Sweet Rome (Sweet Home, #1.5)(50)

I was vaguely aware that people were watching the three of us walk by. They always gawked at the football team, but I didn’t pay any attention to them, too busy looking at my girl.

The moment she lifted her eyes from her friends, our gazes met. A tiny smile set on her face. I knew what I was about to do would embarrass the f*ck out of her. For a moment I questioned if it was the right thing to do, but I decided to stick to the plan… It needed to be done.

“What you doing over here with us?” Jimmy-Don asked as we approached.

No one expected the answer I was going to give, but, honing in on Molly’s gaze, I could see that she’d realized what I was about to do. “Just seeing my girl.”

Molly’s mouth dropped in shock. I sat down, pulled her onto my lap, and moved in for a kiss. I f*cking owned her with that kiss, showing the world that we were together.

Pulling back, both of us breathless, I asked, “How are you today, baby?”

I braced myself for her to be pissed, but when she beamed and answered, “I’m good. Great, actually,” I knew I’d done the right thing. She was happy for everyone to know about us, and it was the best damn feeling in the world.

“Well, I guess that answers my question of whether he likes you!” Cass let her loud mouth go, but I couldn’t be pissed as my girl relaxed back into my arms.

I met Ally’s gaze for a spilt second, and she winked. I knew she’d be pissed that I didn’t tell her about us, but I could see she was happy for me regardless. She loved Mol to pieces; they’d quickly become best friends. She was the one girl Ally wouldn’t give me shit over being with.

“Yesterday at the cafeteria, I thought something wasn’t quite adding up. We all know Bullet don’t do relationships, so I thought he was just being weirdly nice. But the contact lenses, Molls going missing for hours… totally makes sense now!” Cass went on, her voice getting more animated with every word she spilled. I knew my reputation, knew Molly’s friends would probably worry I wasn’t going to do right by her. I needed to show how much she meant to me.

“This is different. We’re together, a couple, right, Shakespeare?” I said to Molly, laying kisses all over her face.

Blushing and lowering her long lashes, she agreed, “Yeah. We’re together.”

I pressed a kiss on the side of her neck, and she lay back against my chest. I could see the students around staring, completely shocked, but I loved it, loved people knowing I was actually in a relationship.

Reece was like a statue watching my girl and me, the horny f*cker probably grieving over the fact he could no longer have my weekly castoffs. Beside him, Austin tilted his chin knowingly. Yeah, I guess I’d kind of given it away the other night, but he seemed good with it, even happy for me. Lexi, however, snapped at Molly for not telling her sooner, but she got over it and then couldn’t take that damn giddy smile off her too-white face.

As we chatted, I caught several of my old conquests scowling and making fun of Molly from a distance, and my anger was gradually building. But when that basketball cunt, Michaels, the guy who hated me most, saw us, a cruel grin spread across his face. Fuck. He’d been waiting to stir shit with me for months, and he’d just been given the perfect opportunity.

I promised myself if he even came within a few feet of us, I would tear out his f*cking heart.

Him and me were going to throw down at some point; that was a fact. It was just a matter of when, and the way he was looking at me, at my girl, it seemed like it was going to be today.

Michaels got to his feet, and I tensed, Molly’s gaze shooting to mine as she sensed my unease. I watched every move he made, and my blood boiled when I saw him turn purposely to the path that led right by our group.

When Michaels reached us, he laughed, right in Mol’s face, and said, “Fuck, Bullet, I don’t believe my f*ckin’ eyes! You gave up all the * on campus for that? Tell me, does she at least suck your cock good?”

That? That? Was he for real? Mol was becoming everything to me and he had the audacity to stand there and shred her to pieces… in front of me! Letting my anger take hold, I picked up Mol and, moving her aside, got to my feet and tackled the f*cker to the floor, ramming my fist straight into his face. A deep sense of satisfaction spread across my chest as I watched blood burst from his nose, but the * just didn’t know when to stop.

“Time for payback, Bullet. I’m going to f*ck your girl, see how you like it.”

Edging forward, my arm pressed against his neck, and I hissed, “Like you’d even get a chance. She’d never f*ck you, never even give a creep like you the time of day.”

Smiling, his mouth full of blood, he whispered back, “Never say never. You’ll mess up—you always do—and when that time comes, it’ll be me that f*cks her so hard that she’ll forget you even existed.”

I saw red and pounded his face, kneeing at his ribs repeatedly. Pausing momentarily, I threatened, “Don’t you f*ckin’ dare talk about Mol like that again. You get me, *?”

But he just grinned and coughed out, “The geek ain’t shit to look at, but she clearly f*cks good if she’s tamed your ass. Does she? Does she f*ck like a seasoned whore?”

I lifted my arm to finally knock him out, when someone grabbed onto my wrist. When I looked back, Molly was behind me, fear in her eyes.