Page 16 of Red Card (Prescott University #1)

Rory just shakes her head, her long dark ponytail swaying with the motion when she places her hands back on her hips.

“Try me. Seriously guys, you know there is no one outside of my dad and Coach Matthews that cares about this team more than me. You are my guys, and we’ve been with each other for almost three years now.

This is disappointing to me, and I don’t want to be disappointed. ”

Damn. I was not expecting this pep talk, but I’m impressed.

She just played the shit out of this lot, and they haven’t a clue.

“Now, does anyone have any objections or can we please resume game night?”

I follow her gaze around the room, pausing on the two who seem to have the biggest issue with me. Ezra rolls his eyes and looks away, and Brooks just shakes his head but says nothing.

“Perfect.” She smiles, the cheerful tone returning to her voice. “You’re going to love the game I got for tonight.”

“You got fucking Twister for a bunch of guys to play together, Ror. Why do you love torturing us so much?” Fitz groans with his face entirely too close to Wren’s balls.

“Seems to be her favorite pastime,” I mutter, earning a snicker out of both Fitz and Wren.

“Yeah, well, jokes on you, Ror, because I happen to love having Fitz’s mouth by my balls. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be tonight. So, what now, huh?” Wren says, although his face is turning a bright shade of crimson from hanging upside down for this long, the vein in his thick neck bulging.

We might have a lot of stamina as rugby players, but shit, this is not the place to test it.

Right now I’m too busy trying to hold my hands on red and bloody green and not face-plant into the back of Liam’s head.

Fuck, St. James has lost her mind.

When she said game night, I had no idea it would involve acquainting ourselves with each other’s balls so intimately. I’m starting to come to the realization that she’s got a thing for balls, and not in the kind of way that will benefit me.

I look up, peering over Fitz to see Rory perched on a chair with the spinner in her lap, a shit-eating grin on her plush, rosy lips.

She’s enjoying every second of this. Watching a bunch of grown-ass college rugby players playing Twister in her living room while she controls the strings. I swear she’s not even spinning the damn thing; she’s just telling us to place our limbs in the absolute worst positions imaginable.

“You’re doing great guys! Loving the teamwork. This is what it’s all about.” Her soft giggle floats through the room and Fitz groans again.

“I swear to fucking God, Liam, if you fart right now I’m going to break both your legs and you’ll never be able to play rugby again.”

For fuck’s sake.

Rory giggles again. “Okay, Ezra, now you put your foot on… blue.”

Ezra mutters a string of curses under his breath and attempts to wedge his body between Liam and Brooks.

Only he knocks all three of them over in the process, causing them to end up in a heap on the plastic game mat and Rory to nearly lose her shit laughing.

The only ones left are Wren, Fitz, and me.

Until Wren lifts a hand and shoves Fitz to the ground. “Oops, Fitzy’s out.” He smirks.

“Ooooh, just Wrenny and Kill left!” Rory says, bouncing excitedly in her chair.

“Ror,” Wren whines, followed by a deep groan. “I told you, you gotta stop calling me Wrenny. It’s fucking with my masculinity.”

It’s fascinating, watching the dynamic between all of them. How comfortable they are together, how at ease they seem to be.

If you saw Wren Michaels standing on a rugby pitch, the first thing you’d think is that’s one big motherfucking bloke. Big, wide, boxy shoulders and built so solidly that he could withstand tackles from two guys at once. He’s massive to say the least.

But then you see him around Rory and the bloke’s a fucking teddy bear, all soft and squishy to her as if he couldn’t pick her up and toss her around like a feather.

It’s mind-boggling to witness.

She’s got all these guys completely wrapped around her pretty little finger, and she knows it.

Even Brooks and Ezra, and they’re arseholes to everyone, so it surprises the shit out of me to see them respect and value what she thinks.

“Wren, oh shit. There’s a caterpillar !” Rory cries, jumping up from the chair.

What is she going on about? A caterpillar? The long… fuzzy little bug?

The next few seconds seem to pass in slow motion.

Wren practically levitates off the bloody ground as he lets out a high-pitched scream.

It’s so loud and piercing and un-fucking believable that I blink, trying to figure out if I passed out from all the blood rushing to my head or if that really just happened.

“Motherfucker! Fuck. Fuck. FUCK. Where is it? Where the hell is it, Rory!” He’s all but sprinting as he dives for the couch, jumping onto the cushions and wielding her fluffy green throw pillow like it’s a weapon. “Those are Satan’s eyebrows ! Get it away from me.”

Half the guys are in tears on the floor watching Wren lose his fucking mind over this mysterious caterpillar that I suspect doesn’t even actually exist.

“Oh my God,” Rory wheezes, doubling over as she clutches her stomach. Fresh tears are streaming down her face. “Wr-r-ren. S-s-top. I’m going t-to pee.”

I drop down and sprawl on the plastic mat, watching her laugh. “Please don’t while I’m on the floor.”

This only seems to make her laugh harder.

“Glad you could come and witness this embarrassing shit firsthand tonight, Cairney,” Fitz says from the floor beside me.

Wren retorts angrily, “Fuck you, Fitz, don’t make fun of my fear. You’re scared of fucking carrots .”

Fitz sits up abruptly, his expression sobering and his gaze narrowing. “You dick. You weren’t supposed to tell anyone that. Did you see the girl on 1000 Ways to Die ? Bet she fucking regrets that carrot.”

“Yeah, only because she shoved it up her pus—”

“Oh my God, I told you fuckers to never tell that story in front of me again. I’m fucking scarred for life,” Brooks says, cutting off Wren.

Shit, I know exactly what he was about to say, and that’s pretty fucking scary to think about.

Rory finally admits to Wren that she was lying, and there wasn’t actually a caterpillar, which I’ve now picked up is one of his greatest fears in life. He’s come down off the couch, but still is not entirely trusting anything on the floor.

After that, he doesn’t trust her, so they all begin filtering out until it’s just me and her remaining.

“Well, that went… better than I expected,” Rory says near her front door as she turns to face me. “I’m remaining positive that my whole blackmailing with the snickerdoodle cookies is going to work.”

I nod. “They did seem very put off by that.”

She grins. “My snickerdoodle cookies are out of this world. Maybe I’ll make you some one day so you can taste for yourself.”

My phone vibrates in the pocket of my trousers, and I pull it out and see a text from Aisling asking me if I want any Chinese takeout. At… midnight.

She’s always up in the middle of the night studying so this question is not uncommon.

I quickly shoot her a text and tell her I’ll be home soon.

“I’ve gotta get back to my flat, but are you free Thursday? For your next…” I trail off, lifting a brow.

“Lesson? Yes. I’ve got a study hall until like six but then I’m free.”

Okay, that works because I’ve got tape review and team workout on Thursday. “Can we meet here around six thirty?”

Rory nods as she opens her front door, and I step through, looking back at her.

“Okay. Later, St. James.”

I start walking toward my bike when I hear her call my name.

“Hey, Kill?”

“Yeah?”

She bites her lip, pulling it between her teeth, and leans against the doorframe.

“Thank you… for trusting me. I know that it isn’t easy for you, but I promise it will be worth it.

You’ll see. No matter how great a player you are, you can’t be great just on your own.

Rugby is built on family, and if you give these guys a chance, I know eventually they’ll welcome you into theirs. ”