31
Adam
No RA To Shut It Down
It had been a long damn time since I took a rideshare to a party. I didn't pay an arm and a leg in car insurance for nothing. Without my cars though, I was shoved into the middle seat with two giggling girls next to me, one up front, and a hidden pitcher of trash can juice on my lap.
"Do you want another drink?" June whispered over the music blasting from the radio.
"I'm supposed to be the bodyguard here," I said, pushing the pitcher towards her. "The bodyguard's not supposed to be loaded."
Zariah gave me a look from the corners of her eye. "Um…bodyguard?"
"Yeah. Any guy fucks with you and I'll beat the hell out of them."
The way all three of them burst into laughter wasn't the most affirming thing in the world. Especially Piper. She held a hand up to her mouth to hide the giggles.
Whatever. I knew how hockey players operated. And the moment one of those dumb assholes decided to try something, they'd have to try rebuilding the strength back in their bones again.
If there was an actual party to go to.
It was too quiet out on the front lawn. A few people were playing cards on the porch. A guy in the front entrance crooned along to a song on the radio and clutched a lamp close to his chest.
"Is this…?" Piper scrunched up her nose and did a quick three-sixty, like the actual party was hiding behind a bush. "Is this the party?"
The guy holding the lamp moaned under his breath. "What does all this mean, man?"
"This looks like fun." I chuckled.
June groaned at her phone. "Xavier's stepbrother flaked out of the party! Ugh. And Xavier's just…" She pouted. "Every time his stepbrother gets involved, he gets like this. He's only here for the weekend from North Dakota, but it's just like him to flake—"
"Wait, wait." I paused. "North Dakota? Who's Xavier's brother?"
"Stepbrother. Bear Moreau."
"Holy shit ." I took a look at three blank faces and couldn't believe it. "Xavier's stepbrother is Bear—fucking—Moreau? One of the best D1 hockey players out there—?!" I stopped myself when Zariah put her hands on her hips. "What?"
"Are you going to fangirl over him?"
"Shut up. He hit sixty-eight points in a season on defense . Who the hell does that?"
"Why don't you make out with him?" she teased.
Zariah could say whatever she wanted. Nothing could tamper my excitement at possibly meeting Bear fucking Moreau. The guy could give Elijah Contractor a run for his money, which I would've gladly paid to see. He was one methodical motherfucker on the ice. The idea that Xavier was any way related to Bear was insanity in itself. Maybe there was a perk to having June's boyfriend floating through our friend group after all.
"I know Bear!" Piper piped up. " Puck Highlights had an article about him. He's one of the most eligible hockey bachelors. They wrote a whole profile on him."
My eyes narrowed, my excitement disappeared.
"Yeah, he's okay." I shrugged, typing on my phone. "He fumbles with a loose puck more than he fumbles with the skate sponsorships, but whatever."
Zariah raised her eyebrows. "I thought you loved him, Adam?"
"He's a flake," June cemented, her voice firm. "That's all he ever does."
Piper frowned. "You've met him?"
"Well—no. But Xavier and I have been together forever, and Bear always seems to put off plans. It's so annoying." June sighed. "And I know how much it hurts Xavier. I mean, that's still his family. They should make time for each other. He should've come tonight . Ugh. It's freezing outside, the party is a bust, I just want to go home."
For a second, I was going to agree. We tried our hardest to get trashed in Oklahoma, and it didn't work out. Oh, well. It was a commendable effort. But then I saw the disappointment on Piper's face that she was trying so hard to hide.
What kind of college experience is this?
I sighed and scrolled through my phone while the three of them discussed possibilities.
"Uh…" I cleared my throat, regretting the choice to speak. "Xavier gave me a list of bars to try out here."
"What?" June reached for my phone. "He did?"
There was a list of bars and their addresses that Xavier had hurried to type out on my phone, along with his cousin's address at the very bottom. Where he was keeping his bright red Clemenza, to avoid some asshole keying his car.
Which was insane to imagine.
How could anybody hurt a classic Clemenza?
