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Fucking asshole, always happy and shit.

“Whatever. And where is Noelle tonight? Will we be seeing her? Is that why you’re in such a good mood?” I poke.

“Ha! I mean, she might show up tonight, might not. Who knows? I haven’t talked to her since yesterday.”

“You mean, you guys didn’t text all night and she didn’t wish you luck today? Wow, you must really be jonesing for her then, huh, buddy?”

Do I want to dig in to my friend? Not really, but now he has me thinking about where Charlie is more than I already was. Dick.

He doesn’t say anything, just laughs me off, and we continue walking to the party and recalling the game we played earlier in the day. As we round the corner, we can hear the music coming from the house. Luckily, because we live on campus, and … well, because we’re athletes, the party isn’t likely to get broken up. Not only is the house literally vibrating from the music, but people are standing on the porch with drinks, and I think there might be a couple banging in the corner.

As we walk in, Archie holds up both arms and says, “Ladies and dicks, the party can begin. I have arrived! Let’s get fucked up, motherfuckers! Cowboy up!”

He strolls in with a gallop and moves right into a group of girls who are dancing to the music. He puts his arms around one of the girls while another moves in behind him, so now all three are gyrating. Knowing Archie, I’m sure it’s about to become real dirty. He’ll likely have one girl—or both—in a bed tonight.

“Let’s go find the keg,” Casey says.

I nod and follow him through the crowded room and to the back of the house where the kitchen is, but my guess is that they have the keg in the backyard, where we hear some of our teammates yelling, “Chug, chug, chug!”

Two of our teammates and linemen, Chris Schuster and Dan Smith, are holding up our freshman kicker, Leo Morris, by his legs while he’s doing a keg stand.

Morris taps out, and as he’s brought back down, he spits out beer into the crowd standing near the keg and yells, “Let’s fucking go!”

Casey and I look at each other and laugh. This kid is going to be so fucked up tonight. But we’ve all paid our dues, and now it’s his turn. We’ll keep him safe. As a team, we never let each other get into a bad situation. We watch out for our teammates.

“KING! Get over here, asshole.” Schuster holds his arm in the air, waiting for Casey to reach up for a high five.

They slap palms and pull each other in for a bro hug.

“Dude, I saw your sister inside. I forgot she was coming here this year. Does she have a guy, or is she fair game?” Smith asks Casey.

One minute, I’m smiling, and the next, my gaze snaps to Smith at the mention of Charlie, and I swear I’m ten seconds away from punching my defensive lineman in the face.

“Charlie’s here?” I ask, my interest in her whereabouts way too obvious based on these assholes’ expressions.

Smith looks at Casey, then back at me and nods. “Yeah, she’s in the basement, playing beer pong with some of the guys. She your girl, Linson?”

“What? No. We just didn’t know if she was coming here tonight or not.” I shrug.

“Yeah, uh-huh.” He nods, then says, “Okay, boys, let’s head into the house and get some shots!”

Casey turns to follow Smith and nudges my shoulder with a smirk.

“What?” I ask him.

“I’m going in to do some shots. Why don’t you go find my sister? You know, make sure she’s okay,” he says with a laugh, covering it with his fist.

“Fuck off,” I mutter as I walk away. To go look for Charlie.

CHAPTERTWELVE

CHARLIE

When we gotto the party, I didn’t see my brother or the guys. I wasn’t even sure if any of them were coming, but it doesn’t stop me from looking for Beck and his beaming grin that he gets after a big win.

I should be annoyed that the first thing I do is look for him, but being around Beck hasn’t been so bad lately.

Okay, fine, living with Beck has been awful.