Chapter Eighteen

Darius

I have watched her all night. She’s drunk that hip flask herself and is going to have the worst fucking hangover tomorrow. Beckett has remained by her side all night while she dances. Cody appeared about three minutes after Corvin did, with messy hair and sand caked to the back of her head, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what they were doing. Since Cody and Katie have been back she has been dancing. It pisses me off to see all the guys with their eyes on her. Everyone went nuts before when she jumped onto that guy Nathan and started grinding on him while he held her. The only reason that fucker isn’t picking his teeth up off the floor is because he bats for the other team and I know he isn’t interested in her.

She starts to sway on her feet. I lurch forward but Beckett is there to catch her and swing her into his arms bride style. I’m angry, frustrated and horny as fuck, those three things mixed together isn’t a good cocktail. I stalk over to Beck to find Leah passed out in his arms, she looks so beautiful it hurts.

“I’m gonna take her back to her dorm.” I cut my gaze to him and shake my head.

“No. She comes home with us,” I say in a matter of fact tone.

“Nuh uh, she made me promise not to let any of you take her back to your house,” Katie says as she steps up beside Beck, Cody and Nathan stand next to her nodding.

“And where the fuck are you staying?” I snap at Nathan, the bastard bats his lashes.

“Well, under you of course.” I choke on my spit. Beckett shakes with silent laughter and the girls find humor in my horrified face as they begin to laugh. “I’m staying with them. Trust me, gorgeous, your girl does not get my cock hard.” I shudder at the thought of what does get him hard.

“Right, well I’m taking her home,” Beck announces. I turn to follow after him but the sound of my name being shouted has the five of us pausing, Beck turns his head toward me and says in a stern tone. “Deal with that shit now.” I grit my teeth and nod. Turning around, I spy Chelsea rushing toward me. She stops a foot away and smiles suggestively at me, but before she can utter a word I decide to lay it out.

“Take the fucking hint, you and me are never going to happen. The thought of you has my cock shriveling up, you were nothing but a hole to get me off. Jesus, I couldn’t even get hard to use said hole.” We have garnered the attention of the bystanders but I don’t care, I’ve tried to get her to take a hint but she won’t.

“You asshole, go waste your time on that washed up slut then!” Anger soars inside me, but before I can do anything or say something, a blur of brown hair whizzes past me, then punches Chelsea right in the nose. She drops to the sand like a sack of shit, screaming as she cups her bleeding nose.

“Call my friend a slut again, you washed up twat, and next time I’ll make sure I break your fucking nose!” I stare at the back of Cody’s head, stunned and proud as fuck. I didn’t think the girl had it in her. Everyone around us erupts into cheers at the catfight. Cody turns on her heal and marches away, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me along with her.

“Well, baby girl, I did not see that coming,” Nathan says proudly as he wraps an arm around Cody’s shoulders.

“Neither did I. I’m sick of all of them calling her a slut when they don’t know the fucking truth. They think because she was hooking up with Darius and a video of her being raped got aired that it somehow makes her a slut.” I tune them out, unable to hear anymore. As we reach the road, Leah stirs in Beck’s hold, a drunken smile breaks free as she stares up at him.

“I love you, Becky.” Becky? Beckett snorts and shakes his head.

“Love you too.” It amazes me how easily they can say those words to each other.

“You’re so pretty, Becky.” I keep my gaze forward and watch as Nathan and the girls stumble ahead of us, out of the three of them, Cody is the least drunk.

“That’s those beer goggles talking, babe,” he answers.

“Why can’t you be him ,” she says sadly. I see Beck tense out of the corner of my eye. “He doesn’t love me.” Pain erupts inside me.

“Yeah, he does, babe. I told you before, you need to talk to him.” She snorts and closes her eyes.

“No, he doesn’t. He just wants to fuck me, then throw me away like last time.” I dart in front of Beck making him slam to a stop. I don’t ask his permission as I pull her to me and carry her back to her dorm. She lazily blinks her eyes opens. When a small frown mars her beautiful face she says, “You’re not my Becky.” Beckett snorts beside me.

“Nah, I’m not,” I say. I hold her closer against my chest and she snuggles into me.

“You’re prettier than Becky.” That has a laugh tearing out of me and earning myself a whack on the back of the head from Becky .

“Yeah, I am way hotter than him, Goldie.”

“I’m horny.” Beckett and I both slam to a stop, I look to the heavens praying for strength.

“She’s drunk.”

“I’m aware, captain fucking obvious,” I say as I force my feet to move. Within a second she is fast asleep in my arms. We reach her dorm way quicker than I would have liked. I follow Katie in as Cody holds the door open for us. I glare at her futon on the floor. “When the fuck is your dorm opening again?” I ask as I lay her gently on the mattress.

“After the break,” Cody says, I can hear the annoyance in her voice. I pull the cover over her and brush her hair from her face, she smiles in her sleep.

“Darius?” she mumbles, I see Katie and Cody jumping into one of the beds and Nathan hops in the other.

“Yeah?” I answer.

“I love you.” My breath gets caught in my throat, I know they all heard that, I can feel their eyes on me, waiting to see what I’ll do next. I lean down and place a soft kiss to her forehead.

