The Jock by J.L. Beck Page 0,20

holds her hands over her stomach as if she is trying to hold it together.

“What’s so funny?” Cage asks her without so much as a smirk on her face.

“You gotta be kidding,” Amanda manages to get out between giggles. “Why would you be here for her?”

“I invited her to come with me to Blackthorn for the weekend.” Cage shrugs. “What’s it to you?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Cage.” Amanda waves her hand. “You don’t have to try to make me jealous. I’ll sleep with you again without the effort. Last time was fun.”

Somehow, I manage not to cringe on the outside, but on the inside, my stomach is churning. Last time was fun. Cage slept with her, stuck his… Oh, god, I think I’m gonna hurl. I shouldn’t be surprised or bothered by it, but somehow, I’m both.

Cage’s features twist as if someone is digging a knife into his abdomen. “I’m not sleeping with you again, and had I known you’d sleep with the entire football team after, I would have kept my dick to myself to begin with. Also, it wasn’t that great, your voice is like nails on a chalkboard, and you’re a raging bitch.”

“Well, you’re a fucking asshole!” Amanda yells in his face before shoving him to the side and storming out the door.

All I can do is stand there, staring at the open door with my mouth hanging open.

“God, what a bitch. Does she always talk to you like this?”

I shrug. “I don’t really care how she talks to me as long as she leaves my stuff alone.”

“Jesus. Don’t let her talk to you like that, like you’re less than her.”

He shouldn’t care how she talks to me, or what she says about me, and I don’t miss the fact that he does or the shame in his eyes.

Not answering him, I finish putting on my shoes while trying to wrap my mind around what just happened. Cage stood up for me. I wish I could be happy about that–and part of me is–but the truth is, Amanda is probably going to treat me even worse now. He’s provoked her, hung a piece of bloody meat right in front of her, and like the shark she is, it won’t be long before she rips me to shreds.

“You shouldn’t provoke her like that, she hates me enough as it is.”

“She shouldn’t hate you, you didn’t do anything to her.”

With my shoes in place, I get up and sling my bag over my shoulder. “You don’t have to do anything to someone for them to dislike you. Sometimes they just hate you for existing.”

When I lift my head and look at Cage, I find him gawking at me like I’m some kind of freak show act.

“That doesn’t mean she has to act like a raging bitch. I don’t like a lot of people, but that doesn’t mean I walk around being a giant fucking prick. And there is no reason why you should let anyone treat you like that. Don’t let her.”

Dumbfounded, I gape at him. Again, he surprises me by how compassionate he is. I can’t remember the last time someone stood up for me like that or cared about how someone else treats me. I guess Cage isn’t really that bad, at least not when he isn’t hitting on me.

8

Cage

What a fucking bitch. I’ve never in my life regretted sleeping with a chick before. After all, pussy is pussy, no matter the face or name attached to it. Amanda might be attractive on the outside, but inside she’s heartless as hell, a raging fucking bitch.

I never should’ve gone near her, let alone fucked her. She’s like a leech, and the fact that she’s Blair’s roommate annoys me, even more knowing that she’s talking to Blair like she is beneath her. What kind of person would it have made me if I stood by and watched her treat Blair like gum on the sole of her shoe?

I playback in my mind what Blair said to me on the way down to the truck.

“You shouldn’t provoke her like that, she hates me enough as it is.”

Teeth clenched, I grip the steering wheel, imagining it is some fucker’s throat. Thinking of Blair being bullied by Amanda because of me sits like a pile of bricks in my stomach. I’m not fucking okay with that, not at all.

Tension fills the cab, making the air thick. All my attention needs to be on the game tomorrow, but all I can do is think