Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

JULIEN

The different styles of music blasting from the houses that line the quaint tree-lined street meld together in a raucous melody that grates my ears like fingernails down a chalkboard. Every Greek house is having a party tonight to kick off Rush Week.

"Lather, rinse, repeat," Elijah comments as we walk down fraternity row.

His analogy is spot on.

"We can leave whenever you want."

Elijah looks over when someone shouts my name. It's too dark and too crowded to tell who it is. I give a perfunctory lift of the hand hello. It's taken us fifteen minutes to walk a block because we keep getting stopped by people, most of them from my team.

"Are Jayson, Ryder, and Liz meeting us?" Elijah asks.

"I have no idea. I haven't spoken to Ry or Liz all day. She hasn't returned any of my texts. Ry sent a thumbs down emoji. Jay said he might make an appearance, but I wouldn't count on it."

Jay avoids parties these days. His sobriety is too important to him, and he'd rather not put himself in the middle of free-flowing beer kegs and temptation.

Navigating around people milling about in the street, I send a guy fuck-off eyes when he openly gawks at Elijah and me holding hands. We don't get much of that anymore at CU, so the times when we do, I shut that shit down quick. If a harsh look doesn't cut it, I have no problem using my fists to make my point, like at last year's party. Fucking Justin. I'm only glad he got kicked out of CU because I probably would've killed him if we ever came face to face. What he did to Elijah?—

"Ignore him," Elijah says, thinking the guy is the reason I tensed up.

I place a kiss on our joined hands. "I am."

"About fucking time!" we hear as we approach Fallon's frat.

Fallon and five other guys are sitting on a sofa that's been placed out in the crowded front yard.

Elijah and Fallon bump fists. "You seriously sitting out here waiting for us?"

" Ha ha . S'up, Julien."

"Hey, Fallon," I reply.

"Long day?"

"How can you tell?"

"You look like you could use a gallon of caffeine."

Chuckling, I agree. "A swimming pool full, more like."

I'm exhausted. Today about kicked my ass. When I got to Elijah's last night, Ash was back and kept us up talking until after midnight. Then between my morning run, classes, and practice, I'm practically a sleepwalking zombie at this point.

Fallon cocks his head in that contemplative way he does where you don't know what he's thinking and motions for us to follow him.

"Come on. You can kick your feet up out back."

Instead of going inside the house, Fallon leads us around the outside to the backyard. I'll never get used to seeing it, no matter how many times I come here. Unlike the other Greek houses, Fallon's frat sits on a massive plot of land. Enough to easily fit a swimming pool and tennis court. Things paid for out of the Montgomery family coffers—like a lot of other stuff on the CU campus. Fallon's father is an alumni and a big donor. Then again, Phillip Montgomery is a narcissistic attention whore—Elijah's description of the man, not mine—who loves to slap his surname on everything. Libraries, lecture halls, stadiums.

"Want anything to drink?" Fallon asks as we walk up the deck steps.

"I'm good." Elijah looks at me.

"Bottled water."

Fallon approaches a group of girls congregated on one of the love seats. A redhead, a blonde, and a brunette. I'm suddenly craving Neapolitan ice cream.

The redhead smiles broadly at Fallon and offers him her joint.

He takes it and tosses it into the bushes. "Get the fuck off my furniture."

Her smile falls.

The blonde to her right stares at me as she yanks her friend up. Her eyes widen, and she whispers to the third girl, but it comes out louder than I think she intended.

"That's Julien Jameson, the soccer player. He's so freaking hot."

If I knew that was the kind of attention I'd be getting from the calendars and promotional posters I was asked to do, I would have told the athletics director hell no and to find someone else.

Hearing her, Elijah hooks the back of my jeans and hauls me in for a kiss not suitable for public display. I'm all for it. I love it when he gets territorial and possessive.

"Now that's hot. Holy shit," her friend says, craning her neck to watch as her friend shoves her inside the house.

Fallon tries not to laugh but does a piss-poor job of it. "Is that a new thing?"

"Annoying, isn't it?" Elijah replies.

"Angel, you know I'm yours and no one else's."

Taking the seats just vacated, I pull Elijah down into my lap. His profile is illuminated by the strands of white patio lights that hang overhead, and shadows play over his features, highlighting his perfect jaw and the gentle curve of his lips. But it's the chameleon shifting of color in his hazel eyes that I find fascinating. Greens turn to slate grays, then to smoky quartz, then back to green.

Elijah's arm casually drapes around me, and he starts massaging the back of my neck. Like a release valve being turned, every ounce of stiffness drains out of my sore muscles, and I slump back into the cushions.

"You know if kitten is coming?"

I still find it weird that Fallon calls Liz "kitten." I also don't like that he's asking about her. It means he's still interested, and with her memories nonexistent, it gives him the perfect opening to do what he's wanted to do since tenth grade—steal her away from my brother.

"Not that I'm aware," I reply.

Fallon snaps his fingers at some random guy I've never seen before. "Chris, get me a beer and a bottled water."

Chris runs inside and comes back out a minute later, drinks in hand.

"Anything else, sir?"

