Chapter 20

Drew

“I never thought I’d see the day.” Jacob whistles, tipping his beer toward me while I lean against the bar and watch a hockey game.

“What day’s that? The day you get drafted first round?”

He barks out a laugh, taking a swig of his drink. “Funny. You won’t be laughing when it’s your turn next year, hot shot. Heard Covey U drafted this new quarterback on their team. He looks like an elf from The Lord of the Rings but apparently has an arm like a missile.” He turns his attention to a group of our teammates, all gathered around the one girl I can’t stop thinking about and who has finally agreed to be seen with me. “She seems to be having a good time with a bunch of guys she apparently hates.”

Wearing a little black dress, Bella looks minuscule in my teammates’ presence. With her hair curled around the edges and dark eyeliner, she looks radiant, and my chest fills with pride watching her have a good time. “She never hated any of you. Only me, apparently.”

“That’s not what it looked like when you walked into the bar.”

I smile, thinking back to that moment, proud that I could finally stake an actual claim on Bella, instead of just warning guys off her. When we walked in, the room went quiet, whispers started, and I was worried that Bella would hate the attention and run. She gets enough of it being the Coach’s daughter, but dating the newest starting quarterback means she can’t be a shrinking violet. I fully expected her to shake off my hand that was resting on her hip. At the very least, I thought she’d want to unlatch my thumb from her belt loop, but she did neither. Instead, she nuzzled into my chest and gave me a small peck on the cheek. She was owning us together, and I was digging it.

Jacob slaps me on the shoulder. “I’m happy for you, man. I know how long you’ve been pining over her. You’re a good guy. You deserve to be happy.” His smile is somewhat stilted, and although he’s happy for me, I know he’s got some other shit going on with his ex that he can’t get off his mind. Just as I’m about to ask him about her, he interrupts. “Maybe now that you’re an official couple, you’ll stop having those secret morning sex sessions in our gym.”

I swing my head in Jacob’s direction, and that fake smile is gone, replaced by a large, mocking grin. “What?”

“Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. The other guys are just too polite to say something, but you aren’t exactly quiet. Yesterday, I counted how many times Bella said, “Oh, Drew,” in an hour. It was twenty-seven times, and not to burst your bubble, but I think she was overreacting. No one is that good in bed.”

I raise a brow, holding back a smile because I know he’s wrong on that front. The thing about sleeping with your ex enemy is that you know everything that makes them tick, good or bad. I know exactly how to get her attention now. I know every single spot that makes her hot, and when she’s on the brink of an orgasm. Those moans were well and truly earned.

“The guys and I had a bet going on how long those little morning visits would last before you came out as a couple.” Jacob elbows me. “I won, by the way. I knew your little Labrador heart would last less than a month. Or at least, I hoped since I was tired of disinfecting the gym every morning.”

“I made sure the place was clean after every time.”

Jacob laughs. “Doesn’t mean that’s enough for Reese. You know the guy is a clean freak and hasn’t stepped foot in that gym since.”

“Ah, that’s why he’s been more than willing to escort me to the college gym?” I chuckle, looking over at my friend, who’s somehow convinced Bella to play pool with him and Jonah. My chest puffs out when she bends over because he better not be checking out her ass.

“How did Coach react when you told him you’re dating his daughter?”

I sigh, leaning back on my chair. Coach Summers is a problem. One that I’ve been ignoring for the last month because it’s been hard enough convincing Bella to hang out with me on campus. Convincing her to tell her dad leads to a whole new set of problems, but ones we will have to own up to soon.

When Bella laughs, I can’t help but gaze at her, tracking her every facial expression and looking for any sign that she might be uncomfortable. But I know her smile is genuine from the crinkle in her nose. She’s hardly vulnerable, if ever, but it feels good knowing she’s letting herself go in front of my friends.

“I haven’t told him yet.” I take a swig of my beer and ignore Jacob’s sharp intake of breath. “Bella was so adamant on keeping it a secret that I didn’t know how to broach the subject without her kicking me in the balls for the suggestion.”

He whistles slowly and pauses for a beat before responding. “You know Coach Summers isn’t going to be happy about it. His face will go purple, and that vein will pop out of his forehead again. I still remember that chat he had with the team when she joined the college as a freshman.”

“Yeah.” I knew the talk he was referring to all too well. He’d had it with the team every year in high school and since she’s been here at St. Michael’s college. Coach is only protective about two things in his life: his daughters and his scorecard. I’m almost certain Bella wasn’t aware of those talks, and I wasn’t about to be the one to tell her about them. She’s always looked up to her dad to the point that he can do no wrong in her eyes, so I don’t think she’d appreciate knowing that Daddy Dearest blacklisted her from all guys in high school and in college. “I tried to bypass those talks before,” I explain, taking a swig of my beer. “In high school, I was ready to put everything on the line, even got Coach’s reluctant permission to ask her to prom once.” I laugh at how naive I was back then. Bella wasn’t a girl you could win over by sitting on the sidelines. You had to play her game, or you had no chance.

