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Tye

I rolled my shoulders as I stepped out the front door of the frat house, where a huge party was being held. I was exhausted and wanted to do nothing more than crawl into bed and pass the fuck out, but after the team’s win earlier that evening, sleep wasn’t happening for a while. Thankfully, Coach didn’t require us to be at practice on Sundays following game days, so I could sleep the day away tomorrow. Or was it already tomorrow?

I glanced at my watch, sighing when I saw it was only nine in the evening. Fuck, it felt a lot damn later. The guys had been partying since seven that evening, and more and more people kept showing up the later it got. It felt like it was never going to end.

I nodded at a guy that shouted my last name as he headed for the front door, a bottle of cheap vodka clasped in his hand. I didn’t know him, but that wasn’t uncommon. I usually stuck to myself. But being the star quarterback and in my third year of college at the University of Florida had made me a household name.

Which meant almost everyone I came into contact with acted like we were long lost friends or something when we’d actually never even met in person.

It was fucking weird and had taken some getting used to.

Pulling my cigarette pack from the pocket of my leather jacket, I slipped one out and placed it between my lips before digging in the pockets of my jeans for my lighter. After finding it—I swear to fuck, I never remembered which pocket I put the damn thing in—I lit my cigarette and headed off to find a quiet spot to smoke so I wouldn’t end up smoking around anyone else.

I knew most people here didn’t care about second hand smoke, but I did. My nasty habit didn’t have to affect someone else.

After finding a spot beneath the oak tree off to the side of the frat house, I settled on the ground and leaned my back against the tree. Grabbing my phone from my pocket, my lips twitched as I looked at my lock screen. It was a picture of me and Aura, my best friend.

Also known as the girl I was madly in love with. But she had friend-zoned me so fucking hard, I didn’t even try to entertain the thought of her being mine. She hadn’t even done it on purpose either. She just never looked at me in that way. From the moment she decided she was ready to date and have boyfriends, she never gave me a second glance.

And with how crappy her home life was and knowing I was her only solace, I never tried to force anything. Never even gave hints as to how I felt about her.

I was the only rock she had. The only bit of stability. And my parents loved her as if she were their own daughter, providing her with a college education and a place to live when we were on school breaks since she refused to live with her parents any longer.

I couldn’t rip that from her. And if I gave her even a glimpse of my feelings for her, I was terrified she’d lose the only family she had in an attempt to distance herself from me.

I ran my thumb over her pretty face, wishing she wasn’t out with her douchebag boyfriend and was here with me instead.

In the picture, her black hair was pulled up into a messy bun on her head, and strands had fallen out to frame her face. She was laughing at something stupid I’d said, and her pretty grayish-blue eyes were peering up at me like I held the secrets for her happiness.

My mom had captured the picture while we’d been packing for college. My arm had been thrown around Aura’s shoulders, and I was smiling down at her. Everyone could see I adored the ground she walked on. Everyone except Aura, that was.

She was so blind to my feelings for her. I could hide them all I wanted, but every time I looked at her, there was no hiding how I truly felt.

I was just about to lock my phone again when Aura’s face popped up on my screen with an incoming call from her. Immediately, I answered her call and lifted my phone to my ear. “Hey,” I greeted her. “What’s up?”

She drew in a shuddering breath, tears clear in the simple action. Immediately, I sat up straighter and put out my cigarette against the tree before shoving the half-smoked cigarette into my pocket. “Can you come get me?” she croaked.

I was on my feet immediately, tugging my bike keys from my pocket. “Yeah, baby.” It wasn’t uncommon for me to call her that. I’d been calling her that since we were thirteen fucking years old. “Where are you? What’s going on?” I demanded as I strode toward the street where my bike was parked.

“I caught him cheating, Tye,” she said, her voice cracking. Anger roared through my veins, and I snarled, the part of my personality that I got from my sociopathic mother burning through my veins. I was medicated for the majority of my symptoms, but anything negatively concerning Aura made that medication seem non-fucking-existent.

“What the fuck do you mean you caught him cheating?” I snapped, pausing beside my bike.

“I found pictures of him and another girl on his phone while we were eating.” She sniffled. I rolled my jaw around, trying to force myself to remain calm. “When I demanded answers, he confessed but also tried the old, ‘she means nothing to me’ line.” She sniffled again, and I swear to fuck, I growled. I was going to fuck him up for hurting her like this.

“Where are you, Aura?”

“The bar on 57th,” she told me. “I’m hiding out in the bathroom. I can’t face him right now, Tye. I’m so tired of guys hurting me. What’s wrong with me?”

I blew out a harsh breath, forcing myself to calm down for her sake. “There’s nothing wrong with you, baby. You’re absolutely fucking perfect. You just have this terrible habit of picking out douchebags.” Mom said it was due to her trauma, but that still didn’t give guys the right to just cheat on her and treat her like shit.

At least she hadn’t been with this guy too long. Couple of months at the most.

“I’m coming to you, baby, okay? Track my location so you know when I get close so you can meet me outside.”

“Okay,” she whispered. “Thank you, Tye.”

“I’ll always come when you need me,” I promised her. “I love you. Hang in there.”

A tiny, broken sob escaped her, and I clenched my fists. “I love you, too, Tye.”

* * *

When I reached the bar, her boyfriend—Tyler, Taylor, Turner, whatever the fuck his name was supposed to be—was waiting outside the bar and pacing in front of the entrance while typing furiously at his phone. At the sound of my bike, he turned to face me, and his face visibly paled under the shitty bar lights. I tugged my helmet off and set it on my seat before striding toward him.

“Tye—” he started, but my fist cut off the rest of what he was going to say to me.

He stumbled and lost his footing as blood spurted from his nose. He hit the ground hard, but no one rushed to his aid. I spit on his face. “Come near Aura again, and I’ll do more than break your fucking nose next time,” I snarled just as the woman I’d come to rescue emerged from the bar.

She grabbed my arm. “Come on, Tye,” she whispered. Her beautiful eyes were red-rimmed, and her nose was tinged pink. It was clear she’d splashed water on her face to try to hide how much she’d been crying, but she couldn’t hide from me. She could never hide from me.

“Aura—” her ex tried.

I spun her around and marched her toward my bike while calling over my shoulder, “You and her are fucking done , Taylor.”

“My name is fucking Timothy!” he shouted after me.

“Wow,” I muttered. I glanced at Aura, only to find her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “You dated a tool named Timothy ?” I shook my head and grabbed my helmet off the seat. “His name was a dead giveaway that he was going to be a douchebag, baby.”

She sighed. “He was sweet when he asked me out,” she muttered.

I settled my helmet on her head, then worked on fastening the strap beneath her chin. “The assholes usually are.” Then, I swung my leg over my bike and patted the seat behind me. “Hop on, baby. Let’s get the fuck out of here.”