at his attention.
“Yep. Since we were kids,” Cooper offers.
“What are you drinking?” Levi asks me.
“Oh, uh, nothing for me. Thank you.”
“Come on. You have to have a drink. We’re celebrating the upcoming season. We’re going all the way, baby.” He cheers, holding his red Solo cup up in the air.
“Does your coach know about the alcohol?” I ask Cooper.
“It’s the last hoo-rah of the season where he’s not going to scold our asses for drinking,” Dustin answers.
I nod. Pulling my gaze from the football players, I take in my surroundings. The fire is huge, and this field is full of college students, who, from the looks of it, are already well on their way to being two red Solo cups past being drunk. I’ve never been much of a drinker. I don’t like not having control or knowing who I might end up with, or worse, where I might end up the next morning. And who likes to wake up with a pounding headache and their mouth tasting like ass? No, I’ve never tasted ass and have no plans to. However, I could only imagine that the morning-after bender breath is the equivalent.
“Hey, Cooper.” A voice that sounds like a toddler purrs as she stops to stand in front of us. “I was hoping you would be here.” She sticks out her tits and twirls her hair on her finger.
Did I forget to mention that I’m still standing next to him and that his arm is still around my shoulders? We’re freshmen, new on campus by only two weeks. She has no idea who or what I am to him. And she doesn’t care. None of them do.
“I’ll be right back,” I tell him, removing his arm from my shoulders and stepping away.
“Where are you going?” he calls after me.
“Just over here.” I point to Levi and with more confidence than I feel make my way over to him. “Hey.” I wave awkwardly, and he grins.
“Hey.” He reaches into a cooler in the back of the truck he’s leaning against, pulls out a bottle of water, and offers it to me.
“Thank you.”
“No problem.” He winks. “So, your boy found someone else?”
“He’s not mine. We’re seriously just best friends. We’ve been neighbors since we were eight. He’s more of a brother,” I say in explanation. I leave out the part that I love him more than just a brother. Nobody wants or needs to hear that. Besides, that’s something I plan to take with me to the grave.
“Hop up here and have a seat.” He pats the tailgate next to him.
“Short girl problems,” I say, looking at the tall truck and the high tailgate.
He throws his head back and laughs, and before I know it, his hands are on my waist, causing me to squeal loudly in surprise, and he’s setting me on the tailgate. He picks up his cup and leans his elbow on the tailgate, his body facing me. He’s wearing a shit-eating grin. “Much better.”
“How tall are you?” I blurt the question. I’m sitting on the tailgate of this tall truck and we’re still almost eye to eye.
“Six six.”
I nod before saying again, “Thanks for the water.”
“You’re welcome. So, you’re a freshman too, right? I think I would have remembered seeing you around campus.”
“Yes. You?”
“Sophomore.” He’s looking out over the fire but then turns to face me. “You sure there’s nothing going on with the two of you? Coop’s giving me the death glare even through the fire. I can see the warning in his gaze.”
I don’t bother to look. I’ve seen that look on Cooper’s face many times. “He’s just protective. Trust me.” My gut twists just a little. I wish I was wrong, but that’s just not the case.
“All right then. Well, since you’re single and I’m single, and quite the catch I might add, we should definitely dance.” He sets his drink down on the tailgate and turns to step between my legs that instinctively open for him.
It sounds slutty, even in my head, but it’s not. Trust me. He’s just a big guy, and well, like I said, it was instinct. “Dance? Here?” My eyes scan the field, and sure enough, there are couples dancing, if that’s what you want to call swaying back and forth with their tongues down each other’s throats.
“Come on, it’ll be fun. We can fuck with Reeves.” His eyes dance with mischief.
“He’s not going to care that we’re dancing.” At least not like Levi thinks he’s going to.
“Then what’s