False Start - Jessica Ruddick Page 0,29

drinking.

“Do you want something to eat?” I asked.

She did a double take, like she hadn’t heard me correctly. “Are you kidding me? I’m still stuffed from dinner, and I also have this milkshake.” She took a long sip of the thick liquid, and I’d never wanted to be a straw so much in my life.

Holy fuck, I’m drunk. That was one of the stupidest thoughts I’d had in a while, which was saying something. A straw? Thank God I wasn’t one of those drunks who couldn’t keep their mouths shut. Looking at you, Rachel.

But the main reason the thought was stupid was because this was Ziz. I shouldn’t want anything to do with her mouth unless she needed resuscitation. In that case, sign me up. Too bad I didn’t actually know CPR.

“Where’s Roman?” she asked.

“Hitting on some girl at the bar.”

She frowned. “Oh.”

Maybe she was bummed because Roman wasn’t hanging out with us. “I can go get him,” I offered. I normally wasn’t into cockblocking my friends, but I would do anything to cheer up Ziz. Something was off with her, and trying to figure it out was driving me crazy. Seeing her sad stabbed my heart.

She shook her head. “He’s been on a ship for nine months. Let him have some fun.”

“He’s been on the water so long, he probably lost his touch.” I grinned and leaned in conspiratorially. “Should I go be his wingman?”

“If you want,” she said lightly, but her tight expression didn’t match her tone. I’d said the wrong thing. Fuck. I’d thought she was getting along well with Rachel, Jake, and Katie, but maybe she didn’t want me to leave her alone with them. She could be shy sometimes.

“Nah,” I said. “He can sink or swim on his own.” I elbowed her. “Get it? You know… because he’s a sailor.”

Ziz was normally a sucker for cheesy jokes, but she barely cracked a smile.

Rachel snagged her hand. “Come with me.”

Ziz didn’t bother asking where they were going. Anytime a drunk girl wanted another girl to go somewhere in a bar, there was a ninety-nine percent chance it was the bathroom.

When Rachel tried to grab Katie’s hand, she evaded. “I want to find Wyatt.”

After the girls left, I turned to Jake. “Does Ziz seem weird to you?”

Jake’s expression was clueless. “I don’t think so, but I don’t know her well enough to say.”

I nodded. Maybe it was all in my head, which was stupid. I didn’t know why I was obsessing. She was fine because she was always fine. That was one of the things I loved about her—she didn’t get caught up in the bullshit drama that some girls were so fond of.

When Rachel returned a few minutes later without her, I straightened. “Where’s Ziz?”

Rachel frowned. “Who? Oh… Becca. Honestly, Carson, you should call her by her name.”

“Ziz is her name.”

Rachel rolled her eyes. “You should call her by her first name. She’s not some guy in the locker room.”

I liked Rachel, but at the moment, she was pissing me off. I’d known Ziz half my life. What the hell did Rachel know?

I ground my teeth. “Where is she?”

Rachel pointed. “There.”

I looked where she was pointing to see her chatting with Taylor Stossel, a sophomore linebacker. She laughed at something he’d said and leaned in to touch his arm. When he took hold of her hand and brought it to his lips, I stood up so fast, my chair toppled over.

Oh, hell no.

“Carson!” Jake called after me as I stormed over. I barely heard him say “shit” through the roaring in my ears as he scrambled after me.

I inserted myself between Stossel and Ziz, forcing him to drop her hand and take a step back. As a linebacker, Stossel was bigger than me, but he didn’t intimidate me. No one could intimidate me where Ziz was concerned. “You better back the fuck off.”

Stossel’s eyes widened, and he put his hands up in a no harm, no foul gesture. “Sorry, man. I didn’t know she was with you.”

The whole fucking team knew she was with me. I’d made it absolutely clear that Ziz was off limits. Stossel was a transfer this year, so he might not have gotten the memo. That was the only thing keeping me from tearing his damn head off. I was reasonable like that.

Jake laid a hand on my shoulder. “Carson, cool it, man.”

I shrugged his hand away, not taking my gaze off Stossel. “Are we clear?”

“Yeah, we’re good.” Stossel put his hand