Page 18

CHAPTER

THIRTEEN

CORTLAND

“Jesus, this is a wreck,” I tell Storm at my side, darting my eyes around the foyer, down the hall and up the stairs of the frat house. People line the stairwell, making out, getting high and double-fisting red plastic cups.

The music is loud as hell in here, and the lights are dim, the scent of marijuana heady as we step inside.

There are easily fifty people here, and someone tries to jostles me and Storm out of the way.

I turn around, staring into the eyes of a kid who looks like he might piss his pants now that he’s realized he bumped into me. He has to crane his neck back to see me and he says, “Sorry, man, sorry.”

I ignore him, shaking my head.

“You played well last weekend,” he continues, sounding a little nervous.

“Thanks,” I mutter under my breath. Yeah. I know I did. Mom does, too, because she’s the only one in my family who came to the game. Dad and Tristan don’t want to be anywhere near her.

Poison. She’s fucking poison.

My fingers curl into fists and I have the sudden urge to dig my nails into my forearm, but I bite my tongue and resist as the kid scurries off.

“God, I miss that,” Storm says at my side, his tone laced with amusement. “Little fan boys drooling over my nuts because I could hold a ball.”

“Thanks to me, you didn’t have to hold it too often,” I shoot back, scrubbing a hand over my jaw. “Let’s get a drink.” I nod toward the hall and Storm heads that way.

I follow, eyes on his black hoodie as he nudges people aside while we prowl through the house. A few more people dart glances my way, throwing up their hands. I don’t know anyone at EU aside from Maya and the team, but people sure as fuck want to act like they know me.

I wonder how many of them think about my face in the news.

How many of them actually think I’m a rapist?

“Ah, fuck,” Storm mutters. “There’s Sloane.”

I follow his line of sight and see Remi’s best friend sitting in some dude’s lap, her arms wrapped around his neck on the couch in the living room, a cup dangling from her fingers by his face.

She’s wasted from the looks of it.

But Remi would never come to a party like this.

I never really knew Sloane, but she was nice enough. She wasn’t at that party, though, but I know she’s probably heard all about it. At least, one side of the story.

I swallow that down, pushing it under the surface, then glance around the living room, but of course I don’t see Remi. “I don’t give a fuck about Sloane Stevens.” I jerk my chin, seeing the kitchen ahead, drinks and mixers lining the cabinets. “Keep going.”

Storm’s eyes lock on mine, another mocking smile pulling on his lips. But he doesn’t say anything, just shakes his head and we finally reach the kitchen.

The girl in my lap spreads her thighs wider, her skirt sliding up her hips.

She’s talking to another chick across from this outdoor table set up by the pool, but her spine is pressed to my chest. My cock is throbbing beneath her ass, and I tip the beer bottle in my hand back, swallowing a drink.

I don’t touch her, but I don’t tell her to get off either.

At my left, Storm is on his phone, ignoring everything happening around him. Including me and my new friend. I don’t know the girl, but she’s got short, dark hair, and this look in her eye like she wants to get fucked.

At least, it seemed that way when she pranced over to me a few minutes ago and informed me she watched the game last weekend and thought I was hot.

Good enough for me.

All around us, there’s so much noise. People jumping in the pool, loud music thudding from different speakers, all different songs. Girls laughing loudly and dudes over talking each other. I’m just glad Maya listened to me and didn’t come.

The last thing I need is her bullshit about my mom and Remi again.

The girl in my lap—Anna, I think she said her name was—spreads her legs even wider.

But I don’t do anything with that. Not here, not in front of all these people.

I take another drink and cast my eyes around the backyard. There are a few couples just beyond the reach of the porch and pool lights, making out and doing more. Shrubs line one back corner, and it’s a perfect spot for a quick fuck.

The girl in my lap leans back against me and looks up at me with dark brown eyes. “Touch me,” she says, a little breathlessly.

I flick my eyes across the table to find her friend staring at me with heavy eyes and a smile on her face. Maybe she wants to join in, too. But I don’t give Anna what she wants. For some reason, I feel distracted.

I look over at those bushes again just as Anna starts sucking on my neck.

But my entire body goes rigid with what I see.

A flash of orange hair. Two braids.

Then Remi disappears into the bushes, some guy yanking her in.

But maybe it wasn’t her.

I clench my jaw, staring after them, Anna’s lips on my skin.

It probably wasn’t Remi.

She didn’t like parties. It’s why she got so drunk at that one.

I grit my teeth, thinking of that night. Of anyone touching her like I did.

I have to make sure it’s not her.

“Get off.” The words come out before I can think.

Anna picks her head up, her mouth dropping open. I drop my hands by my sides, the beer on the table.

