Game (Gentry Boys, #3)(25)

“Hey,” I whispered, brushing my knuckles over her arm.

She recoiled at my touch and threw me a severe glare. I smiled. She didn’t smile back. I decided to be bold. I circled my arm around her back and leaned close to whisper in her ear. “Come outside with me.”

“You have enough f*cking friends, Chase,” she hissed. “You don’t need me for anything.”

“I do need you, Steph. I want you.”

I’d just blurted it out. I only realized how loudly I’d spoken when about fifty of my nearest classmates and the professor all turned to gawk at me. That was it for Stephanie. Her face was red as she grabbed her backpack and ran out. I had to run after her. She was fast.





CHAPTER NINE


Stephanie



I wasn’t surprised that I didn’t hear from Chase after Vegas. Even though I was still irritated with myself for giving him what he wanted, I was also a little bit grateful that he was apparently keeping the fact to himself, at least for now.

Truly was working a lot and spending the last few nights at Creed’s place so I was on my own. I tried to focus on school and rethink my future. My law school plans might have to be delayed now that I didn’t have a bookie’s handsome income. The more I thought about it the more I realized I wasn’t going to be able to retake the reins. I never was tough, not really. I’d been faking it all along. Xavier knew that. Now everyone knew it.

I tried like hell to avoid thinking about Chase. There’d been odd moments here and there when I was gripped by a flash of desire so strong it was disorienting. Yet I felt indebted in a weird way. Chase had proven to me how good sex could be. And I would freaking die before I would let him know it.

For the last few days I’d been lurking around campus, fearful of running into him somewhere. The shitty thing was, I wanted to see him. Yet I couldn’t deal with watching him carry on with other girls, maybe glancing over at me with a lewd wink. That’s what I could expect because that’s who Chase Gentry was.

As I ambled to class I kicked at some rocks on the sidewalk, profoundly irked by my own sappiness. I’d taken unusual care with my appearance today, choosing an old shirt from high school. It wasn’t revealing by the standards of most people but it wasn’t my typical formless choice. And even though I hadn’t worn makeup in years, I rolled a dash of color across my lips. I wasn’t trying to look good for Chase. That was what I told myself. That was what I wanted to believe.

Girls ran to Chase like ants ran to sugar so I had already braced myself for the sight of his usual flirty behavior. It wouldn’t mess me up if I didn’t let it.

However, when I turned the corner and saw some chick rubbing herself against him I almost lost it. Chase saw me and didn’t say a word. I roughly brushed against his arm and walked into the lecture hall with my jaw locked and my hands clenched. I had to be cool with this. I had to be. I’d already made enough of a pitiable ass of myself.

Chase wasn’t going to let me get away that easily though. He followed me. He sat right the f*ck next to me and was just…just…THERE. He breathed on me. He poked me in the arm and invited me to come outside. For what, I didn’t know. Did he believe he could get me to go suck him off in the alley behind the building?

Would I?

“You have enough f*cking friends, Chase,” I whispered. “You don’t need me for anything.”

Chase Gentry was evidently intent on humiliating me. He spoke loudly, mockingly.

“I do need you, Steph. I want you.”

Every single person in the goddamn room turned around to stare at us. Even the professor paused and peered at us curiously. I grabbed my backpack and ran out, fully aware that he was following me.

“Dammit,” he hissed. “Cut the shit and stop running, Stephanie.”

“Don’t tell me what to do. You’re such an *.”

He stopped and grabbed my arm. “How the hell am I an *?”

I ripped my arm free. “Because you’ve already moved on to the next door and you still want to toy with me like I’m some trash open for business.”

Chase was getting mad. “I didn’t move on to anything. I was waiting for you.”

“Then you get distracted pretty easily.” I spun on him. “You tell anyone about it, Chase? Did you brag to anyone?”

He narrowed his eyes. “You f*cking know I didn’t. How about a little benefit of the doubt, Stephanie?”

“So you didn’t tell anyone?”

He made a face and looked guilty. “Only Cord. But I swear he won’t gossip about it. Jesus, don’t look at me like that. It’s not like I skywrote it at Tempe Beach Park.”

If I clenched my jaw any tighter it might crack. I was seething.

“Like I said, you’re an *!” A few people stared when I raised my voice. I didn’t give a shit.

Twenty minutes later I was home. I threw down my backpack and flopped on the couch. Truly’s cat Dolly stared at me from a distance, like she was trying to gauge how close she could stand to a fire without getting burned. I felt like a big fat f*cking idiot. It was a good thing Truly wasn’t home because then she’d try to be all big sisterish and I wasn’t in the mood to talk about how I’d let Chase Gentry finger bang me before I begged him to stick it in. I saw a movie once where people paid money for parts of their minds to be wiped clean. I could think of a few people I would wipe away. Chase Gentry would be at the top of the list.