Elijah and I display synchronous shocked expressions at the "sir."

Fallon dismisses him with a flick of the hand. "No. Get lost."

Bursting into laughter, Elijah remarks, "That wasn't very nice."

Not taking offense, Fallon passes the water to me. "He's a freshman pledge. He has to do whatever I tell him. Just part of the initiation. Dumb as shit, but since I'm president, it's kind of a requirement." He shrugs.

"And one of the many reasons why I will never join a frat," Elijah rejoins.

A football goes flying past from across the yard, and cheers erupt when a guy catches it midair while diving into the swimming pool.

"Is that Lamar?"

Elijah perks up and scans the backyard. "Where? Is David with him?"

I fucking hope not, but if Lamar is here, David is, too.

Elijah jumps when Ash pops up behind us like an excited whack-a-mole. "Found you."

"Stop scaring the crap out of me. Where's Mei?"

"Dragged off to who knows where by Leila and Maggie."

Ash hops over the back of the small sofa and manages to squeeze himself into the half-foot of available cushion space.

Fallon points his beer at him. "Like the hair. Very John Wick- ish ."

Ash spears his fingers through his jet-black locks. "I'm down with that. Keanu Reeves is awesome in those movies."

Closing my eyes, I zone out and half-listen to what they're saying, my interest more focused on the wonderful things Elijah's hand is doing to the tight tendons of my neck.

"… and then the guy ran buck-ass naked across the field."

I slit an eye open when someone clears their throat. Chris looms nervously at Fallon's side.

"Sir, you're needed inside."

"I'm busy."

"It's a Code Four, sir."

Ash leans over and asks, "What's Code Four?"

Fallon shoves his empty beer at Chris and unhappily rises from his seat. "Gotta break up a fight."

"I told you!" I pump a fist in victory because I just won a twenty-dollar bet.

It's pretty much a guarantee that any party Fallon throws includes bloodshed and black eyes of some kind.

Making a grabby hand at Elijah, I declare, "Pay up, baby."

Elijah lifts his hips to get to his wallet. "Dammit, Fallon. Just once. One time. No fights."

"Please, fucker. Like I can control the actions of idiots. Come find me before you leave."

As if we're stuck in a revolving door of people I wish to escape, David appears out of nowhere with his perfectly styled hair and an annoyingly charming smile aimed right at Elijah.

"Hey, blondie."

I hate that nickname. And yes, that sentiment comes straight from the little green devil named jealousy. If David didn't moon all over my boyfriend all the fucking time, I'd have no problem with him. But he does, so I do.

"Julien thought he saw Lamar. Shawn here, too?"

At the mention of my name, David's gaze flicks briefly to me, his smile tightening. "Julien."

"David."

Fuck off.

With a choreographed bro handshake, he greets Ash. "Long time, A. How've you been?"

"Good. When's the first game?"

"In two weeks. You coming?"

David asks Ash, but he's sliding glances at Elijah the entire time.

"Wouldn't miss it. I'm sure Elijah will let me borrow one of his pom-poms."

"You guys are never going to let me live that down, are you?"

I kiss his shoulder. "I like your pom-poms."

Elijah tips my chin up and kisses me. "Thanks, honey."

I love seeing Elijah up in the stands shaking his blue and silver pom-poms and cheering me on during my home games. I hope he can come with me for some of my away games this year, but his work schedule will probably stop that from happening.

David shifts his shoulders in the direction of the pool. "We've set up over there if you want to join."

My grip tightens on Elijah's thigh. "Actually, I was about to ask my boyfriend to dance."

In my defense, I really was going to ask him. One of Elijah's favorite songs started playing right when David showed up.

Elijah beams that beautiful fucking smile at me, and my knees go weak. Every damn time.

"I'd love to."

Sensing the passive enmity, Ash pings a curious look from David to me to Elijah. "I need to hunt down my girl. I'll catch up with you guys later."

Not giving a shit if anyone doesn't like it, I stand up with Elijah wrapped around me. He locks his ankles at the small of my back and waves bye to David.

David shouts, "No passing ships, remember. I owe you dinner."

I know he said that just to piss me off.

Carrying Elijah into the thrumming heart of the party, the house is alive with the thumping energy of bass-heavy Top 40 music that shakes the walls and reverberates inside my chest like a tuning fork.

Not afraid to call me out, Elijah says in my ear so I can hear him, "Think you got me away from him fast enough?"

"Nope."

"He's just a friend."

"I know."

But David is the kind of friend who wants to fuck my boyfriend, so… yeah, not happening.

"You can put me down now."

"Nope."

"Everyone is looking."

"Good."

"Okay then."

Elijah seals his mouth over mine, the slide of his tongue against my lips making me moan with need.

Finding a small unoccupied space, I slide him down my body and pull him close. I hold his body pressed intimately to mine, our gentle swaying completely out of sync with the frantic beat of "Unstoppable."

Elijah's fingertips trace gentle patterns on my back. "This isn't exactly the right music for a slow dance."

The chaos of the party, the mass of gyrating, sweaty bodies, the loud music, even the tension from moments ago—all of them melt into the background.

"You're in my arms. That's all that matters."