“I love you too,” I whisper.

I wake the next morning feeling lighter than I have in weeks. The sun is out and the weather isn’t too cold. I decide to cook breakfast for the guys. I’ve been a dick lately and need to make it up to them, and the quickest way to do that is through their stomachs. An hour goes by, while I slave away in the kitchen, when the four of them finally start to trickle in.

“Oh my heart, he cooks too.”

“Ha ha, asshole,” I say to Saint’s stupid ass comment.

“Something smells good,” Beck says before he yawns, then makes his way over to the coffee pot that I just finished making.

“Pour me one!” Crue calls to Beck as he takes the seat next to Saint. Corvin is the last to walk in, his hair is a mess and he looks like a dogs ass.

“I’m never drinking again.” The four of us laugh at his dumb ass statement.

“Yeah and I’ll never eat another pussy,” Saint mocks. Too hungover to even reply, he flips Saint off over his shoulder.

“What’s the plan for the day?” Beck asks as he hands everyone a cup of coffee. I thank him before answering.

“I invited the girls and Nathan over to hang out for the day.” I focus back on cooking the eggs avoiding their stares.

“Huh, which girls exactly?” I turn and pin Crue with a dry stare.

“You might know one of them, yeah I think you do actually. She was the one grinding on both your cocks last night?” Saint grins proudly, while Crue ducks his gaze to look at the table.

“Well, if I recall Katie wasn’t the only girl getting some action,” Saint quips. Corvin pins me with a dark look.

“Dude, Leah was fucking wasted,” he admonishes. I quirk a brow and shake my head.

“My cock was in my pants all night and they weren’t talking about my girl, they were talking about yours !” Corvin’s eyes widen for a second before he schools his features. He can’t fool me, he’s trying to act like he doesn’t care about Cody but I saw him last night watching her every move—he couldn’t keep his eyes off her. Which leaves me to wonder, why isn’t he making shit official?

“After breakfast I’ll head out and get some shit. We’ll have a cookout today and chill out in the pool.” We all agree with Beck, that actually sounds like a great idea.

“So, will anyone be using the spare room tonight?” Crue taunts. I look to the heavens praying for strength not to beat his ass.

“Shut the fuck up. I don’t want to hear, see or know anything, at least that way I can pretend my sister is still a virgin.” I snort and Beck coughs to masks his laughter. “I fucking hate you both,” Corv moans as he moves to join the other two at the table.

“He is going to cockblock you bad,” Beck says, low enough for only me to hear.

“I know and I already have blue balls,” I whine.

Just before lunch time, a knock sounds at the door. Before any of the others get off their asses, I’m already halfway across the room shouting that I’ll get it. I ignore their mocking laughter as I swing the door open, the smile drops off my face when I only see Cody, Katie and Nathan standing there.

“Well clearly we only got invited because of a certain blonde,” Nathan taunts.

“Where’s Leah?” I ask.

Cody rolls her eyes and pushes past me. “She’ll be here soon,” she calls over her shoulder. I look back to Katie for an explanation, she sighs and takes pity on me.

“She went to Garrett’s to get her phone, I forgot to grab it off him last night for her.” I nod, my good mood has slipped as I step aside and let them in. Nathan pauses in front of me, he says nothing as he waits for Katie to be out of ear shot.

The normal carefree look in his eyes is gone, a serious look overshadows his face. “You may not like me or my relationship with Leah but you need to know, I care about her and won’t let a little dick like you hurt her.” My brows raise to my hairline surprised he had the balls to man up to me. “Word of advice, whatever is holding you back, let it go before she lets you go.” I stand here staring at his retreating form for a solid minute before I snap myself out of it.

An hour passes by and Leah is still nowhere to be seen, worry begins to churn inside me, I can’t explain it but something doesn’t feel right. I sit here on the edge of the pool while the others swim and laugh, without Leah here I have nothing to smile about. When the sound of Ella Mai’s “Watchamacallit” pierces the air, I jump to my feet and rush over to the lounger. I set her ringtone to our song the night she gave me a lap dance. I hit answer and place it on speaker as I dry myself with my towel.

“Hey, Godlie.”

“Darius!” I turn to stone, my blood freezes in my veins at the sound of fear in her voice. I drop the towel and pick the phone up. I feel the guys closing in around me.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” I try to remain calm so I don’t scare her.

“Darius, I need you!” she screams, I hear glass shatter in the background, she screams in fright.

“Leah, where are you?” I shout.

“Stop, please no—” she screams then the line goes dead. I hit redial immediately but it goes to voicemail. I try again, only to get the same thing. I throw my phone across the yard growling.

“Where the fuck is my sister?” Corvin yells, I turn to the pool where the girls lean against the edge looking horrified.

“I don’t know, she said she was just going to get her phone and then come straight here,” Cody says, her voice thick with worry. Nathan leaps out of the pool with a murderous look on his face, I rush over to him, wrap my hand around his throat and slam him against the banister of the deck getting right in his face.

“You have three seconds to tell me where the fuck my girl is or I’ll start breaking your bones.” He doesn’t cower or flinch.

“I have a feeling Garrett finally snapped. I think she’s with him.”

“He’s fucking dead!” I snarl.