There was a smattering of laughter on the front lawn, and Blaise lifted his free hand. The laughter stopped, but one guy yelled after us, “Have fun, soccer star.”

“Who’s that?” I heard a girl ask.

When we reached Blaise’s Wagon, he groaned, lowering me to my feet. “Holy fuck.” He pressed me against the door. “Can we just—can we go to my place? I need to be inside you now, and we can do the talk afterward?”

I was shocked he was asking. “Hell yes.”

He peeled himself away from me and opened my door. He helped me in, darted to his side, and we drove a few blocks to an apartment building. He had underground parking. Nice.

Then we were in the elevator, and Blaise had me pressed against the wall, his mouth on mine. I stopped paying attention to our surroundings.

He picked me up and a little while later, he dropped me on a bed and climbed on top of me.

Blaise whisked my jeans off, grabbed my underwear, and they vanished. Then he slid inside. We were like animals. Too long, way too fucking long. He went in hard and fast, and then slowed, panting in my ear. “Holy—I can’t—”

He was trying for control.

Hell to the no, no, no.

I grabbed his ass and pulled him into me. “Harder.”

I moved my hips, slamming back against him, and that’s all the response he needed. Blaise took me, pumping furiously. I came, and then he flipped me over and pounded me from a different angle, his hand bringing me to another orgasm right before he came inside of me.

Birth control is my friend. Thank you, reproductive prevention plans.

Yes, that was my thought. I couldn’t move. I could only pant, gulping for air, sprawled out, and then he fell next to me.

His hand swept down my back, cupping my ass, and he moaned. “I have seriously missed you.”

All those nerves and fear? Stupid.

I turned my head, but the muscles in my back weren’t strong enough. I could only see him from one of my eyes. “Therapy was good?”

He swallowed, nodding. “Real good. I got the green light. I’m still a dick, but I’m not going to hurt anyone.”

“You feel better?”

His face softened. “Yeah. I feel better. I did the work for you, but it was for me too. I’m good. I really am.” He bent over, giving me a tender kiss.

That was enough for me. I mustered my strength and climbed over him.

He rolled to his back, his hands finding my hips, and looked up at me.

His grin was fully satiated, but I worked him hard again and lowered my hips. Once he was inside, I leaned back.

“We’re good, then?” I heaved the words out as I rolled my hips forward and back, riding him.

He growled low in his throat. “Yes. We are good. I’m good. Are you good?”

Oh yeah. I was good.

I picked up the pace, and his hand moved between my legs. I was really good after that.

We didn’t have any more of a talk that night. We went from his bed to the shower. Then he made food for us, and we went to his kitchen counter. He introduced me to his balcony. He was on the highest floor, and we kept everything dark behind us so we could see the party lights from frat row. I knew exactly which house was Zeke’s.

After that, I made some phone calls, because that was one thing my roommate and I had remembered to do—exchange numbers. Jade wanted to murder Angeline, and Veronica had moved to Zeke’s lap. I envisioned drama already, but then an hour later, Jade reported that they were all in the dorm and safe. I was supposed to check in in the morning, and she demanded a roommate breakfast. She also wanted to meet the boyfriend, her last text a tease as Blaise carried me back to his bed. He laid me down, disappearing into the bathroom.

Jade: Complicated, my ass. That hottie is yours and yours alone from what everyone is saying. Girls are seriously jealous of you. HAVE FUN! Talk tomorrow. I want to meet him.

Then my phone beeped again.

Unknown number: This is Angeline!!! We had so much fun. Your friend Zeke is cute and he rejected Veronica. She’s already cyberstalking him. See you tomorrow!! Your boyfriend is really cute.

Unknown number: Veronica here. Girl. You have explaining to do. Tomorrow. Breakfast. You bring the coffees. Also, that Zeke guy is an asshole. I have to have sex with him.

I laughed, showing Blaise the texts when he came back in, wearing nothing. Which was the best ever.

He grinned, then took the phone as he slid into bed beside me.

He sent them all a group text.

Aspen: This is the boyfriend. Stop texting my woman. I got her for the night. Phone is off.

