7
Granger
With loose fingers, I swing the bottle up and take one big, deep swallow. The bitter taste of beer fills my mouth, and I keep drinking just to drown out the over-eager giggling girls stroking my biceps. I know these bad boys are all rippling muscles and hard as a rock, but damn, get the fuck off of me. What is it with these women that think I’m a bag of man meat?
“Granger! Granger! You the man!” howls one of my teammates from somewhere within the group of drunk bodies on the other side of the room.
I roll my eyes and flash a smile when I look down, which sets off Barbie one and two all over again. The moment they look away, my smile drops and I glare at Beast, who is standing by my side. He shakes his head, throws his hands up in the air, and grumbles, “What the fuck am I going to do with you, man?” as he stomps away to the kitchen to get another beer as people rush to get out of his way.
“Why don’t we go somewhere quieter? My sorority sister and I would love to get to know you better…” She trails off with a high pitched giggle and bats her fake lashes while making her intentions very clear as she toys with her friends hair.
My dick a year ago would have been harder than a rock at the thought of a threesome if I was single, but now I can only think about the trap it could bring. Speaking of traps, in walks Victoria on the arm of Jeff… Fuck my life. She easily spots me the moment she steps through the doors, glaring at the two girls petting me as if she has some sort of claim on me. Jeff is high fiving the student body with his arm draped around her, but I notice him checking out every girl who’s barely dressed. It’s a frat party, so of course there’s some girls half dressed, skin showing and boobs out. But if you already have a girl on your arm, you should definitely not be getting a boner at every woman that walks by. Those two deserve each other. I watch as Victoria leans up to whisper in Jeff’s ear, and his eyes connect with mine with a smug look. What the hell are they up to? I don’t give a fuck if they are together, so why is he staring at me like that? She releases his arm and starts to head in my direction with a determined look in her brown eyes. All swaying hips with a perfect smile on her face, she captures the attention of the guys around her, but it’s all fake and calculating. It’s the extra unnatural step to the hair flip as she smiles like she has a dirty secret. Yeah, this girl is full of them all right.
“Excuse me, ladies. Be right back,” I say absently as I slip out of their grasp to storm off into the kitchen, ignoring Victoria when I hear her calling my name repeatedly behind my retreating back.
Can’t she take the hint I want nothing to do with her? Everything turned to dust when she finally revealed herself. I spot Beast retrieving a beer from the fridge and don’t even pause as I snag the drink from him as I escape out the sliding glass door.
“What the—ah, well that explains that,” I hear him announce, no doubt glaring at Victoria, just as the door slides close as I slip into the shadows to drown in my sorrows.
“Granger, baby, you don’t need baby drama in your life right now. You're about to get drafted soon, and you need my full attention once you start for a pro team. I took care of everything so you don’t have to worry about a baby in your life. Besides, can you imagine what it would do to my body?” Victoria says with a shudder, shooting back another shot of tequila.
I left her alone for not even five minutes to use the bathroom and came back to her doing lined up shots. I was dumbstruck at what I was seeing and pulled her aside to ask what the fuck she thought she was doing taking shots while pregnant with my baby. I didn’t even want to come to the party in the first place, but she said just a quick in and out to show our faces before heading to dinner. That was over an hour ago, and why the fuck would I care if my face was shown or not?
“What the fuck did you do, Victoria?!” My heart was pounding and slowly dying off because a piece of me was just taken away before I even got to know my child. She got an abortion without even talking to me about it?
“I did what I had to,” she says and turns back to the party with a smile, as if my world wasn’t crashing down around me. She doesn’t even notice when I leave the party without her.
I was fucking done.
I shake myself out of that memory that still causes my chest to ache and anger to rise whenever I think about what she did. It’s something I’ll never get back, a child lost forever just when it started to take place in my mind that I was going to be a dad. I’ll never forgive her for that.
