Page 27 of Hard Count (Newhouse University #4)

DREW

“There are so many. You said you didn’t have a lot,” I say, staring at Nash’s manga collection he has organized in bins and displayed on his bookshelf. He’s given me free rein to explore his room while we wait for Ozzy’s girlfriend, Holden, to finish getting ready.

I didn't get a lot of time to look around before and we've barely been able to see each other lately. It’s been a hectic week with work, classes and his practices, hence our date night tonight.

“It’s not my fault we have different definitions of the word a lot. This is only what I brought with me or I’ve bought since I’ve been at school,” he says, from where he’s sitting on his bed watching me.

“How did I not know this about you? Would you have told me if I didn’t ask about it at the party?” I wince as soon as the question leaves my mouth. He doesn’t know how long he’ s been on my radar. He didn’t even know I existed until a few months ago and yet, I’ve known about him for years.

“It’s not like I hide it.” He lifts the hem of his jeans to show me the tattoo he has on his calf. He has several close-up tattoos of anime faces in boxes that mimic a comic book tattooed on his leg in black ink. It’s similar to the one he has on his thigh.

“You must really like them if you tattooed them on your body. There’s nothing I like enough to permanently mark my body.”

“Not even me?” he asks, teasing me.

“Did you miss your name I have on my hip? I guess you were a little busy with other things.” I eye him over my shoulder as I flip through another magazine. “Stop looking at me like that. I’m not getting your name tattooed on my body.”

“Yet,” he says, making me laugh. “Do you have any other tattoos besides the one on your wrist?”

“No. That’s the only one.” I put the magazine I’m reading back on the shelf and find another one that looks interesting. I never thought about reading them before but I’m slowly getting hooked. It’s nice having something else in common with him besides football.

“What’s it for?”

“Does it have to be for something? Maybe I did it on a whim.” I shrug. He leans forward and snags my arm, pulling me up from my spot on the floor. I straighten my dress and let him pull me between his legs.

His thumb grazes over my tattoo on my wrist. “Why did you get it?”

Exhaling, I say, “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

“I won’t lie and tell you I don’t want to know. I want to know everything about you. But I’ll let it go if it’s too personal.” He lifts my wrist to his lips. The pressure of his mouth against my skin is like he’s turning the key to my actual heart and letting himself inside.

“It’s a reminder to not let anyone have a monopoly over my heart. It’s mine to protect and care for or else it’ll be torn apart,” I explain. "And that I don't need anyone else to love me. I learned to love myself when they didn't want to." I shrug.

“Baby,” he sighs, his eyes trying to say something that words can’t. I wish I knew what he was thinking. He drops his head against my chest and his arms tighten around me. I hug his neck and rub a hand down his back.

He tilts his head back and holds my eyes hostage with his. “If you let me, I’m going to love the hell out of you. I’ll protect your heart too. You can count on me,” he promises, as he leans in for a kiss.

“I know,” I say. I'm starting to believe it. Believe him . But I also can't ignore the fact that he’s the only one who has the power to break my heart all over again if I let him. And I just might. I have a feeling being loved by Nash Pierce would be worth any heartache that came after the fall .

His phone lights up with a text. I give him some space to read it but he keeps a firm grip on my waist holding me in place. Another text comes in and he starts to laugh.

“What’s so funny?”

“Sydney. She told me to pick up the phone when she calls or she’s going to text me ‘TMI’ about her and Koa. She tries to catch me when I’m working out because my phone is set to read the texts when I have my earbuds in. She thinks it’s funny to text me weird shit I have no business knowing about.”

Interesting . I’m tucking this information away for a later date. I wouldn’t mind having my own kind of fun with Nash. His phone starts to ring with a FaceTime call from his sister but he doesn’t seem to be in a rush to answer it.

“You don’t want to talk to her?” The phone stops ringing and starts up again. I reach for the phone but he’s faster and holds it over his head. “I only want to say hi.”

“You can say hi another day. I don’t want to share you right now.”

“That’s really sweet but you never want to share me,” I say, climbing onto his lap. I kiss his neck up to his ear. “I still want to say hi.” I stretch out my arm and try to snatch the phone again. He falls back on the bed bringing me with him.

“I don’t think so. Nice try distracting me.” He smirks at me thinking he’s won. I shuffle up his body until I’m able to pin his arms down with my knees. I lean over his head and pry the phone out of his hands .

