Quarterback Sneak (Red Zone Rivals #3)(26)

“Are you tired?”

She was still frowning at me, like I was a crazy person on the verge of a breakdown. “Not really?” she answered, almost more of a question than a certainty.

I nodded, folding my arms before I glanced down the hall at my room, and then back at my roommate.

“How do you feel about making an appearance at the Pit?”

OceanofPDF.com





Holden



I was three sheets to the wind when she walked in.

It was a combination of things that afforded me the opportunity to actually get drunk. One was that my room was right upstairs, though that had never encouraged me before tonight. Two was that I didn’t have to practice tomorrow, because I couldn’t practice, because I couldn’t play at all. And three was because I’d been riled up since my altercation with Kyle in the locker room earlier that afternoon.

Because of the infuriating, off limits, fucking irresistible girl who just waltzed into our party.

I pretended I was fully engaged in the game of beer pong I was playing with Leo, Clay, and Zeke — Leo as my partner, and Clay drinking for two since Zeke was sober by choice. My body was angled toward the table, shoulders square as I took my shot with the ping-pong ball, missed the cup, and then took a small sip from the one in my hand like I was unbothered.

But out of my periphery, I watched Julep’s every move.

I watched her thread an arm through the girl’s she was with, whom I recognized as her roommate only from the small glances I’d caught of her across the street. Roommate seemed annoyed to be here, a bored expression on her face as she almost angrily chewed gum and let Julep guide her through the thickening crowd.

Julep, on the other hand, looked… different.

She was almost smiling as they weaved in and out of pods of students, and her eyes caught on the different areas they passed — a flip cup game in the dining room, body shots in the kitchen, dancing in the middle of the living room where we’d shoved the couches out of the way. I didn’t miss how she swallowed thickly at the sight of a couple kids lining up something to snort — not football players, because their asses would be off the team in a flash. She brushed past them, though, she and her roommate making their way to the keg.

“Defense, man!” Leo barked at me, smacking my bicep as the ball Zeke threw fell into one of our cups. Apparently, it had been spinning around the lip for a while and I’d missed my chance to finger it out.

I shrugged, then took a long drink to pay for the mistake.

I wondered why she was here, sneaking glances at her as she filled a cup for her and her roommate before they began making the rounds again. Judging by the look in her eyes, she was a little buzzed, too.

I didn’t know why that put me on edge.

Maybe it was because, added to how she looked, I knew I wasn’t the only one watching her.

Julep Lee had knocked me on my ass the first time I saw her, and she had been wearing pretty modest athleisure. But tonight, she wore impossibly tight, black leather pants that hugged her hips and ass and every lean line of her legs all the way down to the small heels on her feet. I’d never been so fucking turned on by a sliver of ankle before, but the skin that peeked out between the pump and the hem of her pants drew my eye, holding me there and making me wonder what that delicate ankle bone would feel like wrapped in my hand as I guided it up to my shoulder and laid her back on my bed.

She wore a dark green crop top, too — one that looked almost vintage with the sheer, olive lace covering the dark fabric beneath it. The heels she wore were unique and far from what I’d ever have pictured her wearing.

Then again, I hadn’t seen her wearing anything outside of the athletic wear she wore at the stadium and the tiny shorts and bra she wore when poling.

Everything about her was different, even her hair that was usually straight or pulled into a ponytail was curled, flowing down her back and over her shoulders and just begging to be wrapped up in my fist.

“Bro.”

I turned back to Leo, who blinked at me.

“What?”

“They just double bounced us and fucking won, that’s what.”

I looked at the evidence on the table, two little white pong balls in our last two cups.

“Damn,” I said, running a hand back through my hair. “Well, good game, guys. I’m going to go re-up.” I lifted my cup in the air toward Zeke and Clay, who watched me just as suspiciously as Leo did.

But when I turned for the keg just as Julep and her roommate headed the same way, Leo clapped a hand on my shoulder, halting me.

“Ah, now I know why you were distracted.”

I feigned indifference. “Just tired.”

“Tired my ass. Come on, Cap — I need a refill, too.”

He grinned devilishly as he took the lead, and I turned over my shoulder at Clay and Zeke who were just smiling and shaking their heads at me like I was a lost cause.

Leo and I were almost to the kitchen when Giana and Riley tugged Julep and her roommate to the side, wrapping them both in hugs before launching into chatter. I drained the last of the liquid in my cup as we approached them.

“I’m so happy you came!” Giana said, squeezing Julep’s elbow. “And you, too…” She waited, arching a brow at Julep’s roommate.

“Mary,” the girl said, still wearing that bored expression, though she somehow managed to sound nice despite it. Her eyes were a little glazed, lazy, like she was a touch high.