Give Me You (10 page)

“Good to know,” Corin says, setting her purse down. “So, um, I can sleep on the couch.”

I pull an annoyed face. “Don’t be ridiculous. You can have the bed. I can handle the couch.”

She doesn’t argue, just moves her purse to the bed. “I didn’t exactly bring pajamas.”

“Neither did I.” I walk over to an armoire and grab a pair of navy blue and gray plaid flannel pajamas. “I’ll take the bottoms. You can have the top.”

Corin nods, looking more nervous than I’ve ever seen her. “Um, thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

It’s been a long fucking day and she looks as exhausted as I feel. “I’ll be over here, on the couch. If you decide you need an orgasm or two, let me know. Otherwise, I’m just going to crash.”

“Hold your breath until that happens,” she tells me before slipping into the bathroom to change.

I strip down quickly before yanking on the pants. When she steps out of the bathroom, I nearly lose my fucking breath. Which, literally never happens to me.

Her bare creamy toned legs peek out from the bottom of the button down pajama top. Damn those legs would look fantastic wrapped around my waist. Or my neck, thrown over my shoulder while I—”

“Skylar?”

I do my best to talk my dick down but he is actively staging a protest. “Yeah?” My voice sounds like I’m being strangled. I might as well be.

“You think Layla’s okay? I mean, do you think it’s okay that we left them alone? I got the feeling she wanted me to stay.”

I do my best to clear my lust-fogged brain in order to form actual sentences. “Yeah. I got the impression she was more worried about you than herself.”

Corin nods. “Maybe she was.”

“Care to share why that may be? I know I say a lot of shit, but you’re not afraid of me or anything are you?” If all my running my mouth has made her think I’m like a date rapist or something, I’m going to feel like the scum of the Earth.

Corin laughs, easing my concerns. “No. Not at all. I think she was just worried about me. Worried I might be too tired to battle your consistently clever wit and would give into one of your innuendo-laced invitations.”

“Would that be the worst thing in the world?” I get it. She’s not an easy lay. But they’re acting like I have genital warts or something. I get tested. I use condoms. I’m fucking fantastic in bed and I would make damn sure she had a good time.

“Goodnight, Skylar,” is all she says before climbing into bed.

I flop onto the couch and lace my hands behind my head.

“Hey, um, Sky?” I hear her soft voice call out just as I start to fall asleep.

“Hm?”

“The way Landen and Layla are—so in tune with one another—so completely crazy about each other to the point I think they might actually be crazy…you ever feel that way about anyone?”

The face of a girl I dated my senior year of high school comes to mind briefly. But as much as I cared about her and wanted to help her with her issues, it wasn’t anywhere near the level of intensity of what I can see Landen feels for Layla.

“Nah. Not really. Why? Have you?”

She’s silent for a moment before she answers. “No. Not even close.”

She’s East Coast and I’m West Coast, but maybe Corin Connelly and I aren’t all that different after all.

When I wake up the next morning, Corin is gone and the top to my bottoms is folded neatly on the bed. Along with a note.

Thanks for letting me crash. Had an early class. –Red

I smile at the use of my nickname for her.

The day blurs by me and I’m warming up for the scrimmage before I realize I just spent the night with a girl for the first time since I hit puberty without getting laid.

Huh. And yet, I enjoyed myself.

I don’t know what to make of this exactly.

It’s not until I see her and Layla coming down the bleachers that I realize how truly fucked I really am.

She has this glow around her that makes everyone else pale in comparison. And I can honestly say, I’d rather spend the night just hanging out with her, waiting to hear what smart ass thing she’ll shut me down with next, than sleeping with a random I don’t care to see the next day.

I’ll be damned.

After the game, the four of us hit up a nearby diner for milkshakes and cheese fries. Well, the girls do. Landen and I stick more to the lean protein side of the menu since we’re in season.

I make a joke about watching my girlish figure and Corin laughs and pokes me in the side.

I feel Layla’s eyes on us and I can tell she’s wondering what happened the night before.

That makes two of us.

She’s also looking a little wary of me and protective of Corin, but surely she knows by now Corin Connelly can take care of herself as she is fond of reminding me.

Our waitress comes to take our order and she’s cute enough. Short and curvy in an athletic sort of way. I can’t help myself. I have to know if Corin would care if other girls flirt with me and vice versa. I’m a vain bastard, what can I say?