I lean against the old, rickety deck and take a deep breath of the cool night. I sure as shit shouldn’t be standing out here because no repairs have been done to improve the frat house deck since the house has been built, so I’ll probably end up falling through the wood. My arms dangle over the ledge as I watch the group of partiers from my hiding spot. They’re living it up by dancing to the music on the makeshift dance floor as they grope each other, drinking their hearts out, and it would seem skinny dipping in the heated pool is on the agenda tonight. My leather jacket pulls tight over my arms as my muscles tighten from exhaustion, and I start to wonder once again why the fuck I came here tonight. I could be at the rink practicing as I pretend to not be thinking about my new obsession—my cotton candy Princess.
A growl escapes me, and I tip my chin down, touching my chest as I take a deep breath to fight everything that is going through my fucked up mind. I exhale, and my shoulders don’t feel so bunched with tension anymore. I turn around to lean against the rail once I’m somewhat under the control of my emotions, and my eyes widen with disbelief when I see her sitting in the lounge chair that's directly across from me with her phone in her lap as she stares right at me. I didn’t even notice her when I strode outside, she’s so goddamn quiet.
“Wanna talk about it? Have a seat, I’ll be here all night.” She waves her hand to the identical lounger right next to her with a teasing note in her voice.
I walk over to her, staring down at her upturned face as she smiles, until it slips a little when she glances at my beer bottle. Noting that look, I place the bottle on the ground and sit down facing her.
“I see your stalking ability has no bounds, Princess. What are you doing out here by yourself?” I question, looking her up and down from her lounging position and liking what greets my eyes.
Her cheeks are a rosy flush, lips slightly turned up in a saucy smile, and her pink hair is slipping out of the grey beanie hat she’s wearing. I honestly didn’t expect her to be here, since it doesn’t seem like her type of scene. I picture her curled up on a couch, booing at a romantic comedy movie while throwing popcorn at the screen, and wearing fuzzy socks, leggings, and a baggy shirt that looks like my shirt in my head. But I can’t complain because she looks good enough to eat. A grey sweater dress stops at her knees but hugs her frame, and her long legs are on display with see-through black tights that are crossed at the ankles.
“I don’t do so well in crowds, and this seemed like the best hiding place until you showed up. I was here first, so technically, it would be you stalking me. Why are you running? You look like you have the weight of the world pressing down on your shoulders.” She sits up suddenly and draws closer until our knees are touching, her warmth soaking through my jean covered legs.
I debate if I should admit I’m hiding from my ex along with her so-called boyfriend, and the rest of the world. I’m here to put on a face and try to mend my team back together but anger burns through my body. Or do I tell her I needed fresh air from the smell of stale beer, overpowering perfume, and the prying eyes?
“I’m not running. It was getting warm in there, and I needed fresh air,” I tell her, pointing my thumb over my shoulder, and watch her blue eyes widen at whatever she there with a groan escaping her parted lips.
She takes me by surprise when she quickly stands from her lounger and plants her delicate, round ass on my knee, sitting sideways. Her ice-cold fingers grip my jaw so I’m glancing down into her upturned face with her minty breath fanning across my lips, and I feel something move in my chest right over my heart. I can’t breathe, and she’s the only thing that’s going to allow me to draw in another breath.
“Do you trust me?” she whispers as she draws closer, her eyes flicking between mine as she waits for my answer, studying me like I’m a great mystery she can’t figure out.
I notice her eyes aren’t just a light blue. A darker ring of blue hides in the depths, and it reminds me of the darker and lighter parts of the ocean clashing. You don’t notice that part about her until you’re close enough.
“Absolutely not. I trust no one,” I rasp out huskily, not even realizing my hand is curving around her upper thigh to draw her closer on my lap. Her warmth seeps into my fingers, and I enjoy her shiver at my touch with lust showing in her eyes even when she tries to hide it.
“Good. Me either, but it looks like we’ve run out of opinions here,” she says before angling her head to the side as her arms wind around the back of my neck. Then she drags me down until her lips lightly touch mine.
