68

Ryan

Pack Of Hyenas

In RV, I stood in front of the desk assistant station and held up Kassie's wallet with her student ID and her Texas driver's license in my hand. "I'd like to add my girlfriend as a permanent resident to my room."

Kassie hiked up the hood of her hoodie. "Ryan, we don't need to do this today."

The desk assistant's eyes flashed in recognition. "Four-A-Cross!"

"And my girlfriend," I added.

"And Kassie—oh my god that photo." She burst into giggles. "I follow you two on instagram. So cute."

Kassie reached up for my shirt and tugged me down to her. "Ryan, there are enough hickeys on my neck to traumatize a nun. Please . Let's go ."

"Hold on, I have to add you as a guest."

I wanted Kassie to be able to head in and out of my dorm at ease, with her own key, and that meant signing her name to my dorm. I'd been waiting to do it. Plenty of other football players had their girlfriends listed, if they had theirs, of course I needed Kassie under mine.

"Any other day," Kassie urged, her voice low.

The desk assistant took a moment before she started typing again. "Is this a temporary guest or a permanent guest?"

"My girlfriend's a permanent guest," I answered.

"Does she live on campus?"

I nodded. "My girlfriend lives on campus."

"Would you like a key in your mailbox or kept at the front desk to be picked up?"

"I'd like my girlfriend's key to be picked up at the front desk."

"Oh my god," Kassie muttered, embarrassed, and pressed her face to my arm. "Why didn't I put the makeup on?"

"Because I didn't want you to," I replied.

"But why did I listen to you?"

Once I signed the papers for the new key, I walked Kassie over to the elevator, pleased. I had her duffle bag slung over my shoulder and my girlfriend at my side, even if she kept hunkering down when she heard footsteps down the hall.

"Someone's going to see," Kassie whispered, pushing her thumb into the elevator button.

"No one from the football team." I shrugged. "We have practice early in the morning. We're halfway through the season, we're close to playoffs. All of them should be in their dorms by—"

The footsteps came closer and I glanced up, surprised, when I heard the voice down the hall.

"The best part is, you can't even scrape it off the car." Adam laughed. "He has to use a shit ton of rubbing alcohol—and even then—it'll take him forever to scrape it off. Best part."

That wasn't just Adam. Eleven other players for the Romans were on their way over. Swaying. From side to side, most of them couldn't stand straight.

What the hell?

"You've got to be shitting me." Kassie cursed under her breath and when the elevator doors opened, she scurried inside and pulled her hoodie over as much as she could.

"Evening," I called to my teammates.

Half of them stiffened when they spotted me, a couple tried to turn around.

"Nope, you were coming this way," I told them. "I want to make sure you're walking in a straight line."

"Oh my god, Ryan." Kassie sighed, her voice low.

Where they'd been hobbling before, all my teammates behind King and Adam took slow, measured steps to the elevator, doing their best to look sober.

"Captain!" Adam grinned. He could handle his liquor better than the rest of them and his eyes were still glazed over. "Captain. Boss. Boss captain—no—captain boss? Fuck."

King kept quiet until he walked into the elevator. "Hey…captain."

"My teammates wouldn't be drinking tonight because they know how close playoffs are," I said as they filed in, all guilty faces. "But I don't have to worry about that. Because they are taking this seriously. And if anyone wants to avoid bear crawls tomorrow to test out that sobriety, I suggest they take the stairs."

Most of them avoided looking at me entirely.

On the third floor, almost all of the football players stepped out. The only ones left were King and Adam before a few other non-football athletes walked inside.

"Goddamn, captain." Adam snickered. "Some of those guys live on the seventeenth floor."

"I didn't tell them to get out of the elevator."

King shot me a long look.

"Look, you two can handle your liquor, they can't," I pointed out. "You won't throw up on the field. They will. And they better learn not to fuck around like that. If this is that lesson, this is that lesson—"

"Where's Kassie?" King frowned and stopped himself, blinking slowly.