I pay extra attention to her ass as she leaves and there’s a disturbance on the other side of the table but Corin isn’t involved.

“He’s doing it on purpose,” Landen tells his girlfriend. “To make her jealous.” I want to growl at the jackass. How does he know me that well already?

Corin is still completely oblivious and is busy fiddling with sugar packets.

Something Layla says makes Landen laugh.

I look away from the waitress after she sets our food down to glare at them. “What’s so funny?”

“Layla is getting upset because you’re working so hard to get Corin’s attention.”

I smirk at my asshole of a roommate. “Nice, man. ‘Preciate it.” I decide I don’t care about my athletic dietary restrictions and shove a handful of cheese fries into my mouth. “Fucker,” I mutter to Landen across the table.

Corin rolls her eyes and shakes her head before diving into her own food. Maybe she really isn’t into me and could honestly give it a shit about what I do or don’t do with other women.

“Well I hardly think undressing the waitress with your eyes is the way to get Corin’s attention,” Layla huffs at me with all the fury of an angry kitten.

“It’s okay. I can get her number for you, if you’d like,” Corin offers nonchalantly.

“I manage just fine on my own, thanks,” I mumble. I am so over this entire conversation. I devote my full attention to my food.

Corin and Layla jump into a conversation about classes and notes and comprehensive exams. I offer my two cents about the ridiculousness of certain classes but mostly I keep quiet.

For most of the meal, Layla and Landen are too lost in their own world to remember that we exist. I clear my throat and Layla jumps, which makes Corin laugh.

“It’s like eating a meal with dogs in heat,” I whisper to her.

The waitress returns and flirts with Landen, so clearly I’m losing my touch. Hanging out with Corin is going to be bad for my mojo. I can feel it already. And yet, I invite her to go to study hall with me after we eat because I am apparently a glutton for punishment.

It’s obvious our roommates are going to want time alone, which is probably why Corin agrees. But I don’t give a fuck about study hall or the fact that I need to log some of the mandatory hours required by my coach. I need answers, dammit. And tonight, Corin is going to give them to me.

I hope.

“S
kylar’s got study hall for athletes at the library, so I think I’m going to join him. My Calc class is a bitch, and the professor speaks zero English, so I’m going to see if there’s a tutor available to meet with me.”

Layla frowns at me like I’ve said something wrong.

“Kind of late for a study session, isn’t it?” Landen asks, arching a brow at his roommate.

“Relax, Mom and Dad. We’ll be home by curfew,” I tell them.

Skylar glares at Landen but doesn’t respond.

“Corin, you can stay out as late as you need to. I’ll go to Intro tomorrow and get the notes.” Layla responds with enough enthusiasm that I know she’s okay with more alone time with Landen.

“Fuck Intro,” Skylar declares, nearly scaring the waitress to death as she hands us our checks and Layla a to-go cup for her milkshake. “Dean and Mike can go the rest of this week. We’ll take next week. This every other day shit is for the birds.”

“Agreed,” Landen says, adding a few bills to the twenty Skylar left. I notice there’s a phone number scrawled on the ticket and I can’t help but wonder which guy our waitress left it for. Neither of them take it.

“Hey, can I get a ride to the body shop this weekend? My truck should be fixed, and I need to run downtown to pick it up or the bastards are going to start charging me for leaving it parked there.”

While the boys launch into a conversation about picking up Landen’s truck, Layla turns to me. “Hey, run to the ladies room with me?”

I nod and we tell the guys we’ll meet them outside in a few.

As soon as we enter the ladies room, Layla pins me with a look that says we’re in here to handle more than bladder relief. “Please be honest with me. I’m not an idiot, and I highly doubt the boys have mandatory study block right after a scrimmage. Where are y’all really going?”

“I love when you say y’all, Georgia.” I wink at her but she narrows her eyes at me.

“Geez, Lay, relax. It’s not mandatory. It’s just a blocked off time where the athletes get to use the Arts and Humanities library and it’s closed to everyone else. Tutors are available and they give free help. I mentioned I was going to get a job to pay for a tutor since I’m probably going to bomb Calc, and Skylar invited me along—says I can say I’m on the girls’ soccer team and the tutors don’t really check to verify.” I hold out my hands in a gesture to let her know I’m telling the truth. There’s nothing shady going on other than me using the student athlete perks. “There’s an assignment due tomorrow that might as well be in Japanese. Actually, that’s the only language my professor speaks and unfortunately I don’t.”