And he tossed it aside and claimed me, pulling me over him.

That’s when I remembered. “My brother’s in town. He wants to do brunch.”

Blaise groaned, his hand smoothing down my back. “I have a feeling college is going to be interesting.”

I smiled.

I had a feeling college was going to be perfect.

Epilogue

BLAISE

“Dude! No!” Zeke doubled over just as I killed him for the last time.

He tore off his headset and threw it at me. Catching it, I laughed, pulling my own off and setting both on the floor. The headsets weren’t cheap. I scowled. “Sore loser, asswipe.”

“Shut up.” He got up, stalking to my kitchen. I heard the fridge open and he called out, “Why don’t you keep any beer? That’s like against the sacraments or something.”

I laughed, getting up and heading to grab some water. “Sacraments? We’re in college, not a religion.”

He grabbed a sports drink, shooting me another glare. “College is a religion for some of us.”

“Maybe for you. And I don’t drink during season. You know that.”

His scowl lessened. “Whatever.” His phone buzzed, and checking it, he sighed. “I gotta head back to the house.”

I frowned. Zeke didn’t usually sigh when it came to his fraternity. He loved that house, a bit too much in my opinion, but that was Zeke. If he loved something, he really loved it. “Something wrong?”

“You know that party the first weekend?”

I nodded. I wasn’t a big party person, but I went to a few. I mostly went to spend time with Zeke, and because it was expected of me. I lived alone, enjoying to keep my own place free of distractions like when others were studying or partying. Now that I was back playing soccer, I needed to be razor sharp on my focus. Aspen. Zeke. Soccer. School. Those were my priorities, for the most part. There were other annoying distractions, like Cross, but that was neither here nor there right now. So far I hadn’t run into them too much, though I knew they’d attended my games a few times. Cross sent a couple texts congratulating me.

That’d been a different surprise. I still didn’t know if I liked it or not. So far, it was a ‘stay tuned’ sort of deal.

“There’s a guy that was macking on someone he shouldn’t have.”

I knew who he was talking about. I saw him, saw the girl too.

He was eyeing me.

Yeah. We both knew the girl.

He asked, “Are you going to say anything?”

I let out a breath. Fuck. I’d kept clear from any drama since starting school. Getting involved with my brother’s crew, not something I wanted to voluntarily step into. I lifted up a shoulder. “I haven’t decided yet.”

“Well, Harper’s causing problems since.”

I didn’t normally see Zeke like this. He was mostly smiling, albeit sometimes his smiles were dirty and aimed at scoping out females, but he was mostly in a good mood since coming to college. I rather thought he enjoyed the break from school, or the pressure of our last school. He was already known on campus, but it wasn’t the same deal as it’d been at Fallen Crest Academy. Zeke was able to be like any other fraternity brother. Partying. Enjoying life. Women. He’d also changed since his ‘punishment’ from his dad. He was more cautious with things, so hearing his concern now, my stomach dipped.

Anger was starting to rumble.

I wasn’t just protective of my girl.

“What kind of problems?”

Zeke’s jaw clenched. He shoved his phone in his pocket, reaching for his keys. “Throwing his weight around.” He shook his head, eyeing me again. “I gotta tell you something and you’re going to lose it when I do.”

I frowned. “What?” Alarm slithered down my spine.

I really did not like that look from him. Zeke was never scared to tell me something, and he was hesitating now.

“You know Aspen’s in my bio class.”

Fuck. I was really not liking this now.

My teeth were starting to grind against each other. “Finish it. Just fucking tell me.”

“Harper’s in that class, and he was saying a few things about Aspen yesterday.”

“You’re just now telling me this shit?”

What. The. Fuck?

He grimaced. “I know. I know! But, shit. I had words with him. I thought it was done, except…” His phone buzzed from his pocket.

And buzzed again.

And again.

Again.

It kept buzzing.

Zeke didn’t move to look at it. He wasn’t moving to look at me either. He was frozen, staring out my window, his jaw clenching over and over again.

A dark feeling took root in me.

It was low, and it was spreading.

Alarm was spiking all through me.