“Pants, dude. Now.”
“Adam,” I admonish.
“And no hitting on my baby sister.” His demeanor relaxes slightly, and he punches Heath playfully in the arm, although it seems a little harder than necessary.
“Are you coming back outside?” Adam asks me, pausing at the door that leads to the deck.
“I’ll be right there,” I assure him.
Heath brushes by me, the heat of his body licking flames up my arm and grabs two beers from the fridge. He hands one to me. “So, I hear you’re sleeping with me this weekend.”
“Umm… what?”
“I hear you’re sleeping at our place this weekend.” He leans a hip against the counter and pops the top off the beer.
“Right. Yeah. My roommate’s boyfriend is in town for the weekend.”
“Lucky for us.”
“I doubt you guys will even know I’m here.”
“One chick among twenty-seven guys? Plus, it’s you. You’re kind of hard to miss.” His eyes drop to my mouth.
“One chick? Please. Actually, I’m surprised there aren’t girls over already. Are you hiding an orgy in your room?”
He laughs. It’s a deep, playful tone that lights up my insides. “I wish.” He pushes off the counter. “Your brother has banned girls from the apartment tonight.”
“What? Why?” That doesn’t sound like Adam.
“Team building or some shit. Just you and the team, Ginny Scott.”
“No. Absolutely not. Adam said he was going to introduce me to people, not hang with his bros.”
With a light chuckle, he lifts his beer and takes a drink making me realize I haven’t touched mine.
“I’m going to kill him.”
“Well, that I want to see. I better get dressed.” He winks and heads down the hall on the opposite side of the apartment from Adam’s room. I’m finally able to take a breath again. Holy mother of all that is good, he’s a lot.
I head outside and take a seat next to Adam. “No girls? What the hell? I thought you wanted to introduce me to people.”
He looks conflicted on how to respond. “I will. I am.” He motions around the party.
“People besides your teammates, Adam.” I flail my hands around. “Girls.”
“Yeah, let’s get some girls over here,” someone says and Adam scowls at them over my head and then drops his gaze back to me.
“Please?” I ask quieter. “I’m sure your teammates are great, but I don’t want to hang with a bunch of dudes all weekend.”
“Shit, Ginny, I didn’t even think about Bryan and what it might be like to be around a bunch of guys…” He rubs at the back of his neck. “All right, yeah, let’s have a real party.”
That wasn’t exactly what I’d meant by not wanting to hang out with a bunch of dudes, but if it gets girls over here, I will keep my mouth shut and let him think it’s my sad, I hate all of mankind broken heart speaking.
“On it,” Maverick says and pulls out his phone.
5
Heath
A knock brings my attention to the door and Scott’s head peeks in. “Hey, I’m going to run to the store to get more alcohol. You need anything?”
“Are you sure I’m allowed out of my room?” I ask. I still haven’t bothered to get dressed. I sat down at my desk to check in with work and got distracted.
“Sorry, man, I’m a little protective of her. She’s been through a lot.”
I nod and open my top desk drawer and pull out the stack of gift cards. “Where are you going?”
“Dude, what all you got there?” He laughs and walks closer.
“Gift cards to pretty much every place you can think of.”
His eyes widen. “You’re coming with me. Bring your stash.”
I don’t know what his sister said to him, but in an hour’s time, our place has become packed with guys and girls. Good work, Ginny.
Adam and I head out and make several stops getting booze and food. When we’re on our way back, I finally decide to broach the subject on my mind.
“Soooo… your sister’s smoking hot.”
I’m messing with him, sort of. She is smoking hot, but I’m only sharing this information to get a rise out of him. As predicted, he pins me with a hard stare. I meet it and smile, letting him know I’m not intimidated.
“Off-limits, Payne.”
“Relax, I’m giving you shit. I don’t do the whole girlfriend thing like you. We’ve only talked a few times. She’s nice.”
“She is. I worry about her. She doesn’t know a lot of people at Valley yet and I want to introduce her to everyone, but she’s off-limits. Friend zone only, man. I know how you are.”
Ouch. I’m a perfect gentleman, thank you very much. Just because I don’t date the same girl for months at a time, doesn’t mean I treat them any worse.
“Is there some sort of big brother gene that makes you all giant overprotective assholes?”
“I’m serious. She just got out of a relationship and she doesn’t need another guy screwing her over.”
We pull up to the apartment and grab the bags to carry inside. Before we enter the apartment, Adam stops and regards me seriously. “You’ll help me keep an eye on her? Make sure the rest of the guys don’t mess with her?”
“She doesn’t need a babysitter, man, and I’m no nanny.”
His mouth pulls into a thin line and I cave, some part of me understanding his concern. I can’t imagine having a little sister around my teammates and friends.
“I will keep an eye out, but I’m not going to lord over her like some sort of protector. Normal, friendly, keep an eye out, not whatever you’ve got going on there.” I lift one of my arms bringing the grocery bags with it and motion to him and his moody intensity.
“Good enough, I guess.”
I barely get the beer to the fridge before people are grabbing for it. I take two and spot the object of my and Adam’s conversation sitting on the couch watching Maverick and Rauthruss play Halo.
“Hey,” I say as I take a seat next to her and hold out a beer.