“Hi,” I say, answering Sydney’s phone call and sitting back down on Nash’s chest.

“Fucking hell, baby.” Nash frees his arms and slides his hands up my thighs. I didn’t realize I trapped his head under my skirt.

“Oops.” I shrug.

“Hello,” Sydney says. “Nash? Wait, is this Drew?”

“Hi, Syd. We can’t really talk right now,” Nash says, slipping his fingers under the lace of my underwear. “I'm about to get a bite to eat.” He smirks, running his thumb through my slit and rolling it against my clit. I have to bite the inside of my cheek to stay quiet.

“Ugh, fine. We do need to catch up. Call me next week or I’m texting you. Drew, he wasn’t kidding when he said you were gorgeous.”

“Okay, that’s enough. Say goodbye.” Nash lifts me off his chest and puts me on his lap so he can sit up. I'm disappointed he's no longer touching me but he told his sister he thinks I’m pretty. He talks about me.

“You’re no fun,” Sydney says. “Give me her number so I can call her.”

“Yeah, no. That won’t be happening,” he replies.

“My number is,” I start to say. I get three digits out before Nash has me flipped on my back. He tries muzzling my mouth but I’m able to fight him off long enough to give my number to her.

“Got it!” she screams. “Have fun on your date. I’ll text you Drew and you can tell how everything went later. Bye!”

Nash groans when I hand him back his phone and mine dings with a new text making me break out in a fit of giggles.

“This isn’t funny,” he grumbles.

“Would it really be that bad if I became friends with your sister?” I hate how insecure I sound. “I won’t text her back if you don’t want me to.”

“You can talk to my sister. I do want you to be friends but I also want to keep you to myself.” He pushes my hair off my face and tucks it behind my ear.

“Don’t worry you’ll always be my number one.”

“I like the sound of that.” He leans down and starts kissing me. Before things can escalate too far there’s a tap on his door.

“Go away,” Nash yells.

“Time to go,” Eli says from the doorway.

I kiss Nash one more time before pushing him off of me. “I’ve been looking forward to this. Come on.” I climb off the bed and hold out my hands to him. “I want to go out with my man .”

That gets him to follow me upstairs. Ozzy introduces me and Frankie to his girlfriend Holden. Apparently she wasn’t feeling well and that’s why they’re a little late.

“Should we go trap ourselves in a room?” Frankie asks.

Nash wraps his arms around me. “Trapped in a room with you? Sounds like the perfect way to spend the night,” he whispers in my ear.

“You’ll have one hour to escape. Each pair will be locked in a room but you’ll be able to pass information over the wall or through the cracks in the door.

Each room contains clues or items that another pair will need in order to escape.

You’ll have to communicate and work together in order to get out,” the employee of The Dark Escape explains. “Do you have any questions?”

The six of us glance around the group and shake our heads no.

“Great. Let’s get you locked in the room.

If for any reason you need help, contact us through the middle room.

It’s the only one with cameras. If there's an issue we can hit the emergency locks to let everyone out. The two pairs in the outer rooms will have to make their way into the middle room where you will all escape together. Who’s first? ”

Nash and I volunteer to go into the first room.

I reach for his hand as we step into the center room and then into a room the size of a jail cell.

The employee closes our door and we’re shrouded in complete darkness except for the hallway lights as our friends go into their rooms. I squeeze Nash’s hand.

“Are you okay?” He brushes his lips against the top of my head.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m not sure how we’re going to be able to find anything in the dark.” I look around the room, willing my eyes to adjust. “Who’s idea was this again?”

“Ozzy’s. He said it looked cool.”

“Right now it looks like nothing.” The third door slams—for dramatic effect I guess—and it’s pitch black.

“You have one hour. Let the games begin,” a prerecorded voice says into our room followed by evil laughter.

“Ozzy, this is the last time you get to pick the group activity,” Eli says. A light flashes from their room.

“We have a stool, a locked box, and some weird ass steering wheel art on the wall,” Frankie informs us.

“I guess we should look around and see what we have in here.” Nash turns on the flashlight on his phone and starts moving it around the room. “We have nothing in our room.”

“Nothing?” Ozzy questions. “There has to be something.”

“Well there’s not,” Nash replies. Our room is completely empty from what we can see with minimal lighting.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Ozzy murmurs.