"We're going to a bar?" Piper blinked at me with those big, beautiful, innocent gray eyes, shivering in her jacket.
All I wanted to say was nope, just kidding. Let's go home and flip on a movie. We tried. But if this was really the end of babysitting, I could give Piper a fun time at a bar. And a safe one at that.
Because if any guy wanted to fuck up, I'd be there waiting for him.
"What's the address?" Zariah asked, already calling a taxi.
Piper held up the trash can juice. "What are we…?"
"Just leave it for them," I said, taking it from her to place it on the sidewalk. "I think they need it more than we do."
The bar was a hell of a lot more fun than the party. Dance floor, packed. Drinks, flowing. Bartenders, happy as hell to see us and my wallet, flushed with cash. I ushered the girls in and kept them roped together. Piper's eyes were enormous, in awe at the party scene with a hell of a lot of sweaty bodies pushed together and lights beaming overhead.
"It's like your room!" she yelled at me.
I snorted. "And there's no RA to shut it down!"
She hit my shoulder playfully, and I grinned, taking my place by the bar. If we were enjoying our time, we needed to enjoy it with an overpriced, watered-down drink in hand. I flagged down the bartender and brought Piper closer. Her blonde hair spilled over my arm, giving me a whiff of her perfume. It was hard to focus on what the bartender was saying.
"Run the specials by me again," I said with an apologetic smile.
Piper stepped up to the bar and ducked close to me. I could feel the warmth of her body pulsing like the music in the club.
"Cracked-up Morning, Domino Effect," he listed off, one after another. "Shower Sex—"
I glanced down at her, half a second really, and her eyes met mine. We were so close. My fingers curled back to my palms. I had to remember myself. This wasn't the shower. That had been a one-time thing.
"Shower Sex," I said with a grin.
We put our stuff behind us. We could laugh about it now.
"Hey!" June waved us down by the side of the bar and hurried up to meet us, Zariah in tow. "There's an emergency rodeo meeting."
"What?" I frowned. "We're in Oklahoma. The rodeo's months away."
"Rodeo?" Piper tried to ask, but the bartender stopped her with the drink.
I passed some bills over to the bartender, and June sighed, apologetic. "No, the Marrs rodeo." She turned to Piper. "We do one at the end of spring semester, but there's this whole thing—I'm so sorry, one of the girls has her twenty-four-hour shift tonight for her building, and this is the only time she can do it. I swear, this happens every time I leave the dorm." June sighed. "I just want one day without a phone call."
"We'll all go," I promised and studied the drink I paid too much money for. "Damn. Do you guys have to-go cups?"
"I kind of wanted to stay a little longer…" Piper admitted.
I glanced at her in surprise. Did my RA just say what I thought she said?
She shot a hopeful smile at Zariah. "Are you staying?"
"If I could, I would." Zariah grimaced. "I'm the representative for the freshmen dorms."
All that work for nothing. Piper gave a wistful look around the half-filled room and nodded, but the disappointment was pretty clear. I should've been pleased. I wasn't.
"We could stay twenty minutes," I suggested. "We can take another taxi. Twenty minutes are up, we head back, and nobody's the wiser. College experiences and all that."
"Is wasting money on another taxi a college experience?" Zariah laughed.
Piper hesitated. "I don't think that's a good idea."
"What?" I frowned. "You don't think you can handle yourself around me?"
June and Zariah burst into laughter. They knew me, they knew how I joked around, but I wasn't joking with Piper. June started walking towards the exit, but Piper didn't budge from the bar.
"Piper?" June frowned, glancing back.
The ice princess crossed her arms over her chest and gazed out at the smoky bar, a determined curve to her lips, indecision disappearing from her eyes. "Twenty minutes and we go back," Piper whispered, more to herself than to me.
"Twenty minutes," I promised and picked up the drink. I raised it to take the first sip, but Piper was quicker, tugging it out of my grasp and downing the first gulp.
"Have fun, you two," Zariah snickered. "Be good ."