On the Sideline (BSU Football #3) - J.B. Salsbury Page 0,45

even her shoes, shoved into the bathroom trashcan. As if even cleaning them wouldn’t be enough to cleanse the memory she’ll have every time she spots her dress and shoes in her closet. I make a note to run her things out to the big garbage can outside as soon as I finish with my shower. If she never wants to see them again, I’ll make it happen.

Bex

Up until I met Rowan and Emery, I saw female friendships in the way I had experienced them—shallow, self-serving, one-sided things. As I sit here sipping peppermint tea and accepting two pain reliever pills from Emery while Rowan holds an ice pack to my head, I understand the true meaning of sisterhood. And it’s nothing like what I experienced in Eta Pi or in my own family.

“Are you going to quit?” Emery asks and then takes my empty teacup from me to set on the side table.

“I wish it were that easy. There’s a whole process involved, and I know this sounds awful,” I say, barely able to think it much less put the thought to words, “I’ll be dishonoring my family.”

Rowan frowns looking equally confused and mortified. “This isn’t the fifth century Han dynasty.”

“Who?” Emery says.

Rowan shakes her head. “It’s a Mulan reference. Never mind. All I’m saying is screw your family. You have to do what’s best for you.”

I laugh, but the sound is quick and sad. “When I’m not disappointing my family, my life is much easier.”

“At your expense?” Emery’s unshakable eye contact has me blinking away and staring into my lap. “How’d that work out for you tonight? Giving up Loren to Riley so she wouldn’t get her feelings hurt before the formal, and look how that ended.”

“Emery, stop,” Rowan whispers.

I shake my head. “No, she’s right. I did this to myself.”

“I wouldn’t go that far, but I think it’s time to do what’s best for you first. Your family is responsible for dealing with their feelings in a mature way that should never include cream pies and flipping up skirts.”

I groan and drop back to the bed throwing an arm over my eyes. “I can’t believe how many people saw that. There will be a dozen cell phone videos online by midnight.”

The bathroom door in the hallway opens and I hurry and sit up, some weird part of me not wanting Loren to see me making myself too comfortable on his bed. He walks into the room wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. His wet hair drips and I watch the waterfall down his cut pectorals to form rivers in the valleys of his abs. He doesn’t pay us much attention, giving us his back while he fishes clothes from his dresser.

Rowan places a gentle hand to my chin and presses my mouth closed. “We should go and let you get some sleep.”

“Sleep,” Emery says. “Right.”

They both say goodnight and Loren thanks them for keeping me company. They close the door behind them and he turns to me, concern written all over his handsome face. “You okay?”

I swallow hard and try desperately to keep my eyes above his neck. “Much better, yes.”

He leans back against his dresser, crosses his legs at the ankle with what looks like athletic shorts balled up in one hand. “Are you in any pain?”

I chuckle. “Only the emotional kind.”

He nods toward my face. “That bruise is really coming up.”

“Great.” I cover it with my hand. “Guess I’ll have to cancel all those modeling jobs I have lined up this week.”

His eyebrows pinch together and he studies me for a few silent seconds before he grips his towel as if he’s about to take it off. Right in front of me! He turns around and tosses his towel, giving me his gloriously bare and perfect backside. I’ve never seen an ass so round. I bet I could set my teacup on that booty. He slips on his shorts and hangs his towel on a hook at the back of the door.

“Are you hungry or anything?” He looks over his shoulder while reaching into his closet for something. I’m praying he’s not looking for a shirt.

I swallow thickly, feeling a definite hunger that has nothing to do with food. “No.”

He pulls out a small, black, men’s toiletry kit and brings it over to the bed where he sits next to me. His massive weight makes the bed dip, and I fall into the hole he’s made, effectively pressing against him. He hands me