Never Have You Ever (The Love Game #1)- Elizabeth Hayley

Chapter One

S O P H I A

“Carter.”

He didn’t answer, even as I put my hand on his shoulder to shake him. It felt weird to touch him—like I was invading his privacy—even though he was lying on my bed, drooling from the right side of his mouth onto my Vera Bradley comforter. It didn’t get more intimate than that.

“Carter!” I whisper-screamed into his ear, and he jolted. “You gotta get out of here.”

He rubbed a hand down his face, which was somehow still boyishly handsome even though the right side held indentations from where my sheets had bunched under him.

“Sorry, Sophia. I must’ve fallen asleep.”

“It’s fine. I think the other girls are still asleep. It’s early.”

Looking at his watch, he said, “Let’s go back to sleep. I don’t have class for another two hours.” He let his head fall back onto the bed, eyes already closed, his floppy light-brown hair falling over them.

I grabbed his hand and tugged, trying my hardest to pull him off the bed.

“Get up!” I tried one more time with all my strength but was only able to slide his body a few inches. Damn athletes. It was like trying to drag a bag of rocks.

He flashed an impish smile, and I gave him a shove.

“I’m serious. Aamee’s gonna kill me if she sees you here.”

“Screw Aamee.”

“She’d like you to do that, I’m sure,” I said with a chuckle.

“I’m not interested.”

“Don’t tell her that. Don’t tell her anything. Just get out before she sees you.”

Finally, he seemed ready to comply, his long limbs spreading into a morning stretch. He moved around the room—albeit slowly for a wide receiver—packing up his bag with the books we used last night.

“What’s the big deal? We were studying.”

“I know that. Aamee will think differently, though, if she sees you leaving in the morning instead of last night.”

“Aamee, Aamee, Aamee,” he said with a laugh. “She doesn’t even spell her name right. Who cares what she thinks?”

I tried my best to convey the severity of the situation through my expression, but Carter Blaine wasn’t known for taking much of anything seriously other than football and Bud Light.

“I do. She’s the sorority president.”

“It’s not like she can kick you out for having a guy spend the night. Coed sleepovers are like…one of the foundations of Greek life.”

“They’re really not,” I said dryly.

I opened my door a crack, listened for footsteps, chatter, or the sound of the water running in the bathroom. When I didn’t hear anything, I grabbed his hand again and ushered him toward the hallway.

We were halfway down the stairs when Aamee walked from the kitchen to the front door and spun to face us, her dark-green eyes narrowing and her blond hair whipping around. “Just what do you think you’re doing?”

I looked to Carter, his bright-blue eyes widening as he looked from me to Aamee and back again. “Sorry.”

“For what exactly?” Aamee asked.

“For…coming over so early. When I left last night, I thought I understood all that psychology stuff. Then I got home and realized I’d forgotten most of it. So I came back over here super early. I didn’t mean to wake anyone up, but we have a test today—”

“Bullshit.” Aamee crossed her arms.

“We do. You wanna see the syllabus?” Bless Carter’s heart for trying. He was already going into his phone to log in to the course.

All she said to him was “Don’t bother” before turning to address me. “I’ll talk to you after Carter leaves.”

I tried to disguise the heavy sigh, but my defeat was evident. And to further cement my spot at the top of Aamee Allen’s Shit List—a real list she kept on her phone—Carter gave me a kiss on the forehead and said, “Thanks for last night.”

I’d done my best to avoid Aamee for the remainder of the morning, and thankfully, when I’d returned from class this afternoon, only a few of the other girls were in the house.

I was Aamee-free until she got home from work around five p.m. I’d expected her to be thrumming with excitement as she prepared herself to dole out my consequence, but instead she said she was going to take time to think about it. I had a feeling that had more to do with her wanting to cause me anxiety than it did her need to give it any serious thought, but I was happy not to speak to her all the same.

I was lying on my bed with my headphones on when my roommate, Gina, came