Chapter Eleven
Cole
I peeked.I had one eye open as she pulled her jeans on, her bare back begging for my tongue to run down her spine. The slight curve of her breast bounced just enough to give me a hard-on as she pulled her shirt on. Ground rules, my ass.
“Cole!”
I shut my eyes quickly and failed at keeping my mouth even. “I couldn’t help it.”
Mazey sighed, and it was full of fake irritation. “Ground rules!”
“Right, right. No touching you. No flirting. We’re partners in crime, friends even, but nothing else.” I paused for dramatic effect. “Yet.”
I caught her small smile and beamed on the inside. I wasn’t sure how I went two years without her in my life, but I wasn’t sure I’d survive another two without her. This was going to take a lot of self-restraint on my end. I lived in a fucking house with the guy who hurt her. She’d had bruises on her legs that day. Make-up smeared. Blonde hair a wild mess. The look of pure devastation on her face that morning had haunted me from the very second I locked onto her blue eyes. I wasn’t sure how I wasn’t going to kill him with a fucking butterknife in the morning, but for her, I’d do anything.
I’d been practicing self-control for two years. I’d been leveling out my anger, centralizing my temper and impulsiveness before losing my shit, and I was proud of it. But knowing what he did to her…
“Cole?”
I snapped my gaze up. “Huh? Oh, right.” The covers fell to my lap, and Mazey’s eyes went right to my dick. I had to physically bite my tongue so I didn’t say something that would make most teenage boys snicker. “Time to close your eyes, yeah?”
Heat splashed over Mazey’s cheeks as she spun around, trying to play off her slip up. I chuckled under my breath while I got dressed, and a half-second later, we were walking out the door and heading to my car.
“Do you think everyone is still asleep?” There was a slight hitch to Mazey’s voice, and it hit me square in the chest.
“You mean Ryan?” I nodded over to his room. “The door is closed. He’s probably still asleep.”
Her breath filled the stairway as we climbed down the stairs. “Okay, good. I don’t want him to know I’m here.”
I said nothing as we walked through the trashed house with the beer-pong table still placed in the middle of the living room and articles of clothing scattered all over the floor. If Coach saw the house right now, he’d have a fucking cow. He knew we partied, but he wasn’t happy about it. Our first big game was coming up, and he preached that we needed to be tucked away in our beds by 9pm every night so we could get a full night of sleep before practicing and conditioning. No one ever listened, though.
“My car’s parked in the back. Let’s go through the kitchen door.”
Mazey’s gaze traveled around the mess before nodding and following me. There was some clanking and sizzling coming from the kitchen, and I assumed it was an underclassman who had the task of making breakfast this morning with his attempt at scoring a bedroom in our house.
“What’s for brea–”
My words cut off as my back went ramrod straight. Shit. Ryan turned around as he stood at the stove, a spatula in hand. “Huh?”
Mazey stopped right beside me, and I felt the breath leave her lungs. I stood frozen in my spot with angry blood rushing through my veins like Niagara Falls. Breathe, Cole. Fucking breathe.
“Oh, who’s this?” Ryan’s flirty gaze landed on Mazey, and my fists ached. “Did Cole actually let a girl in his room?” He looked back at me, and the room began to darken. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Wait, does he not recognize her?
My tone was leveled, although I was anything but. “Some girls are worth it,” I answered cooly, wanting to rip his fucking head off. Not only did he sexually assault her, but he didn’t even remember?
Ryan stood back against the stove, shirtless, looking pompous as hell. The spatula dripped with bacon grease as the pieces of meat sizzled in the pan, and Mazey stayed silent. I was too afraid to see the expression on her face, because if it showed fear or hurt, I was going to lunge at him. My feet shook against the floor, and I was pretty sure God had come down from Heaven and was holding me back with his own will.
Ryan hummed, “Hmm. Do I know you?”
No, you fucking asshole, you don’t know her.
“She’s new,” I answered. My hand landed in Mazey’s as I pulled her through the kitchen. Just as I passed by Ryan, keeping her as far away as possible, I shot him a glare. “And she’s mine.”
Ryan smirked and threw his head back with laughter. “I haven’t seen that look in years, Cole. Don’t worry. I’ve got a long list of girls. I don’t need yours.”
And what about two years ago?
When the cool morning air hit my lungs and the door slammed behind my back, I took my hand from Mazey’s and stormed away. The side of the house was the first thing I landed on, and my fist clenched tightly before I wound my arm back and punched the shit out of it. There. I inhaled gulps of cool air, and the sweat along my forehead dried, and that was all the time I’d give myself. I walked back over the dewy grass and found Mazey leaning against my car—the same car she’d sat in many, many times in the past. I walked over to her quickly and stared down into her pretty blue eyes. Vulnerable. She was tough as nails now, confident in the bedroom, and demanded attention with her silent beauty, but I could see through her walls. “Are you okay?”
Her dainty chin dropped once in a nod. “I’m fine. Are you okay?”
I nodded, but my jaw clenched tightly. Mazey’s eyes bounced between mine before she whispered, “You have changed. The old Cole would have punched him in three seconds flat.” Her shaky hands landed on my red knuckles, a drop of blood covering the tip of her finger. “Thank you,” she whispered.
I sniffed, rolling my lips together. Fuck, I was still half angry that he had dismissed her. Did he really not remember her? “Let’s go before I turn around and kill him with my bare hands.”
And with that, we climbed in my car and headed toward her dorm room.