventually Jet must have drifted off again. The next thing that broke through his haze of jealousy was Riley getting right up in his face.

“Hey!” she exclaimed drunkenly, pushing his shoulder with more force than necessary. “Have you seen Chloe?”

“She’s right there,” he replied distractedly, craning his neck to see around Riley’s head; he wanted to know the instant Derek stepped out of line.

She turned to see where he was indicating. “Oh yeah.” Again, she slapped his shoulder before staggering over to Chloe, almost falling despite the fact she was wearing flats. Chloe stopped dancing to talk to her and a flash of relief went through him. However, a second later, her face screwed up in concern and she grabbed Riley’s arm.

Moving closer, Parker strained to hear what was being said, but it was impossible over the pounding music. Laughing, Riley pulled her arm free, waving away whatever Chloe was saying, before leaning forward to give her a smacking kiss on the cheek and leaving.

Instead of following her roommate, Chloe walked over to him with a frown. “Do you know that guy?” she asked, nodding her head towards where Riley had fallen into the arms of a tall, brown haired guy, giggling ridiculously. “His name’s Joey,” she added.

“I’ve seen him around,” Parker shrugged, “I think he’s a second year.”

Anxiously chewing her lip, Chloe’s big brown eyes flickered over the pair, indecision clear on her face.

Taking her elbow, Parker led her out of the main room and into the hall where it was quieter. “What’s the problem, sugar?”

“He just seems kind of sleazy and they’ve only really seen each other twice.” A glance over her shoulder at Riley draped over Joey as he tried to steer her out of the room. “Plus, she’s totally wasted.”

Sighing, he rubbed a hand down his face, watching the progress of the pair. He’d screwed girls who were drunk before, but he had to admit that all of those girls had been able to stand by themselves. “Do you want me to go get her?”

“Would you?”

Usually, he made it his business not to get involved, but for her… God, he was a soppy idiot. His brothers would beat the crap out of him if they ever got wind of this.

Nodding, he moved away to intercept Riley before they could reach the door. Placing himself in front of the other guy, Parker took Riley’s other arm as she wobbled. “Your sister wants you.”

Blowing a raspberry, she rolled her eyes. “She’s just tryin’ to ruin my fun, she’s such a kill-joy.”

“Yeah, well, don’t shoot the messenger.” Tightening his grip, he began to move her away, but Joey refused to be cut out of the picture so easily.

“Whatever it is can wait, she’s coming with me.”

Joey was tall, taller than Parker, but he was also lanky, without any real body mass and he backed down quickly when Parker squared up to him. “She’s off her face. What’s the matter, don’t think she’d fuck you sober?”

Instantly, the boy’s face burned red. “Come on, mate, you know how it is…”

“No, I don’t and I’m not your mate.” With that he pushed past, Riley in tow, and Joey let him go, swallowed by the crowd of people. Finding Chloe over by the stairs, he said in her ear, “We should go.”

With his arm wrapped around her waist, Riley went with them quietly, up until they passed through the door and out into the fresh night air. Pushing at his chest, she staggered away, glowering at him like an angry butterfly.

Stabbing a finger in his direction, she demanded, “Where’s my sister? You said we were seeing Terri.”

“She’s waiting for you in your room,” he lied easily.

“Oh, okay.” Placated, she slid back beneath his arm, tucking herself into his side with far too much familiarity as she let him hold her up.

“Get your hand out of my back pocket,” he ordered gruffly. She was not the girl he wanted groping his butt.

The startled look Chloe shot him did wonders for his ego. For a moment her eyes had flashed with jealousy. Walking beside him, she quickly averted her gaze, pretending not to care.

“You’re good at that,” she commented, a few minutes later as they walked along the street, the sound of the party fading away behind them.

“What, dealing with drunk people? I’ve had a lot of practice.” Try as he might, it was hard not to let bitterness seep into his voice; he’d learned his lessons early.

“You’re patient,” she added, “most people aren’t like that.” Once more, he noticed the shadows in her eyes. They looked like emotional bruises and he wondered what thoughts had put them there.

