Quarterback Sneak (Red Zone Rivals #3)(61)

Right now, I had to find her.

Shoving through the building crowd, I tried not to let my thoughts spiral as I searched the house. She wasn’t in the game room like Zeke had said, so I tried the bathroom, and then the living room.

No sign of her.

I climbed the stairs to my room, but she wasn’t there either, and then I lost every fuck I had about staying calm and started beating open the other bedroom doors.

Leo’s was empty. Braden had a girl half naked in his and was pissed I’d interrupted. I barely got an apology out before I left and stormed toward Kyle’s. I kicked the door open.

And there she was.

Although, with just one look, I knew the real Julep wasn’t really there at all.

Her body was there, sure — sweat glistening on her chest, hair matted to her slick neck and forehead, dark eyes nearly black where they were glazed and half-open. But there was barely any light beyond those eyes, barely any recognition of me towering in that doorway and Kyle jumping off the bed.

“What the fuck, bro?” he yelled, getting up in my face. “A little privacy, please?”

Julep’s reaction was delayed, her body swaying a bit as she grabbed the strap of her tank top that had slipped down her arm and pushed it back up over her shoulder. Her hand slapped down to her lap afterward, head bobbing forward like she’d fall asleep at any second.

My jaw was so tight I swore I felt a tooth crack from the pressure, and I glared at Kyle, then at her, then back at him.

I knew my brother. I knew that, even though he pissed me off, he wouldn’t do anything with Julep — or any girl — in a state like this. But the fact that he had her in his room at all pissed me off. He should have taken her home and put her straight to bed. He should have found me, because he knew even when I tried to hide it that there was something between us.

The one thing he shouldn’t have done was take her up here to his room.

My hands tightened into fists, neck straining as I glared at him. “Get out.”

“It’s my room.”

“I don’t give shit.”

“I’m looking out for her just like you would.”

“SHE’S NOT YOURS TO LOOK OUT FOR!”

The possession that ripped through me in that moment surprised me even more than it did Kyle, who let his head snap back like he’d caught me red-handed in a crime he’d suspected me guilty of for years.

He scoffed, or laughed, maybe both as he shook his head. Then, a sneer found his stupid face. It was like he went from pissed off to amused in the span of two seconds.

“Hey, don’t be jealous, Cap,” he said, standing and crossing the room. He threw his arm around me.

Julep only blinked, all coherence gone, and I kept my eyes on her as Kyle leaned in close where only I could hear him.

“I told you I’d have her in my bed by the end of the season,” he said.

It was a joke. I knew it was a joke, just something he said to rile me up and push my buttons. The problem was that it worked.

And he pushed the wrong fucking button.

I blacked out.

There was no other explanation.

Rage hit me so hard it took my vision and hearing and all good sense with it.

Control didn’t exist in that moment, no reassuring, calm voice to tell me how to rationally handle the situation. All I knew was that Julep wasn’t okay, that she hadn’t been for some time now, and that she’d gotten too drunk, too messed up tonight. This wasn’t just someone not knowing their limit and getting fucked up. This was someone who knew their limit and sped past it, anyway.

It was a desperate cry for help — one that Kyle was taking advantage of.

I felt my body moving, my fist connecting, my knuckles aching in pain, but I saw nothing but red.

Distantly, I heard Julep scream.

When I came to, I had Kyle pinned on the ground. His nose was bloody, eyes already bruising, and my fist was suspended by my face and ready to land another blow.

But I restrained, willing my breathing to calm as I kept that hand frozen in place.

“Jesus, Holden! What the fuck is wrong with you?” Kyle kicked me off him, scrambling to his feet and running to the mirror. He cursed when he saw himself. “I think you broke my fucking nose.”

“I’ll break more if you say anything like that about her ever again.”

He spit out blood, shaking his head as his eyes found mine. “If you think Coach won’t hear about this, then you don’t know me.”

“If you go running to Coach with problems you have with me, then you’ll prove I know exactly who you are.”

That quieted him, and he stormed toward me like he was ready to duke it out. I braced, but he stopped right in front of me, looking me up and down like I disgusted him.

“She’s not worth it,” he spat, shaking his head. “And neither are you, you washed up sonofabitch. We were better off with Russo.”

With that last dig, he brushed past me, knocking my chest hard with his shoulder. I rolled my eyes once he was gone, the anger I’d held turning into annoyance. I didn’t give a fuck what he said about me. That was just who he was. And by Saturday, he’d be acting like nothing happened at all.

Right now, the only thing that mattered was Julep.

“Oh, God, Holden,” she said, covering her mouth, her eyes shining. “I’m so sorry.”