Page 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

EASTON

I wasn’t going to argue with him. He was an adult who could make his own decisions.

But that didn’t stop me from packing up an extra portion of lasagna that Coach made before heading out to meet Gary again.

From following him, I knew he skipped lunch.

That messed up phone call may have ruined his appetite for a little while, but he’d be hungry eventually.

Remembering the conversations pissed me off.

He didn’t know I’d heard the first conversation with his sister.

Not even a greeting before she started demanding money from him.

And when he gave her a perfectly logical reason why he couldn’t and offered a compromise, she went crying to mommy to get what she wanted.

It was pathetic. My protective instincts were rusty, I couldn’t summon the will to care most of the time, but I felt a distinct urge to protect Gary for some reason.

Maybe it was my obsession. I wouldn’t be able to follow him around if he couldn’t afford to go here anymore.

I found him where he always was: in the library, his head resting on his hand, his lip caught between his teeth as he wrote out some notes. He startled when I dropped the container onto the table, jerking up in surprise. I pointed at it and the fork taped to the top.

“Eat.”

He stammered and spluttered a little, his face bright red, but I wasn’t really interested in an argument.

He needed to eat. Popping open the lid, I handed him the fork and put the food right under his nose.

I figured the smell would help, Coach didn’t know how to fuck up a meal, and based on the loud growl from his midsection, I assumed I was right.

“We’re not supposed to eat in here,” he protested in a whisper, looking around nervously. I shrugged.

“No one comes back here. You’re fine. Just hurry up.”

Whether it was because he was used to giving in or he was hungry, he stopped arguing, and after the first bite, he let out a groan that went straight to my dick before going to town on the food.

I had to readjust myself at one point. Gary made sex noises when he ate.

Now I needed to feed him whenever I could.

My obsession was getting a little unhealthy.

I used the distraction to my advantage, palming his phone when he wasn’t paying attention.

I was only going to look, get more info about the guy, but I saw a text from his sister again, demanding he send her more or else, and it irritated me.

So I blocked her and his mom for good measure and put the phone back before he noticed.

He looked a lot happier when he was done.

His energy was up, and he smiled brightly at me, practically bouncing in his seat as he offered me his notebook.

“So I drew up some outlines on a few of the topics I chose. If you’d prefer another one, I’m okay with that, but I have some background knowledge on these, so I thought it’d make it easier. ”

Pulling the notebook toward me, I frowned. He didn’t just draw up outlines. He was half finished already. That irritated me. I was capable of doing my own work. I didn’t need him to do it for me.

Sitting back with a scowl, I crossed my arms over my chest. Gary’s smile faltered, and he drew the notebook back towards him, worrying his bottom lip with his teeth.

“If you don’t like the topics, I’m happy to change it.”

“I don’t need you doing my work for me,” I growled. My response surprised him, and he frowned at me.

“O-Oh… I didn’t mean to–”

I slapped my palm over the notebook before he could withdraw it completely. I wasn’t going to let him start over again. He already did the work.

“I’ll do the rest.”

His mouth fell open. “But it’s barely got anything so far. It’s just an outline,” he protested.

“It’s more than that. You’ve done enough.”

Call it pride or competitiveness, but I didn’t like people trying to do my work for me.

I never cheated on tests or made someone do my homework.

It chafed wrong just thinking about it. Whether he agreed or not, Gary had already done too much, and I would finish the thing off myself.

Making him start over so the labor was equal would just make more work for him.

Tucking his hands into his lap, Gary frowned down at the table. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s whatever. Explain to me what your goal was for the assignment. I’ll write it up how you want it.”

Gary and I separated on an awkward note.

When I saw him in class again on Wednesday, he was withdrawn and barely spoke to me, and on Friday, it was more of the same.

When I complained to my friends, they pointed out that I was kind of an asshole about it and suggested I apologize.

Which was how I ended up back on campus on a Friday night, when I was generally getting in some downtime before my next fight.

Standing outside Gary’s dorm, I called him, waiting a few rings before he finally answered. There was some noise in the background, like a tv was on, before it went quiet.

“H-Hello?”

My spine straightened. “Why do you sound scared?”

If it was because of me, I’d feel like a dick. I was annoyed, but I wasn’t looking to terrify the guy.

“N-No reason. Did you need something?”

“Where are you?” I demanded.

“My dorm.” Now he sounded confused. It was an improvement from terrified but not much of one.

“Give me five minutes. I’m coming over.”

“Wha–”

I hung up before he could protest, heading for the back door.

Technically, only people who lived in the dorm had access to the building, but the lock on the back door near the trashcans was broken, and no one bothered to fix it.

I slipped inside without issue and took the elevator to the fifth floor, where Gary’s room was at the end of the hall.

He was standing outside his door, wearing a baggy t-shirt and thin argyle pajama pants.

I stopped toe to toe with him, giving him an expectant look, and his face flushed bright red.

“My roommate and his friends are watching a horror movie. They asked me to join them, and it felt rude to say no, so…”

So he felt obligated to watch a movie he obviously didn’t like. Well, at least it wasn’t me then. I jerked my chin at his door.

“Want me to sit with you, or do you want to take a walk?”

The surprise on his face was a little funny, because it looked like it was mixed with barely banked hope. Gary was easier to read than most people. I usually struggled to get impressions like that, but Gary’s emotions were written all over his face.

“Uh, I, uh… Walk, please.”

I nodded. “Grab your shoes.”

He ducked into his room, giving his roommate a quick apology.

I saw him flinch when blood splattered across the scene in the movie.

It was a gory one, and normally I’d love watching movies like that, but Gary obviously needed a rescue.

He barely slipped on his shoes before he was out the door and heading for the stairs.

When I raised an eyebrow at him, he shrugged. “It’s good exercise?”

Lie. That was another thing I was good at. I could tell when people were lying to me. There was some other reason he took the stairs, but he wasn’t willing to talk about it, and I wasn’t interested enough to push. I followed him down the stairs and outside, drinking in the cool night air.

“Was there a reason you called?”

I glanced down at him, raising an eyebrow, so he clarified. “Earlier. You called me, but you were immediately distracted because I was freaking out a little.”

“A little?”

He ducked his head with a heavy sigh. “Okay, a lot. I hate horror movies.”

“So why didn’t you say no?” He had a serious issue telling people ‘no.’ First his family, now this? He needed to grow a spine.

He shrugged, wrapping his arms around his middle. It wasn’t that cold, but his clothes were pretty thin, and he looked like he weighed almost nothing.

“My roommate is really nice to me, and I liked that he invited me to do something with him. Yeah, I didn’t really like the movie choice, but at least he was nice enough to ask.”

I nodded, pulling my hoodie off over my head. When I handed it to him and he frowned at me, I waved a hand at it dismissively. “I run warm. It’s fine.”

At least this time, I could understand his reasoning. He didn't have many friends that I could tell, and even I felt something when my friends first started inviting me out. It was nice to be included. I didn’t do shit I didn't like, but I got it.

Gary pulled my sweater over his head, and I froze when he looked up at me.

The hoodie was like three sizes too big on him, long enough to cover his hands, and went down almost to his knees.

It was supposed to be for Coach, so it was his size and a little big on me, but he gave it to me because he didn’t like dark-colored clothes.

Seeing Gary in it sparked a possessive feeling I only got very rarely.

Usually with my friends. It wasn’t easy for new people to come into our group, and a good part of that was because of me.

Never for someone I was horny for. It wasn’t a romantic thing, and it’d be unfair of me to demand his attention since he seemed like a relationship guy, but it was intense, and it took me a few minutes to realize he was speaking to me.

“Are you alright?”