When she didn’t speak again, he fell silent too, concentrating on making sure Riley didn’t trip. It didn’t take long to get to the dorms, but it took twice the amount of time to climb the stairs. Somewhere along the way they lost a shoe and he had to run back down once he’d deposited them in their room. He finally found it on the second floor. How Riley hadn’t noticed she was missing a shoe until the sixth floor he didn’t know.

Back upstairs, he knocked on the girls’ door and Chloe poked her head out. God, she was fucking beautiful; hair damp at the roots from dancing for hours and eyes bright, despite the fact that he could hear Riley puking in the bathroom. Holding out the shoe, he kept hold of it even when she tugged.

“Three times and this is a habit, you know?” he smirked.

“I’m sorry,” she blushed slightly, “I’ll try not to let it happen again, I know you have better things to be doing.”

“No worries, sugar. Any time you need me…” he let the suggestion hang in the air, even as he let go of the shoe and watched her move back a step.

Tonight had been total crap, watching her dance with that asshole had set his blood to boiling, but all that was forgotten in a moment because she had asked for his help. When it counted she had chosen him.

Before she knew it, Chloe had been in Texas a month. For a while she’d been terribly homesick, but it hadn’t lasted long; she’d made good friends here and she spoke to her parents at least twice a week over Skype.

She and Parker continued to be friends, in a weird sort of way that didn’t feel like friendship at all. Classes were interesting and all her worries about not being able to keep up had abated – she’d always been academically minded and though she wasn’t at the top of the class, she defiantly wasn’t at the bottom. Since they were in different years, Chloe didn’t see Parker during the day, unless their paths crossed on the way to class, but they all hung out in the evenings and at the weekends.   

Whenever they were together, Parker gave her all his attention, almost as if they were actually a couple. It was nice, flattering, but confusing at the same time. What did he want from her? Surely he was working too hard if all he wanted to do was get into her knickers?

Telling her thoughts to Riley once night at they both sat on their beds, Chloe with a text book in her lap and Riley painting her nails, she scowled at her friend began to laugh, demanding, “What is so funny?”

“What are knickers?” Riley asked, still cackling with laughter, “It sounds like something my Nana would wear.”

“Very funny.” Chloe rolled her eyes. “Come on, quit laughing and help me.”

“Sorry,” she said unrepentantly, holding up a hand, the other one still covering her mouth to hide her mirth.

Unimpressed, Chloe arched an eyebrow, which only made Riley laugh harder. “Do you need a minute?”

“Yes, please,” she sputtered. A few minutes later, she finally sobered. Moving to sit on the edge of the bed, she folded her hands in her lap, all demure, as if nothing had interrupted the conversation. “So, you and Parker have all the parts of a relationship, except the sex?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“Are either of you having sex with other people?”

“I’m definitely not, I don’t know about him.”

“It sounds like we need to do a bit of recon,” she exclaimed, her bright eyes gleaming as she all but bounced in place. “This is going to be so fun!”

“We are not spying on Parker. Anyway, what would be the point, he’s always with us when he’s not in class, or at practice. When does he have the chance to get down and dirty?”

“Oh, there is always time for sex,” Riley assured her, “and lots of covert places to do it.” Holding up a hand, she began to count on her fingers, “Storerooms, dark corners, unlocked bedrooms, toilets…”

“Really, toilets? That’s disgusting.”

Riley just shrugged, smirking. Not for the first time Chloe wondered who the real Riley was, the innocent, over-excitable girl who’d never been to a party, or the flirty, sexually-experienced temptress.

Deciding to change the subject, Chloe asked, “Is Joey coming to the game with us tomorrow?” Over the past month Riley and Joey had grown close and she had been staying around his most nights – it didn’t take a genius to figure out what they were doing.

“He’s going with his friends, so we might cross paths,” she shrugged, not looking particularly bothered by the fact that her boyfriend wasn’t hanging out with them, which was good because Terri, Jet and even Parker had made it obvious that he wasn’t welcome.

It wasn’t that he was outright offensive, but there was just something about him that rubbed everyone up the wrong way. There was a cunningness beneath his amiable smile. Riley was the only one who didn’t see it, either that or she just didn’t care. Some girls liked bad boys after all – wasn’t that part of the reason she was attracted to Parker? – it just worried Chloe exactly how bad Joey might be.

