Page 5 of Necessary Roughness

Logan

Knox and I sat on the bed on either side of Sloane. I tried to think of something funny to say to lighten the mood, but then she turned toward me, lifted her face, and pressed her lips to mine.

The world exploded into color.

She tasted like cherry vodka and trouble, her laugh still lingering in the air as we came together on the edge of the bed.

My heart thudded every bit as loudly as the music downstairs.

I’d spent the last half hour admiring this woman downstairs, wondering if she would go home with Knox instead of me.

But now, somehow, we were upstairs on the bed, my hand brushing her cheek like I was afraid she would vanish.

Her lips were soft and curious at first. Then they became hungry, searching my mouth with her own like it held the answer to the question she’d had all night.

Everything else—the noise beneath us, the cheering down the hall, the stress of our first game on Saturday in front of a packed stadium—disappeared.

The kiss wasn’t perfect, not clean or careful. But it was real. It was electric.

It was the kind of feeling I’d been chasing for a long time.

Just as quickly as it began, she tore her lips away. She blinked up at me with those big eyes, then grinned and turned to Knox.

“Your turn. Let’s see if we have some chemistry .”

It was a strange sensation, sitting on the bed while the woman I just kissed now made out with my best friend.

I wasn’t sure if I was still a participant, or if I was now relegated to spectator.

I put a light hand on her back, which drew a long moan from her chest while her fingers laced into Knox’s hair.

Both of them were gasping when she pulled away. “Sorry,” she told me over her shoulder. “Knox is the better kisser.”

“He’s used to playing second fiddle to me,” Knox grinned while accepting the vodka bottle from Sloane. He took a swig.

“I was just getting warmed up,” I said, my hand sliding to her lower back. “Give me another shot.”

“Another shot!” Sloane announced happily, tilting back the vodka bottle.

“Don’t drink too much,” I warned. “It would be a shame if you got too—”

She cut me off with another kiss, this time molding her entire upper body against mine. I folded my arms around her automatically, holding her close, wishing this perfect moment could go on forever. I churned my lips against hers, my tongue flicking out, conquering and claiming her mouth.

It was strange knowing that Knox was right on the other side of her, watching us.

But it was kind of hot, too. Both of us were competitive by nature, so throwing us at the same woman heightened everything to a very sexy degree.

It took all my willpower not to throw her down on the bed, rip off her jeans, and show her just how talented I was with my mouth.

“Better!” she said when the kiss ended. “Much better. Drink!”

I accepted the bottle, taking a small sip. “Better than Knox?”

“Hmm.” She scrunched her beautiful face in thought. “I think we need more data.”

“Definitely need a larger sample size,” I agreed.

“See how much fun this is?” she drawled. “Relationships are overrated. They’re one big distraction.”

“Cheers to that,” Knox muttered.

“I’d rather have hot, no-strings-attached sex all year so I can focus on studying. I wish I could put some dick on retainer.”

She giggled at her own joke, and I laughed with her. “You’re hot and funny? Girl, I think I’m in love.”

She grinned, then tapped me on the chest. “No love! Emotions are dumb. Only sex.”

“Only sex,” I agreed.

Sloane snatched the bottle out of my hand and took another drink.

“Hey, let’s slow down,” I said. “Maybe pump the brakes a little.”

“All gas, no brakes!” she replied, turning and crushing her lips against Knox’s again.

But while she threw herself at the big quarterback, his eye flashed open and he looked at me. I knew he was thinking the same thing.

She was drunk, and getting drunker by the second.

This didn’t feel right.

Knox gripped her arms and gently pushed her away. “Sloane, I think you’ve had too much.”

She pouted, then turned and climbed up into my lap. For a few seconds, I surrendered to how good her body felt on top of mine, especially imagining all the things I wanted to do with her.

All the things I wanted to do to her.

I grabbed her by the waist and lifted her off me and onto her feet. “You’ve had too much.”

Sloane gave me a sloppy grin, then went to her knees. “I’ll show you how much I can take.” She started unzipping my jeans, but I grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

She let out an annoyed sound. “I thought you two wanted to fuck me.”

“Trust me: I want nothing more in the world than to do exactly that,” I said. “But not like this.”