"Holy shit, you're right." Adam whistled. "Somebody call animal control, Ryan's lost his owner."

Oh, man. I took another glance at Kassie in the corner, quiet because of the other people in the elevator, but I could practically feel her eyes flash. She shifted from the wall. Kassie was irritated as hell.

This was a perfect opportunity. My girlfriend got to hang out with my friends more than I did this semester but she only got to see them when they were on their best behavior in front of her. Without them seeing her, and them shitfaced, I knew they'd say some shit they'd never want to in front of her. And I knew exactly how Kassie would respond.

My mouthy art girl would show her claws.

Hot .

I grinned. "Uh-huh. Why do you think Kassie would be here?"

"Are you serious?" King snorted.

He is drunk.

"Because you're pussywhipped, dude." Adam chortled, wiggling his eyebrows at me. "He's a few weeks away from drinking her bathwater…" He stopped himself just as quickly, too drunk, and frowned, trying to get his head back. "Fuck. I drank too much."

There were other people in the elevator, glancing back at us, but all my focus was on the girl in the corner.

I nodded. "Anything else you want to say?"

"If you…fucked enough bleacher bunnies, you…wouldn't be acting like this," Adam slurred. "That's what I'm doing. Marrs fucking Manwhore. If you come on enough faces, you calm the hell down."

"We should have Kassie run the drills," King joked, taking a deep breath. "So we can see what the captain can really do." His voice dropped comically low. "Make him jump for that pussy ."

I said nothing. I just grinned.

She's going to start yelling any second now .

The guys glanced at each other, confused, and the elevator door opened for another floor. Adam, King, and I understood that we only ribbed each other like this when it was just the three of us. For a long moment, both of them stared at me and I could see guilt starting to set in.

They weren't as fast as Kassie was though. She was tense against the wall. Ready to pounce.

One word. Entertaining.

"Are you okay, captain?" King grunted, concerned.

The girls from the swim team, the only other ones left in the elevator, stole looks behind them, confused, but I just smiled pleasantly.

"Is that Ryan Cross?" one of them whispered.

The other one shushed her and dragged her off to the next floor.

Four remained.

"Uh…Ryan?" King pressed. "Are you good?"

Before I could reply, Kassie whipped down the hood of the hoodie, fuming, and there were exactly two seconds before my teammates realized who the extra person in the elevator was before they both shouted.

" What the fuck?! " Adam jerked back and slammed into the elevator's wall. "Kassie?!"

"Jesus fucking Christ," King swore and stumbled back.

Adam grabbed the back of his head. "Fuck—I hit my head—"

"And that's too goddamn bad," Kassie snapped. "Because there's one brain cell between the two of you and I hope to hell and back again that you weren't the one using it! What the hell were you thinking?! You weren't the only people in here—somebody could've been filming you!"

My grin widened.

"You heard everything." King paled. "Uh—Kassie—"

"Yeah—I have ears! What I heard is a pack of hyenas, upset they don't have pussy on a Sunday night, doing dumb shit in front of who the hell knows? What if I'd been recording? Adam, you're already in trouble with the housing board, King, June would be fucking livid!"

"We were just joking," King said, staring at the wall, the doors, the ceiling, anything but my girlfriend. For the first time ever, I clearly saw a blush.

"Yeah, just kidding," Adam mumbled. "Just messing around."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "I'd say a hell of a lot more but I'm busy." She reached down and wove her fingers through mine. "I have to go have sex with your captain. Good night ."

Goddamn right.

Kassie stomped out of the elevator and I followed after her, getting a great look at her ass. She'd brought her backpack along but she'd been right. We weren't getting into anything responsible in my dorm. The moment the door closed, I'd fuck that pretty pussy until I had to hold her up. And then I'd fuck her again.

"Enjoy the night, alone!" I threw over my shoulder.