The next day, Saturday, they both rose early and headed down to the canteen to get breakfast, before heading back up to their room to prepare for the game, which the whole school had been getting hyped up about all week. After showering, Chloe stepped out of the bathroom to find Riley wearing a football jersey and a seriously short denim skirt.

“I didn’t peg you as a football fan.”

“My dad played in the NFL,” she explained, “once he retired he became a sport commentator, so Terri and I pretty much grew up with it.” Suddenly something occurred to her and her head snapped up. “What are you going to wear?”

Gesturing vaguely at the wardrobe, she shrugged, “Shorts and a tank top I suppose.”

Riley wrinkled her nose. “It’s a shame I don’t have a spare jersey.”

“It’s fine,” Chloe waved her off, “I’m sure no one’s going to care if I’m not wearing the correct uniform.”

Luckily for her she was right; when they arrived at the pitch it was to see that many of the spectators were in normal clothes. With the bustle and noise, it seemed like a huge party. Pretty much the whole school had come to see the first game of the season and they were all chatting excitedly, bustling to find seats. Parents and staff had also turned out in force and were watching the cheerleaders who were already on the field, dutifully adding to the noise.

Just as they found Jet and Terri in the upper tiers and squeezed in beside them, a mascot appeared alongside the cheerleaders, someone dressed in a huge panther costume, and a few minutes later the game began. The players ran onto the pitch, lined up facing each other along the centre line and then thing began to collide.

Honestly, Chloe didn’t have a clue what was going on – both Terri and Riley tried to explain the rules to her but it went in one ear and out the other. As far as she could tell, her assumption that American football was pretty much the same rugby wasn’t far off, except that Americans had the good sense to wear helmets. Because of said helmets, Chloe couldn’t even tell which player Parker was – the only reason she knew which team to support was because they were the ones in red and the only reason she knew that was because Riley told her.

It wasn’t until Parker yanked off his helmet and shook out his wet hair, that she realized which player he was and from that point onwards her eyes were pretty much glued to him, number 18, even when Terri returned from the refreshments stand and pushed a cold cup into her hand.

The sun was brutal and even the natives were melting in their seats. Chloe hadn’t realized just how parched she was until she took a slurp of the cool, sugary liquid in her cup and the coke slid down her dry throat, which then begged for more until she’d almost drained the entire cup. During a break in the action, she took a moment to look over at her friends. Jet looked like he was off in a world of his own, but Terri and Riley appeared to be enjoying themselves as they talked animatedly to the people in front of them. This was the first time Chloe could remember seeing the twins actually getting along, not that they fought, it was just that there always seemed to be a barrier between them.

When the third quarter started, Chloe was a lot more focused, though she still didn’t understand what was going on, it just looked like chaos to her. Someone collided with Parker, slamming him into the ground with brutal force. Everyone cheering for the home team booed loudly, jumping to their feet in protest. Chloe’s English reserve wouldn’t allow her to cry out, but her hand flew up to her mouth and she cringed into her seat, heart pounding. For a moment he didn’t move and she feared he was really hurt, but then the guy who’d floored him held out a hand and pulled him to his feet. Parker hobbled a couple of steps before shaking it off and jogging back into position.

Jeez, she shook her head, American football was seriously tough. Definitely tougher than the football she was used to, in which the players spent most of their time pretending they were injured and whining like big babies.

Finally, when the Texas Panthers had won 7 – 5 and the game was over, everyone filed out of the stadium. Most people headed in the direction of the diners on campus, but Riley grabbed her arm and towed her the opposite way.

“Beta is having a party to celebrate the win,” she informed her.

“Do we need to change?”

“Nah,” Jet cut in, “no one else is bothering.”

Riley pouted disappointedly; she loved getting dressed up. Chloe often thought she enjoyed the preparations more than the actual party. Catching the look, Terri just shook her head at her sister. It really was amazing how they could look so alike and yet so different.

As it always was, the party was in full swing when they arrived, despite the fact that darkness had yet to fall. She suspected it never actually ended. Unlike the other parties she’d attended though, this felt more like a casual get together; there was music playing in the background, but it wasn’t blaring through the house, and guys were sprawled on the sofas in the living room playing video games.