“He said yes?”

“Like I said, reluctantly. He had all these rules laid out, which would have essentially led to me sitting next to her the whole night but not touching her, or looking at her.”

“So you didn’t go through with it?”

“Hell yes, I would have gone through with it. Any time that I could get with Bella was better than nothing. My best friend found out my plan and asked her out first. He’s pretty much the main reason we get those long, drawn-out lectures. Guessing Coach doesn’t want to see his little girl upset over a guy, especially if he can influence it.”

“Does she know about that?”

“Most of it. I left out getting Coach’s permission because I didn’t want her freaking out that Coach knew I liked her.”

“Makes sense. But now you’re trying your luck again? Only this time, you’re bypassing his permission. The year before you intend to enter the draft?” He has a point. Coach Summers threatens suspension over the smallest of misdemeanors, and I know dating his daughter could potentially put a wedge in our relationship, but Bella has always had the ability to make me want to risk it all.

“I’m not bypassing him. She wants this just as much as me, and once she’s comfortable, we’ll tell him together.”

“Better sooner rather than later,” he warns. “Don’t want one of the guys bringing it up in the locker room and Coach hearing it through them.”

“I know, I know.” I slap Jacob on the shoulder and push myself off the stool. “Bella and I will figure it out.” Looking at Bella again, she’s still talking with Reese, acting like he hung the moon. That’s my cue. “Anyway, I better head back to Bella before Reese forgets who brought her here tonight.”

“Sure thing,” Jacob says, playing with the coaster on the bar before watching the hockey game again.

“You good?” I ask, and he chuckles sadly.

“I’ll be fine. Thinking of asking Caroline on a date.”

“Caroline?” I raise my brows in surprise when he nods. Caroline’s been chasing him for years, even when he was with his ex. She’s been trying to flirt with me over the last year to make Jacob jealous, and I guess it finally worked. “Girl’s hot. Might as well.” It’s half-hearted, and we both know it. He doesn’t want Caroline, but the girl he does want is out of the question. “I’m here if you want to talk.”

“I know, man.”

That’s it. I leave my friend sitting there, wallowing in his beer, and step onto the sticky floor of the student bar. It’s a Tuesday night, so nowhere near as busy as the weekend, but with my teammates and their friends, there are enough people here to see us together. Enough people to start rumors. Rumors that will quickly get back to Coach.

I didn’t think this through before asking her here, and now we really did need to get our shit together.

Bella’s at the pool table, leaning on her cue while she waits for Reese to take a shot. Knowing Bella, she probably convinced Reese that she has no clue how to play, but I can tell she’s beating his ass from here. The disappointed look on Reese’s face only confirms it.

Pushing through the throng of people, I’m just about to get to Bella when a hand wraps around my arm, pulling me away from the crowd. The person’s nails dig so hard, she nearly breaks the skin, and I know that claw-like grip without having to look. I don’t fight as she pulls me away from the crowd. We needed to talk, and it’s only right we do it now.

She backs me into a small alcove, her blonde hair flaring wildly from the push.

“Hey, Drew,” Brianna drawls out, her gaze drawing down my shirt, straight to the button of my jeans. “Where have you been? I haven’t seen you in a while.” Her dark makeup only serves to emphasize her light blue eyes, and when she throws a sexy smirk my way, I know I need to nip this in the bud before Bella gets a whiff of it.

Brianna seemed like a good idea in my freshman year. She’s hot, on the cheer team, and had one huge asset that Bella didn’t. She could stand my presence. I gave us a fair shot back then. Dated her exclusively for a few months but broke it off quickly after. Even though we’d hang out as friends and sometimes more, I knew she wasn’t girlfriend material. It always felt like a spark was missing between us. She may have been everything I wanted on paper, but she was missing the edge that I liked from Bella. That sarcastic, hold me to my bullshit kind of mouth. Poor Brianna is as bland as a day-old muffin.

“Bri, I think we need to talk,” I say, rubbing the back of my neck and taking a quick glance over my shoulder. I can see the disappointment in her eyes, which kind of sucks. We’ve been friends since we were freshmen, and I wanted to keep it that way.

Brianna sighs, looking away from me, and it’s then I realize why she was such a good distraction. She looks almost identical to Bella, save for the cute little mole that Bella has on the side of her left cheek.