She turned to Knox, who nodded in agreement.

“Fine.” She took a swig of vodka. “I’m gonna get in bed and turn this threesome into a onesome . You guys can watch and join in if… if…”

“Sloane?” I asked.

Her chest convulsed once, and she pressed her lips tightly together. I didn’t need to be a senior to recognize the universal sign of someone who was about to throw up.

Seeing something out of the corner of my eye, I grabbed the trashcan from underneath the desk and held it in front of Sloane. But I immediately realized the problem: it was a wicker wastebasket without any trash bag inside.

“Wait—” was the only word I got out before Sloane threw up into the trash bin.

And her vomit went through the holes and got everywhere, including on my hand and shoe.

“Fuck!” I shouted.

“Fuuuuuck,” Sloane moaned while staring down at the messy bin. “I…”

She proceeded to unload another volley of brown liquid.

“There’s no liner in that trash can!” Knox exclaimed.

“Well yeah, I know that now!”

Knox took a knee next to her, pulling her blonde hair away from her face. Sloane tried to tell him he was sweet, but all that came out was another gurgle of spittle.

“Get it out,” I said soothingly. “We’ll worry about cleaning it up when you’re done.”

Knox looked at me. I grimaced. We had definitely made the right decision in trying to stop her, but I couldn’t help but feel like I had missed out on an amazing opportunity.

Oh well. Maybe there would be another time.

Although this poor girl would probably never want to see our faces again after this.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

“Occupied!” I shouted.

The knocking continued, more persistent. Whoever was on the other side was shouting something, but the music deeper in the house was drowning them out.

Then the door exploded open, sending wood splinters flying through the room. Two men barged inside, quickly taking stock of the situation.

One of them grabbed me by the shirt collar and pulled me to my feet. “If you so much as fucking touch Sloane…”

He slowly seemed to realize that I was much taller, and bigger, than he was. His eyes widened, and he grabbed the other man and yanked him over to take his place. “Bryson will handle this. He’s the fighter, I’m the lover.”

I blinked back and forth between them. “I only had two drinks, but I’m seeing double.”

“We’re twins, genius,” the first, more effeminate twin said. “And we don’t care that you’re star football players. We’re here to defend our friend’s honor.”

“I’m not going to fight you,” I said.

“Because you’re a bitch who takes advantage of drunk women!” the effeminate twin said.

“Okay.” I cracked my knuckles. “I guess I’m going to fight you a little bit.”

He squealed, then pulled his twin over to use as a shield.

“We’re helping her,” Knox cut in. “We were trying to get her to slow down, and she started vomiting. I’ve been holding her hair while Logan rubs her back.”

The twins blinked and took stock of the situation again.

“There’s no liner in that trash can Einstein,” the first twin said.

I stood up a little straighter. “Definitely rethinking my not-fighting-you policy.”

The second twin glared at the first. “You can stop being a catty bitch now. Sloane is okay.”

He rolled his eyes, then knelt next to the girl. “Sloane, honey? Are you doing okay?”

“No!” she said through tears. “You’re ruining my threesome!”

“Oh, honey.”

“Seriously,” I said, “we were trying to get her to slow down. Both the drinking and what she wanted to do in bed.”

The other twin glanced at us. “I believe you. She was in a weird place tonight.”

Knox wiped his face with his palm, then went into what I called Quarterback Mode. “All right, let’s get her cleaned up and home safe. Logan, you can hang out and take care of this mess.”

“I’ll get some cleaning supplies from Jamie,” I promised.

“I’ll help escort her home,” Knox told the twins.

“We can handle it.”

“I’m sure you can, but I don’t care. I’m involved now. I won’t be able to sleep until I see her safe in bed.”

The twins nodded, then helped Sloane to her feet. “Come on, honey. Let’s make a quick trip to the bathroom and get you cleaned up. Easy does it. There you go.”

Only when they were gone did we let out a sigh of relief.

“Too fucking bad,” I muttered. “Some mindless sex would’ve been a great way to start the semester. Especially since that’s all she wanted, too.”

“Right,” Knox said.

The last thing I saw on his face was a curious expression before I went downstairs to find cleaning supplies.