Grabbing some drinks, they headed out onto the front porch, leaning against the railing as they chatted. The twins teased her and Jet for their lack of knowledge about football, but, as Terri said, at least she was forgiven since she was English – being raised in America, Jet had no such excuse.

A short while later, Chloe noticed Parker and a few of his teammates walking along the road. Lifting her hand to wave him over, she immediately yanked it back down when she saw a stunning blonde fling herself into his arms. Wolf whistling and jeering, his friends continued walking as the girl kissed him passionately.

“Well,” Riley sighed beside her, “I guess that answers that question.”

Irrational jealousy assailed her, but it wasn’t as if they were dating. He didn’t want to date her, she reminded herself. Clearly though, there was something going on with the blonde. Forcing herself to look away, Chloe clenched her jaw, reminding herself that there really was no cause to be jealous; they were just friends.

“I’m sorry,” Riley said sympathetically.

Unable to speak, Chloe just nodded, watching a group of guys fooling around on the lawn. One of them was tackled to the floor and the others proceeded to pile on top of him. When she looked back, Parker was walking towards them. Alone… thankfully.

“Hey, congrats on the win,” Jet greeted him.

“Not that he was watching any of it,” Terri teased, reaching out to squeeze Jet’s arm.

“Hey, I watched some of it,” he defended.

“No worries,” Parker smirked, clapping him on the shoulder, “I know football’s not your thing.” Turning to her, he flashed that charming smile. “How’d you like your first football game?”

She tried to act normal, but she knew she wasn’t pulling it off very well as she shrugged and answered tightly, “It was okay. I still don’t understand the rules though.”

“I can teach you if you want,” he replied, moving further into her personal space.

Chloe stepped back. “No, thanks.” Momentary hurt and confusion flashed across his face, but it was so fleeting that she might have imagined it.

Leaving the others to recap the game, she disappeared back inside to get another drink. Halfway to the kitchen, a voice called out her name and she turned to see Derek jogging towards her with a wide, goofy smile. Inwardly, she winced; she didn’t want to deal with him right now. Could she pretend she hadn’t seen him and just walk away? No, that would be rude, not to mention mean.

Sighing, she pasted on a false smile. “Hi, Derek, how are you?”

“Good,” he nodded, reminding her of the nodding dog for a moment, before plunging forward with what he actually wanted to say. “It’s been ages since I saw you and I’ve been wantin’ to ask you something. Remember the party, when we danced? Did you have fun?”

Oh God, she knew where this conversation was heading. “Er… yeah, I guess so,” she answered cautiously, lifting a hand to twist a stand of hair around her finger.

“We should do it again then.”

“Perhaps.”

Not noticing her reluctance, he continued enthusiastically, “We could go to a proper club, or just for dinner or something. Whatever you fancy.”

“That would be lovely, but…”

“Great! How about tomorrow?”

“Wait, Derek, listen…”

“I’ll pick you up at eight.” And then he was off, swaggering away like he’d just been given the crown jewels.

Chloe just stood there for a minute, partially stunned as she watched him go. What had just happened?    

With a lot of skill, she managed to avoid Parker for most of the afternoon, though the jealous part of her kept an eye on him from her peripheral vision. Girls sidled up to him constantly, touching his biceps, his shoulders, his back, running their fingers through his blond hair, but to his credit, he didn’t reciprocate, moving away whenever they tried to cling to him like pretty little leeches. Maybe the blonde was special to him after all, but then again he flirted with Chloe whenever he got the chance so how serious could he really be about the other girl?

The conversation of the night was the Panther’s big win; everyone was talking about how well the team had played and about the hit Parker had taken. It was impossible to get away from him, everywhere she went his name was being spoken. Parker this, Parker that, it was driving her around the bend.

Bored of forcing a smile, Chloe headed outside for a breath of fresh air and was surprised to see that it was dark out. Walking down the porch steps, she craned her head back to stare up at the stars, twinkling on a blanket of midnight blue. Sitting down cross-legged on the lawn, she splayed her fingers out over the dry, prickly blades of grass. Someone really needed to turn the sprinklers on once and a while.