“No need. Word got around that you were hanging out with Bella tonight, and I kind of wanted to come out and see for myself.” She purses her lips together before scuffing her feet. “It’s funny because you always told me Bella was off-limits, but here you are, looking at her like she’s a Philly Cheesesteak, and you can’t help but eat it.”

Her eyes shimmer as she nods with the grace and dignity of a debutante, and I blow out a breath because I don’t want to hurt Brianna’s feelings by telling her the truth. “It’s a little different between Bella and me. As you know, we’ve known each other a long time, and we have -”

“History,” she finishes for me, raising her arms in surrender. “I get it. I should have known there was something there by how you looked at her when she showed up last year. You told me there was a girl back home. I guess I’m just surprised it’s her.”

I try to hold her hand, but she pulls it back. “I’m sorry, Bri.”

“Don’t be.” She offers me a small smile. “I’m not angry at you. Just at myself for wasting so many years thinking that eventually you’d come around. Should have taken the hint when you told me you just wanted to be friends as freshman.”

My heart crumbles a little for her because she should be angry at me. I’d let her tear my eyes out if she wanted because it’s what I deserve. We’ve confided in each other over the years, and although I’ve known how she’s felt for a long time - everyone has - I didn’t let her move on to another guy because I liked having her around.

I’m a jerk. A selfish jerk who kept her hanging because I never thought I had a chance with Bella.

“Kind of sucks to be second best.”

“That’s not what you are, Bri. You’re my friend. One of my best.” It’s not her fault that all I seem to want in life is the spunky girl who’d owned my balls since high school.

“Drew. Brianna.” Bella’s voice soothes the conviction in my soul, and her hand slinking around my waist feels right. As much as it hurts to let my friendship with Brianna go, I know it’s the right thing for her. “Everything good?”

Bri’s eyes widen, and she looks like a frightened puppy, but she has nothing to be scared of. We weren’t doing anything that didn’t need to be done. We were only talking, but when I glance down at Bella, her heated gaze is directed firmly at Bri.

“Everything’s good, B.” I smile, ignoring the simmering tension between the two women. “I was just coming to find you. I got you this.” I hand her a beer, and she smiles as she takes a sip. “Sorry, it’s probably a little warm now.”

“Thanks, Babe,” Bella emphasizes the nickname to piss Brianna off and tilts her head to the pool table. “Shall we get back to it?” She’s being rude, but as per usual with her, I find it hot. Seeing her aggressively claim me in front of the girl she thinks is her biggest competition is something I never expected to see, and it’s a turn-on.

“Sure.” I turn to Bri one last time, feeling a sense of finality between us. Her smile has faded and her confidence is low, but I know this is right for us in the long term. If Bella’s my future, I have to let go of my past. “Talk later, Bri?”

She purses her lips and nods on a shaky breath, and before I know it, she’s disappeared into the crowd. I don’t know when I’ll see her next, but I know I need to make it up to her somehow.

“What was that all about?” Bella asks, accusation high in her tone.

She turns to look at me with no remorse on her face. “Could ask you the same thing,” I retort.

“That was me making sure your ex knows exactly where we stand.” She wraps her arms around me, looking up with a hooded glare.

“And where do we stand?” I ask, wrapping my arms around her waist, letting my fingers graze the top of her ass.

Getting on her tiptoes, she whispers in my ear, “Together until I’m in your room alone. Then you’ll be the only one standing because I’ll be kneeling right in front.”

As much as I enjoy that image, the fact that she’s brought our relationship back to sex is mildly disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, sex with Bella is hot, but anytime I try to have a meaningful conversation with her, she soothes it over by asking me a question that’s certain to get my cock hard.

“Is that it?” I hold my jaw because I’m starting to conclude that our expectations for tonight aren’t aligned. I wanted to out her as my girlfriend, and it seems she only wanted to claim me as a conquest.

Come to think of it; besides walking in together, she hasn’t glanced my way the whole night. Too engrossed with Reese, Justin, or anyone else on the team who would give her attention, she didn’t bother looking at me. It’s always just been me watching her. That is until Brianna came over. Then she needed to stake her claim.

Bella pulls away from me quickly and glances over her shoulder. Is she worried that this corner isn’t secluded enough?

“Come on. We’re missing the end of the game.” The game? Like she knows what sport’s on, let alone the team. This only serves as a distraction, so she can avoid answering my question.

Even now, as she walks back into the crowd, she doesn’t bother to grab my hand, but she expects me to follow her as I’ve always done. She wants no commitment; yet, I’m chained to her like a dog.

My feet move before I’ve had time to think.

This isn’t how I want Bella. I just need to figure out a way to show how her actions are affecting me.