Page 34 of Hate the Game (Playing Dirty #1)
***Savannah***
Afew days later, a few days I spent feeling sick and hating myself, I was walking across campus after class thinking about the article I’d written for the USC newsletter.
Barbie had thought it was a good plan to have me write one, a simple one about their most recent game.
If I hadn’t already been ready to throw myself off a tower, the article would’ve pushed me to it.
Instead of working on the article meant to expose USC’s football program, I spent my time writing a fluff piece praising the team.
The newsletter went out that morning and even though my article was hidden amongst everything else, I felt tense.
I hadn’t written anything for public consumption since Charlie and a part of me had been terrified I wouldn’t be able to.
I was getting hit emotionally from every side and I felt exhausted. I was running on fumes. That was why it took me a few seconds to process what I was seeing when I walked towards a small group of guys surrounding Blaire.
Reading their body language, I knew they were being assholes to her. She looked angry but I could tell beneath the bravado that she was scared. The fury I’d been feeling towards myself could finally focus somewhere other than me and I leaned into it.
“Hey! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I dropped my backpack and stalked towards them, running purely on anger and caffeine. “You want to pick on someone? Ooh, big men! Pick on me, assholes. See how that works for you!”
Whatever I’d been planning on doing was cut short by the arrival of the calvary, or what felt like the calvary anyway.
Jax and Cole materialized in front of Blaire and they didn’t stop to shout.
They just swung. My mouth dropped open as I watched the school’s golden boy start a damn street fight.
A few of the guys backed away immediately but the ones that stuck around tried their best to salvage their pride.
One of them even snuck a punch while Cole’s back was turned.
He managed to get the side of Cole’s face before Jax saw it and hit him with a hard right hook.
It was over almost as quickly as it started. The assholes were either dragged away by their friends or pretended like they’d kicked ass and walked away nursing a busted lip and bleeding nose.
I blinked a few times, wondering if I’d imagined the whole thing, but then Cole turned to me and I saw that his face was already bruising. I gasped and went to his side. “Your face!”
He grinned at me and shrugged. “Should’ve seen the other guys.”
I rolled my eyes and gently prodded his face. “I did see the other guys. You’re lucky the guy who punched you was a wimp.”
Jax caught my attention as he faced off with Blaire, his hands on his hips. He was breathing hard, his body still tense.
Blaire didn’t care about that, though. She mimicked his pose and made a bored face at him. “I could’ve handled that. I didn’t need you rushing in here like Captain America to save me, Jax.”
Cole leaned closer to me. “If I ever feel sad that I don’t have a sister I watch these two interact and feel a lot better.”
“Are you kidding, Blaire? Does that happen often? Are those assholes harassing you? Why haven’t you said anything?
I know you don’t think I give a shit but you could’ve at least talked to campus security or something.
Jesus.” Jax shook his head and then swung his face around to me.
“And you! What the hell were you planning on doing?”
I snorted. “I wasn’t sure yet but I think I could’ve kicked a little ass before I got shown I was being too big for my britches.”
Blaire let out a bright laugh and walked over. “I want to paint you. You just came out of nowhere with that southern accent, kicking up dust in your cowboy boots. It was glorious.”
Jax growled as he came over, too. “Why the hell does she get painted when I get nothing?”
I smirked up at him. “Maybe I’m just cuter.”
“That’s true.” Cole winced when Jax poked his bruise. “Hey!”
“You need to get some ice on that. Unless you want to walk around campus looking like you got your ass handed to you.” I walked back to my backpack and grabbed it. When I turned back I saw Blaire slapping both of their arms.
“Perverts. Keep your eyes to yourself.”
I blushed and had to bite my tongue to stop a real giggle from escaping.
In no way did I want to sound like the version of myself I’d first brought to USC.
Not in front of Blaire. She’d seen the real me and it just didn’t feel right.
I wasn’t even sure when I’d last pretended to be a ditzy dumbass.
It was probably time to just drop the whole thing.
“I guess I’ve saved the day and can go home happy now.” I pretended to brush off my shoulders. “Remember the ice, Cole.”
Blaire grabbed my hand. “What if instead of ice we got ice cream? There’s this milkshake place that I’ve been obsessed with just off campus.”
Before I could answer Jax jumped in. “That sounds good. We’ll all go.”
Blaire stared at him like he’d lost his mind. “I didn’t invite you.”
“Too bad. I want a milkshake, too.” He looked at me. “Harley? There might not be line dancing but you might still have fun.”
Blaire looked between us and frowned. “What am I missing?”
“Nothing.” I hooked my arm through hers and started walking away from the guys. “A milkshake sounds amazing.”
“It’s the other way.” She giggled as we swung around and passed the guys again. “Come on if you’re coming, I guess.”
Both of them fell into step beside us. Jax looked down at me and frowned. “I still think it’s bullshit that you got the thanks we deserved.”
I patted his chest, pretended to not notice how hard it was, and smirked at him. “Would a parade make you feel better, golden boy?”
His lips lifted at the corners. “Maybe. Depends on the floats, I guess.”
Blaire snorted and elbowed me. “Obviously there’d be a float that looked like his giant head.”
“And maybe one of him riding a horse with a big sword. That’d probably make him happy.”
She giggled. “Does he have the sword or does the horse have the sword?”
“This milkshake better be good.” Jax looked over at Cole and shook his head. “Are we really sure we should miss pizza for this?”
Cole reached around Blaire to tug my hair. “To be determined.”