“What?” she asks, giggling. “What do you?—”

“Get off,” I say again.

I feel Storm’s eyes on me. He’s finally paying attention. Anna frowns, winding her hands around my neck.

My blood heats and I glance at those bushes again. I don’t see anything but movement.

I stand, and Anna backs up, her smile turning to a glare.

Storm is on his feet too and I don’t say anything to him or Anna yelling after me as I make my way down the steps. Off the deck. I’m striding through the backyard when Storm speaks.

“You see Remi?” There’s amusement in his tone but I don’t give a fuck. And I don’t answer him.

I glance over my shoulder to make sure no one I know is following me. There’s no Anna and more importantly, no Sloane or Maya.

I turn back to the bushes and I hear a, “You good, babe?” from some dude who probably has his hands all over Remi right now.

That night flashes in my mind.

My head was spinning.

She tasted so good and felt so good and...

I see her as I edge my way through the shrubs. Some fucker has her pinned against the fence, his hand slipping under her hoodie.

I don’t think.

I don’t even look to see if she’s enjoying it. I grab the back of the guy’s neck and rip him away from her.

I shove him against the fence, my hand planted on his chest. “The fuck are you doing?” I snarl, his wild eyes meeting mine as he holds up his hands, his white face pale.

“Yo, sorry, is that your girlfriend? I didn’t?—”

My fingers circle around his throat as I think about him touching Remi. He smells like a brewery and as I hear Remi giggle beside me, I imagine she smells much the same. She never drank this much in high school. Did I do this to her?

“You like taking girls into the bushes to fuck ‘em?” I ask, wanting to deck this guy.

“Nah, man, she wanted to come back here?—”

I slam his head against the fence, clutching his shirt in my fist. And just as I lift my other fist to swing at him, Remi’s arms come around my waist, tugging me back.

“Take me home, Cort,” she whispers behind me.

I freeze, my heart pounding a painful rhythm in my chest.

She’s touching me.

Which means she’s really fucking wasted.

Storm laughs, deep and low, somewhere beside me. “Let him go, Cort,” he says softly.

The guy looks from me to Storm, and swallows audibly. “I’m sorry, man, I didn’t mean to start anything.”

I press my fingertips into his skin and he winces. I think about Chase. The branch he trailed down her spine when we were all done, taunting her. His spit in her hair. Brinklin’s cock in her mouth. The woods spinning around us.

I tighten my hold on the guy.

He whimpers.

I hear that, too. Remi’s whimpers.

“Cortland,” Storm barks out. “You’re going to kill him.”

I take a breath, blinking, and finally, I back up, dropping my hand to Remi’s forearm, banded around my waist. “Get the fuck out of here,” I tell the guy, jerking my head.

He runs , ducking under the bushes and disappearing to the party.

I spin around, and Remi’s golden eyes are on mine as she stares up at me, clearly intoxicated.

“Hi,” she mumbles, and I hate that it does, but my heart skips a beat as I wrap my arms around her, my adrenaline still wild from throwing that guy off of her.

What are you doing to me, Rems?

“Hi,” I tell her, glancing at Storm, watching with an unreadable expression on his face. A cool breeze blows through the night and I hear the splash of more cannonballs in the pool.

“Take me home,” she whispers again.

“Where’re your friends?” I counter, my jaw clenched as I think about Sloane wasted inside.

Remi lets her eyes flutter closed, her temple to my core. She’s so much shorter than me, it’s like she’s a Koala holding on. “I dunno,” she slurs.

I close my eyes tight, inhaling her.

I should really fucking hate you.

But I see Tristan in the hospital bed again.

The way that knife sliced through tendons, nearly hitting bone. He could’ve lost the use of his hand.

I see Remi’s cuts in the cafeteria.

Chase fucking her from behind.

I hate that I don’t hate you.

“We can’t leave her here,” Storm says quietly. Which is something, coming from him.

But I can’t take her home.

I can’t walk her to her dorm, either, because I don’t know where it is.

Remi leans entirely against me, her body nearly limp.

I curl my fingers into the soft material of her hoodie and wonder if she ever wears anything else. In high school, she did. Modest clothes most of the time, but she had an actual wardrobe.

What did I do to your head, Remi, baby? The same shit you did to mine?

“Let’s take her back.” Storm’s words. “Maybe we can talk some more.”

I almost laugh out loud, but my heart flutters and my stomach twists into knots. I don’t think we’re going to be talking tonight.

Before Storm turns to leave, I call out after him. “Make sure her friend is good.”

His eyes meet mine. “I thought you didn’t give a fuck.”

Remi’s arms tighten around me.

“I don’t,” I tell Storm honestly. “But she does.”